contemplating this teaching about the heroic coursing samadhi, courageous coursing samadhi, contemplating entering into this practice of this samadhi, of the bodhisattva, Someone requested that we invite... that we invoke... So I feel okay about doing that. To mention that the sutra says that at the time that the Buddha was living in Rajagriha, on Vulture Peak with a great assembly of monks, 32,000 monks, and great being bodhisattvas numbering 72,000.

[01:17]

And then they mention all the wonderful qualities of these bodhisattvas. And then the sutra says that bodhisattvas endowed with such qualities were the bodhisattva setting the irreversible wheel of dharma turning. The bodhisattva setting the wheel of dharma after having aroused thought of enlightenment turning. The bodhisattva unobstructedly setting the wheel of dharma rolling. The bodhisattva vimala unstained purity.

[02:24]

The bodhisattva eliminating all veils of passion. the bodhisattva delighting in adopting pure bodily attitudes, the bodhisattva regal intelligence adorned with marvelous marks, the bodhisattva not deluding any being, the bodhisattva intelligence lightening of infinite virtues, the bodhisattva of senses ever concentrated and undistracted, the bodhisattva of truthful sounds, the bodhisattva of all the deities, the bodhisattva sovereign of Dharanis, the bodhisattva

[03:31]

adornment of eloquence. The bodhisattva Manjushri, Kumbha, a Buddha of gentle majesty, crown prince of Dharma. The bodhisattva Maitreya, good-willed. The bodhisattva sovereign of the summit of Sumeru. The bodhisattva intelligence, like a sea adorned with the jewel of virtues, the bodhisattva of great adornments, the bodhisattva of great marks, the bodhisattva sign of light, the bodhisattva majesty of light, the bodhisattva pure intelligence, the bodhisattva sovereign of joy, the bodhisattva firm might, the bodhisattva firm intelligence.

[04:43]

These and other mahasattva bodhisattvas numbering 72,000. In addition, all those who existed in the vast tricilio, megacilio cosmos by way of chakras, brahmas, lokapalas, sovereigns of gods, devas, nagas, yakshas, gandhas, Garudas, Kinnaras, Moharagas, Manyayasas, Anuyashas, universally known, having planted good roots and resolutely intent on the sublime teachings, were all present at that assembly. contemplating and entering into the realm of inconceivable samadhi, inconceivable liberation, inconceivable wonders of bodhisattva life.

[06:04]

I told a simple story of the monk, a good servant yesterday, who went to the Zen master Guishan, the Zen master national teacher, Jung's teachings about non-sentient beings expounding the Dharma. Do you remember that story? Someone asked if I would tell the next part of the story. So, when we last saw Dungsan, he was still with Guishan, Oh darn it, I forgot my whisk. Go get the whisk. Gotta have a whisk.

[07:09]

I got a whisk. You got a whisk. Everybody's got to have a whisk. But there's only one whisk. That's for me. What did you say, Brian? Brian? No, that doesn't work. Well, that's a nice one. This whisk came from the land of Dungsan. This is Guishan's whisk, recently stolen from China. But then we bought this off the thief.

[08:26]

So yesterday I said that the young monk, good servant, went to visit the Zen teacher, Guishan, and told a story about the national teacher's teaching. And then after he told the story, he said, So I finished the teaching, and Guishan said, oh, we have that teaching here too. And he held his whisk up, and he said, do you understand? And good servant said, no, I don't. Please explain. And Guishan said, the mouth, the horn, of my mother and father will never be able to explain to you. But there's somebody who maybe if you go visit this other person might be able to help you.

[09:38]

He lives in a certain province not too far from here and there's a row of stone houses there and if you can part the weeds and stand the wind, you'll probably be able to really respect that teacher." I guess almost like it's implied he's not really respecting Guishan's attempts. And then he says, well, what kind of a person is this? Nguyen, who lives in the stone house. Guishan said, last time I saw him, he said to me something like,

[10:45]

want to uphold your teaching, how should I conduct myself?" And Grayshawn said, end all outflows. And ending outflows became Dung Shan's practice. But anyway, this is what Guizhan said to Yun-Yin. He told him to end all outflows. And to talk about meeting whatever comes without grasping and seeking. And then Guishan said, and then he said, if I do that, will I be upholding your teaching?

[12:09]

And then Guishan says something which I've seen a wide variety of translations. Like one translation is, just don't tell anybody where I am. he refers to himself as an old monk. He says, just don't tell anybody where the old monk is. Another translation is, don't, uh, you won't be able to say anything as long as I'm here. Another one is that I'm on this spot.

[13:21]

So I don't... I'm not done with that last statement myself, but Anyway, Guishan apparently did say something to Dengshan and maybe someday what he was talking about. But anyway, he then left and walked over to where Yunyan was and when he got to Yunyan, he asked Yunyan. He told about what happened with Guishan and then he said to Yunyan, what kind of a person can hear the Dharma bounded by insentient beings.

[14:26]

And Yuen Yuen said, insentient beings can hear it. And good servant said, can you hear it, teacher? And Yen Yen said, if I could hear it, you wouldn't be able to hear me. And good servant said, why wouldn't I be able to hear it? Or another translation would be, why can't I hear it? And then Yunyan raised the whisk. And he said, do you hear it yet?

