I had these words come into my mind which I would like to say now. May I say them? Only a Buddha can perform the ritual enactment of reality. Now Now I want to perform the ritual enactment of reality. Do you allow me to do that? Only a Buddha can enact reality. Now I will enact reality. Do you allow me to do that? Only a Buddha can enact reality. Now I will enact reality. Will you allow me to enact reality? Would you like to know if I will allow you to enact reality?

[01:09]

I will, yes I will. I will allow you to enact reality and be a Buddha. So, I now propose to you that what actually helps beings, what actually heals beings, is reality. There's a tradition which I am committed to which teaches that when someone comes to visit you give them a seat. They may not want it, but you can offer it. And give them some water. could be sprinkled on them but also in a glass or a cup give it to them as a gift and you can hope that this giving of some water you could wish that that would be helpful but what is really helpful is reality

[02:33]

the reality that the gift the receiver and the giver are not entities so like if someone comes to see you this is an opportunity to enact reality by this giving of a gift of a seat. It's giving a seat but it's also a ritual an act in Buddhahood. It can be. It can be if you want it to be. It can be if you want this offering of a seat to help all beings.

[03:45]

If you wish to offer something to beings, if you wish to help beings, it's the same as the Buddha would. It's the same if you offer this gift to all beings. So if someone comes to see you, you offer them a seat, but you offer this person a seat for all beings. You really want this person to have this seat, but you want this person to have this seat for all beings. You want to give it to them for all beings, and you want them to receive it for all beings. So that's the first part. If you offer things that way, and then together with understanding that, again, this offering, this gift of the seat of some water

[04:50]

is not an entity. It doesn't really exist as an entity. It makes sense that the seat is different than the cup of water. It's an entity in that sense. But it doesn't really exist as an entity. It only appears as an entity. It appears as an entity. The person appears as an entity. You appear as an entity. But the way you exist is not that way. And you make the gift together with that understanding. So you make the gift for all beings together with the understanding that the person you're offering to is yourself. And the water is yourself. And the water is, you know, and so on. you're enacting reality. So it's a ritual.

[05:54]

And also you're being playful because you're yourself and you're not yourself. The person who you're visiting is you and not you. The water is them and not them. And the water is you and not you. You're water, water is not you. This is an example of being playful. You can also spill the water as a gift. You can also offer the seat and ask to change seats. Lots of possibilities here in this mutual giving, this face-to-face giving, which is when you meet someone face-to-face, that's a ritual to an actual reality. Reality is face-to-face giving. The way we're giving to each other is reality. We can do a ceremony of coming to meet and giving each other a seat.

[06:59]

We can do that to physically, in time, at a time, in a place, to now ritually enact reality. Once again, may I say this again? Say it again. Reality is what helps. Reality is what heals. Our suffering comes from being out of touch with Isn't there a gospel, the truth that will set us free?

[08:07]

Is that the line? The truth will set us free? Reality sets us free, reality heals us. How can we let reality into our life? Be mindful of welcoming it. Be mindful of reality, you can come in here, you can be with me. You can be with us. You can come. We invoke reality. Buddha. We invite Buddha. We invite reality to come so that we may be healed. We welcome it. And we do a ritual, for example, a ritual of saying, welcome reality.

[09:15]

We say, that's a ritual, I just said a ritual, I said, welcome reality. Come reality, you're invited to come and heal us. Welcome enlightenment. welcome enlightenment to think that and say that ritual when I say that doesn't get a hold of enlightenment it lets enlightenment get a hold of me and make me talk that way welcome enlightenment the words, quotes, welcome enlightenment, unquote, can be a ritual of welcoming enlightenment, can be a ritual of enacting enlightenment.

[10:19]

Or you can think that there's a thing, an entity, called you talking, and that's it. This isn't a ritual enactment of enlightenment. This is just me saying, welcome enlightenment. When I say something with this understanding that my speech is not an entity and enlightenment is not an entity, then it is a ritual. And it does realize enlightenment. So that's a way that my speech becomes a way to realize reality. And as you know, I mentioned earlier that the central ritual of Zen is enlightenment.

