There were two kind of questions raised towards the latter part of our last meeting. One was raised by Simon, another by Vida, but Vida's not here, so maybe I won't talk about it until later. Maybe she'll show up. Simon's question, I don't know if Simon remembers it, but do you remember your question, Simon? . Maybe I had to say that.

[01:03]

But the sutra says, in clear seeing emptiness, all suffering and distress is relieved. And I thought maybe you asked about, well, all suffering? Everybody everybody's suffering is relieved in this clear seeing of emptiness? I think people maybe think, well, if a great bodhisattva could see the ultimate truth, maybe that great bodhisattva would be relieved of all suffering. And in fact, that's right. the one who sees ultimate truth, the vision of ultimate truth, relieves all suffering and distress.

[02:06]

But what about the other people who don't see that, one might say? Are they also relieved of all suffering and distress? Well, so in the sutra it says, In emptiness, in ultimate truth, in the final truth, in the highest meaning, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, and so on. There's no self or other. So in the understanding of this emptiness, where there's no eyes and ears and nose and tongue and body and mind or self or other, increase or decrease, there's no suffering, there's no origination, there's no end of suffering, there's no path. In that emptiness, in the understanding of that emptiness, there's no like bodhisattva,

[03:12]

who's separate from other people who understands it. There's no bodhisattva in emptiness either. So we can say, well, Avalokiteshvara, fine. She understands emptiness and relieves all suffering. She's relieved of all suffering. But there's no Avalokiteshvara in emptiness either. There's nobody, there's no people who don't understand in emptiness. And there's no people who do. The sutra says Avalokiteshvara does understand. Avalokiteshvara understood emptiness and that understanding relieved all suffering. But in that emptiness, which has been realized, there's no Avalokiteshvara. But Avalokiteshvara is relieved of suffering by this vision. But there's also no other people who don't understand it. This is complete, total, perfect liberation, and it is completely inconceivable.

[04:26]

And if you want a conceivable liberation, you can have it, and there are conceivable liberations available. It's just that in the conceivable liberations, then there could be me and you. Then there could be me understanding it and you not. Or Avalokiteshvara understanding and being liberated. Because we just said that this is a conceivable liberation. Avalokiteshvara could have conceivable liberation. But Avalokiteshvara actually gives up conceivable liberation. Avalokiteshvara is interested in inconceivable liberation, the liberation of everybody, including everybody who says, I'm not liberated. There's nobody who's not. All the people who say they're not liberated and who say they're suffering in emptiness, there are none of those people. And all the people who say, I'm feeling pretty good, actually, I kind of feel free of suffering right now, there's none of them either.

[05:38]

There's no great bodhisattvas, there's no Buddhas in inconceivable liberation, in inconceivable liberation. In inconceivable liberation, we have the same practice. and the same enlightenment as the Buddhas, and we have the same practice and the same enlightenment as everybody. And that, of course, is inconceivable. And... Is what the fruition? The liberation of all beings? Yes. whether or not they realize. They do realize it. They do realize. They realize an inconceivable dharma and an inconceivable liberation. They realize it. And then they preach it. Avalokiteshvara is saying that right here.

[06:43]

also this is this is he says he's deeply practicing the perfection of wisdom deeply practicing prajnaparamita but you could also translate it I think he's practicing the deep prajnaparamita the way he's deep means difficult the way he's practicing is difficult to understand, and the thing he's practicing is difficult to understand. So I'm talking to you now about something that's difficult to understand because you can't understand it with conceptual consciousness, not this perfection of wisdom. And we have a practice, and this class is called It's a class on Zen meditation, right? On what? On the roots and fruits of perfect wisdom.

[07:51]

Zen meditation is partly a statement. A statement of what? A statement of inconceivable liberation. It's like you sit and the sitting says, This practice is not the practice of one person. This practice is the practice of all beings. This practice is inconceivable liberation, is complete perfect enlightenment, totally culminated enlightenment, totally culminated freedom from karmic consciousness without tampering with the karmic consciousness. So the part of the sutra I'm talking about here is the power word says, in emptiness, in the world of emptiness, and I heard recently that Kaz Tanahashi is now using the word openness for emptiness.

