Also if you practice stillness you will, and you understand that you include all these stages, which means you include all coherent beings, you will not abide in the stage you're in. And you'll move, actually, probably forward into the next stage, you may continue to practice and not be stuck in that stage and move forward to the next one. Each stage you're in, if you continue to practice, you include all the other ones. And each one will be different. Like, for example, stage three will include all and then one stage it will not include is itself. Yeah. Two alternate versions of this are occurring to me right now. One is where the tenth and the first are one circle. The sage is returning to the market. The young boy is walking around in the same picture.

[01:03]

Yeah, that's what I thought. The young boy is in the picture. The sage there doesn't have the one boy, but the picture I gave you, the little boy is in the picture. It's the same boy, basically. It's the same girl, basically. And basically inseparable from the beginner boy. Well, it occurred to me you could make one circle where all of this is happening at once. Yeah, you could. You want to paint that one for us? No, that's why I just shared it. But if anybody wants to do that, I have the idea. Okay. So last week... I told you something which I never heard of or saw before. So you were the first to hear it besides me. I heard it before you. Which was to line up these Oxford Inn pictures with the Prajnaparamita mantra.

[02:05]

And... Anyway, the English translation that we chant at Zen Center, the end of it goes, actually we say, That's called the Prajnaparamita Mantra. Prajnaparamita Mantram. And English would be, Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond. Welcome yippy awakening. So I suggested, and I couldn't, I'm not quite, at the beginning I'm not quite sure what to do with gutte, gutte, or gutte, but at least one of the gons I put with picture what?

[03:24]

No. Excuse me, there's gone and then there's wrong. But not... There is no wrong because you've gone. But anyway, try again. Which picture is, did I say, goes with gone? Six. Six. Six is the picture of the little guy riding the ox home, playing her flute. There's a picture of the initial entry into enlightenment. But the I'm suggesting includes the initial entry. Yeah?

[04:28]

Pardon? The flute playing, at least in this one, is a four. No! Is it four? Is that gone? Uh-oh, I think the person has really... So it goes one, two, three. He sees... In three, he sees the ox. That's the same as us, right? In four, he catches the ox. No. Yeah, this is five and that's six. Or you could, yeah, so the artist has moved the stuff around for... Yeah, thank you, Justin, for spotting that. Some of these artists are not under control of the orthodox teachings. They kind of jump around. Anyway, thank you, Justin. So it isn't quite that way, but what I'm saying...

[05:31]

The picture of the person riding the ox home, that's, I would say, and that's the initial entry into enlightenment. But the mantra is not just about the initial entry in enlightenment. It's about the initial entry in enlightenment. Then it's going beyond the initial entry It's not being stuck in the enlightenment after you enter. It's going beyond it. And it's going beyond, going beyond. In other words, you don't get stuck in going beyond. So you go beyond enlightenment. And going beyond enlightenment, you've gone beyond the previous stages. You've gone beyond the training you've done. All the way along, you've been going beyond. But now you've been going beyond, going beyond, going beyond, and you go beyond because you're not trying to get a hold or avoid where you are. That's the basic principle of this progress, is that you progress, move away from where you are.

[06:43]

If you move, you get trapped. You're not really trapped. It's just that if you move, you go away from the place where you're not trapped. You're not trapped where you are, but if you move, you leave the place where you're not trapped, and then you enter into... Because you don't believe the place you are is not trapped, so you want to go someplace where you're not trapped, which is reasonable. It just turns out the place where you're not trapped is here. And to awaken to the fact that here is where you're not trapped. You're not trapped here. And you are trapped. Go away from where you're not trapped. If you go away from here, you're trapped. And this will come up again later in particular in these... I'll bring this up again. So that's the basic principle, okay? So now you've been getting good at away from where you are and you've moved through various levels of refinement and challenges to you're not trying to get away from where you are and you've entered into enlightenment and now things are really you know you can hear

[07:59]

There were birds in the trees, but I never heard them singing. No, I never heard them at all till there was you. So now you hear the music that was there all along. Was people insulting you or what? You didn't hear the music. of who you are. But now you do. And now you realize how smooth the ride with your body and mind is. Because actually it's always been smooth because you never could be the slightest bit away from it. So that is the part I'm having trouble with with the mantra, is I don't know if I should put gone, gone with number six. Because it's gone, gone. I don't want it gone, gone.

