And now at the end, I go back to the beginning. Throughout this time together, we have been maintaining the essential working of the Buddha way. We have been contemplating the practice and the realization of our school. And the practice is the same as the realization. The practice is the imperceptible accord with all beings. the unhindered resonance throughout time.

[01:01]

That's the practice. And that also is the realization. The realization is the imperceptible mutual assistance among all beings. That's the practice realization. we have been contemplating this. We have been contemplating how constricted, limited, enclosed karmic consciousness is totally infused and reciprocal with the full moon of awakening.

[02:10]

So there's two stories that I thought I would bring up today. The first one is not as well known as the second. They both could be called Jiao Jiao's Dog because they're both about an unnamed monk and Jiao Jiao. and a dog. The first less known story in English goes something like, a monk asked Zhaozhou, does a dog have Buddha nature? And Zhaozhou said, yes. Or it has. Does it have Buddha nature or not? It has. And the monk says, well, why does Buddha nature enter such a skin bag?

[03:47]

And Xiao Zhou says, it knowingly and willingly transgresses. Sometimes we might understand the question as, why does Buddha nature enter a skin bag? Karmic consciousness is a skin bag. Of course, the body is a skin bag, but karmic consciousness lives with the body. And, yeah.

[04:50]

Really it's, and I would say today, really it's the karmic consciousness which is a skin bag. The body is not really a bag. It's the consciousness which is like a bag. The body is more open. It's just like open, different types of openness. It's open to electromagnetic radiation. All kinds. and particularly sensitive to electromagnetic radiation of a certain bandwidth, which we call light. But it's sensitive to other kinds too, like x-rays, which are not good for it, the body. But it's open. It's open to mechanical waves. It's open to liquids. It's open to gases. And it's open to touch. Basically, it's open to being touched. And all these organs, which are the body, they're like not in a bag.

[05:56]

They're open in a lot of different directions. They're open. And this open field of sensitivity gives rise to cognitive processes, which represent the way the body relates with the world, with other beings. And this cognitive process has developed greatly and given rise to a cognitive process which is a bag, which is an enclosure, and there's a self in it. Maybe you've heard about this before. Have you? I talked about it yesterday. Karmic consciousness. In this consciousness there's a sense of self and there's a sense that the self is the director and the self is doing the activities. That's karma.

[06:57]

Karmic consciousness. Why does Buddha, so again, some people might understand the question is, why does Buddha nature go into such a place? I would suggest That's one interpretation, but the one I would raise for our consideration today is, why does the full moon, why does awakening, why does the pure dharmakaya, which is like open space, why does it enter into the skin bag? And the answer is, well, it knows how and it wants to. The pure Dharmakaya wants to respond to karmic consciousness and deeply enter it. I don't think that Buddha nature enters the karmic consciousness.

[08:03]

That's what I don't think today. I think that when the pure Dharmakaya hears the cries of karmic consciousness, keep me out of here, it enters. And when it enters, its relationship with this tangled, afflicted, confused, chaotic, and sometimes calm enclosure, that relationship is Buddha nature. when that pure comes into the impure and they meet intimately. That's the Buddha nature. And all living beings have karmic consciousness. But they don't just have karmic consciousness, they also have the light of perfect wisdom shining into their consciousness.

[09:05]

And that close relationship we have, and it's Buddha nature. And the reason why we have it is because this pure Dharmakaya wants to come and play with karmic consciousness. And that play is Buddha nature. And that and that willingly transgressing the pure, open, space-like quality of wisdom, letting go of that and plunging into the confinement of karmic consciousness is because of the bodhisattva vow, which gives rise to this pure dharmakaya. And the pure dharmakaya like open space responds to every living being by entering them. And that entry and that meeting is the Buddha nature. And we have that all the time.

[10:05]

Purity intimately intimately living with the vow, enters deeply karmic consciousness. So that's my answer to why he said, why does it enter? I think a lot of people think, why does Buddha nature enter? But I think, why does the Dharmakaya enter into such a difficult situation? It's because of the vow. Now, I say these words, and somebody might have an intellectual understanding of what I said. That's okay. I'm not trying to prevent that. But that's not primarily what I'm interested in. I'm interested in that these words would encourage us to enter that place. to enter, not so much think about what has been said, but enter the place where this is going on and watch and see and realize that the pure Dharmakaya is interacting with the afflictions of karmic consciousness.

