There's a few new people here. Welcome to you, if you're here the first time. I also want to mention that we had a... Let's see, now it's September. Since our last sitting here, was our last sitting in August, right? Like August 8th or something? Since that time I went to Sweden, and did a sasheen and then I came back to Green Gulch and did another sasheen. And the Green Gulch sasheen was kind of an unusually no abode type of, no abode kind of sasheen because many of you here today were there and other people, a lot of no abode people came. It was like mostly no abode people. Very nice. Thanks for coming to you and wasn't that nice? Anyway, there's things I have been talking about, and there's things which I am going to continue to talk about, which I want to remind you of.

[01:13]

And it's kind of like, every time I give a talk, it's kind of like setting a table. Setting a table for our our discussion. So part of the table setting would be to tell you that in about a month we're going to start a practice period at Green Gulch. And this practice period has, I noticed, two kinds of announcements about it. One announcement was that the focus of the practice period is focusing on the bodhisattva path. Another announcement for the practice period was zazen for the welfare of the world.

[02:16]

And maybe colon the pivotal activity of all Buddhas. So I have been and I will continue to talk about a pivotal activity of all Buddhas, which is for the welfare of the world. And in the Zen temples we call this pivotal activity of Buddhas for the welfare of the world, we call it sometimes Zazen. Focusing on the Bodhisattva path is focusing on the path of Buddhahood. It's a path to realize Buddhahood. And the Bodhisattva path focuses on the activity of Buddhas, realizing Buddhas, and going beyond realizing Buddhas.

[03:35]

So now I'd like to offer you a little summary of the bodhisattva path. The bodhisattva path is to live by deeds of compassion. for all living beings. I'll just stop there for a second and just check with you, is that somewhat familiar to you? To live a life of offering deeds of compassion to all beings. That's the Bodhisattva path, one way to describe it. Could that be the entire definition?

[04:49]

Or is there more? Can we just stop there? I think we can stop there. And then after we stop, I mean we stop, I stop talking and you listen to me when I said that, right? So I talked and you were listening. And even though I stopped, I did kind of stop, didn't I? And I checked to see if that was like somewhat familiar. And then after I stopped and I checked with you, somebody asked a question. And somebody goes by the name of Kriya. Okay? In other words, what I said is pretty much it. But then you asked a question, partly because I asked you a question. Or actually, I said it, that's pretty much it, and then I asked a question. So all that's pretty much it, then after that, then the questions come, which are part of it.

[05:55]

So my question, after I said that, my question, which was something like, is that somewhat familiar to you? That was my question, right? That was an act, I meant that as an act of compassion. So I gave, first of all, I gave this definition of the Bodhisattva path, this picture, this story of the Bodhisattva path, I gave that as an act of compassion. That's what I wanted it to be. I thought that might help you get oriented, set the table, right? Then after that I asked a question, another act of generosity. Then you asked a question, another act of generosity. So after I gave the definition, I practiced. While I was giving the definition, I was practicing what I was defining. I wanted to anyway. Then I asked a question to continue the practice. Then you asked a question to continue the practice.

[06:55]

So that's it, and now we practice it. Okay? And then there's another question that comes up, but what if you forget? Or, what if while you're trying to act compassionately towards all beings, what if you get scared? What we're talking about is pretty simple, I just said it. But then fear comes up sometimes. And the fear often makes it somewhat difficult to do the practice, which we're pretty clear what the practice is. But now, what would be compassionate when I'm afraid? So, here's a person.

[07:58]

Here's a living being. a human maybe, or a grizzly bear? I was just up where they have a lot of signs saying grizzly bear, grizzly country. And they give you instructions, you know. So a grizzly bear shows up. And you, okay, now time for a deed of compassion. But I'm scared. So, once again, going back to that simple definition. Is that okay, that definition? Everybody, like, clear about that? Could you say it one more time? To live by deeds of compassion for all beings. That's basically it. And then, stuff comes up. Like, the big one is fear.

