Once again, tuning in to this series of meetings, there was a kind of a title for this meditation course called, Enlightenment and Delusion, or something like that. And then there was a further comment that we will look at the dance of enlightenment and delusion. So in one sense you might think enlightenment's a thing which, or I might think enlightenment's a thing that dances with delusion. But another way is perhaps that the dance with delusion is enlightenment. So then enlightenment's not something in addition to the dance with delusion or

[01:07]

Dancing with delusion. The way of being with delusion in a kind of dancing way is enlightenment, you could say, with delusion, enlightenment in the midst of delusion. sometimes we might say that enlightenment in the midst of delusion is Buddha's, is Buddha. Sometimes we might say that those who are enlightened in the midst of delusion are Buddha's. It seems a little bit more intimate just to say being enlightened in the midst of delusion is Buddha Another way to say it is dancing with delusion is Buddha's.

[02:12]

Now this kind of enlightenment seems particularly appropriate for what we call bodhisattvas, those on the path to Buddhahood. And there's a little bit of potential confusion in the history of the tradition of Buddhadharma. And it comes from statements like, so-and-so had a great enlightenment experience. as though enlightenment were something that happened to somebody, or that enlightenment is somebody's experience. And tonight I kind of feel like that kind of language is referring to when somebody wakes up and sees the dance. They didn't see the dance before. They saw delusion, kind of.

[03:24]

We all see delusion, but most of us don't know it's delusion. But they saw what most of us see, namely delusion, and they knew it was delusion, and then they woke up to that there was a dance going on. Splish, splash, I was taking a bath. Come around Saturday night. There was a party going on. I awoke to the party. I didn't realize before. But then we also have the statement that that which can be met with recognition is not realization itself. So if someone wakes up and sees the dance with delusion, sees the world of delusion with all the deluded people, or just one deluded person, or just one delusion, but then they wake up and see there's a party going on, There's a dance here.

[04:30]

This delusion is not all by itself. It has a partner. And its partner is the dance. Sometimes people wake up to that, have an experience of that, They recognize it, which then is a big deal. However, the thing they're seeing is not the realization itself, and the seeing is not the realization itself. The realization is there, and they're recognizing it, but their recognition is not the realization. You can see people dancing, but what you see is not the dance. You're very happy sometimes to see people dancing or even to see yourself dancing. But seeing yourself dancing, seeing somebody else dancing, that's not dancing. Dancing is not the same as recognizing dancing. However, sometimes when people are dancing, they sometimes think, I think I'm dancing.

[05:35]

My God, it's happening. Another way to say this, which sometimes is offered, is a great understanding of delusion, or great understanding in the midst of delusion. But again, to me it seems now that the great understanding is not that you're sitting there understanding delusion. but that you're dancing with it. It's not that you look at somebody and say, I understand you and I understand my relationship with you. You can actually act it out other than just say — actually, your saying of it could be the dance. But it's actually more of an activity, this enlightenment.

[06:37]

The understanding is more of an activity with delusion. It doesn't eliminate delusion. It is a way of being with delusion. And being with delusion in that way liberates delusion. Being with sentient beings in this way liberates sentient beings. And bodhisattvas are sentient beings who still see delusion They still see sentient beings, but they plunge into the relationship more and more wholeheartedly until all there is is the dance with delusion. And again, it can happen to sentient beings that they wake up to the dance and they see the dance and they recognize the dance, which doesn't hurt usually, or it can hurt, but it can be part of the process of dancing is to be aware that you're dancing.

[07:44]

But some, again, I think probably that in the greatest dance performances, the dancers are not thinking that they're dancing. And even when we're watching a great dance performance, I think sometimes we do not think they're dancing. We don't even think they're good. You know, we could, but I think when we're really watching them and we're really with them, that they don't think they're dancing and we don't think this is amazing. Later we might think, that was amazing. I'm glad I was here for that moment when I stopped thinking about dancing and beauty and just The dancer was there and I was there and that was it. I kind of wish I could have been there to say how good it was, but I wasn't. So in that sense, we don't eliminate delusion, but when we dance in the wholehearted dance with delusion, there's no delusion.

