I asked this morning if you wish to live this day for the welfare of all beings and I heard the answer was yes. I didn't hear anybody say no. Being devoted to the welfare of all beings and also wishing to understand the Dharma so that you can help them understand the Dharma, which will bring them great welfare. This is called the great vehicle. And within this great vehicle, in this boundless great vehicle, one of the traditions is called Zen. And within Zen there are many family styles.

[01:05]

Different teachers teach different ways and different teachers have different ways of teaching. and for different students. All this teaching is in order to help beings understand the Dharma and be benefited and be happy and at ease in this challenging situation of being alive. And one of the One of the ancestors in this tradition called Zen, his name was Yangshan. Yangshan, I think, means venerating mountains or bowing to the mountains. So that was his name. And he had a nickname.

[02:09]

His nickname was Little Shakyamuni Buddha. or a little shock. And there are many stories about him. I mentioned the other night in Berkeley that when I was a kid, there was a TV show called The Naked City. And it was referring to New York City. And I think at the beginning of the movie, I mean, of the show, or definitely at the end, they would say, there are eight million stories in The Naked City.

[03:16]

The city's naked, but the people in the city have stories. Moment by moment, they have stories. Now, today, I would say, in the naked world, there are about 7 billion stories. But more than 7 billion because there are stories of people who have lived before. So this is one of the stories of the more than seven billion, of the infinite stories in the Ocean of Beings. And it's about Yangshan and how he worked with one of his students. This story appears in the Book of Serenity. It's number 32. I I studied this with people for a long time.

[04:23]

Many, many evenings have been spent studying this story. Someone even tried to make a book out of it, which has not yet happened, but anyway. Case 32 of the Book of Serenity to this case says, The ocean is the world of dragons. appearing and disappearing. They sport serenely. The sky is the home of cranes. They fly and call freely. What does the exhausted fish, why does the exhausted fish stop in the shoals? A sluggish bird rests in the reeds.

[05:24]

Is there any way to figure gain and loss? And then there's the story about Yangshan. There's a Shakyamuni compassionate bodhisattva. A monk comes to him and says, Hello. And Yangshan says, Where are you from? And the monk says, From you province. Yangshan said, Do you think of that place? And the monk says, I always think of it. And Yangshan says, The thinker. is the mind and is the environment. In the environment there are mountains and rivers and the land mass, buildings, towers, halls, chambers, people, animal, and so forth.

[06:37]

Now, think of the thinking mind. Are there so many things there? Now some people say that in the space between the instruction, what was the instruction? The instruction was, in the environment there's all these things. Now reverse your thought and think of the thinking mind. Yangshan gave that instruction and seven years later he said to the monk, are there so many things there? And the monk said, when I get here I don't see any existence at all.

[07:39]

It could have been that he gave the instruction and paused a moment and asked that question, and the monk gave this answer. But I heard another story that there was quite a space between when he gave this instruction and the occasion where he When you look at the thinking mind, are there things there? And then the monk looked, and at some point he asked the monk, are there so many things? And the monk said, I don't find anything, any existent things. I don't see any existence at all. I don't see any existence at all. He didn't say there wasn't anything. He just said he didn't see anything. He didn't say, there is no existence.

[08:46]

He said, I don't see any existence at all. Then Yangshan said, this is right for the stage of faith, but not yet right for the stage of person. The monk said, do you have any other particular way of guidance for me? And Yangshan said, do I have anything in particular or not would not be accurate. Based on your insight, based on your insight, you only get one Now you can take the seat and wear the robe. After this, see on your own.

[09:50]

What I want to talk about today, I want to focus on when he said to the monk, after this, what did he say? based on your insight, you can take the seat and wear the robe. I want to talk about that part with you. And then maybe there'll be more, but I wanted to look at that one. This morning when we were sitting, I said to you, if people want to teach, The dharma flower of the inconceivably wonderful dharma flower, if they want to teach that for the welfare of beings, let them enter the room of the Buddha.

[11:15]

Let them wear the robe of the Buddha. and the seat of the Buddha. The room of the Buddha is the heart of great compassion for all living beings. The robe of the Buddha is the mind of gentleness and patience. The seat of the Buddha is the emptiness of all phenomena. Being on the robe and sitting on the seat like this

[12:22]

The Dharma flower of the wondrous Dharma can be taught. We need to enter the room of the Buddha. We need to enter the room of the Buddha means we need to enter the heart of compassion for all beings, if we want to teach for the welfare of all beings. We must enter this heart. And we must put on the Buddha's robe, which is the mind of gentleness and patience. and we must sit on the seat of emptiness. We must sit on the seat which is, the seat is the insubstantiality of all things.