[09:03]

In openness, There's no eyes, no ears, no self, nor other. There's no bodhisattvas who realize wisdom and bodhisattvas who don't. Or sentient beings who realize it and Buddhas who don't. Of course there are sentient beings who don't realize it. Right? There are sentient beings who are intentionally shooting airplanes out of the sky Buddhas are not shooting airplanes out of the sky. They don't do that kind of thing. Ever. But crazy people do. And they they're deluded. But in emptiness there's no people like that. And there's no bodhisattvas

[10:06]

And understand in that realm everybody's liberated and everybody's working together and there's no hindrance. And because there's no hindrance, there's no fear. And because there's no fear, there's no violence. That's the part of the sutra where it starts, in emptiness, no, no, no, no, no, no. But before that it says, form is not different from emptiness. And that part of the sutra, it's not talking about there is no form. So in emptiness there's no form, but there also is a time when there is form. And at that time, form is emptiness. And emptiness is form. That's the way things are. In other words, when you're not in emptiness, there's form, feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousness. But all of those are emptiness, and emptiness is all of those.

[11:12]

So in everything is emptiness in which there isn't anything. So emptiness, when realized, there isn't anything and there's inconceivable liberation there. And that emptiness is in this intimate relationship with events that do not seem to be liberation, like fear and impatience and confusion. Those things are inseparable from the emptiness in which they do not exist. Therefore, there is, in that realization, a complete liberation." So I thought that that related to your question.

[12:18]

And it's difficult to contemplate the inconceivable What comes to my mind just now is that Csikszentmihalyi is saying, Zazen is to sit in the big, invisible world. I would say Zazen is to sit in the immeasurable, incalculable, inconceivable world, which is to sit with the conceivable body and say, this body is a testament to the inconceivable world of inconceivable liberation, where we're working together with each other in perfect harmony. But there's all these stories about who is right and wrong. And we have to treat them in such a way that we don't grasp them.

[13:29]

Otherwise, we won't see that they're empty. And we won't see that in emptiness we're free of them. And again, the champion of the sutra is the bodhisattva of compassion, who is compassionate towards all the things which she realizes in emptiness are not there. The one who realizes that in emptiness there's no birth and death is the one who listens to all births and listens to all death. and witnesses all birth and witnesses all death with eyes of compassion. And again, as I talked about last week, witnesses totally, hears totally, not quite a bit, totally witnesses every birth, every death, every cry, every moan, every laugh,

[14:41]

every injury, every healing, everything is witnessed totally. And in that total witnessing, we realized that whatever it is, is emptiness. And emptiness is whatever it is. So the first part of the sutra is saying that form and emptiness are an intimate relationship, so emptiness is not going to destroy form. It lets go of it. Feelings and emptiness are intimate. Perfect wisdom doesn't get rid of feelings of pain and pleasure. It just lets go of them. But it lets go of them because they are met with great compassion, by totally exerted compassion, lets go of form, feeling, perceptions, formations, and consciousness, and opens to the realm where these things are liberated, where these things are liberated.

[15:57]

Everything's liberated. Yes, John? I heard a subtle distinction about emptiness and your description of what was emptiness and emptiness's form. And I think before I thought of it, emptiness had forms. It was simply empty. But I heard you say that there are two stages, and I perceive that it is the Buddhist emptiness and the Buddhist emptiness. So the Buddhist emptiness is complete. We realize emptiness with no form. And it sounded like the bodhisattva emptiness was that bringing form into emptiness, by seeking emptiness. And you said at first there's, I was talking about the sutra. In the sutra, after the introduction of form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form, the same is true.

