So it looks like there's about 80 to 100 people here and I want to pay homage to the feelings that come up in the process of recognizing each person in the assembly. It's wonderful to see you and As often happens, I see the faces of people who I haven't seen for a while. So it's very moving to see your faces again. And you all look quite healthy. And I think I feel blessed that you look so healthy. I hope you feel deeply blessed.

[01:01]

And welcome Susan. Welcome Susan. There are people in this assembly who welcome Sonia. There are people in this assembly who are blessed and also are having physical health problems. I haven't heard much mental health problems from the people in this assembly, but physically I know many of you are challenged in various ways, and we're so happy to see you, so upright and present. And so, again, in this blessed situation we also are aware of terrible suffering all around us.

[02:09]

And we deeply wonder how to live, how to meet, how to open to and embrace and sustain all suffering beings. Welcome Chris. We wonder how to serve all living beings. Welcome Jill. Welcome, Scott. Welcome, Santa Cruz Zen Center. So we're wondering how to serve all living beings, and... Yeah.

[03:23]

And so... I foolishly wish to join hands with all of you and walk into the ocean of Buddhadharma with you with the wish that the Buddhadharma may help us to help all beings. We want to help all beings and we need help to help them. Oh, now I see that the Santa Cruz Zen Center is Sarah. Welcome, Sarah. Part of the Buddha Dharma in the Flower Adornment Scripture sings out to us that the Buddha sees upon awakening truly, the Buddha sees that all living beings fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the Buddhas.

[04:51]

The Buddha sees that all of us fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the Buddhas. So there is nothing to attain. And because of misconceptions and attachments, we living beings are also, we have attachments and misconceptions. And even though we have attachments and misconceptions, the Buddha still says to us, you all fully possess the Buddha's wisdom and compassion. But in order to realize that, in order to realize, to actualize that there is nothing to attain.

[05:59]

To make that real in the world, we need training. We need interaction with the practitioners of the Buddha Dharma. We need to have a relationship with the Buddhas. We need to enact the Buddha's practices. we need to enact all the practices which Buddhas have practiced in order to actualize that there's nothing to attain. Last time we had a meeting at Null Abode, I brought up the practice, the activity, which all Buddhas have been involved in and are now involved in, the activity of predicting Buddhahood.

[07:12]

In order to be Buddha, we need to be predicted. We need to be affirmed. And I brought up the stories from the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra has four big chapters on prediction of Buddhahood. It has four big chapters which say We are all, you are all on the bodhisattva path. We have misconceptions and attachments. We have discomforts and we have some attachment to comfort in the midst of our discomfort. And the Lotus Sutra says you are walking the bodhisattva path right now. And you will become Buddha.

[08:22]

And all Buddhas have been told this. And all Buddhas tell us this. But not just Buddhas tell us this. Somebody else is telling you this right now. I'm telling you this. I don't know what Buddha is, but I'm telling you, you will become Buddhas. So I'm kind of a fool to tell you that, because I don't know what I'm talking about, but that's what I'm telling you. I'm joining hands with you and walking into the Buddha Dharma of all of us walking the Bodhisattva path. I don't want to rush into this, I want to carefully walk into this ocean with you.

[09:32]

So in three chapters the Buddha predicts large groups and also individuals in his large group of disciples, of his enlightened disciples, Some of them didn't know that they were walking the Bodhisattva path. Some of them were greatly enlightened. However, they did not know that they were going to become Buddhas. And the Buddha told them that they would be, and they were very happy to hear this. Welcome, Tomás. Three chapters, the Buddha addresses these large groups, welcomes Sujitra, and tells them this amazing news which they had not heard before. Perhaps some of you hadn't heard this before today, that you will become Buddhas, that you are walking the bodhisattva path in your unique way.

[10:53]

And then in the fourth chapter there's a story about a bodhisattva whose nickname is Never Disparaging, Never Despising. And a lot of people thought this was a fool, this bodhisattva Never Disparaging. They thought he was a fool. Because he walked in through the world and he walked in among living beings. He walked where there was a lot of traffic of living beings and he said to them, this is a bodhisattva who says to them, I deeply respect you. I will never disparage you. I will never despise you.

[12:04]

You are walking the bodhisattva path, you will become Buddha." That's what this bodhisattva said over and over to everybody he met. And some people characterized as arrogant, thought poorly. They really were disgusted by him telling them that they were going to be Buddhas. Who do you think you are to say that? They really criticized him. And some of them even threw shards and sticks and stones at him. And then he would apologize for annoying them or irritating them or even insulting them by predicting their Buddhahood. So then he would get farther away from them.

[13:24]

after apologizing, and continued to say the same thing from a distance. And this was a bodhisattva, this was someone who was predicted to be Buddha, was not yet fully realizing that, and practiced predicting others. And then the Buddha is telling this story, and then the Buddha says, and guess who that person was? Guess who that bodhisattva in the past is here today? That bodhisattva was me. I was that bodhisattva. The Buddha Shakyamuni is telling us that in the past, she practiced like that.