[11:32]

Enlightenment is the central ritual of Zen. Also, the central ritual of Zen is helping others. There's helping others and then there's the ritual of helping others. For example, the ritual of giving someone a seat. So we offer seats, we offer water, we offer words, all these things, the central ritual that's there, the center of it is helping others. And we use these forms in which to do the ritual. I said it to myself that the central ritual of Zen is sitting meditation.

[12:46]

I can say that too. The central ritual of Zen is helping others. The central ritual of Zen is sitting meditation. You can change it and say the central form the central ritual form of Zen is sitting meditation. meditation is to sit in meditation upright we put our hands traditionally in this mudra which is the mudra that the Buddha uses when she's sitting it's called the cosmic mudra we sit with this mudra and there's other details of the posture that we usually recommend which maybe I'll go into later if you remind me so we assume the sitting posture and this is a central ritual

[14:07]

It's not an entity of sitting. It's a sitting with the understanding that the sitting is not an entity. They sit and think that their sitting is an entity. So then it's not really a ritual. It's just a thing they're doing. They may say it's a ritual, but I say if they think the ritual is an entity, it's not a ritual of enlightenment. A ritual of enlightenment is We make, we give this form of posture of sitting. It's not an entity, but it is a ritual and it realizes the non-entity of all things. I use this conventional form of posture to realize the ultimate truth. The sitting posture is the central ritual for enacting helping others.

[15:19]

Once again, the central ritual can be said to be sitting upright. Sitting upright is a ritual enactment of helping others. this and this helping others is again this sitting is for the sake of all beings and this sitting is not does not really exist as an entity I'm sitting and I'm not really existing as an entity the sitting is here and it's not existing as an entity Therefore, this sitting enacts helping others. Therefore, this sitting heals the world. And because I wanted to heal the world, I received the teaching that the world is not an entity, does not exist really as an entity.

[16:32]

I do not exist as an entity. The sitting does not exist as an entity. This is saving the world. This is the central ritual in the form of sitting. You can also use every other body posture for this same purpose. I could rhapsodize on this whenever you're ready. Let me know. The rhapsody on the theme of the central ritual of sitting. Elizabeth, are you ready?

[17:43]

Elizabeth, are you ready? Steph, are you ready? Linda, are you ready? Deborah, are you ready? Doris, are you ready? Deb, ready? Marsha, ready? Janelle, ready? Rose, ready? Let's go. In acting helping others in sitting, when sitting, this sitting fills the entire universe. and the entire universe fills this sitting.

[18:47]

When Buddha sits, oh, when she sits. When Buddha sits, oh, when she sits. When Buddha sits, her sitting fills the whole universe. And the whole universe fills her sitting. She's open to the universe filling the whole universe. She's open to the universe filling her whole sitting. And she wants this to be the same for all beings. This is how she sits. Her sitting fills the whole universe means she gives her sitting to the whole universe, to all beings. and she lets all beings give themselves to her and she welcomes them all and in her welcoming there's no grasping them her welcoming is that she can't get a hold of them she welcomes her fear and she welcomes the fear of others she welcomes her self-righteousness and the self-righteousness of others

[20:15]

and she wants self-righteousness, so she's not self-righteous. She thinks this is right, and she thinks this is wrong, but in her welcoming of what she thinks is right, in her welcoming of what she thinks wrong, she does not cling to what she thinks is right. But she does. She thinks two plus two is four, and she thinks that's right, but she doesn't dwell in it, because she welcomes it so totally. And she can equally welcome 2 plus 2 is 13. Equally welcome it and not dwell on that either. She doesn't need to dwell in 2 plus 2 is 4 in order to remember that 2 plus 2 is 13 is very creative and playful. Or anyway, maybe not very, just playful. We are playful beings.

[21:22]

We can think 2 plus 2 is 13, and some other numbers too. We can think 2 plus 2 is pi. It's actually quite close to pi. Less integer away. The central ritual of the Buddha way is that whatever you're doing fills the whole universe and the whole universe fills what you're doing. What you're doing is the ritual enactment of that reality. Now, take the central ritual to walking. This walking, this walking right now, fills the whole universe.