[09:05]

It's not that it's eliminated, it's that we realize that it's not actually there the way things are usually there. So the way we usually perceive things is that they're there kind of by themselves. Now we know they have relationships, but they look kind of like they're standing there by themselves. And even if we see little filaments connected between them and everybody else, we still probably think the little filaments are standing by themselves. It's just the way we see. That's delusion. And that's perception. Perception usually is we make the universe into little, graspable objects. It's not wrong that this is Charlie. That's not the delusion. The delusion is that Charlie's out there separate from Reb and Tracy and Fred. It looks that way.

[10:10]

Before I do any practice with it, it just comes that way, that things seem to be out there kind of on their own. I know it's not true, but that's the way they look. And let's respect that. Let's love that. Let's dance with that. Let's find the dance with these delusions." And there's an infinite variety of them. Some of them are really crazy, and some of them are just ordinary things like a person. I just wanted to briefly mention the word conspiracy, which I may come back to later before the series is over. But I just love this expression I read in this novel called Bleak House, where this lovely young lady named Esther Summerson says, blah, blah, the general conspiracy to keep me in good humor.

[11:30]

She sees this general conspiracy in this world of delusion to keep her in good humor. And she's very deeply touched by the great kindness that is of this conspiracy. And I will maybe later talk about some other kinds of conspiracies. But before I do, I wanted to talk about something that someone gave, some feedback someone gave me And the feedback was, I have a problem with bowing. And in this practice set up, some people are practicing bowing and some other people aren't. Bowing is one of the ways Bowing is a delusion and bowing is a way to dance with delusion.

[12:35]

It's both a delusion in the sense that when we think of bowing, a bow is out there separate from us. That's a bow and that's not a bow. And there's a, you know, the bowing and the not bowing are independent of each other. Bowing is a delusion, but also bowing is a means by which to practice dancing with delusion. It's a traditional form to learn to be enlightened. It's a traditional form to learn how to be with delusions of like my body and your body, to be with my body and your body, or my body and Buddha's body, to be with those delusions, the delusion of my body and the delusions of Buddha, to be with those delusions in such a way to cut through the delusion. to liberate the delusion of my body and your body. So I'd like to talk about this dance since it's being practiced here.

[13:43]

Now we also have, the way it's being practiced here is that a number of people, when they come to their place of sitting, they bow to their place, and then they turn, some according to the traditional Zen method, they turn clockwise, and then they bow away in the other direction from their seat. So the one way to understand this, there's many ways to understand this, but one way to understand it, which I recommend to you, is that when you bow to your place, you're bowing to the place of enlightenment. the Chinese characters for this place that you sit are pronounced in Japanese anyway, dojo, which means way place or place for the way.

[14:55]

And the way also means the word way or Tao also means enlightenment in the Buddhist tradition. So it's an enlightenment place. or in Sanskrit it's the Bodhi Mandala or Bodhimanda. The place that we sit is the place of enlightenment. In the yoga room, there's a number of places where different people sit, and each place is a place of enlightenment. Each place is a Bodhimanda. a dojo. So we bow, we pay our respects, we pay homage to the place of enlightenment. Now this place of enlightenment is the place where each of us sit. It's the place where each of us be ourselves.

[15:59]

It's a place where each of us are trying to completely just be who we are at the moment. In other words, it's a place where we are trying to enter into not moving. So as I mentioned before, for you to be yourself is not moving. For you to be yourself is stillness. And in the stillness of you being yourself is where enlightenment lives, and now that it is enlightenment. Enlightenment is the nature of you being you. Your nature, your sentient being nature, the condition of you being you is enlightenment. And for you to accept that and be still with that, for you to accept that is to be still with it, and for you to be still with it is enlightenment.

