I've said repeatedly that initially the mind of enlightenment, the thought of enlightenment, the spirit of enlightenment is to wish to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings. Now in our last class now, tonight I say it could be the wish to be completely yourself for the welfare of all beings. Seems to me that to realize Buddha is to realize silence and stillness. to be living in silence and stillness, is to live with no self-cleaning, no attachment to any construction of what we are or what other beings are.

[01:24]

Being that way is practicing and realizing Buddha. And being that way, in essence, at its heart, is compassion. It is compassion to be yourself. Being yourself is a compassionate act It requires courageous caring for being authentically yourself. It requires generosity, patience, ethics. We cannot be ourselves without being honest. We cannot be ourselves

[02:31]

and take something that's not given. We cannot be completely ourselves and be possessive of anything, primarily and especially ourself. Realizing the ultimate truth, did not attach to anything. And we need to realize the ultimate truth in order to be authentically ourselves. And again, being authentically ourselves, we don't need to move or say anything. Also last week I suggested that the ultimate truth cannot be an object of knowledge.

[04:05]

The ordinary mind that thinks in terms of things existing and not existing, that can't know the ultimate truth. The ordinary mind is delusion and its objects. Or I should say, conventional truth is a deluded mind and its objects. It is not the ultimate truth. And the mind that realizes ultimate truth is not separate from ultimate truth, so thereto there is no knowing, there's no subject or object. I'd like to complement that tonight by saying that under some circumstances you will hear discussion of somebody knowing the ultimate truth.

[05:16]

And that's the circumstance in which when you're speaking in ordinary terms of advanced bodhisattvas resting in meditation, speaking of their resting in meditation, then it's quite all right to speak in terms of subject and object, and to consider ultimate truth as an object of knowledge. When they're resting in meditation, the way they are is unborn, and the mind itself is free from birth. When the mind is turned in this way, it is as though it knows ultimate truth.

[06:35]

So in the context of speaking of the two truths, conventional truth and ultimate truth, the basis for that discussion and the distinction between the two the two truths which are not separate, in that distinction, the distinction is based on them as being objects of knowledge. So in that context, sometimes people say that the ultimate truth can be seen or known, because the way the mind is, the way knowing is, is ultimate truth. taking care of conventional truth completely, taking care of conventional things, like what we appear to be to ourselves and how others appear to us, taking care of such conventional things completely, we are ready to realize the ultimate truth.

[08:05]

We become ready to realize the ultimate truth. We become ready to let ourselves be completely ourselves, and to let others be completely themselves. In that sense, the sitting quiet and still of the Zen school, the practice of Bodhidharma, sitting facing the wall, is to demonstrate being ourselves completely with no attachment to ourselves, realizing the ultimate truth, and completely taking care of the conventional, all conventional aspects of our life. if we don't give complete and thorough attention to every conventionality of our life, that lack of complete attention to such phenomena, such conventional things, disables our ability to be thoroughly aware of the ultimate.

[09:33]

any inattention to caring for conventional things, relative things, things in the realm where we think in terms of existence and non-existence, any lack of care for our deluded mind will disable our ability to be thoroughly present for the ultimate truth. Caring for all things, all beings, and there are only our conventional beings. All sentient beings are conventional beings, are conventional truths. Caring for them thoroughly, being compassionate with them, prepares us, sets the ground for realizing the ultimate truth, which is what really heals conventional beings, sentient beings, that realization.

[10:49]

Which is the same, basically, as saying this kind of care enables us to be ourselves. If we're not willing to take care of all conventionalities, all the aspects of our life, and all of our relations, we can't be totally just ourselves. And once again, when we completely take care of things, we are silent and still. When we are silent and still, in that context, we care for everything. we can learn to care for everything and realize, become the ultimate truth, the emptiness which is filled with compassion. And all this always just for the welfare of all beings, which just happens to include ourself perfectly.