[22:27]

The whole universe fills this walking. This step fills the whole universe. The whole universe fills this step. This posture, which is walking, fills the whole universe. This is the way Buddha walks. I walk like a Buddha. I want to walk like a Buddha. This wanting is not an entity. I'm not an entity. Buddha is not an entity. This is a ritual celebration of Buddha's walking. This is a ritual enactment of saving the world. Because Buddha is saving the world. Or Buddha is the saving of the world. Buddha is all Buddhist Buddhism. Buddha way is all Christians being saved from Christianity, all Jews being saved from Judaism, all Muslims being saved from Muslim, all Hindus being saved from Hinduism.

[23:37]

All religions, not all religions, is the Buddha way. including the Buddha way. The Buddha way not dwelling in the Buddha way is the Buddha way. This walking is enacting not dwelling in the Buddha way. I am devoted to the Buddha way therefore I walk not dwelling in the Buddha way because that's the way the Buddha way is. And this is helping others. And my walking is for the sake of others. That's what my walking is for. Walking too. And when I think that way and walk that way, this is the ritual playful way to walk. It's playful because I'm not being rigid and stuck

[24:39]

of enacting supreme perfect complete enlightenment I care so much about it I don't take it seriously it's too important it's so important that we don't grasp it flowers fall when we grasp them But when you give them away, they bloom. Even when they're dying, they bloom when you give them away. And so my body, which is dying, I give it away, and it will bloom in that giving. And if I keep giving it for as long as there's a body like this, it will continue to bloom. If I try to hold on to it, who wilt and die. As I mentioned last week in San Luis Obispo some people would say that a 65-year-old man has lost 65 years or at least 64.

[25:57]

I don't talk that way anymore. I've given that up. I say, I gave away 65 years. I've given away 65 years. It's a gift to you. 65 years I give to you. I give to all beings. All my years are gifts. This is a ritual enactment of enlightenment. If it's wholehearted, then that's great. If it's half-hearted, I welcome its half-heartedness. Please come, half-heartedness. The ritual enactment of enlightenment by sitting. This is the central ritual of Zen. The ritual enactment of enlightenment. by walking the ritual enactment of enlightenment by speaking by conversing I'm talking to you and this talking fills the whole universe and the whole universe fills this talking I can't get a hold of it but I can talk with your help because all universe is filling me here I am talking because the whole universe is filling you you're listening

[27:27]

Do you wish to give yourself to the performance of this ritual moment by moment? I pray the world needs you to do so. The world needs beings to commit themselves to such a path. And if you commit yourself, I say, wonderful. And if you forget, I say, wonderful. welcome forgetfulness if you resist I say welcome if you resist accepting the responsibility of enacting enlightenment if you resist it I say welcome resistance I say welcome you who is resisting if you don't want to enact enlightenment I say welcome to you you're welcome to come if you don't want to and again Welcoming the enactment, welcoming enlightenment, enacting enlightenment by welcoming it, is the same as welcoming helping others.

[28:41]

You welcome helping others into your life right now. If you don't, you're welcome. If I don't, I'm welcome. Well, that's in a way just a little, but that's also a lot. Maybe I'll stop now and see if there's anything you'd like. Maybe I'll stop now and just let you sit quietly allowing your sitting to fill the whole universe and let the whole universe fill your sitting. See if from such a sitting anything comes up that you'd like to bring forth.

[29:45]

hear your words and I receive them I recognize the truth of them and I sit here now and I have no idea how to do this what I'm doing I just I just don't know I just what are we doing and how do I do this I guess only by doing it. No one knows. Nobody knows. But here you are, yacking away. Yeah, because I still need to hold on to something, I guess. I need to think that I know what I'm doing. You think you need to know? I guess not. I do it anyway, don't I? A little while ago you didn't know and you came forward to yourself. But now you notice you're slipping back into old ways of knowing what you're doing.

[31:06]

Well, now I can't do that. I mean, it's just... Well, you do know that. Yeah, but I do it anyway. But you also don't know that. What does that mean? Now you're trying to get... ...again. Always. I'm always asking, what is this? But I think that there's an answer, and I have to just keep asking. You can learn how to say, what is this, without trying to get anything. I can? Yes, you can. I allow you to do so. To say, what is this, as a gift. As a gift to... To, yeah, to, to, to... Yeah? To what? Uh-huh. Yeah, right. and that what includes the whole universe. That's what you give your gifts to. You can learn to make your gifts to the whole universe. You can learn that. We can learn that. Since I have no idea what encompasses the whole universe... Just a second.