[09:02]

Fear of what's going on in myself, which is a being. Fear of how I am. Fear of my old age, sickness and death. Fear that my welfare might be in danger. Fear that I might get hurt. So then the bodhisattva path is to practice compassion towards my fear when I'm afraid for myself. But sometimes I see other, and then sometimes I see other people, or other beings, like grizzly bears, and then again I'm afraid for myself, I'm afraid about my own personal pain. And then it makes it perhaps hard to remember that I'm here to be compassionate to grizzly bears, when I'm afraid of the grizzly bear hurting me.

[10:17]

Does this make sense? but it could also be a human, a big or small human who seems to be aggressive or, I don't know what, prejudiced against me or whatever. I might be afraid of them. And then again, have difficulty remembering that my job is to be practice compassion towards this person, towards whom I feel afraid, I'm afraid that I might have personal pain in relationship to them. So this comes up. So in that sense, it's almost like an extension of the jobs description that in addition to, along with doing compassionate deeds to all beings, humans and non-humans, I also need to give up being afraid of personal suffering.

[11:26]

It doesn't mean I have to not be afraid, it just means I have to let go of it. In order to do my job. Because if I don't, if I'm holding on to fear of personal pain, I might kill the grizzly bear. Unnecessarily. So when I was walking up in the mountains recently, I was thinking, if the grizzly bear comes, can I speak to him and say, darling, I don't want to hurt you, but I also don't want you to hurt me. So please just realize I'm just standing here and you can go away, I'm not, you know, you can wherever you are going, you can continue that way, I'm not going to interfere with you. And also I'm not going to run away from you because I've heard that that is not a good idea because it kind of stimulates something in you that means attack.

[12:34]

So I'm just going to stand here and talk to you And I try to be compassionate to you, hoping that the Bodhisattva path will be living in me now. And I was wondering, would I be able to do that if the grizzly comes? Especially if it comes fast. Like not from a hundred yards away, but like suddenly come running towards me. Can I just stand there and talk to him, give him kindness? or her kindness. Her is often like maybe defending her cubs. And that's a really difficult situation. So anyway, I was wondering, would I be able to let go of my fear when the grizzly comes? And I didn't have a lot of confidence like, yeah, sure. But my understanding is that that's the bodhisattva path, is when a grizzly comes to be compassionate to the grizzly. But I have to practice giving up fear of my pain, and I don't have to wait to meet a grizzly bear to practice that.

[13:45]

I have pains now that I can be afraid of, so I can work with them now. There's people right now that I could be afraid of, that I'm afraid that they're going to cause me pain. So the key thing then, the next step in order to facilitate these bodhisattva deeds is to see that the existence of grizzly bears and human beings, other human beings, other human beings, other human beings, that their existence is our own existence, not even the same, their existence is our existence. The grizzly bear's existence is our existence. All living beings, all other living beings, are my existence.

[14:50]

To see that, to hear about it, but to see it. That facilitates letting go of fear about my suffering. And seeing that, and letting go of the fear by seeing it, that's the pivotal activity of the Buddhas. That sets the activity of compassion rolling without getting stuck on what's coming up. Yes? Can I share a very quick story about a spider that showed compassion towards me? A spider that showed compassion towards you? Yeah, it was like amazing. Let's hear about the compassionate spider. I picked up some stuff on the floor and there was a huge spider.

[15:52]

Really huge. And I actually thought about you and I still went to get my vacuum cleaner. And when I came back, the spider had disappeared. So every day I would go in or often into this room knowing that the spider was there. And one day I went into the room and it's such a huge spider that it had died, but it had emerged and died where I could see it. So I didn't kill it, but it also died where I could see that it was gone. That was very kind. Yeah. Thank you. Fear has no object. When fear sort of arises, you can't quite So that's the being that I want to be compassionate to now, is that fear.

[16:59]

I can be compassionate to the fear. I don't have to know what it's about. I just feel like I'm tensing up, I'm afraid. I do feel that. So I have that being to be compassionate to. Once again? When the Bodhisattvas came for all beings, all beings includes the Bodhisattva. All beings include the Bodhisattva? Yes. And seeing that, you can let go of the fear.