[14:25]

So please excuse me for acting that way today and saying to you that I deeply respect you. I will never despise you. You are walking the bodhisattva path. You will become Buddha. And between now and then you will between now and becoming Buddha, you will be walking the bodhisattva path, and you will be blessing beings, you will be caring for living beings, even if you don't say to them, I deeply respect you, I will never despise you. Even if you don't say that, you are still walking the path of freeing all beings, And I hope, and you will become Buddha, and I hope that that prediction will help you do this amazing work of walking the bodhisattva path.

[15:45]

The Buddha told us we fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the Buddhas. And because of misconceptions and attachments, we don't realize it. So we need to practice this teaching in order to realize it. And practicing it doesn't avoid our misconceptions and attachments. So, for example, if I can't really say to you, I deeply respect you, that's because of my attachments and misconceptions. Without attachments and misconceptions, I would have no trouble saying that to everybody. I wouldn't forget it. I would remember it. So if I forget it, that's a sentient being.

[17:00]

Sentient beings sometimes forget, they sometimes forget to deeply respect everybody. And then they can be sorry that they forgot. They can be contrite. They can be remorseful that they forgot to deeply respect somebody or something. And this regretting and saying we're sorry for forgetting to deeply respect someone melts away the root of transgressing from deeply respecting. But there may be more moments in our life coming up on our bodhisattva path when we forget to deeply respect some living being. It might happen, but we have a practice for that.

[18:01]

which is, I forgot to deeply respect you. I forgot. I'm sorry. And learn to say that just right, straightforwardly, honestly, not wallowing in it, just simply, sincerely. I'm sorry. I forgot to deeply respect you. I forgot. I slipped into a little bit of disparaging, I'm sorry. Now I remember and so now I can say I do deeply respect you. Welcome, Laura. So this prediction by Bodhisattvas of other bodhisattvas is part of the bodhisattva path.

[19:04]

It's also what Buddhas do. Buddhas are, everything they do is predicting our Buddhahood. If I do something and it's not predicting your Buddhahood, it's not Buddhadharma. Buddhadharma is when whatever I do is predicting your Buddhahood. That teaching is a teaching of the Buddhas. That when your actions are predictions, they are Buddhadharma actions. When they are not, you slipped off of the Buddhadharma. That's a teaching which I've heard, and now I'm saying it out loud to you. That interaction is part of the way we get over.

[20:09]

The activity of respecting and predicting is part of the process by which Shakyamuni Buddha, in the past, got over her misconceptions and attachments. When the Bodhisattva, never disparaging, was predicting people, he still had some misconceptions and attachments. But by doing this practice he got free of misconceptions and attachments. So I propose the possibility that if we do this practice we will get over our misconceptions and attachments and we will realize that there's nothing to attain. I've been talking for quite a while, but there's more things I could say.

[21:13]

And I will. But I'm just going to say briefly that there's two more practices which you may be somewhat unfamiliar with. One practice is called face-to-face transmission. So I just talked about the practice of prediction, of confirmation or affirmation of your bodhisattva path activity. That's one. Now the next one I talk about is called face-to-face transmission. Face-to-face transmission is what we're doing right now. We are meeting each other face-to-face and we are mutually transmitting the Dharma. And again, we need this face-to-face transmission in order to realize there's nothing to attain. This face-to-face transmission is not done with any wish to get anything.

[22:23]

If not trying to get anything, there's nothing to attain. Without anything to attain, we wish to actualize what we already are, which is fully possessing the wisdom and virtues of the Buddha. So there's no Buddhas who are not involved in face-to-face transmission, and bodhisattvas are also involved in this. However, they may not realize it. We may not realize it. But that's what I'm suggesting is what's going on. face-to-face Dharma transmission. Just say a little bit about that. That was just a little bit. Now I'd like to bring up another thing, which is inheritance. So, Buddha's told you, told us that we already have this inheritance.

[23:31]

we have already inherited the wisdom and virtues of the Buddha. But because of misconceptions and attachments, we don't realize it. So we need prediction, we need face-to-face transmission, and we need the practice of inheritance And the practice of inheritance involves giving certificates of inheritance. We need to give some certificate. The inheritance of the Dharma connects all the face-to-face transmissions. and connects all the predictions from now into the ancient past. So Buddhas in the past have practiced face-to-face transmission, they have practiced prediction, and they're doing it now.

[24:41]

But they also have, what do you call it, this succession or inheritance They give something to people to help them connect. And they often give something that was given to them. So one teacher gave the student a pair of shoes which his teacher gave him. Other teachers give a teaching. Like Bodhidharma He met with his four students, and he asked them to express their dharma, and then he gave them inheritance. After the first one spoke, he said, okay, you get my skin.

[25:49]

He gave the student his skin. That was a certificate that he gave him of realizing who he was, who she was. The next one, after the next one expressed herself, he said, you get my flesh. That was the certificate. The next one said his expression or her expression. Yeah, it was a her, I think. And after she did her face-to-face transmission to the teacher Bodhidharma, Bodhidharma says, you get my bones. And when the last one expressed himself, and all he did was bow to the teacher Bodhidharma, Bodhidharma said, you get my marrow.