[11:57]

Tamar asked me if there's some textual background for these classes, for these talks. And in our tradition, there's some stories about one of our ancestors named Dongshan, a Chinese ancestor. And in the story of his life, he asked about a teaching story. And in the teaching story, the monk's talking to the teacher, and the teacher gives this unusual teaching. And the monk says, you know, in what scripture does this teaching appear? And the teacher says, well, kind of ironically, I couldn't really be teaching the Dharma if it wasn't in a sutra, could I?

[13:15]

And then he gives a sutra. And then later Dung Shan meets his teacher and his teacher, he asks his teacher again, what scripture does this appear in his teacher's, tells him what scripture. So, So here's some scriptures that this talk came from. Now, this isn't all of them, but this is just some of them. Part of the reason why I don't necessarily mention the Scriptures sometimes is because when I say the name of the Scripture, people kind of get disoriented from being silent and still. Like they start thinking about what Scripture I just said it was, and then they start thinking about whether, you know, it's hard to say it, it's in a foreign language. they like it or dislike it because of that, and also they're wondering where they could get it, and why am I mentioning scriptures, and it creates quite a bit of hubbub.

[14:18]

But tonight I'll mention some scriptural sources. So one of the main ones for these talks, for this class and the last one, is the Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra. The Mahayana Gambhirata Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra. which is getting close to becoming, I mean, and I did a commentary on this sutra for a number of years, and this is getting close to being a book, published book. And in this sutra, particularly in chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9, there's discussions about the things I've been talking about. And for example, in Chapter 8 there's a discussion of the six basic bodhisattva training methods and the four additional training methods which help the previous six training methods.

[15:27]

the six perfections as they're called, or the six transcendent practices. So in there is a detailed discussion of how these practices work together. And then in In Chapter 8, there's a detailed discussion of particularly the last two perfections of concentration and wisdom. And in Chapter 7, there's a discussion of ultimate truth. And in Chapter 6, there's a discussion of conventionality, illusion, and ultimate truth. But you might want to wait for the book to come out. It's kind of hard to read that sutra without assistance. But anyway, that's where a lot of what I'm talking about comes from. Also in the Bodhicharyavatara, the career of the bodhisattva,

[16:34]

which is a poem spoken by the Indian monk, sage, poet Shantideva. In that text also these practices to develop and protect Bodhisattva are discussed. And in particular the emphasis on concentrating on the equality of self and other, and exchanging self and other, are spoken of in detail there. However, this practice is not originally from Shantideva. It appears in a number of Mahayana sutras. And Tamar asked if this is related to the Tibetan practice of Tonglen, and Tonglen comes from this text, these texts. Also Nagarjuna wrote a commentary on the large Sutras of Perfect Wisdom, which is called in Chinese, Dajur Dulun, and translated as the Great Treatise

[17:56]

on wisdom, and in there too is an extensive discussion of the thought of enlightenment and the six perfections. And then later in China, actually I say later in China, Nagarjuna lived in India, but the Dodger de Lune is a Chinese text, and we do not have the Indian original. All we have is the Chinese. That's why I said the Chinese Dodger de Lune. Sanskrit would be something like maha prajnaparamita nirdesha. But we don't have that text. We only have the Chinese. There may never have been an Indian text. It might have been what we call an apocrypha, something created in China, said to be translated from Sanskrit, abnagarjuna.

[19:01]

But anyway, that text is very influential in Chinese Buddhism and in Zen. And another very influential Chinese teacher and author, his name is Tian Tai Ji Ri, and he lived around the same time as Bodhidharma, and he wrote a great treatise on tranquility and insight. And in there he has a long discussion about bodhicitta, how it arises and how it developed and so on. And in that text we see the beginning of an extensive teaching about how the bodhicitta, how the thought of enlightenment arises in the relationship between living beings and Buddhas.