[32:12]

You can have an idea of what encompasses the whole universe. Yeah, but that's not it. But that doesn't encompass the whole universe. That's just an idea. That's fine. That's welcome in the universe. We have people who have ideas about it in it. But whatever my idea is, that ain't it. Whatever your idea is, that ain't it. No. But anyway, you can come and sit here in front of me and you can say, you know, try to find out what's going on. You can do that. That's fine. You can say, what is it? But you can say that without trying to get something by that offering. It was a gift. It was a gift. I came up here because I thought maybe other people don't know. And I just wanted to come up here in front of you and everybody else and just say I have no idea, no clue what we're doing and how to do it. Yes, and you can offer that. What you just said now sounds like an offering, pure and simple.

[33:16]

But you can also offer the question, what are we doing? But without trying to get anything. There's many scriptures where great beings come forward and they say something like, they say to Buddha, what are we doing? But they already know what we're doing. They're not asking the question to get information from the Buddha. as a gift to all beings because there's some beings who may still think that that life is about getting things so they show how to come and ask for something where you're not trying to get anything like you could come here and you could say please love me and you could do that try to get me to love you Please give me the truth. And you can say that. A great being can say that. They can say, please give me the truth. But they aren't trying to get anything by that. In fact, they're giving. They're asking that question to help all beings.

[34:19]

Yeah, I think I was. I'm trying to accept that the question is is the answer. There are no words for it. What was I going to say? In the face of not knowing what I'm doing, and that's the best way to do it, to save all beings, is to... I don't know. It's maybe a way to save all beings is to say what you have to say as a gift. to say what you have to say without trying to get anything. Or to enact, you know, to playfully enact a person who's trying to get something. You know, as a kind of play. Like, I'm coming to get something. You can do that. That's not hard.

[35:22]

Without dwelling in it. And that's what you can learn, is you can pretend to be somebody who's trying to get something without dwelling in really, you know, I'm just like pretending to be something. I'm not really trying to get something. I'm just giving myself. Yes, I am. Yeah. Did you say, yes, I am? Yeah. And you can be playful about that. But anyway, I still sit. Anyway, I still sit. Anyway, you still sit. And also, you're not trying to get it. So, there's nothing to be gotten. Yeah. And just to check and prove that there's nothing to be gotten, you can come and say, I want to get something. I came here to get something. Yeah. You can playfully be that person and see if you can not be fooled by yourself. I'll be fooled by myself. Yeah, I fool myself all the time. Yeah, and then if you're fooling yourself, see if you can not be fooled by that.

[36:28]

Just playfully fool yourself. I know that I'm doing that. Pardon? Myself doing it. Yeah, and see yourself doing it and welcome it. Okay. See yourself doing it, welcome it, and not dwell in it. And if you push it away, do it playfully, like, I'm going to push it away. I'm going to push away being the way I am. But playfully. And then you won't dwell on it. And if you don't dwell on it, all beings are helped. That's another thing. I have no idea what that means, to help all beings, and yet... To give up that idea that you have no idea helps all beings. And if you did have an idea, all beings to make that a gift would also help all beings giving helps all beings it's the first way we all beings are helped by giving up not having an idea of how to help if that's where you're at yeah and then when you do have give that away too because either one is thinking i know something

[37:47]

Either one could be thinking that's it, but thinking that's it, which people do think sometimes, that can be a gift. But you have to make it a gift. It's a gift actually given to you. And now you can give it away. If you give it away, you're not stuck in it. That's why I came up here. Yes. To ritually enact being playful with your ideas. Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome to come and play. You can learn this. You can show people that being confused can be ritual enactment of enlightenment.

[38:51]

Would you like a microphone? Sure. Would you like some water? Would you like some water? Yes, please. I don't have any water. Your turn. Your turn. You do have some water. Yes, I do. What is enlightenment? What is helping others? That's too simple. Thank you for your gift. So the capacity to give to others, helping others.

