story about a Zen teacher who lived in China a little over 1100 years ago. And his name was Yun Mun. Something like Cloud Gate. he had a way of teaching of asking a question to his students and then giving the answer himself. One day he asked,

[01:01]

Actually, I might be wrong. Maybe one of his students asked him. I'm not sure. Anyway, either he asked or one of his students asked, what is the teaching of the whole lifetime? Or it could be translated as, what is the teaching of the whole lifetime of the Buddha? What was the Buddha, or what does Buddha, what did the historical Buddha in India 2,500 years ago teach his whole teaching career? What was he teaching? Or what do all Buddhas teach? Not just that one. A founder. What do Buddhas teach their whole lifetime?

[02:06]

And Yunmen answered, I'll tell you the Chinese characters. First character, meeting or facing, to meet or face something. Next character means, it's a simple horizontal line. And that Chinese character means one. You know, one, like R1 lying down. But it also means each or a particular. But it could also mean one. The next character means teach. Teach. So there's different ways of, I've seen, I see three different ways of translating the teacher's response to the question.

[03:19]

Teaching her entire life. One answer is meeting each teach. When the Buddha met each thing, the Buddha met, the Buddha met each thing and taught. Another translation is meeting or facing oneness, teaching. The Buddha met oneness and taught. And another translation is great response. the Buddha was teaching her whole life as an appropriate response. So the Buddha meets a situation, a situation arises in the Buddha's face, and according to that circumstance, the Buddha teach. But the translation of meeting oneness in teaching is a nice kind of

[04:27]

sort of another perspective. So the Buddha meets, you know, the Buddha meets you, the Buddha meets you, the Buddha meets me, the Buddha meets a tree, the Buddha meets pain, the Buddha meets death, the Buddha meets life, the Buddha meets whatever, but the Buddha is also a goodness. The Buddha is always like facing non-separation with whatever he's facing. And then in that oneness with whatever he's meeting, or in that non-separation with whatever he's meeting, the teaching comes. out of that oneness. So always, at each moment, facing this non-separation and teach. But also, according to each circumstance, according to the current birth, this new creative event, the Buddha teaches.

[05:49]

the Buddha is able to speak in the present in the most vital way, in the most generative way, in the most healing way. For example, the basic wound or the basic affliction of living beings, both human and non-human living beings, is a sense of from others. The Buddha has entered the non-separation and speaks from the non-separation, and that speaking, that singing, and also the gesturing, the vocal and postural expressions of heal that affliction.

[07:05]

And it's for each person a different gesture. And the Buddha doesn't necessarily plan this special teaching for each person, but rather the Buddha has practiced a practice which is to enter the creative process of interdependence, and from that process the speaking comes, this gesture comes. Plan beforehand to open the hand halfway and then finish the opening a little later. The Buddha doesn't plan to raise one finger or two fingers. The Buddha is not in control of her expression. The Buddha has entered the creative process and can speak from there according to what is healing and beneficial to whatever is being met.

[08:11]

Could be a man, could be a woman, could be a tree, could be a flower. Whatever enters this process and is in touch with and realizes this creation can teach it. So if a human being can enter this process of creation by which this interdependence of creation human being can speak and gesture in the most vital way according to the particular present situation. In order to be able to speak in this helpful way, in this enlightening way,

[09:33]

one must immerse oneself in the creative process which brings the future out of the past. So in the present, immerse oneself in the creative process And in the creative process the past is present. The embodiment of all of our past actions is here right now in the present. And in order to speak like a Buddha, as a Buddha, for a Buddha, by a Buddha, we must enter this creative process where we're immersed in the way that the past, in particular, becomes the future.

[10:45]

This is the same as the process of art. The Buddha is an artist. And the artwork of the Buddha is to relate to beings in a way that heals them But other art could also be for the same purpose, and when it is, it's the Buddha. It's the activity of the Buddha when art meets beings and heals them. That art comes from an artist entering the creative process. and speaking from there. Entering, you know, fully entering and speaking from there and gesturing from there.

[11:55]

And in the creative process, one is meeting oneness. One is meeting non-separation. So the artist, the enlightened artist, is teaching from the confrontation with this interdependence, with this creation. Whatever they're teaching, they're teaching from this oneness, this interdependence. And also, whatever they're teaching is just for this right now. Just recently I was looking at a magazine and I looked at a cartoon and the cartoons in the magazine are often about Buddha teaching.

[13:38]

And so this cartoon, I forgot the title of the cartoon, I think it was something like Edie's Fables. And it's something that starts... It's got a picture of a... a cartoon picture of a worm. And it says, Timmy Worm saw Sid Caterpillar. One day, Timmy Worm saw Sid Caterpillar turn into a butterfly. Now, of course, we know that it's hard to see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. It's hard to see that in one day because usually the caterpillar has to make the cocoon and then be in there for a little while and then come out. But worms are very slow.

[14:49]

So they can look at a caterpillar, and then for them, in the next moment, it's a butterfly. Whereas we're sitting there for weeks watching the butterfly, waiting for the butterfly to come out of the caterpillar's cocoon, the worm actually can see it happen just like that. So the worm actually was quite upset about seeing his friend the caterpillar become a butterfly, so he went home and told his mom about it. And I misread his mom's response. What it seems to literally say in the cartoon is it says, it says, it isn't your concern. He's asking, you know, what about Sid turning in and his mom says, it isn't your concern. But I thought it says, you're concerned about that?

[15:59]

So, you know, like a kid comes home from school and maybe one of his friends got sick or teachers died, and he comes home and asks his mom, what about my teacher died? And the mom might say, that's not your concern. But I don't understand that question. I think the mom says, you're concerned about that, are you? You're concerned about death, huh? So I misread it when people say that death isn't our concern. I think they say, you're concerned about that, are you? You with your young heart can care for this, can you? Anyway, then the moral of the story, which I also... Here's what I thought it said. The moral of this cartoon is, this is what I thought it said, everybody needs to know everything all the time. I think everybody needs to know everything all the time.

