Every week I've been doing kind of like, starting from the seed and then going forward in how the seeds developed and are taken care of, matures, flowers and fruits. And last week, not for the first time, I was talking about one of the basic elements of training that protects the aspiration and supports it to grow, the aspiration for Buddhahood. So one of the basic training methods that I was emphasizing quite a bit last week was the precept, the first of the three pure bodhisattva precepts. And the first one is

[01:12]

literally called the precept of restraint. It's the precept that works with forms in a way where distractions are abandoned. It's a precept which I've kind of renamed as the precept of presence. So again, it's the precept that restrains distractions from being present. It's a precept which restrains outflows that come from dualistic views, like one I've stressed is the dualistic

[02:17]

view that the thing we aspire to, Buddhahood, and our current aspiration, and our past aspiration, but anyway our current level of aspiration, the current level of maturity of our aspiration which we have now, the view that enlightenment is something separate, that Buddhahood is something separate from the aspiration for Buddhahood, that dualistic view. This first bodhisattva precept trains at giving up that dualistic view, giving up the defilement that enlightenment is separate from our current level of practice. And again, as I said before, if you think that enlightenment is separate from the current level of development of sentient beings, then your

[03:25]

enlightenment has outflows or defilements because it's defiled by that duality. If your practice, if your current level of practice, your current mode of practice is seen as separate from enlightenment, then your practice has defilement or outflows. So of course, it's easy for people to think, well, if my practice has outflows, I guess that's not enlightenment. Does that make sense? If your practice has outflows, that wouldn't be enlightenment. If your practice is infected by dualistic thinking, that's not enlightenment. Dualistic thinking is not enlightenment, is it? No, it's not. But that doesn't mean enlightenment is separate from your dualistic thinking. So an enlightenment that's separate from your dualistic thinking, which is not enlightenment, that's not enlightenment. So again, enlightenment is

[04:29]

not separate from what isn't enlightenment. And by the way, what isn't enlightenment is not separate from enlightenment. So the first Bodhisattva precept restrains those dualistic ideas and believing them. It can also be called the restraint of being involved in time. So in that sense, it could be called the precept of eternity in the sense of the precept of being present. It's the precept of nirvana. A thought arose in my mind today, and the thought was, all you have to do for the rest of your life

[05:31]

is be present. And I was happy to hear that, but then later I thought, well, that's not true. So there's the expression, all you have to do is x, and then there's the expression, you have to do x. So really it's more correct to say, I have to be present, but that's not all I have to do. But I have to be present, and that's why, so at least, although it's not all I have to do, it's something I have to do, and I have to do it all the time. So that's the precept of nirvana. But there's something more to do besides, in a way. There's additional precepts to the first one. The first one is the precept of presence, and we have to do it if we wish to take care of this aspiration. But there's two more, and during the class last week, when I was talking about this,

[06:32]

Daniel mentioned, I was talking about this, just being present, just being present, and he said something like, well, the thing that I really regret most is some of the things I haven't said. And King said also that sometimes he's in a situation where he tries to be present and quiet, but sometimes he feels like if he talks, it really helps. So there's two more precepts, but they're based on the first one. The second two pure precepts are based on the pure precept of presence, and they are to do all wholesome actions. And the other one is to mature beings. Those two need to be based on the first one, otherwise they will be defiled by a lack of presence. So from stillness and presence and silence, we give the gift of speech sometimes,

[07:34]

kind speech. We give the gift of material things, we give the gift of fearlessness, we give the gift of the teachings, but we give it from the point of presence. We give it in the context that this gift is not separate from enlightenment, even if this gift is not enlightenment, because it's not fully developed. And then we practice the other six training methods, and with this precept of presence and the precept of the six training methods of giving ethics, patience, enthusiasm, concentration, and wisdom, we enter reality. We awaken to the truth. But in order to awaken to the truth, we have to be practicing the precept of presence.

[08:46]

We have to be practicing these six methods, and we have to be interacting with other living beings by practicing this presence and these six practices with the intention of helping them mature, helping them practice presence and enter these six practices and mature beings. And then Laurie said, you have the right to remain silent. We could also say you have the right to remain present and silent and still, and anything you say or do can and will be held against you. Anything you say and do can and will be held against you, or can be held against you,

[09:55]

and if it is held against you, then you have the opportunity to be present with that being held against you, and to practice generosity with the thing being held against you, and be careful and ethical with the thing that you said being held against you, and be patient with the thing being held against you, and be enthusiastic about being concentrated with the thing being held against you, and then have Buddhist wisdom about this thing that's being held against you, and enter reality. So sometimes someone may say something to us, or do something to us, and we may wonder if we've done something unskillful, because maybe they have a problem

[10:58]

with us. We feel that maybe they have a problem with us. So I guess what I'm suggesting is before you try to find out if they do have a problem, or what the problem might be... Do you want some think about, if possible, before we think about what the problem might be, practice presence with this sense, with this thought. We already have a thought to deal with. Our thought is, perhaps I've done something unskillful, perhaps I've offended this person. They seem to be unhappy in relationship to me. I've already got a thought. I don't need another one. I've got one. Before trying to figure out whether that's true or not, be present with it.