[09:02]

So I'm having a little problem with gone, gone. So maybe I'll put both, for now I'll put both gons on number six. Now we're enlightened in number six, but we don't abide there, and of course we don't try to get more. Being enlightened and not trying to be more advanced, guess what happens? Guess. What? You advance. Entering enlightenment and not trying to hold on to it and also not trying to hold on to it, you progress. You go beyond it. In order to progress, you have to go beyond where you are. And you naturally go beyond where you are if you don't try to go beyond where you are. So, By continuing to practice when entering in enlightenment, you transcend the enlightenment, you go beyond. And then you continue to practice stillness with your going beyond, and then you go completely beyond.

[10:05]

And then you have bodhisattva, which means now the complete enlightenment. Yes. No, svaha means yay or hail or thank you very much or welcome or, you know, it's more... The next one, number 10, so I'm saying bodhisvaha is... Eight, I mean, is nine, the one with the... After the circle, then you enter into eight, nine, which has... After the empty circle, it's always the circle. We're always in the circle. Now we have... So going completely beyond is going completely beyond the empty circle.

[11:12]

The empty circle is number eight, right? Number nine is... There's a tree blooming in, basically there's a tree blooming in the eighth picture, but now we realize it. So this is the full realization of a wonderful life in the situation where the ox herder, the ox, the whip and the rope have all disappeared. Now, if we got Bodhisattva as the ninth, what happens in the tenth? Because I got this Bodhisattva from, you know where I got the Bodhisattva thing? I got it from Parasamgate. You know where I got Parasamgate? I got it from Paragate. You know where I got Paragate?

[12:14]

Huh? Yeah, from Ghatte. You know I got Ghatte, [...] Bodhisattva, where did I get it? From the Heart Sutra. It was given to me by the Heart Sutra. And also, by the way, it was given to you by the Heart Sutra. So I received this gift and now I'm applying this gift to these pictures. And you're the first ones to see this happen. This is like a breakthrough into something new in the teaching. So I also say, well, what happens in the tenth then? If the ninth is Bodhisvaha, what about the tenth? And our translation ends with Bodhisvaha or welcome enlightenment. But the original Chinese, the original Chinese, which we're translating, has one more line.

[13:19]

It is, Maha Prajna Paramita. That's the tenth picture, which is the first picture. So we go through Getting through the first five stages, we go through them because we're practicing stillness with our current situation, whatever it is. Through the first five. Now, if you're in the practice stillness with a tent and then you go into the first five. Is that clear? Is that clear to everybody? At least that I'm saying that? So actually everything preceding six, we have evolved and honed our practice. We've honed our practice of not trying to go someplace else and not trying to hold on to where we are.

[14:28]

Of not moving from our life. Which again means... to be grateful for our life, to be careful of our life, to be generous, patient with our life, to be diligent with our life, and to be still with our life. That's how we go through this process. But in the first, in pictures one through five, we have not yet Even though we do understand the practice, though. That's why we're moving along. Now, then in five, I would say we start this mantra. And also the Heart Sutra, it says at the beginning of the Heart Sutra that Avalokiteshvara was practicing Prajnaparamita. So I'm suggesting to you, Prajnaparamita means perfect wisdom. It also means wisdom. Paramita means gone beyond.

[15:31]

Paragate means gone beyond. Paramita means also gone beyond. Paramita is wisdom gone beyond wisdom. So one of our translations says heart of wisdom gone beyond wisdom scripture. So I am happy to bring these oxherding pictures together with our basic Zen scripture, the heart of wisdom which has gone beyond wisdom. What? Oh, excuse me, great. Great. The heart of great wisdom beyond wisdom scripture. Mahaprajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra. Hridaya is heart, so it's really Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra.

[16:41]

Great wisdom beyond wisdom, heart scripture. The process of that scripture, which Avalokiteshvara is practicing perfect wisdom, practicing perfect wisdom goes all the way through this, even though before 6, we have not entered it yet. In 6, we go beyond. We go beyond our practice. And again, the nature of this prajna is to go beyond itself and then go beyond, generally going beyond, and to celebrate enlightenment. And then in the tenth picture, I would say we have maha prajnaparamita, which includes the whole thing.

[17:46]

And another thing which I would suggest to you as an overview, and excuse me for saying this because you're not so familiar with this, but there's a teaching in some schools of the great vehicle of the Bodhisattva of three bodies of Buddha. In Sanskrit, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya. So I think you might consider the meditation of correspondence between these three bodies and these pictures. And the correspondence which I would suggest to you is that number eight. Oh, I didn't translate it yet. Dharmakaya is reality. Kaya means body, so Dharmakaya is the reality body, the true body of Buddha. Then there's the Sambhogakaya, which is the bliss body or the reward body.