[17:23]

In other words, I think everybody needs to be Buddha. Or another way to put it, anybody who ever doesn't know is a little uncomfortable at least. And some people who don't know everything all the time, some are really, really upset. Like Timmy the worm was really upset because he did not know everything all the time. And his friend turning into a butterfly, you know, brought that home to him. But when he went home to his mom, she said, don't worry. You know, pretend like you don't care that you don't understand what's going on in this universe.

[18:26]

Forget it, kid. So anyway, it's a wonderful cartoon for me to misread because I thought that's really a good point. Everybody needs to know everything all the time. All of us need to know everything all the time. But of course, we haven't quite got there yet. We are called living beings. Living beings are those who don't know everything all the time. But they don't know everything all the time. They suffer. And then they hear about the possibility of knowing everything all the time. And they say, sounds pretty good. Maybe I wouldn't be suffering that. And also they're told, if you didn't know everything all the time, which also means each moment, that you would know each moment everything. In other words, that you would be totally immersed in the process of everything, which is where, of course, you already are.

[19:33]

But you'd give yourself to that. In which you would know everything all the time. You would, actually, what you are would be knowing everything all the time. In other words, Buddha. In other words, you'd be able to speak from there and benefit other beings who are hesitating to immerse themselves in this process by which of knowing everything all the time. It's the process in which you will know everything all the time. It's the process in which you will be able to face each situation and do Buddha's work. But people hesitate to immerse in this or they're not even clear how to. So I thought I might mention to you how to. how to actually enter the creative process by which a birth arises from a death.

[20:45]

How our dead actions our actions that we've already done and are no longer alive, how our dead actions are here for us to support us to make a future right now. The future is created in the present based on the past. So just to make it really simple, for starters, the creative process includes all the complexities of the entire universe. But to make it simple, the way we enter this creative process is by being loving and compassionate, or kindness and compassion towards whatever comes. There again you see you practice oneness in the sense of you do the same practice no matter what comes.

[21:54]

No matter what comes, no matter what comes, you do the one practice. No matter what. You meet whatever is happening with loving kindness and compassion. Now what comes to most people most of the time, what comes is their own thinking. Most living beings who don't know everything all the time live within their own thinking. So what's coming is your own thinking. Like what's coming now is, I think you're a nice group of people. You're a group of nice people. Nice group of people, nice people. That's what I think. And I'm over that now, but that's what I thought a while ago. That's what I think, and the practice of entering into the process by which that, what I just said, which was the future and then now it's the past, the practice of entering that is for me to be kind to my own thinking, kind to my own thoughts, moment by moment.

[23:10]

And by being loving and compassionate towards my own thoughts... there is in the creative process. There is plunging into the life we share together, moment by moment. And from there, it's possible to speak and gesture, to see in the most vital way, for the moment, and for the moment. The most vital way now is not the most vital way later. The most vital way and also the not very vital way, both of them become the past over and then they both become the resource for the next creative process. I'm starting to layer in some complexity now because

[24:13]

not only do we need to take care of our . Not only do we need to take care of what we think is happening now, like we think we're in a room, in a meditation hall, participating in a discussion of the teaching of the Buddhas. So we take care of that. We practice compassion towards this thinking. But we also understand that this thinking we practice compassion towards, we're actually conscious of what we're thinking. Like, you can be conscious that you think you're in this room. You can be conscious that you think this is... If you do, you can be conscious that you... You can be conscious that you think you're happy. You can be conscious that you think you're going to die. You can be conscious of that, because that's your conscious thinking. But a little bit more of the job includes being aware and remembering and caring for and being conscious of your unconscious mind.

[25:24]

It's also here. How do you practice kindness towards something you're not conscious of? Well, there's various ways. One way is to remember there's things you're not conscious of Just like it's kind of kind for me to remember that somewhere in Green Gulch there's a young man who calls me granddaddy. He's somewhere around here right now. And I told him that I was going to be with him. But I remember him even though I don't know where he is. I had some conscious idea of him, but I'm kind of unconscious of where he is. But unconsciously I have this resource of many conscious moments where I was aware of him and was relating to him and was caring for him, and those serve as a basis for me consciously.

[26:41]

They support me to think of him consciously. But also we all have an unconscious that we need to take care of because our unconscious is also all of our unskillful past action. And our unskillful past action needs to be cared for too. Our unskillful past action is the way our unskillful past action is a resource for our present action. And our unskillful, our skillful past action is also a resource for our present action. So we need to be kind to our past also. We need to take care of our past. We need to remember that our past is supporting our present. And that even though in the present we wish to practice the essential art of Buddha, which is to be kind to what's happening so that we can enter into the creative process and express compassion and wisdom, we notice that we sometimes forget to do it and get concerned than being kind to what's happening.

[28:03]

And we notice that we're afraid sometimes, or even forget about, entering into the process of creation. Even if you hear about it and think, well, that would be good because then I would be able to participate in healing the world. So I would participate in the creative process, but I keep forgetting to enter it. And so there's now this suggestion, this teaching, that the reason we forget... to enter into the creative process is because we enter into it many, many times before. We have a strong habit of being concerned with creations rather than creation. So we're concerned with other people, which is good, but we know how to relate to them skillfully and vitally unless we're in the process that created them for us.

[29:06]

So we get distracted by creation and act from there, from distraction, and so we have a long habit distracted from doing what's necessary in order to enter into the creative process where the Buddhas live and teach from. So it's a training process that we need to go through of remembering the teaching that we had some work to do here and practicing it and noticing that we don't practice it and being kind to our conscious awareness that we're not practicing it and that promotes us practicing it more. And when we are not practicing it, not that we're Yeah, we're trying, but there's this activity of the unconscious past that's obstructing us.

