May I say what a joy it is to see your faces, to see the faces of this great assembly. It's really wonderful. Can you people see the great assembly? The first verse, the first four-line gatha in the Avatamsaka Sutra, in the Flower Adornment Scripture, is, in English, the Buddha body pervades throughout all the great assemblies. filling the Dharma realm without end.

[01:05]

It is quiet. It has no nature. And it is ungraspable. It appears according to what living beings need to be free. We have been looking at this sutra for about a year and a half now, and we're exploring the twelfth book. The twelfth book describing the wonders of faith, pure faith, in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. and how from this faith there arises the aspiration to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of this ocean of living beings, for the ocean of suffering beings.

[02:23]

And chapter 12 is the end of the second assembly. So the sutra has, according to the tradition, seven assemblies are in the sutra. So the first assembly goes up to book 7. The second assembly goes up to book 12. So book 12 concludes the second assembly. And now today we have an assembly. We have an assembly which will study all the assemblies of the Great Sutra. And according to the first verse of the sutra, the Buddha body pervades throughout this assembly. And it pervades throughout every atom of every body of every body in this assembly. And in this assembly, which is pervaded by the Buddha body, we pay homage to the Buddha body.

[03:36]

We welcome the Buddha body. And we hear the teaching of our wonderful ancestor in China, Dongshan Liangjie, who said, the slightest discrepancy fails to accord with the proper attunement. So today I would like to talk to you about how to have the proper attunement with the Buddha body that pervades all of us. This Buddha body is not something to get. It is something that is already completely pervading us. It's a question of how to awaken to it, how to give up the slightest discrepancy, the slightest distraction from this thing which pervades us, which this thing is not a thing.

[04:44]

This ungraspable radiance of the Buddha's wisdom pervading us right now, how can we have the proper attunement? How can we not have the slightest discrepancy? Well, one of the ways we can do it is say, welcome, Sylvia. Welcome, David. Welcoming beings is a way to attune. Welcoming beings is an opportunity to notice is there the slightest discrepancy appearing and believed in. in all these assemblies in this sutra, I offer you the opportunity to contemplate this Buddha body, to contemplate sitting

[06:00]

or standing, but it looks like most of the people here are sitting. Maybe one person is reclining because she had a surgery. So please be happily reclined. But whatever posture we're in, we are sitting with the Buddhas. The Buddhas are sitting at the center of this assembly. The Buddhas are sitting at the center of all assemblies. And we also, each of us, is sitting at the center of this and all assemblies, just like the Buddhas are. this is our opportunity, and having been given the opportunity to sit at the center of this assembly, please consider the suggestion that you are sitting at the center of this assembly.

[07:08]

And I am too. Each of us is. There's not one center. There are infinite centers of this assembly. And the Buddhas sit at the center and we sit with them. And at the same time, we are surrounded. We are surrounded by living beings and Buddhas. We are surrounded by Buddhas. We are face to face with unlimited Buddhas and unlimited living beings. We are face to face with unlimited light, which is the name of the main Buddha. of this sutra, Vairujana, Infinite Light Buddha. We are face to face with the Buddhas and we are face to face with all sentient beings. We are given the opportunity to graciously meet all living beings, intra-psychically and inter-personally.

[08:15]

we have the opportunity to graciously welcome all the beings in this assembly and all the beings beyond this assembly which we can see. We have the opportunity to welcome all insults, all doubts, all praise, all appreciation. We have the opportunity to be gracious hosts, to be gracious hostesses, to be both host and hostess. And also we have the opportunity to be a guest, to be a gracious guest. We have the opportunity to welcome all the thoughts and feelings of our body and mind, all thoughts of shortcomings, to welcome them with compassion. not to argue with them, not to grasp them, but to lovingly welcome all ideas of shortcoming, all our doubts about ourselves, all of our bad thoughts about ourselves, all the good thoughts about ourselves, to welcome them all and not grasp any of them, just like the Buddha body welcomes all and grasps none.

[09:46]

So, this is not easy to completely settle here, right here where we are. Each of us is at our particular here and particular now. This is given to us. We have the opportunity to completely be here. And, as Dogen Zenchi says, If you can find your place right where you are, the practice of the Buddha way appears. And the fundamental point of reality is realized. By doing what? By doing the job of sitting at the center. of all that's going on in our body and mind and all that we see and receive from other bodies and minds.

