We have this expression, when you find your place, right where you are, practice occurs, realizing the koan, the koan. We could change this in a playful way and say, when you find your place right where you are, practice occurs realizing justice. When you find your place right where you are, practice occurs realizing the truth.

[01:07]

So the source, as I was talking to you about last week, the source of justice, the source of truth, is stillness untouched by any kind of construction. Unconstructedness in stillness. is the source of the truth manifesting, or the truth of justice. There's also a kind of meditation where you practice being

[02:19]

with what's manifesting in the present as the colon. So we have expression, genjo colon. the koan as it's manifesting now. Or koan could be called also ultimate truth. So we meditate on how ultimate truth is manifesting immediately, right now. Or how what's manifesting is the ultimate truth. Or how justice is manifesting now. But then there's the problem of that it's hard for us to understand that this right now is the manifestation of justice.

[03:33]

It's hard for us to understand this is the realization of justice. But that is a traditional topic of meditation, is to meditate on how it is that what's happening right now is the immediate realization of reality. and including the truth as truth to us and reality as justice in our relationships. Some people would say that justice is administration of law.

[04:45]

Some people would say that justice is the administration or the adjudication in an equitable way among conflicting claims. Lots of different ways to talk about justice. In the Constitution, I think it says, is it the Constitution, all men are created equal? Or just all men are created equal? And I heard some time ago that that means all men are created equal in the sense that they all have the capacity to be compassionate.

[05:56]

And one of the people, I forgot which one, who was involved in the Constitutional Convention. Used as an example of this, he said, he was talking to a friend, he said, a young slave. And he said, this uneducated slave has the potential, has the ability to be sympathetic to other beings suffering. The way all beings are equal, not that they all have equally developed compassion or equally developed sympathy for others suffering, but they are all equal in the sense that they all have that capacity and therefore they all can become, so they all should be treated in a sense in the context of that equality.

[07:08]

The Supreme Court said the most important thing we do, he could be speaking of humans or he could be speaking of Supreme Court justices, the most important thing we do is not doing. We must be still, right where we are, in order to be justices, in order to allow the realization of the truth. The word koan, by the way, originally meant a kind of a judgment handed down by a judge in court. The judge's offering of the truth of the matter.

[08:24]

So the word koan is now extended to be about stories which have the potential to reveal the truth. But all stories have this potential. All stories are the current manifestation of the koan are the current manifestation of . But we must meet these stories with concentration. We must meet them in a relaxed and concentrated way in order justice of the situation will be revealed to us. or the path of justice will be revealed to us.

[09:31]

The path of just conduct is when we meet the current situation with unconstructed stillness. And again, the unconstructed stillness and the truth are already immediately manifesting. We have to open to it in order to fully participate with it. In the Sanskrit language, we use the word, we have the word Buddha and the word Dharma and the word Sangha. Buddha could be translated as the Enlightened One, Dharma the Truth, and Sangha the Community is one translation.

[10:51]

So the Buddhist community is a community where there's justice. It's a community that wherein there would be conflicting claims, I would think, but where they would be adjudicated fairly, equitably, And the harmony among different beings is actually the Sangha. That actually is the community. The law is, again, justice, or the realization of the law. And the Buddha, the understanding of the Dharma. So another way to practice, another way to speak of practice, is to meditate in such a way that you're returning to Buddha, you're returning to Dharma, you're returning to the law, and you're returning to the Sangha, you're returning to the just community, to the community of justice.

[12:16]

Turning to the community and meditating on the harmony of the community. You're not in denial about disharmony. You're not in denial about disagreement. But you're present and open that the law, the reality, in the community, the reality in the society, is already manifested. The justice is already manifested. The appearance of injustice, injustice could also be appearing. But again, I think I said last week, there doesn't seem to, well, there seems to be lots of opportunities to see injustice. There seems to be lots of opportunities to see falsehood and lies.

[13:26]

And to be right where you are would be the practice when there seems to be inequity, injustice, and lying, to return to that place and find your place right there, then the practice will occur, realizing justice right there, realizing the truth right there at that very moment. Another way to speak another representation or manifestation of justice in this school is the bodhisattva. They can also be called a manifestation of the truth. They can also be called manifestation of justice or manifestation of justice.

[14:36]

Not killing. Not taking what's not given. Not misusing sexuality. Not intoxicating body and mind. Not slandering. not praising self at the expense of others. These are examples of justice. I brought the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts on. If you'd like one, you can have one after class. And again, the first three of these precepts is returning to the enlightenment, to the awakening, to the practice, returning to the practice of the truth, to the practice of Dharma, which is Buddha, to practice the way of justice, to take refuge, and then take refuge in the teaching, in the reality of justice,

[16:03]

and return to the peace and harmony of our life together. Those are justice . Any feedback on that? Yes. This is what you're saying, I guess, but I have a feeling that justice is kind of a concept on such a different level than unconstructedness and stillness. It's like, so as you're talking, I understand, I think, I understand what you're saying, that from unconstructedness and stillness would manifest just behavior.