[15:34]

And Yunyan said, no, I don't. And Nguyen Ngan said, if you can't even hear the Dharma when I expound it, how would you be able to hear it when non-sentient beings expound it? And then Good Servant said, what sutra is this teaching about non-sentient beings, expounding the Dharma. And Yuen Yuen said, didn't you see it? In the Amitabha Sutra, it says water, rivers, lakes,

[16:43]

birds, forests, they all chant Buddha. They all chant Dharma. Hearing this, good servant, had some kind of an experience which led him to a poem which goes something like, How Astonishing. How Astonishing. Where did you go, poem? There you are. non-sentient beings expounding of the Dharma is inconceivable.

[17:58]

It simply cannot be heard with the ears. But when the eyes hear it, then it may be understood. So then that's the sort of chapter. And the good servant stayed with Yuen Yuen for a while. And when I thought about this, I thought, how come Yunyan had his whisk? Was he being kind of formal, or was it just a lot of mosquitoes around? He just had his whisk all the time. Anyway, he had his whisk. Generally speaking, we don't need these things.

[19:03]

But at Tassajara, we do. So there's a lot of mosquitoes at Tassajara in the summer. So we could actually use these at Tassajara. to gently encourage the mosquitoes and biting flies to stay off my skin. in the sutra on the heroic march samadhi after the Buddha talks about those aspects of the samadhi he says this shurangama samadhi

[20:05]

is not understood in the light of a single statement, single object, a single meaning. All the meditative absorptions, attainments, liberations, concentrations, super-knowledges and super-normal powers penetrating and so on, are included in this Shurangama Samadhi. Just as streams, springs, rivers, tributaries, and watercourses flow into the great sea, so all the bodhisattvas possess So all the bodhisattva possesses in the way of meditative absorptions and are to be found in this shurangama samadhi.

[21:27]

Everywhere that bodhisattvas practice the shurangama They are accompanied by all samadhis. Dhridhamati, just as a noble universal wheel-turning sovereign, while traveling, is followed by the seven precious jewels, so, O Dhridhamati, the Shurangama Samadhi is always followed by all the auxiliary dharmas of enlightenment. This is why this samadhi is named the Heroic Progress. The next thing that we move into is very interesting and after that there's some very wonderful things.

[22:39]

There's this little ocean that opens up into a bigger ocean and into a bigger ocean and a bigger ocean of wonderful things about the samadhi. But we're going to now fly over the ocean and hopefully come back to it someday. See how much ocean we're going to fly over? a later part of the sutra. Because, actually, ready? Here's the sutra. Here it goes. Can you feel the breeze? Can you feel reality? Listen to that. So now we've, we just jumped Actually, almost exactly, well, I'll say we jumped exactly 98 pages. We come to a place in the sutra which

[23:56]

has some words on it, and those words are a world-honored one. How then should the bodhisattva practice this samadhi? And the Buddha replied, oh, this bodhisattva who's asked this bodhisattva's name is in this translation, namamati. And the Chinese has a character for name, and then it has a character for mind or intention. It's that same mati like in dhridhamati. So dhridhamati, we said, means resolute mind. But that word for mind can also be intentioned. or will. So we could also say resolute intention or resolute will. So now we have namamati, named mind or the mind of name.

[25:06]

But I think a better way to say it is named mind or named mind. But even better, I think, is named intention. intention and write it down and wear it on your heart to show people, my intention is whatever. So that's his bodhisattva named intention. And that bodhisattva asked the Buddha, world honored one, how should a bodhisattva practice this samadhi? And the Buddha said, named intention, The bodhisattva who regards all things, all phenomena, unresisting and perishing from moment to moment, regarding all things as empty, unresisting,

[26:22]

Or I think better is, it's interesting, unresisting, like things are unresisting. Unresisting or unobstructing. Or unobstructed. All things are unobstructed, but also unobstructing. All things are empty and unresisting. Everything you run into, empty and unresisting. unobstructed, unobstructing. You see, you regard everything like that. And, and perishing moment by moment. Okay, so got that? Everybody you meet, regard them as empty, unobstructing. They're not going to obstruct you. Nobody's going to obstruct you. Nobody's going to hinder you.

[27:25]

They're not going to hinder you and they're not hindered. They're arriving fully. Everything's unhindered and unhindering. Everything you meet, you see, is unhindered. Everything you meet is unhindered, unobstructed and unobstructing. Everything fully arrives and yet there's no obstruction. Bodhisattvas regard everything like that And also that this unobstruction too, they're empty, unobstructing, unresisting, unobstructed, unresisting. And perishing moment by moment. Not annihilated, but perishing. Bodhisattvas regard everything that way. or when bodhisattvas who regard things this way, and then on top of that, on top of that, they likes and dislikes.

[28:43]

Now, they transcend liking and disliking the thing that's arrived, but also they transcend liking or disliking the impermanence of things. They transcend liking or disliking emptiness. They transcend liking or disliking unobstructedness. Bodhisattvas who regard everything in this way are practicing this samadhi. Get the picture? Manifesting in the presence of all Buddhas, with the Buddha's support, perhaps there can be this way of regarding, of meeting everything.

