so for three years now more than three years we have been dedicated we have been devoted to studying the great extensive buddha flower adornment scripture and relating it trying to relate it to all aspects of our bodhisattva practice Welcome, Jeremy. Since May, we've been looking at a wonderful book, and the name of the book is Clarifying Dharma, Clarifying the Teaching of Bodhisattva Practices. And it's been a joy to study that book, which is book 18, of the scripture and then now I would like to pay my respects to the next two chapters but basically leap over them just I'd like to acknowledge them and pay my respects so the 19th book

[01:30]

is called Ascent to the Palace of the Suyama Heavens. So, in the assembly that we've been looking at, the assembly of the teaching of the Clarifying Dharma Bodhisattva Practice in Chapter 19, in that assembly, the Buddha, without leaving her seat, has now ascended into a palace in a heaven. And lots of Buddhas come with the Buddha, also without leaving their seat. Perhaps without leaving your seat, all of you in this assembly could ascend to the palace of the Suyama heaven with the Buddha. without leaving your seats.

[02:34]

Right where you are, perhaps you could consider coming up now to the palace of the Siyama Heaven. And then the next chapter, chapter 20, is called Eulogies, or Verses of Praise, in the Palace of the Siyama Heaven. That's chapter 20. And that has all these wonderful praises of the Buddhas, practice and the bodhisattva practice. And in that chapter, many bodhisattvas, all who have the word forest in their name, like forest of virtue, forest of strength, forest of patience, forest of energy, forest of knowledge, Many bodhisattvas in Book 20, in the palace, in the heaven, are praising the Buddhism bodhisattva practice.

[03:42]

And the first of those bodhisattvas in that book is named Forest of Virtue Bodhisattva. And now skipping over those two chapters and arriving at book, at chapter 21. And chapter 21 is called Ten Practices. Chapter 21 is called Ten Practices, Ten Practices of Bodhisattvas. So I feel called to... for the time being to skip over this initial celebration in the palace and go on to the teaching of the Ten Practices of Bodhisattvas. And in that assembly, as I already mentioned, there is a kind of a leading bodhisattva, the first bodhisattva mentioned in the previous books is Forest of Virtue Bodhisattva.

[04:59]

So we have the context of this assembly contemplating the assembly in the palace in the heaven with the Buddhas. And now we have the Bodhisattva, Forest of Virtue. So goodbye to the other chapters and welcome the chapter of the Ten Practices. Are you ready? for this chapter? Good. As we begin this chapter, I sincerely pray that this great assembly can give and receive great joy in this study.

[06:04]

There is a joyful offering of this study to each of the people in this assembly. So the chapter 21 begins, then the Bodhisattva, Forest of Virtues. imbued and assisted by the power of the Buddhas, entered into a samadhi called skillful bodhisattva meditation. So, the beginning of the chapter we're told that this bodhisattva forest of virtues enters a samadhi imbued with and assisted by the power of Buddha.

[07:09]

I don't think I said welcome Wendy, did I? I did? Okay, welcome again. So we have this bodhisattva, maybe we could say a great bodhisattva, who has entered a samadhi. And just to remind you what a samadhi is, a samadhi is a state of awareness, it's a presence that is open, relaxed, undistracted. You could say it's a state of concentration. Oftentimes people translate the Sanskrit word samadhi as concentration, which is okay, but it's a concentration that's open. Whatever it contemplates, it does so in an undistracted, relaxed and open way.

[08:19]

It's not tightly fixated on what it's aware of. So the Forest of Virtues Bodhisattva has entered this wonderful Bodhisattva Samadhi. And then, now he's in this Samadhi, and she didn't get into the Samadhi by her own power. She gave herself to the practice. She gave herself to the Buddhas, and the Buddhas assisted her, and together they entered samadhi. And then, as often happens in these bodhisattva samadhis, Buddhas come before the bodhisattva in the samadhi.

[09:26]

And actually, quite a few Buddhas come. The number of Buddhas that come are approximately equal to 10,000 to the atoms. The number of Buddhas that come before the Bodhisattva are equal to the number of atoms in 10 Buddha lands. So lots of Buddhas appear before the Bodhisattva Forest of Virtues. And then the Buddhas, who, by the way, guess what their names, the names of these almost infinite number of Buddhas who appear before the Bodhisattva, what is their name? Well, it's the same as the Bodhisattva. All these Buddhas are named Forest of Virtue Buddha, appearing before Forest of Virtue Bodhisattvas.