[17:10]

But it feels like they're very different, like you're talking about apples and oranges. Yeah, not really. Justice is partly a concept. Yeah, it seems such a concept, such a structured concept that people use to get along with each other. Yeah, it's a concept that people use to get along with each other. It's a key concept, a fundamental concept in human society, but it also seems to be actually an important concept in non-human society also. among... it seems to be present among monkeys and other primates. A sense of fairness, a sense of justice seems to be part of it.

[18:12]

And also... Yeah. So there's some research that the part of the brain, the human brain that seems to be active in considerations of justice is comparable to the part of the brain of a rat that has to do with food. So there's some research that the way the brain works with this issue of justice and fairness is like a very basic need. and that justice may be actually like a biological adaptation. But it doesn't really exist in, well, our idea of justice doesn't maybe exist in the biological world.

[19:16]

No, but as I'm saying, there seems to be some fairness in the study of related animals, closely related animals to us. They seem to have a sense of fairness and justice in their relationships. And when it's satisfied, they seem to be peaceful. And when it's not, they seem to be upset. I'm suggesting that to you. There's some research on this. And I think I maybe mentioned to you that fungi act that kind of demonstrates some principles of justice, the way they function. They live under the ground all over the planet. Their flowers are mushrooms.

[20:19]

And they mediate between lots of different other organisms. So in the earth they take or they receive nutrients from organisms who don't need them and pass the nutrients to other organisms that do need them, who are under-supplied with it. So they serve this purpose to their non-fungi neighbors. And they're all over the place, so they have a lot of neighbors. Without this function, the whole ecosystem would collapse. But they do this service. So they're in service of a kind of justice. They justify nutrients among beings. That's an example.

[21:24]

Fungi is not an animal. That's not a plant. It's another category. But they make this peace between plants and animals, particularly between plants. They in the situation, and it makes possible the whole ecosystem. So they also demonstrate a kind of justice or a kind of equality or Part of one meaning of justice is distributive justice, fairly equitably distribute resources. That's part of the meaning of justice used that way. So fungi do that. They don't, as far as we know, they don't think of the word justice, but they actually perform, they have just conduct that way. If a human being did what they did, we would say that person was enacting justice, probably.

[22:27]

So it's a pervasive phenomenon, but in human society it's also a concept. And we... Different humans are discussing it, and different societies have different understandings of what justice means. But again, to work out harmony between different societies' understanding of justice would also, from the point of view of a bodhisattva, that would be like a fungi type of work, that you would coordinate different societies' views of justice so that there would be a broader and broader harmony and peace. And then you would extend it that way. It seems like you're saying, I feel like I'm understanding the manifestation of how things are, which is all connected and flowing back and forth, could be called justice.

[23:38]

Yes. What we call it in our particular culture. Yeah, and part of... But part of what I'm trying to do in this class is to coordinate the Buddha Dharma with the issue of justice, because justice is very important to various societies on this planet. And I think that the word justice If you translate Chinese and Sanskrit and Japanese and Korean and Thai and Burmese, if you translate the teachings of these Buddhist teachers into English, it doesn't very often come out with the English word justice. The word justice doesn't appear very much.

[24:42]

in Buddhist sutras, in translation, or commentaries or teachings. So I'm trying to find a way, since this word is so important in Western culture, I'm trying to find a way that Buddhism can participate with this issue and maybe even help enlighten the topic of justice. So that's why I brought up the the Supreme Court Justice's statement because that judge seems to be tuned in to a kind of Buddhist way of doing his work. So if what he's doing is something that's promoted by not doing, then maybe he's doing the same thing as a person who is developing unconstructedness and stillness because he's kind of talking like he's working on that. But he's also a justice, so he must have some concern with justice. who are doing those practices are actually concerned with the same issues even though in one case they don't use the word justice.

[25:49]

So I don't want to force things, but I'm trying to make Buddhism more relevant to the issue of justice. Yes? How do you feel like that fungi justice, that plant and animal justice that you're talking about relates to the place of unconstructedness and stillness that we were talking about last week? Because I see the very fundamental scientific kind of justice could balance an equilibrium going on between plants and animals. But that seems more mechanical and automatic than this sort of human. Good point. Good point. So I thought of this last week, and I think it was last week I thought of it.

[26:56]

Let's see. Yeah. One example is a scarecrow and another a scarecrow. And another example is called a deer scare or a scare deer. And the other example is Suzuki Roshi getting bumped. So here's examples. The bodhisattva, the being of enlightenment who is In acting, this stillness is often compared to a scare deer or a deer scare. So like if you go to a garden in Japan or maybe other places in Asia too, they have these bamboo tubes in the garden.