[17:04]

In other words, colors, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, are emptiness. And emptiness is colors, sounds, tastes, tangibles. And the same is true of feelings, conceptions, formations, and consciousness. And then it moves on to say, just in case you didn't get it, everything is marked by emptiness. Everything has the characteristic of being vast openness. Then it says, in emptiness, and that's where there's no form. There's no form of Buddha, there's no form of bodhisattva, there's no form of sentient being. That's why, that's the ground upon which this realization grows. Because there's no sentient beings and Buddhas, we can realize Buddhahood. And because, and also that they're not two different things.

[18:06]

we, who are not Buddhas, are not separate from Buddhas, and we're both, both we and Buddhas, are vast openness so we can realize Buddhahood. However, we have quite a bit of work to do. Namely, we have to practice compassion towards every form, feeling, perception, in order to realize, and we have to practice compassion towards all these things, totally, in order to realize they're empty. If we hold back a little bit with a feeling, we hold back from its emptiness. If we hold back from ah, we hold back from ah. If we hold back from resistance, we hold back from letting go. But we can learn, we can train more and more to totally exert everything.

[19:10]

In emptiness there's no distinctions between anything, but all distinctions are emptiness. And when we have a distinction, we have a distinction. And it's empty. But whenever you have an emptiness, you've got something else which could be a distinction. You don't always have distinctions, but quite frequently you do. But whenever you do, emptiness is right there, and that emptiness is that distinction. There's emptiness, yeah, emptiness, did you say emptiness has something? What? Forms in emptiness, nope. Not for anybody. Now, Not for anybody. Is there a form in emptiness? So bodhisattvas don't get to have it either. And Buddhas don't get to have it. But non-well-trained bodhisattvas might think that they have something, wherever they are, whether they've got emptiness or not, they might think they've got a form.

[20:25]

But not in emptiness, they don't. In form you got a form. I'll give that to you. But in emptiness you don't have a form. You don't have a feeling. You don't got nothing. But that doesn't mean there isn't anything because emptiness is something. Always. And that's true for you and me and great bodhisattvas and buddhas. Yes. Thanks for your nice letter about nice. Do you remember Midnight the Cat? Yes. Midnight used to play the violin, remember? And say, nice. Remember that?

[21:27]

Remember that? Huh? I never could figure out if that cat was real or not. I still don't know. This is, you don't know about Midnight? Yeah. Well, Stephen's a little older than me, so he knows about Midnight. There was a show called, I think it was called Andy's Gang or something like that. And he had this cat called Midnight who played the violin and said, nice, nice. And he had a frog also. Froggy the Gremlin. Huh? The frog said, I said, how do you go here? He went, . Anyway, yes, Steven? Openness and emptiness. Openness and emptiness? You said that.

[22:31]

Yeah, I said Cos recently wrote a study of the Heart Sutra, and he calls emptiness openness, I think. Ka tanahashi? Yeah, yeah. So, emptiness, openness, insubstantiality, voidness, these are different translations of shunyata. And in this shunyata, which is the ultimate way things are, that they have. There's nothing in themselves there. There's just causes and conditions coming together and falling apart. There's nothing there. So dependent core rising is emptiness. But the searcher doesn't say, in dependent core rising there's no eyes or ears, because in dependent core rising there is eyes and ears.

[23:36]

I was also going to mention that this is a little bit like, I thought, this is a little bit like, well, this is not exactly like the story of the young Zen master, Dung Shan, who, when he was pretty young, we don't know the exact age, he was chanting the... He was reciting the Heart Sutra in Chinese, and he said... when they got to the part about in emptiness, no eyes, no ears, he said, but I have eyes and ears and so on. Why does the Heart Sutra say there isn't any? So he was, you know, honest and I thought it's kind of like the emperor's clothes, you know? You know the story of the emperor's clothes? Does it go like this? That once there was a tailor and the emperor came to the tailor and asked him to make a really nice robe, nice clothes for him. And the tailor was going to make the clothes but didn't finish on time or wanted to keep all the material.