[12:00]

And then before trying to figure out whether it's true or not, practice wholesome conduct towards it, in addition to or based on the presence. Be generous with the thought, I wonder if I've done something unskillful. Be careful of the thought. And be careful means practice these principles of not killing, don't try to kill the thought that you've done something unskillful. Don't try to trade this thought in for another one that you haven't done something wrong. Don't praise yourself at the expense of others like, well, I did something wrong, but I'm better than the person who's got a problem with me, or so on. Be careful of that thought. Be patient with the discomfort of the thought, I may have done something unskillful. Now, if I think I have done something unskillful,

[13:11]

whether I have a problem with it or not, I would do the same with that. But I use the example of where someone seems to have a problem with you, and you don't know if you did something or not. Maybe they have a problem with you because you weren't generous enough to them, but you're not sure you weren't generous enough with them, but maybe they think you weren't, or you don't know. But first of all, you do these practices, and then maybe someday you'll find out the reality of the situation, the ultimate reality of the situation. So all this is leading to the entry into reality, and the entry into reality is the entry into the reality of which is called, the name of reality, is sometimes called conscious construction only.

[14:13]

The ultimate nature of the situation is that it's insubstantial. But if I've been unskillful, I practice skillfulness with my unskillfulness. I am committed to practice skillfulness with the thought that I'm unskillful, and that will lead me to realize the insubstantiality of the unskillfulness. It would not lead me to the unskillfulness. It would lead me to the insubstantiality of it. If unskillfulness was substantial, we would never be able to be skillful, because it would be real. If skillfulness was substantial, we would never be free,

[15:35]

because we would be stuck in the substantiality of skillfulness. Also, which might not seem like a problem, we would never be able to be unskillful if skillfulness was substantial. Actually, they couldn't be, but people think they can be. As a matter of fact, you just consider the possibility, which doesn't mean you thought they were. You're just open to it. I'm open to it too, and then in my openness I said no. They couldn't both be substantial, but they could both be insubstantial. In fact, they are both insubstantial, and there's quite a bit of discussion about why that's so. For example, you cannot have unskillfulness without skillfulness.

[16:36]

It's linguistically impossible. It's impossible to have unskillfulness, actually, for humans without linguistics, or at least without linguistics. So, conscious construction only. Let's see. I've also talked to you a little bit about this before. Tonight I would like to mention again the response to the question of what's it like when you enter into understanding conscious construction only. What's it like? Well,

[17:47]

it's unity, it's duality, and it's multiplicity. That's what it's like. It's unity in the sense that everybody you meet, everything you experience, is not external. Nothing you experience is external. You are one-pointed with everything that you experience. All your experience is one-pointed. There's no separation between knowing and known. There's no separation between one, self, and other. There's no separation between actor and action, or practice and practitioner.

[18:51]

There's nobody doing the practice. There's no practices floating at all separate from practitioners, and there's no practitioners who are separate from their practices. There's no practitioner that's substantially existent separate from the practice. That's what it's like. There's practice, but there's nobody in addition to the practice. There's presence, but there's nobody in addition to the presence. There's wholesome action, but there's no wholesome action in addition to the wholesome actor, which is another reason why wholesome action is insubstantial. It doesn't substantially exist in addition to the actor.

[19:58]

So you have a person who's doing something good, you could say, but there's no substantially existing good in addition to the person. It doesn't mean there's no good, it just means you have an insubstantial good, which is a dependently co-arisen phenomena which is inseparable from the actor. So the actor isn't substantial, and the action isn't substantial. If there's unwholesome practice going on, that also wouldn't be separate from the unwholesome practitioner. That's the unity, that's the non-duality that's realized when you realize conscious construction only. In other words, any sense of separation, any sense of you're something in addition to your life, or you're something in addition to others, or others are something in addition to you, or your experience is one thing and your experience of it is another,

[21:02]

the colors you see are one thing and your experience of it is another, all those dualities are insubstantial. They always were unreal, and now you understand that in one-pointedness. The next thing is duality. There still is actor and actions, there still is self and other, there still is knower and known, there still is mind and objects. The mind-object, the subject-object structure is not destroyed in realizing conscious construction only. As a matter of fact, it follows, it seems, that we wouldn't even be talking about conscious construction if it weren't for the fact of the construction of subject and object. So the subject-object construction is still occurring, and the sense that they're separate is refuted,