[20:06]

This discussion of how Buddhas appear in the world in order so that sentient beings can look at them and practice reverence towards them and generate merit in relationship to them. They appear so that people can generate the merit and virtue sufficient for them to open to wisdom. Actually, this statement is taught in the Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra, Indian Sanskrit text. Again, we do not have the Sanskrit text of the Samdhi Nirmacana. We only have Tibetan and Chinese. But in that Indian text, both in the Tibetan and Chinese, which are both translated in English, there's a discussion of that Buddhas appear in the world so that living beings can relate and generate wholesome roots. Because without somebody to relate to sometimes, it never occurs to us to do so.

[21:10]

Just like with my case, I've often told the story of when I was 12, With the inspiration of James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley, I thought that it would be really good for me to be as bad as possible, because that would make me as popular as possible. The good boys in school were not very popular. Elvis was not popular for being a good boy. He was popular for the hip movement and singing to African rhythms and so on. So I thought, well, at 12 you can do more or less anything and nothing much will happen to you. So let's go for it. And so I did. But a man who lived in my apartment building after I was apprehended by the police lovingly had a little talk with me.

[22:20]

And the upshot of the conversation was, you know, it's easy to be bad. And by what he said earlier, I actually knew it was easy to be bad. All it takes is a little guts And he had some guts, too. He was 1946 National Heavyweight Gold Gloves Champion. So he said to me, it's easy to be bad. What's hard is to be good. So I thought, OK, all right, I'll be good. So there. I didn't say it out loud. because he was six foot four and weighed 240 at the time. And I didn't want him to be provoked into deviating from his love towards me.

[23:21]

He wasn't my father. He had two daughters. I think he wanted to have a son, but I was the closest he had available. So he was a very good kind of uncle to me. And when he said that to me, it kind of inspired a little bodhicitta there. In our relationship, the urge to do good arose in me. Deluded beings do not think up for themselves to be good. They don't naturally think of doing good. They need education. They need somebody to suggest it in a way that makes it appealing, lovely, delicious, joyful. And so Buddhas do that for us. Buddhas and bodhisattvas make us think that being good would be really as cool as being very popular. Even doing good is so good, they could teach us that even if we were less popular, it would still be good.

[24:37]

It's so good. Even if nobody noticed that we did it, even if we got no rewards for it, it would still be fine. Something conveys that to us. We naturally learn. We naturally know how to be possessive and selfish. Nobody has to teach us. People can show us how to do it, but if they don't, we'll still be able to figure it out. But to be good, someone, we need teachers. And when we meet and have a relationship with the best of teachers, this bodhicitta arises. And not just to do good, but to do good, just to do good for the welfare of all beings. Not just to do good to get something for ourselves, but to do good for all beings. This arises, and that's taught extensively by this Chinese master named Jiri and his disciples.

[25:40]

And this understanding of where this bodhi mind comes from is very strong in the ancestor Ehe Dogen of this tradition. And he says many places in his works, he says, the good of this practice, the good of that practice, these all arise in the context of this relationship between sentient beings and Buddhas. The good of these practices don't arise just from me doing it. They arise from the relationship. So in the teachings of Dogen, also the scriptural sources there are in his text, Bendowa, which can be translated as literally, on negotiating the way.

[26:45]

In there he has a section which describes this concentration, this self-fulfilling concentration, this concentration which fulfills the self, which is the concentration of the Buddha, which is the Buddha's enjoyment of enlightenment, which is the concentration of being still and silent. It's the concentration of what's going on in the stillness and the silence of the Buddhas. It's talking about the just being yourself in the middle of stillness and silence. So that's one text that's in the background of what I'm saying. Dogen describes in that text what's going on in the Buddha's heart, in the Buddha's mind, when the Buddha is sitting still, being Buddha.