[24:44]

He wanted to keep all the material for the robe. Do you remember what happened? Huh? I think it was that he kept wanting better and better things and finally he got free. Oh, the emperor wanted fancier and fancier outfits. And so then the tailor said, okay, I got something perfect for you. And so he gave, and so the emperor came in and he said, well, here it is. And he said, here it is. So come right over here. And the emperor said, uh, Why did he fall for that? Did Taylor say, I'm sure your majesty can see how beautiful this robe is because you have such a highly developed sartorial sense. You'll be able to see that this is the finest robe you've ever seen. Your sense of fashion is so highly developed. Only a king would be able to understand the quality of what I've made for you. And he holds it up. And he says, take off those old rags, those low-quality robes and gowns that you have.

[25:50]

Take them off and put this on. And then he goes to the streets and a child says, the emperor has no clothes. Or everybody else goes along with it. And this child says, but I don't see any robe. So Dung Shan didn't see any emptiness. He didn't see it. And he said so. But later he did see it. And what he saw was everybody was him. And when you see that everybody is you, that's reality. What's your question? I wanted to be able to say just more about emptiness and hopefulness.

[26:54]

I like the equation. Emptiness and openness? It's not really an equation, it's like synonyms. I think he's saying openness is the word he would use instead of emptiness. It puts a new dimension on the idea of emptiness. A new concept. Emptiness Or being openness, being openness is form. Being openness is feeling. Being openness is imagination. Being openness is all kinds of mental formations. Being openness is consciousness. But they're nothing but emptiness. But they're nothing but emptiness. They're nothing but openness. And openness is nothing but them.

[27:57]

They're nothing but causes and conditions, and emptiness is nothing but causes and conditions of consciousness. And bodhisattvas are focusing on this. And when they first start practicing, they're focusing on these ideas. They're focusing on ideas of compassion, until they realize that these ideas of compassion are openness. And then in the openness there's no ideas of compassion. And they have ideas of the teachings of perfect wisdom, they have ideas of openness, and they practice compassion towards those ideas of openness. until they realize the openness of those ideas of openness.

[28:58]

No? Just a little hand gesture there? When we pass from this level, when we no longer have nose, mouth, ears, how will that be different from knowing of emptiness? He said, when we no longer have those things, then how would that be what? Different from emptiness? It would not be different from emptiness. It would be emptiness. Yeah, it would be emptiness. In other words, you would be emptiness, which is already your situation. You are emptiness right now. You are openness. If you weren't openness, you wouldn't be here. And also if the wars that are going on right now weren't emptiness, they wouldn't be here either. Emptiness doesn't stop these forms from occurring. It doesn't stop having a Barry or a Kim or a Tracy or a war.

[30:07]

All these things can happen because they're empty. But if we realize that they're empty, if we realize it, we're relieved of the suffering that comes from a lack of realization. But the person who understands this is the one who listens to the cries of the world. That's the great thing about the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra is like the emperor of perfect wisdom sutras. Which nobody wants to admit they don't understand. Except a kid. It's funny you should say that. Funny I should say that. I was thinking, the difference between you and me is that you actually understand what you're talking about. Go on, you. The difference between you and me is that I understand what I'm talking about and you have no idea.

[31:19]

That's the difference. That's the difference. That's the difference between us. Yeah, that's the difference. However, in emptiness there's no difference between us. I do, but in emptiness there's no me who understands it and I understand that. And there's no you who doesn't understand it in emptiness either. And I understand that. And there's no you who keeps coming in emptiness. But because of emptiness, you can come. And so can I. And because of emptiness, we might not give up before everybody realizes this. which might be kind of boring, which reminds me about boredom. Yeah? What do you mean before everybody realizes this?

[32:20]

What do you mean by saying before everybody realizes this? I guess when all the people who are not in emptiness were not complaining anymore, then we wouldn't have to have this class. We might still have it just for fun. What? In answer to one of my questions earlier, I thought the emptiness goalposts had moved. You thought what? I thought the emptiness goalposts had moved. Had moved? Yeah. Where? When you said in... In emptiness, there's no self and other. Right. There's no suffering. Right.

