that
she is always close to us and practicing with us
buddha's are always
close to us and always practicing with us

but
until we are ready
somehow we cannot see that the buddha is right in front of us
teaching the lotus sutra
to us right now

in this chapter
the buddha also explains to us when and how we will see the buddha
practicing together with us
so the verse says something like
those who practice all virtues
our
soft and flexible
harmonious upright and honest will see the buddha

teaching right now

practicing all virtues means
meeting all living and
apparently on living
beings
with compassion
with generosity with
careful action
kind speech
respect gentleness

from
relaxed presence

patience
enthusiasm
for the meeting
undistracted com
open mind and body
soft and flexible mind and body
and also
with
penetrating insight
meeting all beings in this way we are so flexible
harmonious upright and honest and we see the border
right before us

in the early teaching
we find the report or the story that ah the other founder shakyamuni buddha
was born
grew up left home
attained
unsurpassed awakening became a buddha taught for about forty five years and then enter nirvana
and was a
cremated
and that was the end of the buddha
in this world
in the lotus sutra
now we have the buddha telling us
that that disappearance of the buddha and also that appearance of the buddha that coming up the border and that going of the buddha we are told is a skillful device
a provisional teaching given by the buddha to help us
practice
all virgins with all bags so that we can see the buddha

the buddha sees the world the triple world
which we also see
but the buddhist sees it as it really is
the way we see it the way we see the or world and triple world means usually the world of a be
i'm kind of gross material appearances subtle material pair appearances and know non-material realms it is the three realms of experience that we almost all of us are living in
for a long time the buddha is in this world with us but this work the buddhist sees it as it is
for the buddha this world we live in
does not have birth and death
does not have existence and non-existence
does not have coming and going

the buddha is with us in the triple world but sees it as it is and the way we see it is not how it is
and because of that the buddha manifests coming and going
so we can see the buddha in our world and here the teaching which will lead us to see the triple world as it is
the way the buddha saves the world is like the heart sutra a perfect wisdom
but that also includes a buddhist sees us
sees us
not seeing that
the buddhist sees us not seeing the heart sutra as the way the triple world is
and the buddhist sees us not born not die
not coming not gone not existed not nonexistent and the buddhist sees that we see coming going
existence or nonexistence
birth death the buddhist sees that we do not see the triple world as it is
and so the bird buddha expediently appears because we see things appeared to buddha expediently comes because we see things coming
and buddha dies because we see things die
but after we hear the buddha's teaching
and then the buddha dies
this appearance this expedient means of the buddha entering nirvana
is given to us so we will practice
and see the buddha and see that the buddha did not go away and the border did not come in the buddha is always present with us however the buddha does not appear to be something that comes or goes and we're not used to seeing something a person a tree
three
a year
a life we're not used to seeing things
the way they really are in other words we're not what used to sing a life that doesn't come or go but if we practice we will see a life that doesn't come or go that's not born and does not die that doesn't exist or not exist and one
we see that world we see like the vertices and we also see the buddha seeing the way the buddha sees is seeing buddha and we can also see buddha's skillful means to help people see buddha

ah the buddha also in this chapter says quite a few other things and the buddha who's talking in this chapter ah is not the historical shakyamuni buddha who appeared and disappeared
the buddha who is teaching us in the lotus sutra chapter sixteen and throughout the lotus sutra is the buddha that's always with us
who tells us about shakyamuni buddha book appeared and disappeared
and the buddha in the lotus sutra who teaches us
about the historical shakyamuni buddha is also called shakyamuni buddha
so the lotus sutra shocking money buddha tells us the way shakyamuni buddha historical shakyamuni buddha was namely he was a skillful
teaching he was a skillful device
who appeared and disappeared and he's a skillful device of the buddha who does not appear and disappear
and the buddha mentions a few times during this chapter sixteen that it wasn't a lie that the buddha appeared and disappeared it wasn't a lie that the buddha appeared to manifest death
as party nirvana
it wasn't a lie the truth of the buddha is not a lie
however the truth of the buddha may appear to be a lie to people who see coming and going
and the teaching of the buddha is to liberate people who see lies

the purpose of the buddha's teaching is deliberate pip beings who see birth and death who see coming and going
and solve some of the teachings of the buddha may sound untrue
now i think maybe the buddha said i will now and i will now enter nirvana i think the buddha may have said that the historical buddha may have said that
just like the historical buddha said you know when i was young i did this or that
but when historical buddha said when i was young i did this or that
that was skillful device because
the buddha the actual buddha was not young
when chalky money buddha was talking
so again the buddha does acknowledge that that teaching on
you're teaching nirvana or teaching by manifesting your bottom may appear to be a lie
also around the time of buddha's teaching
i'm dying the buddha also said
those of you who say the buddha enters the extinction of nirvana
are not my disciples
and those who say the buddha does not er the to targeted does not enter nirvana or not my disciples
again taking either position is not the way the buddhist sees things

the buddhist pure in the buddhist pure land again no coming now going no increase not decrease nor birth no death and this is
a nirvana a peaceful blissful realm of liberation
a nirvana which has no coming or going
and the buddha once
at the end of the chapter the buddhist says i'm always thinking
how can i help buildings
quickly attain
unsurpassed awakening and enter buddha as way
and one of the ways that buddha response to that question is by telling
us that buddha is always practicing with us and telling us
quite simply how to practice in order to see that buddha is practicing together with us right now

ah i will go over this chapter if i live longer i will go over this chapter with you again and again
i've heard that our founder in japan
a hey dorgan
felt that this chapter was the most important one