[11:13]

And in order to see this, we have to be kind to these afflictions. By being kind to them, we will see the Dharmakaya intimately dancing with delusion. Then the next story is perhaps one of the most famous Zen stories, which is A Monk Asks Zhaozhou. Does a dog have Buddha nature or not? And Zhaozhou said, nope. In Japanese, Zhaozhou said, mu. Or mu. Or mu. Anyway, in Chinese it's wu, which means no, and it also means doesn't have any. Does the dog have Buddha nature or not? Nope. Does karmic consciousness have Buddha nature or not? Nope.

[12:16]

And then the monk says, well, I heard that all living beings have the Buddha nature. Why doesn't karmic consciousness have it? Or, why doesn't the dog have it? And Jalajur says, because of abiding in karmic consciousness. So sometimes they translate it, because of karmic consciousness, but actually there's a character in there which means to abide. I don't see it saying, because it has. I hear it saying, because of abiding in karmic consciousness. If we abide in karmic consciousness, then we don't realize that this karmic consciousness is dancing because we're not willing to allow the dance. We're over on the side of karmic consciousness holding on to it. By abiding in it, we miss the dance. Of course, it's being offered, but we're, I don't know what, playing hard to get, saying, um,

[13:36]

I don't want to." Which is allowed for a long time. So we allow not accepting the offer and also there is accepting the offer. And accepting the offer needs to be there in order to realize that the dance is going on whether we accept it or not. So we do have Buddha nature But in a way we don't, if we don't accept the wisdom that's coming through us, resonating to us and resonating from us all the time. If we don't accept that, then it's... and just say, I'm just going to stay in karmic consciousness, thank you. Then it's almost like there's no wisdom and also it's almost like there's no wisdom in close association with delusion, which is Buddha nature.

[14:39]

So again, it seems like some people talk about Buddha nature as wisdom. I don't see it that way. I see Buddha nature as wisdom in close association with delusion. It is purity, inseparable, included in, Pollution and pollution colluded and included in wisdom without either one confining the other. Total reciprocity and mutual inclusion and mutual assistance without any strings attached. And all this is imperceptible. The dance is imperceptible. And over and over I'm suggesting that by being kind to the delusions of karmic consciousness, in the skin bag of karmic consciousness, by practicing kindness more and more thoroughly with delusion, we discover

[15:59]

wisdom is already there. It was there now and was there before and is always there. We discover that by being kind to not that. By being kind to the ivy, we discover the full moon. By being kind to the crescent moon and the new moon, by being kind to fogginess, and muddledness and confusion and fear and greed, hate, and delusion. By learning to do that we calm down and we see without changing anything. And even compassion isn't really changing anything. It's just accepting the compassion which is already there. But accepting and putting it into practice So in this picture there's nothing to eliminate and nothing to gain.

[17:11]

And it's, you know, it's what I want to see. It's what I want to realize. It's what we have been doing together. We have been practicing compassion towards ourselves. We've had something to be compassionate with. We've had some challenges. We've had some cares and woes. So it was recommended to me that before I sing songs, I check it out with people. Here's a song that I was thinking of singing.

[18:17]

I don't know what the name of it is, but I think it might be Try a Little Tenderness. Do you know that one? What do you think? Would it be all right to sing it? What do you think? Go slowly? You can tell me when to stop, okay? Okay. Go something like this. Also, is it all right if the words change from the original? I'll go slowly. Something like this. Zen students get weary. Zen students do get weary wearing that same shabby robe. So when they're weary, try a little tenderness. How's it going so far? Good. They may be waiting, just anticipating things they may never possess.