[28:01]

One end is closed and the other end is open. and water flows into the tube, and the tube's on a pivot. So the water flows in the tube, and when the water fills up the tube, the tube tips over and spills out the water. And then when it flips back again to its original position, part of the bamboo hits the rock, and being hollow, it goes boop, out of the garden. It performs that function mechanically without any idea that it's performing the function, but it performs the function. That's compared to the way the bodhisattva acts. It's that they don't actually consider that they're helping people. And then the scarecrow, too, is just sitting there in the field, and it scares the birds.

[29:08]

But it's not trying to scare the birds. It just does. And it's performing this function. And another example, like I said, was I didn't see this myself. But one time, Suzuki Roshi came into the zendo, when we used to be at this place called Sokoji, before we had the San Francisco Zen Center over on Page Street. We were over on Bush Street, and there was a Zenner there. He came into the meditation hall and, as usual, stopped and bowed. And one of the students came in behind him but didn't stop. So the student ran into Suzuki Roshi. One observer saw Shizuku Roshi elbow the guy. And the guy ran into him. So once one person saw Shizuku Roshi go, whack him with his elbow.

[30:10]

But I wasn't there, but I imagined Shizuku Roshi bowing and the person hitting him and his elbows just going back because the guy hit him and knocked him forward and his elbows went back. Now, So I'm imagining Siddhartha Kurukshetra as a bodhisattva. Just that his reaction was to help that person get an elbow. He said he had run into the teacher and he might have even realized that even without getting the elbow. But anyway, the way the teacher responded was mechanical. However, be compassionate to drop into your mechanical level of functioning. Otherwise, your constructions will be like, I'm going to teach that guy a trick or I shouldn't hit the students.

[31:18]

Or I shouldn't scare the deer. You know, I should... I should come down softly on the rock, or I should hit the rock harder. That's fine, but that's not the place that the bodhisattva's activity comes from. The bodhisattva's activity comes from wishing to help beings, not having any idea of beings that are being helped. So it's mechanical. It just happens as a result of causes and conditions. There's no construction about it. But it takes training to that unconstructedness. And so the bodhisattvas are those who have actually trained themselves to open to this unconstructed way that they're relating to people, this just way. They don't do anything by themselves, for example.

[32:22]

They don't do things to people. They do things with people. Have the mushrooms trained themselves? Or is that something different? I think the mushrooms... I might have said they train themselves, but anyway, the Bodhisattvas are trained by circumstances. And the mushrooms are trained by circumstances. They have evolved to perform this world-saving, planet-saving function. They also can dismantle toxins that nothing else can. I mean, human beings can package toxins up and put them in a holding tank someplace, but we don't know how to break them down. We do not have the sophistication and chemistry yet to break down some toxins. They do not degrade, some of them.

[33:23]

And some of the ones that we don't know how to degrade and bacteria do not know how to Fungi can degrade into less toxic, and then they can degrade those less toxics into less toxics. So after, you know, not eons, they can convert a pile of toxins that nothing else can decompose into non-toxic material. The world has created these beings to serve this purpose, and the world creates bodhisattvas for basically the same purpose. But fungi, even though they've been doing this job for a while, human beings have not really even noticed until recently this great beneficence on their part, or not too many human beings are noticing it. So I'm telling you about them. Bodhisattvas too are not necessarily noticed by a lot of people.

[34:25]

So we're talking it up about fungi and human bodhisattvas. And there can be monkey bodhisattvas, dog bodhisattvas, tree bodhisattvas, grass bodhisattvas that are demonstrating what? Justice. you know, the way things work in a harmonious way among beings. In human societies, animal societies, human and animal and plant societies. Yes, Jonathan? I don't know if this relates, I'll just throw some things out. I think sometimes people with justice, they get very involved in the conceptual and they kind of concede of a result. That's an unjust reason. I think of justice as being kind of a process. that engages, that people work together at, and often people will look at that result and say, well, that didn't come out perfect.

[35:34]

But it's kind of the engagement to work together legal system that kind of generates You know, it's a process that kind of engages people. And the end product, its conceptual sense might not be fair or not fair, but it's the coming together to work together in a sense with the justice. And I was thinking of like, for instance, even like another slant of that might be people are waiting for courts. They're waiting for some person to decide. in a justice situation. But then I thought, sometimes there are no courts. Sometimes no one will get in court in a divorce situation or something. So someone I'm going to assign you to a mediator. And the mediator might not tell anyone anything. He just might sit there doing nothing, essentially, kind of saying, OK, here's how this usually works. What do you need?