i've also heard that the sixth answer to this ancestor of our tradition in china
that he felt that the second that in the second chapter ah
when the buddhist says that there's one great cause and condition for the buddha's appearing in this world
so once again
our ancestor dorgan said he felt he felt that sixth chapter sixteen that i just told you about was most important and the six ancestor said the section in chapter two which explains
the main reason the basic one reason that buddha's appear in the world was to open living beings to the buddha's wisdom
to demonstrate
but his wisdom to living beings to awaken living beings to buddha's wisdom and to help living beings enter it
so that motivation that desire to open beings to the teaching that desire is the reason buddha's appear in the realm of coming and going
buddha's live with us but they also see that coming and going is not existent or nonexistent
and because they care for us
so deeply and want us to wake up they appear in a form that we can see coming and going that we can see them being born and die
so the six ancestor felt that
the most important thing is the reason for buddha appearing in birth and death
and
in chapter sixteen says the buddha does not really appear in birth and death the buddha is always present with us in birth and death
but and and another thing
in chapter two that very important is that it explains that only buddha's together with buddha's can realize this teaching
so for me that also is very important teaching in the lotus sutra that not only have the buddhist told us how to see them but they've also told us that once we see them
that then in order to complete the work of a wake of buddha we need to meet together face to face like we're doing right now

so this is that what he called i just set the table
and now we can have
a conversation
face to face

welcome
welcome conversation
an

yes this is so amazing you
what is the difference between the buddha behind the buddha and source penetrate the source commune with the source and the notion of of god or eternal

the
i talked about the buddha statue behind me know i mean the buddha that that gave rise to improve air shaft the went over to benefit content with years and yang so there's one budo that appears and disappears like to call that sometimes called transfer
asian buddha or are sometimes also called phantom buddha
or magical appearance buddha
shakyamuni buddha was a a magical appearance of the buddha
a transformation of a boot of a buddha and the transformation came and went was born and died
but the buddha that is always with us which doesn't appear disappear that's the one you want to know about is there a difference between that and god yeah got god or sarsour god or source yeah
well thanks for using the word source so that that
the buddha that doesn't come and go as always with us that's always practicing with us
that buddha which is practicing with each one of us always always giving us the teaching all was giving us the dharma that buddha
is not the same or different from anything
that boot is not the same as god are different from god
whatever got is that buddha transcends sameness and difference so once again if you want to know the difference that buddha transcends difference but also it transcends sameness sameness and difference our thought constructions
of sentient beings who live in birth and death

thank you for your question
he has it has profound implications
angela

why name
is
the am
tension that our bodies experience the internal tension that we may feel
is that
i guess
i'm
a result of
feeling this coming and going rather than
i'm feeling the presence of good at all times

so grab you might have to unmute yourself
dr john new myself everytime an urgent knowledge me know you're okay now
but i will i wasn't mute and when i was talking to an was a that's correct
now i'm talking to angela and she asked some tension in the body is that the result of karma and i said i'm basically i would say
why professor i don't know than i could say maybe maybe so
i'm
but before i get into
what's that's a result of i'd like to first of all point out that
if you wanna see buddha right now if you want to understand that you're practicing together with all beings
and all beings are practicing with you that you're practicing with all buddhas and you want to hear the teaching that they're giving you right now then rather than getting into how come you have there's tension in your body let's practice all virtues with that tension
that tension is something that comes and goes right
yes it's something that exists or doesn't exist right yes so that's an illusion of course
but we don't much so
the illusion not an insult illusions a an invitation
so this tension is calling for compassion is calling for
gentleness and flexibility and uprightness and honesty and all the bodhisattva virtues if you practice
them with the attention you will see the buddha tucci right now and seeing the buddha teacher at now you will see that these things are not the way they appear they're not as they seem and you will be free of them without getting rid of them
but you could also then say by the way or the tension your body or his duties these causes and conditions and that district in the and these causes and conditions where you start to enumerate
can you guess how many there would be infinite yeah
and you could result you can record
the still down the infinite causes and conditions of the universe to like six clauses or two or thirty seven
but really the whole universe is what supports the appearance of that tension
and the whole universe is calling for compassion
how's that
great i'll continue to set with this tension practicing can pass a young and if you practice if you practice of way with this tension you will see the buddha's teaching you right here right now with that tension

houma

ah
you mentioned in your talks a lot about meeting
and i am interested to know this meeting does this meeting has certain quality with it
is this meeting what comes and goes what are you really talking about this meeting what is this meeting