[11:02]

Welcome being called into question. Welcome to not being trusted. Welcome to praise and blame. And completely settling, we verify freedom from preference for praise over blame. Of course praise does feel different. A gentle expression of appreciation feels different from a harsh, intense attack. But when we are attacked, we have the opportunity to completely be here and find our place here and nowhere else, including all the attempts to get away, to be totally welcoming of the attempts to get away. We have this great opportunity.

[12:05]

Welcome Erica. But it's not easy to welcome insult. I don't find it easy. Sometimes when insulted, it's almost like I get knocked out of the place where I already am. Of course, it's impossible, and yet it feels like I can't be here. I can't be here. Of course I am. I can't be here. I hear you. I'm with you. The one who cannot be here. Welcome Scott.

[13:16]

Welcome Maggie. And you may not be surprised if I say Buddhas are those who are able to completely be settled in their dharma position at the center of all beings. They have trained as bodhisattvas to accept and be responsible for what is given to them, for where they are living. And we have the opportunity to train at this and in training, show others and share our training with others, which we're doing right here, right now.

[14:22]

Each of you is doing your part of settling into the center of all beings together with the Buddhas. So there are more, maybe there's more people in this assembly than I can see the face of. So all of you who I can't see, you're also welcome. All the invisible beings are welcome here too. And if I have any preference for seeing you over not seeing you, that's where I sit, in that preference. not grasping it, just completely being at the center of it. Well, I could go on about many other things, but right now I feel like that was an initial offering to you, Great Assembly, an initial encouragement for you to meditate on this place you are,

[15:43]

and whether you're completely ready to accept your Dharma position for the welfare of the world, to do the same practice that the Buddha does, to sit here, to realize the light that helps all beings. And also I welcome Did I welcome Cynthia already? And now I welcome 376684. Welcome. So, the Great Assembly, please give us your settled practice. Speak to us from the center of the universe. Call to us. Call us into question. I call to you, now you call to me.

[16:50]

We call to each other. I call to you and I listen to you. You call to me and you listen to me. Let us continue this inconceivably wonderful conversation, which is the Buddha way. Clearly, if you want to hear more from me, just ask for it. But now I will be silent for a second or two. That was quick. Quick, Michael. Good to see you.

[17:51]

Good to see you. Good to see you. I want to tell you, I don't want to make you feel any discomfort, but I just want to tell you I was so happy to see that you applied to the January intensive, and I was also very accepting of you not being able to come. But I'll miss you. I'm glad you wanted to come, though. I get teared now. A question about taking our seats, which is a synonym for accepting things as they are, as I understand it. And yesterday we had a discussion about this. And about the relationship of taking care of oneself and accepting things as they are, which can be contradictive.

[19:00]

How so? If I'm in a situation where I just, you know, I need to get away because I'll be hurt or, you know, to take care of myself is maybe, it would be good to get out of this pain. Mm-hmm. There's the thought that it would be good to get out of the pain. Yeah. So that thought is calling for your care. Maybe my knee is also calling for care. Your knee. Yeah. Your knees are calling for care. Yeah. And you're sitting in the middle of that call for care. And if you can settle in that care, you can, the practice will come forth the appropriate response, which might be to take a walk. We don't know what it will be, the practice is not really predictable, but it arises from finding your place right where you are, including the thought that it probably would be good to take a walk or stand up. Taking care of those things is the same as taking care of other things.

[20:06]

You take care of everything that you've got in front of you and around you right now. And also take care of any apparent contradictions. Welcome contradictions. And you will find the path that is free, even in the middle, at the center of an ocean of contradiction. So it's not me getting, like, it's not me making the answer, but it's more like me being there when the answer comes, or appropriately. You being there, where you are, that answers the question. Your presence, your complete settledness and faith in this teaching of sitting at the center of all this, that practice, which is not you and also not separate from you, that practice will have the appropriate response to the current maybe pain or fear.

[21:08]

Yes. The practice is not done by a person. The practice is done by a person by the intimate communication between a person and other persons. But it's not the persons that do it, it's the communication. This completely settled meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you again for your calling me into question. Hello. Hello. I tend to get a little bit theoretical on these things. I noticed you talked about the ocean, and it seems to me that the blue cliff in the blue cliff record, which I've spent a fair amount of time on, is the oceanic wave, which

[22:23]

which includes all particles, all beings, all entities. And any entity, any particle is in some ways a divorce from the... the primal unity of the wave. And yet we have a wave composed only of particles. And yet somehow the particles are dissolved in this, are kind of half dissolved in this wave. And Plackett, place, settlement, settling is I'm pleased to be this particle in this wave.