[29:51]

Of course, this is quite similar to the first thing that's mentioned, whatever comes and working with it like space. Okay. People who practice like that are practicing the samadhi. Enter the realm of inconceivable meditation. Moreover, named intention, There is not just a single method for a following in practicing this samadhi. There's not just a single method. How so? As many as there are functionings

[30:57]

In the minds of beings are there functionings of this samadhi? As many as there are functionings of minds and mentation of beings, those are the functionings of this samadhi. As many as there are entrances into the minds and thinkings of beings, are there entrances into this samadhi. As many as there are entrance doors into the faculties of beings, are there entrance doors into this samadhi.

[32:08]

As many As there are names and forms among beings, are there names and forms of this? Knowing this to be so, he's practicing this samadhi. So, if there's a being around, like I could say, if you're a being, or if you know any beings, the mind that you're looking at and the way it's thinking, the functioning of the mind, the functioning of the thinking of the mind, that's the functioning of the samadhi. Okay.

[33:18]

Could you stop there? Okay. So you just said, whatever arises, and you said a bunch of names. Yes. Okay. Whatever names there are, like that, those are names for the samadhi. Stupid, what was the other one? Stupid, wise, evil, those are names for the samadhi. Evil samadhi, good samadhi, wise samadhi, stupid samadhi. Whatever names you have for anything, those can be names for the samadhi. That's part of what it means. One can say that absolutely everything that arises here is the body of Ithaka that is holy.

[34:33]

No matter how horrible it may seem to you, everything is holy. You can say that. But before you said that, you said it was the body of the Tathagata. So you could also stop right there and not say that it's holy. You could just say it's the body of the Tathagata. If you want to say it's holy, then I would say, well, yeah, but it's not holy. But it is the body of the Tathagata. Because Tathagata means, for example, the thus come one. But it also means the thus gone one. So the way the Tathagata comes is the world you got to deal with, but also the way the Tathagata is, is that the Tathagata has left you with the world. So everything is the body of the Tathagata. There's nothing that's not the body of the Tathagata. You can say that. Since other people have said it, you can say it too. Everything that comes is the body that you're targeting.

[35:37]

As a matter of fact, that's what targeting means, is what's coming, what actually is coming. The body that you're targeting doesn't have another body other than what's coming. But to understand that the way it's coming, the way it's going, The way the mind is functioning is the functioning of the samadhi. Someone told me that we have like You know, like at the end of a meal, for example, we stand up, and then the doshi goes to the altar and bows. There's a bell, ding. Doshi walks out, and when the bell rings, most people bow at the bell.

[36:37]

And then people walk around the room in various ways to get back to their seats. So there's all these different flight patterns or all these different functionings by which people move through the room to get back to their place. And the person used... I think it was impromptu, but I might have used the word improvisational. Improvisational means not foreseen. So no one actually can foresee the way people get back to their seats at a meal, right? You can approximately say something about it, but to specifically say how people are going to get back, you know, who's going to let who go first and how many times they're going to fluff their cushion and... and whether anybody's going to get irritated with how long some people are taking, or whatever, you know, it's all different functionings happen.

[37:42]

But this person appreciated the way this was working. To appreciate the actual way that it's going, to see, and to see that the way things are going is the way things are going. It's not things are going like this, or like that, or like Flora's moving now and Serena's moving now, and that the way they're moving is one thing and the samadhi's another. The way that moving's happening is the way the samadhi's happening. And he's practicing the samadhi. And to be able to see that and follow the way things go, to attend things like that, and to attend them as the functioning of the samadhi, is practicing the samadhi, which is very similar to transcending like and dislike.

[38:54]

There might be like and dislike, like, you know, I wish that I would not move so much, or I wish I wouldn't move so much. There might be like and dislike, but the samadhi is to see that that mind which is disliking is the working of the samadhi. And seeing that that dislike of this thing is the working of the samadhi is the like and dislike. So, I don't like this, But that's the working of the samadhi. So it's great that I don't like this. It's fantastic that I hate this. This is like a startling manifestation of the Tathagata's body. It's crunchy in my mind. And to enter into all these workings of beings, minds, and thinking, to enter into them is to enter into the samadhi.

[40:00]

To enter into the workings of beings' minds is entering into the samadhi. No matter who the being is, no matter who it is, no matter who it is, I mean even so-and-so, to actually go, to enter into the workings of that mind, to enter into the entrance of that person's mind to that person's thinking is the entrance to the samadhi. This is a bodhisattva samadhi. This is a samadhi of becoming intimate with all beings. In intimacy all beings are saved. So as we become intimate with all beings, as we enter into those difficult little passageways and twisted corridors of relationship with this and that person in their agony and their anger and their attachment and their needs and their greed and their arrogance and their fear and their whatever.

[41:08]

As there's a gate to that in yourself or others, that's a gate to the samadhi. knowing this, that there are these opportunities to enter the samadhi is practicing the samadhi. At least that's what this sutra says. And this sutra is in charge of the samadhi, right? Fred? Yes. [...] Well, let's stop before you move into something other than what you're talking about.