[40:30]

The capacity to give to others and others to give to you and the giving itself, which cannot be grasped, all that working thoroughly. is reality and living in accord with that all your actions in accord with that is enlightenment. You're welcome. You can roll over on your back now. Would you like some water? Would I? Would you like me to get you some water? Yes, please. Is that your cup? No, but it's a cup. Is this the cup you are using? It's the cup that you're holding.

[41:34]

I wanted to check out something you said last night. Check away. Okay. Have we met before? Have we met before? No, we have not. But some other people met before. You have a very... to someone I've met before. So I'm meeting you now who thinks that way. Uh-huh. So that resemblance seems really useful if I remember that it's a resemblance, but can you sort of help me sort that out? Can you sort out that the resemblance is useful? Without getting stuck in it, yeah. The resemblance is useful even if you're stuck in it. But then the resemblance is useful in misery. Thank you. You're welcome. But if the resemblance could also be useful for not sticking, then it's useful in helping others.

[43:11]

How is the resemblance created? How is it created? It's created by things. It's created by innumerable past beings, past Karens and past Rebs. It's created by the, you know, by the development of our species. It's created by sound. It's created by the earth and the stars. The whole universe creates this thing called the experience of similarity between beings. Beings in our mind and beings we meet now. And how it actually will be revealed when you welcome it without dwelling in it. when you welcome the appearance of similarity without dwelling in it.

[44:39]

When you welcome the appearance of similarity by realizing that that's a conventional thing based on thought constructions, which are composed of thought constructions, therefore this similarity cannot be established and therefore the similarity is not similarity. But still it's useful as a place to exercise generosity and non-attachment. When you were talking about all of the things that come into his creation, it's kind of stunning. Stunning. I mean, I feel... You got stunned. Yeah, I saw this new person, this stunned person coming. And she's gone now. Now what have you got? Who's here now? Who's here now? I don't know.

[45:41]

I don't know. And not only don't I know, but the 10,000 sages don't know either. And yet here we are, hanging out together, even though nobody knows who we are. Thank you. You're welcome. on some ritual instruction. We have sitting meditation, which I talked about earlier, walking meditation, and a little bit more, a little bit more.

[46:44]

In one of our scriptures, which we call the Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma, the Wonderful Truth, the lotus flower of the inconceivable teaching of the Buddha. There's a place where the Buddha says, first I sit on the place of awakening. And also sometimes translated as, first I sat on the place of awakening. You may know the story of the Buddha that the Buddha sat at the place of awakening which was actually under a tree. He sat on the ground under a tree. The place that the Buddha awoke was a place under a tree.

[47:48]

So the Buddha said first I sit or sat in the place of enlightenment and contemplated the tree and did walking meditation. So you can put it in the past tense. So it could be the Buddha is now sitting in the place of enlightenment under the tree and the Buddha says, first I sit in this place of enlightenment and I contemplate the tree and I do meditation. Or first I sat at the place of enlightenment and I meditated on the tree or walked about.

[48:58]

And then it goes on to say, I walked about for three weeks. So the story about the Buddha is the Buddha sat at this place of awakening and actually basically the Buddha stayed at that place for three weeks but in this rendition he didn't just sit there for three weeks he sat and walked and sat and walked and sat and walked for three weeks reviewing enlightenment reviewing helping others reviewing filling the whole universe and being filled by the whole universe and one interpretation of contemplate the tree means it would be contemplate dependent co-arising the tree represents dependent co-arising

[50:15]

The Buddha sat on the tree. Contemplating the tree is contemplating that the Buddha with the earth and the tree realized awakening. The tree represents that enlightenment is a dependent core rising. Contemplating dependent core rising and enlightenment is a dependent core rising that comes with contemplating dependent core rising. So the Buddha sits and contemplates the tree for three weeks. The Buddha sits and contemplates dependent co-arising for three weeks. Part of what enlightenment is. You could also say the Buddha sat and contemplated helping others. Which is the same as contemplating the tree. Or and

[51:19]

I walked about. Walked about. The Buddha's walking. And the Buddha continues to contemplate the tree. When she walks, she is contemplating the pinnacle rising. And then the Buddha sits again. and contemplates the pentacle rising. And then the Buddha gets up and walks. And this walking is contemplating the pentacle rising. This walking is contemplating hell. This walking with mindfulness of filling the whole universe This walking with mindfulness, the whole universe feels this walking. This walking fills the whole universe.