[36:35]

What are your problems? Oh, wait. OK. Now, what are yours? I can see them being kind of a bit like the decomposers, kind of maybe not doing a whole lot, just being the catalyst to facilitate this process. Yeah. Right. Yes. I have a kind of basic question as far as if justice, like, if justice isn't being served, people are educated, Say again? If justice... Yeah. Can I mention that I misheard you and I thought you said justice isn't served when we're agitated. So if justice isn't being served, what does a student of Buddhism, how do you find justice in that moment when it's not being served around you?

[37:49]

Yeah, so you said justice is not being served, but actually another way to say it would be people don't see that justice is being served. When we don't see that justice is being served, we usually feel not too good. When we see either injustice or maybe not that, but we can't see that justice is being served, you know, like served for dinner, justice is not being given, then I think we don't feel very good. Student of the Buddha Dharma might get to a point where they actually can feel that they've realized the Dharma. and then if they, if not feel that they've realized, but let's say they actually get to the point where they've realized the Dharma, then some other people have not yet realized the Dharma. They've realized justice, and they're with people who have not realized justice, and they see that these people who do not realize justice are in different ways upset.

[38:53]

Maybe they're upset for different reasons, but But still, they don't agree. They're both upset. And the being who has realized justice sees this and has the ability to serve, like John was saying, as a mediator or a fungus, as a mediator between these people, where you're, again, you're not really like a way to make them see the justice. You have realized it. So, you know, when they pour water into you, you tip over and then you go boop. So they get to see justice working in their presence. And if together, they start to pick up on the justice. They're able to see the injustice. They're able to see that neither party is getting what they want. And they're able to think that the other person's sort of the problem.

[39:55]

They can see these things. If someone who has realized the justice, and I would even say not see it, but who has become it, If they go in their midst, the people can feel it, and they are transformed by that. So again, the justice is the most important thing we do is not doing. So if the justice can go into a situation where there's a big question about what is justice, and they can be there with this question, with also their knowledge of the law and so on, but that's just part of what's which is a person who may have realized justice, and then they can bring that into manifestation. That would be the way, without any construction, even though in the realm of construction where the feeling of lack of justice is there,

[41:03]

and the unconstructed stillness can enlighten the realm of constructed justice and injustice. Not to say that what you're describing wouldn't be challenging enough, but what I find more challenging to wrap my brain around is when I become aware of grand injustices. extreme poverty that we're partially responsible for all around the world, all around us. And so we're not talking about my behavior as a single individual or a room full of individuals somehow affecting a small situation like an argument or a difficult situation in a room. something on a global scale that dwarfs me and my idea of how practicing by sitting and trying to find truth through stillness, how I can begin to apply that to something else.

[42:25]

When you say crushing, what do you mean by crushing? Well, you know, to read the newspaper is crushing. You mean you feel crushed? Yeah. Or overwhelmed by the... And then when you feel crushed and overwhelmed, how do you live when you feel crushed? I try denial. Huh? I try different things. Denial? Denial. Anything else? Um... I try education. I try to educate myself on the topic more. And do you feel okay about the education? I feel better about it, but I still feel like I'm not being effective in influencing what's going on or participating in it in any meaningful way. Okay, well, I would propose to you that you're always influencing and so am I. that if resources are not being distributed to beings, if the fungus aren't operating properly, that some people have much too much and other people have much too little in a situation like that, we're all contributing to it now.

[43:41]

And no matter what you do from this point on, when you see some injustice, everything you do in response to that from now on will continue to contribute to the evolution of the situation of it staying pretty much the same, getting worse. We are contributing to it. Okay, so it's possible that if you feel crushed and depressed and go into denial, it's possible, I suppose, that that would make a positive contribution to the situation, but I don't see how. About the situation, that seems to be kind of like in the neighborhood of facing it. So generally speaking, again, if you see some situation where there's injustice, facing it would be apropos of... The activity of the bodhisattva, of the being who's working for justice, they kind of like start by facing the appearance of injustice.

[44:49]

But how do they face it? Well, they try to learn about it. That would be reasonable. But also they would try to discover some justice, some possibility to see injustice and be messing with injustice. Where's it going to go? Yet, if you don't know what justice is and the situation is, you won't necessarily help. But learning about it is kind of probably in the direction of finding justice. When you just ask people who are, for example, some people don't have enough and some other people have too much, if you just inquire in the situation sometimes, the distribution starts to even out. Like if you ask these people who have, do you need all that? Because these people enough. If you're really inquiring, not coming in with knowing what justice is in the sense of that they're wrong and these people are victims, but you actually are trying to educate yourself and you bring this stillness and this unconstructedness.

[45:57]

For example, you're not constructing that you're better or not as good as the poor people or whatever. You're not constructing that kind of thing. So you're facing it, you're learning about it, and you're also trying to bring a concentrated, relaxed presence to the situation. That will have an effect. Will have an effect. If you're not relaxed and you're self-righteous and not facing the situation, that will be effective. You will be effective. You are effective. You can't avoid being effective. but you can be better and better if you learn how to get to the source of justice. And if you feel crushed, that's another thing which you deserve.