[23:30]

And Trump is a, and Trumpism are, you know, are particles in this wave. And we can be pleased to be this, Trump is, the particles of Trump are really ultimately dissolvable, resolvable into this wave. And in fact, we are the wave out of which Trump's particles emerge and back into which Trump's particles are resolved. And so there's a freedom of, you know, ultimately there is no separation and there can be, and so in this placement, in this settlement, in this pacification, we can explore our,

[24:46]

our fluidity. Yeah. We can explore our fluidity when we find our place right where we are. Thank you, Stephen. Welcome, Rev, everybody. Thank you. I have been struggling lately to find my place. And I thought I had found it. But lately, I've been thinking, well, no, this isn't the place.

[25:54]

I've settled into the wrong place. And I've been wondering, I heard you just use the words drama position. Yeah. Is that the place that I'm now, or is that the same? Yeah, it's the place you are now, and the place you are now is called into question by these thoughts you just told us about. Your place has those calls. Those calls are coming to your place. Well, maybe I'm not hearing it well. I'm not sure where I'm being called to. Again, not being sure is another thing that's coming to you. And you can sense whether you're looking for something other than than not being sure.

[26:57]

When not being sure calls to you, are you listening to it and being settled in the middle of it? Or are you wishing that not being sure would go away and being sure would come instead? And if so, then that is the being that's calling at that time. That's the being that wants to be listened to. And again, if there's a slight discrepancy between that call and where you are, then that's something, again, to confess and repent. I feel a little separation, a little discrepancy between this place and that thing, rather than this place is none other than receiving this call, and calling back to it. By receiving, I also call to it. This is what the Buddha's doing, and in this way there's a teaching which frees the one who's listening and the one who's calling.

[28:00]

Together, they're freed simultaneously. Although the one who's calling might not understand it yet. And that's another call. And it's a struggle. It's not easy to find this place again. And now. And now. and expecting nothing more than finding our place each moment. And if we do expect something more, then we find our place with that expectation. But that expectation is a slight discrepancy, unless we can be with that and just say, I'm going to keep having expectations perhaps forever. but I also aspire to be compassionate with all expectations. Do you think that's what happened or is happening in that I know I had an expectation which wasn't met and I have thought, well, maybe I should say something about this.

[29:17]

Yeah, and that thought could be coming from being settled with the call of an unfulfilled expectation. You could be completely settled with that, and then it could be that saying something would be helpful. But to speak before we're here is probably a waste of time. However, that's not the end of the story, because we can notice, oh, I spoke before I arrived. And I'm sorry. Now I'm here. I'm here with speaking before I arrive. Now I've arrived. Now there's arrival. And let's see what's said from this place of having arrived with no discrepancy. Sometimes the Buddha who's settled speaks. Sometimes she's silent. But the radiance of being settled

[30:22]

is always there to help beings. I think, I'm hoping that I'm getting there. Thank you. On the path, yes. And you're not getting there, you're waking up to where you already are. So you're waking up to where you already are, little by little. Thank you. Hello, Great Assembly. We sit in the center with all beings. And I witness how I am attaching to that. That attachment is one of the beings you're sitting with.

[31:27]

yeah and I wish to I'm sorry I'm sorry that I attach to it and I wish to not attach to it or I wish to welcome it welcome that being And practice compassion. Practice compassionately with all the beings. Yes. Yeah. I witness your aspiration. I witness your wish. It is a wish to realize the Buddha. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Good morning.

[32:45]

Good morning. So I'm always interested in language. We've had conversations about language, like to find the... Since language is powerful, I can sometimes think I know what you mean, but I have a problem with certain words because I think they can lead people, including me, sometimes astray. So here's what I'm thinking about today. The word welcome. Mm-hmm. And accept. Accept has caused a lot of confusion because people think it means, and sometimes I've thought it means, that whatever is happening is okay and I accept it. Somebody is bashing in somebody's head, I accept it.

[33:47]

That's not what we mean. That's what I think you mean. So welcome... This is similar to what Mikhail over there in Germany was raising. Welcome may have the same confusion, maybe a little too enthusiastic, a little too dualistic, like, oh yeah, come on in, I like you. No, so that was too much, I like you. Uh-huh. It's not I like you. It's not, you know. It's like I'm here for you. Yes. For you completely. I don't like cancer. I do not like it, but I completely am here for it because it needs me to be there for it in order to be free.