[22:06]

but the subject-object is not refuted. So there's still duality. And the other thing is multiplicity. The mind is one-pointed. What's it one-pointed on? Presence, and the presence leads you to understand what? Conscious construction only. The mind is present, one-pointed, with conscious construction only. The mind is the realization of mind only. The teaching is mind only. The teaching is all we know. All the mind knows is itself. It doesn't know anything other than itself. When you realize that teaching, you're focused on that teaching, and not just focused on it like you were before,

[23:15]

when there was a focus on it, but now you are nothing but the focus of it, which is it. So you're focused on that object. In this understanding, you're just naturally focused on that. You're focused on the truth. You're naturally realizing the truth with every thought. Every thought, you realize the truth. You're always thinking of the same thing because you understand that way. Just like most people, they don't mean to, but they're actually concentrated on duality. They don't have to try. They didn't have to cultivate that. They were born with the concentration on duality. Through this training process, you are now concentrated on the truth of non-duality. You're now focused on the mind knowing the mind, and that's what you know. You know that the mind is knowing the mind, and the mind is knowing the mind, and you're focused on that all the time. However, there's also multiplicity. Even though you're focused on that one thing all the time

[24:20]

because that's the way you understand the world, you also see all kinds of different beings, infinite multiplicity. So it doesn't destroy the multiplicity even though you're focused on one thing all the time. So you're focused on one thing all the time, and you're seeing different things all the time, and there's duality. That's what it's like when you realize this. So you can carry on all daily affairs, but there's no outflows. There's no duality. You understand that the idea that practice is something other than enlightenment is just a thought construction, and there's no separation between practice and enlightenment. If you think that evil is substantial and that good is substantial, you could think that, but you also understand that it's a conscious construction, and therefore that's all it is, is a conscious construction. It's not a reality. Now, because of this understanding, you have now entered reality, you have now had this

[25:29]

is enlightenment, this is authentic enlightenment, and now you can actually give up this thing that you're focusing on, the idea that you're focusing on. Now you can give up the idea, the teaching of conscious construction only, and now you actually abandon the idea of conscious construction only. You abandon the idea that mind only knows itself, that the objects of mind are mind, that mind is always generated with objects. You abandon those ideas, and then you fully realize conscious construction only. Or another way to put it is you realize that all phenomena are insubstantial, and then you give up the teaching that all phenomena, you give up the idea or the concept that all things are insubstantial. You don't hold on to, in other words, that understanding, and then you fully understand that they're insubstantial. Yes? It can be, it can be, there can be one, you could have like, well, it's always one experience,

[26:49]

but one experience can be multiple, like you can experience a variety of colors and thoughts in a given moment, but you could also experience just one thought. It depends on how many consciousnesses are operating. Like it says in the Samadhi Nirmachana, there can be six sense consciousnesses, or there could be just one. But also, it can be different ones each moment. There can be the multiplicity of each moment, a new one, a new experience, and also there can be multiplicity in the moment. Even though you are actually focused, you are actually concentrated on reality. You've trained yourself, first of all, to remember the teaching. To remember the teaching, what's the teaching? Well, the teaching is to be present, to give up dualistic thinking,

[27:52]

to give up distractions from presence. The teaching is to practice these perfections, and to work for the welfare of others. The teaching is to listen to these teachings, the teaching is to listen to these teachings, and then listening to these teachings, you become more and more concentrated on the teachings, and finally you become concentrated on the central point of this teaching. But that doesn't mean that your mind is less rich than it used to be, or more rich than it used to be. Questioner says I have difficulty because the linguistic process, the living process, like listening to the teaching one moment after the other, then it's also... I have the idea of a concentration that opens up to more experiences at the same time.

[28:59]

So, you're saying that... Say it again. Listening to the teachings again and again, I feel like there's a linearity of time. A linearity and also a focus on the linearity. Yeah. Openness and flexibility. Right. Okay, that's right. And anything else? Okay. So, when you focus on the word, as you become more focused in the kind of focus we mean by concentration, you start to be more open and more flexible. And then you see in these words more possibilities than you saw before.

[30:19]

In order to focus, most people have to limit, to some extent, limit the possibilities. Because they have trouble focusing on many things at once. So, they maybe focus on each word that they're hearing. As you become better at focusing, you also can become better at concentration. Concentration is not just focus. Concentration is openness and flexibility. So, sometimes we have this question, if you're really focused on something but you're not flexible and open, is that concentration? And the answer is no. But it's like concentration because concentration does focus. But if there's not this flexibility and openness, it's not the concentration we mean. It's not this restful concentration, which can open to the multiplicity of meanings of each thing, to the great possibilities of each thing.

[31:21]

But in order to focus on something, you usually have to look at some image of it. When you hear teachings, you hear an image of the teaching. The teaching is coming, but we convert the teaching into an image, into a word. The teaching isn't a word, but we have to make it into a word in order to contemplate it. So, we narrow the teaching into an image, and we eliminate a lot of what's going on with the teaching. But as we focus on the image of the word, more and more, when we get sufficiently focused, we start to open up to what we eliminated about the teaching to make it into the word, and what we weren't flexible about. So then we start to open to the emptiness of the word, to the insubstantiality of the word, which we used to bring the teaching. And we realize the emptiness of the word, and the emptiness of the image of the word, and we realize the signlessness of the image of the word, and so on.