[46:59]

It's another thing to learn about. What is my feeling crushed? You tell me you're crushed, I want to find out what you're talking about. I'm not talking you out of your crushedness. I'm not trying to get rid of your crushedness. I'm just trying to understand what you mean so I can be with you. Maybe somebody else needs a little crushedness. We could take some of yours and give it to them. Sometimes that's the case. And then everybody feels better because now they have a little bit of crushedness which they didn't have enough of. Now you have a little bit less and kind of like we're starting to feel like we're working together here now. And it applies in conversations, it applies in your own mind, within your own conflicting voices and competing claims in your own mind in a conversation. neighborhoods, cities, countries, how you respond to this is effective.

[48:07]

And if you say, I don't feel like I'm very effective, maybe what you mean is, I feel like my effect might not be very good. I am effective, but it doesn't seem like my effect is very good. I would like to have a more positive effect than I'm having now. Yes, Norbert. I'm talking about unconstructing the stillness as the source, as the place we need to go in order to be, what do you call it, nourished. That we would be nourished and have the resource to work for justice in the realm where people feel there's injustice. in the constructed realm where people feel injustice, we need the resource of unconstructed stillness.

[49:16]

We need the resource of a concentrated, relaxed presence with everything that we experience And from there, we have a chance to work to realize justice because we, in that realm, we realize it. We enter it and we embody it. And once entering and embodying it, then our action can be just. But just doesn't mean like you're doing the right thing so much, which you might be doing the right thing, but some people do pretty much the right thing, but it doesn't seem to help these people who are fighting each other. Do you know what I mean? Some people are like, this person seems to be doing fine, and these two people are fighting with each other. And they look at the third person and they say, neither one of them have a problem with this third person. You know what I mean? Can that happen? Yeah. What we need is a third person who comes and interacts with the two so that they discover justice in their relationship.

[50:23]

Because they think there's injustice in their relationship. And a matter of fact, the person who helps them might not be somebody that they think is being just, like the scare deer. They might think it's just a stupid person who tripped on the curb and fell on his face. But when they see this person fall and get hurt, both of the conflicting parties suddenly wake up and see justice. which they couldn't see before. And this person played a role in them waking up. Because this person is demonstrating the source of justice. Not somebody's idea of justice, but the fact that when this person's in the neighborhood of these people who are fighting, this person falls down. Or when this person's in the neighborhood of these people fighting, this Or when this person's in the neighborhood or this, so on, they manifest in such a way as to help the other.

[51:29]

And they realize justice. They realize it. They're at peace. They're in harmony with everybody. But they can see that the other people don't realize harmony. But they don't tell them, you know, you should. They just interact with them in such a way because they're coming from this place. This, I could tell just a very, very short, relay a very short thing that I had to do. But I used to notice that before drawing, and sometimes when somebody was having trouble drawing this thing out there, But in this situation, there would be a thing over there. It would be over here drawing. And he was this guy who helped people do this. And sometimes nothing he did could help do this, whether it was his fault or not.

[52:32]

And so then he would say that he would do this, and it was that he would just say to the person, listen, let's forget about it. like I'm the helper. Let's forget about who you are. We are the healthy. And let's just be here with this thing. And now let's try. Yeah. That's a good example. Deconstruct helper, healthy, and let's just like, again, let's just undo it. Let's get together and not do anything. Let's forget about this project we're doing. And if you can open to that, we might find some peace and harmony with this situation. And what the person was trying to do, for example, the drawing that they're trying to do has been given up.

[53:36]

And maybe they never do do that drawing, but they do some other drawing. better than what they were thinking of doing, perhaps. They didn't even think of this other thing. And it was always right there. They could always do that. I mean, not always. They could do that. They didn't have to learn to do it. They already knew how. It was their way of drawing. I just wanted to mention that on the radio today they announced that they arrested Radovan Karadzic, who is being indicted for genocide in the of lots of Muslim men and boys organized this huge slaughter of 8,000.

[54:43]

And I just thought that this is an example of an issue of justice now that we're going to be looking at. And I just wanted to tell you a story. which some of you have heard the story already, but it's a story about a famous, I think it's the person who founded the Hasidic movement in Poland. I think his name was Shem Tov. Huh? What? Bal Shem Tov, yeah. Bal Shem Tov. So Bal Shem Tov was this important teacher in Poland. At the time he was about to pass away, he gathered his main disciples together and he gave each one of them some special assignment about how to carry the teaching on

[55:59]

and one of the junior disciples got the last assignment. And the assignment was to go around Europe and tell stories about, say it again? Baal, yeah, Baal, Baal Shem Tov. And when you first hear you think, what a conceited teacher he was to have his disciple go around and tell stories to him. But anyway, and the disciple thought, geez, I got the lousiest job of all those disciples. They all had this important work and I'm supposed to just go around and tell stories about the teacher. But anyway, one of the refrains of the story is, told you to do something, you did it.