[26:52]

So in the theater of the Buddha's house, this is what's going on. And if we practice it, this giving certification of What? Of the Buddha Dharma. Our activity is connected to all the ancestors. So those are three practices which you may not be familiar with, which are going on with Buddhas, and a Buddha is saying, that's going on with you too. But you may have trouble understanding that, But don't worry, that's what's going on. So that's what I found here in the Dharma Ocean this morning to offer to you.

[27:57]

I do say you will become Buddha, I say that. I don't know what I'm talking about, but that's what I said. And I'm going to keep saying that probably as long as I can talk. So, I'm sorry if that irritates you. Oh, welcome Dagmar. And welcome Donna. And welcome iPhone 5. Who's that? Tell me your name. A recent, a newcomer? Anyway. New people are coming. I wanted to recognize them. So now, if you would like to give me any certifications, if you'd like to predict me to Buddhahood, if you'd like to have face-to-face transmission, we can do that.

[29:07]

And wouldn't that be fine? Hello, Rep. Nice to see you. Hello, simply. Thanks for your gift. So maybe one of the inheritance you were talking about is precepts. I am reading the book these days again, being upright again. And I'm studying the precepts. I have two questions regarding two of the precepts that I would like to ask you for clarification. The first question is related to the precepts of not stealing.

[30:14]

Um, so I, I'm just going to read one paragraph, um, that you wrote, and then I expressed my question. So one place you were saying in uprightness, you can see that everything is you. If there is one thing that feels separate from you, then you will feel some dent. in your wholeness and that one small dent will force you inevitably to try to fill it. When you try to fill it, it will feel as if you are taking something without permission and that you are stealing. You will not understand that what you fill it with is a gift. My first question is this last sentence.

[31:17]

You will not understand that what you fill it with is a gift. I don't quite understand why that is a gift. What is that? Could you please elaborate on this sentence? I don't know if I would elaborate, but I am responding. But I don't necessarily think my responding is elaborating. I think my responding is this precept. What I'm doing right now is the precept of not stealing. That's what I'm doing right now. I'm not trying to get anything. I'm giving a response. So, but right now I don't have this problem of thinking that the person I'm talking to, Maggie, is not me.

[32:26]

But if I think you're not me, then I have this dent, and then I will try to get something from you. that my view will force me into trying to take something. However, in reality, you are a gift to me. You are a gift to me. All day long, you are a gift to me, and Tomas is a gift to me. And you are a gift to Tomas, and Tomas is a gift to you. The precept is saying that. So, if you think he's not you, you might try to get him, hold on to him, get something from him. Matter of fact, you will be always at risk of doing that. But if you understand that he's a gift and he's already been given to you, that's very similar to deeply respecting him. If you deeply respect something, if you deeply respect something, if I deeply respect something, I will realize

[33:37]

It's a gift to me and to the world. And I will join my palms to it and respect it. I won't try to take it or move it. To try to take something overlooks that it's already been given. But if I think it hasn't been given, it's not part of me, and I'm not part of it, then I'm at risk of trying to get it. And when you were reading that book, I thought, hey, I agree with that. Thank you. Back to the first sentence, everything is you. I kind of understand, but not exactly. When you say everything is you, does it mean that everything is a form created in my mind? The form of everything you see is mentally created.

[34:44]

That form is not in the thing. So my mind creates a form of you, and the form doesn't look like me, but if I understand that you, not the form of you, but you, I'm actually included in you. I'm actually included in you. And you are included in me. And the form of you looks different than the form of me. And the form of you is also included in me. But the form of you is not included in you. It's included in my mental activity. And you are included in my mental activity. But you're not the form which is my mental activity is not you, and that form is not in you, but you're in me who has such mental activity. So you're in all my mental thoughts, and you're none of them.

[35:48]

I mean, yeah, and you're in my mental thoughts. So in that way, we're included in each other. But we don't see each other through form. We see each other through the dharma. The dharma is seeing myself as in the form of you. And understanding that you, well it's the same, that you are a form of me. So the way that we are, you are included in me, me is included in you, the way, is it... Is it how I am made up, or how you make up me, or how you make, how I make you? Is that how everyone is included in everyone? But also, it's how you make me. Yeah, mutually made. I depend on you.

[36:49]

I cannot exist separate from you. It's more than just my mental conception of you, that you don't make me all by yourself have a mental conception of you. But you do offer me something, I don't know what it is, but you're something you're offering me, and my mind makes you into a nice little form. So you're supporting my mental, my imagination of you. And my imagination of you is not separate from you. But I could have an imagination that my imagination is separate from you. But it's not. But I can say that the form of you is not in you. The form of you that my mind creates is absent in you. So, thank you.

[37:57]

I'd like to... Also, I want to thank you for pointing out that the precepts are another way to confirm, to certify Dharma inheritance. And that connects us to all the people who have been transmitting the precepts back to beginningless time. So shall I move on to the next one? Next precept about no intoxicants. Yeah. So there is a paragraph. It says the impulse to abuse has to be graciously uprooted from some deeper place. you need to understand from some deeper place, you need to understand how the impulse to change your state arises.