[32:23]

That's what happens when we get concentrated with whatever, including the teaching. And then when we get really open to it, then we can open to actually enter into the reality of the teaching. And be focused on it. And be open to that the teaching is insubstantial too. The teaching of insubstantiality is insubstantial. The teachings of compassion are insubstantial. Ungraspable. Conscious construction only. We don't want to use teachings to realize insubstantiality. Now we have a new highfalutin substantiality that we can't get rid of. So that is a special danger that meditators, only meditators have, is making things substantial,

[33:26]

which they've gone to a lot of trouble to realize. So you make a big effort and then you realize something. It doesn't mean you can't realize something when you make a big effort, it's just that everything you realize is conscious construction only, that's all. It doesn't mean you can't realize great compassion and great wisdom. It's just that you don't get to realize substantial things, you only get to realize insubstantial things. And already we've realized quite a few insubstantial things, but because we think they're substantial, they're a big problem. Not their big problem, our projection of substantiality on them is a big problem. Or even a little bit conscious.

[34:39]

Lucid dreaming probably has various levels of skill. I had a lucid dream of my recently deceased dog the other day, it was really fun. I was looking at her, I knew it was a dream, and I was looking at her and she was like, she wasn't a real little pup, but it was from about maybe six years ago, and she was jumping up by the window at the house, and I thought, this is really nice, I get to look at her the way she used to be. This is fun. And I just kept it going, just for fun. And I just thought how wonderful, I could actually see her jumping up at the window. I knew it was insubstantial and that made it more fun. But you can have lucid dreamings without realizing that what you're looking at is insubstantial. Do I know that?

[35:40]

Well, as Rocky Marciano said, if I say I do, I'd be bragging. And if I say I don't, I'd be lying. So, again, we've gone through all these practices now, now we are in the, what do you call it, the inner sanctum of being concentrated on the reality that it's not that everything is unreal exactly, but that everything is conscious construction. In some sense, that is reality. That is the way we can see that that's the way we see. And this, actually, we've been hearing this teaching and then the actual entry into it requires all this training.

[36:42]

So it's not just anymore hearing about it, we actually are residing in that place of that truth. So, in one sense, I spoke of the seeds and the conditions or the causes for entry into reality, entry into awakening, and these practices are, in a sense, in the realm of the kind of interpersonal or the kind of social practices, social trainings of the aspiration, which lead to a kind of non-social event. The entry into reality is, in a sense, not really social. The enter into non-externality, you're no longer playing any social games there. But then from that place, and maybe actually before I go from that place,

[37:45]

just go back, do you understand how these practices, these trainings are social? Does it make sense to you, how they're social? No. They're social because, for example, you're being present with yourself and your thoughts, and you're being present with yourself and other people. You're practicing generosity towards your own thinking, your own sensing, and you're practicing generosity towards living beings, inwardly and outwardly. There's an interpsychic aspect to it, but there's an interpersonal aspect to practicing these perfections. Does that make sense? There's an interpersonal aspect of being patient in your relationships with others, and there's an interpsychic aspect of being patient with your own personal hardship. So the path leading to this realization, to this entry, is intrapsychic or inner,

[38:46]

and also interpersonal, or it's non-social and social. Well, everything connected to bodhisattva is not social. There are some things which aren't social. For example, the realization, the entry into reality isn't really social, because there's no self and other anymore. There's only the conscious construction of society and all beings. There's no beings that actually exist anymore, including yourself. There's just conscious construction only. And this realization is necessary in order to really help beings. So that's in this teaching.

[39:48]

In the Diamond Sutra it says, if you wish to attain enlightenment, you need to have this wisdom, you need to vow to save all beings and lead all beings to nirvana. And in leading all beings to nirvana, you have to understand that no beings are led to nirvana. If you don't understand that, you're not a bodhisattva. You have to understand there's no beings being led in order to actually lead beings. So the actual entry into reality is inner. And it's not inner to you, separate from others. It's inner in the sense that it's just in the mind. There are no other beings there. But based on that understanding, then you re-enter the world, the social world, where there are other people. And there are a lot of people who think they're other people and who think that other people are separate from them. And you re-engage those beings,

[40:49]

but now you understand that these beings who you're devoted to are conscious construction only. Prior to understanding that, you can care for beings, but you don't understand your relationship with them. So your practice is more or less difficult. And also you don't understand your relationship to the practices. But I saw some wincing, so I welcome the wincers to speak up. I mean, I had some conscious constructions of wincing. Yes? Well, I think for me it's just conscious construction only seems like a strange term for describing what seems more like conscious construction no or no conscious construction.