[42:13]

So you just talked about how the ego functions, right? It's a mind function. It's a way of thinking, okay? And the following of that way of thinking... that you just described. And that very way of thinking makes one feel just dislocated, unappreciative sometimes, and over-appreciated other times. But anyway, it makes a very exciting and difficult life to those those workings, those functionings of the mind as those thoughts you just told us about, which have those consequences and those characteristics, those are the functioning of the samadhi. The samadhi is the way you are functioning.

[43:16]

It completely includes the way you are functioning, even though the way you are functioning may sometimes create various painful scenarios and unskillful behaviors. knowing that the way this is going is the samadhi, is practicing the samadhi. Which again connects with phenomena you just described, which is a kind of painful, difficult phenomena that many people know about. Looking at that as empty and looking, seeing that that doesn't obstruct anything. You cannot obstruct the samadhi. even though the thing that's not obstructing the samadhi is literally resisting. That doesn't obstruct the samadhi, even though it's the resisting of the samadhi. Understanding the unobstructed quality of resistance, understanding resistance as an opportunity to see the samadhi penetrate that phenomena, understanding that this is the samadhi, is the samadhi.

[44:24]

This is like the hero heroically entering this messy situation of an ego consciousness without the slightest bit involvement or separation. Just intimacy. Do you have any further questions about that? So there's another working of the mind, like this is a current one. Can you see how the confusion is going? And contemplate that confusion as the working of the samadhi. Pardon?

[45:36]

You feel that you have? Yeah, okay. Yeah, but the samadhi was working before you let go, too. But then when you considered it... then you saw the fruit of the samadhi. The fruit of the samadhi is to let go of that hindrance and experience the free flow of the samadhi. But the samadhi penetrates obstruction and confusion too. When you're released, then you're released. And that's something you learn about the samadhi. And that encourages you to practice again with the next block. You come to a block and you go, block. block. This is the samadhi right now. This is block.

[46:38]

And this is not hindering. This is an unhindered block. It's like a perfectly arrived block. It's like there's never been a better block than this. This is a fine block, nothing but a block. And this block being a block is precisely the reason why it's not a block. Not because you make it go away, but by its very nature, it's not a block. Therefore we call it a block. And then another test will come. But this is the sixth day of Sashin, so you're on your tippy toes. You can do this and you can enter. You can stay with what's happening now. You're lucky. And just stay with how this stuff is functioning. And understand, you're not just staying with some stuff, like some really nice thoughts or some really perverted thoughts or some really, like, whatever thoughts, confused thoughts, selfish thoughts, arrogant thoughts, brilliant thoughts.

[47:55]

You're not just with these thoughts. You're with, you're like, this is like the function. So this is like, you have, well you, this is the teaching on the samadhi, if you trust this teaching you're going to be like, very happy. Because you trust, you believe in the samadhi and you believe the teachings about the samadhi. And I just thought I might parenthetically mention, although nobody brought it up directly, one might wonder the thought superstition might come up like, is this teaching about what happens in the samadhi superstition? Is it superstition to say that, you know, at the moment of the samadhi, all this wonderful stuff happens, is that superstition? I think if you would hear those stories and you would grasp them, if you would grasp them,

[48:59]

maybe be superstition. But really the grasping is what makes it into superstition. Superstition is literally, first meaning of superstition, well literally superstition means to stand above. Super, above, and stition, stand. Stand above. And then literally, I mean, is stand above. And then in parentheses, the etymologist would say, probably in awe of and amazement. And I thought, yeah, like a dead body. Like maybe when people first found a dead body, conscious of like, it wasn't just like they're walking along dead body. But like when human beings first like found a dead body and went, wow. Like a dead human or a dead mother. Like my mother, this is my mother and she's dead. Like, wow. You know, maybe that's kind of the origin. when we were first awestruck by something.

[50:03]

Usually you'd think you'd stand under something amazing, but you find a dead body like on the ground, right? Or like you're, I don't know what, maybe see your own body lying on the ground. But the definition of superstition is more like to believe that certain actions or circumstances or rituals which are logically unrelated to some effect, to believe in them. That's superstition. But I thought this samadhi, you can test it to see if the actions of the samadhi are unrelated to what the samadhi is about. You can be scientific about it. opening your mind to the samadhi, help you become free.

[51:07]

We're not saying the way things are described in the samadhi is objectively true. We're saying contemplating in the way of the samadhi, entering into the state of mind of the entire universe. So, and also when you hear about the samadhi, is the samadhi logically related to removing any kind of hindrance from your life? Is contemplating the samadhi to becoming free of resistance to your life? Check it out. Seems like it is to me. But it isn't exactly that I can believe that what's being described in this sutra is true, but rather that considering what's going on in this sutra, my own clinging, my own resistance to my own life. And it helps me confront and release anything that hinders intimacy.

