So again, for me, it's always great to see you all, people that I've known for half a century, more or less. So as many of you know, we have been studying a great scripture called the Flower Adornment Scripture. the great Buddha Flower Adornment scripture. And in that scripture, many, many times, the bodhisattvas encourage the bodhisattvas, request that the bodhisattvas generate empathy for all suffering beings.

[01:00]

generate tender care for all living beings, generate great compassion for all life. Over and over, the bodhisattvas in this scripture encourage the bodhisattvas in this scripture to have these feelings of tender care and appreciation for all life, all life. And sometimes when we note that, when we acknowledge that encouragement by the sutra, after the talk's over, people say, yeah, yeah, but I can't feel compassion for so-and-so. So, right now, there may be some people that we can't feel compassion for, and...

[02:06]

That's something that the bodhisattvas apologized for. I'm sorry. I don't feel tender care for this person, for this life form. I'm sorry. And when people tell me that, I say, I hear you. But can you have compassion for your inability to be compassionate? And they often say, yes. I myself am really sorry that I have not been fully compassionate sometimes towards some people in the past. Today I feel tender care for everyone, but a while ago I missed some people. I skipped over some people. I'm so sorry I did. I didn't have the right feeling.

[03:06]

But I want to have this feeling for all beings. Again, the bodhisattvas encourage the bodhisattvas. The bodhisattvas encourage those who wish to realize awakening in order to help this world be free and at peace. This is a teaching for those who want to liberate all beings. Today, in addition to acknowledging the feelings of empathy and compassion for life, I want to bring up some what I might call radically different ways of thinking. When I bring up practicing compassion, a lot of people already are trying to do that.

[04:11]

But there's some ways of thinking which are recommended, which are spoken of in the sutra, that are very, very unusual and wonderful and marvelous, but different and unusual. And today I'd like to bring up one of those very unusual ways of thinking. So, hang on to your seat, it's going to be potentially quite a ride today. And in particular, what I'd like to bring up, one of the different ways of thinking I'd like to bring up, again, this way of thinking, this unusual way of thinking, is for the sake of liberating us from our usual ways of thinking. It's a new way of thinking to liberate us from our habitual painful ways of thinking.

[05:23]

Like, some of us think, oh, I'm not as good as other people. Some of us think, I'm better than other people. Some people think I'm a lot better than that other person. We have various painful thoughts like that. This way of thinking is to free us from all kinds of painful thinking. All kinds of thinking which causes trouble. Our trouble, our thinking is our basic form of karma. It's our fundamental karmic act, it's our thinking. And this teaching is not to stop us from thinking, it's to liberate it from whatever kind of thinking we're doing, including this new kind of thinking. So today I will present this new kind of thinking for the sake of becoming free of the new kind of thinking

[06:32]

and all the old ways of thinking. May I ask are you ready to hear? Okay. So, in this scripture, in chapter 26, In the sixth section, chapter 26 has ten sections. In the sixth section of chapter 26, which is about perfect wisdom, a bodhisattva says that the bodhisattvas think, the bodhisattvas have a thought. What do they think? They think the three worlds, the three realms, or you could just say the whole world.

[07:45]

But it literally says three realms. The bodhisattvas think. This is not the same as saying this is true. This is telling you what they think. This is a way of thinking to free us from thinking. We're not saying that this way of thinking is true. It's a liberating thought. And what do they think? They think the three worlds, the three realms, are just one mind. They have the thought. The three realms are only one mind. That's the thought which these bodhisattvas think in their work of realizing awakening.

[08:54]

They have feelings of compassion and they think in this unusual way in this scripture and as we'll see later many of our ancestors in China and Japan and now in the West also think this thought for example I think this thought the three worlds are just one mind The sutra just has that one sentence that I'm talking about. And now I have some comments. So, three worlds is a technical, ancient Buddhist term. Three realms.

[09:55]

All three realms could be called the world. They're all what you call mundane, worldly realms. I'll just say the Sanskrit, get it over with. The first realm is called Kama Datu. The second realm is called Rupa Datu. And the third realm is called A-Rupa Datu. Those are the traditional names for the three realms in Indian Buddhism. And in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, it's the same, just they... the Chinese way of saying it and the Japanese way of saying it. They're all worldly and they're all just one mind. The Kama Datu could be translated as the realm of sex. Kama means sex. It's the realm of sex.

[10:56]

It's the realm in which The world appears to a living being and in that realm are beings who are appearing in a way that we're sometimes attracted to them or not. And we have a big problem with this attraction to these beings who appear like men and women. or, for some people, cows and bulls, or mares and stallions, or, you know, whatever, male and female, and other varieties of appearance of possible sexual partners. These kinds of things occur in the realm of kamadatu. Actually, you could call it the gross material realm.