[41:50]

Like you're saying, you come to this place of there is no other being and there is no I. No, but I said that in realizing that there is unity, duality and multiplicity. You're still seeing everybody. There is no society anymore. Everything is one. There is still multiplicity in subject and object, but there is no separation. And that is conscious construction only. That's the way conscious construction only is when it's realized, and that is a conscious construction only. That's what I just said. That's okay. Yes?

[42:51]

It leaves out all one? Well, that's... It leaves out the all one? How does it leave out all one? Didn't you just say that? Yeah, so isn't that there? Didn't you say it? So that's conscious construction only. That's the way it is. And that was just a conscious construction, right? But the oneness is just a conscious construction too. It's not a real oneness. That's not a conscious construction. Boing? Yeah, boing, right. Ask and you shall receive.

[43:59]

It's good to ask. Get boings, which are conscious constructions. They aren't substantial boings. They're helpful boings though, especially if you don't grab onto them. Boing? Maybe the boing was true oneness. Maybe the boing was true oneness. There is true oneness. There is true oneness, and you get true oneness when you understand conscious construction only, and true oneness is conscious construction only. And that's true oneness. And true oneness doesn't make any dents in true twness. And true twness is just conscious construction only of true twness. There's some false twnesses, and they're also conscious construction only.

[45:01]

False twnesses are insubstantial too. They're also ungraspable. Yes? Would you say that again more slowly, please? That last little part? You speed it up there. Business as usual minus drama. I wouldn't necessarily say minus drama, because business as usual could be drama. That could be your business. You could be in the drama business. I do know what you mean.

[46:06]

So it's business as usual, except you're not caught by the external appearance of business. It's business as usual, but the business is now unhindered by belief in that things are something other than mental constructions. It's business as usual, but the business is now coming from the insight rather than coming from your idea of the practice. And the idea of the practice is not eliminated. It's just that you're not acting from the idea. You're acting from the realization of what the idea is. So you still do all these practices, business as usual, but the practice isn't stressed by them being external or them being owned or not owned or that you have to do them. You're enthusiastic

[47:14]

because of the understanding now, whereas before you were enthusiastic because of your imaginings about your aspiration. So now your aspiration is purified of its rendition. Your aspiration still is kind of a thought, like I wish to live for the welfare of all beings and attain Buddhahood. But you're purified of thinking that that's substantial. And so then that thought goes on just as usual. The thinking goes on just as usual, but it's purified of misconception. And there's also no direct... There was a preference, but there was no distinction that this is better than the other. It's kind of like the same, right? In a way, it's not equal.

[48:20]

The first point is it's the same. The second point is there's a structure of duality. The third point is there's multiplicity. And multiplicity includes all kinds of distinctions. But on the basic level, there's no distinctions without disturbing any distinctions. Questioner 2 Would you say that one can enter reality and see that everything is conscious construction and feel it deeply

[49:21]

and then one can exit reality and not re-enter it for a while? Or for a long time? What I'm saying is just entering reality may be for a moment. Then one exits reality and one is back to delusion. Could you all hear that? To me, it's a little surprising thing about this teaching that we're talking about the actual entry into this reality is irreversible. You don't go back

[50:22]

and then think again, oh no, things really are substantial and this isn't just my conscious construction that I'm dealing with. However, there's another aspect to this which is that the basis, the unconscious basis for our imaginings that things actually exist out there separate from us that the appearance of separateness isn't just a conscious construction. The way we think that way and believe that way is based on an unconscious mind which supports this conscious activity. The unconscious mind is the consequence of innumerable past moments of such mistaken cognitions. However, by listening to these teachings in this way

[51:27]

through our conscious mind which thinks dualistically and believes that what we think is something other than conscious construction but we hear these teachings this unconscious is transformed in such a way as to allow us to keep listening to the teaching and keep practicing the practices which we're learning. Along with that is gradually developing a kind of wisdom mind. And when this wisdom mind develops sufficiently we can enter into this teaching and we don't reverse it. However, even if we authentically enter this unconscious basis for these false imaginings of separateness between ourselves and others the basis has not been completely transformed at the time of authentic entry into reality. The basis which led to all the states of consciousness

[52:31]

prior to that entry has not been completely transformed. So our basis consciousness, our unconsciousness which is the result of all of our past mistaken consciousnesses can be transformed to the point where we can actually enter this reality, understand it correctly but it hasn't been completely transformed. So the practice goes on after that for a long time and then the transformation continues after entry into it. So these false imaginings still occur even if you authentically enter. It is also possible to be mistaken and so you might be able to have a teacher who can tell you, no, you didn't really understand that yet. There are ways of discussing these matters where you can get Boeings on top of Boeings. The discussion is still going on and you haven't really entered. And that's part of listening to the teachings.