[57:03]

So he followed his orders. And after the teacher died, he went around Europe. And where somebody would listen, he told them stories about his teacher. And he did this for a long, long time. Felt like he pretty much covered the whole continent, And he thought he had fulfilled his teacher's instruction. He felt like it was time to go back home and carry on his practice and his teaching. But then as he was on his way back, maybe from France and going by Italy, he heard a rumor about a very wealthy Italian count or something who offered a considerable amount of money for people who would come and tell him stories. So he thought, well, maybe I could extend my trip a little bit.

[58:06]

So he made his side trip to the castle or the palace of this very wealthy aristocrat. And he went into the place and he was welcomed because this guy wanted to hear stories. He advertised he wanted to hear stories. So here was a story about this great Jewish teacher. And so when he heard from this young rabbi that he had stories about Baal Shem Tov, he said, great, let's hear them. And the guy said, okay, well, let's see now. Excuse me, I'm having a senior moment here. I'm just a kid. I can't remember any stories about my teacher.

[59:11]

This is really weird. I don't know what to say. The count said, it's okay, just relax, just relax. And, you know, just have dinner and go to sleep and we'll talk again tomorrow. So the next day he said, well, are you ready to tell me a story? He says, yeah, but he couldn't think of any. And he was kind of surprised that he couldn't think of stories because he'd been telling them all over Europe. And he'd lived with Baal Shem Tov for quite a while. So he knew he knew stories, but they weren't coming to his mind, and he couldn't get them to come to his mind. All of these great teachings. And this went on, I think, maybe for five days, and after a while, but his guest, his host, I mean, said, no, stay, it's okay, just take your time. I'll just, I'll wait forever, you know. But he just got so embarrassed, he said, I got to go.

[60:15]

He just couldn't stand to be there and not be able to. This guy wanted to hear stories and this was his line of work. Couldn't do it. So he went out of the castle and went a ways, but then a story came to him. But it wasn't one of the stories that he'd been . It was a story he hadn't thought of before. Not a very good story. It's kind of a weird story. But one thing about it was it was a story that he was in. So anyway, and he went back and he said, I didn't think of a story. It's not a very good one. I'm involved, but it is a story. The guy says, fine, tell it. He said, well, one time Baal Shem Tov said to me, I was his attendant.

[61:20]

I think we should start packing now. I want to go on a trip with you from Poland to Turkey. And I want to go to such and such a town. I don't remember the name of the town. But the young rabbi said, excuse me. that town is very famous for being a hotbed of Christian fundamentalism, and they have a tendency to persecute Jews in that town. And the rabbi said, uh-huh, okay, we're going. And when are we going, by the way? And he said, we're going, I want to be there during Easter. And the young rabbi said, that's the time of year when sometimes they kill Jews in recompense for having crucified Jesus.

[62:22]

So I don't think we should go because you might get hurt, Master. So let's not go, okay? And Baal Shem Tov says, yeah, we're going. And when Baal Shem Tov said we're going to do something, you do it. So they went to this town at the holy time when they would often actually kill some Jew, not all of them, but, you know, kill some of the Jews in town. They went into the town at this time and then went behind his teacher into this high holiday place situation and they come into town and they go to the jewish quarter of the town and all the jews are like indoors with the doors shut and in the windows blocked truly trying to protect themselves from any attack from any crazy christians so anyway they get into the house one of the houses and um

[63:33]

And then they are in the house and Baal Shem Tov goes to the window, second story window of the house he's staying in and opens the windows and stands in front of the window. The young rabbi says, get away from the window. Don't let them see you. And Baal Shem Tov is looking at the scene, and from this window you can see a big plaza in this Turkish Christian city. And in the plaza there's lots of people gathered, and there's going to be a big mass. And Baal Shem Tov is sitting there looking at it. And his attendant standing next to him, Baal Shem Tov, says, well, you see the procession coming now? See the procession? The disciple says, yeah. He says, see the leader of the procession? See the bishop? The disciple says, go down there into that crowd of Christians and go up to the bishop and tell him to come into this house to see me.

[64:52]

And the disciple says, what? But when Baal Shem Tov says to go do something, you do it. So the Jewish boy goes down among the crowd of Christian revelers, gets up to the head of the procession, The bishop is climbing up the stairs to do the Mass. He comes up to him and says, excuse me, Baal Shem Tov wants you to come and see him over there in that house there. See, he's in the window. And the bishop goes, uh, okay. And he continues to climb up under the altar, does the Mass, you know, in all his vestments with, you know, heavy jewels, with this big scepter covered with major jewels.