[12:09]

Where there's people and frogs and hamburgers and brown rice and Cadillacs. This is a realm which most of you are very familiar with. And this realm appears to humans. I think it appears to dogs. I think it appears to cats. I think it appears to lions and tigers. I think it appears to banana slugs. I think it appears to flies. We see flies, flies see us. We see a world, flies see a world. The world that everybody's in the midst of in this gross way is called the kamadhatu. The next realm, rupadhatu, means the fine material realm.

[13:15]

In that realm, there's not gross material objects. There's just subtle material objects. So there's no like people and frogs and atomic bombs and Cadillacs and birthday cakes. But there's very subtle forms of materiality. And this, the beings who see, the beings for whom this realm appears are advanced yogis and divine beings. And the third realm is a realm where there is no material form, where there's only mental phenomena. And again, this realm appears to divine beings and advanced yogics, yogis and yoginis. Those are the three realms. And in those three realms, for example, in the Kamandatu, I can see all your faces.

[14:16]

You can see all your faces. And it looks, in this realm, like there's lots of different minds. It looks like everybody here has kind of their own mental experience so in this world that i'm living in there are many beings and they and they all have a mind but the mind they have is part of the three realms and this is saying that all of your all of our individual consciousnesses are part of one mind What is that one mind? So now I'd like to talk about, again, the three realms in hopes of understanding how they're one mind only.

[15:19]

What here, what here, What's here right now is precisely the three realms. The three realms are what is appearing right now. The three realms aren't reality. They are appearances. and what is appearing right now is the three realms so we are and we are in the midst all of us are in the three realms that are appearing to us this way right now what we see is the three realms

[16:27]

And now the next big step is that the three realms are what are seen by the three realms. So our usual way of thinking is I'm here and I see the three realms. I'm not saying that's wrong, but that thought is part of the three realms. That thought is not the whole three realms. All of us together, all living beings together right now, and the mountains and the rivers and the great earth, all of that is what is seen as the three worlds. And it is the three worlds. The new message is all of that sees all of that.

[17:29]

The three worlds are what are seen by the three worlds. That's the comment to help understand how the three worlds are one mind. The one mind is how the three realms are nothing but seeing the three realms. The three realms are what are seen by the three realms. The three worldly realms are looking at the three worldly realms and seen by the three worldly realms. Once again, in the three realms there is me, there is a thought of me having the thought that I see you. But that's not all there is in the three realms.

[18:39]

There's also you, all of you, thinking that you see me. And that's not all. It's also the flies looking at us and us looking at the flies. there is seeing the three realms but I don't do it by myself I do not see all of you by myself I together with all of you see all of you and much more still what we see which is the three realms the three realms is what we're seeing right now is what's appearing There's something which transcends this mutual face-to-face meeting of three realms with three realms. The meeting of the world with the world.

[19:40]

That meeting of the world with the world is a mind. It's one mind. The three realms are always looking at the three realms. And the three realms are always turning with the three realms. And that turning is one mind. And that one mind is the mind which liberates us from everything. All ways of thinking. this world is the world this world is not reality but it is the world the world that we see is the world the mundane world we see is the mundane world we can we can see the mundane world but again i cannot see the world by myself i have in the world i live in there is the thought there could be the thought which contradicts which i just said there could be the thought

[21:02]

I, by myself, can see the world. That's part of the world which sees the world. My views, your views, are not excluded from this world. They are the world. They are the mundane world. And the way they look at the mundane world is a mind. The mutual looking The face-to-face meeting of the world with itself is a mind. It is a mind which liberates all beings. And the mind doesn't look at the three worlds. This mind doesn't look at the three worlds and doesn't look away from the three worlds. It is the way the three worlds are looking at the three worlds. And meditating on this teaching and focusing on the one mind, which is the meeting of the world with itself, is a new way of thinking.

[22:23]

Which, I hope you'll join me in meditating on this new way of thinking. Which, if you get into it, it's really different. and it doesn't eliminate it doesn't eliminate the old ways of thinking it just is mind it is just this new way of thinking is thinking about the mind which in which the old ways of thinking are pivoting on the old ways of thinking and the way the old ways of thinking or pivoting on the old ways of thinking is not a way of thinking, it is a mind in which all the ways of thinking are pivoting on all the ways of thinking. I am happy to discuss it with you more, but before I do, I want to bring up a story.