[34:50]

But I don't like it. Yes. for spring saying I like it's not that and acceptance also is not I like it I'm a bodhisattva here for this thing so the way I think about it is every experience I will be present with non-violently and non-violence actually is love and I used to hate experiences which arise and want to kill them. Now I am learning to receive all experiences nonviolently, which doesn't mean that I am not trying to change what is harmful, okay? So I'm picked up Thich Nhat Hanh quote, I'm determined not to kill, not to let others kill.

[35:55]

So I want to clarify this a million times with you. A million times. About insults, about the word abuse. I'm determined not to kill, not to let others kill. To protect the lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. I'm reading Thich Nhat Hanh. So welcome, I want to dispel confusion about the word welcome. That's it. Thank you. Okay? Yeah. Thank you. Morning. Good morning. And everybody. Let's see. I'm also a person of interest of words, like Linda.

[36:58]

And a couple things have come to my mind from what you're talking about today. And I think about welcome. If you welcome something, you're open. as opposed to a closed door. And so I've changed, or I've kind of shifted welcome to wonder. And if I wonder, if I'm wondering about a situation that is an opening without kind of a positive or negative valence to it. The kind of wondering is, is a kind for me is a kind of welcoming or an entering situation. So I don't know if that's helpful to anybody, but I've kind of struggled with welcome and kind of changed it to wonder. Yeah. And I was very touched by Mikael's question and situation. And I feel in your idea of being in it with everybody and you brought in the word attunement,

[38:06]

And sometimes I might forget that if I'm taking care of myself, comma, I'm doing this for the benefit of others. That this is not just a self-centered, what about me? But if I take care of me, then that's also a way of taking care of others, which is our vow, maybe. And I think sometimes, at least for me, it might be easier to take care of others than before myself. But if I take care of myself for others, the two might be in concert with each other. So I felt like, okay, we need to take care of ourselves or take a break or I'm lost and I don't know where my seat is with others. Anyway, I'm in the attunement wonder realm. Wonderful. Do you have a comment about that or a way to open it some more?

[39:08]

Yeah, wonderful. Yeah, wondering is very compatible with welcoming. Then I'm lucky. Pardon? Then I'm lucky. You're so fortunate. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. So it says Linda Franklin. What's your name? Is your name Linda? You're muted. Ah, there. There you go. Linda's sitting next to me. I had to come over to her laptop because mine wasn't receiving the connection. I'm Dave.

[40:08]

Dave. Welcome, Dave. Thank you. First, thank you for being and teaching. The welcoming, I've been working with just attentiveness to store consciousness as best I can imagine it operating. And there's... The welcoming or being with it, being aware, being present, and acknowledging whatever arises from these seeds. And my store consciousness is particularly messy. So there's a lot of stuff that's quite entertaining but troublesome at the same time.

[41:11]

But just being present, bear attentive to the arising, does seem to have a purifying effect. It does seem to vitiate the power of these dharmas, thoughts and emotions. And I'm beginning to kind of... see, be aware of that as the paramount activity of karma, the karmic change that results from... It's not really the paramount activity of karma, but it is the paragon, the best way to be with the karma. That's my question. The presence...

[42:15]

The presence is where it's at. To be present with all the storehouse consciousnesses in the world. And if I could take that a step further in my question, if you could kindly kind of explain how that awareness affects the karmic power or karmic impetus of the various arisings just sitting welcoming what is how would you explain its effect my response is a little bit difficult to believe but the presence the presence you're slipping I can't see your face anymore The presence in your place with your individual and shared storehouse consciousness, your presence with that, at the center of that, and at the center of all the other ones, that presence does not change what's going on with all those storehouse consciousnesses.

[43:40]

It illuminates them. It liberates them. Buddha is not manipulating the consciousnesses. Buddha is illuminating them. Buddha is the wisdom of how they work. It's not in control of them or trying to control them. Trying to control them is them. They are the storehouse of trying to control what's going on. So if we actually illuminate the situation, we liberate it with that illumination. Or if we are being present and allowing the illumination, that's what bodhisattva's work does. It doesn't manipulate the karma of all the sentient beings, including this one. However, it liberates. And then, once it's liberated, then the activities will be different.