[52:12]

If it doesn't, well, what does? And let's make that the... And if something else promotes... ...all beings and the liberation of all beings, let's practice that samadhi. But this one's good enough for me right now. Yes? Is a shortcut way to refer to the samadhi Buddha's mind heart? Is Buddha's mind heart? Another Buddha Mind Heart? Sure. Well, we just said before, any name of anything is a name for the Samadhi. And you can make a shorter name of the Samadhi. I don't know, I think Buddha Mind Heart is shorter than Heroic March. All names are pointing to the Samadhi. That's the kind of Samadhi it is.

[53:13]

It's a samadhi which says, you name it, stupid samadhi, yes. By the way, it says, I didn't finish the description of how to practice a samadhi, but after the description of how to practice a samadhi, it says, named intention, Oh, excuse me. The Bodhisattva says, the Bodhisattva named intention says to the Buddha, World Honored One, the method of following the Samadhi is very difficult. And when I read that I thought, this seems really easy to me. Well, yeah. But he said it was difficult. And then Buddha said, that's why few people are Bodhisattvas who dwell on the Samadhi. Many are the bodhisattvas who dwell in other samadhis.

[54:18]

So I feel like the destruction of how to practice the samadhi was basically, up above was basically, whatever name there is in the world for anything, whatever names there are, isn't that what it said? As many as there are names and forms and marks Are there names and forms and marks of the samadhi? So the name you gave is the name or form of the samadhi. And then the bodhisattva says, isn't that difficult? And Buddhist is, that's why. It's very few people practice it. So I guess, although I said it doesn't seem difficult to me, in a sense I understand, one way to understand that it's difficult is that it's difficult, for example, to apply it to every single person you meet.

[55:31]

So every meeting with every person, you could say it's difficult every time you meet somebody to understand that the way this meeting is going is the way the samadhi is going. It's kind of difficult for us to understand that in each case. Like, this is the samadhi. The way this is going is the way the samadhi is going. The way this is going is the way the samadhi is going. It's difficult to practice that samadhi. but in some sense it doesn't seem difficult. But at the same time, I guess we do sometimes forget, even if we hear this teaching, we might forget that the way this meeting is going is the way the samadhi is going. So there's other samadhis, I guess, which of course this samadhi would say, we're totally with those samadhis, but the other samadhis are not saying they're with this samadhi.

[56:33]

Some samadhis are saying, you may have heard of these other samadhis, these other samadhis are like, that's not samadhi, that's not samadhi. There's other kinds of samadhi, and those are easier in a way. Yes? Yes? Yes? Would you comment on the effect of internal will to change the direction of the flow of samadhi? Would I comment on the effect of internal will to change... Yeah, to change... The direction or the flow of samadhi. So, internal will to change the flow of samadhi. If there is some internal will, and less so will, in other words, if the mind, if the consciousness is such a way that it seems to be directed in some way or willing something rather than something else, if there's some will for the samadhi to go a certain way, this is the way the mind, the way that the will is, is the shape of the mind.

[57:56]

Does that make sense? Yes. mind is mentation or thinking. That's what we call thinking in Buddhism is like the way your mind is shaped, the way it's like, the way it's tending to work at a given moment. That's the will, that's the intention, that's the thinking. That mind in this way is the way the samadhi is working. So although you may be trying to make samadhi go a certain way, the fact that you're trying to get it to go that way is the way the samadhi is going. And if you weren't trying to get the samadhi to go in a way, it was going. So the samadhi is always intimate with whatever is happening with beings. And it is not trying to change the actuality that's being presented at the moment.

[58:56]

It's receiving what's given and not asking, it's not seeking anything Right now you're seeking something other than what I'm saying to you. Go ahead. Yes, I have a question. I think there's an important question about the role of someone who is responsible for the direction of the group with God. Yes. I have to participate in that, and I see you. at some point ego, will, whatever you want to call it, is participating in that function. You believe you're wrong, you comment on it. So you're saying that if a person's playing the role of a leader, that will would be involved in that function called leadership.

[59:57]

Is that what you're saying? Yes. Do you agree with that? Do you hear what you're asking me? I would say yes. It's involved also in the non-leaders' will and function. Will is involved in their role as non-leaders. So will just is in a given moment of experience of a human, well not just a human, but in particular a human mind, the mind has a particular shape every moment. Your mind in a given moment does have a tendency Sometimes the tendency is rather unclear, like sometimes you're sort of like half want to be helpful and half want to interfere with what's going on. Sometimes you're totally in favor of what's going on. You have a very clear, positive take on some idea. So in that case the will is very unified and clear. Sometimes it's kind of ambiguous. But anyway, there is a shape or a contour or a configuration of the mind.

[60:59]

And that's the will. So every moment of human consciousness has will, by definition, in terms of saying it has a confirmation or pattern. If you're a leader, in a given moment of experience, you have a body and mind, and the mind has a will. So that's involved in the situation. So I agree. But any situations like that, Now, if you want to be a leader like this leader in this book, the Buddha leader, what the Buddha does, the way the Buddha works with his or her consciousness and works with his or her consciousness, is they recognize it, if it's being presented to them, and contemplate it with this gentleness and non-attachment. And so what they're leading in is they're leading beings in how to deal with their own without attachment.