[18:55]

It's the reward that the bodhisattvas from doing this practice that we've been discussing. And then there's the Nirmanakaya, which is the way the Buddha is transformed into a form that people can see and relate to in the world. So the correspondence... The true body of Buddha corresponds to number eight. The transformation body corresponds to number nine. And the Nirmanakaya, the... Did I say transformation body? No. The Sambhogakaya, the bliss body, corresponds to number nine. The transformation body corresponds to number ten. So look at number eight. It's an empty circle. It's not that nobody's home.

[19:59]

It's just that everybody's disappeared. Everybody's in an invisible mode. The way everybody is, is that they've completely included the whole universe, so they're all emptied. That's the reality body. The reality body isn't coming or going. It's, you know, It's not talking. It's not saying Bodhisattva. It's like vast space. Vast openness. Vast emptiness. That's the true body of Buddha. Beyond anybody's idea of it. Beyond anything. Anything.

[21:01]

But that's not the whole story. The next, because it's number nine. In number nine, there's this beautiful tree of compassion blooming. And there's bliss and joy. Basically, in this empty space, so in this true body of Buddha, there is the bliss body of Buddha. which is the bliss of our practice together. It's the bliss of our compassion for each other. It's the bliss of how everybody's supporting us and everybody. And the next one is how this enlightenment which occurred back in number six and went beyond itself and beyond itself and beyond itself now completely gone beyond itself ...Bodhisvaha of the bliss body of number nine, now back in the world, back in the world, and with bliss bestowing hands.

[22:18]

Yes? ...on the other metaphor... I think Maha Prajnaparamita in the tenth understands that it is including one. But one usually does not understand that it includes ten. In the first picture, we do not feel like we're in the marketplace bestowing happiness to all beings. We do not understand that. We're feeling kind of lost and confused, and we don't even know a direction to go. But that's not the slightest bit different from the point of view of the... We think it's different from bliss, from... from what we're going to say number ten is but number ten doesn't think so and number ten is kind of more right than number one in a way but it's so right it's so much more right than number one it completely includes it's so right that it doesn't exclude anything and actually that's the way we really are in the way we're really right is the way we include everything

[23:51]

That's not us. So I just say, I'm not going to prescribe to read you the poems about number 10, but I just want to mention also that in some of the poems of number 9 and some of the commentaries of number 9, well, I'll read it to you. Here's a poem on number 9, which I've read before, but I'll read it again and point something out. So number nine is called return to the origin. And the origin isn't just the empty circle. The origin is with life in it. It isn't just an empty circle where there's no ox, In the eighth picture, there's no ox, no ox herd, no whip, no rope, no coming, no going, no increase.

[25:00]

How about compassion? It doesn't say there's any compassion either. It's okay. We'll save you. But that's... In a way, there's no compassion. But that's not the whole story. Because that thing responds to beings. And its responding to beings is to go beyond itself. It goes beyond itself. Going completely beyond, goes completely beyond, going completely beyond, and bodhisattva. the blooming of compassion in the same space where there isn't really any compassion and where there isn't really not any compassion. And in the poem for number nine, where there is great compassion, there's great compassion in number nine.

[26:12]

And before, I'm suggesting, before number nine, which is the circle, no, before number eight, which is the empty circle, there was compassion too. So it's kind of like there was compassion in one, but we didn't see it. There was compassion in two, and now we're starting to see something. There was compassion in number three, and now we're, you know, we're getting into it, and so on. But it wasn't great compassion. But in number nine, it's great compassion. But great compassion follows this, in a sense, this intermediate stage of the true body being realized. After the true body of Buddha We go beyond that to the bliss body of Buddha where there is great compassion. Of course there's great compassion through the whole process again.

[27:17]

And great compassion is there. It's talking about a realization of it. And so in order to enter great compassion we kind of have to clear the decks about everybody's idea of compassion. And in order to clear the deck, we have to practice compassion before that. And we have been, otherwise we wouldn't be even in stage two. We have to be compassionate for stage one to get in stage two. But we hardly know we're compassionate to number one. But the way I would describe how we're compassionate with number one, we have a little bit of a problem. Is that really clear what I just said? I mean, you could also say we accept that we have a big problem or a medium-sized problem.

[28:19]

But on some level, we're not running away from where we are. On some level, we say, I got a problem. I think I got a problem. So on some level means, I think I have a problem. Another one is, I'm pretty sure I have a problem. Another one is, I may have a problem. Well, that's kind of like compassion. Like you're willing to be somewhere in the neighborhood of your problem. Does that make sense to you now? We can spend the rest of the night. If you don't get this, we're just going to stay in the first one. No, no, we're not going to stay in the first one. We're not going to stay in the first one. We're going to be still in the first one. So there is compassion in the first picture. And if there's not compassion in the first picture, we just stay in the first picture. When there is compassion in the first picture, we have the second picture.