[13:33]

We must sit on the insubstantiality of all things. And then we can be taught. From that place, then again, wearing the robe of gentleness and patience we can offer the heart of great compassion. And then other beings can enter the room, heart, can put on that robe, can enter that mind of patience and gentleness, and can sit on the seat. And then they too can join the process of teaching the Dharma. Teaching the Dharma for the welfare of all beings is also for the welfare of the teaching of the Dharma. This teaching is offered in the Lotus of the inconceivable Dharma scripture, the Lotus Sutra.

[14:40]

And it's in the chapter on teachers of Dharma. The Buddha, in the chapter on the teachers of Dharma, teachers of Dharma means bodhisattvas who help people by teaching them Dharma. In this chapter, the Buddha says, the Buddha is speaking to the Bodhisattva Medicine King and says, my sutras, my scriptures are innumerable, tens of millions of billions, where they're already taught, now being taught,

[16:08]

or to be taught in the future, among all of these scriptures, the Dharma Flower scripture, the Lotus scripture, is the most difficult to believe, the most difficult to understand. Today, I wonder, it doesn't seem too difficult maybe today to believe the Lotus Sutra when it says, To teach the Dharma, you're allowed to enter the room of the Buddha. You're allowed to wear the robe of Buddha, and you're allowed to sit on the seat of the Buddha. That doesn't seem too difficult to understand today. In other words, to enter compassion and Oh, that last point is difficult though. Oh yeah, that is hard to understand how you sit on the seat. That's kind of difficult.

[17:10]

How do you sit in the insubstantiality of all things? Maybe it is difficult after all. The Buddha in this scripture says that this scripture is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand. And then he says, Medicine King, this scripture is the storehouse of the hidden core. And then he says, it must not be distributed or carelessly given to people. It has to be protected by Buddha's ones. From ancient times up until now, it has never been openly preached. Am I going against this rule now?

[18:12]

Am I openly preaching it? Let's say I'm not, okay? I'm not openly teaching this scripture because it's not supposed to be openly taught. Okay, this is not open teaching. This is not that. It may look like open teaching, but really it's not. I'm saying these words, but at the actual time I'm not openly teaching. But it might be somewhere around here being taught in an unopened way for any of you who would like to receive it. because I do not want to go against this instruction. At the same time, I seem to be reading the scripture, but I'm not openly teaching it. And I hope I'm not carelessly giving it to you.

[19:13]

I'm trying to carefully give it to you and not openly teach it to you. I'm trying to teach it to you in a way that's not open. In other words, in a way that you can open it. I'm offering it to you for you to open. I'm not doing all the work, okay? That wouldn't be appropriate. And since the sutra has aroused so much resentment and envy while the Buddhas are still alive, how much more will it be aroused after the Buddha's passing? I think maybe that when this teaching was put out,

[20:17]

on the beginning of the Christian era, excuse me, the common era in India, that when this teaching was put out, apparently people got really upset about it. And... ...towards it, and envy towards it. Why would people feel envy? Well, for example, it says that you will attain Buddhahood. And some people felt envy, perhaps, and attacked the people who were offering such a great gift. So this is a teaching which I'm offering to you in a not open way, carefully, Once when it was introduced, people got really riled up.

[21:24]

Still, I wanted to offer it. One of the reasons I wanted to offer it is because I think it is worth offering. I think it's a very good offering. And also because Yangshan said, based on your insight, You have the robe and the seat. The Buddha says, Medicine King, in every place where this sutra is taught or where it is read or where it is recited, I just want to check if anybody knows any places where the sutra is being read. Have you noticed any places it's being read? Hmm?

[22:27]

Where? It's being read here. Yeah. Every place where this sutra is being taught, where it is where it is being recited, where it is being copied, or even where a scroll of it is kept. This scripture is kept in this place, and this scripture actually is inside of that Buddha. When we empower the Lotus Sutra inside of it, The Lotus Sutra is kept in the body of the Buddha statue in this place. Is anybody here amazed by that? You are? I'm amazed that I am involved in putting Lotus Sutras in Buddha statues. Any place where you have the Lotus Sutra, any place where it's being read, one should put up a stupa of seven precious materials, making it very high and spacious and well adorned.