[23:43]

Where did you go, story? There you are. It's a story about some of our Zen ancestors discussing this teaching. Do you want to hear the story? Okay. It's a story about some fairly ancient Tang Dynasty Zen Bodhisattvas. And I'm not going to ask you if you can guess their name. I'll just tell you. So, their names of these Bodhisattvas in the conversation, which I'm going to bring up, their names are Great Master Shrenzong, excuse me, Great Master Shrensha, Great Master Shrensha, and his student, great master, Di Tsong. Di Tsong, by the way, also in Japanese is Jizo.

[24:51]

So Di Tsong, his name is Earth Store. Di Tsong means Earth Store. And he has that name because the name of his temple was Earth Store Temple, Earth Store Monastery. named after the great Bodhisattva, Kishtagarbha Bodhisattva, Earth Store Bodhisattva. That's Deetsang. And on July 11th at Noabode, I told some stories, I recounted some stories of Deetsang with his students. And that talk is called Zen Bodhisattva Love. Ditsang was a very loving bodhisattva. And one of the ways he expressed his love was he asked his great student, Dharma Eyes, Fa Yen, where he was going.

[25:52]

And Fa Yen said, I'm going on pilgrimage. And Ditsang lovingly said, what is the purpose of going on pilgrimage? And Fa Yan said, don't know. And Di Tsong said, not knowing is most intimate. This is Di Tsong, the great teacher, teaching not knowing. In other words, no individual knows the purpose of going on pilgrimage. So that's what Di Tsong, as the teacher, Now we have Dicang as a student in this story. He's with his teacher, Shrensha. Dicang, Shrensha. Okay? Great Master Shrensha. And he says to his wonderful student, Dicang, the three realms are just one mind.

[27:03]

How do you understand? So back in India, the bodhisattvas are saying to each other, three realms are just one mind. And now in China, the Zen bodhisattvas are bringing up the same thought, the same meditation. Three worlds, only one mind. Okay? And Shrensa says this to his student. Three worlds are just one mind. How do you understand? How do, may I say, you, how do you understand? And Dizong points to a chair. Ditsang points to a chair and says to his teacher, Reverend Teacher, what do you call this?

[28:16]

And the great teacher says, A chair. That wasn't too complicated, but you still might not have got it. The great teacher says, three minds, three worlds are just one mind. The three worlds of many minds are just one mind. How do you understand? How do you understand? Deesong points to a chair. and says, what do you call this? And the great teacher says, a chair. And then the respectful, devoted student says to his teacher,

[29:32]

The teacher, the reverend teacher, doesn't understand. That great teacher doesn't understand. Three realms are just one mind. Did you get that? The student says to his teacher, the teacher does not understand. Three worlds are just one mind. And then the great teacher feels, I guess, invited to say something more. So then he says, I call it bamboo and wood. I call the chair bamboo and wood. What do you call it? What do you call it? What do you call it? And Deetsong says,

[30:36]

I also call it bamboo and wood. And then the great teacher says, I can't find a single person in the whole earth who understands the Buddha Dharma. That's the story. So, I can say something more. But I can't understand what I say. Even these great masters cannot understand the point of pilgrimage. They can't understand three worlds, just one mind.

[31:42]

However, they can enter the one mind which is this teaching. And they do it, in this case by saying, I call this a chair. The understanding is using me to say, I call it a chair. It's not me that understands, it's me that says, I call it, I point to the chair and ask you, what is it? What do you call it? Everything we do here today is the three realms. Seen by the three realms. No single person in the whole Earth. No single person in the whole Earth can understand this Buddhadharma.

[32:43]

But, even so, persons in the three realms, the three realms can speak and it can say, three realms are only one mind. How do you understand? the three realms, that can manifest in the three realms. The person who's speaking does not do that by herself. It is the three realms speaking. The person who's speaking is responsible for saying three realms are just one mind. How do you understand? They're responsible. But the whole three realms are responsible too. And the whole three realms Observe this sentence and this question. This is the one mind in which we are participating right now. And I forget that.

[33:55]

There is the question, how can this one mind be honored? How can it be cared for? Well, there's a statement. The way to care for the one mind is to care for how the three worlds are observing the three worlds. Like, for example, what do you call that? I call it a chair. This could be, this could be, it can be said today that this could be the way these ancient teachers took care of the one mind. How did they take care of it? By asking questions about the one mind, which is to ask questions about the three worlds. So, we got three worlds, so point at it. Point at the three worlds and say, what do you call that? This is a way to take care of the three worlds and realize that they're just one mind.

[35:01]

There is the statement that these ancient teachers were loving bodhisattvas who were enacting this teaching, and many other teachings, but they were enacting this teaching, but they weren't doing it as a single person. A single person does not understand. Three worlds interacting with three worlds is just one mind. But all the single persons are part of this one mind interacting with the world. Not interacting with the world, that the one mind which is the way the world is interacting with itself. And now, one could say, or it could be said, or there are the words, what do you think, Great Assembly, about this teaching? And what do you call this? Okay, I see some yellow hands.