[10:32]

And they say to the Bodhisattva Forest of Wisdom, O child of Buddha, that you are able to enter this samadhi on the skillful reflection of Bodhisattva's practice is due to the collective empowerment of the Buddhas, who have the same name as you, who are as many as the atoms in 10,000 Buddha lands. and also you're able to enter by the power of the past vows of Vairacana Buddha, and also by the power and virtues of bodhisattvas that enable you to enter this samadhi and expound the teachings. Bodhisattvas enter the samadhi with and by the Buddhas, together with the Buddhas, so they can expound the teaching.

[11:38]

The Samadhi practice assists us in being able to expound the teaching in the world of living beings so that they may be free and have peace. In other words, The Bodhisattva has entered the Samadhi to initiate the teaching of ten kinds of Bodhisattva practice. And then the Buddhas say, child of good family, you should receive the spiritual power of Buddhas and expound the Dharma. Then the Buddhas bestowed on the Bodhisattva many kinds of knowledge. The Buddhas bestowed unobstructed knowledge, unattached knowledge, uninterrupted knowledge, teacherless knowledge, unvarying knowledge, unerring knowledge, immeasurable knowledge, invincible knowledge, unflagging knowledge, knowledge that cannot be taken away.

[13:01]

Why did they bestow this? All these knowledges on this bodhisattva who has entered samadhi with them, they do that because that's what some of these bodhisattva samadhis are like. It's just the normal state of bodhisattva samadhis in these states. What states? Of being present, open, relaxed and undistracted together with the Buddha. It's the nature of that kind of presence and awareness. with the Buddhas, is that knowledges are bestowed on us all in this Samadhi. And then the Buddhas, I guess, say, how come you do this? And they say, because that's the way Samadhis are. That's the way these Samadhis are. That's the normal thing that's going on. And so now I stop for a moment and just say, what is this samadhi right now?

[14:11]

In this great assembly, what is the samadhi? The Buddhas who are never apart from us, the true awakening which is always present, and which we're open to in Samadhi. Are we now open to this Samadhi and open to the Buddhists? I certainly can say that I wish to be present in this Samadhi with all of you, and with all the Buddhas. I certainly wish to. And if I'm in the samadhi, I accept that the Buddhas are going to appear, and I accept, and I receive, I wish to receive these teachings and the ability to share them.

[15:28]

in the Samadhi there is the ability to share these teachings. I'm wishing that right now there is the ability to share these teachings. How about you? Do you wish to share these teachings? Do you wish to receive them and share them? If you have any... reservations about receiving and sharing these teachings. You're welcome to bring that up later. For now, I'd like to go on and say that after bestowing all these knowledges on the Bodhisattva and Samadhi... Welcome, Laurie. After bestowing all these knowledges on the Bodhisattva and Samadhi, Welcome, Charlotte.

[16:36]

After bestowing the knowledges, all these wonderful knowledges in the Samadhi, then the Buddhas... How many Buddhas? Quite a few. The number of atoms in 10,000 Buddha lens, that's how many Buddhas there are, and they all extend their right hand. And they... There's three translations. One translation is they touch the head of the bodhisattva in samadhi. Another one is they pat the head. Another one is they rub the head. But they don't just pat the head, they pat the crown of the head. They don't pat the cheek or the nose or the chin. They pat the crown. This is the tradition, patting the crown in the Samadhi.

[17:38]

So I'm not exactly trying to feel the patting on my head, but I'm wishing to accept the patting on this head. I'm wishing to enter the Samadhi and receive the knowledges and the padding of the Buddha's right hand in this Samadhi. Can I invite you to join me in this Samadhi? To join me in an open, relaxed, undistracted presence? Just like in the sutra. I wish to enact the sutra in this assembly. I'm not the innumerable Buddhas and yet I am.

[18:56]

But I wish to be in the place on the seat of the samadhi where the Buddhas are present and pat our hands. After the heads being patted by the Buddhas, many, many Buddhas, the Bodhisattva, Forest of Virtue, arose from the Samadhi. I don't think he leaves the Samadhi. He just now is standing up, is sitting up, in the samadhi. He's been encouraged from this samadhi, in this samadhi, to expound this teaching of the ten practices of bodhisattvas.

[20:02]

He's been empowered bestowed upon and encouraged to share these teachings of the ten bodhisattva practices. So today, these ten bodhisattva practices will be shared, will be brought up in this great assembly with the help of the sutra. So, the bodhisattva forest of virtue arises from the samadhi and addresses the great assembly in the palace of the Suyama heavens saying, oh children of Buddha, oh children of Buddha, somebody's talking to you. The practice of the bodhisattva is inconceivable, equal to the space of the Dharma realm.