i don't i don't know if the meeting has qualities
i i i think maybe the meeting does not have qualities
unless i project qualities on it but my attempts to join the meeting for example up in it in my attempt to join the zoom meeting with you i had to get a computer and impress this little button here and in move a cursor
sir i did various things in order to have this meeting but now that i'm having this meeting with you i don't know what the meeting is and if i have any ideas of what the meeting is those are ideas about the meetings of aren't the meeting
so the meeting but yeah right even though i'd the meeting doesn't have characteristics necessarily it also doesn't have the characteristic of having no characteristics by the way
this meeting is the situation in which we realize the teaching which liberates all beings
and so what is the way of having the meeting will get a computer press a button look at the screen practice all virtues the whole hearted in your conversation with people and you will enter the meeting
but to try to get ahold of the meeting is another thing to practice compassion with
the meaning is ungraspable if you grasp it urine it's not a meeting
in the meeting you can't grasp the meeting or who you're meeting that's the kind of meeting that buddhists have with buddhas and that's the kind of meeting buddhists have with us right now they have a meeting which they can't grasp and i can't grasp but i can be wholehearted
good about this meeting that i can't grasp
so therefore ah
because i don't see myself in that meeting because the meeting you're describing from what i hear is the meeting with no no not no thing no agenda nothing attached away you know it
is that empty of empty on all my thoughts empty of all my feelings and an empty clear clear so since i am not that because my mind breeze springs comes comes and goes like it brings that ought to this meeting that i need to
meet for example my dad was ninety five my mom was eighty five and they're going through a dimension all that stuff i need to bring this kindness to the meeting because otherwise be there it's too hard for me so
i need help to meet
we
with no no
a it's difficult it is difficult to meet
yes yeah difficult to meet
it's difficult to meet in this what is mit difficult to meet even half heartedly it's difficult to meet but to meet whole heartedly is difficult the lotus sutra says over and over again this teaching is difficult to meet difficult to practice difficult to understand
and you said you also said earlier i need help in order to meet and that's right and the buddhas are with you all the time and i'm with you all the time and we're all with you all the time helping you to meet and when you and if you'd when you do meet it's because you
helped is because you're supported by all the buddhas that when you can meet difficulties like your parents suffering with compassion that's because we are practicing with you you cannot meet them in this whole hearted way without our support as
and we are giving it to you so remember we're giving it to you and please accepted and do the hard practice and when you are involved in the hard practice wholeheartedly it's because we're helping you
and also you're helping us when your practice that way
yeah i think i think it's the compassion that i need to receive so i will i receive and i've always received it i will continue to receive thank you and so again as buddha said those who practice all virtues with all beings
who are receptive so being flexible and harmonious is an unfolding of being receptive receptive of what of everything and inc if you're receptive any every everything you will also receive buddhist compassion
still
rab just one i got two questions but so but i'll try to degrees all he ask one i'm sitting i'm only a buddha together with all buddhas and then sitting alone on domestic peak
so some point of shit there's some paradox here because at some point part of this project part of this practice is to be all alone and then another part of the practices to be with everyone and so there's there's how do you conceive
love this inconceivable point where you're all alone in your with everyone
ah i see the the buddha activity as a pivoting between being alone and being with all beings that but those see those two things are turning on each other
so as sentient beings can feel alone but actually they're being practice with buddha's who are not alone
buddha's are never alone however they may appear to be alone in order for us to find them
if if we tell them if if the buddha appears everywhere we may have trouble finding it even though the buddha is everywhere so it appears on a tick on a mystic peak by it's by itself so we can look at it and oriented towards it and practice with it and realize that the alone
is by the way the word alone also pivots between
all one and all loan originally
all alone was all one so we're pivoting between being alone in all one with all beings
and the buddha's appear sometimes to be or something that comes and goes so to work to help us practice and then the buddha teaches us how to practice in order to see that all one and alone are interpenetrating each other
and paradoxes are helpful that way
what on it on a more psychological level don't isn't there this dark night of the soul with that the practitioner has to go through at least once and perhaps many times where there's this feeling of being perhaps young perhaps many times perhaps
perhaps daily
this is the dark knight of the soul haven't you seen it we're in the dark knight of the soul here in this world
what we're in it and it's saying to us be compassionate to this darkness
he be generous and respectful and gentle and patient with this darkness who did the dark knight of the soul is a common if not omnipresent opportunity
and the people who brought up the doctor i saw again they appeared and disappeared and while they were here they gave us a nice message dark night of the soul it was a really necessary part of my practice and i would say is a daily part of my practice
of that hey that here's the dark knight of the sole again while and then later in the day or now we passed through it or here comes again so it is part of our psychological process yes
let's have more dark knight shall we come on dark nights

one of the great historical warriors and english history was called the black knight right

just justin

iran
hello
i'm
i find myself i was really glad that an brought up the anime the ideas of god and source and i find myself for some i really appreciated your words and maybe a lot of sense of sporting a when i really really
that really resonated with me and
and i find myself being very stuck on the idea of god i'm it's one night
that i feel it has helped me all throughout my life i and am i feel like sometimes i'm forcing myself down to substitute other ideas for that idea
but the same time i i see letting go of the idea of i see it clearly that it is an idea and i don't see it as a person in the sky but i see it almost as i tried to imagine something with no shape or form but i recognize that i can't imagine somebody with no shape or form but i still feel like i need to stick to that idea
aya to function and i see that i also had this feeling that letting go of that idea
exactly what i need to do
but i'm
find myself unwilling to do the things necessary that i know i will need to do or engage in a level of mindfulness i know will need to engage in to truly let go of that idea
so i am
struggling with how to practice with that and that said and i think that that conflict is an is something that's
it's like v conflict for me and i'm and i'm wondering if you could speak to how to practice with that
i i thought i heard you say something like
you're finding it difficult to do the practices that you think would be appropriate
to letting go of something that you're holding onto yeah and i i
yes okay and again as the lotus sutra basically says that over and over it says it's hard to do the practice and to receive the teaching which you need to do in order to let go of holding onto anything so hearing those words
where do i focused on or pay attention to the to the just the fact that yes this is hard and that's when when rather is that though it's not the focal point to took to maintain presence like yeah this is really hard yes this is how
art
no i don't focus on i don't focus on hot how hard it is i just notice that when i try to do when i wanna do
ah i often find it difficult or even forget to do it the thing to focus on is the practice not how hard it is but it is hard because it's like you know what is it it's something you're learning this the buddha came in the world to teach us something we don't already know how to do
we don't know how to practice and we especially we don't know how to practice ceaselessly
so to the practice is difficult to learn plus it's once you learn it and no practice it for a moment which is great than the next moment because of various causes and conditions of karmic past we get distracted
and then oh i got distracted hope
not as hard as it's hard i need help oh and the buddhist so his heart is normal and avoided is for informing the fact that you're having a hard time and the boot is also saying i'm here with you to support you to do the practice which are having a hard time doing and say remember okay it's hard
that's normal and also i locked the buddhist or helping me do this hard things i not to do about myself and it's possible i will be able to do it so here i'm and try again and your i'm trying and i'm so glad i'm trying what am i trying to do i'm trying to do these practices which will help me let it go of everything
a including these practices
because i did find a few practices that worked and that was so great that i'm holding onto them but then they backfire not they don't backfire my attachment to them backfire makes them back makes the situation backfire so i wanna go forward if i attached to going forward i go backwards i want to go backwards if i attached to going backwards i go for
heard this is a normal situation learning the middle way learning the buddha way is hard and buddha is with you all the time helping you sheila
the thing to remember is not that it's hard but to practice when it appears to be hard not the buddha's helping you but to practice remembering that boot is helping you to practice
the everything with great compassion
i think sometimes i think that i'm i'm already practicing and that's the problem when we already practicing but you don't understand that
in a sense though right
pardon and as in a sense though right because i'm not open to learning something because i think i'm already doing it that's all how are you are open to learning you just don't understand it yet
yeah yeah totally that's all you want us to learn you want to learn the boot away that's what you're yearning for that user lives about is to learn the path of compassion and wisdom that's all you really are here for so you can help everybody
that's it you really want but you don't understand that yet and the reason you don't understand is because you have various ideas that you're attached to so you already understand you need to let go of these ideas whatever they are and let go of these feelings and let go of your stories you understand that and you'd try
and sometimes the way you try is just right and you'd and there is letting go but other times you try and unskillful way so you don't let go you keep holding on so you you're not really holding on
that's not really the way it is you're not really coming and going you don't really exist or not exist you don't really be born and die but you think so
so you think you're not practicing but you are
and if you think you are you are but that's not you're not practicing the way you think you are
you're practicing with the buddhas and the way you think you're practically with the is is not the way you're practicing with the is the way you're practicing with all beings is beyond your ideas and if you let go of your ideas you will open to the way you are practicing together with all buddhas and all sentient beings
thank you you're welcome thank you for your questions and comments and points of view
we came
are we came
we have done meet yourself
difficulty finding a button