[53:32]

But after authentically entering you still have a lot of further transformation and before that transformation is complete which takes you to Buddhahood. Entry into enlightenment, entry into reality is not Buddhahood. Buddhahood is to continue the practice with this purified consciousness which then transforms the unconscious. And when the unconscious is completely transformed we have the most helpful situation called a Buddha. It might take generations. Well, they do say it takes three big eons. But even in the early phases of the bodhisattva career where you have this aspiration even in that phase you need to be practicing these six perfections.

[54:35]

Early on you need to practice these six perfections and the fourth one is to be kind of today I would say outrageously enthusiastic and really joyful about this practice. And if it goes on a long time whoopee, I'm up for it because this is really a joy to be on this path even though I am kind of not too far along on my way to entry into reality it's not that I don't care it's just that I'm enjoying the practice where I am right now. I'm right here and I'm enjoying it right here because I'm practicing presence and practicing presence I could even say that's all I have to do and that's not right. I have to do it and I love to do it. I love to practice presence I'm so grateful to practice presence and not only that but now I can practice the six paramitas

[55:38]

and one of them is I can be really enthusiastic like I am right now and if this goes on forever I'm up for it, I'm up for it big time. And if I forget that then I have to go back and think about that question Am I up for this? Yeah, I am. You have to keep refueling that enthusiasm with your aspiration all the way along just that after you enter the refueling is spontaneous it comes with your understanding before that you have to keep thinking Do I really want to do this again? What's the point? Oh yeah, and so on. It's not exactly the longer the better but if it takes a long time I'm totally up for it. That kind of spirit is the bodhisattva spirit which some people might say is outrageous.

[56:40]

He must have been scared out of his wits. Correct me if I'm wrong but his question made you think he used the word exiting entering reality and exiting. Just a second, can I say something? You said his question made you think but you could say that another way, couldn't you? I'm not sure I can say it in any way Go ahead, if you didn't guess what I'm suggesting. You said his question made you think when you heard his question you thought and there were quite a few conditions that made you think that. It wasn't just his question that made you think that. He's not in control of your thinking. Sometimes maybe. Yeah, sometimes maybe.

[57:48]

Sometimes Fred is our unconscious. But his question is your response. You seem to have made a distinction which kind of gets to what you're saying. When he said you're exiting reality you kind of said if you authentically enter that doesn't mean that the basis is transformed there will still be conscious constructions arising from his habits and experience. I don't know if I said that but that's right. That's good that I did. That's good if I did. But if I didn't and you said it, it's good too. Would you say that you'd be caught by those

[59:03]

and experience suffering from those and maybe be caught by them and then I don't know, I can't quite articulate it. The answer is yes. But it seems to me if you were always present with those conscious constructions of suffering you would see the insubstantial. Yes, that's right. That's the good thing about entering reality. Then after that when all this misery comes up you see the way they are. That doesn't seem like much of a problem. Doesn't seem like much of a problem?

[60:04]

That's fine that you don't think that. And then you empty that too. That's fine. Thoughts of horror, you practice presence with them. You practice the perfections with them. You think about how to serve mature beings on that occasion. And you enter into reality again. Once you enter reality then all this stuff keeps coming up and you enter reality. Comes up, enters reality. This isn't a problem, enter reality. This is a problem, enter reality. Whatever comes up, now you enter. And when you enter... Is to constantly strengthen because of dealing with these things in this way of understanding the threshold for entering reality is becoming easier and more common. Because of... I don't know about easier. But it's more like

[61:07]

you don't have to think about it. You could get things that are more difficult than anything you've ever seen before. But then you enter the reality of it. So what gets stronger is this wisdom body is growing. But before you're like... I don't know what the word is. But anyway, I think you got it right. Afterwards, because of the results of past karma we have an unconscious which is supporting a wide variety of conscious constructed cognitions. Cognitions that are constructing themselves by their own nature. They're presenting themselves. But now each one of these things are kind of counteracted and counteracted. So the process, in a sense, is...

[62:09]

I don't know what the word is. But anyway, it goes more smoothly. Well, it sounds like there's... I would say that you begin to enter more of a positive feedback loop. Well, you were in that positive feedback loop before, too. It's just that you hadn't entered reality. So now, before you enter reality, when this stuff comes up, you learn through positive feedback to respond with compassion, which includes generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiasm, concentration. And also you're practicing wisdom in the sense that you're listening to the wisdom teachings as part of your work. This is a positive feedback loop in relationship to all these conscious constructed afflictive states that are being presented to you. But you haven't entered reality yet. It's still a big time positive feedback loop.