[21:16]

Why is it inconceivable? Because bodhisattvas cultivate a practice in emulation of the Buddhas of three times. They practice in accordance with the Buddhas whose practice is inconceivable. We practice in an inconceivable way, in accordance with the Buddha's inconceivable practice. We're devoted to something which is beyond all conception. Then the bodhisattva goes on and says, children of Buddha, great bodhisattvas have ten kinds of practices which are expounded by Buddhas of the three times. What are the ten? Do you want to hear the ten? I know you're not trying to get anything, but here they come. Number one, the practice of giving joy.

[22:26]

Bodhisattvas give joy. Another way to translate it would be the practice of joyful giving. the practice of joyful practice, to feel joy in the practice of samadhi, to feel joyful in the practice of being in this assembly, and to give this joy to all living beings, and to delight all Buddhas by this practice. Number two is called beneficial practice. Number three is called practice of non-opposition. Number four, the practice of indominability. Do you know what indomitable means? It means you don't give up. You don't get discouraged in this infinite, inconceivable practice.

[23:30]

And that's a practice to not get discouraged in the practice. Number five, the practice of non-confusion. Number six, the practice of good manifestation. Number seven, the practice of non-attachment. Number eight, the practice that is difficult to attain. Number nine, the practice of good teachings. And number ten, the practice of genuine practice. These are the ten practices. Who knows? Maybe we'll someday go all the way through all ten of these. But probably not today. We'll be lucky if we can do one of them. One of them would be great, in my view. I should say, in this view, it would be great if we could discuss one of these bodhisattva practices.

[24:36]

Do you remember number one? It's called... Giving joy. Huh? Giving joy. Yes. Number one is giving joy. Number one is joyful giving. So the sutra says, here, bodhisattvas are magnanimous givers, bestowing whatever they have with equanimous mind. Without regret. without hoping for reward, without seeking honor, without coveting material benefit, but only giving only to rescue and safeguard all living beings, to include all living beings in their care, to benefit all living beings and to emulate

[25:39]

the original practice of all Buddhas, to recall the original practice of all Buddhas, to delight in the original practice of all Buddhas, to purify the original practice of all Buddhas, to further develop the original practice of all Buddhas, and to manifest and expound the original practice of all Buddhas, and to cause all sentient beings to be relieved of pain and suffering and attain comfort and happiness. They practice joyful giving for all these reasons. So my comment is, number one, that these bodhisattvas are are bestowing whatever they have with an equanimous mind without regret with what happens to their gift.

[26:47]

And when I say without regret, I can't stop my mind from remembering a story about a great teacher named Nagarjuna who lived in India. Very important teacher. Some people call him the second Buddha in India. Nagarjuna. So, Nagarjuna was a great and famous teacher of the Buddha Dharma and he got news of a very powerful magician who was living up north from where he lived. He was living in South India. He heard about a very powerful magician who was debating the Buddhist monks and defeating them in debate And in those days, if you defeated somebody in debate, there were major consequences, which you might not like. It was intense in those days, in the early part of this common era.

[27:56]

So this magician was encountering Buddhist monks, debating them, and they lost, the monks, the Buddhist monks lost the debate, and then they had to turn their robes inside out and become a disciple of this magician. The Buddha felt like this was not a nice situation for his students. I mean, Nagarjuna felt that way. This is not good for Buddha's disciples to get pushed around like this. They couldn't avoid it though. It's kind of part of the culture. So, it turns out Nagarjuna was kind of busy at that time with various duties. So he sent his senior disciple, whose name was Aryadeva, which means, you know, like, noble deity was his name. He sent Aryadeva to go debate the magician and thereby convert the magician to the Buddha way, and then bring along all his disciples.

[29:05]

and reconvert them back to Buddhism. So anyway, this is Aryadeva's assignment from the great teacher, Nagarjuna. And Nagarjuna says to Aryadeva, I just warn you also, that on the way to this debate, you might be asked to give some gifts, and you should give them joyfully. And no matter what happens, don't regret what happens to this gift that wouldn't be joyful giving. And so Aryadeva sets out and on the way he runs into a blind person who is very upset. And he asks Aryadeva if he could have one of his eyes. Oh, by the way, Nagarjuna said, If you give a gift joyfully, as joyful giving, it will be returned to you.