[39:02]

The impulse to modify and manipulate and thus abuse your precious life comes from turning away from what Dogen calls the great brightness of your being. So my question is this great brightness, of our being, does this brightness include all kinds of states of being such as happiness, sadness, confusion, or content, whatever that is? Yes, all these things are brightness. These things are not trying to bring anything in, including The impulse to bring something in is not trying to, is actually not trying to bring anything in. It's just trying to bring things in. I can understand, for example, the happiness, you know, satisfaction, et cetera, or joyful, connected with the word brightness.

[40:09]

But when it comes to sadness, frustration, or whatever, or misfortune, why that is also brightness? The sadness isn't brightness. The being sad without trying to bring something in is the brightness. The being happy without trying to bring anything in is the brightness. And also, in the sadness where nothing can come in, because everything's already there, is the great brightness. To respect everything that is there without modifying. Yeah, so being sad and totally respecting that is the great brightness. And being happy and totally respecting it is the great brightness. Because in that total acceptance where nothing is brought in and nothing pushed out, but

[41:14]

Addiction often has to do, misuse of, making things into intoxicants has to do with bringing something in, usually. Or using something to push things out, like using something to push pain out. But deeply respecting pain, in that deep respect, nothing can be brought in. And that nothing can be brought in is the precept, is the great brightness. That great brightness has no form, nothing to get hold of. It's just a radiance. It's just a brightness. It just illuminates everything. Thank you for your questions. Thank you. I know you weren't trying to get anything. Hello, Rob.

[42:23]

Hello, Rana. What about people who are not face-to-face here? There are people that they are really bodhisattvas. They're doing things without... I understand, thank you. So, in reality those bodhisattvas need to do face-to-face transmission in order to realize that it's happening. So here it may be easier to understand that the face-to-face transmission is really what's going on here. But some people, for whom the same situation is happening, are not practicing and being mindful of this face-to-face transmission.

[43:26]

So they need to in order to realize that that's what's already happening. What would be the benefit of realizing that they already are there and they already are participating in that? Well, if we don't realize it, we can do foolish, harmful things. Like we can... We can go into the dream world of stealing, for example, if we don't realize it. So we suffer when we don't realize it. It's already going on. Face-to-face transmission is already going on. But if we don't practice it and don't realize it, we suffer. But if we do practice it, we realize that it's already going on. And it's exactly the practice. And nothing can be brought in. The fact is I'm thinking about people that they have been practicing actually Dharma for years.

[44:36]

Yes. It seems like it doesn't move or go anywhere. They're just stuck. And there are, at the same time, people that they don't practice, and yet they're not stuck. Yeah. Some people are stuck. And what does the Buddha say about those people who are stuck? The Buddha says they fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the Buddhas, but they don't get it. So I'm going to teach them. I'm going to do face-to-face transmission with them. I'm going to stand in front of them and say, I deeply respect you. I'm going to tell them I will never disparage them. So they need to have face-to-face transmission with some people because they're stuck. So we need to relate to all these people who are stuck. And by the way, I'm one of the people who's stuck, so thank you for relating to me.

[45:37]

Thank you. Hi. Hello to you, Reb. And I usually chicken out. So hello to the sacred community. And I just want a quick hello to Amanda, Tracy, Oscar, Linda, Green, Charlie, Kim, and Barry, Kika, Yuki, and thank you for your time. talk it's exactly where i feel like i'm at so i want this affirming i feel this i feel like i am affirmed inside and i feel like something started to snowball last year and so now i'm i'm on this wave where everything is moving and a wave in which the dharma practice is

[46:45]

starting to manifest in the way of my life and what I'm contributing. So I've been teaching walking meditation for almost seven years in September. And I believe exactly, I believe that everyone has the possibility of becoming enlightened in this lifetime. I don't even, it's not just that they're going to become a Buddha in the future. I have the belief that they can do it in this lifetime. And, so the walking so i started i wrote a book it called walking into enlightenment and it's about to go i had it was out there and i just got i i it's being reworked and it's going to be out june 16th approximately with a purple blue cover if you see another cover it's not the new version but anyway i wanted to ask you would you You don't have to do it, but I'm asking you to do this affirming. And just it's a very short, concise book on all kinds of practices. And it would catch somebody up from, you know, so I've been practicing for many decades and I did many long retreats.

[47:53]

And it's finally, you know, coalescing in this way. And the book is basically a concise manual, a guide on how to do this. walk into enlightenment and it talks about all different kinds of practices, but it's about walking meditation specifically. And so I would like you to, would you be willing to do a blurb that to you? Do you have time? It's a very short book. It's less, it's like 60 pages right now. I would say, no, I don't have time. Okay. Not like in this moment, but if I sent it to you, well, I will send you a copy anyway. So you have inspired my... I'm glad you're teaching walking meditation. What? I'm glad you're teaching walking meditation. Thank you. So you wouldn't have time to read a book that would take like an hour to read or an hour and a half? I'm here, but I'm not going to agree right now to do blurbs for your book.