[17:09]

For you to be willing to be yourself is enlightenment, which again is the same as for you to be dancing with yourself, to be dancing with the illusion of yourself. And the place where you do that is the place of enlightenment. And wherever you are is the place of enlightenment, if you're practicing being yourself where you are. And where you are, of course, you're not moving in the place you are. You can move away from the place you are, you can distract yourself from the place you are and be in another place, and you can distract yourself from that place, but actually where you are And the fact of you being the way you are is what is meant by bodhi. And that's being still. So we venerate the place by bowing to it when we sit, traditionally. And then we turn clockwise and bow away.

[18:13]

And that bow is to everybody else. It's a bow to the Buddhas, and it's a bow to all bodhisattvas, and it's a bow to all sentient beings. So that's one way to understand this bowing to the seat and bowing away. It's also, you know, we don't usually do it, but we sometimes do do it, that instead of we do a full prostration to the place we're going to sit. You could say, well, it's a little crowded in the yoga room to do that, maybe a little bit too radical for the yoga room to do that. But in your own home, you could do a full prostration to the place you sit. Because again, the place you sit, the place you awaken, the place you practice being yourself, if you bow to that place, you're also bowing to Buddha. Because Buddha is the dance of you with yourself.

[19:17]

So you can do a full prostration to the place you sit at home, if there's room, and then dive into that place. Now the word bodhisattva is often translated as enlightening being. Bodhi means enlightenment or enlightening, and sattva, being. So enlightenment being or a being whose essence is enlightenment. That's a reasonable translation. But today I'd like to bring up another translation of the sattva part. Sattva can mean being, but in the context of bodhi, sattva could also be translated as hero or heroine. And the Tibetans actually translate bodhisattva from Sanskrit into Tibetan as enlightenment mind hero.

[20:30]

What's the heroic part? The heroic part is being yourself. That's the most heroic thing to do. which means living in the midst of all the things that are happening to you. To have the courage and the heroic spirit which is willing to be ourselves. That's the Bodhisattva who lives in her place. Eventually, all day long, So in a sense, every moment she's bowing to the place she is. Her feeling is full prostration to the place she is. So again, usually we slip back into feeling separate from others or feeling separate from Buddhas or even identifying with others as part of our feeling separate.

[21:49]

Identification is delusion. We're not completely the same as other people. So there's a traditional verse when bowing, for example, bowing to a Buddha or Bodhisattva, the traditional verse is, person bowing, person bowed to, or literally, the activity of bowing and the receiving of the bowing. So it actually has the word for bowing and then has, in Chinese, character for bowing and then an active marker and then the character for bowing and a passive marker. So that which is bowing and that which is bowed to, or the act of bowing and the receiving of the bowing, or sentient being and Buddha, if I'm bowing to a Buddha, their nature is the same, namely no nature.

[23:13]

Their nature is to be themselves, and being ourselves, we become free of ourselves. So person bowing, person bowed to, act of bowing, or that which is bowing and that which is bowed to, their nature, no nature. So again, this dance of bowing to somebody, of bowing to somebody, a person, a statue, but also bowing to a practice, Like you bow to the practice of sitting by bowing to the place of sitting. You're actually dancing with your sitting place. Like in tango, you know, you kind of like look across the room and you kind of go, kind of bow, and she looks away because she doesn't want to dance with you. Or you look at her and she kind of goes, and starts moving towards you. She doesn't have to dance with you.

[24:21]

She has her ways to avoid it if she doesn't want to. So you kind of bow to her. So, same with your sitting. You bow to your sitting place, bow to enlightenment, and the nature of that which is bowing and that which is bowed to have the same nature. My body, other bodies, next line is my body, other bodies, not two. Plunge, now I plunge into the inconceivable vow and live the life of enlightenment. So this dance of bowing is is to cut through the sense of separation, which is part of the reason why some people have trouble with bowing is because they have a feeling like they're bowing to something other than themselves, or that putting something on a pedestal.

[25:34]

Putting things on pedestals is another dance, is another delusion. You're not doing the delusion of putting something up on a pedestal. That's a delusion. But can you dance with the delusion of putting something on a pedestal? Or putting something down? We recommend not putting anything down. Don't put anything below you. Don't put anything down. Just put things up. And then dance with that. Don't put it up and attach to it. Dance with it. Put it up and say, may I dance with you? Put her up. May I dance with you? Put him up. May I dance with you? And if she says no, hey, that's okay. Wait and ask again. Eventually she'll say yes.