[30:13]

That's not an excuse. I want to receive this as an excuse that there's something if I take care of and I remember it, it will remove the hindrance, the obstruction of my past unskillfulness. But also even my past skillfulness can also be an obstruction in the sense that it's a condition for my present creativity. And if I don't remember that, I can become rigid around past wholesome things supporting present action too. Also, I was looking at YouTube and I saw this thing for the little, it said, baby hysterically laughing at paper being torn up.

[31:17]

So I looked at it. and it had a picture of this baby and some adult male, homo sapien. You can see the back of his head and his hands, so he looked like a homo sapien. He was tearing up paper in front of the baby. So he had this piece of paper And then he tore it in front of the baby, and the baby just cracked up. And I thought, that baby is immersed in the creative process by which the past becomes the future. But the baby was not attached to this paper, so the baby just laughed. The baby and I said, well, this is a scripture he just tore up.

[32:26]

No, the baby didn't say that. The baby just said, wow, amazing. And then the teacher, the daddy, the whatever, the uncle tore another one, and the baby laughed again. Tore again, the baby laughed again. Tore again, the baby laughed again. And the person who's tearing starts laughing too. And at a certain point you feel like, well, leave the baby. The baby's going to crack. It's going to fall apart. Stop it. But, you know, I think the baby, it didn't show it, but I think the baby should be able to turn away and not look at it when it's had enough fun. And we should let the baby turn away when the baby doesn't want to look at it anymore. At a certain point, it gets so intense that the baby needs a break from creativity. But I really felt, you know, that's a good example. The baby was in that process, and it's so delightful to see this past piece of paper turn into a future piece of paper, which is now two pieces of paper in an unpredicted shape.

[33:33]

And then you can do it again and again, and that is happening. But the baby doesn't know how. Well, the baby does know how sometimes. It's called the baby destroying things. So the baby throwing food on the floor, et cetera, making a mess on the table. So babies actually find a way to be creative, and it's really nice if we can support that. It's a great, great, great thing if we can support that, to teach them. Yes, that's where to go. Go to that place where things are created, where things seem to be created and destroyed, and bring kindness to that place so that you can participate with it. I witnessed somebody, not too long ago, somebody else.

[34:41]

And the person yelled. I won't yell too loudly. There is no sin. There is no sin, the person said. At that moment, I thought, right on. Right on. In that case, for that person, she was really right on to say there is no sin. Because that person that she was talking to thought that there was, and he thought sin was a substantial thing, and he was very unhappy and very mean to the people who he thought were doing sin. He was miserable and he was cruel because he was attached to a substantial, independently existing, non-relative sin and of course non-relative good.

[35:59]

He was hurting people. who didn't need to be hurt. They were already hurting enough. He was hurting people actually who were... He was hurting people who were... Guess what they were doing, these people he was hurting. Guess. What was he doing? Guess. No, they weren't worshipping him. Not worshipping him is a sin. He said they weren't worshipping him. What were they worshipping? What? What? They were worshipping creativity. They were the creative process from which they will be able to speak of the most vital way and benefit the world. And he saw them entering into this creative process by loving what was happening. Own whatever, you know. by loving their fat bodies or skinny bodies or stupid bodies.

[37:06]

They were loving, they were loving, they were loving and they were entering into creativity and he saw that and he thought, sin. And somebody who loves him said to him, there is no sin. And I thought, right. Right means it's not so much right that there's no sin or wrong that there is sin. It's right to say that to him now. That's the teaching of Buddha for him now. Probably would say to him now. That's what he needs to realize now. This is the teaching of there is no sin at a particular time for a particular person coming from the Buddha. And then I saw somebody say to somebody else, somebody who actually was practicing loving, but then hesitated.

[38:13]

He was doing a good job practicing loving and entering into creation. And then he felt even more love than he felt before, and he hesitated to let it happen. And the person said to him, There is no death. And that was, I thought, right on. That's just perfect for afraid that if he let this love come out, you know, he would be killed or it would be death for him. Can you, you know, various conditions can come to pass that we think if I love this person, that might be the end of me Like if you love somebody else's wife, the husband might kill you. Or if you're a teacher and you love your students, you might get fired or shot by their parents. You might have an affair with them if you love them.

[39:19]

Great destruction. So you hold back your love. But somebody was there. And that somebody said to him, there is no death. She didn't say don't. She wanted him not to be afraid to let this love come forth from his heart. So she could tell he was afraid. He was afraid to love her. And so she told him, there is no death. Okay. So, we have a... This is all, you know, like the daily bread, so to speak, of Zen. So, every morning, almost every morning here in this hall, we chant a scripture called the Heart of Perfect Wisdom. And in that scripture, we...

[40:23]

we recite the words of a great compassionate being named Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. It's a statue of Avalokiteshvara in the back of the big statue. The big statue is Manjushri Bodhisattva who represents wisdom and behind him is a statue of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. And in the heart scripture, Avalokiteshvara, to a great monk, Shariputra is the name of the monk, son of Shari. All phenomena, all dharmas, are marked by emptiness. All dharmas are insubstantial. All dharmas cannot be found. Everything is ungraspable, ultimately.

[41:28]

And in this context, all things are not born and do not die, are not born and do not cease, are not pure and not defiled. are not sinful. All things are neither pure nor sinful in the context of ultimate truth. We recite that teaching in this room. Who is that teaching for? Well, in this case, the teaching there is no sin is for somebody who takes sin too seriously. If somebody takes sin too seriously and holds to it too tightly, they need the teaching there is no sin. If someone takes death too seriously, they need the teaching there is no death.

[42:33]

And then they're released from their fear and distress. This teaching is not for someone who takes death too lightly. For someone who doesn't care about death, we don't say, this teaching is not for them. This teaching is for beings who wish to be compassionate and who care. Also, if they care too much, this teaching is really for them. then they're really primed for it. Where they care too much, this teaching of wisdom goes there and touches that place where they're holding back from entering the essential art of Buddha. But those who don't care about death, we say, you know, you better care a little bit more about death. You don't have sufficient concern about death. I'm willing to help you learn about it if you'd like. I'll take you for a little swim in the ocean now if you'd like to come with me.