[52:25]

The whole universe feels this walking. I'm walking and remembering the tree and the place. Buddha sits in the place of filling the whole universe and being filled by the whole universe. In this way the Buddha walks. In this way the Buddha sits. And the Buddha said this is the way that she practiced after initial entry into enlightenment. After initial entry into helping others. But it's not Buddha helping others. it's the whole universe filling the Buddha and the Buddha filling the whole universe helping others. In other words, it's reality helping others.

[53:31]

And Buddha's sitting... Buddha has entered this realm and Buddha sits in this realm for three weeks herself in this realization and remembering it and making her sitting and her walking the enactment of this imprinting on her sitting and walking this realization, this truth. This is the words from the Buddha to teach you how to walk. In other words, when you walk, you're walking contemplating reality. You're walking contemplating what helps others. And in Soto Zen, we emphasize this kind of walking, and we walk slowly. There's other, you can also walk fast, but anyway, we emphasize sometimes walking slowly so that you can remember.

[54:39]

Why do we walk so slowly? This is really slow walking. I remember why we're walking slowly. We're walking slowly because this walking... is also contemplating the tree. This walking is remembering that this walking, this step I'm taking is not just to get a few inches forward, it's to help all beings. This walking is for the sake of all beings. lifting the heel. This step is for all beings. Now this is also being playful. I'm walking, but actually I'm walking for all beings.

[55:48]

That's actually quite playful of you. and you're also making your walking into a ritual. Ritual, play, enlightenment, helping others in all actions. In your speech, I'm speaking, I'm speaking while remembering the tree. I'm speaking for the sake of all beings. I'm speaking to help others. I'm speaking and there's no entity in the speaking. The speaking, I should say no entity, but the speaking does not really exist by itself. I'm talking like this if you weren't here. You can leave the room and watch to see that I don't I'm backing up.

[56:54]

I'm in reverse. This is a playful... Enlightenment in reverse. Are you hearing okay? Yeah. Great. Then here's a ritual for you to... Here's some ritual details. I should say formal details. And that is... There's a considerable discussion about these forms, but I'm just going to offer you one without telling you all the controversies and dilemmas. So there's one way of doing it where you stand upright...

[57:58]

with your feet about shoulders width apart and with one foot ahead of the other so that the toe is at the instep of the front foot. and then you tune into your body and shift your weight so that there's more weight on your lead foot than on your back foot so your back foot doesn't have much weight on it then check into your breathing and notice whether you notice inhaling and exhaling and then as you see the beginning of an inhale lift the heel of the back foot on the inhale and as you inhale also shift more weight onto the lead foot so there's less and less weight on the back foot until almost all your weight is on the lead foot by the end of the inhale so now when the exhale starts this back foot is very light with the beginning of the exhale you can step

[59:22]

and step so that your feet are about in the same relationship they were before and then continue to exhale and now shift your weight onto the new lead foot the new lead foot and then again as you finish the exhale then the inhale starts and as the inhale starts lift the heel of the back foot And again, shifting even more weight onto the lead foot. At the end of the exhale, at the beginning of the exhale, step again. This is a kind of easy way, I think, to tune into your body and breath here at this place. And you get quite present here. inhaling, lifting the heel, inhaling, [...] inh

[60:46]

See how it collapses? So you put the thumb of the left hand down and curl your fingers around it and place it maybe below your sternum and then take the right hand and cover it. So your arms are somewhat like this and you can experiment with this until you find a comfortable way to hold it. It took me many years to find a comfortable way to hold it. Some of you may be faster than me. But now this is really comfortable for me. It's actually more comfortable for me to do this than to walk with my hands hanging down now. But at first it was easier walking with my hands down. So you can experiment with this. So this is the posture, standing upright, walking this way. And breathing and movement, coordination, you can get quite concentrated this way. I'd like you to watch me now and then say what my breathing is doing, if you have some sense of what my breathing is doing.