[36:23]

Good morning. First of all, it's good to see you looking so well. I'm glad to see you looking so well. Good to see you looking well. Thank you. I'm very happy to see you looking well. Yeah. You said this was going to be a bumpy ride, and it was, for me, a really bumpy ride. Excuse me, can I just mention, this is going to be like being at an amusement park, a roller coaster, etc. I hope this is an enjoyable bumpy ride, and you don't have to pay anything to go on these rides. Well, there's a part of me that's laughing, but I'm laughing with frustration, because I really... laugh with frustration yeah okay but yeah I want to understand like how does this how does meditating on this promote compassion which is I think that's what it's in the service of right well actually this meditation is for people who are already cultivating compassion yeah this this

[37:46]

teaching. It's more of a teaching about thinking. And it's a teaching to help bodhisattvas who think they want to practice compassion become free of that thought. Well, why should they become free of it? Isn't it a good thought? If they're not free, they'll suffer. And they'll be teaching, in some sense, how to suffer. by attaching to the thinking. Because our basic problem is that we attach or get stuck in our thinking. But this teaching is for those who are in the process of cultivating great compassion. It's really not an appropriate teaching for people who are not doing that practice of compassion. It could be a distraction from compassion. if they weren't already practicing it if they weren't devoted to it they could be skipping over it and not doing that practice of compassion but for those who are practicing compassion this frees them from their ideas of what compassion is like for example you might think that's not compassion that is compassion that's fine this

[39:11]

Teaching will free us from, that's not compassion, the thought, that's not compassion, and free us from that is compassion. But this is a teaching for those who are devoted to compassion. So how can we be devoted to compassion and not get stuck in it? This teaching is to help those who are devoted not get stuck in their devotion. Some beings are devoted and stuck in their devotion. Buddhas are devoted to all beings and they're not stuck in their devotion. By being stuck, you mean they have a fixed idea of what it is? They have a fixed idea or they have an idea and they fix it. They fix it. Here's an idea of what bodhisattvas are. They fix it. Buddhas do not fixate on the idea of a bodhisattva. They encourage it and then they encourage us not to fixate on it. This is a teaching to help us not fixate on what compassion is, to not fixate on what cruelty is, to not fixate on what yuki is, to not fixate on what reb is, to free us from all of our thinking without trying to get rid of the thinking, but rather to be right in the middle of it, to be this mind, which is how our thinking is pivoting with all thinking.

[40:37]

And this is, again, for those who are devoted to compassion. I wouldn't give this teaching to those who are not devoted to compassion. Well, that makes me think that frustration is part of the process. No, frustration could be part of the process. And if there is frustration, then we want to be compassionate with it. And... If we want to be compassionate with frustration, then it'd be good not to fixate on what compassion with frustration would look like. For example, in this story, you might have heard the last statement by Shrensa. He said, I can't find a single person in the whole great earth who understands Buddhadharma. You could think he's frustrated, but he's not frustrated. But if he was, he would practice compassion with that. And then he would practice his teaching with that, and then he would not be frustrated. He would just be saying that no single person can understand Buddhadharma.

[41:44]

And even me, great teacher Srenshaw, can't find one. Even my great disciple here, Ditsang, I can't find him who understands this teaching. But I do have this disciple, and we're doing this, and we are doing this practice of one mind right now. And I can't do it by myself. You can't do it by myself. We can only do it together with all beings. And we are doing it together with all beings. So please use this meditation, use this teaching to wake up to that that's really what's going on right now is one mind which is not stuck. But again, In the triple world, there are individual minds which are stuck. They're part of the picture. And they're actually pivoting with all other minds.

[42:47]

And in that pivoting, there is just one mind which is not stuck. I don't know which ride this is in the amusement park, but I hope you enjoy it. Okay, thank you. In anticipating my discussion with you, I've been enjoying this wild ride, and I have been amused. When I was a kid, there was an amusement park that we used to go to, and it's called Excelsior. Sarah. Good to see you. Good to see you. I don't know, a long time ago, you made a comment that I've really shoot on and been guided by for a long time. You said all phenomena are conscious constructions.

[43:49]

And I thought of that in the story when he said, what do you call that? And he says, a chair. I call it a chair. And I feel like I'm curious about if we when and what the conditions are when we can actually feel an experience of the three realms if that's possible but there's this paradox to me there's this tension between some awareness or idea about about the one mind and life in a human body that involves speech and decisions and tax returns and calling things by a name and having these conscious constructions, including that there's three realms and their one mind is a conscious construction. And I guess what I've always felt you meant, and I want you to clarify, is whatever our story is about it, there's more to the story.