[23:59]

We did that. We put up this stupa here. around the Lotus Sutra. Somebody gave us this stupa to put up around this Lotus Sutra. The building is a stupa around the Lotus Sutra. I didn't realize it, but we followed the instructions of the sutra. And then it says, but there's no need to put remains in it. Remains in what? Remains in the stupa. Usually stupas are places where you put the remains of great sages, male or female sages. You put remains in stupas.

[25:03]

But you don't have to put any remains in. The reason is that the whole body of the Tathagata, the Buddha, will already be in it if you put the Lotus Sutra in the stupa. Actually, you don't even have to put the Lotus Sutra. You can have the Lotus Sutra in somebody's hands and they're reading the sutra and in that place where they're reading you put up the stupa and the Buddha is already in the stupa if the Lotus Sutra is being recited. That's what the Lotus Sutra says. Such a stupa should be venerated, honored, and praised with offerings of all kinds of flowers. Oh, we have some flowers. Incense, yeah, we did that. Garlands. Silk canopies, yeah, got the silk canopies.

[26:04]

Banners, yeah, we got the banners. Flags, got the flags outside. Music? Okay, music. Ready? Is that musical laughter? And hymns. We did a hymn at the beginning, didn't we? Hymn. Prajnaparamita. If anyone worships and makes offerings, to it, you should know that they will be nearer to supreme awakening. So now this is a place where the Lotus Sutra has been recited and now this whole place can be an object of worship.

[27:09]

And if you can worship this place where the Lotus Sutra is read, taught indirectly, not openly, recited and kept both on the library shelf and inside the Buddha statue. If you can worship this place, you will come nearer to supreme awakening by your worship of the place where this teaching has been recited. That's what the Lotus Sutra says. He also says, if you want to be rid of laziness and carelessness, then listen to the Lotus Sutra. I just said the Lotus Sutra. Did you listen to it? And were you rid at that moment of laziness and carelessness? Maybe not, but keep listening. If you want to be free of laziness and carelessness, keep listening to the Lotus Sutra, the Lotus Sutra says.

[28:15]

Again, Medicine King, you should know that after Buddha's extinction, those who are able to copy, embrace, read, recite, make offerings to, and teach this sutra for the sake of others, will be covered by the Tathagata with his robe and will be protected and kept in mind by all the Buddhas now and in other worlds. They will have great power of faith, great power of compassion, and the power of good character. You should know that they, who are they? Who are they? They are the people who listen to and copy and read and embrace and make offerings to the sutra.

[29:43]

These people, you should know they will live with the Tathagata. and the Tathagatas will touch their heads with her hand. After the extinction of the Tathagata, after the extinction of the Buddha, after the now Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha has gone away, But all the Buddhas may sometimes appear in bodies which appear and disappear. After the disappearance of the Buddha, if there are good daughters and good sons who want to teach the Dharma Flower Scripture for male and female monks and male and female lay people, if there are people who want to teach this Dharma, how should they teach it?

[30:52]

Good sons and good daughters, they should enter the Buddha's, the room of the Tathagata. How should they teach it? They should enter the room of the Tathagata, put on the robe of the Tathagata, sit on the seat of the Tathagata, the thus come one. Tathagata means thus come one. They should sit on the Buddha Tathagata's seat and the sutra to the four groups. To enter the room of the Tathagata is to have great compassion for all living beings. To wear the robe of the Tathagata is to be gentle and patient, to sit on the seat of the Tathagata is to contemplate the emptiness of all things. When one dwells in peace with these three, when one dwells in peace with the room, the robe and the seat,

[31:55]

And then, never becoming lazy or careless, teaches this Dharma Flower Sutra everywhere to the bodhisattvas of the four groups. When we sit in this seat with this robe in this room, the teaching comes forth from I just wanted to say that I was struck by another translation of the room, which was the great heart of Christ within all living beings. That was another translation, I believe. So this translation is the great heart of compassion for all.

[32:59]

And the other translation is Yeah. The room of the Tathagata is the compassionate heart within all sentient beings. So this heart is within all beings and this heart is the compassion for all beings. For all beings and in all beings. Back to the story. The teacher gave the monk an instruction.