[62:02]

So they're leading beings in how to be free of the constant mental factor called will. So rather than have free will or strong will, we want to liberate beings from will. And will, again, is a definition of karma. So we're trying to liberate beings who do have will from that process by handling the will in the context of the samadhi, which is to recognize it and be intimate with it. And the way to be intimate with will, for example, see it as the working of samadhi. And seeing it as the working of samadhi, you can demonstrate to other people how to see their will as the working of samadhi, and then we all are like in the samadhi together. So you're leading or setting an example or teaching how to be in this samadhi where all this wonderful stuff can happen, where we can like be friends with everybody.

[63:07]

Because our will is sometimes in the shape of, I would like to get away from this person. this person or I would like this person to get away or I would like this person to be degraded or I would like this person to be promoted but either way if we attach to those things there can be problems and disharmony is between us so the leader in the context of the samadhi is trying to lead to practice herself with her will in such a way that she liberates her will and then that then can be demonstrated to other people how to be free of their wills. So we have wills just like we have eyebrows and teeth. The question is how to be free of having what we've got. Heroically demonstrate how to work with the human condition in such a way as to... Well, the leader should heroically demonstrate how to work with the human condition if the leader wants to demonstrate the heroic progress of a bodhisattva.

[64:18]

Did that infer or suggest a method, a preferred method of leadership? Again, . OK. And the military method where you say you give your command and you have your stake and then you do it. You don't do it. You punish them. That's one method. Yes. Another method, I suppose, would be demonstrating this is the way about you do it. And eventually you don't do it. It's a hack. Those are methods I would guess. Those are methods you would guess? Yes, I would guess. I would suppose. You would suppose. Okay, fine. Go ahead. That's what you're saying, suggesting they prefer a way of relating in leadership.

[65:22]

Well, in a sense, what I feel that what I'm suggesting here, or in other words, my understanding of the samadhi, which I'm kind of promoting, the samadhi, is that in this samadhi, you do not have a preferred method. And you can say, well, isn't that your preferred method? I would say, well, I'd rather not prefer not having it either. In other words, if it's helpful, I'll have a preferred method. But basically, I don't have a preferred method. I have methods that are opportune, and I try to do what's helpful. the way I'm doing right now. Because sometimes it may be helpful to do something that I don't prefer. In other words, like it said before, transcending like and dislike, in other words, transcending preference. So if there's a method available and I prefer it, but it's not appropriate to the situation, even though it's my favorite, I'm not going to do it.

[66:24]

So preference, there can be preferences, but in this samadhi we don't attach to them. We transcend our preferences. And in transcending the preferences, the idea is that the appropriate response will come. Now, I would like, to me, what goes with this samadhi, which is something I talk about quite a bit, I say to you, if I feel something, like I say to you, I would like you to be more gentle with yourself. I might say that to you. Or I might say, gentle to the woman sitting next to you. I might say that to you. But in this samadhi, I don't say that to you to try to get you to do that. I say that to you because that's what I have to express to you. I'm not trying to control you. I'm trying to basically enter you by showing you who I am.

[67:28]

And I'm not going to punish you if you don't do what I say I want because I'm not trying to get you to do what I want. I'm not trying to control you. I'm trying to express myself so I can be free of myself and you can see me become free of myself by being myself. appropriate well again the word appropriate means literally the English word appropriates comes from apropos which means to the point okay so what is the point you get to decide the point it's a free universe And I say you get to decide the point, but anyway, actually you don't. The universe decides the point through you.

[68:32]

So the universe has made you into a certain type of being who has a point. What is your point? If your point is liberation and the development of the realization of truth, then the appropriate response is what goes with that point. So I'm talking about the point of a bodhisattva. And what's appropriate to that is what educates beings about the nature of reality and helps them become more compassionate and wise. So what kind of behavior is appropriate to that? The teaching is, for example, no matter what comes, regard it as empty and unobstructed and unobstructing. no matter what people offer you. If somebody comes running at you with a sword, you say, okay, here it comes. This is like unobstructing. How can I work with this without thinking that this is obstructing me or that it's obstructed?

[69:38]

What is my like and dislike of this person attacking me? Those instructions are instructions about how to meet this person in such a way that a great educational event can occur Okay? So we have these stories of Zen where the general is coming up to them and saying, okay man, what are you doing sitting here? I told you to get out of this monastery. I'm going to cut your head off. Don't you realize that I have the power to decapitate you like that? And the Zen teacher says, don't you realize that I'm a person that you can decapitate just like that? So this kind of way of meeting the person can convert them from violence by you harmonizing with them in that way. So I would say that is an appropriate response in that story. Appropriate to the teacher helping that general become free of his violence.

[70:39]

Well, you said you're experiencing it and not judging it. It's not so much that you're experiencing it and not judging it. It's that you're experiencing it, and if you judge it, then you experience your judgment. And you experience it, and it may be a judgment, but you don't attach to your judgment. You can experience something and the judgment can come up, and you can have a judgment without attaching to the judgment. And if you don't attach to the judgment, If the judgment would in any way... I shouldn't say take back. If you attach to the judgment, beings will be harmed. Even if you attach to the judgment of someone's great, there'll be a backfire on that one.