[26:37]

when she sees you practicing dancing, when she realizes that you accept and honor her rejection of you, So this way of relating to a statue or a teacher or the Buddha, again, is the same way we relate to the Dharma, the same way we relate to the Sangha, the community, and the same way we relate to all the practices. We venerate all the practices, but then dance with them. Not venerate them and solidify them. Venerate them and dance with them so that they realize that they're insubstantial. Be devoted to them in order to realize they're insubstantial.

[27:43]

Be devoted to them in order to not cling to them. Be devoted to your dance partner in order to realize the dance, not in order to get control of your partner. Buddha is not in control of deluded beings. Deluded beings are the ones who are trying to control deluded beings. And Buddha is not trying to stop deluded beings from trying to control themselves and others. If Buddha could stop them, would Buddha stop them? Maybe so. But Buddha understands that she cannot stop them. So what she does is she joins them. She joins them in controlling by dancing with the controlling impulse. If somebody has a problem with bowing, the bodhisattva bows to the person's trouble having bowing.

[29:03]

The bodhisattva venerates sentient beings who have trouble venerating sentient beings. The bodhisattva venerates The Bodhisattva plays with those who do not want to play some kinds of games, like bowing to Buddhas. If someone is not playful, if someone is bowing to the Buddha but not playful, but they're bowing, but they're really bowing, but they're not playful about it, the Bodhisattva comes and teaches them how to play in the bowing process. If somebody is refusing to bow to Buddha, refusing to bow to bodhisattvas, refusing to honor teachers, then the bodhisattva comes and plays, teaches them how to play in refusing to bow. And when I propose that when you start to become playful with your refusal to bow, you will bow.

[30:10]

you'll be so grateful to be not caught by your refusal to bow that you will bow to express your gratitude for freedom from your resistance to bowing. And those who are resisting bowing by bowing unplayfully, so I'm suggesting if you're practicing bowing unplayfully, you're really resisting the bow. Does that make sense? if you're rigidly, if you're coercing yourself into bow, in other words, not being playful with the bow, you're really resisting the bow. I'm proposing that in order to actually bow with no resistance, you have to be playing with it or dancing with it. And if I were able, if I was resisting the bowing, even though I did many bows, over the years, in this lifetime, I've done quite a few bows.

[31:31]

If I wasn't being playful, but then I started to be playful, then I think I would bow to express my gratitude at finally being able to be playful at this thing I've been doing for all these years, unplayfully. And even if you get free of your non-playful, undancing way of bowing, and you're overwhelmed with joy and freedom and gratitude for finally bowing in a playful way, A moment later you can lose it and be uptight about it again. In other words, lose the playfulness, lose the dance, and make the bow into another separate delusion, which you have not been playful with because it was so great. This is too great to be playful with. This realization is too wonderful to be relaxed about and to dance with. This dance was so great, forget the dance, I want to possess it.

[32:38]

You're a great dance partner. This was wonderful, and now I want to own you. Normal, sentient being, delusion. Bodhisattva comes again to be playful with the one who has become possessive of their wonderful friend. And the wonderfulness of their friend was revealed to them when they weren't possessive of their friend. And when they became possessive of their friend, they lost touch with how wonderful. They remembered it was wonderful, but the person is no longer wonderful because of delusion. I've had enough of wonder. Now it's like get a hold of the wonderful. So this is a particular dance that we can practice.

[33:46]

I think that I have another wonderful topic to talk to you about, but I'm going to do it next week. And the topic is political life on the North American continent. And the struggle in the last 250 years or so over the natural rights of human beings in North America, in a place which has now come to be called United States of America. So I'd like to talk to you about that as another exercise in dancing with delusion. And the wonderful prospect of how bodhisattvas can help with the American battle, the American fight over, what do you call it, the right to life.