i think that my question sort of like a previous job my justin's i have ah
since since this kobe era i've had difficulty half
practicing or would i what i consider to be practice ah and the matter i was able to before i
saga is enable forget to janitor and arson we made less frequently and when we do made its by zoom some of us are meeting in person by naughton send our meeting outside and
it just it doesn't to me doesn't feel like i'm practicing
ha much of a time or and it's not the way i used to and i wonder if there's a difference between a practicing and not practice
did you say it doesn't feel like practice
yes yeah practice is not is beyond feeling and discrimination
so the press you may you may not you may feel you're not practicing and also you may feel the practice is different from the way it used to be i fully understand that and know but the practice is
beyond sameness and difference
the way to open to the actual practice which is beyond your feeling is by practicing compassion with your feeling that the practice is different or the practice is inferior to what it used to be
so now a green gulch
we're in the zendo again
just a few of us because we're social distancing and we wear masks and we have the doors and windows open so it's nice and cold in the zendo and the thought arises maybe in some people's minds what if it gets ten degrees colder
like this morning it was forty two what if it gets down to thirty two so human thoughts like that it will be it will be difficult to be indesign job i would why wanna be in there and cause it's kind of is it's wonderful to be in there but i can also say it's not like it use
to be when it wasn't so cold and when we didn't have to wear masks and where we got we could all be together now we cannot all be together just a few of us so it seems different but the that just puts it that just my mind right or the practice is different
and i really liked the way it used to be yes i do
but the way i used to be and the way i liked to be the practice was beyond
how it appeared to me the practice was not how it seemed to me and the practice is not how it seems to us right now
like maybe some of us read nausea it's so nice to see each other it's so great i love it fine let's be kind of that thought
the practice is not how it seems to be right now
and it does seem to be away doesn't it it seems like we're doing something together what we're actually doing together is not as it appears to us to what we're doing together does not increase or decrease but we have a body and mind that sees more sitting less sitting
more people in the room less people in the room we have to deal with this is that this is the stuff we practice with moment by moment buddhas are practicing with more people less people more meetings less meetings together not together buddha practices with all those things
always and we're trying to open to that buddha rome
we're in the process of opening and entering that realm of the buddhist wisdom
and the buddhas are teaching at all
all the time
right now we're getting many many teachers from the buddha to help us open to the teaching that the buddhists giving us
and it means address whatever is happening
address meet covered whole heartedly
carefully respectfully patiently flexibly

i still miss the own practice without race her current one hide your true and i practice compassion towards missing
at you
you're welcome
karen
couldn't run it
i i wanted to ask a question that sort of follows up on an and homers and i think justin's question about the buddha an arm
it sorted and three three parts and is the buddha a being as the buddha of being with volition
in meeting as the buddha a party to the meeting or is the boot of the meeting itself or a both of those things true
those are the questions that came up in response to the previous discussion
ah
so you say islam is the buddha or being
when your questions right is the buddha or being so before i answer the question of whether the buddha is a being are not okay i just want to mention that for the buddha for the buddha for the buddha
there's no being and being
so is the wisdom which is which sees
that doesn't that there's no being and non-being no existence or nonexistence is that wisdom another being
and i if i say no then i would say well it's not it's not big but it's the buddha is neither a being nora not being being and non-being are
but constructions does the buddha do the assad constructions will not really we do it for the buddha
so we're doing all they sought conjunctions like being not being and the buddha is like with us holding her hand
i'm with you until you can give up those extremes or give up holding on to either one so i won't say the boot is not a being or is a being i won't even say boot is this or that but buddha is wisdom
se bude is a mind
it's mind it's a light it's a radiance that illuminates all beings and helps them realize that same mind and it doesn't push away their belief in existence and non-existence it illuminates it
it sees
the realm of birth and death the way it really is namely the way birth and death is is that there's no birth and death that vision that radiance you could say that mind is buddha
and that mind is also a body it's a body which is a mind it's a body which is wisdom it's a wisdom which is a body and that body is with us all day long
and does that we're all on all dark night long does that body or mind have
volition or agency or is that a characteristic it's associated with being it doesn't really have a volition
or what else you use a volition or of just say will agency agency it it doesn't get hurt in it i wouldn't say again i wouldn't say it doesn't have agency it does have a functions it it has a function and it's function is deliberate beings when as beings
are liberated from suffering that's the function of buddha
there's no like buddha has this function because the function is us being liberated doesn't really have that that's what buddha is so buddha buddha function of booties us being free as being in the function of buddha's us being in harmony
when we're in harmony that's buddha now does buddhists say i want to help people do that in the lotus sutra the and comes into language and says i want to help beings live in harmony yes i do i want that
i'm always thinking how can i help beings enter the buddha way of peace and harmony that the buddha says that's what what is always thinking about so it as buddha have thinking
not really but the buddha and skillfully says that to us because that's all booed and is is thinking about us being free there's nothing in addition to them
so that's a thought which isn't which is the thought of as being free which is not in addition to as being free
and and so young connected to being on being and the meeting that and was talking about
is the buddha a party to the meeting or as the boot of the meeting itself or are both of those things true