[48:56]

Well, plural, not necessary, but okay. Well, I'll send you a copy anyway. I actually request that you don't send me a copy because I don't want more stuff in my life. I see. You're enough for me. I got rid of all my books. I welcome you, but I don't want you to send me stuff. I have only like 16 books or 20 books. Good for you. I have more than that. And I'm giving the ones I have away. Sure. Okay. Well, thank you. I got a chance to ask you. You did. And you have been an inspiration and you're actually mentioned. So I have this question. When you talk about stillness, are you talking about stillness of the body or are you talking about stillness of the mind? Both. Okay. I'm talking about stillness of everything. The non-arising of thought. Yeah. If I hadn't said this, when you talk about stillness, so when you're teaching people about stillness, are you trying to ask them, hey, keep your body still?

[50:08]

The stillness I'm talking about usually is not something you do. It isn't that you keep your body still or you keep your mind still. It's the stillness that's going on right now while we're talking. Right. It's the silence that's going on. while we're talking. I don't do that silence and stillness. However, I understand that that silence and stillness is the body of the Buddha. Because I remember you talking about kind of tapping into stillness before an activity. I mean, that was one time. Yeah, tap into it. Remember, oh yeah. Oh yeah, stillness, right. Not trying to get myself to be still. Just receive it and remember it. I pray that we receive this stillness, that we remember it. It's unmade. It's not made by anybody. It's Buddha's body. Yeah.

[51:10]

Okay, that's great. Thank you so much for your kindness and your wisdom and for all your teachings and guidance. I really appreciate it very much. And thank you for your patience and kindness and wisdom. Oh, thank you. Okay. Hello? Hello. Hello, Great Assembly. Wait a second. This is Brendan, right? Yes, Brendan's highlighted. Oh, I took my hand down just now. Angela? Angela, Brendan's highlighted. Maybe we'll come back to you. Angela, do you want to go ahead of Brendan? No, I'll go after Brendan. Thank you. You're welcome.

[52:12]

So here's Brendan. My question, a few days ago I was listening to one of the talks about the flower adornment sutra. And I believe it was Bodhidharma was speaking to the emperor and the emperor asked, who are you? And Bodhidharma said, I am not a consciousness. And in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Suzuki Roshi mentions things about our Buddha nature is beyond consciousness. So my question is, If ultimately the non-attaining is also about a realization of our Buddha nature, it seems to me that there would be an awareness of our Buddha nature, there would be consciousness of it. So I'm wondering what this term beyond consciousness means. The Chinese character, usually people translate

[53:13]

Bodhidharma's response is, don't know. Which is okay. It says, not something. And often, the character is often translated as no. But the character actually is the character for consciousness. So, who is this standing before me? Not consciousness. But it is an awareness. Our conscious awareness is dualistic. and karmic. We also have unconscious awareness. We're not conscious of it in the same way. And we also have the wisdom of the Buddhas. The wisdom of the Buddhas, you could say, is an awareness. It's a mind. It's a body of Buddha. But it's not our ordinary consciousness which creates its creating forms. that appear to be existing on their own.

[54:15]

That's ordinary consciousness. And that character that's used in Bodhidharma's response is the character that's used for the fifth of the five aggregates, the vijnana skanda. And that vijnana is discriminating consciousness. It's a dualistic consciousness. So that's why I would say Bodhidharma said, who is this standing in front of me? It's not a consciousness. He could have said, it's Buddha's wisdom. That's what's standing before you. But he said, not a consciousness. And again, most translators would say, not knowing. Or even they say, I don't know. But there's no I don't know in there. It's not consciousness. So a lot of scholars would probably disagree with me, but I'm offering that interpretation to help understand that Bodhidharma is the mind of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

[55:20]

It is great wisdom and great compassion. It's not an ordinary human consciousness or an ordinary dog consciousness. But it is a consciousness of the Buddha nature. No, it's not a consciousness of Buddha nature. It is the consciousness that understands Buddha nature. So it's the consciousness. So there is a being being conscious in realization. No, that's more like consciousness. There's a being who is in realization. That's ordinary consciousness to think that way. Okay. The actuality of the situation is beyond the capacity of dualistic consciousness. Not the least bit separate from it. The actuality of the consciousness is beyond the consciousness, is free of the consciousness. Free of ordinary consciousness.

[56:22]

So when they asked Buddha, are you a god? He said, no, I'm awake. So the awakeness is... So Bodhidharma could have said that. The emperor says, who is it standing before me? And Bodhidharma could have said, awakeness. Or being awake. But being awake isn't consciousness. It isn't vijnana. It isn't dualistic consciousness. But a lot of people would call awakeness a kind of consciousness. And I would say, be careful of the word consciousness, because what word are you going to use for dualistic consciousness? So do we have dualistic and non-dualistic consciousness? So I would just say, it's wisdom. Wisdom is not a dualistic consciousness. It illuminates it.

[57:25]

Well, could you say ordinary consciousness is the thinking mind? Yeah. And the other is silence. The other is silence and stillness, right? And infinite light. Thank you. You're welcome. There she is. Hello. Hello. Hello, Great Assembly. I wish to share a short story in gratitude to the Great Assembly. And it has to do with not knowing if we're of help

[58:30]

to remember this and to practice this. And you spoke about this at KnowAbode and you spoke about it this morning. So I was having a conversation with my son, Carl, and I wished to be of help. And he said to me, mom, you're not helping. what you're saying is not helping. And my response was, yeah, yeah, I don't know if I'm helping. And those words, then it seemed he was able to receive not knowing. So I just wanted to share that and thank the assembly.