[34:06]

What was the instruction? To reverse your thinking and think of the mind that thinks. The monk did that. When he did that, he couldn't find any existence at all. In other words, he couldn't find anything substantial at all. All he could see was the insubstantiality of everything. And then the teacher said, based on this insight, you have the robe and the seat. He didn't say it this way, but I'm saying, but you don't have the room. You have the robe and the seat. He realized, with this instruction, he realized... he realized the seat.

[35:11]

And then when the teacher asked him, now that you've done this instruction, what do you see? And he told him what he saw from the seat. And he was still wearing the robe. He was gentle and patient with this emptiness that he was sitting in. But the teacher didn't say he had the room. In other words, he achieved the stage of faith. He followed the instructions and realized the ultimate truth. He sat on the Buddha's seat by this instruction. He received this instruction of looking at his mind that thinks. And he saw that there's no, he could see, he could realize that he couldn't find any existence. And he didn't even, well, I don't know, I'll just say he got to the point where he could see that everything was insubstantial.

[36:19]

The teacher says, this is insight. This is good. I'm adding, this is good. So given this insight, you have the seat and the robe. Now the teacher, Yangshan, had the room. He had the room that this monk could enter. This monk entered the room and Yangshan showed him the room and this monk received the room and enjoyed the room He joined this great compassion. He received it and joined it. And then he received the Buddha's robe and he was gentle and patient. And because he accepted this great compassion for all living beings and his gentleness and patience, he was able to reach the seat.

[37:28]

He heard the teachings. in this compassionate room, he was gentle and patient and he realized the teachings to the point that he realized that he could not have the existence at all. But even though he had received and entered the room, when he expressed his understanding, his understanding did not have the room. The way he said When I get here, I don't find any existence. Indirectly said, you don't have the room, but you've got the robe and you've got the seat. And then the monk says, do you have any further instruction? And the teacher says, or that I don't would not be accurate. In other words, you should not teach the Lotus Sutra openly.

[38:31]

When he said to say that I do or that I don't, wouldn't be actually teaching the Lotus Sutra, but not openly. When he said, based on your insight, you have the robe and the seat, He was teaching the Lotus Sutra, but not open. And then he says, for now on, see on your own. You have to find the room. You have to find a way to express your understanding of what you see, which is correct. It's correct not to be able to see any, but you have to not be stuck in that. So you have a room. That's what I wanted to offer to you today.

[39:38]

I wanted to offer you the story of the great Yangshan and his excellent student. And I wanted to offer you the teachings of the Book of Serenity, where that story appears. And I wanted to offer you the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, the scripture, the text, which teaches you that all language is empty. I wanted to teach you language which can guide you to the emptiness of language. I wanted to give you a story to free you from your stories so that you can benefit all beings. without being hindered by any story. Like, for example, this person is an exception to the rule of compassion. I'm not going to be kind to this person. Do not be stopped by that story. To not be stopped by the story, this person is not worthy of utmost respect.

[40:41]

Use this story to not be caught by any story. And later today, I will talk more about Not exactly alternative responses the monk could have had, but kind of. For now, I open up responses to this marvelous Lotus Sutra teaching. Yes. I wonder if another way of saying not teaching this is to say not to teach it carelessly. Yes, I think being very careful in teaching this teaching includes not overdoing it. In other words, be careful not to do all the work. That's part of being careful. Don't say too much.

[41:45]

And one of the things about the Lotus Sutra is at the beginning of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha says, now I'm going to teach this Lotus Sutra and I'm going to teach it in great detail and very explicitly. And then he goes on to not teach it explicitly. And yet everyone's extremely happy to hear that he's going to do it and then he doesn't do it. but the sutra goes on and on with all kinds of amazing things, but he never does actually say what the Lotus Sutra is. The Lotus Sutra says that you're going to hear about the Lotus Sutra in the Lotus Sutra, but doesn't tell you what the Lotus Sutra is in the Lotus Sutra. So from the beginning, the Lotus Sutra, but the Lotus Sutra says it's going to. So part of what the Lotus Sutra is, is a teaching that doesn't... and tells you that it's going to, and then it doesn't.

[42:46]

Yeah, it's amazing. It's part of the carefulness of teaching. Any other comments this morning? It's still morning. Actually, wait a minute. Yeah, actually, according to this clock, we have like an hour and five minutes more of morning. But this clock is on standard time. Is that called PST? Linda, would you stand up? Good. You're welcome. Would it be disrespectful for me to try? I tried, but it doesn't work.