when the universe meet the universe is the universe party to that meeting
when buddha amida buddha is buddha party to that meeting
and i would say that meeting
is pretty good
or i could say that meeting transcends anything i can say about it including that
and that meeting is free of the parties
and that meeting is the freedom of the parties
so i won't say the boot is not a party to the meeting of with buddha or is it's i would say buddha's free of being a party to the meeting
if i'm having a conversation with you the conversation is free of me being a party to it and i'm free of bingham party to that's the conversation which is the buddha dharma
thank you he wrote them
help me

iran
hello hi is catherine thank you so much for broadcasting from now upload i have missed seeing a space at the altar for ah since two thousand and eighteen and seeing you there and it justice i am filled with gratitude for you
being there and to also to everybody who's on the screen even some of you i've never had the pleasure of meeting i am so grateful you are all present i've been struggling with the isolation that we are in even though i'm on zoom a lot and i am so grateful for these moments and i
i want to wholeheartedly confess to you
and apologize for my absence and communicating with you
with you
oh can i say something please so you use the word isolation right yes so
isolation if i if i think hear the word isolation because of certain training i've done and i hear the word ice isolation i think all
isolation buddha is practicing together with isolation
buddha is practicing intimately with all beings who feel isolated

what it does not push away
the feeling of isolation would practices with it

thank you and i don't offer this talk to you to eliminate your isolation
i offer this talk to you to help you and i practiced together with any feelings of isolation
that may arise in us
in these days a lot of people feel isolated right
yes
i'm here to remind you of an ancient teaching which says buddha is always practicing with you no matter what you feel
and the way buddha's practicing with what you feel is the way buddha would like you to practice with what you feel

in some people
don't feel isolated they they feel like you're living in his space with too many people
they're trapped in a room with too many people they don't they want to feel more isolated
that's true i've had some of my some of the my college student sealer partnered on to you know i locked themselves in the bathroom and to get away from their partner for espouses on the i'm sell these intimate it used to be like
darling i feel like we don't spend any time together anymore
and now knowledge like get me away from this person
i was started in my daughter
few weeks ago and in we said your how are you feeling if she put her head down the table she said i can't stand these people like my beloved family
so anyway isolation and inundation or alternated
have me i always always practice compassion with that's bhutto's way
and that's hard that's hard
may i may i ask something to what you spoke of earlier yes i'm
it when i was listening to you and it was i could see that that the buddha the buddha loves us so much
that he she or they are willing to enter our human projections of what are our lack of site in order to aid us or liberate us is that part of what you said swine
i would say they started they enter our situation they don't necessarily enter our point of view but they have empathy for our point of view and they they come into they come to live with us no matter what we feel
yes but didn't exactly they didn't exactly take our view the more like can see how feeling isolated or whatever they can see how that would be painful and then they practice compassion with them with that painful being
they enter the mud of our life
thank you when you're welcome thank you
give you
hello rev
a will be

your muted
thank you that i liked how your humor i came out immediately to answer the question of god of the buddha and the buddha behind you and i thought that was your answer that it was this is my enjoyment so much from you that it's so uplifting
the poetry the humor to express and expressible ah and
i did
so thankful that you have chosen about the the lotus because when i think of the lotus sutra not knowing anything about it
i'm so excited because i love the mud and yoga we always think about this about the lotus with the mud and and them the practice as a training to be in the mud and so i'm curious about when the idea came to you
i am going to teach the lotus sutra for the practice and i'm going to do it on zoom and the reason that i'm asking if because these ideas come to us as teachers of okay i'm gonna do this on my trailers on i try this as we are meeting this and i covered now
now indefinite to we have no idea where it is but i'm very curious when these ideas pop into you had that story of what your idea was i'm going to be teaching this yeah during this time

again i don't know ah the story so you know the stories that could be told about how this has happened are unlimited
but you know i can make many associations for example the lotus sutra is ford
difficult times
the lotus sutra says
this sutras for really difficult times
and i saw then you can say all i mean that i think all or then it would be good teach to to do the lord's teacher now because we're having a hard time in so many ways environmentally socially medically politically
you know we're having such a hard time so when the lotus sutra to be just the right thing that's one story
nother story is buddha came to me instead
study the lotus sutra with these people
nother story is some people said to me which would you please do something during the january intensive time when we can't come into green gulch and practice together
neither okay what could i do and suddenly the lotus sutra pops in my mind oh you should be a good time to starting to look
i could go on okay there's millions of stories i could tell about how it happened that i have become enchanted by the lotus sutra and during the january terms of alps held some more stories wonder and for example tell the history perhaps some of the history but again that means his story right
maybe i should tell her story to and day story of how i how
how i came to study law sutra so one story is in ninety sixty years since it garage use good was gonna teach the lotus sutra so i started reading the lotus sutra
that's one that's one story and sit and salt for fifty two years
i've been studying a lot of searcher it's been my friend and teacher and companion all that time and now and then it seems time to mention it and to look at it and to share it and to revel in it
and also wanted to say something about
you said something like maybe did you say buddha loves the motor you love the mud i don't love it that it is the mad at you did you say that will love the mud yoga and yoga we have to study about the mad or yoga will go
google loves the motto and ross a but i also have i thought you see i thought you said buddha loves the mud and i thought yeah right buddha loves the mud the lotus plant loves mud right
and the largest plant the plant the living living wisdom of the lotus loves the mud but it loves it without it being attached to it it's a love without attachment i love the mud
but i'm not i don't want to be i want to plunge into it without attachment to it that gives rise to the border wisdom to the lotus flower
yes thank you
you're welcome thank you for coming to know about it it
ah the wonderful group of spray somebody has a question okay aaron