[19:28]

The fact that you're laughing there makes me think you've heard some Buddhist teaching. So while they're waiting, try a little tenderness. And then it goes on to say something like, they do have their cares and woes. They have a hard time, these Zen students. But with a little tenderness, it makes the pain easier to bear. And if we can bear it, we can continue to be tender, more and more deeply and more pervasively patient and tender with our cares and woes and with other people's cares and woes. We could try that, and we have been trying it. Many people have been kind to many people. We've had several trips to the hospital or emergency room where people need care throughout the day.

[20:40]

Fortunately, we have some doctors in-house. It's been really a time to take care of each other. And we have done it. At least you've done it. And I've been watching you do it. And thank you for taking care of this Sangha. Thank you. And this is good in itself, but it also opens the doors of wisdom, this kindness. So you can see Buddha nature and realize Buddha nature. Not just see enlightenment, personal enlightenment, but see the enlightenment of all beings. And see that the enlightenment of all beings is Buddha's enlightenment. And that is the same enlightenment as each person and the same practice. And you can do the ceremony that you've been doing to celebrate this wonderful realization and this wonderful practice of the Buddhas.

[21:52]

So if you have any feedback on my singing, let me know. And anything else you care to offer in the little bit of time we have? Do you want to come up? Could you put this thing up for her? Your foot's asleep? Okay. Just a second. Just one second, please. Granddaddy, why do you wear hearing aids? So I can hear you better. The grandchildren patiently wait while I put these in. Yes?

[23:04]

Why the karmic consciousness? Why the skin bag and the impurity Did you say why? Why and from where? Oh, well, it turns out why is what science is into. And they have various theories about why we have this karmic consciousness. And a very popular one now is that this skin bag, with all its delusions, it makes the people who have it more powerful than the people who don't have it. And so, like, if there's opportunities for food, the ones who have this karmic consciousness will beat out the ones who don't have it. The ones who don't have it might think, well, sharing. And so they share, so, you know. And then the karmic consciousness, well, thanks for sharing, and takes it all.

[24:05]

Not always, but if it looks like a good idea, So Karmic Consciousness is really self-centered. It's self-center. It's the center of the self. It's where the self lives and where the self tries to control things and thinks it can and actually even thinks it's my job to control. And other Karmic Consciousness even send a message to this one, you should control your children and your dog. So the theory is that it has great survival and reproductive value to have this delusion center. But even more preliminary to that, is it just energy transforming itself, the natural oscillatory nature of energy? Well, definitely that's going on. And it takes certain, like macrame, There's certainly knots in the transmission too.

[25:10]

And the knots, you know, like light is an unusual thing in the universe. Where there's light, this strange thing happens where the second law of thermodynamics is reversed occasionally for a while. that this thing brings energy into itself rather than just giving off energy to lower energy areas. So there is energy transfer, but then there's all this universe has created this thing called life, which is kind of an exception to a lot of other areas of the universe. and then life has evolved. This is like scientific theory, right? Now Buddhism has something like that too, but we don't need quite as much theory, mostly enough to get to go to work. Enough theory to say, we have a problem. And it's really like, it's kind of unavoidable. We've got this human consciousness. And so before waiting too long, let's start studying it and liberating it.

[26:13]

And actually, there's this wonderful story, I think, what is it called? The Arrows or something? Where somebody, the Buddha's giving teaching and the guy wants more explanation about you know, why he should practice or whatever. And the Buddha says, well, you know, do you want me to pull the arrow out or what? You know, I'm here actually to pull the arrow out, not give you too much discussion about why it would be good or where I went to school. So we sort of have theories. And our theory is, you know, that this consciousness evolved out of the body. Yeah. And that... that it makes possible, one of the things it does is it makes possible language. And so we can say language is good, again, because it makes possible to transmit the teaching.

[27:14]

So Buddhism kind of gets into that a little bit, about we need this karmic consciousness in order to have language, and language is helpful for transmitting Dharma. But even before language, this karmic consciousness started to work. Thank you. That was helpful. You're welcome. It's been a really long time since you sang Red Red Robin. Yeah. Oh, well, let's check with the song, shall we? Do you know the song Red, Red Robin? No. Okay, how many people want to sing it? Raise your hand. Yeah, together. How many people want to sing it together? Okay, so the other people, what do you think?