[18:01]

But if I don't take care of the fear in such a way as to let go of it, or I should say, if I'm not kind to the fear, it's hard for me to see that I'm included in everything, that everything is including me, is pervading me. When I see that, then the fear is abandoned. I'll be right with you, Karen. I think Homa had her hand raised a while ago. Yes? Actually, that's gone. But the new question is the letting go. So when you are saying letting go as an act of compassion, does that mean just allowing fear to be versus... So when you say let go... Yes, basically it starts with that.

[19:14]

It starts with letting it be. And letting it be is the beginning of the path of seeing that all other beings are what we are. When we see that, then the fear will be abandoned, and then we can do our job. So, letting the fear be is the beginning of seeing something more than just a fear, The fear comes because we don't understand that every other being is what we are. I am nothing but every other being. I'm not something in addition to all things other than me. I am just the center of everything that's not me.

[20:15]

I'm the center of it. When I realize how I'm the center of everything that's not me, fear drops away and the Bodhisattva path is unhindered. We can try to practice the Bodhisattva before we have this insight and many of our efforts to do so will promote this insight. We can listen to the teaching and ask questions about it even before we understand it. So you can hear the teaching of what the Bodhisattva path is. We can hear that letting go of fear of personal pain is part of it. We can hear that there's a possible vision of how everybody other than us is what is our life. We can hear that.

[21:17]

And by going through these processes and these instructions over and over, we will someday see this. And then we'll just continue. But we'll continue what we've been doing all along. We've been practicing. We're not going to see this, we're not going to have this vision if we haven't been trying to practice deeds of compassion with everybody. If I try to practice deeds of compassion and seeds of compassion with everybody, then I will naturally notice, oops, I wonder if I can do it now. So like I said, I wondered, can I do it with the grizzly bears? I already had the teaching that I'm supposed to do with grizzly bears. I already had that teaching. So now I say, I'm going to go out where there's grizzly bears. Can I do it out there? I wondered. I'm not sure. Because I still have a little bit of fear of personal pain, of being ripped apart by those, I heard, four-inch claws.

[22:34]

Those claws are not primarily made to be chopping people up. They're for digging. They're mostly for digging in the ground where there's stuff to eat. And then they don't slash the things with their claws, they pick them up and put them in their mouth. They're not primarily for killing humans, but they have these things for digging in the ground Which if somebody scares them, they can use these things on that somebody. So it is a good idea not to scare them. Because when they get scared, then they can get angry and aggressive, like us. So that would be why it would be a good idea, generally speaking, to talk compassionately to the grizzly bear.

[23:37]

But also don't scare it by running away. Like, if you run away, they might be afraid that they're missing out on some fun that you're going to. So just stand there and just try to tell them, you know, I'm not bragging. I'm not bragging, you know. I'm just here. I really want to have a nice, calm, non-harmful relationship with you. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want you to hurt me, honestly speaking. I just want to have a peaceful afternoon with you. You know, that's really where I'm at. And that's the way I want to talk to grizzly bears. And I understand that they like that too. But I'm not sure I can be. So I keep checking. And also with some people, I also feel like they have long fingernails. I'm afraid of them, so the same would be with them. Yes? I just wanted to say that I met a woman who was a nun, a Buddhist nun. And before she was a nun, she was walking in India with a tour group.

[24:40]

And a bear came out of the cave and actually grabbed her head. started to eat her head. And she had never meditated or anything and then the sound of Aum came to her and the bear jumped off of her. The bear let go? Yeah. Just kind of almost like very quickly just kind of fell back. I mean, it's a huge scar on her head. So, amazing. Yeah, I would like to, if the bear did knock me down, it also says, if they come and they get close, and they're not going to go away, then fall on your stomach and put your hands behind your head, and it's good to have your pack on, leave your pack on, because that will also protect you. If you lay flat, then sometimes they realize you're not a danger and sometimes they leave you alone.