[43:56]

Some people might say, this clock is broken. But it actually is still ticking away. It's just that the time here is Pacific Standard Time. Maybe that's another one of the qualities of no abode. It just gives. No daylight saves his time. Not watch. Yes, yes. You. I was just thinking about the added addition of compassion to the picture. Right. Is this compassion come out of the understanding of interconnectedness or interdependency? Yes. And it's not simply the insubstantiality, but also understanding the rising and ceasing of these things.

[45:04]

one of the paths, the path to understanding insubstantiality is the path of great compassion for all living beings, which includes the demonstration of the teaching of interdependence. So the teaching of interdependence is part of the compassion which takes us to realize the Buddhist seat. And then realizing the Buddha's seat, the teaching of interdependence comes out of that. Out of insubstantiality comes the teaching of interdependence. Kind of like from the ashes arises the phoenix. Yes? I was reading about the precepts. You've been thinking about precepts? Or reading about them, yes. The precepts are like a moat around the jewels of dharma.

[46:14]

So it's like in the... The precepts she said, she read something that said the precepts are like a moat around the jewels of the dharma. Yeah. It's a lotus sutra that is closed perhaps by the... Yeah, yeah. Also I heard that the precepts are a theme park around the jewel of the Buddha's Dharma. It's a Buddha Dharma theme park. Hopefully you'll find this theme park of the precepts less painful than Disneyland. You don't have to wait in line for it.

[47:19]

No wait for the rides, the rides are available, except there's one ride which is called waiting for the rides. That's not one of the more popular rides, but we have that ride. But some of the rides you don't have to wait for, you can do them right now. In this theme park, the Dharma theme park, yes. Yeah, you only get one mystery. Well, I feel that... And... Do you want to hear the three mysteries? Could you wait? I feel like if I say these three mysteries, it may be too much for this morning. But there's three mysteries. He got one. And I'll tell you the other ones later, okay? He got three mysteries, and he got two-thirds of what you need to teach the Dharma.

[48:27]

Again, my picture of the story is he went through the three mysteries, to get to insight. But when he came out of his insight, he didn't have all. And the teacher told him so. And the teacher says, now you have to find the Buddha's room. You don't have it yet. And to say that I can help you or can't help you is not right. But you have to find the third aspect. When he finds the third aspect, he will have all three mysteries. He will understand the whole story then. or not. Anything else this morning? Actually, anything else this noon? Yes? So, when the elements of reverse your thinking, that was similar to what you were going to say, take the backwards step? Yes, it's similar to that and it's similar to the teaching that all phenomena are merely conscious constructions.

[49:33]

It's the same teaching. So we have the teaching all phenomena are . We have the teaching all phenomena except, well actually we have all phenomena, all compounded phenomena are impermanent, ill and not self. We have that in the early teaching and in the Mahayana teachings we have all phenomena are are only conscious constructions. That's the same teaching as look back and look at your mind as thinking. And by looking at that you will realize that everything that you're looking at is conscious construction. And when you realize everything is conscious construction you may not be able to see anything but mere conscious construction. However, that understanding has to be further cultivated to the point where even though everything is mere conscious construction, you have the robe and the room.

[50:38]

And the monk, even though he understood pretty well, two-thirds of the way, in a sense, are two of the aspects of the correct understanding that all phenomena are conscious construction only. He saw that Yeah, maybe you got it there, Oscar. Could you say it again, Oscar? Could you shout it, Oscar? From the highest hill, even tell the golden daffodil? Just maybe turn around, though. You wouldn't have shot it quite as... Well, I suggest that the monk saw that form, but not that emptiness was formed.

[51:43]

Is that right? Did you hear that, Linda? Yeah. So that's a really good hypothesis. Thank you. And not only did he not necessarily see that emptiness was full, Or maybe he didn't understand that, but he didn't know what form to offer so that people could enter that form. Whereas Yangshan could offer him a form. He came to Yangshan, Yangshan offered him a form. He said, where are you from? And so on. Yes? Yes, Fred and I saw a documentary where many scientists spoke about and theories and so on. And the theory is that you see only what you expect to see. And when the Spaniards arrived in their galleons in Cuba, the Indians simply could not see the ships because they had never seen a ship.