i guess it's it's the three of us then
the nice button group yeah the a fraction of the beach bar and sangha young ah
well i have a
can i see question yes please
is karen does in that picture
okay karen who the other person is a batboy devil
who battered
the gentle giant oh yea
i couldn't recognize you you look so little
batch was rather a large person
yeah you smoke and my head
okay yes please
so on
this is maybe a
ah a confession and a request for advice or
oh yeah some suggestions about
meeting
meeting in the realm of words
and on i just had a wonderful little talk about on on on big think on youtube about the arrogance of liberal left wings this talk with actually buy up like liberal left-wing black person
and how that's
makes things more difficult
and on
so i'm really touched by it because i'm
since that i'm i'm a pretty where have all my like
dead certain views of how things are rights and how things are wrong
and i'm the difficulty of meeting people like i'm totally opposed to their view or opinion
and
i'd love to learn how to meet people
disagree with them but still respect them like stay on a level like usually when i meet people that i totally disagree with either well yeah it's usually not on high level he notes that usually i looked down on them or
in them yeah it can see how that
make things makes things more difficult for everybody
mm
no
i didn't
it's hard to find a way out because yet i still want to express now that's i don't agree with you
but do that in skillful ways
you know well
what thank you for that bringing that forth when you're talking i thought of
oh
one of the nice things about
being a grandparent
is that you can just agree with a grandchild without looking down on them
something and you can feel like know but you really don't feel like you're looking down at your adoring them you know you see them as wonderful
ah even though you really disagree about them going into the street without holding your hand you think it's just not you just really think it's not a good idea
but the grandmother part of you protects you from being ah self righteous to some extent
so if you if there's is being in your life
who has this view this is right buddha is right there with that view
and buddha does not look down on those who disagree with that view or down and on you have it on on that view
buddha does not look down on right wing people
but it is not took down on left wing people
but sometimes right wing people look down on left wing and left wing looked down on right-wing buddha is not right wing or left wing
but some people who are trying to practice the boot away have right wing views are left ring reviews
and sometimes when they have that does views if they don't remember that buddha does not have those views they make it stuck in those years and when they're stuck in the views they might look down on the people they disagree with
but buddha doesn't agree or disagree with beings buddha meet them and liberate them from their due to disagreements
but we can't we we are not the buddha does not encourage us to skip over
taking care of whatever view we have
so if you have a left wing view respected be kind to it
and as you are more and more kind with it you want attached to it but when you don't attached to it it doesn't mean you throw it out the window it just made you say i have this left wing view which i'm taking care of and because i'm not attached to it i can respect and appreciate and love right wing
and people people who have right wing views even those who are attached to their views

i think
it there's there's some
when it gets really difficult when there's like an actual meeting and their words involved
like in a way on in a sitting on the who i can
it feels like i could go to that place where this is like all of that can just be
then in an actual meeting where the are his ex exchange of words it's so difficult to remember
yeah
and yet there's i don't know
there's started that you know that were difficult than what is together it is this way is difficult not always but often it is difficult but again when you say difficult you can try to maybe train yourself to remember difficult is
normal it's not like something's wrong that it's difficult it's normally difficult to walk the middle way it's normally usually difficult unless perhaps we've been practicing really diligently
for a long time and then there's a few moments when as not difficult so it is difficult and if it sometimes if it's not so difficult that's okay like i often tell the story about one day i went to suzuki roshi because the practice wasn't difficult i thought something was wrong and he said it's okay
okay sometimes it's not difficult
but let me say to you difficult doesn't mean you're not practicing
it just means you're trying to do something which is very very subtle which is to have a view would you do and not hold onto it
and when you have a view and people started talking to you sometimes in the finish in the stream of language you start tightening down on your view because you think you're going to lose it if you don't hold onto it
but is you know you can learn how to hold your view without holding onto it but it is a great skill to have a view and not lose it
with it and also not hold onto him
in my wishes to be able to express it without
i'm back to to express it in a skillful way
now know that's and that huge that you're being asked to do that i i'm requesting you to express your views in a skillful way and i'm not the only one who wants you to express your views it's your responsibility you have views is your responsibility to give them to me and others
as gifts give me your views as gifts skillfully please do that it's your responsibility and part of skillfully is you know to wait your turn and yeah you did and here you are giving your views and i want you to do it and i want you to do is skillfully
lee and tartar skillful the key ingredient in skillful his compassion and compassion makes possible
skillfully expressing your view clearly without attachment and vice versa to really express your view clearly will be promoted if you don't attached to it
if you're attached to your view had come a kind of shit it kind of shakes
while you're delivering it because you're you're you're gripping it
so when you have a view and you're relaxed it can flow out very smoothly and gently and clearly and this is something we're trying to learn
do you want to learn that yes yeah and everybody else want you to learn it too
so please
maybe maybe i can start with expressing that i'm feeling attached to my view that's a really good place to start
all body sorry for myself as please witness my confession i'm attached to my views i'm sorry
oh
and if you keep attaching your views and the presence of the compassionate ones you will let go of attaching to your viewers but you might have to confess quite a few times

vendor
morning
in morning and
i would like to return to the early topic which someone raised of tensions
and as your attention roshi so i need to ask you this
you said tension is an illusion i think that's one of the sentences you said
and i've been thinking about what that were intention stands for so it examples are speeding a heart rate and contracting muscles and certain sensations in the body right here and other places
sometimes a sick feeling
how is that illusion what is illusion about that
well thank you for your question
i guess i would changed data say attention which is which arises and seasons is an illusion
attention which exists or does not exist so i would say an attention that exists is an illusion the weight tension really is is free of existence and non-existence
so what are those are the things that i described then are not tension they are just simply rising and falling states of body and mind
yes you could say they're just phenomena yeah and and if we say that they exist than that's an illusion they don't exist but they don't exist not in the opposite way it just they don't exist away way they appear
so i would say the weight the way you the way changes appear is not the way they really exist
dharma doors
their doors to the truth
in their true existence in a true true mode but if we think this dissing this pain exists
which is also to say this plant pain does not not exist
that is an illusion put that that is not true that the pain really exists and it's not true that it really doesn't exist
so the so the young
illusion may be as inner thoughts about it yeah yeah it's the the illusion is the way of seeing the attention
is the were mind control constructs second the attend the and detention
what the tension reap what the tension really is is beyond our ideas and if we treat the tension properly then it will be a door to the way to the truth of tension which is also the truth of relaxation
when you say me all difficult states and thoughts with compassion
is there somebody doing that is that what buddha is doing
if not if not that was good at doing that's what buddha is that that doing is buddha okay thank you for somebody else it as good as agency isn't that buddha is one thing and then he has an agency she is that activity okay
he doesn't own it she is it like you don't own vendor you are you know it's like that
that buddhism on that agency would it is that compassion and also buddhists compassion is also wisdom so but it is that was booed doesn't have anything
like grogan came back from china they said what did you get in china he said ah well i got the my noses vertical in my eyes a horizontal
that was a pretty great thing to say what but i'm not attached to that idea
kurt