[33:21]

And therefore... And there's no emptiness also. And there's no emptiness. And therefore the bodhisattva vow is realized. I don't know if therefore or that is the realization of the bodhisattva vow. Right. Yes. And the bodhisattva will continue to practice and come to the yoga room until all the beings who are not in emptiness and who are no different from the bodhisattva say, yes, I do. I'm totally... in the process of complete liberation with all beings. And all those beings who do not yet say that are not in emptiness and are not different from the bodhisattvas who do talk like Avalokiteshvara.

[34:27]

Avalokiteshvara talks like this and like this. And Avalokiteshvara will keep listening. And then when there's a pause, we'll talk like this until everybody talks like this. But before that, all the people who don't talk like this, like Dungsan, the little boy, who say, I have eyes, I have ears, dash, and they're not empty. bodhisattva who understands that that person is who they are, they'll keep practicing until that person wakes up. And that person did wake up. And that was, you know, that was our good fortune that that person woke up and had successors which lead right up to us now. But until everybody

[35:32]

can sing this sutra from emptiness until everybody can hear the cries of the world so completely that they also hear the liberation of the world and are happy to continue to listen and liberate until everybody is fully enjoying that, then we'll just keep having, we'll keep working at it. and we're not in a hurry for this to be over, but we would like everybody to get onto the path and realize Buddhahood as soon as possible and yet without being in a rush. Goalposts, empty goalposts are back in the first part of the sutra. But in emptiness there's no gopos. There's no emptiness in emptiness. And there's no bodhisattva vow.

[36:38]

And the realization of that emptiness and being able to say that to the world is based on the vow. And the vow is based on the non-duality of the realized and the unrealized. Sophie? The realization of all these people has to happen while they are in the body or could it happen when they leave the body? Leave the body. Like dead? I guess I would start by saying that the understanding of freedom from suffering is understanding that the body is openness.

[37:54]

If you take away the body, then you'd have to understand that the no body was openness also. If there wasn't a body, there would need to be the understanding that no body was also emptiness. And there are living beings who realize a state of experience where there's no body. However, they don't understand necessarily that that no body is emptiness. But they could. Some do and some don't. No matter how you dial in the universe, whether quantum mechanics and relativity theory are in sync or not, they're all empty.

[39:05]

If they're in sync and we don't realize they're empty, we suffer. If they're not in sync and we don't realize that they're empty, we suffer. If we're doing evil and we don't realize it's empty, we suffer. If we're doing good and we don't realize it's empty, we suffer. But when you realize when there's evil and you realize the Dharma, there's no evil. And when there's good and you realize the Dharma, there's no good. And then you realize not doing evil and doing good. You do good when you realize there isn't any. You do evil when you think there is good or there is evil. But when Dharma is right, you cannot do wrong. And you do right when you realize in emptiness there is no right or wrong.

[40:15]

Buddhas teach, do all good things. And the people who do that are Buddhas. And the people who teach that are Buddhas. And all Buddhas teach that. And they also teach, don't do evil. But in order to realize that, you have to listen to the cries of all good and evil. so completely that you realize the Dharma and then you don't do evil and you do do good and good you do there's no such thing in emptiness and Tracy said you know you seem to know what you're talking about and in emptiness there isn't a person who knows what he's talking about but there is talk like this And it's empty. But in emptiness, there's no talk like this and no person who knows and no person who thinks that he does know what he's talking about.

[41:18]

Can you answer her question a little more clearly? Because she was talking... More clearly? Sure. Whose question, by the way? about people who are, you know, once you pass the body, then why, then if you're not in a body, then who is doing the realizing if it's total emptiness? I'm just lost in the difference between life and death. Well, before we get into that, even if you have a situation where you do have form, which means eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body. Okay? And sight, sound, smell, taste. Even when you have that, there isn't anybody who's realizing it. So it isn't like you take away the body and then you lose somebody that's understanding that. So you asked, if there's no body, then who's realizing it?