[35:20]

If I can stop there and bring it up next week. Also, I did some calligraphy for you. And the calligraphy is in Chinese, and I'll do it in English too if I can. But the calligraphy says, the condition of a sentient being is precisely enlightenment. Or, a sentient being being a sentient being is exactly itself bodhi. And I have a little dilemma in situations like this. In one sense, I just wanted to say that to you. In another sense, I don't want to, you know, take credit for it or anything. But I don't want to, also, I don't want to tell you, this is from a Mahayana Sutra, so that's why it's true.

[36:31]

I'm only telling you that it's from a Mahayana Sutra so that I don't take credit for it. But I'm not telling you that to get you to believe it. So let's just say I said it. Just some guy said it to you. And somebody told him about it. I didn't think of it by myself, actually. I think we all have a glimmering that that might be so. But to really sing it to the highest hill, that's a different thing. Or sing it from the highest hill to the golden daffodils. Any invitations you'd like to offer? Enrica? Would you say it again?

[37:44]

Anything can be substituted. Anything could be an opportunity. to dance with. Anything could be danced with. Everything is inviting you to dance. Any situation is inviting you to dance with it. Every situation is inviting you to enlightenment. which is the way of being with the situation, which is being playful, unattached, and wholehearted with it. And this is something in the beginning that is about being yourself all the time.

[38:53]

And where I find the disconnect or maybe the delusion that at some point I think that things should be served as well. And not seeing that this is the violence, telling me rather that it's kind of, well, it's my own truth. And when there's conflict, it's kind of like there's conflict. So, That's where I have difficulty. I had a very clear example this past weekend when I was buying and buying. You were what? Sorry. Buying and buying. OK. Did you say a vanity?

[39:58]

Yeah. What is a vanity? Yeah, double meaning. Absolutely perfect. [...] But you missed it. You missed it, it was absolutely perfect. You thought it was a conflict. So, that's it. Right there, it's perfect. That we're always concerned, we're always involved in vanities. And, but we resist that we're totally involved in vanities. Yeah, part of you wanted to... No, I don't want it, or want it to have it all figured out. Yeah, part of me wants to have it all figured out. That's a sentient being. That's an example of a sentient being. And the person who wants to have it all figured out, it would be good if that person would basically turn around and be that person who wants to have it all figured out.

[41:08]

And that would be like being very, that would be super vain But it'd be pure vanity. And that's the path to the truth, is to be the person who wants to figure out what's the best vanity. And I am suggesting, because of the ancestors, I'm suggesting that the path to truth is vanity, because we are vain beings. And going to shopping for vanities is the path to truth. The path to truth. To dance with the shopping for vanities. We're always shopping for vanities. And if we, instead of thinking, I want to figure it out, I've got it figured out. I finally got it figured out. That's another vanity. And being willing to be that person is equally good opportunity for enlightenment.

[42:15]

Sometimes if you start dancing with yourself, you don't get to choose, you just get to dance. But no choosing anymore. Just dancing. Just flying in wonderful, ecstatic spinnings and freedoms. But no, don't get to do any decisions. Sorry. Yeah, and then the decision comes from some place. Where did that come from? I'd like to learn this trick. I'd like to get a hold of this trick. Well, there I am again. Hi. The vain ones who wants to possess this magical thing that just happened, a decision made from a different place. well it's not that it didn't have anything to do with it it just had no more to do with that concept than any other concept and that's part of being a hero is to go to a shopping center to shop for something and have the heroic spirit to like not be able to decide what to do if that's where you are to be totally lost in the market place

[44:02]

and play with that person who's like that. Enlightenment is playing with that person, is dancing with that person. Any other? I'm inviting you to dance. The person that kind of shows up to dance, particularly, is a person that tends to procrastinate. Ah, the procrastinator. I'm inviting the procrastinator to dance. You know, I thought about that, but the procrastinator was a very interesting character.

[45:10]

It seemed like he turned his back to me, and then came out bossy. And he went full-on for it, I have to say. He went some dancing. He really wanted to box. Okay, now the procrastinator is, forget about procrastinating, now I invite the boxer to come and dance. This is the heroic invitation. The invitation from the hero is I invite the procrastinator to come, but then somebody else comes. Wait a minute. I didn't invite you. I invited somebody else. No. The hero invites and then welcomes whoever comes. I invited you and now somebody else is coming. I changed the invitation to the new person now. I realized I wanted to box with this boxing guy. Good. So we were boxing. Yeah. And then I realized that I was boxing.