[45:00]

than we are able to perceive. Does that speak to what this is? I have a slight difference there. I'm very glad you brought this up. But when you said there's more to the story than the story... Endlessly, like there will never be... That's where I differ with that. Okay. The story is just a story. And in the story, there's just a story. There's nothing more. In the three worlds, there's just the three worlds. However, the way the three worlds are is actually a mind. But the three worlds, you could also say the three worlds are only conscious constructions. So right now we see, you and I see conscious constructions. So there's two teachings there. One is, which you just brought up, that we're seeing the three worlds right now, and it's just conscious construction.

[46:05]

But what you just brought up, which I appreciate, is the thought that there's something in addition to the world of conscious construction. But there isn't. There's not. The one mind is not in addition to the three worlds. The one mind is the way the three worlds are actually working right now. Not in addition. There's no Buddhas or sentient beings in addition to the stories. The stories are seen by the stories. And understanding that the stories are what are seen by the stories is the one mind. Can I ask a follow-up question? Yeah. But thank you so much for bringing that up. So I guess what... What I'm wondering is how we think in terms of the limits of human perception, that we're using stories because our minds are human minds, and it's the currency of human exchange.

[47:15]

We have words and stories and pictures of what our reality is, but that the human mind is limited, maybe. And there are things beyond, whether it's the microscopic world, there are things beyond our human ability to perceive. And that might be contained in the image of a one mind, but there might also be, like the universe, there might be realms that we have not been able to perceive yet. And that's part of that one mind. Yeah, so I guess what I'm saying is this teaching is saying there's nothing outside. That the one mind, which is the liberating one mind, is not the least bit outside the confining human minds and confining hummingbird minds and confining fly minds.

[48:25]

It's nothing outside them. It's the way all life is turning on all life. And the idea that there's something beyond is another conscious construction, which is fine, but just understand that that's just, in your case, it's called the human realm, that thought, in English, and it could be in Chinese, and that's mostly spoken by humans or dogs that have learned Chinese and English. All the beings which we cannot see, which we cannot perceive, they are part of the three worlds. We cannot see how electromagnetic radiation interacts with our body so that we can have vision. We do not see

[49:27]

We actually do not see light. But we have thoughts about light, conscious constructions, but they are nothing in addition to. And what's beyond our perception, it is beyond, many things are beyond our perception, but they are also part of the mundane world. And they are seen by the whole mundane world. And the whole mundane world is seen by the them so we are seen by things that we don't perceive for example right now I don't perceive what you're thinking of me but I'm seen by you what you're thinking of me that's part of how you think of me and part of the three worlds is how Sarah thinks of me and other people but I can't perceive how you're how you're perceiving me but how you're perceiving me is equally a part of the three worlds as me, how I perceive you, which you also can't perceive.

[50:33]

But how I perceive you is not in addition to the three worlds in which we're living together. It's not beyond the three worlds. How I perceive you is a worldly Dharma. How you perceive me is a worldly Dharma. I perceive my perceptions of you, but I don't perceive your perceptions of me. That's part of where we live. And that's just something that completely includes everything of where we live interacting with everything where we live. And the mind, the understanding, the awakening that is the understanding of how everything that we're perceiving and not perceiving are interacting with everything we're perceiving and not perceiving, that's nothing in addition to Someone is knocking at my door. Okay. Yeah.

[51:34]

And I don't perceive that. Oh, no, good. They're gone. They're gone. Sorry. I'm glad they came. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your contribution. Yeah. Hello, great teacher. Hello, great assembly. Hello. Honored Angela. I wish to say thank you for giving us your face.

[52:35]

And I appreciate your example in practice, old teacher. It's so inspiring. When you were speaking about the three realms being one world, Or one realm? No, no, no, no, no, no. They're not one realm. They are one mind. One mind. One mind. Thank you. The thought arose. I wonder how many practices there are to enter this one mind.

[53:37]

then the thought arose perhaps that thought is one mind and then the thought arose well maybe if I'm just thinking that in my own mind it actually isn't because maybe i'm not aware that i can't do that alone yeah so you have that you have that thought in your mind and that thought that's in your mind is part of the three realms and that thought together with the rest of the three realms is one mind that thought by itself is not by itself. That thought, as an example of the three realms, like a chair, that thought with the whole three realms, the way the three realms are interacting with your one thought, that's the one mind.