[27:54]

He's describing what was going on in Bodhidharma when he was sitting facing the wall for nine years. A tremendously active world. of healing relationships among all beings, the way everybody's helping each other, the way everybody's fulfilling each other. That's going on in the silence and stillness of the Buddha, of Bodhidharma, and of us when we do this practice. So, Bhindawās kind of like sets the standard for this practice of sitting still, being ourselves, for the welfare of all beings, And then another text by Dogen about this, related in the background to what I'm saying, is the Bodhisattva's four methods of, and it's translated four methods of guidance, sometimes translated as four methods of attracting disciples, four methods of

[28:58]

benefiting others. But I like to say four methods of embracing and sustaining. So usually it's taken as the four methods by which the bodhisattva helps people, the bodhisattva guides people, embracing and sustaining. But it's hard to translate it the other way. But the character has both an active and a passive role. A character by itself, in Chinese, it needs an active marker if you're embracing and sustaining others, if you're guiding them, if you're nourishing them. You've got to put an active character, an action character next to it to make it that you're doing it. But you can also put a passive character next to it. And then they're doing it. So these methods are methods by which bodhisattvas guide all beings, but they're also methods by which all beings guide bodhisattvas.

[30:02]

They're methods, the four methods of benefiting all beings, the four methods by which all beings benefit the self. For example, giving is a method by which you benefit and guide others. But when you practice giving, it's a method by which others guide you and benefit you. When you use kind speech, it's a way to guide others and benefit them. But also when you use kind speech, it's a way for them to benefit you and guide you. The last of these, the third one is beneficial action. So again, beneficial action is a way to attract disciples, to guide disciples. But it's also a way for disciples to attract you. If you practice beneficial actions, the disciples attract you. When you practice beneficial action, people become more attractive to you.

[31:10]

And the last one is identity action, practicing together, doing things cooperatively. Again there, this is a way to guide people and it's a way for people to guide you. So that text on these four methods is also in the background of what I've been saying. You can study that. And then there is, the literal text is called Hotsubodai-shin by Dogen, which means arousing the bodhi mind, bodhai. bodhi, shin, mind, arousing the bodhi mind. That's the text by Dogen. So that too is in the background of what I'm saying. And there too you find the discussion of this mind does not arise by itself, does not arise from others. It arises from spiritual communion between living beings and Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

[32:20]

And then there is which means guidelines for studying the way. And there, too, there's a discussion of how does the bodhicitta arise. And there, too, Dogen says it arises from the spiritual communion. And then there also is a text called, which is one of the last texts he wrote, which is called Doshin, which, you know, the word do, Chinese pronunciation of it is dao. It's a character which means a path, a road, a way. But it also means to speak, and it also means in Buddhist context, enlightenment. So the path and enlightenment are two different understandings of the word Tao.

[33:30]

So this is the way mind, the Buddha way mind, the enlightenment mind. That's another text using the background of what I've been saying. So those are some texts which you could study while I'm away this fall in the mountains, sitting still and quiet. But eventually, probably, people are going to ask me to start talking. So I might be talking a little bit too, besides being still and quiet. I hope you are practicing being still and quiet too here in the Bay Area while some of us will be up in the mountains being still and quiet for your welfare. And I hope you're practicing here for the mountain monk welfare.

[34:35]

Send us care packages of silence and stillness. Please keep in spiritual communion with us. So is there anything you want to, any feedback you want to make on this class or the last one? Yes? I think you said that in silence and stillness you're yourself. Yeah. So as soon as you start talking, that means there's separation and it's delusion? Is that why you're emphasizing the silence and stillness and not the speaking? The talking that occurs in silence and stillness

[35:45]

is the activity of being yourself. It's the activity of the Buddhas when it occurs in silence and stillness. In silence and stillness there's no clinging to yourself. So when you speak from no clinging, the speaking is an expression of that non-clinging, of that awakening. and then it's beneficial. It's the Buddhist speech. But if you start speaking and then you get distracted from the silence and stillness, then your speech doesn't seem to be coming from the silence and stillness anymore. Then it's just conventional talk, which can be wholesome or unwholesome or neutral.

[36:50]

But if you lose touch with that radical presence where there's no attachment, then we have a problem in that discrepancy. Yes? When we're sitting in silence, we can realize ourself fully, but everything is impermanent, so ourself isn't really a permanent self, it's changing. That's right. Ourself isn't permanent. Is the self changing when we're sitting silently? Yes. The silence and stillness is only in the moment.