[29:25]

When there is compassion in the second picture, we have the third picture, and so on. But that compassion is not great compassion because that compassion still doesn't understand, for example, stage. It doesn't really understand that there's no independent ox, ox herder, practice, enlightenment, self, other. It doesn't understand that. It is compassion, though. If it weren't compassion, we would just... But we have been saying there is compassion, so now we've moved to sixth, and in sixth, now we're putting it together to get ready to move our compassion beyond itself. and then sets eight, serves that function that Dharmakaya makes possible for the birth of that tree blooming in the ninth picture, the great compassion.

[30:33]

And then the great compassion doesn't try to stay there, And it does go someplace. The great compassion goes into the world in whatever way is appropriate to beings. And just a second, I just want to read a little statement about number eight, which is, again, is called Return to the World. And the poem goes, I think the poem goes, Return to the origin, back to this, no, no, yeah. Return to the origin, already a false step. So in the eighth picture, part of what we realize is all the steps we've gone through to get there were really a mistake. We didn't really go anywhere.

[31:34]

Another translation of that poem starts out, too many steps have been to the root and source. So again, when you get back to the source, you realize that this trip you've been on was an illusion. So this class has been an illusion, and I can tell you that in stages. In the eighth stage, I wouldn't even say this class has been an illusion because nobody's talking in the eighth stage. Nobody's saying this class has been good, this class has been not good, this class has been above average. Nobody's saying anything like that in the eighth stage. I get there and total stillness and quiet are what's going on. It's part of Prajnaparamita, is stillness and silence is what's going on. And nobody's even going to comment on the wonderful journey we've taken to stage number eight.

[32:43]

Nobody's there to say, we've come quite a ways. Amazing. I mean, seven was amazing. Six was terrific. I mean, Elena just loved six. Six is great. And we went beyond six. And then we went beyond seven, and here we are, and nobody can say anything anymore. Nobody can even say this is the Dharmakaya, the true body of Buddha, but it is. The commenter says on the side, the poet says, And there you realize that this whole thing was actually a bit much. Too many steps to get to the source because we were always there. Too many stages, too many... Anyway, that's one of the poems, isn't it? Okay, we're... And we took too many steps to get here. Really, you didn't even have to take one. Now you can stand that, to hear that, and see that, and feel that.

[33:50]

It's a relief beyond relief. Bodhisvaha. Okay? Now we come into... This is a description of that. Want to hear that poem? So I have two translations. Here's one, and I'm sorry, given social... I feel fine about freely saying he or she or him or her. I bump up against some social conventions here, which you'll see. Bare-chested and barefooted. She comes out into the marketplace. Bare-chested, barefooted, she comes out into Whole Foods. Whole Foods has a new policy of allowing sages to come in without, you know, a shirt on.

[34:53]

Or shoes, right? daubed with mud and ashes, how broadly she smiles. There is no need for miraculous powers of God's, for he touches, and lo, the dead trees are in full bloom. The dead trees are in full bloom. Now they were in full bloom back in the previous stage, but now we're in the marketplace and we touch the dead trees in full bloom. Here's another translation. Once again.

[35:56]

No, this is ten. That's why I said the tree blooming is in number nine. But this is saying in number ten we go into the marketplace and we touch. And when we touch, dead trees bloom. We bless the world back into life with this Maha Prajnaparamita. with this great compassion. So I would say great compassion is wonderfully, inconceivably, blissfully blooming in number nine. Great compassion is blooming in number nine. Out of number eight, where there was just vast emptiness, true body of Buddha. But then from the true body of Buddha comes the bliss body of Buddha, which is the same vast emptiness of number eight, but now in that vast emptiness there is the blooming bodhi.

[37:08]

The next phase is this blooming bodhi is going to reach out and touch things. The dead are going to come alive. So this, in a way, this tree wasn't exactly necessarily a dead tree, but now we're going to be in the marketplace and touch things and they're going to come alive. And I see Enrica and... Yes? I had a question about... You have a question about compassion? That's right up on my alley. It's limited and it's well, it's limited, conditional and it's kind of dualistic.