[44:41]

But it wasn't like trying to change them into some other kind of activity. It's illuminating them and then see what kind of action comes from illumination, from wisdom. In the meantime, we have this opportunity to sit in the middle of what's given to us and to see if we can be there with not the slightest discrepancy, with what's calling to us and with what we're calling to. And are there fruits that arise from that activity? Fruits arise, yeah. One of the fruits is more illumination. But also the illumination, the fruit is beings are encouraged to practice. Beings are liberated from clinging to what cannot be grasped. Buddha's beings are open to the Buddha body. That's the fruit. then they can walk the path of peace because they are actually awakened to that they're never separate from it.

[45:51]

Thank you. You're welcome. Good morning, everyone. This is also a question about welcoming. So quite often I see this going on in my mind. There's sort of a background thought that all my thoughts are stories. I've heard that. I think that's true. At the same time, quite often I have a mind that generates critiques very easily. And I have this, this experience of, you know, from where I'm sitting, this thing just looks wrong or from where I'm sitting, it looks like this thing could be done better.

[46:56]

Those kinds of thoughts. And I, you know, are they part of welcoming or are they, I was listening and I just heard somebody say what you said. I just heard you say those things. Yes. And I welcome the things you just said. Okay. But you don't necessarily in welcoming agree with them. You might, but you might not. If I agree with them, that's another thing I welcome. And if you don't agree with them? I welcome that too. But my primary job is to listen to you tell me what you just told me. Okay. And then, because you're the talker and I'm the listener. And after I listen to you, then the call may come within my own mind. Like, I agree with that. That thought might arise in my mind. Then that's another call. But that call is coming from within my psyche rather than from you.

[48:00]

Yes. It's the same practice. My critiques... are just as beloved and just as precious as your critiques. It's the same practice with what you say, I listen to what you say, and I listen to what I'm thinking. With the same impartiality, I aspire to the same impartiality, including the thought, the impartiality towards partiality. The thought, I want to be impartial towards agreement and disagreement. I want to wonder and study whatever's happening. What's happening now is I'm listening to you, and what's happening now is I'm listening to myself, and now I'm listening to you. Everything's calling to this practice. But I'm not sure.

[49:08]

I'm still not sure. So that is part of welcoming, what you just said. Being impartial? And hearing your own voice in this process, yeah. You're not clear that what? You lost me there. What is it that you're not sure about? That hearing my own voice in this process is not negating other voices. No. Even if your voice is negating other voices, you welcome your voice, which is negating other voices. Some voices may negate me. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. and I aspire to welcome them and be settled without the slightest discrepancy with the voices that are negating me. That's what Buddha does. Buddha is not the slightest discrepancy from any sentient being.

[50:11]

And one sentient being is a thought in Buddha's mind and another sentient being is the sound of your voice saying whatever you say. But the thoughts are not the practice. The practice is to listen to the thoughts. It's to welcome the thoughts. And right now you look like you're thinking of something to your upper left, upper right. Yeah. And the practice is to welcome whatever you just thought there. Yeah, my thought was some question about, like, to say I disagree with you, that that's also something to welcome. Exactly. That's something to be settled in the middle of. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's, you know, we have this, I guess I have heard, this idea of, you know, acceptance as kind of, you know,

[51:20]

Not disagreeing. Well, again, if you accept, acceptance is not agreeing or disagreeing. It's neither. And then the next moment there can be disagreement. And that's another thing to practice with. There could be agreement, but this welcoming is not thoughts of agreement and disagreement. But when you're practicing welcoming, thoughts of agreement and disagreement may either come up in your mind or people may say to you, I don't agree with you. I do agree with you. And I welcome all the people who agree with me and also the people who don't agree with me. That's my aspiration, is to welcome the agreeers and the disagreeers. But the agreement is no more welcoming than the disagreement. They're just thoughts. Welcoming is the Buddha's presence with all thoughts. Buddha isn't more present with agreement than disagreement.

[52:25]

Buddha isn't more present with stupidity than with wisdom. Buddha is completely present with everything. That's what we're learning. But it's tricky because some of the stuff that's going on is saying, don't be present, do what I tell you. That's right. So what you're saying is that agreement, clearly, but disagreement. Well, both of them. They're just part of the conversation. That's exactly right. They're just conversation pieces. Yeah. It's the conversation. That's the practice. Not the pieces in the conversation. But they're inseparable. They're the material for the conversation. But any of them by themselves... not the whole conversation. You're saying that just loosens something in my heart. Thank you very much. You're so welcome. I welcome what you just said.

[53:27]

And it doesn't mean I like it or dislike it. Thank you. Actually, I'm sorry. I did like it. Good morning. Good morning. I wanted to offer my thoughts on this. Thank you. So when I think of welcoming and accepting, when it comes to my internal experience, my thoughts and my feelings, I understand that in the context of alternatives. So if I am welcoming and accepting them, I am allowing that this is how I'm feeling. These are my thoughts in this moment and I'm turning towards them with curiosity.