[66:05]

And after the Mass is over. He comes down off the altar, walks across the square, and by himself goes to the Jewish house where Baal Shem Tov is and goes in to meet Baal Shem Tov. And when he meets Baal Shem Tov, Baal Shem Tov says, come with me. And they go back into a back room, the two of them alone, for a long time, two or three hours. And then the bishop comes out looking really shaken and leaves. And Baal Shem Tov says to the boy, okay, let's go back to Poland. And they go back. And then the young man says, that's the story.

[67:12]

Doesn't even have really an ending, but that's the only one I've got. And he looks at the count, and the count, his face is covered with tears, and he's also very, very happy looking. The young rabbi says, what's happening? He says, well, the bishop was me. I was the bishop. I'm a Jew, and I lived in that town, in that area. I was very wealthy. But I was afraid that the Christians would rob me, kill me or my family.

[68:21]

So I converted to Christianity. And of course they were very happy that I converted to Christianity. a wealthy Jew. And because of that, I rose in the church rapidly and actually became the bishop eventually. And while I was bishop, not only did I abandon Judaism to protect myself and maintain my wealth, but as bishop I allowed the Christians to kill minor genocide allowed by him of his own people to protect himself. So when Baal Shem Tov came and called me in that room, I saw the beginning

[69:31]

of where my life — I could start to see where my life was heading. The picture is coming into focus now. The Baal Shem Tov has made a long trip. He heard about this guy. it was well known that he used to be a Jew. Baal Shem Tov heard about this and traveled a long way at great expense and danger to himself to go to this guy. What's going on here in this world? This has got a... There's a big problem here for you, young man. Old man, maybe. And so you see some... something worse than you could ever imagine. There's almost no hope for you. And I've come here to tell you that. But I've also come to tell you that there is a slight possibility that you can recover from this terrible karma.

[70:42]

And what you need to do is give back all the money that you gained disreputably and use the rest of your money that you had from your family to do good work and to encourage people from all over the world to come and tell you stories. And through this, until somebody comes and tells you your own story. And when somebody comes and tells you your own story, your repentance will be complete and you'll be free. So this is an example of justice. There's a punishment involved. But the punishment is not really punishment, it's practice. It's like practice is the punishment in this case.

[71:51]

And the person's coming and telling him, you, I want you to know that you've been and I do not want what's going to happen to you to happen, but it's probably going to happen and it's going to be really horrible. But if you practice in this way wholeheartedly, there's some hope for you. So this is what the one who sees justice can do for someone who's acting in a way that doesn't seem to be just. There's a way for them to interact and not deny the the bad karma. There are going to be consequences, but to show the way of practice is part of the process of justice. But somebody has to see the blindness to the justice and show a way to practice mind and heart to the process of justice.

[73:03]

And I bring this up in relationship to, for example, Radovan Karadzic. I can't tell his story yet because the shoot is just starting to close in on him now. And by the way, he was publicly teaching And he was teaching meditation. He was teaching calm, quiet meditation, peaceful meditation. He was an alternative health healer, like a bishop, or a rabbi, or a Zen priest. And now, Now we can see this coming in, but I don't know if there's going to be a bodhisattva there to help him practice with this.

[74:05]

But the bodhisattva would go, would travel and endanger her life to go help Radhavan. Practice now. And to find salvation. even though he's involved in this unbelievable horror, still. And the same, the bodhisattva would have gone to help Saddam Hussein. The bodhisattva will come to help George Bush and Dick Cheney. But not by the, you know, nice-going boys, but show them the karma and show them the way to practice with it. But you have to see yourself. You have to be able to see it in your own story. When I heard the story today, actually, when I heard the story about him, and I heard the story before, but when I heard it, I actually didn't feel like he was a bad guy and I was a good guy.

[75:15]

I felt a little bit like, I did feel a little bit like, I felt sick like, you know, I felt that sickness that you feel when you think about something you did bad, not the sickness you feel when you think somebody else did something bad, but when you feel kind of like culpable. I felt some culpability for this situation. It was that sickness. I think I did something unskillful or cruel, but I felt good that I hadn't distanced myself from his guilt. I felt good about that. Because that would help me if I had a chance to go to him and help him. But when we see the evils in this world, or to put it positively, when we see the evils of the world but we also see justice, we don't feel separate, we don't put ourselves above the people who are doing the evil.

[76:17]

close to them, close to the evil ones. And we feel sick about it because it's terrible and it's sickening. But we have to be able to be still with that like a bamboo tube in order to come close to them and just go, No big deal, just, you know, I'm with you. There's harmony here. There's justice. And it may mean that he's going to, a lot of painful punishments are going to come to him. I don't know what's going to happen, but the point is, no matter what, there could be practice, too. is maybe not that different from the way he feels he's going to feel crushed.