[43:38]

Or we can push you over the edge. Not all the way. Or we can just get you to sit still. Just sit still for a while. And I'll help you sit still until you really care about death. And if you care too much, you'll have no death. But I'm not going to tell you no death until you care about death. And I'm not going to tell you no birth until you care about birth. And I'm not going to tell you no sin until you care about sin. So the one who can say this, the one who can say, the one who can say, there is no sin, and also the one who can say, there is sin, you are sinning. The one who can say that is the one who is in this process and meets the person that

[44:41]

meeting in this creative process, this speech comes out of them. And this speech, this is sinful. It could be this word comes out. This is sinful. That that is the most vital, creative and healing thing said at the moment. That's what Buddha would say. That's what Buddha is saying. You could say that to someone. This is a sin. And that could be just right for them. And you could also say, this is not a sin, or there is no sin, and that could be just right for them. And you could say, this is death. What you're doing is going to kill you. What you're doing is going to kill your dog. What you're doing is going to kill your mother. You can say that, and it can be alive and healing if you're in this place. Basically, you know, you've got to get in this place.

[45:44]

If you're not in this place, then you don't know everything all the time, and you've got to go to the place where you're going to realize everything all the time. I won't say how bad it is if we're not in this place. I won't say how bad it is. This world is a place where people are not... are hesitating to enter the creative process and therefore what they do is relatively not too helpful. The Buddhas are in this place and they are helpful. And they can say, this is harmful, this is death, this is birth, and they say it at the right time for the person at hand. They say it at the right time for their own mind. In their own minds they say, this is sin. And also sometimes in their own minds they say, there is no sin. There is no death in this mind. God shaped this together, you know.

[47:02]

This is a ripped thing. I ask myself, in your presence, do you want to practice the essential art of the Buddha? Yes, I do, I answer. Do you want to practice this essential art of enlightenment and then have everything you do be a work of art? which benefits beings? Yes, I do. Do you understand what you need to do and how you need to practice in order to be that way? And I say, I have some understanding of it. Do you wish to do the practice that will facilitate this?

[48:13]

Yes, I do. I wish to meet what is happening in such a way that there will be, I'm not saying so that I will, but so that there will be immersion in the process from which the Buddha's art will emerge. I want to do that. If you forget to do that, do you know what happens? I think I do. How? Well, if I notice it, that would be another thing to be kind to. So forgetting to do what allows immersion in the process of Buddhism, the creative process of benefiting beings, forgetting to do it is another thing to be kind to, and that is another opportunity, another door to enter again. Do you think you will forget sometimes?

[49:17]

I think so. I understand that I have this past with me all the time, and my past carries lots of moments, lots of habits of forgetfulness, forgetting to be kind, forgetting to be compassionate, forgetting that that is an ongoing necessity in order for the So when there's cruelty, if cruelty comes, the Buddha meets the cruelty, realizes non-separation with the cruelty, and teaches the cruelty. Separation with violence and meets the violence with compassion. And meeting the violence with compassion The art of Buddha enters the interdependence with the violence and the teaching of the violence comes forth.

[50:19]

The teaching of the violence, the teaching, the showing the violence, compassion comes forth. So I want to do the practice of being compassionate to everything. And I want to do it because that's good and that's enjoyable. But even beyond that, I want to do it because it will allow the realization of the process of enlightenment by which other beneficial actions besides, in addition to, that first compassionate response that

[51:29]

the mind of the past will be transformed so that the mind of the past will be more serviceable to future compassion. Are we practicing kindness towards what is coming to us right now?

[53:01]

Is there great aspiration in our hearts to practice towards whatever is coming up right now? Are we being gracious and welcoming, careful and patient with whatever's coming up right now? Are we practicing being calm and still and quiet with whatever's coming up right now? Are we ready to dive into the creative process of the Buddha Wake?

[54:32]

as our kind teacher used to say at the end of his talks. Thank you very much. Ross Chast. I also had two situations that arose yesterday, and I wonder if you would be willing to work with me in a way that I could respond to them with compassion and loving kindness. Or would you rather not do that? I'm fine doing that. There's seats up here, Pam. There's a seat here. Maybe you guys can move over to that. Could you move over, Judy? There's three seats now.

[56:04]

You're welcome. Frederick has an example of something. Yes? I do. Okay. Please. There could be any situation where one would have some disagreement I'm visiting with a potential tenant, and she wants to have another lease. I have an arrangement that doesn't really work with my timeline, doesn't want to work with the leasing company that I'd like to use. At the time that we were visiting, two very large men walked onto the property. They went to our little home, and on their way back, You must be Jehovah's Witnesses. Welcome, I'd like to talk to you. Because I like to talk with them, I'd like to invite Jehovah's Witnesses into my house and visit.

[57:10]

And they said, well, no, we're not. We're Seventh-day Adventists. And I live in a community which is the heart of Adventism, as I've understood it. So I finished with the potential tenant feeling unresolved, and I had some minutes to take some breaths, and I invited then a second state dentist into the house. He was one foot seven and six foot three. He was about 18 years old, and his father was six foot six. And so I'm visiting with the Seventh-day Adventists who attempt to impress upon me how vital it is for me to take the Bible and to join their Bible study course. And I try to express to them that I'm completely satisfied with my spiritual path. So what's unresolved about this are these two people are in my community and I would like to express to the father judgment that I felt from him coming to me in my spiritual path.

[58:26]

The judgment that I felt of my path from him. So, Now I have to call up the potential tenant and to call up a gentleman who lives in my small town. Would you care to role play? I'm picturing you with a big head of black hair. She's got large, beautiful black hair. Would you like me to be the one with the big black head of hair? Yes, I would. So will you be me then? Yes, I will. What is your name?

[59:42]

Maria. How are you feeling, Maria? I'm good, Frederick. How are you? Good. What's up? I was wondering if there's anything you want to talk to me about. I'm looking forward to coming over on Wednesday and completing the lease. Oh, by the way, I'm going out of town Wednesday. I'd be lucky that she would come over at noon to complete the subpoena. So the timeline doesn't work. So Maria would say, oh, Frederick, I'm looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday morning. At what time? Okay, let me check with my assistant to see if I can do that.