[30:14]

So, for example, if you give your eye joyfully, your eye will be returned to you. Anyway, he gave his eye as joyfully as he could, and then he walked on. But he turned around and looked back, And in those days, this is like 1800 years ago, in those days, people didn't know how to put eyes in their head. At least this person didn't know how to insert this new eye, this nice eye, into his skull. And he got very upset and frustrated. And get ready for this. He smashed the eye on a stump. in his anger and frustration he destroyed the eye and Aryadeva regretted that he gave it and because he regretted that he gave it he didn't get it back and his name got changed to Kanadeva which means one-eyed deity and he went

[31:33]

up and met the magician and defeated the magician in debate but he didn't get his eye back because he regretted what happened to it after he gave it away so one of the signs of joyful giving is that you give the joy and you don't regret your giving because you don't know what sentient beings would do with your gifts we cannot We cannot control it, and if to give it with a controlling intention is not the joyful giving of bodhisattvas. And then, without seeking honor in our joyful giving. And when I read that recently, I thought of when I was a young boy, about seven years old six years old during Christmas time I went shopping with my mother downtown and on the streets as you know during Christmas they have these people dressed up pretending to be Santa Claus ringing a bell asking for donations so I happen to be kind of a rich little guy so I had a quarter

[32:59]

Maybe more than one. I had a quarter. And I took the quarter and I gave it to the Santa Claus. But I looked to see if my mother noticed. I wanted to get honor from this generous act. And even at that age, I knew this was not... appropriate that it was kind of defiling my gift to try to get my mother to notice and maybe think oh what a good boy he is look at my boy that's not how we give that's an immature form of giving so here in this section on joyful giving the teaching is really about showing how bodhisattvas purify their giving.

[34:02]

So it talks about a few examples of giving. Kind of amazing examples of giving. Like many of you have already given, all of you I think have probably given some really great gifts. But this section is looking to see. Was your giving, had your giving been pure? Was it without giving? regret when things didn't go the way you wished was it without trying to seek honor and so on so this section is showing how bodhisattvas purify their giving and may I add that giving is really also wisdom giving is really wisdom wisdom is giving and giving is wisdom But giving is not wisdom. It gets defiled.

[35:06]

It's not wisdom if we're trying to get something. On the other hand, if our giving is purified of any kinds of seeking honor or reward, our wisdom is also purified. So purifying giving also purifies our wisdom. Not even our wisdom. It purifies bodhisattva wisdom. So of course bodhisattvas, like all Buddhist disciples, practice giving. They give their face. They give their smile. They give their attention. They give their lunch. They give whatever is appropriate. And... They give it joyfully, which means it's a complete act without concern for reward or gain.

[36:10]

Here we have the bodhisattvas' joyful giving. Thus do the bodhisattvas benefit living beings. They benefit living beings by giving, giving, giving. in a pure way joyful without any kind of attachment and then it says yet benefiting without any concept of self without any concept of self I understand this to be without holding to any concept of self Right now, my face is being given. This face is being given. But this giving can happen. This face can be given without me holding to a self that gives it.

[37:19]

It's given. There might be a self in the neighborhood, but there's no holding to the self. The whole world is giving this face as much as the self is giving the face. Everybody's giving this face. Joyfully. Benefiting beings with joyful giving without any concept of sentient beings. We give our joy, we give our, whenever we have two sentient beings without holding to any concept of sentient beings. Giving joyfully without holding any concept of personality. I give this way, you give that way. Okay. But don't take that seriously. Basically, it's just giving.

[38:24]

Without any concept of person. Without any concept of human being. Without any concept of doer or receiver of the giving they only joyfully observe the infinity of the realm of reality the infinity of the realm of suffering sentient beings their emptiness their insubstantiality their indeterminacy may I ask are you giving your face to this great assembly right now And is this giving happening without any holding to you, the giver, or them, the receiver? This is giving us instruction about joyful giving. When bodhisattvas perform this contemplation while they're giving, they do not see themselves, they do not see anything given, they do not see a giver,

[39:33]

They did not see a field of blessing. They did not see a field of receiver. They did not see the deed or reward or result or a great result or a small result. Now bodhisattvas observe. that the bodies taken on by living beings all perish. We're giving to all sentient beings and we also observe that all the bodies of these beings perish. But some of the sentient beings cannot use their perishable body to realize the indestructible, imperishable body.