[46:10]

It was like I stepped back again. And then I thought about that walking, walking being. And I was a little kid. And then I realized I'm watching a boxing match. of the procrastinators and the unswilling to be. But then there's another level to it almost. I was stepping back, so then of course my mind kicks in and goes, ah, that must be delusion. Delusion, I thought, still kind of questioning it. Well, that's right. That's right. I would say that's right. It's a delusion, what you said, but it's a correct delusion. I wasn't quite sure if I was living in these layers of delusion. We are living in layers of delusion. Layers of enlightenment, but then I guess they are kind of back to back in a way. They're back to back, but also face to face. I think face to face is good, but also we shouldn't be attached to face to face. Sometimes turn around, back to back. Back to back delusion is enlightenment.

[47:13]

Enlightenment. back-to-back vanity, face-to-face vanity. So look at the vanity, acknowledge the vanity is turning around and is turning the vanity around. Usually vanity is a distraction from reality, but if you face the vanity, you're going back towards reality. If I lose track of my vanity, I'm turning away from the dance. But now I can turn back and be with my diluted, vain agenda. And then now the next moment comes. And where is the vanity now? I don't know, and I'd like to. Well, there's vanity. That would be unsettling for me.

[48:14]

Yeah, it's unsettling. And then we have to be okay and settled with unsettling. We have to be calm with being agitated. We have to let go of our calm and welcome agitation. Welcoming agitation brings more calm. Charlie? I have trouble practicing Zazen by myself. And thinking about it as a dance kind of makes sense that way. I don't usually dance by myself either.

[49:19]

I'm more of a social being. Yeah. You are more of a social being than a non-social being. So do you have some advice for how to find the dance when you're alone? Well, as a matter of fact, yes. When I think I'm alone, I try to remember that I'm being alone. for the sake of all beings. And I invite all beings to come and sit with me. When I think I'm alone, I try to remember that I'm never alone.

[50:30]

Because when I think of one or two or three people that I want to live for, I'm not alone anymore. And when I think that I'm doing a practice, that I'm getting myself to a practice, I'm not alone anymore. It's me and the practice. And if I think it's my practice, then I want to be with the deluded person who thinks the practice belongs to him. So I'm also with this deluded guy here. So there's an enlightened me and a deluded me. And both of them might be practicing for the sake of all beings. when we practice zazen by ourself, the zazen we're practicing is the zazen of a deluded person.

[51:32]

Buddhas do not practice by themselves. They do not practice for themselves or by themselves. So the practice which we're doing with the Buddhas, the practice which the Buddhas are practicing with. So right now, The Buddhas are practicing with each of us, I say. And the way they're practicing with us is the practice. Right now the Buddhas are dancing with each of us. And the way they're dancing with each of us is the practice. That's the zazen of the Buddhas. If I think that I'm practicing by myself, I've forgotten about the Buddhas who are practicing with me right now. But even though I forgot them, they're still practicing with me. Just like you can be attending to a child, the child may forget that you're there attending to him and maybe say, Uncle Charlie, where are you?

[52:49]

I'm here. I'm here. Or you don't have to say, I'm here. As soon as they say, Uncle Charlie, where are you? They maybe realize that you're there. But maybe not. Maybe you have to say, I'm here. So the Buddhas have sent the message that they're with us. And if we really want to see them, they'll show themselves. And if we don't want to see them very much, they won't show themselves. But even though they don't show themselves, they're still practicing with us. So when I'm practicing in a group of people in the same room, when I'm practicing in a room there's no other people in the room, I still feel that I'm practicing in that room, I'm living in that room for all the beings who aren't in the room. But the Buddhas, who are also not in the room, are with me. Buddhas are no more with me when they're outside the room than when they come in the room. When they're outside the room, they're outside the room saying, it's wonderful to practice together with Reb.