[63:11]

You're still evolving positively in a wonderful way. To make a tiny bit of progress in this positive feedback loop prior to entering reality is something to rejoice about. I guess what I would say is it seems like a personal effort. It seems like a personal effort, yeah. That's what it seems like. Exactly. And so it's hard. Personal effort. Oh, I'm so tired. Then you've got to go back and refuel again. What was the point here? Why was I doing this really hard thing? People tell me I haven't made any progress and why am I wasting my time practicing Buddhism? I'm worse than I used to be, they say. I'm getting more selfish and more stupid. What was I doing this for in the first place? Oh yeah, right! Wow, that's cool. I'm going to go back and do it anyway. Even though I made no progress, according to them. Yeah, I recovered more quickly that time.

[64:13]

It didn't take me a month to recover from that insult. Just about 15 minutes. That wasn't that bad. So in a way, after you enter reality, the recovery time gets shorter. And it's not a personal effort. The idea of personal effort comes up, but you understand that's a dream. Just a puff. There's no personal effort. Never was. You used to think there was. And you made it! You made a big personal effort over and over and over and over. And you didn't regret it, but it was hard. And you knew that the time would come when you wouldn't have to do personal effort anymore. A lot of times you didn't get credit for it. That too. And you've heard that you'll get to a point where you won't be making personal effort anymore, that you'll be practicing together with everybody and it'll be a lot more fun and a lot easier and you'll get bigger challenges and reward

[65:15]

for not being personal. And you won't take so long to recover from the onslaught. But it won't be personal effort anymore. Even if the name of the game is, Okay folks, everybody ready? Tonight we're going to play personal effort. Everybody up for it? And the bodhisattvas who have entered reality say, We're ready. It's not like, I'm not going to play personal effort anymore. They'll play that. But they know it's a dream. They really do. And that makes it a little bit more fun and easy to play. Tonight we're not going to have, no personal effort tonight, okay? Yep. They naturally, because of their understanding, practice generosity towards what's offered. And then they get a reward of more afflictive states being offered for them to meet. And in meeting them that way,

[66:17]

the basis of them is transformed and transformed and transformed until there's nothing left but wisdom. And then there's no more conscious construction. But all there is, all that appears is conscious construction, but the wisdom mind doesn't have any of its own conscious construction. It only deals with conscious construction towards the beings that it's still devoted to. So it sees the world of conscious construction through people who have not completely transformed the basis of it. But at a certain point in the process, the basis of conscious construction is eliminated. And that's where this teaching is coming from, which you call the Buddha, which is the completely transformed karma, which supports the mind of conscious construction. Yes, Ben and then Simon?

[67:19]

It feels like this practice is aimed at intervening sort of at the point where emotion arises. Just as in, you know, very cliché example, you're driving and you're cut off. But you just cut yourself off. If non-separation is what you're Right. That's the teaching. It might. And then when the negative emotion, when the anger comes up, then you start practicing these six perfections. Then you're present with the anger. So the anger comes up and you say,

[68:21]

oh yeah, presence with the anger. Wow, there's anger and there's presence, cool. Now I'll practice the six perfections. Now I'll practice generosity towards the anger. Well, the anger is in some sense primary. You can move on towards your anger to this person. You can then practice generosity towards them. Or you can do them first and then do your anger. But your anger is a little bit quicker. That's right in your face. And it's not exactly intervening, it's meeting it. Now, if you think that when you're cut off and you don't understand that you've just been cut off by your own mind, when you see that, then you might say you intervene with the anger if you would meet the thought cut off with compassion. Before you even get angry,

[69:22]

you could see it as intervening, but you could also just say you meet that thought cut off with compassion. Like, cut off? No, I'm going to give this place to this person. It looked like they cut me off, but actually slightly before they cut me off, I gave it to them. It turns, you know, like you're just about to say cut off and you go, yours, baby. I often think of, particularly with men, I often think, grandson. If a car moves in front of me and it's a man, I often think, grandson. In other words, go ahead, sweetheart. Because, you know, if your grandson cuts you off, it's okay, right? Actually, all these people cutting me off

[70:24]

are really my grandson, really. Or another way to put it, it's my mind. Because my grandson is really my mind. Something that I love regardless. Something I'm not separate from no matter what. So you could just immediately give the thing before the person can take it from you. So you could just get in the car and say, okay, nobody is going to cut me off because I'm going to let everybody go in front of me. It's impossible for anybody to cut me off. It's impossible. Because I give way to all beings. And then someone might think, well, how will I ever get anywhere? Travel at midnight. And then the number of gifts will be less, perhaps. You might. And still,

[71:26]

always give it to them. So either always give it to them or when you start to slip into they cut, they took, they stole, then practice compassion towards the appearance of stealing. So I'm not saying to eliminate the appearance of stealing. I'm saying meet stealing with compassion. Meet stealing with generosity. Then you meet stealing with vigilance, conscientiousness. In other words, you don't praise yourself at the expense of the cutter. You don't think, well, I'm not a cutter. I'm better than the cutter. You don't slander the cutter. You don't say anything about the cutter that would make anyone have less compassion for them. You don't lie about the cutter. You don't have ill will towards the cutter. You don't wish. I hope they just drive off the road. That's so hard. Did you say it's so hard to do that? That's what I said earlier.