[40:43]

Beings, like us, have perishable bodies. The bodhisattvas are teaching us how to use this perishable body to realize the imperishable body of the Buddha. And as I often mention, in the last year of Suzuki Rishi's life, one day in the Buddha Hall, on Page Street in San Francisco, he looked at me, looked right at me, and looked right at everybody in the assembly. And he said, things teach best when they're dying. If we are dying, we have the opportunity to be the best teaching

[41:58]

not even teacher just our dying person our dying body is the best teacher and we can give this dying body this perishable body as an offering to all ascension beings to help them realize the imperishable body which accords with the utmost tranquility and serenity causing everyone to enter into unending peace and happiness. This is the bodhisattva's first practice of joyful giving. The next practice is the practice that is beneficial. Beneficial practice. But I think maybe that's enough for starters. Maybe the next time we meet we can do number two.

[43:00]

beneficial practice. But you have heard about this wonderful Bodhisattva practice number one, joyful giving. And so have I. I heard about it. So that The assembly is welcome to make offerings. Oh, excuse me. The assembly is welcome to joyfully give something or nothing. Joyfully give nothing is welcome. You can joyfully give nothing. But if it's too hard to joyfully give nothing, you can give something. Hello.

[44:02]

I had experience and while I was listening to you, it came to my mind that experience. I was waiting in Berkeley to go. I was in the car waiting to go to see my eye doctor. And I saw a young woman sitting, I mean, on the floor, asphalt. And she was very much distressed in something. She didn't appear as a homeless, but she didn't appear as a regular, you know, people. So I had a thought I should go and give her some money. Then I checked my purse.

[45:05]

It's a little bit, you know, detailed. I hope I won't waste time of you and the rest of the group. So I saw I had only $20 in a red small envelope, which I always keep it in case. So I thought, should I give it to her? I don't have any change. And what if she goes and use all the drugs again? And I was debating and up and down. As you said, am I going to regret that? I end up going and... giving to her. I wanted to experiment, actually, to see what's happening. So I handed to her. She was like that. She raised her face up and her eyes were so beautiful, blue, just like the sky.

[46:20]

It was incredible, the moment I saw her eyes. And then I handed to her and said, please take care of yourself. But that experience stayed with me. Not in a sense that I regret or it's unpure. I don't even know. But it's affected me strongly. And I would pay even much more money to get that first meeting eye to eye. Well, that's impure. Impure? Yeah. Which part is impure? Then you would give more money to get that experience.

[47:22]

That's the impurity. Your giving was lovely, but now that you want to give more to get that experience again, let go of that. I see, I see. Thank you for that wonderful example. Thank you. Of giving and then defiling it. Thank you for catching my impurity. You're welcome. I'm here to notice it. Thank you. You're welcome. Hi. Good morning. I have a response to the talk you gave, and then I have a practical thing I want to say to everybody. I really appreciated the story that Rana just told.

[48:28]

That was just a beautiful moment. And before that, listening to you, I had a very kind of negative reaction, like, I don't like that story about Arya Deva. I don't like it. It's a horrible movie. Yeah. You know, I'm with you on the joyful giving, you know, and all of the things. It's a beautiful thing you just pointed out to Rana. I was with her, like, all the way, and then you said, oh, that was also wonderful. The story about men, these Indian stories, there's a more famous one about this King Harish Chandra who decides to give away everything. He gives away his kingdom, and he gives away his refuge, and he gives away his food, and he gives away his child, and he gives away his wife. You know... Wait a minute. So Arya David gives away his eye, and then the eye gets smashed on a rock.

[49:32]

Like, let's... Let's not just give things away that are beautiful, valuable things if we think they're going to get destroyed. What do you think, Rem? You don't give them to give the thing. You give them to give joy. You give them to help people become free. It's not, I mean, he gave the eye. It's not really going to be any use to him because he doesn't know how to plant it. Yeah, so, excuse me, Ariadeva, think a little bit before you do that. The thing is, he was supposed to be giving joyfully. He's supposed to be giving joy. And he didn't. He didn't give joy. Okay, that's the point of the story. And I'll just say, I hope nobody just takes the point of the story as being, rip out your eye and give it to somebody who doesn't know how to take care of it. No, that's not the point. The point is, whatever you give, even if you give something that's not a big problem, like a penny or a dollar or two dollars or an apple, even if you give something that you're fairly likely not to regret, if you're not joyful about it, it's not giving.