[54:57]

But the one mind isn't your thought, the one mind is the three realms in which your thought is appearing. as the three realms. And I can't explain it, but in... You can explain it. That's fine. You can explain. Well, just in talking, I have a thought that I understand, but there's... but there's but there's nothing to get there's nothing to get that's right and it's just a there's nothing to get place of tension yeah so your thoughts you can't get you can't get your thoughts because your thoughts are inseparable from the three realms

[56:06]

And also you can't get the Three Realms because you're just part of the Three Realms. The Three Realms can't get the Three Realms, but the Three Realms does see the Three Realms. And you see the Three Realms. And one of the things you see in the Three Realms is your thoughts. And I cannot understand how your thoughts are part of the Three Realms which are just one mind. But, those words are coming out of my mouth. With your help, with your help, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for bringing our attention to actuality.

[57:32]

Actuality to me is the mind. The mind that you're referring to, which is seeing, which is awakening. Everything else is a dust. The thinking that we are, I personally am talking about these thoughts, they're dust. They are not what you are referring to. What you're referring to is, look, look at all these dusts. Then comes the not looking. Which is not looking. When I'm not looking, means I'm not aware. I'm not seeing. In the not seeing, means unawareness, I am all kinds of dust.

[58:40]

From this thinking to that thinking to this, this, and that, and all that. And then the next, when seeing the totality, seeing that there is all, there's nothing but all, and I really appreciate, because all my life I was thinking about beyond. No. It's only the mind. Seeing the mind is all. There's nothing beyond. And not seeing is the desire I want to go beyond. Beyond myself is beyond thought. Beyond my mind. And once I went into seeing, beyond and not beyond our seeing. So I really, really, truly down deep appreciate this teaching.

[59:46]

Thank you so much. Good morning. Good morning. We haven't mentioned your hip yet. Is it healing well? I think it seems to be going okay. It takes a long time. Well, to the point at hand. So I would like to make a comment and a question. The comment was on how you translated the words of the three realms. I don't think it's... really clear to say that kama datu means just sex.

[60:52]

I mean, you know that. Kama means desire and just refers to the whole realm of senses. So it might be... I felt a little kind of not comfortable with your saying what sex is. Translated as the realm of desire. Okay, thank you. And then... Yeah, rup and arup, if you just make them literally, it's sort of helpful because rup means form and arup means no form. So because of my karma, I wanted to say that. Thank you. Here's a question. In the story about the two Chinese, excuse me, when they were talking about what do you call this? And the first time the teacher said, I call it a chair, and the deep son, is that the way to say his name?

[61:54]

He was, had a very, seemed like quite unsatisfied reaction, you know, like you don't understand. And then the teacher said, I call it bamboo and wood. And then he had a different reaction. He said, I call it bamboo and wood too. I'm really wondering about the difference between those two reactions, those two answers. Why did he seem unsatisfied with the first one and assent to the second one? And then after he assented to the second one, apparently, the teacher said that he couldn't find anybody who understood Buddha Dharma. So he seemed to not appreciate the wisdom of what his disciples said. So here's another way to read it, okay? There's many ways to read this. One way is, the teacher says, three realms, only one mind.

[62:59]

How do you understand? How do you understand? It's a trap. I don't understand. Which, Deet Sang did not fall for it. He didn't... He just pointed to a chair. And he asked the teacher a question back. How do you understand? What is that? How do you call that? Then the teacher says, a chair. And then the student says, and this part's in brackets, the teacher understands so well. Close brackets. But even the teacher does not understand. I think I get that now. It's like you, what are you, right? And then, or another way to say it is, what's that, what do you call that? The teacher says, the chair, and the disciple thinks, what a wonderful teacher I have, and my wonderful teacher doesn't understand.

[64:01]

Even my wonderful teacher, even better than my wonderful teacher, even the Buddha doesn't understand. And so then the teacher goes on and says, after he's being told he doesn't understand, which he agrees with, he agrees with already, then he says, I call it wood and bamboo. Just go on a little further. What do you call it? The student says, I too call it wood and bamboo. And then the teacher says, I have such a wonderful student. Even he, I can't find understanding. And the way he talks, he knows that I can't find him as a single person who understands this teaching. Again, this is a rhetorical conversation of love between these great people. And I would say that the primary rhetorical device used in this love affair is irony.

[65:08]

Yeah. I mean, well, anyway, I get it better than I did before because I thought it was a dissatisfied reaction, but it wasn't a dissatisfied reaction. This is an amusement park. Okay. Well, you said this amusement park ride doesn't cost anything, but you could also say it costs everything. Yes, it costs everything. Yes. Can I just ask one more about how I was trying to think of how to practice this? The three realms are one mind. Because in a way I understand it, but it's only just like, you know, it's not really knowing. So I thought, how could I practice this? And the first thought that came to me was the cat in my house. The cat who I don't really like very much. I just don't like that cat very much. And so my first thought was the cat, the cat's mind is my mind and my mind is the cat's mind.