[60:48]

Would you be my assistant now? Would you be your assistant to me? And tell me, can I meet her at noon? No, no. And you are it. So I don't know my schedule. So I don't know everything about you, so I have to find out if I can... So you're going to assist me to know whether I can meet her at noon. Would that work for my schedule? If I were... If I'm just looking at the schedule, it could. It could work to meet her at noon. Okay. I'm only looking at the schedule aspect. Okay, so... So I can meet you at noon. So now should we meet at noon now? Okay. Okay, can now be noon? Okay. Here we are meeting. Hello, Maria. Here's the... So what's... Is this the lease here?

[61:51]

Yeah, this is the lease that I thought we would use. Okay. And... Well... Maybe it's too complicated for you to keep telling me how you feel. So maybe you should be you. So I don't keep asking you if that's okay. Because I'm willing to be you, but you might say, you're not representing me well enough. So maybe you can represent yourself. And I can say, what can I say? This leaves here is fine with me. And I show it to you, and what do you say? I think I'd like to have a phone conversation with her before Wednesday and speak to her on the phone. Okay, now you want to be on the phone? Okay. Is there anything unsettled about the lease agreement from your perspective? Actually, there is, and I wanted to just talk to you about the...

[62:55]

potential for you to fulfill this in a short time period. A short time period between now and Wednesday. You know, I'm leaving town on Wednesday afternoon. And it feels, I'm feeling it. I want to be honest with you. I'm comfortable in having to complete this in a short time. And as you know, I've said this to you before, that I made an exception with you to not go through the couple at the realty company. And I really like you to go through a realty company, because that enables you to have to work with that. And it removes me from the pressures of timelines and getting into a new . I'm comfortable with using the company.

[64:05]

OK, I'll use the company. How's that? I'll go through the realtors then. Good. Is there anything else you want to talk about now? Is that enough for today? Yeah, that's fine for today. OK. And I thought you did well expressing where you're at and I'm glad she accepted what you asked for. She did well too. And then we have the Seventh-day Adventist and I'll be him. And do you want to say anything to me? Actually, I'm feeling like I'm pretty completely aware that we've been sharing a little bit.

[65:10]

Okay, okay. You know, community time. All right. I'd like to let go. Okay, thank you. Because there's no one to hear how I would approach it. Who knows he has the way. How many of us would really like to hear that conversation? Yes, it is. Yes, I'm curious about why you felt the need to have them come in, given that, um, that's actually that you're, you know, it's a kind of a setup, like, I understand that constantly wanting to extend the horizontal, like it's sincere, keeping the door open, but it seems kind of like a an impossible situation because if your faith looks this way and their faith looks that way, their job is to be next to your face. But maybe that's not the way for you to lead.

[66:14]

Do you know what I mean? It just seems like an inherently set up. So I'm curious about that. Yeah, I appreciate that. And I've had very good conversation with other and that's why I continue to open the door and walk with people to my home. Because I have found that, particularly with Jehovah's Witnesses in our community, I know quite a few, that we have a mutual way to hear each other. Yes, please come.

[67:16]

Please come. Please come up. I forgot to ask Frederick to come up, but I remembered to ask you. You can stand. Will you speak in this so people can hear you better? Okay. And me too? Hold it like this. Hold it like this? Like this. Okay. I heard your talk and it sounds like, and from my other study of Zen, everything in terms of ethics seems to be situational. and depend on the context. I was wondering, and many situations are messy, and one choice and path of action might involve precepts, and another would break other precepts. Are there guideposts that could provide guidance in some of these messy situations? Yeah, I think we have, for example, you could say we have teachings which can be seen as guideposts, or we have teachings which can be seen as topics for contemplation.

[68:30]

So we have a teaching called not killing. So one way to say it is it's the teaching of not killing. Translated as the teaching of do not kill. But we usually actually put it as not so much do not kill but rather contemplate not killing. Contemplate not stealing. Contemplate not lying. Contemplate not intoxicating sexuality. Contemplate not intoxicating and so on. So contemplate these topics. Contemplating these topics are instructions to help us be careful of our mind. So you can just say, be kind to your thinking, which I say. And being kind to the thinking involves being gracious to your thinking, but also involves being careful of your thinking. So if you're being careful of your thinking, you could also give someone and say, well, how should I be careful?

[69:35]

Well, watch to see that your thinking is taking something that's not given. watch to see that you think, see if your thinking is, you know, thinking that what you think is true is more, that you know better than other people what's true or that, you know, you're better than someone in terms of your way of living. So watch out for that. Be careful of that because that's not kind. So we have precepts which kind of help us be careful so that we don't do unkind things or rather so that we keep remembering to be kind. So try to remember to be kind means try to remember not to take things that aren't being given. and try not to impose your life on other life in such a way that they feel diminished or killed in their life by your expression.

[70:39]

So we're searching for a way to express ourselves in a vital way that helps people rather than interferes or harms them. So there are instructions, ethical precepts, that help us stay on the compassion beam in relationship to others. But they're not so much that we don't necessarily know what they mean. So it's not like, here's a teaching and you should think that you understand it. It's more like, here's a teaching to For example, right now, you know, am I taking anything that's not been given? Am I speaking too much? So I can remember that. Am I speaking too much? No. So you might check with someone, am I speaking too much when you're speaking?

[71:47]

So that would be like checking that precept like, am I taking too much space here? Is the amount of space I'm occupying being given by you? So that precept then can help me kind of like attune to my expression to see if it's really, you know, kind. And also it helps me a way to be kind to my, be careful of my expression, kind to my expression. It's actually a kindness to my own speaking that I would be very careful of it and very gracious towards it and patient with it so that even if I say something not so skillfully, I don't flare up with rage towards me, but rather say, hmm, that was kind of uncomfortable and I want to be here with that. So yeah, there are these guidelines or these teachings to help us be compassionate in our relationships.