[37:56]

Stillness doesn't last. It's just a stillness of you being you now. And now you being you now. This is a new vira right now. And this new vira being her is stillness. Now that one has gone away and we have another one. a fresh one, although she's a little bit older than the last, the one that left. So we're constantly getting fresh, new, older selves. And each one is completely still and quiet. Appreciating this stillness and quiet of the present person is Bodhidharma's practice, is Buddha's practice. And I don't think we'll be able to do this unless we're doing it for the welfare of others because it's not much fun for ourself. But to do it for others is appropriate.

[39:01]

This is our greatest gift, is to give our silent, still, unattached self to all beings. This is a great gift. And it's a great joy to give this gift. But the self, you know, the personality might not think it's fun. However, if the personality allows this attention, the personality will be encouraged to continue because it will be a great joy to the whole area. And the one who's not trying to get any joy for herself and not attached to the joy that's being given to her, again, she's very joyful. if we're attached to our joy and trying to get some, that erodes, and to say to a significant extent is an understatement, our happiness.

[40:10]

That erodes to a significant extent our happiness so that you could just say that erodes our happiness to the point of misery or miserah. or miserablas. Yes? Yes? Is that sometimes through an individual just a short amount of time. I'm thinking, I don't know that I've ever met a Buddha, but I feel like at times I've interacted with people who are manifesting that following moment. Maybe those are Bodhisattvas. Strictly speaking, in the historical sense, we only have one Buddha in history.

[41:16]

But There are many Buddhas who are not in our history but are in some other history right now. There are innumerable historical Buddhas coexisting with us right now who do not live in this world. So we would be spiritually communing with them just on a physical plane? No. Well, the communion is not a physical plane. The communion between you and me is not physical. Our relationship is not a physical thing. So when you're talking about the Buddhists that are in the world for us to relate to... They're not actually in the world. Now you and I are in a world, which have our handy little world, and we still can relate to each other even though, you know, in some sense we share this physical world, but we also have our sub-worlds within this physical world. And we relate, and our relationship is, our spiritual relationship is not a physical thing.

[42:23]

And we also have, we can have, and we do have, and we can, we can develop our spiritual relationship with Buddhas who coexist with us right now. And Mahayana teachings, the Great Vehicle teachings, are filled with instruction about how to develop relationships with Buddhas. And again, a text which I didn't mention, which I now mention, is the Lotus Sutra. That's also in the background of what I'm saying, because the Lotus Sutra is, the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra is not the historical Buddha, even though that Buddha in the Lotus Sutra has the name Shakyamuni Buddha. But it's not the historical Shakyamuni, it's a transcendent Shakyamuni, who's saying, I'm always here, who tells us that the historical Shakyamuni was a skillful manifestation of a Buddha that doesn't appear in the world.

[43:34]

But that Buddha also says that if you practice, if you take care of yourself really well and take care of others, or if you take care of yourself really well for the welfare of others, you will see this Buddha teaching the Lotus Sutra right now. And again, see in the sense, the same sense of seeing the ultimate truth, not really as an object, but we can say conventionally, you will see the Buddha's teaching right now. That's what the Lotus Sutra tells us. And we need this relationship, and it's available. So, in terms of needing a relationship, you said that a person can't develop this sense by themselves and connect to goodness by themselves. And I'm wondering, so what about the concept in Buddhism of basic goodness? I've always thought that there is a graft that could be connected to it. Yeah, well, I guess there's something about us that when we stimulate the Buddhas and they respond to us, something in us responds to them.

[44:58]

And so we generate the interest in giving good a try. Something about us wants to once somebody reminds us or shows us how cool it is. We need the connection in order to awaken it in ourselves, yeah. So that could be, you could call that our basic goodness, that we... Well, just like, you know, in a more ordinary sense, a child cries and somebody responds to it. And sometimes people respond very skillfully and compassionately. And the child sees this skillful, compassionate response, and then something in the child gets, other than their own crying for help, they see this person helping them. And at some point they think, It's cool how they help me.