[25:47]

You just want to make sure that you're just going to lie there. And I would hope that if I did that, that while I was lying there, I could say, you know, I vow from this life on throughout countless lives to hear the true Dharma, you know. May all beings be at peace. I hope that I could keep being compassionate at that moment. And Aum's kind of a short version of that maybe. Maybe Aum's faster. But anyway, that's what I would hope to do too. To just be there and wishing welfare to beings when I'm being checked out or in a very kind of aggressive way like that. But it's also possible that if it kept munching, and even though I was wishing it well, I thought maybe I should turn over and fight. Maybe that would make things clearer.

[26:48]

It's possible for compassion to express itself by pushing away with your hands and feet. That's possible too. But the question is, is it coming from really like Turning over now and kicking the bear is I this is I think now I think this is being called for that's possible And I don't want her and I don't have ill will towards the bear I just would like to bear to go away and let me live so I can practice some more. That's what I would want But I wouldn't start by kicking in this case and I don't with people too. I don't start by kicking Eric and then Charlie? You kind of covered it. I was just saying that I've often heard suggestions to shout at bears. Shout? Yeah. The instruction that I read up in Glacier was not to yell at them, but to talk.

[27:52]

They have good ears and not good vision. They can hear. So as you go through the forest, make sounds, but not super loud ones. And when they come, talk calmly, and unaggressively, and also undefensively. When we do retreats at Mount Madonna, they say they have mountain lions up there, and it says, talk to them, don't yell at them, but definitely talk to them. Maybe make sure that they can hear you. But shouting, don't be too aggressive, don't frighten them. That's really interesting because I think maybe at Yosemite or maybe more highly trafficked areas I've been to, they say get as big as you can, get as aggressive and shout and make as much noise. And it almost seems like they're not It's a different kind of bear.

[28:55]

It's a different kind of bear too, yeah. These are grizzlies. And I guess they also have black bears or brown bears up there. And they have a difference. And they don't have the long claws. They're not diggers. And they actually, the brown bears can climb trees. And part of the reason they climb trees is to get away from danger. Grizzlies don't climb. so they have other modes, so this is for grizzlies. But whatever type of being it is, whether it's a grizzly bear, a brown bear, or a human bear, it's the same assignment. Deeds of compassion. And again, if I become afraid, I might say, no, I'm not going to be compassionate now, I'm going to be aggressive and cruel, because this person's frightened me. And bodhisattvas want to give that up.

[29:55]

They want to learn how to give that up. Charlie? I have a question about the generosity component. Yes. Compassion. When there are things that you want, like I want the bear to have a peaceful afternoon, you know, and Trying not to get those to happen, but to make them gifts? Yes. Where's the difference there? When I want the bear to go away, but I'm not going to try to get the bear to go away. Or I want something, but I'm not trying to make it. I'm not trying to control it. Yeah, well this is... So in this case, it seems to me that if a bear shows up, And if I want the bear to go away, that's a wish I have, but that wish of wanting the bear to go away, that's not necessarily a deed of compassion towards the bear.

[30:58]

But I want to be compassionate towards my wish that the bear would go away. I couldn't, it's okay to wish the bears would go away when they get too close. A lot of people are really so happy, I went to the park and I saw a grizzly, they're so happy, and it was like a hundred yards away, you know, and I love, it's so beautiful to see them at a safe distance. Now the bears, now I want the bear to go away. That's, that wish that the bear would go away is a being towards which Bodhisattvas vow to be compassionate. That's about me now. to be compassionate. That's not necessarily compassionate to the bear. So I want, I feel compassion for the bear, I want the bear to be happy, healthy, and I also, as this human being, would like them to go away. It could even be like I would like to go up this path, and they're blocking the path. I often have that thing with less dangerous animals, like cows, sometimes they're in the path,

[32:05]

and you can't go around, but they're just standing there, right? And I kind of would like him to go away. Well, I'm a sentient being too. I can be compassionate towards this hiker who would like this cow to get out of the way. I can be kind to myself with that thought. And then I can also just let the cow take its time as an act of compassion and let the bear be there. So I don't know exactly how this compassion works in terms of getting the bear to go this way or that way. I don't know how that would work. This practice is not a bear herding practice. It's not a human herding practice. It's a practice of making Buddhas. and to stand there and to let me wish the bear would go away, and let the bear not go away, and to let the bear not go away as an act of generosity towards the bear, and to let me wish the bear would go away as an act of generosity to me.