am i here
i hope so he can you hear me and see me you are also here are a good rab i want to thank you so much for your love ah today ah i feel a lot of gratitude you know for being able to be here with you so thank you so much
ah i guess my question kind of touches on some of the conversation that we've had ah cause we're talking about these buddhists that are you know kind of helping us that are kind of always there ah
able to help us
but the question and i have has to do with on kind of the buddha inside of us cause i assume we all have that buddha nature and what is that communication you know between the two because i've often had the sense that it's almost like i have this boom
to that's trying to get out
yeah i was trying to express itself somehow and so there seems like there's some sort of communication
and often times when i've called on help from those other buddha's i've really you know gotten that help
so
yeah i don't know how that happens i i guess i'm just tryna may be confirmed not that there's you know something like that but then my other question has to do with our friends i think it was from germany
you know how to respond to other people that might not have reviews because i'm assuming that if i have this buddha inside of me that maybe i can kind of acknowledge you know some buddha you know and somebody that i may be disagree with and maybe that's a
kind of a form of connections somehow so
i am i would say that that thought might help you open to the connection that's really there
and i and i know it's all kind of a mental construct you know a mental constructs help you open to other mental constructs which he used to be close to
so for example here's a mental construct open
and then i might say to you are you open or you might say well not to that
no now and i might say you feel you feel not open to that and you say yeah feel not open to that i say can you be open to not being open and you might say you know and then and then yeah and then they openness maybe it will extend itself by working with the ques
kitchen by the conversation so you see you you hear the teaching of being opened to sentient beings open to their suffering you noticed that some sentient beings suffering you're not open to that you open to you're not being open and in that conversation up with the teaching the openness because
mes more and more fully realized now now
and that's and that's very true on yeah on a deep level for me so yeah
thank you
for being here always nice so welcome
dennis

i'm lying around
you're in dennis
so often my questions are the same questions many met our questions are the same questions and just in recast in a different form and
i appreciate your and i thank you for your compassion for answering the same questions the in an era when wish allyson
i want to have that same compassion for to myself for answering our have a continue to have the same question is though existence or nonexistence of evolution
phenomena of life and death
we say that great is the matter of
birth and death and we also there is no birth or is no death
and i want to understand they have compassion for my illusion
the i bought i think there is far from gaffe i live in this realm of birth and gas
i see you you if i see you answer you're still here i feel your presence i welcome your presence i feel comforted by your presence
i know that carry is still alive and i'm very attached to that
am i
a soon and in the future whatever that means whatever that is that she will not be alive
how can i make some sense of there is no for the illusion that i have a birth and death
have exist and islamic sisters again the same question that we've been asking
recast me a different way
so
basically again same answer practice all virtues with birth and death
are you will see the buddha's teaching right now no birth no death but we have to practice compassion with birth and death and relax with it and the operate with it and harmonize with birth and death
and be honest about birth and death so you're being honest about it you're saying i see it and be upright with it don't lean into it don't lean away from him don't have tried to go to the right or the left of it be upright and made it fully
and you will see the buddha teaching and the buddha will be saying to you in the brown birth and death i am with you and i teach you there is no birth and death and you don't make sense of it you just understand it and then you'll be able to help terry more deeply and more fully

so just do
stay away from the one with levels and hundred i don't know if i can understand the amazing but i'm not trying to understand the elusive and you know if you had a conversation illusion
if we're having a conversation it isn't exactly that i'm gonna understand you
a year going to understand me a conversation will understand who we are
the meeting is the understanding not me you
the meeting understands you and me