[46:03]

I'd like to do that. I'd like to learn that, too. Now, maybe they don't quite say it that way, but later they may say they kind of saw the example and they want to give it a try. Now, sometimes they think they see the example, but they say, but I don't want to copy that person. Like, sometimes parents teach children a good example, but the children don't want to admit to the parents that they're copying them, so they wait until they're left home to start copying some of the good things that parents try to do. But actually there is this thing in them which when they cry for help and they get a good response, something arises in them which is like, I'd like to do that too. And if it's not your parents, like these stories I told you, when it wasn't my parents, I saw this example and something in me said, I want to be like that. There's something about me that wants to be like that. So that's something in me that was brought out actually when I was being naughty and somebody responds to my naughtiness in a certain way, something good in me says, I want to do something other than being naughty, something more difficult, called being good or called being like that great bodhisattva.

[47:17]

And, you know, some things that Jesus did, the teacher Jesus, I kind of I kind of stimulated something in me. I wanted to be like that. But the miracle worker I wasn't so interested in, couldn't relate to. So again, I was attracted to Buddhism through not miracle workers, but through teachers, through people setting kind of ordinary daily life situations, which everybody could do, with a slight change. The things that I thought were coolest were the things that were kind of like closest, but totally different, like opening your hand rather than closing it. It actually does open, but it often closes at very characteristic times, like around our own possessions, and doesn't necessarily open around our possessions. But we do know how to open and close. We have the ability to open. We have the ability to give, but we sometimes don't do it except under special circumstances.

[48:23]

And to see somebody who gives an unusual time is really attractive. Later I heard about miracles. Now I think the major miracle is actually the most ordinary thing. Namely, to be yourself is the greatest miracle. Being still is like, that's my idea of a miracle, to realize that. And yet it's so close. It's like right here all the time. But we get distracted from the miracles so easily. Again, we need examples to remind us. We need a sangha. We need a teacher. We need a teaching. Yes.

[49:41]

I have difficulty with the concept for others, because that is an idea, and it feels like a religion that is other-magic, because there is no others, it is just... you call on it, you realise it, it is just it. So, doing it for others might be... I constantly get to that part of the way to get to that. But in there, it's all about differentiation. So when I sit, when I practice silence, there's no concept of others. That's OK. It's OK if there's no concept of others. Is there a concept of self? That's fine then.

[50:46]

And then, what do you do if somebody says, are you sitting for others? How do you respond to that? If I say to you, are you sitting for the welfare of others, how do you respond? Yeah. That's fine. That's me too. It's okay. It's fine. What's the result? What's the result? Also if you sit still people probably will eventually ask you what you're doing. And then you'll have a response. Like one of our ancestors was sitting and his teacher said to him what are you doing? And he said, I'm not doing anything at all.

[51:50]

And the teacher said, then are you idly sitting? And he said, if I was idly sitting, I would be doing something. And the teacher said, you say you're not doing anything. What is this not doing anything? And the student said, even the 10,000 sages don't know. And when the student said that, the teacher was very happy. And the teacher said, a poem. The poem was, We've been practicing together like this, going along, adjusting to circumstances.

[52:53]

Even the 10,000 sages don't know what we're doing, much less foolish, inattentive beings. There's no difference. And they're joyfully practicing together. Not for themselves. And they're not really doing anything. They're not doing it for anybody else, and they're doing it for all, not anybody else's. And anybody else that meets them are very happy with the way they're practicing and are encouraged.

[54:00]

Right? Yes? In addition to the long list of books mentioned tonight, do we have one thing at the top of our list for homework assignments for the next few months? Well, I think I would put what he chipped at the top of the list. Study that. Think about awakening and realizing it for the welfare of all beings. And you don't have to say others, just the welfare of all beings. Whatever you do, just remember to do it for the welfare of all beings.