[33:23]

That's what makes Buddhas. And again, in both cases, this example, It's challenging to remember generosity when I'm afraid, but not impossible. And if I can remember, that's the bodhidharpa's job, is to remember these practices when we're afraid and when we're not afraid. That's the proposal. It's really amazing, but that's the proposal. Yes, Hannah? I've heard that sometimes fear is Exactly. Often, instead of being generous to the fear, we flip into anger, dash aggression. So the same thing, you have to wish well. If you did slip into the anger, you mean? Yes. Yes, same. Be generous with the anger. And then you might be able to realize, oh, I'm afraid.

[34:25]

A lot of times people get angry at someone for doing something, the person frightens them and then they get angry that the person frightened them. But that's because they didn't address the fright, they skipped over the fright and went into the anger. But if you can be compassionate to the anger, then you can go back and realize, well, actually, I was afraid, and I didn't take care of that. And because I didn't take care of my fear, I went into this aggression mode. Yes. Yes. It just struck me as Charlie asked this question. You were talking that perhaps the difference between the wish and trying to control it is the precepts. You know, that you could have the wish and then there's a way that you can react. In that situation you can run, but that's not smart. And the other option would be to try and harm.

[35:28]

would be another logical option, but, you know... It's another non-precept response. It's a non-precept response, so, you know, to offset that, that's the gauge, you know, between the wish and the response. Which wish? The wish not to harm, or the wish to, the bearer leaving you alone, the one, but also the wish not to harm, the wish to be generous. Yeah. Yes. If you stop somebody or some animal, whatever, or person doing something that's harmful as an act of generosity to that, doesn't the karma come with it? It could be. Again, you could fight a bear or fight a person as an act of generosity.

[36:34]

Sometimes it's helpful to say to someone, I really would like you to stop that. You know, you could say, please stop that. Or you could just say, stop that. Or you could say, don't do that. As a gift, not trying to control them. And again, with certain beings, if you say, stop that, you don't think that you're saying stop that is going to control them. They're not under control, but they might say, okay. So you can say to somebody, you can say, stop that. And they say, all right. But it wasn't because you were in control of them. It's because you said that and they did that. But how that worked is not just that you asked for it. It was many other factors that led to them to sort of go along with your request. Sometimes you can say to somebody, would you give me that money? And they don't give it to you, and sometimes they do.

[37:37]

But it's not that you saying, would you give me the money, control them into giving it to you. And if you're generous, you didn't mean it that way. You just gave them the gift of, would you give me that money? You gave them the gift of, would you please stop that? You gave them the gift of, would you get back a little farther away from me? If you're giving it as a gift, you're not trying to control them. Now, if you are trying to control them, then you can practice generosity with your wish to control them. I told this story, I think, in the book, Being Upright, of these people who were driving down a highway, and the highway was covered with frogs. And these people were Native American people, and one was a grandpa, and one was a grandson, I think. And the grandpa said to the driver of the car, stop the car.

[38:39]

We don't want to run over the frogs. And the grandson says, yeah, but if we stop the car, these frogs are going to be crossing this road all night. And the grandfather says, yeah, they're going to be crossing the road all night, and we're going to be sitting here all night. So sometimes being compassionate could mean that you have to give up where you're going. Like you can't go down this, you have to wait until all the frogs cross the road. That does happen. If you have a road next to a river, Like, and it's raining, there's often a lot of tremendous frog traffic. Like, the road's covered with frogs, and you cannot, you cannot just, you could walk through, but you couldn't drive a car, probably. Because there's so many, you know, there's not a space for the type.