[72:53]

And how about when one path would break or seem to go against some of the teachings in another? An example? Well, there's something I would like to do that could help. many, many people, thousands of people, but it involves a path where it would be withholding some information that's sort of not exactly lying, sort of in that direction, but that would be the way that I could best help many, many people in this situation. Yeah, so... Yeah, the higher value is higher than my own personal, what do you call it, my own personal purity of not lying. A greater value than that is would this lie benefit others, including benefit maybe the person I'm talking to, even though in a way it's a lie.

[73:59]

I don't like to lie, maybe I feel bad about lying, and it may be going to be a problem for me that I did that because it kind of like sets up a kind of confusion in my mind. But if it helps people, okay, I'll do it because that's more important. Helping others is more important than me being kind of like a little bit more perfect. Thank you. So the main things for the bodhisattva is to not be attached. And not being attached means you can be in this creative space where beings are benefited. So you're happy because you're devoted to the welfare of others. You have some difficulty, but basically you're happy to have this job. in order to do this job, you have to be not attached to this job. So you're not attached to compassion, you're not attached and you're happy to practice them, yes, but you understand that in order to practice them in the most vital way, you have to be practicing them in this creative space where you can't be rigid there, otherwise you inject yourself from the creative process.

[75:19]

So not being attached allows us to enter into the creative process and realize vitality, and also protects the creative process Because as soon as we start getting rigid, we get out of touch with it. It feels like we're obstructed by that. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other things you'd like to discuss? Please come, Jeff. I wrote down something that I thought you said and I needed to get it verified. And at the time you said it, it seemed very so. And now my mind is going crazy about it. And it was created in the present from the past.

[76:23]

No. The future is created in the present. The future is created in the present and it's based on the past. The key word then is based. Based on the past, yeah. You said through. Or through. Or through the past. Based. Yeah, based or through. So our present is also based on the past. But the way we act in the present will be our future. But the way it will be our future is by becoming our past. And then based on that, We will act.

[77:33]

So right now I do something, and now it's over. What I did, which is now past, I do the thing, which is now, the future is now manifested. I'm too much in my own way to understand what you're saying right now, but I get the general idea, I think. Can I toss a monkey wrench into the... Sure, go ahead. I'm a past junkie. I dwell way too much in the past and not anywhere near enough in the present. And I'm not thinking about the future too much, but I'm really addicted to the past. And have you got suggestions how to throw a red flag or do something with myself? Well, actually, I would suggest a white flag. Thank you. I would suggest surrendering to your past and loving to your past and understanding that most of what's going on right now is unconscious and it is our past.

[78:53]

And so I want to be as kind as I can to my unconscious past. And to say you're addicted to your past, I think I would say to you, well, that's the normal situation that people are... You could say addicted, so we need to change from addiction to compassion. We need to be kind to our past, addicted to it. In other words, don't let your past take you away from your present. And the way to not be taken away from the present by the past is to be kind to it. In other words, to be kind to your unconscious life. And when you're kind to your unconscious life, that becomes an influence on the next moment of unconscious life. So in this way, your past becomes more and more supportive.

[79:59]

As you practice kindness towards this thing you do not know. We don't know our unconscious, but we've heard about it. And we can be kind towards things and beings that we can't meet consciously. Just like you can make donations to people in other countries that you'll never meet. And part of the reason why some people make those donations is they feel like if I make donations to these people, my life, which is already based on them, will be based on their positive, hopefully the benefit that they will receive, then that will be supporting me. I don't know them or how they're supporting me, but I am supported by all beings and I am supported by all my past actions. Like the Japanese, donating to them, which I've been thinking about doing for months, and so far I haven't gotten off the dime to do that. Can you give me a hug?

[81:03]

Yeah. You didn't take what wasn't given. You didn't take what was not given. No, you asked for the hug and I gave it to you. He said, can I have a hug? And I gave it to you. He didn't just take, he didn't take the hug. He asked for it. That was, that was, that was a kind way. And, yeah, right, because both saying no and saying yes were my gifts to you. So we need to, when I talk about welcoming whatever comes or being kind to whatever comes, sometimes people think, well, then I'll just be overwhelmed by everybody if I'm kind to everybody.

[82:18]

come up to me and say, can I take a hug? And I'm supposed to say yes. Well, no, not necessarily. You can graciously say no. I don't want to do hugging now. And you're not doing that to control the person. You're doing that to give the person the gift of where you're at, which is all you can really ever give anyone is where you're at. You can give people where you're at, and you can also give people where everybody else is at. like I can give you the way these people are. But I can't give you who I'm not. I could give you who I would like to be, and I could say, no, I don't want to do that. But as a kindness, not as a manipulation. So I wasn't trying to stop you from hugging me, I was just... offering you that I didn't want to have it be a kind of a thing.

[83:21]

I'm happy to hear that. Anything else you wish to discuss today? Yes, please come. Would you use this, please? I am Luz. Luz? Yes. Does your name mean light? Yes. And you were saying that we are supported by our past actions. Yes. And our present conscious activity is supported by our past, by the consequences. the consequences of our past-present action is now our present consciousness. And if some of those past actions weren't good choices, how can we be kind with our past in order to be the creative process and be...

[84:38]

Basically the same way you're conscious to your present activity. Namely, you say welcome, you say gracias, and you say that until you really mean it, and you're also careful with it. Careful with your present activity, checking to see if it's compassionate by various teachings, like, is it honest? Is it, am I not, am I really working with what's being given and so on? Careful of it, watching it carefully and be patient with it. So that way of being at the present activity, I also would be with my past activity. But my past activity is unconscious. I can also, my present activity can also be my present conscious story about my past activity. It can also be... But that's being kind to my present activity.