[52:56]

even though they were approaching the island. And supposedly, there was a shaman who saw the waves in the water. And he thought, well, there's something strange and unique happening. But they could not see the ships. Yeah. And then the people came ashore. And then they started interacting with them. And as they interacted with them, they learned to be able to see the ship by hanging out with people who could see ships. They started to communicate with the invaders. And then through that interaction, they finally could come to see the ship. Just like, you know, flies don't see ships either. They just see, you know, whatever flies see.

[54:01]

They don't see ships. They don't say, oh, look, ship ahoy. I don't know what they, huh? Spaniards didn't see the Indians either. Spaniards didn't see the Indians. Well, actually, they did. They didn't see whatever those people were, and they called them Indians. They didn't see what those people were, and they called them Indians. And they thought, oh, these are people to conquer, maybe. I don't know what they thought. But anyway, they thought in terms of their own... And they couldn't see certain things. They saw the gold. They saw the gold, yeah. They had learned how to see gold, and the Native Americans had learned how to see gold. So in that way, they could communicate. And by that communication, the Native Americans could learn to see the ships.

[55:08]

Anything else this morning, this afternoon? Finding the room. Yes. And maybe realizing that I am the room, but then forgetting. You wonder about finding the room? Well, I think when you... Yeah, I think that one of the ways to find the room is that you think that there's compassion. That's one way to find the room. Like this monk, he went to a Zen temple because he thought there would be a compassionate teacher. And there was a building that he could go into and there was a teacher. And the teacher said, where are you from? And then the way the teacher asked the question was such that he could respond.

[56:14]

and say, well, I'm from that place. And then the teacher could ask him, do you think of it? And saying, do you think of it, was compassion for this person. But it wasn't just compassion for this person. When Yangshan said to the monk, do you think of the place you're from? That was compassion for us, too. He wasn't just concerned for that guy. He was concerned for us. But that monk was experiencing this great through those words. or was in the midst of that room of great compassion while the little Shakyamuni was saying, where are you from? Do you think of that place? And the monk said, I always think of it, which is quite a good answer. I'm always thinking of where I'm from. I don't know who you are. I'm just thinking of where I'm from. I see you entirely in terms of where I'm from. He confessed that. I don't know who you are.

[57:17]

I just think of where I'm from all the time. Then Yangshan said, okay, now do this. Turn your mind around and look at your mind that's thinking. Eventually, in the story, it looks like he did it like that. But other stories say it took him a while to get a hang of that. But Yangshan, if it took him a little while, then Yangshan's offering of great compassion was very effective, that he immediately could do that instruction. Most people cannot do that wholeheartedly right away and see what he saw. But if maybe the compassion was so strong, he could do it that quickly. But again, another story is that he had to offer compassion. and over and over, many conversations probably, for that monk to actually feel that room. But that monk would also, in order to hang in there, and this story is very short, but if you study with him for seven years, that monk would have to put on that robe of gentleness and patience with his learning process.

[58:22]

of trying to understand what does it mean to... Are you talking about spending my time thinking of how my mind's thinking? Or thinking of the mind that's thinking? That's what I'm supposed to be giving my life energy to? You have to have the Buddhist robe on to do that. Patient and gentle with this life. But some people maybe can do it in a few minutes, but most people, like this monk, take many years to fully do this practice. So at the beginning of compassion, it looks like your imagination of compassion. And you use your imagination to actually enter the real room of compassion and put on the real robe and sit on the real seat of reality. I hope, I wish that this is a place where you can feel the room, that you can imagine that this is the room.

[59:27]

This being, this being, the great heart. I hope you can feel the great heart of compassion here. I hope you can enter the great heart of compassion. I hope we all can enter the great heart of compassion for all beings right now. And if you wish to teach the Dharma for the welfare of beings, then you're welcome to enter that room. And if you don't want to, you're still welcome to enter the room. If you don't want to be a bodhisattva, you're welcome to enter the room too. But if you do want to be a bodhisattva and teach the Dharma, then you need to enter that room. Yes? If you see a murderer's situation, is that what you're saying? I'm saying that my understanding is that all that's been said this morning is a mental construction and I have a mental construction that this heart of great compassion that you're talking about existing within this house and beyond possibly and I see that as being a murderous

[60:59]

When there's murder, you mean like murder of a living being? So you see someone encouraging someone to hit someone? You see that? You have that image? I'm just checking now. You see an image of sentient beings hitting each other. Or you see an image of sentient beings killing each other. Okay, so it's not that you think that that's compassion, it's that you enter the room of compassion towards these beings who are being cruel to each other. Yeah, what I'm saying is the room of compassion.