[42:23]

But ask the question for when there is a body. And then take the body away. It's not much of an issue, is it? It isn't like when you do have a body, there's nobody there. And when you don't have a body, there is somebody. It isn't like when you do have a body, you realize perfect wisdom. You realize it. And then when you don't have a body, nobody does. It's not like that. It's when you do realize it, there's nobody there realizing it. And then if you take away the body, there's nobody realizing it. I get that. Okay, great. What's the question? Do you want me to say anything? Yes. For all of us to get to this realization, does it matter whether we are in the body, alive, whatever we call alive, I understand, but not here. Does it matter? Yeah, it matters. It matters to all the people who are in a body.

[43:25]

And those are the people that this wisdom... is being developed for. It's for all the people who are in bodies, who don't understand bodies. They're suffering. When you say they're suffering while they're in the body, they're suffering when there's a body and they don't understand it. And this wisdom is to help people who don't understand their body. Now you can take away their body and then they don't understand their mind. They take away their mind and their body, then we don't have a problem. And we don't have a vow to help people who don't have bodies and minds. They aren't suffering. Only living beings are suffering. And living beings are the living organisms that have consciousness. And the consciousness arises

[44:29]

because of an unconscious cognitive process which serves a body. Consciousness is a biological masterpiece that has design flaws. And Buddhism, Buddhist Dharma is to address the design flaws so that living beings are free of suffering and also help other living beings to be free of suffering. So can I say a sentence that if I don't realize, I don't get to a point that I realize, in this body, after I die, then basically I will get to this realization? There is a teaching that, you know, there might be a flash there when you die, when you would stop resisting emptiness and there would be a moment of wisdom that could happen.

[45:37]

Because the wisdom is not a consciousness. It's not a consciousness where there's some me here knowing you over there. So there could be a moment of wisdom when there's no more consciousness. When you don't have a body, you don't have consciousness. When you don't have a body, you don't have a sense of my body or not my body. But there could be wisdom. And people who already have realized wisdom take away bodies and minds, the realization of wisdom is still there, or still arising. The emptiness which is a type of mind. Emptiness is a type of mind. It's not a conscious mind, that where there's a self separate from others. It's a cognitive process. Emptiness and wisdom are the same thing. And that emptiness is a cognitive pattern.

[46:46]

And there's no self or other body or mind in that space. So if a particular body so-called died, that wisdom would not be eroded or hurt in any way. Why are there design flaws? Why are there design flaws? If perfect wisdom is perfect wisdom, why has it created imperfect organisms that give rise to consciousness? Well, there's stories about why. What? What did you say? Adam and Eve, yeah. Adam and Eve, Amor and Psyche. Amor and Psyche. Eros and Psyche. It's a Greek myth. Buddha didn't actually talk about, too much as far as I know, about living beings prior to consciousness.

[47:55]

I think maybe he knew about it. But he mostly talked about living beings who have consciousness because in consciousness you have birth and death. But there's some beings who do not actually have birth and death. We look at them and think they do, but they don't think they have birth and death, and they're alive. But they don't think, I'm different from those other beings who do not have birth and death, and I'm different from the ones who do have birth. I'm different from the humans who think in terms of birth and death, past and future. I don't do that, but they do. They aren't able to think that. The people who can think, those people don't know about birth and death. Like me, I can say, I can look at a certain animal and say, they don't seem to know about birth and death. But they don't look back at me and say, but you do, don't you? That's what I think. So on this planet, you may have noticed we have some advantages over some other beings.

[49:00]

And even ants, you know, who are also quite powerful, they got a thing with their colony. They got my colony and not my colony. They're quite effective at that one. That's the kind of self they have. So having a self, a sense of self in the mind makes consciousness, and consciousness is a it's just a fabulous place to do research and to make discoveries. The Buddha made discoveries in consciousness and the discovery the Buddha made, the Buddhas make in consciousness is how to behave consciously in order to become free of consciousness. Consciousness, the design flaw of consciousness is that it constricts life to the realm where there's self and other.