[28:20]

The people who don't want to. I want to hear it. Okay, well, that's one song on the list. And we might sing it any minute. Ready for it? You want to sing it? Are you ready? May I? What? Did she say something? Julian? Julian? Okay. Can we wait for a little while? That might be a good thing to do at the end. It's kind of like, what do you call it? A rouser.

[29:21]

Anything else? Yes? I think you said that that The vow is what invites to a dharmakaya into karmic consciousness? You could say invites. You could also say pulls or pushes. The dharmakaya is carried forward, is supported by the vow. The vow, it supports the evolution of the realization of the Dharmakaya. And once it's realized, there's a tremendous momentum. So the Dharmakaya doesn't have a body. It's like space. It's pure wisdom. But it's got this momentum of listening to all beings and illuminating them. It wanted to do that from the beginning and now it's become the illumination and the illumination is attracted to, invited by, but also wishing to go to all living beings by that vow.

[30:34]

It gives rise to it and carries it forward. And where does the vow come from? The vow comes from living beings somehow, again, get touched by the Dharmakaya. And it appears to them like as a person, or as some words, or as a sunset, or as a flower, or as a bear, you know, going . And they go, ooh. And then this thought arises, I wish to attain supreme perfect enlightenment in order to help all bears. So it arises from an intimate conversation with other beings, including the way other beings are all doing the same practice, which is the dharmakaya.

[31:39]

So we actually are in conversation with it all the time, and then sometimes our body and mind give rise to this actually thought in consciousness that we'd like to attain awakening for the welfare of the world. And then that thought keeps arising all along the way to realizing the Dharmakaya. And it's called the Bodhi Mind. When it first arises, it can be quite dualistic and full of all kinds of ivy. and pollution, but still there's that thought. And then it can be lost temporarily and found again. And then it's protected by practicing the perfections that protect it and guide it forward into developing into the Dharmakaya. And then it just keeps going as it was before.

[32:41]

Before the arising, it was there too. And after the realization. Make sense? And that's the vow. Christopher? Is it Christopher? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, shit. And they used them to take other people into themselves. And I don't want to get that wrong. And I want people to be happy in terms of they can't be happy without everything. Did you say without condescending?

[33:47]

Yeah. [...] Yeah, well, the vow that gives rise to the Dhammakaya is the vow not so much that bears are happy eating salmon. It's the vows that bears will become Buddha. And if a bear is eating salmon now, I wish to transmit compassion to the bear to help the bear start studying karmic consciousness in the bear.

[34:49]

I wish the bear to become free of karmic consciousness. And the bear's karmic consciousness is afflicted just like a human one is. By being compassionate to beings with karmic consciousness, bears and humans, humans not only have karmic consciousness but language, By being compassionate to bears, they can feel it and they can teach it to us, I believe. And dogs can teach it to us. Wanting a dog or a bear to be free, I want them to be free and at peace, not necessarily have more salmon. But if they want more salmon, I believe that being compassionate to them will help them start studying themselves and become free of their karmic consciousness. That's what I want. is bears to be free. And along the way, bears might help me wake up. Like I thought this one story where this guy was hunting a bear. It's a story, you know. And he was hunting the bear and watching for the bear. And the bear came around the corner and went right up to him and opened its mouth and roared, kind of saying,

[35:59]

you know, this is not good, what you're doing. You know, trying to kill us is not good. And he just, like, blew the guy's hat off with his roar. And the guy kind of got the message. The bear could have also just, you know, just bit it off. Could have just ate the guy's head. But he didn't. He went out of his way to tell this guy, knock it off. It's enough. Did you get the picture? I'm not going to kill you. And you stop killing us. And tell your friends. So bears can help us wake up sometimes. And then as a favor, we want to wake up and transmit that to beings with fangs and beings with violence. We want to be kind to them because being unkind to violent people usually makes them more violent. But being kind to them, they gradually will melt. They will gradually melt into violence. into compassion. And then they will be able to be free.