[85:43]

Like right now, I can dream up... My mind constructs a story of my past that I can see consciously. But that's not my actual past. My actual past is the effects of all those actions. But I can't... And I don't remember them all. But the consequences of them are present in my body and mind right now. So I don't know what they are, but I welcome them anyway by generosity, ethics, and patience, and concentration. And in welcoming in that way, I will understand them. And when I understand them, then I'll be even more effective in continuing the same practice. My past actions will less obstruct my kindness to them and will less obstruct my kindness to my present mind. But now we wish to be kind to our present mind sometimes.

[86:48]

But sometimes people say, I don't want to be kind to my present mind. I hate my present mind. And I hate your present mind. People think that way sometimes. So they have a story of and they practice cruelty towards the story they have about themselves. And they have a story about other people, and they practice cruelty towards other people. Even though the moment before they said they wanted to be kind, but because of past action, they're instructed in fulfilling their good intentions. Still, if we notice that and practice kindness towards our unkindness, that will promote future kindness. Because my present kindness will become my past kindness, which will support my future kindness. Thank you. You're welcome. Some other person? Yes, please come.

[87:49]

What about, do I need role-playing or hugging and stuff? Did you hear what he said? He said we won't do any role-playing or what? Or hugging. He's giving me the gift of no role-playing and no hugging. But now that you mentioned that, are you attached to that? So if I wanted to hug, you might possibly consider it? Okay. I'm intrigued by this concept of bringing the past into the present. No, it's not bringing the past and the present. The past is already in the present. The present is based on the past. The present is in the past. The past is not past. The past is present. Our unconscious mind is our past. So the past is in the present. There's no other past than the present past.

[88:59]

It comes out of the past Okay, but the past is in the subconscious in that it's not here now, so it's only in the subconscious. When you say it's not here, you mean it's not here in his conscious mind. Conscious mind is where it resides. It is the subconscious mind. The past is the subconscious mind. There's not some past other than subconscious mind. Aside from subconscious mind, past is just an idea. Well, in the subconscious mind, as far as I understand it, believes pretty much anything we do. It doesn't make the distinction between true or false or delusion or... Right, it doesn't make distinctions, but all distinctions are in it. But it's not actively making distinctions, but every possible distinction that has ever been made by us is in our present unconscious.

[90:02]

Our present past is our present unconscious. And all distinctions are there, and no distinctions are being made. And all distinctions we make are based on our past distinctions. But our past distinctions are simultaneous with our present. So our present distinctions, like we're making right now, are arising now actively based on our past distinctions. And our past distinctions are right here now to be used for our present distinctions. And it seems to me that most people are predisposed to be either pessimistic or optimistic. based perhaps on their past. Well, you may be right. I don't know of any survey that has established that. Okay, but I'm just in observing. May I say it a little differently? Sure. Most people have within their unconscious innumerable seeds for pessimism and optimism.

[91:03]

But most people would, it would seem likely that most people would have a few more of one or the other, that not everybody would have exactly the same number, like 87 trillion past moments of optimism and 87.6 trillion pessimistic ones. Everybody has within their past Right now, many seeds for pessimism and optimism. But most people are not perfectly balanced between those two. That's probably true. But everybody has lots of resources to be pessimistic and lots of resources to be optimistic. And yet how you filter these experiences would be, it would have a lot of effect on the future, in that if you were to process things negatively... Yeah, you can say it would have a lot of effect on the future, Stronger than that, I'm saying the future comes out of that stuff. It's not that they affect it, except in the sense of making it happen.

[92:09]

That's where the future comes from. The future comes from our past. It's more the influence. It's the ground of our future. So all the pessimistic thoughts... And all the optimistic thoughts I've ever had are a resource for my future thinking. And I can be not optimistic or pessimistic, but still they're there. But so that a person who's kind to their past as it comes into their conscious mind is more likely optimistic because they've been kind to their past or kind to their past coming into their present. whereas a pessimist would be hard and perhaps cruel to their past memory, which would then translate into a negative reaction. So this is the way you think? I'm just testing this. Yeah, you just told me what you think, and what I'm saying is that if you're kind to what you just thought, and I'm kind to what you thought, then we're both getting ready

[93:17]

to plunge into that process. And when we plunge into that process, we'll be able to say something which is really healing in this world. So I'm not judging what you just said, or affirming or denying it. I'm saying the key factor is to be kind to what you just said. To be kind to the theory, actually, which you just told me about. being kind to that, you have a chance to enter into the creative process by which that thought arose from your past. And that place is where the Buddha actually speaks from. The Buddha is immersed in that creative process. So then what he says, he might say exactly the same words as you, or he might say the opposite of what you said, or something completely different, but because he's entered into the the creative process by which we actually do it, the Buddhist activity is beneficial.

[94:23]

So we have to be careful not to get distracted into our discriminations like pessimism works this way and optimism works that way and realize that that activity is something not to get too caught up in but more like into it. So if we get too caught up in it, we're getting too caught up in the creation, in the created. We're getting caught up in the creations or the created, and then we're not emphasizing how do we care for the created, like our thinking. And if we focus on how we take care of the created, we enter into creation. We need to enter creation in order to produce art in the art of the Buddha. Once again, you gave me an example, so what I'm emphasizing is not to get into the creation which you just gave me, but remember how to treat the creation you just gave me.

[95:32]

You're welcome. Can I have you give it to me? Yes, I think so. Looks like you. I would like a little help, please. Sure. Okay. I'm attracted to this teaching, it seems... kind of wonderful, and each time you restate it, I get a little bit, I don't know, it makes a little more sense, or I get a little more of the structure of it in my thoughts. But then I space out, and I get a little dizzy. And I'm wondering what to do. I don't want you to stop talking, but I do want to deal with the dizziness or the lack of groundedness. Can you be kind to the dizziness even if I keep talking?