[77:25]

What's the difference? You feel bad, he's going to feel bad. If he doesn't feel bad, then it's going to be hard for him to practice. If he somehow doesn't think there's any problem with this, Shem Tov can't help him. But if he can feel that now it's coming, Maybe he's even started already. I don't know. I want to tell you that story. I have some other ones like that, too. And you also hear the juxtaposition of mercy and justice, almost like they're in conflict, or forgiveness and justice. They're not in conflict. I think in Buddhism they're together. Justice, including sometimes karmic consequences that look like punishment, go together with compassion and mercy and forgiveness.

[78:38]

And we have quite a few nice stories about this, this combination of mercy and justice, punishment and helping people wake up in the middle of the punishment for what the consequences of their actions. I think today was the first time I felt this sick feeling hearing about the Slobodan Milosevic, right, was the other one. Somehow Slobodan Milosevic, when I've watched his process, I didn't feel this. He seemed to be totally in denial about it all. It wasn't bothering him at all. But this was closer to him.

[79:41]

And again, I feel sick, but I feel better. I feel more like his situation is connected to our practice here together. And therefore, we share some responsibility for what he did. We share the world that he lived in when he could act this way. We're somewhat responsible in our own way. And I feel sick about that. But feeling sick is good. I should feel sick about this. I feel good that I feel sick. His situation has allowed me to feel that where I didn't feel it, I felt more distant from Milosevic. I couldn't feel my responsibility, just like I feel my responsibility for George Bush, etc. And a lot of Americans feel sick about it, and that's good that we feel sick.

[80:49]

If we didn't feel sick about this, it wouldn't be good, because then we would be denying our contribution. It's putting it out there on them. Andy, did you want to offer something? It's a great story, isn't it? What I was thinking before was, I have these glimpses of, I think I have glimpses of . But I also find that I have enough of a deluded mind that I need to apply intention. And when I hear you talk about... You need what?

[81:50]

To apply intention. Yes, you do. I'm aware of my intentions. Yes, you do. You need to do that. But when you talk about the Bodhisattva, it's almost like you're just... general field of love and open-heartedness that you just... you know it's not like you and intentions it's just movement yeah well thank you for that so in one sense what Charlie brought up was to some extent accusing the bodhisattva of having intentions and I said in some sense they really don't now you're bringing up the side that bodhisattvas don't have any intentions and now I would say they really do And when you see them, that they're with all beings, you know, intimately, and there's no beings they're with, but they do have intentions, and they take care of their intentions in such a way that they open to this beyond intention way of being with them.

[82:55]

They do want to help beings develop that, and they look at that intention, and they find the unconstructed stillness in their intentions. by taking care of their intentions. And intentions usually often have some movement in them or some constructed qualities in them. Intentions are constructions. What we do is we care for our intentions, we pay attention to our stories. We listen to and care for our stories so that we become free of our stories and settle into the unconstructed, the unstoried realm of our life. That's where the bodhisattvas come from. They have to go there. So they have to go there, and then they come from there. And they go there by practicing compassion with their own stories, their own intentions. But you can't really find true justice in your story

[83:59]

my story and there seems to be some disharmony or conflict between people's different stories. So then it looks like we disagree and like we're not helping each other because our stories differ or even my, you know, and so on. That's the way it is. Bodhisattvas live in that world, they're happily living into that world to practice relaxing and being playful with their story. And by being that way with their story, they enter the realm, the unstoried realm. Their own conscious constructed intent, they practice with those in such a way that they enter the unconstructed and they embody it. Then they come back into the constructed, into the story realm, and they tell stories and listen to stories. And they check their realization by seeing if everybody's story is theirs.

[85:02]

And that's what they hear. They hear everybody's story is theirs because they don't have a story anymore. Their story has been deconstructed. But it didn't get deconstructed by trying to pull it apart. It became just deconstructed by caring for it kindly, by being very intimate and relaxed and playful with their story. So then they realize the source of their story. Then they come out of their story into the realm, they come out of the unconstructed into the constructed and teach other people how to play with their stories, their overwhelming, crushing stories. They teach people how to play with their stories and let go of them and enter the unconstructed and then come out and teach others. So there's two sides. One side is the Boyz II Men commit to live in the realm of stories and help all the beings that are involved with stories to become free of their stories, but also they get to a place where the beings are stories that they're not working with anymore.

[86:03]

So they go back and forth between these two realms, and this is how they realize peace and harmony. Okay, it's a balance between the two. Not abiding in either, but exercising no, not getting stuck in either. So part of their activity is just unconscious filling with water and dumping it out. But then from there they enter into like all these constructions. Thank you very much.

[86:47]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_88.22