[72:06]

So the mind can function whatever way it functions. You can see somebody and say, good. You can see somebody and think, bad. That's fine. But if you attach to either good or bad in relationship to the person, you disturb... energy of your relationship. And this causes outflows. This causes you to get depressed and want to avoid that person because when you meet that person, you keep grasping great, wonderful, and so on. And although you feel great about them, you have to feel worse and worse every time you see them because you grasp how great and wonderful they are. And you start getting more and more twisted and sick. And then pretty soon you start attacking them because you think they're the fault of you feeling so bad. Whereas actually the reason why you feel so bad when you're with them is because you're attached to how great you think. So even somebody you just think is, you totally worship, you can start hating and want to kill. You've heard these stories, right?

[73:09]

The person like murders their teacher because they respected their teacher so much. or murdered their lover because the lover was so wonderful and so beautiful and so fantastic, and got sicker and sicker because not of the person, but because of the attachment to their valuing the person as so great. But if you think someone's wonderful and you don't attach to it, you can have a nice relationship with them. The samadhi lives. If you think someone's totally a creep and you don't attach to it, you can have a nice relationship with them. So it's a non-attachment to the judgments. We have minds, they make judgments, let them. But regard these judgments as empty, unobstructed, unobstructing, and transcend likes and dislikes. Then we're in the samadhi. Then you can think whatever you want. You can think, boy, she's just really great, or boy, she is really, really out of it.

[74:10]

You can think those thoughts and they do not harm anything. They just pass right through. And actually, there are opportunities then to realize the samadhi, to say, this judgment, the way this judgment works, is the working of the samadhi. not something to grasp, but to see the samadhi working as my mind making a judgment. And what's the samadhi? Every phenomena as empty, unobstructing, impermanent, and an opportunity to transcend preference about it. Then wonderful things can happen between us and we can all be liberated. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yes? How do you not attach? Well, why don't we first talk about how you attach? Do you know how to? I feel like it happens automatically. Right, so do you know something about attachment?

[75:12]

I don't know if I know about attachment, but I know I attach. I don't know how I attach. Okay, well first of all, somehow you have an inkling that you're attached. Yes. Okay, so you've got, you have some kind of like a little bit of glimmering of vision of the attachment, right? Okay, so now let's pay attention to the attachment. Rather than talk about how not to be attached, let's first of all confess that we're attached. Okay? Now I say, about the attachment. And you say, well, I don't know too much about it. I say, well, fine. Do you have any ideas? And you start talking to me about the attachment. You tell me more and more about attachment. Pretty soon, you're like, you know, local expert on your attachment. Okay? So we're not getting into non-attachment. We're recognizing attachment. Attachment is a working of the mind. Right? So now you're watching how your mind works, how your mind functions, how your mind thinks, the functioning of your thinking. So we're watching this. As we watch this, then I also mention to you any preferences about this or likes or dislikes about this.

[76:24]

And maybe you notice some. Say, well, can you let go of those? And again, you might not be able to, but first of all, you maybe just like, notice them. And then the more you notice them, the closer you're getting to putting energy into them rather than grasping them. So we get closer and closer to the attachment, and we get closer and closer to the attachment, and appreciate the attachment more and more as the working of the samadhi. We get more and more intimate with it, and if we become completely intimate with it, we realize non-attachment. But to seek non-attachment, or to grasp a non-attachment, is more attachment. But to study attachment without preference that it would go away, or seeking to get rid of it, but actually be interested in it, like you're in a being. Because you see that the way this thing's working, the way this...

[77:26]

its attachment is functioning, is the functioning of the samadhi. So this teaching about the samadhi is like encouraging you to study your mind with appreciation and preference as much as possible. And to express how you're doing it, to communicate about how you're doing it, with others so you can become aware if you're getting sticky with the study. So the study should be relaxed, non-seeking, non-grasping. Working with attachment like you're working with space. Purifying attachment like you purify space. How do you purify space? where you don't. How do you purify? But you just face space. You work with it. So you work with this without trying to fix it or change it. You're devoted to it and giving your attention to it. This is where non-attachment comes from, this kind of work. So is my special state?

[78:35]

Are you talking about special states? No. What's the difference between that and reality? I said earlier that the Buddhist, what is his name, named intention says, this samadhi seems difficult. And I thought it didn't seem difficult. And then Buddha said, yeah, that's why people practice other kinds of samadhis. Because there's other kinds of samadhis which are different from something. Those are easier for people to practice. This samadhi is a samadhi which is difficult in the sense that you can practice it any time. And it's about practicing it with whatever. It's not different from anything. It is the samadhi of the way things are working. The way things are working is the way that the samadhi is working. The samadhi includes everything. It includes all the samadhis, and it also includes the samadhis which don't include it. which don't want to include it. Of course, all the samadhis do include it because it's mutual. But some samadhis are exclusive samadhis.