[39:42]

So you had to wait, probably, in most cases. Unless you have a jumping car, and you can jump over the frogs. The point is where our job is to be compassionate to frogs. To do deeds of compassion towards frogs. And sometimes we might be afraid that if we do this we'll never get down the road. Personal pain of spending the rest of our life on this road. Being afraid of that. But the frogs, their life is our life. Those frogs are our life. When we see that, then we're not afraid of spending the night sitting on the road. Even though it may be kind of troublesome and uncomfortable, to some extent, to be sitting there on the road all night with the frogs. That's what bodhisattvas aspire to.

[40:46]

And if they don't do it, They confess it, and they say, I did not wait for the frogs to cross. I kept driving, and I think I ran over quite a few frogs. And I'm really sorry. I'm sorry. I do not ever want to do that again. And maybe next time I'm not going to go driving down that road when it's raining, because there probably will be frogs. But I can walk down the road if I really want to, maybe. But that night, I did not wait for the frogs because they weren't going to stop and I just could not be inconvenienced. So I just kept going. And I'm really sorry. And what we chant at the beginning here is by revealing and disclosing our lack of patience and generosity towards frogs, By confessing it and saying we're sorry, we melt away the root of transgressing against frogs, of not being kind towards frogs.

[41:56]

And some people we're also sometimes not kind to. Or we just can't be inconvenienced anymore about them. We have to move on. We come to the end of our patience with them. And at that point, we're sorry. And in this way, we will someday have no end of patience. But of course, this is an ongoing challenge. And the key factor, which I'll keep going into more detail, is to practice these generosity, ethics, patience, diligence and concentration, but also keep looking at the teaching that everybody is who you are. And look at the practice which is the practice of this pivoting between self and other, to keep studying that and watching that until you can see.

[43:02]

That then will make all these practices natural. Until then, we have to remember to do them and remember to listen to these teachings. Do you have another comment? No, it's okay. Okay, it's okay? Yes. When you're talking about the frog and the grandfather, for this, for not to go further, it's like a mind that is totally present which doesn't need to go anywhere. But what about our minds that constantly wants to go somewhere? Yeah, well, so in this story we got the grandfather who is willing to stay there all night. Yeah. And we got the grandson who is not mature enough. He wants to go someplace. But he has his grandfather. I don't know what the conclusion of that story was. I don't know if the grandfather says, well, is there something else I can do for you while we're waiting? You know. Would you, my dear grandson, be willing to do me the favor of sitting in the car with me?

[44:10]

Or maybe the grandfather could say, if you want to, you can go ahead. I'll stay with the car. And you can go ahead and carefully step over the frogs. You can go ahead. If you've got to get someplace, go ahead. I'll stay here and keep this car. from running over the vehicles. So you go ahead. And Suzuki Roshi said that one time, you know that famous story? If I'm walking too slowly, please go ahead. So sometimes we let the people who got to get somewhere go there. But we also show them an example of, well, I'm walking slowly and carefully, but if I run into a huge number of frogs, I'm going to even slow down more. If you need to go ahead, go ahead.

[45:13]

But then the person does go ahead, but they know that their grandmother or their grandfather is back there walking slowly and carefully. And maybe later they will be able to do that practice themselves. We are trying to get somewhere, but the place we're trying to get is where we already truly are. We already truly are the center of the universe. We already are the person who is really everybody else. We're already there. We do want to realize that. And we practice stillness in order to realize it. I think what I'd like to warn you about is that, and I'll do it again before I do this, but there is this practice of looking at the situation of the pivotal activity, to look at the situation of how we're pivoting with all other beings, to meditate on this and discuss the situation, the situation in which we will see and become free of fear.

[46:24]

I'm telling you that before I get into that, that the reason for doing this is so you can do bodhisattva work, which is very simple. Don't run over frogs just to get someplace on time. That kind of stuff. It's very simple. But in order to do that we sometimes need wisdom, and the wisdom is to look at this strange situation of how we think other people are separate from us, how we think they're not us, whereas actually they are us. So looking at that is not just an intellectual exercise, it is an intellectual exercise to free us from fear of personal pain so that we can not kill frogs and grizzly bears and people when they're inconvenient. Okay? And before I get into this, I'll remind you of this again, that this is not just an intellectual exercise, it's an intellectual exercise to realize Buddha's essential or pivotal activity, to realize Buddha's wisdom.