[54:31]

The turning towards is extra. By turning towards, I mean I'm becoming intimate with. So if I'm having... If you're being intimate with them, you're not turning towards them. To me, they're the same. How do you think that they're different? Well, because being intimate is no more turning towards than turning away. It's neither. It's not moving. Intimacy is not moving. Intimacy is to be with movement, but it's not the movement. It's the stillness. I think I hear what you're saying, and I'm checking to see if it's different from how I'm thinking. It is different from how you're thinking. It is different from how you're thinking. It's not how you're thinking. It's being with your thinking. It's not holding on to your thinking. It's being with your thinking. Right. Now that I understand. But to me, when I say turning towards, what I mean is as opposed to denying what I'm feeling or ignoring what I'm feeling or repressing.

[55:49]

And that's not what I'm talking about. No, I know that. You said it though. You said what I mean by turning towards is in opposition to. Well, yeah, like when I'm experiencing something, I have a choice, right? You think you have a choice. When you experience something, you seem to have, you have a thought that you have a choice. That's another thing to be present with. It's not a reality. This turning away, turning towards and turning away are both missing the point. This presence is not in opposition to anything. It's intimate with everything. It's not more on the side of turning towards than turning away. It's not more on the side of affirmation than denial. It's being present with affirmation and denial impartially. All right, I'm going to have to, I'm going to digest on that.

[56:53]

Yeah, me too. This is like a life work of learning what does it mean not to turn towards or away. Because I always thought turning towards is a, oh, I see, touching and turning away are both wrong. That's what you're thinking. Yeah. But I always thought that meant, touching meant grasping. It does. It does. But turning away also is grasping. Yeah, I was thinking grasping like in the form of rejecting. Yeah. So no grasping is simpler. But can there be a different turning towards that is not grasping but just being present with? Because that's how I meant it. You don't have to move towards to be present. You're already present. It's more like a wake up to where you are rather than go to where you are. Turn towards where you are.

[57:57]

You're already there. No, no. That's a hair's breadth difference to turn towards where you are. A little bit of a difference. Okay. Okay. You don't have to move to be where you are. You don't have to move to be Buddha. I get you. I think. All right. Good, you got me. I have the thought that I got you. You can keep me, pass me along. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Great to see you. You too. Yeah. And great to see you too. Come on, Carolyn. Good morning, Rev. Good morning, Great Assembly. Wonderful to see you and to be with you again. Thank you. You're welcome.

[58:58]

So very much. I'm going back to words you mentioned earlier and to the idea of words in particular. In French, the word for host and for guest are the same. They are one and the same word, as you probably know. That word is ,, and one is supposed to determine from the context what is meant. But it occurred to me as you were speaking, as we've all been speaking, that that host-guest could perhaps be the expression of how it is that we sit in this, well, I hesitate to say, but very difficult balance. It may not be so difficult for others, but that we are there in that space

[60:02]

relationship of host and guest because we are both at the same time. Am I saying something that echoes there, Red? Please say more. Yeah. Our sitting is the conversation between host and guest, the genuine, intimate conversation of host and guest. That's what our sitting is. It's a statement of faith in that intimacy of host and guest. of Buddha and all sentient beings. I remember once at Mount Madonna at one of our retreats when You asked us to come and sit with you, so I came up and sat with you, whereupon you put your beret on my head, which was the most welcoming gesture of great intimacy, because at the time I was writing a life of Edith Piaf, a French person. So a beret signaled some kind of attunement, some kind of harmony that was intense.

[61:06]

at the moment, very palpable, and who was the host and who was the guest. Yeah. From that intimacy, the beret landed on your head. Yes, that's right. Thank you. I didn't do it. You didn't do it. Our intimacy did that wonderful gesture. With the help of Edith Piaf, perhaps. Yes, and she was there too. Yes, so the other word that has, one of the many words that has echoed and helped me in my attunement is... that very term, that there's a music in what we're doing as we sit. There's a silent music that we are all taking part in and to which we seek to become, with which we seek to be intimate, as if we were singing together. We are singing together.