[79:37]

They want to be exclusive. They want to say, this is the samadhi. And over there is another samadhi. But this is a samadhi which includes all samadhis. It includes all beings. It includes all beings. It includes, you know, that's why I say in this samadhi, this samadhi is to take all beings and put them into one body. It's to take all samadhis and put them into one body. It is to be working on one body and one samadhi all the time. Every situation, you're always working on one thing. always working on the same thing, the samadhi. Every moment's like that. And so in one sense Bodhisattva says this is hard, in another sense it's easy because it's so simple. But it's also easy to slip because our mind presents complexities and we think, well, maybe this isn't the samadhi. Well, thinking that maybe this isn't samadhi is one of the ways the samadhi's working. Because this is another way that the mind's functioning. Like, maybe this isn't the samadhi.

[80:38]

Maybe I'm a jerk. So it isn't that you say, oh no, oh no, no, no. You're not a jerk. So thinking maybe I'm a jerk is the way your mind's working, and that's the way the samadhi's working. Arguing with yourself and saying you're not a jerk is the way the mind's working. So the samadhi is not to grasp, I'm a good meditator. It's not to grasp, I'm not a good meditator. It's not to... It's not to grasp, I'm not a jerk. It's just the mind's producing this stuff, and these are ways that you can practice the samadhi. The way you enter into the idea that you're a jerk is the way you enter the samadhi. The way you enter the idea that you're a great sage is the way you enter the samadhi. And the way you enter is you don't grasp it. If you grasp that you're a great sage, you miss the samadhi. If you grasp that you're a lousy student, you miss the samadhi. But the way you enter into the process of grasping is the way you enter the samadhi. So the way of entering into and understanding things, whatever, no matter what it is, is a way to enter the samadhi.

[81:44]

And the way to enter and understand things is to regard them as empty, impermanent, unhindering, and have no preference about them. That's the way to enter things. But, you know. Any problem with that? Great, but I keep... Did you say great, but? Great, but I don't want to be in great. I want to come back to... I want to be little. Yes? Yes, yes. There's a piece. That's what's frustrating. Right? Well, like it says, you know, if you try to hear with your ears, no. You're not going to be able to hear with your ears. You have to hear with your eyes. But of course you can't hear with your eyes. So the way of hearing this teaching is the same way you practice this teaching.

[82:47]

Now, if you notice that you're trying to grasp, rather than try to succeed at grasping, you then turn to look at what's the process of grasping. To study the process of grasping, the way that you're grasping is the way the samadhi is functioning. But it isn't that you're trying to grasp, it's that you're trying to see how the samadhi is trying to grasp a teaching on samadhi. When you look at the grasping that way, boom, you're practicing the samadhi. When you forget that the grasping is the opportunity for practicing the samadhi, then you think the grasping is to get something, rather than the grasping is being given something. See the difference? That trying to get something, we sometimes think we want to get something rather than realizing trying to get something namely the phenomena of seeking. Well, that's something to go, hi, seeking, and I'm not trying to get rid of you, I just say hi.

[83:48]

And seeking says, well, aren't you going to do something about me? And I say, what? You just have this conversation with seeking, you get intimate with seeking, and pretty soon it's not really seeking anymore. It's the samadhi. You're in the samadhi now. You're not behind the plow You'll never get rich by digging a ditch. You're in samadhi now. Like it or not, you're in the samadhi. But anyway, some people like the samadhi. Some people don't. I like it. Some people don't. So what? The point is transcend likes and dislikes of the samadhi and then you're in the samadhi. If you want to kick yourself out of the samadhi, too bad.

[84:52]

You can't. You can't get yourself out of it. You can only dream you're not in it. You can only resist it. The samadhi's got you. You're all samadhi slaves just like me. But you can resist your slavery. You can resist your servitude to this great absorption and this great concentration on the heroic progress of bodhisattva. You can resist. It's okay. Go ahead, resist. Bodhisattvas love the opportunity to work with people. They grow on resistance. Come on, give us the resistance. We love it. If nobody resisted, we'd be out of a job. Of course we're happy when we see people who... It's beautiful. It's fantastic to see people, like, just totally immersed in the samadhi and completely liberated from all resistance. It's very lovely. But it's kind of like, just like, wow, that's great.

[85:53]

Rather than other people who, like, you can really get in there and it's like, oh, you're resisting. Oh, this is fun. Come on. You don't think this is funny, do you? No. Sorry. I just wanted to mention that I've just about finished the people who signed up for Doksan, but some people signed up for a second round, and so I'll do a second round with people if they want to. So if you want to have a second round, you can have a second round, but they're going to have to be brief. So if you want a brief second round... you can sign up, but I can't do like, you know, I've been sort of like letting some of them go on for, you know, a while. Like, some of them, I didn't actually time them, but I had the feeling that some of them were like half an hour, or maybe some of them were... Huh?

[86:55]

What? Yeah, there were a couple that were... Uh... I appreciate your timing that one, that was great. So, I guess I'm confessing that I got this little problem, I can't quite get this culprit a stretch between now and Sunday. So, due to the lack of supernatural powers here, we're just going to play it simple and do brief ones. So if you want to have a brief meeting, brief check-in before the end, fine. But I hope to be in Zendo a little bit before the end. If I do this the other way, I won't be able to sit at all. So after I finish the regular ones, if you want to come for brief ones, you're welcome to come. And the people who already signed up, if you want to come for a brief one, you're welcome.

[87:57]

Thank you. Man.

[88:03]

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