[50:03]

But life is not constricted that way. It reduces our life. Like in that book, what is it called? The Third Turning of the Wheel. I quoted D.H. Lawrence who said, this is what I know about my conscious self. It's like a little clearing in the middle of a dark forest. But that clearing, you can bring resources from the dark forest and do all kinds of experiments and make all kinds of discoveries, which you cannot make in the dark forest because there's no you there to be learned. You can learn language in here. You can hear the Dharma in here. You can talk to other people who are studying. In this confined space, which is a limited, reduced, impoverished version of our life, So there's a lot of advantages to consciousness, but basically consciousness is a deceptive reduction of life.

[51:07]

It's a reduction which says, this is a whole world. And it's also an inner state which appears to be external. Just like, you know, people are driving airplanes and they look at those pictures on the dials on their dashboard, the instrument panel, they look at that and they don't necessarily remember this is not actual reality. They actually use that information. And we have a mind which creates an appearance of other people. But again, as I mentioned before, this appearance does not say, all these people are inner states. All these people are your consciousness. Our consciousness doesn't label each person as a conscious state. Our consciousness doesn't label its appearances as appearances. they look like they're out there, and it says they're actually out there.

[52:12]

This is a design flaw from the point of view, I mean it has great power, but it makes us, for example, it makes us frightened. And it makes us anxious. And it makes us at risk of becoming violent towards our own consciousness. our own self because our self looks like it's somebody else. Perfect wisdom is medicine to free us from consciousness. I was thinking about the design for this morning and how as soon as we're born, we need to grasp in order to eat and survive, just continue to maintain the illusion that we're separate. And that's the design flaw. It's just the need to be in the world.

[53:16]

Isn't that right? I don't know. The grasping is what we, you know, I want to eat, I want mom's milk, you know. That's the grasping part of the design flaw in a sense. If we didn't need to live and to eat, then... I think some organisms can grasp and pull things in and avoid things without the idea of, I'm here doing that. But if you don't have an I here, you don't have consciousness. And without that, certain kinds of great discoveries and certain kinds of skills you don't have. So I think the biological, this whole consciousness is basically evolved as a servant of a biological enterprise. The universe went to a lot of trouble to create living beings and then to create some on this planet and probably many other planets.

[54:23]

who have this sense to create images and say these images are not in the place where they live. And then you can make renditions of that all over the place. So computer screens and so on are basically renditions of that, where we don't look at the computer screen and say, that is internal. just like we don't do it when we have our eyes shut and we see pictures. Look at the community screen. Don't you think it's external to you? And then on the screen, it's got stuff. It just reiterates that indefinitely. And it's quite powerful. But we're seeing... great drawbacks to people not realizing that what's out there is appearing deceptively.

[55:27]

It's not really out there. But it looks like it is. And now we're trying to build that in. The teaching is coming to help us to remember that everything that appears is just an idea. to train ourselves, to train ourselves. I was going to say that in relation to watching things on a screen, it's almost like we're looking for that realization that we are in fact. When you see a movie that actually moves you, oh, I like that. That's just like me. It's struggling towards that sense that we are all one. And also struggling towards realizing that the way things exist for us is deceptive. But I was just thinking of the same theory that images and computers and photography now are manipulated such that it's making us more aware that what we're seeing is not the reality as well.

[56:43]

It can be a tool of the same way. And so can consciousness. All these computer things, the way we know them is the way they appear in consciousness. And some of them say to us, the way this looks, you know it's not external, but it looks like it is, and that's the same way your mind is. So we can make, we are making discoveries. It's just that we have to make the discoveries more continuously. Because sometimes we're making, we're aware, oh, this is my idea of these people. This is my idea of these people. This is those people. Oops. I slipped. That's like building up a mental physique Yep. Yep. Yep.