[72:31]

When it's personal effort, it's hard. Until you enter reality, these practices are often hard. And if they're not hard, it's kind of like, wow, that wasn't hard that time, amazing. Usually they're hard. The word from the ancestors, you don't hear them saying, oh, it's easy, it's easy. It's called the joyful way. It's called the comfortable way. This is called the comfortable way, but the comfortable way is not easy. The comfortable way takes great enthusiasm. And you have to think about how good it is to have enthusiasm for something that's really hard. But it is hard. But it's so great if it ever happens. Once in a lifetime, if one of those things happened, it would be worth the whole life of suffering. Because when that happens, you're going to become Buddha. Thanks for the question.

[73:35]

Simon? Check out what? Yeah. [...] So is that different from entering reality, what you just said there? It's a temporary state.

[74:41]

It's a temporary state. However, that understanding that comes, if you actually understood it in that samadhi, in that concentrated state, if you understood that, it's temporary, but it transforms you. You're transformed by that. You've now entered reality. Now you're on a different path. So the path before you enter is called the path of preparation or concerted effort. And then there's a path for the temporary moment when you're understanding. It's quite quick. It's called the path of vision, where you have this vision. Then after that, you have the path where now your vision, every time it encounters these things, transforms them. Before, your vision didn't transform these things. Your vision was still off. However, you were practicing compassion with the situation, so you evolved to the point where you had wisdom. Once the wisdom is there, then the wisdom meets all these things which you met before with delusion. The seeing is a temporary state.

[75:44]

Then the result of the seeing is the wisdom which then is applied to all the states that follow. And in that state, could there also be... Which state? Having seen reality. The state of having entered reality, yes. Then there's the appearance of self and other again. But wisdom could be applied to that. No. In that state, there is the appearance of self and other. But there's also realization that that's an illusion. The belief in self and other arises again. It could arise, but you wouldn't believe it. You wouldn't believe it. Something about your karma could chuck that up again, but it would just be something that you would know was false. You would know it's false, different than before when you knew it was false, but you believed it still. Now you know it's false, kind of, don't you?

[76:46]

Most of you kind of, sort of think it's false, but you don't completely see yet. Once you completely see, if it should happen to pop up, and it certainly pops up in other people, and when it pops up in other people, it's really horrible sometimes, right? The way it pops up, just terrible pain, terrible fear, and even violence and cruelty around that. So when it pops up, it's still really challenging. It's still a big challenge, and your compassion then goes to meet it, but you're not fooled by it anymore. You understand that it's a conscious construction. What's the difference between that and the third level of samadhi? In this situation, the third level of samadhi is the one, this little story tonight, the third level is the one after you enter. So there's samadhi before you enter, there's samadhi in entering,

[77:49]

and then there's samadhi afterwards. So the samadhi afterwards is like the fruit of entering reality, and that fruit keeps developing until it becomes Buddha. Before that, it's also developing towards Buddha, but it's now the cause of entry. So the first part of the class is talking about the causes of entry, and the second part is about the fruits of the entry, causing the awakening and the fruits of the awakening. The fruits of the awakening are not immediate Buddhahood after you enter, but now the transformation process is more powerful. The post-enlightenment transformation is necessary in order to make a Buddha. You can have enlightened people that are not Buddhas, and you can have people that are not enlightened who are very, very good practitioners, but they still haven't quite entered reality yet,

[78:51]

but they're awesome in their practice, perhaps. People can get very highly developed and still not having entered. And then after entering, you have people who still have a lot of work to do, not just some, everybody after entering has a lot of work to do, except somebody who has already done the work and you just can't tell. Like Shakyamuni Buddha did a lot of work before he was born. So in about 30 years, he could finish the story. The second one that happens as you enter? I said that the belief can still arise,

[79:57]

but you don't believe it. No, then you haven't entered. After you enter, you don't believe anymore. But the belief can arise, it's just you don't grasp it because you don't see no way to get a hold of anything, including that. That's a big thing to be tempted to grab onto. It's a big one, it's a super big one, more very important, but there's lots of other tempting stuff that you don't grab either because they're conscious construction only. You can see they cannot be grasped, it's impossible. You understand that. But you still have to have them come up and say, hello, I love you, and you're not external. You still have to deal with all those things. It isn't just, okay, I understand. It's tested innumerable times, and every time it's tested, it transforms the past karma into wisdom. I'd love to answer your question, Daniel,

[80:59]

but it's getting really, really late. Can you remember and write it down and bring it up next week? Thank you very much. By the way, if you'd like to know, there's a formal way of holding your hands when doing walking meditation. It's like this. Left hand, thumb down, wrap the fingers around against the sternum. Right hand, cover the left hand, like this. That's the formal Soto Zen way, if you want to try it. One more class, is that right?

[81:36]

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