[38:17]

The first kind is called sentimental compassion. Sentimental. Sentimental. Sentiment means feeling. Sentimental means kind of a habitual feeling. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? It's not just a feeling. It's kind of habitual or a customary. Sentimental means a customary feeling. It is real compassion. It's just that it's somewhat stuck. And it's also, its object is beings. It said, one name for it is loving view. In other words, you look at people with love, but you think they're not you. Right. I get it. I know you get it, but I thought I'd say that. At stage six, there is a type of realization that the compassion is not ending.

[39:19]

Well, I think that there's an intermediate stage in compassion where you shift from compassion towards beings in certain sentimental ways to a compassion towards beings in an enlightened view of them. But there's still a little tiny touch of duality even in the second stage, and I think the second stage would go well with stage six. So there's compassion where the object is beings who aren't you, where the objects are like, you know, the analysis of what these beings are, where you start to realize that what you're looking at, what's appearing to you is your mind, this kind of analysis, and then you feel compassion in that situation, which is now occurring. The next one is there won't be any duality between the awareness of these things and the things themselves.

[40:30]

So, there's a second question. Okay. Um... I... When I... When my job ended and I went the next day And I had this realization that everybody to my old working they were helping me all along. Every single person. And I was the one that was kicking and screaming and creating obstacles. Nobody else was me. And I had this profound gratitude and love for everyone. Where do you put it? You say thank you, like you've already said thank you, right? Okay, and give it to me.

[41:31]

Thank you. This weekend I was at a retreat and this young woman said that she has this trick she uses, which is whenever anything difficult comes, she says, it's coming to help me. And she reminds herself of that, but you just saw it. Congratulations. It is kind of flipping the picture without getting rid of the picture, just flipping it, and it flips in stillness. If you move it, then you think it doesn't count because you think the reason why it's helpful is because you turned it around. Eric? That's good.

[42:38]

In which number? Yeah. Why step into the marketplace with buying and selling? Why not step into, say, the public square? Into the what square? The public square. That's the same. That's the same. I just think that maybe marketplace is a little bit more intense and busy. more distracted and more, yeah. And, yeah, I think it's, and, yeah. But the public square is okay, too. We don't want to talk about this. It has to be only this, you know, it has to be, whole foods, Safeway isn't okay. It also depends on market space, like, In a lot of communities, agriculture and community is more than just buying and selling.

[43:44]

So I've got to exchange getting to know your neighbor who's community. I wish you could say that. I think for a lot of people that I know, the marketplace feels kind of dead, feels kind of lost. It's kind of a sponsor. It's no solar. It really might relate there. And so really saying that this is actually possible within the marketplace is powerful. Yeah, and those things you just mentioned sound like dead trees. It's OK where some of the trees are alive. She'd be like, I'm only going where there's dead trees for us so I can touch them and bring them to life. Well, how about going out where there's some live trees? Is that okay? Okay. So you go out among the living trees, the thoroughly thriving trees.

[44:46]

You can still touch them, but just, you know. They're not dead. So you don't get credit for bringing them to life. And you say, that's okay, I guess. I don't need any credit. But sometimes you touch them and it's... Something happened here. Should I read the poem? So I have two translations. One I just read. And the next one is similar. Similar. barefooted and naked of breast I mingle with the people of the world my clothes are ragged and dust laden and I am ever blissful I use no magic to extend my life but now before me a dead tree becomes alive those are the poems And then there's a comment, that's a poem by Chinese Zen monk Kakuan.

[45:55]

Now here's his commentary. I'll just take two translations of that too. And one translation uses the word closed and the other translation uses the word open. Her thatched is closed. And even the wisest know her not. of her inner life are to be caught. For she goes on her way without following the steps of ancient sages. Shall I read the next commentary and then comment?

[46:59]

Opening my gate, a thousand sages do not know me. The beauty of my garden is invisible. Why should one search for the footprints of the ancestors? I go to the marketplace with my wine bottle. This is the R-rated version of the commentary because there's references to alcohol. You didn't know how to rate the first one? I think, huh? The first ones are too? No, no, that's the poem. Yeah, the poems are brief nudity. So those two are, the poems are, the first, I think the first comment might be PG. Yeah.

[48:07]

Anyway, this one has wine, my wine bottle. I go into the marketplace with my wine bottle. and return home with my walking staff, not his entourage, not his people. I go into the marketplace with my wine bottle and return home with my walking staff. I visit the wine shops and the market and everyone I look upon becomes enlightened. I think probably, I don't know, I don't have the original, I'm sorry, I'll try to find it soon. But I think probably the original has the characters for the wine in it. And the first translator decided to interpret what wine or wine

[49:14]

shops but there's a lot of stories about not yeah there's a lot of stories of who go into wine shops and other places like that to help people that's like going into all sections of the marketplace and but still when sometimes when oh my god oh what if people find out about So one of the commentaries goes a little bit into more deep darknesses of the marketplace. But also the first one says, and the second one says, open. And the first one says that nobody knows who this person is and also nobody glimpses her inner life. I think nobody glimpses her inner life is parallel to the beauty is invisible.