[66:19]

Would that be a way to practice this? Well, first of all, before we get into that, you're trying, you're devoted to practicing compassion with this cat, right? That's your basic practice. You're trying to empathize with this cat. and all the problems that cats have. You take tender care of this cat. And then, to help you with this practice, so you don't get stuck in it, and so you don't think, I'm really good at practicing compassion with this cat. You don't get stuck in that. To help you not get stuck, excuse me, we have this teaching. And what it says in the Sutra is, It's going through various things for bodhisattvas to think. And now it says they also think. So the way to practice with this is to think it, to say the thought in your mind.

[67:19]

And then, after you think it, then how does it apply? To the cat. Or to the chair. So you're practicing that, and I ask you how you understand, and you point to the cat. And then I say, Even my great student doesn't understand three worlds mind only. But really I'm saying, I'm so happy that you pointed at that cat. That's totally appropriate to demonstrate your understanding. Point to the cat. Or even point to the cat's paw. Or point to your nose or to the chair. So remember the teaching and then apply it to what's at hand. Without falling into, I just understood that teaching. Okay. Okay. Please enjoy the amusement park.

[68:24]

I hear you. You do? Okay. I've kind of flubbed up my screens here, so I'm glad. Thank you. In this three worlds. All right. I want to say that this does not feel like a rocky roller coaster ride. It feels... A deer person very recently had an exhale and then did not have an inhale. And it came to me that that exhale joins with all other exhales of all plants and beings that have gone on since we had an atmosphere.

[69:49]

And that breath becomes, if we're saying the three realms are one mind, I could understand it as one breath. There's one breath. And so that just became like a very widening experience for me to feel that we're all breathing in one another's exhales. We always have been. We're usually not perceiving that. But that kind of felt like a parallel way to understand the one mind. Yeah. Three worlds, the three realms are just one breath. And Holma said, the three realms are just one reality. What did she say? Anyway, she didn't say it, but are just one reality. And there's another story coming up, which I'll bring up some other time, which is the three worlds in 10 directions are just one bright pearl.

[71:02]

So you can make up new teachings here. Good luck. Bruce. Oh, it's my turn. Okay. Well, so, you know, you started out with this presentation of this idea of the one mind, the three worlds in the one mind. And, you know, this is a concept. If I... It's a thought. It's a thought, right? Yeah, right. So then if I ask myself, well... how do I perceive this, have a perception of this concept?

[72:09]

Well, the perception is just everything around me, right? It's just the ordinary world around me. It is my perception of the one mind. And then, so then if I want to get from that, if I want to start from the perception to get to the one mind, I can recognize that my perception is a representation that is conditioned by my sensory and intellectual apparatus. And so, you know, that is mind. It's my own mind in a sense that I'm experiencing. But then I've got the word my in here, my mind. And so then I wonder, well, how do I get from my mind to the one mind? How is my mind... you know, part of this one mind. Well, you know, I live in this social world and I can communicate with people around me and so on.

[73:11]

So I can see that, I can begin to see that there's, that my mind is part of this one mind. But it's not entirely clear how it is exactly that there's this my mind and there's this one mind and how my mind is part of the one mind. Anyway, go ahead. Your mind and my mind are part of of the three realms and the one mind is not in addition to your mind and my mind and everybody's mind and everybody's body all of that is the three realms the one mind is not in addition to that the one mind is the way the three realms are interacting with the three realms The one mind is how your perceptions are interacting with mine and with Sandra's and Susan's and Steve's and Kurt's.

[74:12]

The way everything's interacting, all the phenomenal things, all the perceptions and ideas, all the mine and not mine. All that is the three worlds. And that's how the three worlds appearing right now. But that three worlds is actually what's being looked at by that three worlds. And that way that they're looking at each other and turning on each other is the one mind, which is not the slightest bit in addition to them. It's the way they really are. Right. Okay. There's still this... You know, there's my mind and there's... That's three times. Bruce saying my mind and Reb saying my mind, that's part of the three realms. And they're just my mind.

[75:13]

Right, right. And if you say not my mind, of course, it's the same. That's part of the three realms. Yeah, okay. I guess that's good. Okay. All right. Okay, thanks. Thank you so much. It's lovely to be in your presence. Thank you so much for the opportunity. You're welcome. Yeah. I love the idea of one mind. And then we start getting in the part about the chairs and it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what? But the one mind is extraordinary. My response to that is we got to wake up. We just got to wake up. It's really important that we wake up. That's a lovely thought.