[59:37]

Congratulations. Hello? Hello, Janet. Hello. I have a question. I'm not sure what the nature of my difficulty is. I tend to think of it in terms of courage or perseverance or something which I felt like I was able to do for a while and I don't seem to be doing it very well anymore. I've had chronic pain for about 22 years now and it's not severe. It's mild to moderate. It's manageable, but it's, it's not pleasant and it's, it's almost always there.

[60:41]

And for the first 10 years or so, I could treat it as kind of an adventure. I haven't had a lot of pain in my life and, but I've heard about people finding different ways of managing it and relating to it. And, um, I spent time trying to figure out what the nature of it was, essentially, and ways to sit through it in Zazen. Actually, this particular pain doesn't seem to work with Zazen. But pain in general was an interesting topic to me for a while. But the last... Five to 10 years, I've just really felt tired of it. And I just don't want it anymore. And I'm just, I'm always looking for an escape. There's things I want to do that I plan to do. And I don't feel like doing them. I go, I lie down, I read a book, I curl up and I feel better then.

[61:47]

So then it's hard for me to get myself to do the things that I want to do. And I seem to be struggling with this year after year and just going around in circles and it's not getting better. And there's definitely an escape aspect to it at this point. And so, you know, I feel like I've dealt with things like that and I kind of knew how to manage them, but it's just, it's not working right now. So, and I, you know, I try to bring back my old ways of, dealing with it and They they don't seem to work anymore. It's like I have been doing that for a long time now, and I'm just tired now I don't want to do it anymore and So, I don't know that's what that's what I'm struggling with Well, thank you for bringing up This showing us this pain and also I I hear not only that you have pain and

[62:52]

but that you're getting tired of working with it. And also that you're kind of feeling like you'd like it to go away. Definitely. Those are three different things to take care of. It's the pain. One is the getting tired of it being around. And the other is wanting it to go away. could be more things but you just told us those i heard those three yeah yeah and uh so uh and i also heard you say that the some of the old ways you you that you related to the pain don't aren't working anymore so you've pretty much given them up um yes something like that so my first response to offer to you for each of these things, first of all, the pain, I'm suggesting that the pain is called asking for compassion.

[64:03]

And every time it comes, it's asking for compassion. And the wanting to get rid of it is asking for compassion. And the being tired of dealing with it is asking for compassion. The pain is not asking for something to make it go away, I'm suggesting. There's the pain and then there's the wanting it to go away. But the pain is not saying, make me go away. The pain is saying, listen to me. And the wanting to go away is wanting it to go away. But the wanting to go away is also saying, please listen to me. And the getting tired of this very challenging work, which is perfectly understandable, this is hard work. Yeah. Being tired of it all, the being sick of it, is also saying, I want compassion.

[65:14]

Mm-hmm. So that's the request of you from this pain. And being compassionate with the pain is to be generous with it. Is to let it be. Is to welcome it. Not like it. You don't have to like it, but welcome it. Really welcome it. You can be your pain. The pain wants to be allowed to be here. And it wants somebody to listen to it who can allow it to be here. Who can say, thank you for coming. Just like I really felt thank you to you for bringing up the pain. It was a little bit painful for me to hear about your pain, but I really appreciated that you gave it to us.

[66:18]

It's a very important guest for us to listen to. And then still, even though I'm trying to practice compassion, I'm trying to be generous and patient and careful and respectful These are ways of being compassionate with the pain. Even though I'm doing it, that doesn't mean these impulses like, I want it to go away, won't come up. They still come up. But then they're just another thing that's asking for compassion. They're just another thing to take care of. Welcome wishing to get rid of the pain. Compassion is not trying to get rid of pain. It is embracing it with great love. Honestly, that sounds really weird. It does weird. This is a weird teaching. That's what you came for is to hear something which is not on the streets. And it's not in the drugstore. However, I want to point out to you that being compassionate with the pain does not mean that you don't lie down and read a book.

[67:27]

It's okay to do that. And that also calling for compassion. Yeah. You can lie down without trying to get rid of anything. You can lie down as a gift to Janet. But one of the gifts to Janet is being compassionate to Janet's pain. And Janet's pain is asking for compassion. Janet's pain is not asking to be annihilated. It wants love. And I know that's weird. And I could get weirder, but that's enough maybe. Yeah, I can get along pretty well with weird many times, but this one is hard. What I'm saying is actually quite simple, but it's hard to do. When somebody's mean to me, I feel pain.

[68:29]

And it's hard to say welcome. It's hard to say thank you. But that's what I'm saying it wants. It wants to be listened to. That's what it wants. The message is simple. All this stuff wants to be listened to. That's the simple message. And the next response is, it's hard. Yes, it's hard. It's simple, but hard. Everything wants you to listen to it with compassion. Simple. But try it. It's not easy. It's hard. There's a lot to do. We do. We have so much to do. It's a huge job. Thank you. Thank you, Janet. Good morning, everyone.