[37:04]

That's what I want. Yeah, I do too. Yeah. We're talking about this is an aspirational path, not an anthropological path. We're not talking about the way we are now. We're talking about two things. What we aspire to be, and then one more thing is, what we aspire to be is no different from what we are. And by being kind to what we are, we can give up the discrimination between the way we are and what we want to be. But Yeah, I'm not yet what I aspire to be. And also, in addition to that, I also accept that I don't really know what it is that I aspire to.

[38:11]

The irony. So children know to some extent that what they aspire to they haven't attained. But they often think they know what it is. As we mature, we continue to have aspirations and realize we haven't reached them yet. and then also realize we don't know what it is, and then we realize, although we haven't reached it, we are no different from it. Yes? Yes? Unwilling to hear or to take responsibility for the fact that they continue to harm me. And I'm curious, like I think I heard you talk about before that there's a pivot between this teacher and this compassion that kind of turns each other.

[39:14]

You know? Speak to that and how we can respond. What are the things that are turning each other? I'm suggesting that hatred is never separate from compassion. But if we don't practice compassion when there's hatred, we won't realize that. I aspire to get so good at compassion that when I'm hated or when I'm hating, compassion just comes right up there and says, I'm here for you. You're still here, hatred, but you've got a friend. You've got a friend that's with you. And the friend that's always with you is a friend who knows that they're always with you and knows that it's not better than you and you're not better than it.

[40:16]

There's no compassion, there's no great compassion without greed, hate and delusion. That's where it lives. It lives in the middle of greed, hate and delusion. But we might think it lives out someplace where there's less or almost no greed, hate and delusion. If there's a place where there's less greed, hate and delusion, compassion's there too. but it's in the most severe situations. And I would like to see it be realized in the most severe situations, but of course they're more advanced, usually. So some of our stories are about where some of the ancestors were in really horrible situations and the compassion manifested with them and their friends. And I aspire to that attractive me. Have I reached that? No. Am I different from that?

[41:19]

No. Is that different from me? No. Is it better than me? No. Does it think it's better than me? No. Do I think I'm better than it? Maybe. Do I think I'm less than it? Maybe. But I also don't necessarily fall for that of discriminations if I practice compassion. I want to share something with Pat. You want to share something? Yeah, because, yes. Can you hear him in the back? Could you give him a microphone? Could you hear Jenny? Leslie has a microphone. Hey. Because yesterday I had some kind of thing which arose with that because I saw that my hate is also kind of related to the suffering I impose on the other person in that moment.

[42:24]

So actually I'm kind of like we are throwing this mud ball around like like the other person kind of like suffering is in that situation then it's not typically like it's not in me or or it's also in me but it's like in both of us in both of us in a sense and then yeah it's like i don't know if that I agree. You include everybody. And this is hard to understand. It's imperceptible, and it's hard to understand the imperceptible. But the work you do on yourself, everybody's included in it. And if you do good work, everybody's included in your good work. And you're responsible for that. And if you're not doing very good work, everybody's included in that. So that's more, for me it's more encouragement to do hard work, to do good work, because if it's not just for me.

[43:33]

Some work is really hard, and if it's just for me, I think I might give up. But if it's for everybody, okay. So everybody's included in your good work. So that hopefully will help you work more diligently on your good work. And everybody's included in your unskillfulness. So help me, that will help you confess and repent that and let go of it. Because it's not just for you. It's not just so you become more and more pure and skillful. Everybody's included in your skillfulness and unfortunately, you might say, but anyway, it's the way it is. They're included in your unskillfulness. And you are included in theirs. You're included in other people's unskillfulness and skillfulness. You're responsible for everything good and everything unfortunate. all the more reason to practice good and let go of evil.

[44:35]

Because of this mutual inseparability of all life. Do you want to say anything more? I don't know. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I can't. Yes? Yes? Would you give her that? For a very long time, I really, really did not believe that I could be friendly toward my own violence. So I wasn't. And then I heard you say, you know, quite a few times. I heard other people say it too, but I'm just remembering you say about being compassionate to your own harmfulness, violence.

[45:41]

And I thought, oh, that's good. You know, I think I can do that. That makes sense. I can try that. Now I see that it's not something really that I could just understand like that and use. To be compassionate, to bring compassion to my own violence is a very, very, very deep thing. And I have to learn it with help. We can't learn that by ourself. We can learn a little bit by ourself, but in order to do it genuinely, we need the help of others.