[53:54]

I'm so happy to practice for the welfare of Reb. And they come in the room, it's just the same. Then they go out of the room, it's just the same. For non-Buddhas, being in the room and out of the room makes a big difference. But for me, whether the people are in the room or outside the room, I'm not less devoted to people who are outside the room than the people in the room. So I'm not less devoted to the people who aren't in this class than the people who are in this class. And also, if you leave the class, I don't stop being devoted to you. It isn't, I'm only devoted to you when you're in the same room with me. And as soon as you leave the room, it's like, over. So for me, the dance is to dance with the person who is me, which includes to dance with all beings.

[54:58]

And if I'm not willing to dance with me, then I think, I feel sometimes like I'm not practicing with everybody. When we're totally willing to be ourselves, we realize we're practicing with everyone. And realizing we're practicing with everyone, including the great Buddhas, helps us be ourself. It's hard to be ourself. That's the real hard thing. Remembering the practice of the welfare of others is great. Buddhas remember. Bodhisattvas remember. Remember that others are supporting us is wonderful. But the point of it comes down to all that support that you're giving others resonates back to you and helps you be yourself, which is the hardest thing. If you really are living for the welfare of all beings, they will help you admit how vain you are. And if you can really accept how vain you are, the truth will be realized.

[56:08]

For the sake of all the people who are supporting you to realize that truth. And they want you to realize it because they need somebody to show them that they can be themselves. that you're supporting them also to do this heroic thing of being themselves, of sitting at their place and being who they are, of learning how to do that in not a mean, forceful way, but in a delightful, playful, dancing way. To love delusion, not like or dislike it. So wherever we are, we can practice this way. And sometimes we're in a room when there's no other human in the room, and nobody thinks there's another, no human being thinks there's another human in the room, and Buddhas don't think there's another human in the room. But you're totally practicing with the humans who are not in the room. You really feel that way, and it can be tested.

[57:15]

you can invite some humans into the room and see if you can verify that you have been practicing for their welfare even when you couldn't see them with your eyes. And sometimes you find out that when they're actually in the room with you, you can continue to be devoted to them just like you were when they weren't in the room. Which is wonderful to see. Yeah, I wasn't just dreaming that I was devoted to beings. When they actually came near to me, I continued to be devoted to them. So some people, again, can be devoted to people they can see, but not people they can't see. Other people can be devoted to people they can't see, but not people they see. The Bodhisattva, the Buddha, is teaching us to be devoted to people we can see. The delusion of seeing somebody and the delusion that they're not here, to be devoted to both those kinds of beings. Yes? Can you say that It resonates back to you, and I can't remember what the it was.

[58:19]

It resonates back to you. The support. The support which you offer to other people. It resonates back to you and helps you see your vanity. It helps me see my vanity. Well, if you feel supportive of other beings, and particularly if you feel to support other beings to be themselves, I mean, you support the being, but you actually support them to be the way they are. And you hope that that will help them. And you have lots of teachings to help you see, the teachings are helping you to see that them being themselves would be really good. And for them being themselves, they have to be relaxed and playful and loving to themselves. You really want that for people. You really are devoted to people having that opportunity. And that support you offer to all beings resonates back to you and helps you do this hard thing, which you think would be so good if they did.

[59:20]

And then with that support, you actually do practice it. And you do feel like, thank you. And then again, you want it resonates back from you then to them. Self-concern? Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? Any ideas you have of yourself are vanities, yes. As the Christian Bible says, vanity, vanity, all is vanity. That's all there is. Delusion, delusion, all there is is delusion. Delusion, vanity, seeing things in graspable form, seeing objects as graspable things. There's a graspable woman, another graspable woman. That way of seeing things is delusion, that's vanity. It's very vain to think that you can look out in the world and make the world into little packages. But we do think that.

[60:26]

So, let's admit. Any vain people here? Hallelujah. We're admitting we're vain. I'm such a terrible person. Yes, you are. And you know who loves you. Okay. I think you get the picture. Now give it up.

[61:05]

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