[57:44]

Here is totally the suffering of the world. You say there's kind of a path towards the realization that the willingness to be totally present with the suffering of the world is the path towards realizing the suffering of the world. Yes? Which includes... It's the willingness to turn towards it or face it and to train yourself at facing it totally. Again, do we face the computer screen totally? If you face it totally, you might lose it. If you face everybody totally, you might lose them. And also some people, if you face them partially, it might be difficult. So you think, well, if I face them a little less, it would be less difficult.

[58:49]

Rather than, if I face them more totally, I'll be free, but then I won't have them anymore. And then where are you? Well, you're in emptiness. And you're in realization and you're in freedom from suffering. And that perfect wisdom then goes beyond that and comes back into form. Another computer screen, another face, another feeling, another word, and then the same. Until everybody can do this. And so everybody's enjoying this. In the meantime, we do notice that sometimes we get distracted from this, right? Every word, like in the introduction to Case 18 of the Book of Serenity, it says, even a highly cultivated person is tossed about or turned about in the stream of words.

[60:03]

So we have to learn how to, if we wish to realize and work for liberation, we have to train ourselves to totally be turned about by the words. Not resist being turned about, but totally be turned about so that we realize the emptiness of the words, the stream, and the turning. And then the next word. which relates to Vida's question about words before. Deep. The perfection of wisdom is deep. Yes. Well, I was thinking about something that you said a couple of weeks ago, in that to fully feel Well, first of all, you usually suggest to start with aspiring to fully feel your life, to aspire to fully live your life.

[61:10]

Yeah, but I think it's a drive that I don't. A drag, that's one word for a drag, yeah. Drag. So again, as is this chant we eat, which we often do. Well, anyway. Even though you've wasted a lot of time up till now, and you've lived your life half-heartedly up till now, a lot of the time, even though you shrunk back from your life up till now, still, it's not too late. And you can vow that from this life on throughout countless lives, or throughout this whole life and through countless lives, you will hear the Dharma.

[62:20]

Which means you will hear wholeheartedly every sound you hear. you'll hear every sound, you'll see every sight so totally that you will see the Dharma and hear the Dharma while you're hearing and seeing." And then the teaching goes on. However, it says although, but actually however, we have habits basically of laziness, of this drag of living half-heartedly. So even after you vow to speak the next word you speak completely wholeheartedly. Because of karmic background you may notice a half-hearted expression now and then. Like today, I was talking to this person at Green Gulch who is my wife. I think I can tell you this story. And she was separating the raisins in the salad

[63:29]

from the salad. And I said, can I have those raisins? She said, yeah. I said, you don't like them? She said, no. I don't like them puffed up like that. And I said, I think that, she said, they get puffed up by the oil in the salad. I said, I actually think they put them in water beforehand. And I said, why do you do that? I said, I think so that they're not so hard and also that they don't come in clumps. Anyway. I saw some kitchen workers. So I went over and I said, this one kitchen worker is of Korean background. I said to her, did you soak these raisins beforehand? She said, yeah, we do. So they'll be more plump. But I forgot to say to her, . She's teaching me Korean. And I missed to say thank you in Korean. I wasn't wholeheartedly there. And I'm sorry.

[64:33]

It's a drag not being totally there. Here, the perfect opportunity to say, gamsam nida. And I missed it. I wasn't totally there. And I'm telling you, I'm sorry. But tomorrow when I see her, I'm going to say, gamsam nida. I have missed opportunities. And I'm sorry. to notice that I missed it and confess it and say I'm sorry, this is powerful. This power will melt away half-heartedness. You can notice when you're half-hearted. You can notice when you miss a chance to say thank you in Chinese, Korean, Swedish, or English. and also learning Arabic. There's a girl from Egypt at Green Gulf Snow. So she taught me how to say thank you in Arabic. So now when I see her and ask her about the raisins, I can say thank you in Arabic. But I missed the chance, and I'm sorry.

[65:36]

This confession will eventually eliminate all half-heartedness. Please join me. the power of confession and repentance, of half-heartedness. Open yourself to perfect wisdom.

[65:54]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_86.49