[46:46]

And that, you know, like this consciousness, by being friendly to this consciousness, I realize this consciousness with others. By being friendly with others, I realize how to be friendly with this one. Yes, Maya? I think it's the same thing. Do I have Buddha nature? One theory is that the monk was saying, well, you know, maybe a Buddhist monk has Buddha nature, but do dogs? Do banana slugs?

[47:52]

Do foreigners? Do murderers? I think they're just trying to extend it to all beings have it. That's one theory. What do you think? Yes. Would you give her the mic? Give Maria the mic. You were talking about the dance between karma consciousness and realization and the space or what that creates. Excuse me. Could I just adjust that? Yes. It's not the dance between karmic consciousness and realization. Realization is the dance between karmic consciousness and, for example, the dharmakaya.

[49:01]

Okay. Realization is the dance. Okay. The practice is the dance between delusion and enlightenment. And then you said that space, like that dance hall where they're dancing, is imperceptible. Yeah? Space is imperceptible. Yes. The dance hall is imperceptible, but the dance is also imperceptible. Okay. So does that mean that we can then only experience karmic consciousness or... Dharmakaya? If we can't perceive that interplay, which to me seems like that's the place I want to be, but if I can't perceive that, I mean, where am I?

[50:02]

I would say, where you are, how you are, your actual experience, your actual experience is the dance. That's your actual life. However, your life is not just perception. Perceptions are not your experience. They're one element in it. your experience is the way your perceptions are dancing with your feelings, and all your emotions, and all other form bodies, and your organs, and the light of awareness. All of that all is dancing. That's your experience. And one of those elements in it is feeling. So you could also say, we could say imperceptible, we could also say beyond hearing and seeing.

[51:03]

It's not within feeling or discrimination. The way feelings and discriminations are dancing is not a feeling or a discrimination. So it's a matter of realizing what your experience is right now, and your experience is not just your perception. But the imperceptible dance includes the perceptions. The dance between you and all beings includes all your perceptions and all of ours. But that dance is not a perception. That's what experience really is, I would say. Our life is experience, but it's imperceptible. Just like, again, you could be dancing with someone and you have perceptions, but you can't really see the dance. The dance is It's not just what you're perceiving, like you say, that person over there I'm dancing with is a good dancer. And they're thinking, you know, you're not a good dancer. But you're dancing.

[52:04]

And other people are watching you and they think they see the dance. But their perception of the dance is not the dance. But it's their perception. And the dance actually includes them. So they can have perceptions of it. But they are also in imperceptible mutual accord with the dancers. which they don't perceive, but which they experience. So we're all doing this together, and perceptions are a part of it. And so part of the training is to learn to be kind to our perceptions so we don't grab them as what's going on. Like I said to somebody yesterday, she wanted to be more grounded, and I said, well, when you look at me, realize that what you're looking at is your body. Just all day long realize everything you see is your body. It's your sense organs what you're seeing. You're seeing your sense organs interact with the world and give rise to what you see. But that's what you're actually looking at is your body dancing.

[53:06]

So you do have experience. It's a question of realizing it with practice. Thanks. You're welcome. So it's getting kind of late. Shall we stop? Is that enough? What? What? Red Robin? Okay. How many people are familiar with the words? Raise your hands. Okay, so here we go. I'll do it a little bit slow. One time I did it and somebody said, that was too slow. Yeah. I'll start out slowly, okay? when when the red red robin comes bop bop bopping along along there'll be no more sobbing when she starts throbbing her old sweet song wake up wake up you sleepy head get up

[54:29]

Get up, get out of bed. Cheer up, cheer up. The sun is red. Live, love, laugh and be happy. Now I've been blue. Now I'm walking through. No. No, once, yeah. Once I was blue, now I'm walking through fields of flowers. Rain may glisten, but still I listen for hours and hours. I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again, singing a song. When the red, red robin comes, bop, bop, boppin' along, bop, bop, boppin' along. And as Louis Armstrong says, yeah.

[55:27]

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