[76:14]

Yeah. Even if it comes from a big heart, it's like it's just a thought. How do we make it a reality? And we move beyond the thought. And we move into the reality of waking up. Well, our traditional practices don't move. That's how you enter. It's not other than where you are right now. Thank you. And there's nothing beyond the big mind, the one mind. Nothing beyond the little mind either. Yeah, now we're getting on the amusement ride. Realms are the little mind in infinite detail. Yes. And the little mind is just... One big mind. Yeah, part of one big mind? Yep. Anyway, thank you.

[77:16]

Thank you. I take it back. Not part of one. They are the one mind. Little mind are the big mind. Thank you. Hi, Reb. It's been a long time. This is wonderful to be with everybody and to be with you. The first thing that came up for me was my attitude. And what I do, I don't know if this is part of it or not. I have no idea. But when I notice wherever I am, it doesn't matter where I am. When I notice when I'm thinking and I have an attitude. Then I go into the present and I just look around and go, I don't really know what's going on. I mean, with everything.

[78:18]

I just know I'm in a different place other than here. And as soon as that happens, I got to do it again. Is that part of this? Yes. Okay. The three realms. Okay. That's what I wanted to know. That's the three realms. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Love you. Love you. Let's see, lower hand. Okay, good. Hi, Rob. Thank you for your teaching. It's good to see you and be part of the Great Assembly. I have a question. When the teacher in the end said, I can't find one person who understands the Buddha Dharma, What I'm wondering is, does the Buddha Dharma understand the Buddha Dharma?

[79:22]

Or is understanding really not the issue, it's more being? And that's why the not knowing is most intimate. That there isn't one person, is anything understanding or is understanding not really? Yeah, so you say, does something understand? the understanding is not something in addition to the way the world is interacting with itself the way the world is interacting with itself is the understanding it's not like something has that understanding of this great interaction is a mind a mind that understands Buddhadharma, or even a mind that is the understanding of Buddhadharma.

[80:26]

So, being the three realms, the thing is, is not, I guess, the practice is to just be that for me, rather than trying to step outside of it and understand. Well, you could say the practice is to be that, But what that, what is it, the teaching is, you don't have to be something for this, you just have to think this. This is just a think, this thought. If you think this thought, that may help you realize that you don't have to be it, you already are this. This thought is to help you, for example, become free of getting something from practicing compassion. This is a teaching to free you from you understanding. Yeah, so I don't need to understand. No, you don't need to understand, but we do need understanding.

[81:29]

Those who wish to practice compassion do need to have understanding supporting and freeing them from their practice of compassion. Understanding liberates us from attaching to our good work. So we do need it, but we also can understand before we start that this understanding is not going to be anything in addition to what's already going on this moment. It's a triple world is right here and now as it appears to us. And that is just one mind. It's understanding itself. Yes. You're welcome. We're coming to the time that we usually stop, so one more.

[82:35]

Yeah, so the The Triple World is a great amusement park, and there's these people running around saying, hey, check out this ride. This ride's great. Don't take that ride. Some of those people... I don't think the Three Worlds are an amusement park. I think the Dharma makes the Three Worlds show how to enjoy it. Right. And we're... You need the one mind to enjoy the three worlds. Right. You certainly do. And the fact that you need the one mind to enjoy the three worlds is a structure of the universe or a structure of the one mind. Is that correct? I don't know about structure, but I'd say it's the function. Right. More like the three worlds are like the structure.

[83:43]

And the way that it functions is just one mind. Right. So the way that it functions is just one mind. And that's something. That's a reality. To say that it's something is the three worlds. That's like saying. That's like pointing at the share. Right, and I can point at Reb on the screen, and I'm not going to... I am going to get one mind, but I'm not going to get everybody's one mind. Yeah, you're going to get one mind, which includes the whole universe. Yes, and it just seems to me that that's a reality which I think many people have been talking to you today are interested in.

[84:51]

That reality might be something like, I don't know, the still point at the center of this turning world. And people have traditionally been interested in the nature of that still point. And you seem to have indicated that that still point exists. I wouldn't say that. I would say that in the three worlds, there's the idea that the still point exists. There's that view in the three worlds. But the still point doesn't exist or not exist. It's beyond coming and going. It's beyond birth and death. But I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I'm just saying it neither exists nor does not exist. Right. I guess people are interested in this reality that they can never get their finger on.

[85:55]

I mean, that's an interesting reality, non-reality beyond life. That's a miracle that people are interested in something they can't get. It's wonderful. You cannot get this one mind. However, you are, together with me, just one mind. But we don't get to get it. So there's no Stephen or Reb that understands one mind. But we're still interested. I'm still interested in it. It sounds like you are, too. I am. I am. I am.

[86:31]

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