[62:08]

Yeah. Well, thank you for your song. Thank you. Hello, Reb, and hello, old friends, familiar faces. Hello. This Dharma position right now is very enjoyable. So I thought I would engage you in a conversation. And what I thought would share was that as I listened to you, I thought that A lot of people are giving a lot of attention to the unpleasant dharma positions where we have all kinds of unpleasant moments where we don't want them. But pleasant moments are also challenging to experience fully, to fully inhabit.

[63:09]

And so I see myself that I'm much more motivated to go much deeper into the experience of the inhabiting of the Dharma position when shit hits the fan rather than pleasurable life moments come. So there's that danger of just going blind and in automatic pilot into those pleasurable moments. So I was thinking that, you know, for me, when I am when I am struggling with a moment and I want to fully inhabit it, besides the breath, there is the full experience of the sensations in the body, all the things that amount to that moment, that dharma position. And then a magical thing happens, which is

[64:13]

there might be that the ego disappears. All the elements of those things that cause the pain drop away. And then what you just said, you don't have to move to become a Buddha. It happens. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good morning.

[65:25]

Good morning. Thank you for your talk and I am now retired from about 40 years of one form or another of being a therapist and being a psychotherapist the last 20 years or so. And in working with people and myself, I would often work on the concept of acceptance. And I would say to people, Even though we don't like what's happening, even though we don't want what's happening, even though we don't like how we feel, if we don't accept it, we're at war with ourselves. So we just add more tension and trouble and pain. And I've used that a lot, as I say, everything I learned to help other people help me.

[66:30]

And so as I hear you use the term welcoming, I find myself wondering what the difference is between welcoming and accepting. Because to me, welcoming, at least in a conventional sense, implies wanting something. If I welcome someone into my home, I probably am glad they're there, hopefully. I had many times to discuss with patients that accepting doesn't mean wanting it. It doesn't mean we don't want it to change or that we don't want to try to change it ourselves to the degree we can. It just means accepting that things are as they are. We are where we are. And we don't need to add fighting with it to the repertoire of behaviors. So I wonder what, in your mind, is the difference between welcoming and accepting?

[67:37]

I feel, first of all, that welcoming is not that I want what I'm welcoming. It's not that I want it. And so a gracious host, a gracious host welcomes things that are very difficult and that they do not want. It also could be a host that welcomes things that she does want. She could still be a host. But to welcome things that are very painful or difficult, that's very generous. But she doesn't want these things. So for me, welcoming is a little warmer than accepting. It's more loving. It's not just, okay, I accept. It's like, thank you very much. Not like, but I'm completely here for you. I'm not just accepting, like, okay. I'm not just acquiescing.

[68:41]

I'm actively devoted to this, what's being given to me now. I'm as devoted to this as I am to all other things. I'm totally devoted to what's happening, rather than okay. Because you can say okay to something, but not make that thing something that you're really going to give yourself to. So for me, welcoming means also devotion to the thing I'm welcoming. But we can be devoted to things that we really are having a lot of difficulty with. like parents are sometimes, or therapists are sometimes, devoted to beings that they're having a lot of difficulty with, but they're really devoted to them. And they're not trying to get the person to be different. They're devoted to the person as they are right now. And this is what they're

[69:47]

Giving to the person, because the person's problem is that they also are having trouble being devoted to themselves just as they are. They're also trying to get something. Often. So welcoming shows the person how to be free of trying to be somebody other than who they are, which most people are in danger of trying to be somebody different than who they are. Yeah, that's really helpful. It's also just another layer and layers on acceptance because I had a knee replacement surgery two months ago, which is why I'm in a recliner and poor Dave is sitting in the corner. We're trying to share this. And when you say welcoming exactly what it is, I realize the difference for me that I think I accept the recovery, which turns out to be rather arduous.

[70:57]

But do I welcome it? I don't think I do. So that's really a level of I'll have to work with that. You don't have to, but I would appreciate it if you did. Exactly. I don't have to. Thank you for not insisting. And thank you. Thank you. Hi, Rem. Hi, Justin. I've been thinking about Linda's comments and response since she made them and how many times when she's made similar, posed similar examples in the past. And I asked myself, you know, and I'm trying to imagine that situation and I hope I don't ever have to see someone getting their head bashed and

[72:08]

or anything else that seems so awful and unfair and wrong. And I asked myself, you know, in that situation, I was looking for words and, you know, how you respond in that situation. And what came to me was continue to witness without abandoning faith. And, you know, how can you witness a violent act or a cruel act without freaking out or What are your options? I mean, you can let your anxiety and anger overwhelm you. You can shake your fist at your perceived God or Buddha. You can start spewing anger at those around you and vitriol, but all of those are just embroiling yourself in more karma and creating karma for others.