[69:35]

I love this teaching you started with. I love the inheritance. I love being reminded that we're connected to all Buddhas. That's the biggest medicine. In talking about the example of stealing, that's a good one to me. And you said the dream of stealing. If one feels that one is not connected to everything, then there's something to get. And I sort of had a vague remembrance of an experience, maybe my own or just in the world in general. Let's say a child, they're innocent. They feel that everything is theirs and they could take it, you know, without any sense of stealing or lack. But what that can meet is the dream of possession on someone else's part.

[70:38]

And... No, the children also learn to be possessive really young. Yeah. So they think their brothers' and sisters' toys are theirs, and they're often not willing to share. That's right. So they think their brother's toy is theirs, and they won't let their brother play with their toy. So the sense that this is mine can get into, it's mine, not yours. And children can do that very early. Very, very well. Yes. So in this conventional reality with us bodhisattvas trying to follow the precepts and watch how we're interacting with that stuff, I just had that That imaginary encounter of someone who wishes to not steal. They don't feel stealing. They feel that things are being given, that things are a gift.

[71:41]

But in our encountering of other beings, another could feel, wait a minute, that's not yours. You don't get to do that. And that could be health care or anything. So you want to practice the precepts. Mm-hmm. And you want to not take what's not given. And you think something belongs to you. Actually, you think something's been given to you. You think it's been given to you. You don't even possess it. It's just been given to you. Like flowers on the hillside. You don't own them, but they've been given to you. So then you might still think that they belong to you. And that's where we need some training to see if we're open to other people saying, I didn't give that to you, and can you listen to that and welcome that? Because I might think, yeah, everything's a gift to me, but then the way I respond to that thought might be something that I need some conversation about.

[72:50]

So I need to say, I feel that flower has been given to me, so I wonder if it's okay for me to pick it. Maybe before I pick it, I'll ask somebody, do you think it'd be okay if I pick that flower, which I think already belongs to me? And they might say, if it was me, I would say, yes, Suchitra, it does. not belong to you it's a gift to you but it doesn't belong to you and therefore i suggest you not picking it because it also is a gift to other people why don't you leave it there for you to receive the gift and them to receive the gift and you might say something back to me like you're just weird but in other words everything's a gift and nothing belongs to me And so can I relate to this thing which is a gift to me without being possessive? And that's where I need other people's feedback. So I think I'll ask them, do you think it'd be all right if I move the flower from here to a vase?

[73:57]

And they might say, yeah. And then you might say, let's ask some other people. So everything belongs to nobody. And everything's a gift to everybody. We don't own anything. And in the encounters, if someone's dreaming the dream of possession, we just are kind to that? If someone, or if there's a dream of possession, that dream of possession is calling for compassion. The dream of possession is painful. The one who is thinking about possession may not feel the pain, but the feeling or the thought or the dream of possession is calling for compassion. And the dream of not possession is another dream.

[75:00]

I don't own that. I didn't do that. That's also calling for compassion. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. so when I hear this wonderful teaching that, you know, all beings possess the wisdom and virtue of the Buddhist, it's really delightful and I love it. And there's a part of me that goes, yes, that's our true inheritance. Great. But there's another part of me that argues with that, you know, that says that that's operating from the deficit model I grew up with.

[76:03]

It says, well, I'm imperfect. We're all imperfect. That's too much. It's too positive. It's, yeah, there's just a deficit model that comes in. So there's an argument going on, and it's fairly subtle. Well, may the argument, I pray that the argument turns into a conversation. Well, that would be a nifty trick. So how would you do that? How would you do that? Well, one way to do it is you started it just now. You brought this up, you told us about this other point of view of deficit, and so I'm talking to a person who's bringing up this deficit thing, and then I can talk to you now, and I can say that this deficit view is a sentient being. And the deficit view that has a problem with this teaching, that deficit view is pervaded by the wisdom and virtues of the Buddha.

[77:16]

The Buddha pervades the deficit view. The Buddha pervades the entire great assembly and it pervades every particle of the assembly. And you're in the assembly and your views are pervaded by the Buddha body. Your views of a deficit are pervaded with Buddha's wisdom and virtue. And you brought that up, and this is my response to you. This is your conversation between that teaching and various thoughts you have, like imperfect. So imperfect beings fully possess, and thoughts that this doesn't make sense, is a living being. I'm having trouble seeing, I don't see the Buddha body in this side of the argument.

[78:17]

I don't see it. The Buddha body is not visible. It's formless. It cannot be grasped. It's pervading you and me right now, and it's pervading all your thoughts right now. But you and I cannot see it. But we can read about it, and we can say it, and I'm read about it, and I heard it, and I'm saying it. And I'm talking to you about it. So my conversation is a practice of realizing and becoming free of my attachments, which interfere with me accepting the teaching that my attachments are pervaded by Buddha's wisdom and compassion. I can see it pervading one side of the argument, but I don't see it pervading the other side. And I mean, I understand what you're saying. I just... In other words, when you say, I see it here, that's a sentient being talking.

[79:20]

Yeah. When you say, I don't see it pervading there, that's a sentient being talking. And the one who sees it fully possesses the wisdom of the Buddhists, and the one who doesn't see it fully possesses the wisdom of the Buddhists. So be respectful of the one who doesn't see it. That one will become Buddha. The one who doesn't see it. Take care. Give her the best. And also the one who does see it, don't neglect her. Give her Buddhist compassion too. Even though she's not so unhappy as the other one. I love this teaching. I don't love this teaching. Both calling for compassion. Well, that leaves me with a big question mark, but I think that might be a good thing, the question mark. Question marks are part of the conversation.