[50:51]

And if you're joyful about it, you won't care if they throw the apple into the garbage. It won't hurt you. Because you're still in the joy of giving them the apple to do whatever they want to do with it. Even throw it back at you and say, this is not a good apple. Take it back. Whatever. You're not getting it to get their praise or agreement or good use. You're giving it to give them the joy that will take them to freedom. I will remember that as much as I can. And I still won't appreciate people doing unwise things with beautiful, valuable things. But we can drop that. Well, excuse me. But make your lack of appreciation a gift. Yeah. Give that joyously. Not disappointedly. Oh, I have a gift.

[51:52]

Here it is. I don't like that. So this is a grumpy gift I'm offering. Exactly. I'm a grumpy girl this morning and I give my grumpiness to the assembly. And whatever you do with it, I just feel so much joy giving it. Okay. Now here's another gift that I just informed you that I was going to do this morning and you said I could. And that is that... As many of us know, and as Reb talked about in the last in-person no abode sitting, Reb is going to have surgery on his hip, 29th of July. He said I could say this. It's pretty serious or it's kind of risky the way you presented it to us. And I just want to mention that some people, first of all, I would like everybody in this assembly to Be aware of that and to bring their thoughts and prayers and feeling to Reb's well-being on that day.

[53:01]

And also some places are having like a well-being service like Berkeley Zen Center will do that on Wednesday morning early. And some people in this group will have an online well-being. So I'm just encouraging everybody, also informing everybody in case you didn't know. that our dear teacher sitting in front of us in the white outfit is gonna have a pretty serious surgery on the important part of his body and let's all be kind of with him. The surgery is midday on 29th of July. So in whatever way we can be with him together or individually, let's do it, okay? Hello, everyone.

[54:09]

Hello. See you, Livia. I have a question about Samadhi. In the Indian tradition, according to the Eightfold Path of Patanjali, it's presented as a special kind of meditative consciousness. And I was wondering, like absorption in presence or consciousness? And I was, I have a question about how you intend or how the Zen tradition intend Samadhi. It sounds very similar. Some people, so it's basically, Samadhi means collected or gathered. And it means to be undistracted, like now I'm looking at your face. And to look at your face and be aware of your face without being distracted, for example, by other things that are going on.

[55:15]

Or even now I'm looking at your face and I'm not distracted by your eyes blinking. I feel quite present with your face and with your pillow and your robe. And also many other things are going on too. But I don't feel distracted from you. And I don't feel distracted from them by being aware of you. And so I feel I'm open and undistracted. I'm not agitated. But I'm also not trying to keep myself concentrated. And I'm relaxed. And so that samadhi in itself is a beneficial state. And some people just practice to get that beneficial state. They cultivate that kind of presence. In addition to that, this discussion of samadhi here is saying that for the bodhisattvas who aspire to realize Buddhahood, they also can have this concentrated samadhi.

[56:22]

And then in that samadhi, the Buddhas, which they wish to learn about, come to them in the samadhi. So samadhi can have many kinds of content, and this samadhi here is a content of bodhisattva practice is appearing. The Buddhas are appearing and giving teachings about how to care for living beings. And then we're hearing about these teachings in an undistracted presence. And when we hear about the teachings in an undistracted presence, the teachings really sink into and become our body and mind. Is it different than meditation? Meditation is another translation. Sometimes samadhi is translated as meditation.

[57:24]

But it's emphasizing the... Awareness. So meditation also means, in English anyway, something that you're meditating on. Like a book, a scripture can be a meditation. And then you practice contemplation of the scripture. And that's the way you're contemplating a meditation. But also sometimes the contemplation is called meditation also. Yes. It was presented as if it's a special state during the meditation, a special moment or a special state in which you can find yourself while you are meditating. That would be like, you're trying to be present, you're doing a meditation of being present,

[58:29]

but you're not present yet, you're still somewhat distracted, or you're somewhat tense and rigid, but you're working on opening to this teaching about how to have this kind of samadhi. And after a while, somehow, you enter the samadhi. At the beginning, you might feel like, oh, I'm not in samadhi, I'm wasting my time. I'm doing a really bad job here. I'll never get concentrated. If you can relax with that thought, you enter samadhi. So sometimes you start meditating, you don't feel successful, and you continue, and then finally you don't even feel successful, you just are. And when you're successful, you don't care about being successful anymore. Or not being successful. That's our success. Thank you.

[59:30]

You're welcome. Thank you. Good morning. This conversation is so rich. Thank you and everyone who's participating in it. It's a gift. It's quite a gift. But I want to go back to something that you were talking about. Before you started talking about joyful giving, you gave us the image of the Buddhas patting the heads. And I noticed that as we were speaking about it, You know, I was imagining it vividly. And I also noticed that many of us, including me, you know, actually did some head patting as you were speaking about it.