[73:15]

It's just that that kind of phrase just came to my mind, just to continue practice without abandoning faith. And maybe that's similar to welcome, but welcoming doesn't mean that you have to like it, and welcoming doesn't mean that you have to understand it. And welcoming means that, you know, can mean that you just continue to witness, I think. Not even continue, just witness. Just witness. With a great Buddha heart. Yeah. Hello, Silvia.

[74:20]

Hello, Rob. Hello, everyone. I'm having some difficulty in practicing with one of your teachings from, I guess, two meetings ago. You spoke about practicing together with all beings, for all beings. And it seems easier to practice when I know the beings, beings around me, my students, the great assembly or people I feel close to. But it's quite difficult to include people I don't know. For example, I was on the airplane, and you know that moment when the plane stops and everybody stands up to... And I turned myself, I was in the front of the plane, and I turned and I saw all these beings, and I felt completely disconnected, and I felt I had nothing to do with these beings.

[75:37]

So... Like another teaching you gave was the nature of home is emptiness. That teaching seems a little bit easier for me to understand, but very hard to practice to feel all beings, that I'm with all beings, doing things with all beings. Well, the feeling you had when you turned and looked and you felt emptiness, Did you say not related to those beings? That feeling is another being. And that being is calling for your listening to it and being present and settled into being with that feeling. And if you can be with that feeling without trying to get rid of it, you can be free of it. And not only that, but the being, the thought will be liberated too.

[76:45]

And not only that, but that will benefit all the people who you're looking at and you feel separated from. This is the wonder of emptiness and form. But we're not going to realize the emptiness of the form if we can't be with the form. And one of the forms is, I have nothing to do with those people. That's a form. It's not really a form, it's one of those skandhas. Form means short for form, feeling, perception. So there's a perception, these people are not my body. That thought, these people are not me, is calling for compassion, is calling for witnessing, is calling for you to be there with it without moving. To welcome the feeling, these are not my dear friends. I'm not practicing with them. How do you see that they are me and I am them?

[77:49]

You will be able to see that when you can be present and completely still and welcoming with the thought that they're not you. That's not true that they're not you, and it's also not true that they are you. But in fact, it is true that there are you, and it is true that there are not you. The thing is to be free of these things by being completely present with them. And that's really challenging. To be that quick to turn around and look and say, oh, they're not connected to me. Oh, but I'm with that thought. I'm doing my work by being with that thought that these are not my close friends. Mm-hmm. I guess I was there, but I felt pain. Yeah. It was... Yeah, but even you felt pain because you grasped that thought.

[78:55]

Rather than just, I'm here with you, thought that these are not my friends. But what's maybe more subtle is if you turn around and say, they are my friends, and then you grasp that, that's also painful. We're not talking about grasping, we're talking about being right in the middle of the feeling together with all other feelings. That's what Buddha's work is. Good. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. So, yes, Barbara Joan. Thank you for... Truly wonderful to be with the Great Assembly after quite some time. What raised the question for me, and I'm not sure I can

[79:58]

articulate the question although he's going to help me think of words and that's very convenient is when you said the Buddha permeates everything in every cell and it made me think about The fact that it's all happening at once, blood coursing and neurons moving and that we don't actually... Now he got a phone call. So that we don't actually think or... become aware of that reality in the moment that the neurons are moving. And I guess that... This says the Buddha is pervading all the things you mentioned, but also the third line says it's ungraspable. We can't pervade how the Buddha body is pervading our thoughts. So how do you... We can't grasp how the Buddha's

[81:03]

However, we hear the teaching that the Buddha's body is pervading all of our thoughts, all of our feelings, all of our sensations, and everything we see and everything we hear. And that cannot be grasped. That teaching is a great gift. And I thank you with all of the Buddhas that are permeating me. We all thank you, all of this. It's truly, truly helping me awaken in whatever ways it can. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you, teaching, Avatamsaka Sutra. I'm sorry to say that I see Dawu and Charlotta, but I think we kind of need to stop.

[82:07]

I'm sorry. But I do want to say it's very lovely for me to see your face, Dawu. Thank you for giving me your face. And thank you, Charlotta. Very lovely to see you. But I kind of need to conclude this. this meeting today. Please forgive me for ending before I could talk to everybody. And I thank you all for coming. It's a joy for me to see your faces in this great assembly. Yeah, it's wonderful. How wonderful.

[82:40]

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