[80:25]

The full conversation is of question marks. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. That's helpful. There's no question marks. The conversation is on. The conversation just stops. Yeah. Yeah. So, thank you. And I would also like to mention, if it's okay, the Sutra Reading Group. Sutra Reading Group. There's a group of us reading the Avatamsaka Sutra aloud to each other online on Zoom once a month, and we changed our date and time this month. And so going forward, we're meeting on the first Wednesday of the month from 4.30 to 6 Pacific Time, which we hope will... enable people in other time zones to perhaps join us if they like.

[81:32]

So if you're interested, please send me an email at readingthesutra at gmail.com and I'll send the details. Everybody's welcome. You can try it out. See how it is for you. Thank you. Thanks very much. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Nice to meet you and thank you for the Dharma talk. You're welcome, Adam. If I can ask, how do I strengthen and purify my Zazen practice? The first thing that comes up is

[82:34]

Make the Zazen practice a gift. When sitting, consider the sitting as a gift to the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas and all beings. And if you're able to really wholeheartedly make it a gift, that will purify it. It will purify it, for example, of being possessed by somebody. It will purify it of trying to get anything. The main impurity of zazen is to do it to get something. So making the zazen a gift makes it stronger, deeper, wider, and purifies it. Thank you. Make it an offering.

[83:36]

I offer this sitting. I offer this sitting. I offer this. And now I offer another sitting. Okay. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. Hi, Reb. It's been a long time. Yeah, welcome, Luca. I'm grateful that you use the term offering rather than gift in sitting. And that it's, we offer the gift, but everything is an offering.

[84:42]

And my sense is that everything is always offering. That we are in the midst of offering. And we're in the midst of face-to-face transmission. Never a moment without that. And so sitting in Zazen, offering... that totality and everything is offering and sitting within that. Yes. Glad to speak with you. Glad to hear you. Glad to see you. Welcome, Susan.

[85:48]

Hi, Reb. Hi, Assembly. So nice to see everybody and you, Reb. I kind of am saying something. I'm not really sure how to work with it. But when I was in the hospital, I was in a room with this woman who was... She was in her early 80s. Very nice woman. She was some therapist. She was a social... She was also a therapist. Anyway... Got along really well, no problem there. And then the second day, what happened around 4 o'clock in the afternoon was that she was having some problems, and maybe by an hour or so, there were seven different nurses in the room with her. And, you know, again, I do a lot of meditating, so I was just sort of praying for her and meditating.

[86:53]

And then by 10.30 at night, I wasn't doing well. And nobody had come over to me. So I called up and I said, I really am asking for you to change rooms for me. And they did. And I had, first time in my life, I had an AFib. because it was just too much. The woman, I knew the hospital was there and he did tell me that she had a stroke. I mean, I didn't know that, but something was, I knew something was really wrong. So, You know, it's not about giving or taking. It's more like I don't know if I took care of myself, if I waited too long. I mean, I don't know. And so when I was changed to the other room, which I was there for a few days, that woman was fine. There were so many doctors coming in for her and for me. I never got an hour's sleep.

[87:55]

Because I usually need time to just sort of be because I'm used to that. And then when I got home, I, you know, it was it was like walking into like, whoa. But I settled in and I just keep thinking about her and I. You know, you just sort of meet and then you don't see each other. So it's hard to know how to be with that. I don't know. Anyway, that's what I'm just telling you. I don't even know what I'm asking. I just have to, it's been in me because it was hard. Yeah, and you said you don't know what you're asking? No, I don't. I'm sharing, so more like I'm asking you to hear me. I think that's... I think you're asking me to listen to you. Yeah. And I'm very happy to listen to you. Thank you.

[88:56]

It's a privilege to listen to you. I feel called to listen to you. Thank you. I feel called to listen to you, too. Thank you. Thank you, Susan. Thank you. God bless. God bless. How do I do this? I'll figure it out. Welcome, Stephen. Welcome. I feel like I've been listening to a lot of great exchanges. I think this is kind of really part of one, but this is just maybe, I mean, there's this, I think there's more, it's the koans, and I'm sure you've probably seen those.

[90:04]

Stephen, I lost contact with you for a second. Last thing I heard you said was koans. Yeah, a number of cons deal with the thief in the empty room. The thief is in the empty room. Yeah. Did you hear that? I did. And now I lost you again. You're frozen for me. Is he frozen for you? No. Sorry. I think we just lost him completely. Sorry, Stephen. But nice to see you, Stephen. And I'm glad you could appreciate that there were lots of great exchanges here today. Thank you all for the great face-to-face transmission.

[91:07]

Thank you for the great meeting today. I wish you all well on your bodhisattva path. I deeply respect you. I will never disparage you. But if I ever forget, which I might, I hope to apologize sincerely. And remember, I deeply respect you. I will never disparage you. You are, together with all of us, walking the bodhisattva way.

[91:42]

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