[62:05]

It's actually not called the room of compassion, it's called the room of the Buddha. And the room of the Buddha is the heart of compassion towards every situation. No matter how terrible, it's the heart that feels compassion towards every terrible situation. I'm asking if I see the room of the Buddha, if the room of the Buddha is shown to me the way I perceive it. That's not the room of the Buddha. That's not the room of the Buddha. as a sentient being. What's being shown to you is a sentient being. And you're seeing a sentient being, you're constructing the sentient being as being in trouble. But that's your construction about a sentient being. You don't think that people being cruel to each other is compassion for all beings. That's not what you think. Do you? That's why you're You could have that story, and we're talking about being kind to that story.

[63:08]

But the story isn't the compassion. The story is your construction that you just said. Which says the Buddha is my construction. Well, then you'd be compassionate to the story of the Buddha. Be compassionate to all your stories. Right. Yes. But the stories aren't the compassion. The stories are what you're compassionate towards. Right. Including the stories of people not being compassionate. So most of us sometimes are in situations where we think, what's appearing to me is not compassion. Most of us have seen situations like that. Okay, so this is saying, if you wish to teach the Dharma, so this actually, I didn't tell you this, but the Lotus Sutra, the context of this teaching is, when we're in situations where people are really suffering and being unskillful and cruel, and that's kind of a, this is called, in an age where things are really bad, in situations like that, if you want to teach the Dharma in situations like that,

[64:30]

then you need to enter this room. You need to enter this heart. Because if you're in a hellish situation, you will teach the Dharma unless you have entered the room of compassion. But it doesn't mean you think you're in the room of compassion. It's that you want to enter the heart which feels compassion for this terrible situation. If you can enter that compassion, and then if you can put on the robe and be gentle with this terrible situation, and patient with it, then you can enter into the seat of the Buddha, the insubstantiality of it. And if you can enter in the insubstantiality of it, then you can continue unhinderedly to be patient and compassionate towards this terrible situation and open the room to these beings. But if you want to help beings who are suffering, you have to enter the room first and go to the seat. Then from the seat you come out and invite them to enter. I can see that room as anything as long as I'm compassionate to what I'm seeing.

[65:36]

I think that's not what I'm saying, that you see the room... You see anything as something to relate to from the room. The room is the place you relate to everything from. The room is for everything. Buddha's compassion isn't cruelty. Buddha's compassion is towards all cruelty. The cruelty isn't Buddha's compassion. Buddha's compassion embraces and sustains beings who are caught up in the illusion of cruelty. But we don't say that the cruelty is Buddha's compassion. The cruelty isn't Buddha's room. You're welcome. Yes. No beings are outside that room. That's why it's said actually, one of the translation is, of the Buddha is the heart of great compassion within all sentient beings.

[66:49]

So you see sentient beings who are being cruel, they do not realize the heart of compassion that's in them. So you need to enter that heart to help them awaken to this. That's what one of the translations means. But if you don't want to say it's within them, they are within it. Buddhist compassion completely surrounds all living beings and leaves no one out. In order to teach people the sutra, the dharma, we need to enter that room. We need to be in that room in order to help living beings who do not understand that they're in the room. We need to teach them that because things are insubstantial, there's no room that cannot, there's nobody who can be inside or outside of that room. So I say in the room, inside or outside, you're just completely embraced by it. And there's no inside or outside. There's not really any inclusion or exclusion.

[67:50]

It's just total embracement. with the reality that he's liberating from the story that we're separate from each other. Yes, is it Rand? Yes. So is this what the Dalai Lama means when he speaks of compassion? He says compassion is not reaching down and helping to lift somebody up. Compassion is lying down with them and rising up together. Is that right? Yes, that's the idea. That's the idea. And entering this room, we can realize emptiness, and we realize emptiness. We don't need to be above anybody. Matter of fact, we can't be below. So then we're not afraid to be apparently below or down, down, down. And there's no need to make any exceptions.

[68:51]

Sounds like a dance. It sounds like a dance, yeah. Thank you very much. May our intention equally extend to every being and place, with the true inherited love of the Buddha's Way.

[69:21]

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