[50:21]

Again, I think probably one translator translated garden as inner life. you know, beautiful garden as beauty. First commentary. Her thatched cottage gate is closed and even the wisest do not know her. No glimpses of her inner life are to be caught. For she goes on her way without the steps of the sages. And that, without following the steps of the sages, is in the middle of the other translation where it says, why should one search the footprints of the ancestors? It's another kind of potent...

[51:26]

I don't know, anyway, colorful, well-known quality of Zen practice is that we tell stories about ancestors telling stories about not following their ancestors. I tell stories about my ancestors in the path of my ancestors and so they follow in the path I'm following in the path of my ancestors who did not follow in the path of their ancestors or don't need to and there's lots of examples like that like it's not I wrote the it's not verse it's not case one case there's a case in the book of serenity and the verse which celebrates the case I'll say I'll say the whole case sorry I didn't mean to get into this but here we go I think it's case four and I think the case is the price of rice

[52:58]

A monk asked the teacher, Ching Yiran, who is in our lineage, what is the essential, true meaning of the Buddha's teaching? And Ching Yiran said, what is the price of rice in Lu Ling? And then the verse celebrating this is The path of peace has no fixed sign. In other words, it's not a path of sentimental compassion. It's a path of great compassion. But nobody knows what it looks like. The path of peace has no fixed sign. Only concerned with

[54:02]

village songs and festal drinking. What need do they have of the virtues of Yao or the blessings of Yao? In other words, what need do they have of the ancient sages? And this is a commentary on a story about an ancient sage. So we tell stories about the ancient sages. What need do they have of the ancient sages? I need the ancient sages to discuss how we don't need the ancient sages. Because they're the ones who told us, do we need the ancient sages? Anyway, I think I should stop now. And I think I want to let you say whatever you want to say.

[55:07]

Nancy. You aspire to it? Should or you want? Okay, now we're getting it. You want it. You want to be compassionate. But you're having a hard time. Yeah. Yeah. Can you, is there somebody you can be near? Is there somebody you can be near? Can you be near to this person? Yeah. Yeah. So, our practice is to join hands with people who are walking into birth, into death.

[56:14]

Into death and sickness. Yeah. We don't stop them. Some people say, well, I'm a doctor, I can stop them. Okay, fine, stop them. But anyway, when they go into death, this is a path of going with them, not stopping them. And to go with somebody into death or into the wine market place is what we're talking about here. And this is number nine, gives us a compassion so we can walk with people This is not a path about changing people. This is about a path of liberating them the way they are now by being still with them. So if you can be with your neighbor and be still with your neighbor, great compassion will be there and she will be liberated because she needs to learn how to be still with her illness and somebody has to transmit it to her.

[57:23]

And somebody has to transmit it to us. That's why I say remember stillness and receive it. It is being offered by this process. And one of the processes is a person who is a person practicing stillness, like you. If you practice stillness, it will be transmitted to her. And if it's transmitted to her, she can receive it. And she can practice it. And if she practices it and transmits it, she will be fine without really changing anything about herself other than she's practicing now. So we don't fix people. We just walk with them. And we let them do their job. And if they don't know how to do their job, we just keep doing our job. If we keep doing our job long enough, they will start doing their job. But somebody has to teach them, just like somebody's teaching us, to do our job.

[58:31]

And our job is to be here and to be still and to try not to get someplace else. If we're willing to be here and be still here, we naturally move forward. So you do your job, and you actually don't even have to go over to her house, but maybe she needs that so she can see you in stillness with her suffering. And you say, now you're just suffering yourself, so your job and my job is to be still with your suffering and my suffering. And that is how we help other people. trying to get them to shift from that suffering to some less suffering or no suffering. We're trying to liberate them without touching anything right now. Because if we try to get them to be less suffering, we move and then we're trapped.

[59:37]

If we're still in our suffering, we move forward. But not because we tried to move forward, but because we were completely willing to be at this stage. So you're at this stage of helping her. She's at this stage of being helped. And if you can accept this stage where you don't really see how you're helping, other than I'm telling you, if you do this, you are helping. Because you're doing your job. If you don't move, if you're still with your suffering, that's your job. In this class, we say that's our job. That is how you help people who are... If you practice that and I'm practicing that, still you help me continue my practice. And if I'm practicing that and you're practicing it, you're still encouraged by me doing it. So we get together, we practice stillness, we help each other. Not yet started practicing.