[60:40]

And I'm wondering about the place of imagination and enactment in the reality of what was going on. I mean, what was happening there? Well, we do have an imagination, and in samadhi our imagination doesn't die. It's still functioning. Yeah. So, you can imagine you're being patted on the head, and you can also be patted on the head and be imagining something else. Patting on the head is not just your imagination. So right now, you can imagine Many, many Buddhas patting you on the head in this samadhi. You can imagine that. But you don't have to imagine it. And they can still be patting you on the head. And you can still feel encouraged to share the teaching. Because that's what the patting on the head is for, is to encourage you to share these teachings, the Bodhisattva practice teachings.

[61:50]

But it's okay if you think, oh, I think I feel the patting. It's fine. That's your imagination. I think that's happening. Okay? I don't think I'm being patted. And even though I don't think I'm being patted, I have faith that I am being patted. Because I feel enthusiastic about this practice. And if I feel enthusiastic about this practice, I think it's because the Buddhas are patting me on the head. Somehow, the Buddhas are helping me be so enthusiastic about this sutra. I didn't make myself enthusiastic about this sutra. And the Buddhas didn't make me enthusiastic either. But in my head and the Buddha's hand together, there's enthusiasm for the teacher. And that's my imagination too. Yeah, I think, you know, I'm wanting to understand if there's a relationship between imagination and reality.

[63:01]

And what I'm hearing you saying is that imagination sort of opens enthusiasm, and that may be... Yeah, you can use imagination to open enthusiasm. Yeah. Like you can use your imagination to read the scripture. And reading the scripture, you can use your imagination to imagine being with Buddhas, and to imagine Buddhas lifting you up and welcoming you into this samadhi. And then you can imagine that we're in this samadhi right now, together. And are we? Huh? And are we in this samadhi together right now? If I say are we, that's me. You're asking me, do you imagine that we are? Okay. All right. Okay. So we can also use our imagination just to imagine that it's not possible to enter this samadhi. It's just too much. Human beings can't really enter this kind of awareness.

[64:03]

Or at least I can't. It's just too much for me to imagine being in a samadhi. A lot of people just, that's the kind of imagination they have. It doesn't allow them to imagine sitting in front of all the Buddhas, and receiving their encouragement. However, the teaching is still being offered to them. And if it's offered with joy, maybe they'll get over their believing their imagination that they can't do this practice. Reading this sutra is just a wonderful gateway to... Yeah, and you use your imagination to read the sutra. So you're allowing your imagination to help you read the sutra, which is allowing yourself to be encouraged to do the practice that's being taught in the sutra.

[65:11]

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Hello, Reb. Welcome. I'm wearing the robe that Tomas made. Ah! Thanks for telling. So, thanks for the great gift and teaching today about joyful giving. I am thinking about another form of giving, which is being challenging. for me at least, it's the kind of giving of saying no to people. And over and over again, it's not just one time, especially to family members, that I need to say no.

[66:19]

So I confess that I don't feel joy to have that kind of gift. saying no because I always have concern and I'm worried about the consequence of saying no and I'm worried about what this gift may I say something sure so you're worried about the consequences of saying no you also maybe have just have trouble saying no both I I need to take so much preparation and courage in order to say no. So, saying no, you're having trouble saying no as an act of joyful giving. Right. You're having trouble imagining consequences, that imagination, you're having trouble having that be joyful giving. At the beginning of this section about the joyful giving, it says that bodhisattvas,

[67:26]

give with a magnanimous mind. So one way to understand magnanimous mind, and it says, and they give whatever they have. And sometimes what you have is no. That's what you have. You don't have yes. You have no. And other times you have, what you have is worry. You have worry. You have worry about What will happen if I say yes? Or what will happen if I say no? What you have is worry. So if you have no, then you give that. If you have yes, you give that. If you have worry about saying no, you give that. If you have worry about saying yes, you give what you have. If you don't have worry, you give no. I don't have worry. You give what you have. But you give it joyfully.

[68:27]

You don't give the no seeking honor or gain or appreciation. You don't say yes seeking honor or gain or appreciation. You don't worry and give your worry to get appreciation. You give it to show the joy of giving. So you don't have to be somebody different. You're a person who worries sometimes. That's who you are. That's what you have. Maybe you wished you had something besides worry to give. You're also a person who has some pillows. I see some pillows. You have some stuff. Whatever you have, give it. But give it joyfully. give it without seeking anything.