[55:14]

Or to just ask yourself, Do you want to do this or do you want to offer this to the welfare of all beings? Just open the scope on what you're doing moment after moment. When you go to class, when you go to work, when you do anything, are you doing this for the welfare of all beings? we have lots of responsibilities, but I haven't noticed that being mindful of that makes things any harder. Adding that mindfulness to all the other things I'm doing doesn't make them harder. Does it make them easier? Yes.

[56:15]

Easier in the sense that they're not so draining. because I'm not doing anything but myself anymore. Then I'm open to everybody helping me do whatever I'm doing. And then the question is, is everybody helping me do this? That's the context, good context for everything. Is everybody helping me do this? Am I doing this to help everybody? Am I answering this question to help everybody? Am I answering this question? I have a question about patience. And I've been meditating on patience.

[57:16]

I was struck by your grouping of the first three perfections as being oriented toward serving others. And the last three were the, you could call it, antidote to self-planing. Actually, let's change it in context of Michelle's comment. It's to benefit, the first three are to benefit sentient beings, which means to benefit suffering beings, the first three. Yes? And then what did you say? The last three were antidote to self-clinging. Antidote to self-clinging, antidote to affliction. And the main affliction is self-clinging. Antidote to the causes of suffering. self-clinging belief that there's some independently existing thing, antidote to that. And you talked about altruistic selfishness. Altruistic selfishness, yeah. And I'm just wondering if there's, it seems like there's sort of a threshold between patience and heroic effort.

[58:24]

of making that shift from altruistic selfishness, in a sense, to... To altruistic unselfishness. Yes. There's a threshold there. And it's made me reflect on what patients have said. And I'm wondering if patient can also be seen as being patient with your own self-cleaning. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. That's one that's available quite frequently. You don't always have a pain in the butt, but you always have that one. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It seems like, I mean, to me, it comes up as sort of almost a self-loaded suppression. Self-loathing is part of self-clinging. Yes. Yeah. So patient with self-clinging, patient with self-loathing, patients with the pain of self-clinging, patients with other people self-clinging, patients with other people suffering from self-clinging, all that.

[59:29]

That's the way to benefit suffering beings who have self-clinging. And also he said threshold there's a threshold between benefiting sentient beings who are suffering because of self-clinging and practices which alleviate or antidote the cause of being a sentient being, the cause of suffering. There's a threshold there. And at that threshold, you also need to practice these first three perfections. At the threshold between benefiting beings while still having self-clinging, and benefiting beings unselfishly. At that threshold, you practice the first three and hopefully start practicing the last three. Like that poem, you know, the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

[60:31]

Don't go back to sleep. You have to say what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. Everyone's walking back and forth at the threshold where the two worlds meet. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. So in order to sit on that threshold, We have to do the first, we have to practice generosity, ethics, and patience to sit at that threshold where we interface selfishness and suffering. It's at our back or at our front. But also at the threshold is selflessness. Selflessness and even the end of the tendency towards it.

[61:34]

So the world where, yeah, the world of selfishness and unselfishness are meeting all the time. The world of form and emptiness are meeting all the time. And everybody lives on that threshold actually. On one side you have suffering beings, on the other side you have liberation. But actually everybody's at the threshold. And some people are practicing on both sides at once. Other people aren't practicing enough on the side of suffering to be open to walk through the door, which is always open. And it's not good to go through the door, actually, if you're not taking care of yourself. If you don't take care of yourself in the realm of selfishness, it's not good to go into the realm of unselfishness. That can just be psychosis. Dreaming that you understand selflessness is worse than dreaming that you're a self.

[62:41]

Which is pretty bad. It's worse to dream that you're selfless. But it's fine to be selfless. Just dreaming about it. If you're going to dream, dream that you're selfish. Dream that you're the best person in the world. You'll get feedback on that. But dreaming that you're selfless, it's hard to get help then. So don't do that. Don't dream that you're selfless. Just be selfless without dreaming of it. Any more feedback? May our intention equally extend to every being in place with the true magnet of love.

[66:49]

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