[60:44]

So we go and we spend time with them and they grow up. Like, did I tell you a story about my granddaughter at her birthday party? Oh, yeah, somebody asked me last weekend, they said, can you give an example, some example of your granddaughter, of what you're talking about? And I said, and what, and I can. And at a certain point, two years ago, if you asked me, I don't think I would have had an example, but I recently saw an example. And you can actually see this online. Because her dad made a website. So it's her fourth birthday. Actually, it's the day before her fourth birthday at her school. So she's at her school, and they're going to celebrate her birthday that day. So there she is, sitting at a table, and there's a cupcake, and it's got a candle in it.

[61:47]

And she's sitting still. Which is pretty uncommon for this, what we call my little leader. Usually sits still unless she's really sick or asleep. But she was awake and sitting like upright and still looking at the cupcake and the candle. Smiling like. And then they started singing. And she continued to sit still and smile during the song. And in English, they sang to her in English. Happy birthday to you. You know that one? They sang the whole thing. And she sat still during the whole thing, plus before a little bit.

[62:50]

When they finished, she blew out the candle. And I think the teacher said something. But anyway, the candle again. It looks like it's repeating, but not. The teacher comes and lights the candle again. And then they sing to her again in Spanish. And she sits still and watches it while they're singing in Spanish. And when they finish, she blows it out. And then they clap. So that's an example of my granddaughter. At four, she's now starting to be able to practice stillness. And I don't think she was terribly coerced into this. But I never saw her, I've never seen her be like that. I saw her sit still without like, yeah. Because if you tell her to sit still and she doesn't want to, it isn't like she does it because you're pressuring her. She won't do it. She's the leader, not the slave.

[63:55]

But somehow she was willing to be still with this cupcake and this candle and all these children being nice to her. She was willing to be still with that. It was very nice for granddaddy to see that. So at four you can start. But it's an ongoing process. We don't try to fix her. We just maybe ask her to sit still now and then. Yes, Christiane, how old is your girl? Eleven. By the way, can I just briefly mention something? It'll just take a second. At the end of this retreat last weekend, three mothers came up to me We have 11-year-old sons. And they said to me, would you please do a retreat with our sons when they're 13?

[65:06]

And I said, yes, but I think it should be more than three. We have coming-of-age program, but these people live far away. But they could come for a week. So I think Retreat with 13-year-old boys. Excuse me. Yes? Yeah. It was, yeah. Yeah. And she, the group and her could do that. Yeah. Yeah. She wouldn't have done it without that setup. And I think, you know, it's pretty hard for her to get a lot of attention. I think usually she kind of goes, you know, if people look, a lot of people are looking at her, she usually puts her head in her mom's neck or something like that.

[66:08]

But she was accepted. She was being filmed. Everybody's looking at her. And she could do it because of all that support. That's why we have this group. That's why we have this That's why we have temples, to help each other do something which we needed to be trained into. It's given to us. This samadhi is transmitted to us. And by the way, when I went back to Green Gulch, I talked to some people about it, and for girls too. So in two years, your daughter could do it. Eleven-year-olds are good, but particularly they need it after the onset of those drugs, those biological wonders. Yes? I have a comment and a preamble.

[67:12]

A comment and a preamble, okay. Yeah, a preamble. One of my favorite moments in four years of college was freshman year. We were studying classics, and a kid came in and raised his hand and said to the professor, you know, I don't think you really need Dante's Inferno. And he said, I don't think Dante's that great. And the professor said, that, my dear man, is not a reflection of Dante. Say it again. That, my dear, is not a reflection of Dante. So that's my brand. I'm going to say that first commentary. And I know that's reflection, not on the commentary, but not me. I understand that. But it just sucks. No, I think what it means is, again, one says closed, the other one says open. Yeah, but it's the same original.

[68:15]

It's the same Chinese. Two different translations. The first translation might be done more by somebody who's a little bit of a... I don't know what. Because there's no wine in the first one either. The first one Anyway, I think the thing is that nobody knows who this lady is. The closed gate means they don't know that this is, I don't know what you want to call it, Buddha. It's secret. It isn't like, look who's here. I got these fingers which will bring life to dead trees. I think that's what the closed means. But this one said, the other one says, my gate is open. My gate is open, but nobody knows it.