[69:29]

One of the things, while you're talking, one of the things that I'm thinking that I need to give is my concern about the suffering. My concern. I'm also thinking if this concern comes from the concept of self, if I understand it. Very warm might. And if you notice that it is coming from confusion about the self, it's not just coming from the concept of self, it's coming from attachment to the concept of self. If it is, then maybe you practice joyfully giving the confession that I feel attachment to my concept of self. I give that gift to the Buddhas. Joyfully. Not to get the Buddhas to pat me on the head, but because when we give what we are to the Buddhas, that brings them delight.

[70:45]

But we don't do it to get them delight. We do it because it's the practice of giving. It sounds like with the gift of no, there are so many other gifts to give. Many other products out of that. And sometimes not. Sometimes you just say no and there's no worry. There's just no. And sometimes that works out so well. And you give it with joy and the person who you give it to with joy, they wake up to the joy of giving. But I don't want to get them to wake up.

[71:46]

You do want them to wake up. You do want them to be free. But you don't give them a gift to get them to be free. You give them a gift to show them a practice of joyful giving, and that, if they learn that, they will be free, and you want them to learn it, and you want them to be free. I do want all of us to learn joyful giving, but I don't give to get them to learn it. I joyfully practice as a gift, period. And that's what I want them to learn. Somebody wants me to learn something, and they're showing it to me, they're not trying to get me to learn it. They're just giving me a gift. And if I don't learn it, they're not going to be disappointed in me. And some people, you give them a gift like joyful giving, and they really want to see if they don't receive it, if you are happy. And if you are, they go, wow!

[72:47]

She wasn't just giving me that gift to have them, to get me to receive it. She was just giving it to me, and I didn't receive it, and that was... She was still joyful. And then I did receive it and she was joyful. Some people do not believe it's possible unless they test it over and over. And you keep coming back with joyful giving. It's very richful giving in practice. There's so much in it. It's infinite. It's infinite. It comes with infinite Buddhist patting on the head. Thank you very much. This would be a gift to me if I could read this at home, which is probably a little bit long.

[73:58]

If it's long, I think maybe we shouldn't do it because we're already almost out of time. Well, then, thank you for that gift. You're welcome. By the way, Maggie, I just kind of said no to Stephen. And he graciously accepted my gift. Thanks for the good example of practice. Thank you so much for this teaching. As others have said, it's really rich and wonderful.

[75:00]

And I'm thinking about... joy and thinking about that it feels like somehow the joy is connected to the non-attachment, to the outcome. Is that your feeling about it? Yeah. Non-attachment to the outcome is just giving might be a little bit joyful, but when you're not attached to the result, the joy gets really huge. releases a lot more joy. And the other thought I had about it was when Rana was talking about her experience and she was giving money, but it felt like another really important gift was attention. Like that connection is something that I think is really important to keep in mind is that just giving someone your attention is an enormous...

[76:01]

gift yeah and especially if you give it without trying to get famous for giving your attention exactly and then the last thing that came to mind was just the joy of in receiving because it feels like there's this reciprocal thing going on and just remembering you know, receiving without attachment as well as giving without attachment seems really important. Giving without attaching to the receiver or the giver or the gift. They're present, but it's possible not to attach to any of them, to realize that they're all ungraspable. Right. In this way, giving is wisdom. Giving is wisdom, yes. Thank you so much. Go ahead.

[77:27]

Okay. First, I want to thank you for your new book. It's a gift. Thank you. And also to say I'll be with you to whatever extent is possible through your surgery process, and I wish you well. And then I want to ask, when you said that, Suzuki Roshi said, things give best when dying. He said, teach best. Teach best when dying. Well, okay. And I wondered if you could say more about it, but I know there is a time limit here, but that's a question that came up, and maybe another time. I could briefly say... It was during the last year of his life.

[78:29]

We knew that he had his gallbladder removed about three months before, but he didn't tell us he had cancer. We didn't know he was dying, but he told us that. But a little bit later, a couple of months after that, we found out he had liver cancer. And my experience of him during that last year, particularly from like March to December, I just felt like he was dying, and his teaching was so deep, so penetrating, that it was really true that when he was dying, the way he was dying was such a great teaching to us. Yes. And also, that's about Suzuki Rashi. but also you and I are dying. And if people remember that this dying person is teaching, it's very deep.

[79:36]

I get it. Thank you. A better way to say it is not so much this dying person is teaching, But the dying of this person, this person's dying, the dying is teaching. The dying of this person is teaching. Got it.

[80:08]

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