[96:38]

It's, you know, in a way I feel like a little kid. It's sort of giddy, like, wee, and another part of me is like, well, pay attention, stop it. This thing's happening and you say it's kind of giddy. And I'm saying, can you be kind to that giddiness even if I keep talking? That's my question. Giddy, by the way, I looked up not too long ago. It means getting excited to the point of distraction. Yes. So if you notice you're distracted, can you be kind to that distraction or do I have to stop talking? Because it's possible that you're feeling giddy and you want to be kind to it, but you also want to hear the next thing I'm saying so you don't feel like you have time to be kind to the giddiness because you're so giddy you want to be distracted by... Exactly, yeah. So what you can do in a case like that, I welcome you, is you can go like this to me.

[97:46]

Give the time out sign. And I'll stop. So you can like... take care of yourself. Self means take care of your mind. As a matter of fact, during my talk, I did stop several times so that you could, like, find yourself. Because I knew that what I was saying was, I'm talking about this unconsciousness. This could be quite disorienting what I was saying. So I stopped now on that. But if you need, if you feel you, it would be beneficial if I paused. You're welcome to ask for a pause by giving me a time-out signal. And I'll stop. Sometimes I stop when I think you need it, but sometimes I don't know if you need it. And so if you feel that, you can stop me and I'll just stop for a little while.

[98:50]

The teaching comes across very nicely when I'm not talking. So. And would you then go on? After that pause? We'll see. That may be the end of my speaking. When you do this thing, that may be no more speaking for me. Ever. It's a possibility. Yeah. You should be open to that. What I'm getting out of this teaching is that the heart of it is where the past is conscious.

[100:01]

And the accumulation of all that leads us to this present moment. And that there's sort of a creative action of kind of meeting that present moment that creates the future. I'm curious about, stop me if I'm wrong with that, but I'm curious about the past. I get that the past is in the unconscious, but is that all that is the unconscious? Or is there more in the unconscious than the past? And then I'm curious about, is it just our unconscious and our past in the unconscious, or is it kind of more... of a more general unconscious that's kind of shared. The first question I heard was like, is there anything more to the unconscious than the effects of all of our past action?

[101:08]

Yes. So I don't know exactly, but it seems like pretty much our past is our unconscious. Our past is unconscious. and the unconscious is our past. As I survey the teachings about the nature of the unconscious, I don't see much other than the past. But the past is really vast. I mean, there's a lot of past actions just in the recent past. Just in the last few days there's been a lot of actions that would make a nice big unconscious, but there's much more past actions than just in the last few days. And the unconscious includes not just the, what do you call it, the consequences of all my conscious activity.

[102:11]

But it also includes an intimate relationship with the body, very closely related to the body. So it has that grounded physical quality too. My past is quite similar to yours because it's quite similar. So in a sense, we share similar types of pasts, you and I. And the reason for that is that my past actions and your past actions are quite similar. So recently you've been a woman, and recently I've been a man, so I haven't been doing woman's actions, and you haven't been doing man's male actions.

[103:14]

But most of our actions are not really like male-female, but rather linguistic and human. And our human linguistic activity is really a big percentage of what we're doing. So because we share language, that means we share action. Our actions are very similar, and we have conventions in our actions so that we can talk to each other. So as a result, our unconscious are quite similar. A little bit different because you do speak a little differently than I do, but overall, there's a lot of similarity between all humans. So all human unconsciousness are very similar. And we share something with frogs and fishes and gorillas and tigers and lions. But they share in some ways more with each other than they do with us because their karma are more similar.

[104:21]

And our main thing that makes us similar is language. Now the question is, since they're similar, the question arises, do they overlap? Are they all in one big reservoir? And when you enter into the creative process, you come to understand somehow that the idea of overlapping or being separate are just mental constructions. the idea of being similar is a mental construction. So I'm not saying that there's just one big unconscious that we're all tapping into, but I'm also not saying that there's a separation between your unconscious and my unconscious. So I'm not saying that there's a separation, because a separation would just be another thing that I'm consciously aware of, or I think about separation, because I thought of separation before.

[105:24]

So in my unconscious there's the idea of separation, and I think there's the idea of separation in yours. And in my unconscious there's the idea of overlap or communion, and there is in yours. But my idea of separation and my idea of ordinary are not the actuality of creation, which of course we do share the creative process together. But there's no overlap or separation there. But there is sort of my, the history of my, not the history, my history is my conscious history. The actuality of my past actions is not history. It's the actual effect of history. For example, if you have a history, the effect of that history is your unconscious. When you think of a history actively, when that's over, that ...future unconscious. And so the effects of history are supporting the present construction of history.

[106:27]

The effects of storytelling are the support for present storytelling. So there's similarity in my storytelling to yours, and there's similarity in the past, which support feelings. And overlap and separation are just things that we think of. They're not really, you can't find them in creative process. That's how I feel about it. You're welcome. Yes? Wild Bill Hickok. No, no, Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill. Oh, then you're right. Wild Bill Hickok got bumped off when he was young. Did he? Yeah. I thought he had established as a showman. No, Buffalo Bill was the showman. Oh. And Buffalo Bob's a showman, too. Right. Buffalo Bob. Wild Bill Hickok.

[107:29]

Wild Bill Hickok died young. Oh, okay. I'll have to read up on that. But he had a long beard, too. Okay. He was a gambler. Oh, okay. Well, maybe this... A couple days ago, I was reading the editor's notes in Treasury of the Dharma Eye. And when the editors observed that Dogen liked to encourage his students to not seek breakthroughs because breakthroughs created a separation between just living every day. And that was, to me, an enlightening but challenging notion. I found it interesting. And listening to you this morning, That, you know, it's how to deal with breakthroughs. And I was thinking that it could be constructive for me to forgive myself if I revel in a breakthrough or seek a breakthrough.

[108:34]

That's the spirit of Dogen, is don't try to break through the habit of seeking breakthroughs. Right. Right. Just be an ordinary guy who's really into breakthroughs, who wants more and thinks he has had a few. Don't try to get away from that guy. Just be that guy. Okay, all right. That breakthrough junkie. Is there any more to it than that in terms of putting breakthroughs in the middle way? I need a breakthrough on that. We appreciate your contribution. Thank you very much.

[109:16]

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