[62:09]

Is that clear? What else did you notice about me doing this walking about my body? Yeah, I'm swaying side to side. I don't just shift my weight forward onto the lead foot I also shift to the side on the lead foot and then forward and to the side so there's a kind of... Now what I'm telling you in addition because this could be just people say well that's walking meditation but it's not a ritual it's a ritual in the sense that now I'm doing this walking but each step is for the welfare of all beings. So now this is not just walking meditation which is quite concentrated but this concentrated walking is for the sake of all beings. This walking is to enact enlightenment.

[63:58]

This walking is not Buddha. This is Buddha's walking. This is walking the form I just told you isn't in that teaching of the Buddha but now remembering that this walking is to save all beings this is the way the Buddha walked so the Buddha is naturally concentrated like this and this technique I just taught you is a way to be concentrated like a Buddha but Buddha isn't just concentrated Buddha is walking each step for the sake of all beings each breath for the sake of all beings each step to help others help others help others

[65:01]

help others. This is the path of fearlessness. This step is to help others. If I fall down, if I die, because this step and this death is for helping others. Helping others. filling the whole universe. Being filled by the whole universe with this step. This mindfulness, this is the way the Buddha taught us. This is the way the Buddha told us. This is the way the Buddha walked for three weeks. Buddha sat, sitting, to help all others. And again, contemplating the tree means the Buddha contemplated that the tree is not an entity.

[66:17]

It doesn't exist as an entity. And the beings who I sit for don't exist as entities. That's part of why it's a ritual. So you can give yourself to this ritual now, that you understand how to do it, or you can resist it, either way. But you've got it. It's yours. I gave it to you. And I resisted it a lot, as I told you. It took me years to find a way to do this in a comfortable way. So I'm pushing you. I'm graciously offering you this. And if you don't practice it, I welcome you. And if you do practice it, I welcome you. And that's another way you can do this. Inhaling, welcome all beings.

[67:22]

Welcome everything. Step, welcome everything. Welcome all beings. Welcome all beings. Be playful with it. I'm just giving you some ideas of how to be a Buddha. How to walk like Buddha. How to sit like Buddha. How to enter into the realm of helping others. And also the Chinese expression for this walking meditation, the Japanese pronouns, kin hin. And the characters literally mean circulating the script. Or circulate the thread.

[68:26]

The Chinese-Japanese word for scripture means thread. Thread. it refers, you know, like you've heard of the Tao Te Ching or the I Ching. The Ching means, which means scripture or book. And the thread is the thread that you run through the pages to hold them together. And in Sanskrit, too, the word for scripture is sutra, which is related to the English word sutra, sutra, which is the thread that runs through the text. The thread of the meaning of the text the thread of the teaching so this walking meditation is to circulate the thread or circulate the teaching so when you're walking here you can circulate the Buddha's teaching circular for Buddha's teaching when you walk to brunch you can circulate the teaching you can circulate the teaching of the Buddha

[69:32]

You can be mindful of this walking to lunch, this walking to brunch. I give this walking as a gift. I'm not just walking over there to get breakfast for me. I'm walking over there to help all beings. You can walk that way. And you can walk back that way. And when you're eating, this eating this delicious breakfast is for the sake of others. You can try it. Sitting, walking, talking, eating. All these activities the Buddha does as helping others, for helping others, and so on. Walking is a ritual, eating is a ritual, and also all this should have the quality of playfulness. This is so important, to walk to walk, to help others.

[70:36]

It's so important. That playfulness, otherwise you'll start to sink into how heavy and important this is. It's got to be light, otherwise you'll retire early. It needs to be playful and joyful and relaxed. when I was a kid there was a TV show I watched called the Jackie Gleason show and Jackie Gleason used to say he called it the name he had a band he would come out and stand on a stage and he had a band also and he would say at a certain point he would address the band leader and he would say a little traveling music please and they'd play music and then he'd stroll around and do a flip

[71:36]

So, music, Connie? Did you hit the bell? This is traditional traveling music in Zen. That's traveling music. So you want to do some walking meditation now in here? Circulate the teaching, step by step.

[72:06]

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