So I propose to you that consciousness is, consciousness offers the opportunity for study of the Buddha way. It's like a study space. It can be like a study space for learning the Buddha way. And part of the reason part of the conditions for me suggesting this is that I also propose that consciousness is where the self, there's a self. And so we can also, a consciousness offers a study space, a learning space, a workshop for studying and learning the self. In some sense, there is maybe like the real way the self is, the reality of the self, and then sort of the misunderstanding of the self.

[01:22]

So in the consciousness, the self may appear in a false way. And with the aid of our teachings, we can study this self that appears falsely. And in that process of study, the way the self really basically is may become understood. So in this learning place of consciousness the self appears maybe not as a process but as a thing. And then it could be grasped as a thing that is the way it appears.

[02:28]

So it appears And there's a strong inclination to think that the way it appears is the way it is. It doesn't appear, you know, revealing all of its dynamic interdependencies. It doesn't say, I'm here only by the power of things that I'm not. it looks like it's saying, I am here by my own nature. It looks like it has an essence. But it doesn't. But by studying, and when it appears that way, we can get a hold of it. But also, by studying, you have an opportunity. You have an opportunity.

[03:30]

There is the opportunity. And there's a you who might think there's, and there's a you who thinks that the opportunity belongs to her to learn about her and to learn that grasping the self is stressful. Grasping this confined, constricted and limited version of the self that appears, grasping the self the way it appears as the self, is a mistake and it's a painful mistake. Learning that and being kind to it, or learning that and being kind to it might encourage you to continue to be kind to it so that you can continue to learn about it, because learning about it will relieve you of grasping it and relieve you of the stress. Not just relieve you, not just relieve it of the stress, but relieve the whole consciousness of stress.

[04:31]

And what of the vow of the ancestor Ehe that we just chanted? It says, by revealing and disclosing our lack of faith and practice before the Buddhas, we melt away the root of transgression by the power of confession and repentance. So what kind of lack of faith and what kind of lack of practice might you confess in the study of consciousness, in the study of self, where you might, for example, might notice that you aren't being compassionate to the situation, you aren't being compassionate to the to the self and to the pain that's around when there's grasping in the self. You're not being kind to it, you're not being generous.

[05:39]

In the pain you're not being careful. Like people, they kind of say stuff like, I'm sick, I'm sick and tired of the self. I want to get rid of it, why do I have to be with this, you know, because there's so much problems around it. People just want to get rid of it. Or even they want to get rid of the self, they want to get rid of the self-concern, they want to get rid of all the obsessions that are around it. But getting rid of is not exactly one of the practices. It's not on the list. Being careful of it, being respectful of it, being generous toward it, being patient with it, that's on the list. And when we don't do those practices, that's an example of a lack of practice. Being diligent about this study, being diligent about this observation of the self in consciousness, sometimes we're not so diligent.

[06:50]

So that's another, I wasn't so diligent just then, I wasn't, I wasn't. ...wasn't studying the self. And there's a lot of opportunities to miss. Every moment of consciousness is an opportunity to miss study. If that question, so that question comes up, you're aware of that question? So that question is something that is also being observed maybe when you say it. So when that question arises, I would say, when I hear the question, I would say, good.

[07:54]

But don't keep looking at the question, turn around and look back. It's fine, the question's fine, but when you ask the question, do you distract yourself from studying the self? So you're studying the self, and then you think, who's studying the self? Okay, which is fine, but don't let that distract you from the self that just asked that question. The self is what feels like I asked that question. Did you kind of think you asked that question? Somebody who thought she asked that question? That it was your question, not somebody else's question? Okay, you're not sure about that. But anyway... We didn't think we asked the question, did we? No, we didn't think so. We thought you asked the question. So when you ask the question, just

[08:59]

But it's not so much, I'm going to tell you, I can say, when you say, who is studying the self, you can say, well, the self is, but it's not exactly that the self is, but there's a process there where the self seems to be involved with this activity, but the self isn't exactly doing it. It's just the self comes with activities. And there's a sense that the self owns those activities. And you can say, well, who owns it? Well, you can say, well, the owner owns it. But that's, you can answer it, but the thing is, look and see. Keep looking and seeing and find out there isn't a thing over there that's not like there's a doer and an action, like there's a questioner and a question. But if you have the question, then don't let that make you then bifurcate again. Go back and look. Go ahead. You don't know what to do with infinite regrets?

[10:12]

Be kind to it. I don't know what to do, right? And then I told you, and then you said, who is it? So that's the infinite regress. So you can keep, you can say that every time you ask, say, what should I do? And I tell you, and then you can say, well, who's doing it? That's fine.

[10:33]

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