[69:19]

Which reminds me of another... I think it's called Resurrection. And I think it's starring Ellen Burstein. And she has a near-death experience. And as she recovers, I don't know exactly, but I think she finds her hand. So she saw this. She went maybe into one of these advanced pictures here. And when she came out, she had these hot hands. And she, I don't know, accidentally or had an intuition to touch herself. She was all banged up. And she touched herself. I mean, like, if I can just say in terms of our class, she was like really still with herself. She wasn't trying to fix herself. She just brought the heat of herself to herself, I would say. And she healed herself. And then she found out that if she touched other people, they also would amazingly heal.

[70:29]

And then word got out. And pretty soon she was like, they had big tents. many people would come and she would touch many people and many people would watch and they said where does it come from and she couldn't say in this picture we don't have to say where it comes from and we don't know where it comes from because where it comes from is the it comes from picture number eight And then from picture number eight comes picture number nine and picture number ten. So picture number ten, now you can touch people. You can touch your neighbor, go over to your neighbor. You know, you don't tell her you're coming over. But in this picture, you don't say, could I come over there and heal you? No. You don't say that. I'll tell you later what you say, okay? So in the movie, she's healing all these people, and she's becoming famous, and they ask her where it comes from, and she's honest.

[71:39]

Honest. She got honest in that near-death experience. So she says, I don't know. But she lives in the Midwest, excuse me for saying so, or, you know, like Oklahoma or something. And if you've got powers like that and you won't say it's from Jesus, where did it come from? It didn't come from picture number eight. And she didn't even know about picture, if she had known about picture eight, excuse me for saying so, if I had been there, I would have told her to, Tell her you're a Zen Buddhist. It came from the Ten Ox Herding pictures. It came from picture number eight. That's where this power comes from. It doesn't come from the devil. It comes from the true body of Buddha. Now, even being a Buddhist might not save you, but anyway. And then they actually thought she was getting this power from the devil.

[72:44]

And so somebody shot her because she was like the devil incarnate, right? She has these powers and she wouldn't say it's from Jesus. She wouldn't say that Jesus came into me or came into me or I was in church and I read the Bible. She didn't... That isn't how it happened. She didn't know where it came from. We don't know... Nobody knows in the movie where it comes from. We just know she walked into the death channel and came back, and now she can heal. So then she was shot, but she was not killed. She recovered. And then she basically went into hiding. She hid her garden. She hid her beautiful in her garden from which these life-giving hands emerged.

[73:49]

And so I think the last scene of the movie, we see her. She didn't die, but we see her being shot and I don't think we think she's dead. Maybe we do. Anyway, the last scene, you're driving in a kind of like semi-desert situation on a highway, and a family in an RV pull up to the gas station. And look, guess who's there? The healer. But it's a gas station, not a healing tent. it's the marketplace and it's kind of out of the way because she's famous so she kind of has to be in a kind of like a where people might know her so she's gone some place where people won't know her. She's working at a gas station, and this RV pulls up with a family, and she somehow gets the information that this little boy in the family has such and such a disease.

[75:06]

But she's putting gas in the tank, right? The little boy walks by, and she just gives him a little pat. Not heavy, laying on of hands. Just a little pat. And I don't know if he kind of turned to her and understood or what, but anyway, she touched him. And then he and his family got back on the bus, back in their RV and took off. But we know that she healed him because she can do it because she's coming from this process. It's not her. Just like it wasn't really my granddaughter. Our ability to be still and move through this process is given to us by the wonderful compassion of God in the world. And if we receive it and remember it, we will become servants of this process.

[76:08]

And we will be some servants of the bliss-bestowing hands in the marketplace. And generally speaking, often it's necessary to kind of hide it. And I hate to say this, but especially if you're a woman, I'm not saying you should hide it. I just say women who have this power often because, you know, powerful women. So the women in the Middle Ages who were the healers, they were often called witches by the patriarchy. So even men or women, we sometimes have to downplay it. Downplay. And your question's helpful too, as always. And yeah, so I'm kind of a, what do you call it, a fool.

[77:15]

I rush in where angels fear to tread. I sit in this seat and I know I may get shot at some point. Because some people may think I'm the devil. But fortunately, I don't heal anybody, so nobody's asking me where I get my powers from. So what I hide is I hide my healing powers, but I don't hide my arrogance. Yes? I think I'm thinking of the same movie, and I think there's a scene there, too, where she's sitting with her dying father, who she's been estranged from. Very good. And also it says here, I do not use my powers to extend my life.

[78:17]

These aren't making people live longer. These are about healing relationships. So if we die today, we die healed. We don't necessarily live another day. We're using this power to heal the relationship, not to get people to live another ten years without healing the relationships. If they're dying, we go with them into death. We go with them. Go with them.

[79:05]

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