[47:34]

We need that wisdom to do this simple bodhisattva practices in an unhindered, unsticking way. So I'll get into some of the stickiness and try to point out And when I say I get into it, I mean, this is what I'm going to be working on with you, to get into the places where we stick, and to see what the stickiness is doing to... how the stickiness is related to our view of others. But this isn't just to do that, it's to do that so that we can make Buddhas. Yeah. So, until I have that vision of self-limiting, if a grizzly shows up, fear is going to show up, too, for me. Yeah, yeah. And I might think, listening to this, oh, fear bad. Yeah, but I told you already, when fear comes, that's a being to be compassionate to. And I think, although you might not yet be ready to meet certain beings without being afraid, you might be able to meet your fear.

[48:45]

Because fear, in some ways, sometimes you say, well, yeah, I can't not be afraid of that, but I can be kind to my fear. To say, oh, fear, it's a human response. Yeah, it's a human response. And I feel compassion towards this human response. And because of this human response, I'm having a little trouble being compassionate towards what I think caused it. That's the next step. I don't have to control the fear, but then I might think I need to control myself. Yeah, you say you don't have to control the fear, and I'm suggesting, well, you can't control it. And I'm also suggesting you can't control yourself. And you can't control yourself into being someone who doesn't want to control herself. So, here I am, someone who wants to control himself, and I can't stop myself from being that way. We have so many opportunities to be kind.

[49:54]

It's amazing. So when I try to control myself, I can say, hello, sweetheart. You're trying to control yourself. Great. Great, not good or bad. It's just great. Yes. You didn't hear me say it, but I did say the bear. I did talk about the bear being afraid. I'm saying to you that grizzly bears, humans are not normally, they don't have much background of eating humans. They mostly attack humans when they're afraid. And you can, if you see a grizzly bear and you run at him, you'll frighten him. And also, if you get between a mature grizzly bear and their cubs, they're afraid you're going to hurt their cubs.

[50:59]

That's very difficult for them not to be afraid, no matter what you do. There are some grizzlies who are, you know, like there's a movie called The Grizzly Man, and the grizzlies were hungry, and just somehow he hung out with them for a long time, for years, he hung out close to the grizzly bears, and they didn't bother him, but then one of them, it just occurred, one of them thought, well, maybe actually, maybe he would be food. But that was like a evolutionary breakthrough, that the grizzly bear realized, oh, humans could be eaten. But usually when they attack, I think it's because they're afraid. Those grizzly bears actually ate the people. But these other cases, they kill them, but they often leave the body. They're not eating them for food, they're eating them out of fear.

[52:01]

We're not, bears are not human eaters so far. If we found out there were bears like that, that would be a really difficult situation. But when they're afraid, they don't become human eaters, they become human killers. And they may or may not, after they kill the human, they may or may not eat them. Depends on other conditions. But we're afraid of them, most of us, and we have that to work with. And we're afraid of each other, most of us, so we have that to work with. If we work with the opportunities we have with each other more thoroughly, we will be more ready to meet grizzly bears. If we don't notice that we're afraid of each other, we're missing out on a great opportunity. Because we are afraid of each other. Until we have perfect wisdom, we are afraid of each other.

[53:06]

Because until we have perfect wisdom, we think other people are not us. which is incorrect according to the Dharma that I'm offering you. You are me, I am you. You pervade me, I pervade you. And that's difficult to understand that, but that's what I will be trying to talk to you about until everybody understands, including me. But it's for a good cause, so please be patient with me. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them.

[54:07]

Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it. Sometimes when I do that chant I mix up I mix it up a little bit and I sometimes think of, you know, sentient beings are numberless, I vow to enter them. Or delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to enter them. Or delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to save them. I think I feel good about these interchangings.

[55:02]

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