next
deborah

hi my question is was similar very similar to dennis's bit
just to add to it i'm hoping someone die now that i love very much and i'm trying to handle it better than i have in the past with loved ones who died when where i'm not traumatized for i can fill it and award center to way and well and for this loved one is stein and is a very da
dark night of her soul and i guess i'm just wanna know how to support her the best i can and in and astronomy as present as possible with what sir i vain and
kind as possible compassionate as possible i don't know if there's anything else that i miss missing
that sounds pretty complete to me and one more thing is
that you're also in the dark night of his soul would be good
that i'm also in the dark knight the song you know if you're sharing it with her i am sharing it with her that he has a companion to walk through metal
anyway and i think what you said as a way to walk with her
hey
okay and remember that the buddha
is joyful about doing this walk with us
the bullet walks through birth and death with us holding our hands joyfully the buddha's glad to be of service
and i'm glad that you can be of service and i hope you'll want to i am glad you thank you thank you welcome
tracy
good morning or good afternoon robe
good afternoon tracy
i had a question but i think i just wanna thank you for introducing some of us to
the lotus sutra
which
yeah i took up
last week with
the adjoining someone in reading aloud and then speaking as we
calpe felt moved and we began with chapter seven because i think that was the one that you'd mentioned
as one that stood out for you at least two weeks ago
and
i i i thank you for rather than opening a sutra with this idea in mind that oh to be a some techniques some practices that we will direct me a little bit the expire
science of art so far has been
it feels like in the reading of it it the reading in it going through you is this
it's a crete is a clearing it's like clearing things away
oh what i mean is like creating the conditions for openness that's what i'm trying to suit say is this indirect know here try this out see what is life get nano is that like that it's more like your kind of prescriptive now it's more like
does that does it ring for you
yeah it's the lotus sutra samadhi
ah the suit your concentration you read the suit for you enter that the mind of the lotus sutra
and
in that mind all these wonderful teachings and practices come on yeah but if you're going to load a researcher to get these wonderful teachings he and that sort of for stalls just entering that mind
and so when i entered the mind i said well what there there's a great practice there is another great branches it so there's there's many many wonderful practices in the lotus sutra
but i don't go looking for them i just open it and i open to it and it opens to me and we meet and then sometimes nothing comes in sometimes
that's the best thing of all
yeah
so for his continued to enter that mind
with the aid of that scripture and sometimes in my early days of study i would read it and the lotus sutra would say close this book and be with sentient beings ah yeah
but i will do that very shortly after we finish our conversation meeting today thank you
an
you're taking a second question
so i'm imagining
that i'm in a moment to hundred
unlimited play and i'm aligning with sort of an unborn murder
and beyond manifestation and in this play
i'm bending for all beings with beneficence and kindness
and
and that's true a nice when something arises that it has a piece of flavor of mora or mara
i'm bending towards demons and bending towards group the embedding towards evolved with fluff none none none none none none
don't bench war is evil
the upright with it
don't lean away from evil the upright with it
you'll hurt evils feelings if you bend towards it her away from it
so i've been upright with evil and and good man
gatland
i i hear you saying that the universe's a loving place which was kind of einstein's question but i feel like what you're saying is different than what i've heard like there's emptiness of what i'm hearing is it's not empty it's filled with kindness that is yeah it is
an emptiness that's filled with kindness
and were unkind
an unkindness rope but i'm constantly aligning i mean i'm aligning i'm allowing on the allowing have faith that the kindness is will always be greater than the kind
if i'm if i'm with further
yeah so i i i would caution you against
making the putting the kindness in the realm of greater and lesser
he's a mother that
it seems kind of on kind to say that the kindness is greater greater than unkindness know that they're more like at the center of the unkind the kindness is more at the center
the kindness is at the center of the vast emptiness as surrounded by all forms of unkindness
which it blesses and converse confers blessings on
imagine can be greater than is my greater than like greater than his little bit like right wing looking down on left wing and left when looking down on right wing
and yet i have a certain preference because i'm wanting to align with food a vow not with marvel so i have a certain of as you say
function to find that center right
you look you can function you have the function of living it in the center and being compassionate to mara and buddha
and it seems to me that that is ah not really different than having faith a faith in ah in apa
a universe at it it feels yeah like this like a jump cut fares faith is like us
faith faith when i'm confronting mara and engulfed in flame and i'm burning up with cruelty and i despair and hindrances right and left that if i the i'm that's when i need i just have faith that there is a buddha there and no matter what it
feels like ah buddha is always there
the leap of faith to be in the center
good leap
please leap into the center
which means please leap into where you are
ah come on guns and also
where the same the buddha way doesn't prefer buddha over morrow
four mar over buddha
ten

so if i called and recalled on everybody
ah we have diane okay
oh hi rob thank you for creating a space for us i feel good thank you for creating resident
i feel the presence is to really settling and powerful oh my question is about it's kind of related to the previous question i'm in the third chapter the metaphor i was wondering oh am
when the father entire says the children out of the burning house and what remains in the burning house or the ghouls in the
oh you know unimaginable unspeakable evils am
how do we understand those entities that remain in the house and also further on
he talks about people who disparage the lotus sutra as being condemned to hell in at least the version that i'm reading
how do we understand that m split and mean here we'd been talking about unity but
how do we yeah what do we make up those entities that are still in the house
well in chapter two
after people been booed his arm three times he finally tells him this teaching which he didn't want to tell him because
she thought if i if i tell you this is teaching you just be complete you just get to so perplexed and depressed i don't want to tell you in the teaching he didn't want to tell was the teaching of one vehicle
so in chapter three when you when you get out of them when you get out of the house you realize the one video he were to get as the one vehicle and the one vehicle is that all beings all the ghouls and held dwellers are the same vehicle as us
so when you get out of the burning house then you realize that you're practicing together with the flames and all the suffering in the house and all the beings who are in help why they how because they reject
great compassion
why did they reject great compassion because of confusion and attachment but those p beings are on the same path as us
all the right wing and left wing self righteous demons are the same path as us and all buddhas so that's one interpretation of chapter three is that
one vehicle means we're practicing together with everyone
all buddhas and all suffering bags
and we have the difficult practice of keeping that in mind
no matter what we meet
to remember we're on the same path as the demons and the ghouls and the flames and the and the angels and the celestial music and the celestial flowers again chapter seven which was referred to earlier the buddha's takes the seat and at first when we take
the seat were surrounded by by mara
we practice with morrow then we're surrounded by celestial flowers and we practice with celestial flowers and celestial musicians in soap and celestial florist
with one vehicle were all doing the same practice in the same awakening
that's chapter three message and that's part of champions to his message which is delivered beef after people beg for it because it's a very startling teach him how can we be on the same path as certain presidents
no no i'm not in the same brands with that person no no no
even though that person seems to demonstrate all my worst stuff
how embarrassing
like people them it's embarrassing why is it embarrassing because we're on the same path why do i have to be on the same path with everybody while that's the teaching of the lotus sutra and that's the situation we're in it's really terrible and while the same path in this terror
will situation a kid okay diane
diana still alive

what happened i am
she it herself
no i did not i stand you slayed me on that one mislaid you yeah
did i kill you softly with my with my song
yes
have we done with all her with all the contributions from the great assembly
oh is one more
philip harris

in a lifelong learners
i can't sleep well a paris you can't while i see your outline of you but i know philip harris he's a poet who lives in in wales right greetings evening from wales no no
i'm
i didn't set the camera up this way because my faces in darkness and surprised writer for my ear right here
but i realize it fits perfectly the moment it feels like that fits perfectly i feel as though i am in the shadow and in the light
and i've been spending quite a lot of time with my mother some months with my mother and now she's dying
and she may have days it may only be ours
she's in hospital and she's research she's getting palliative care such is comfortable she's not in pain most are you know she's not in pain
and it's always difficult for me to know how or where she is my presence there and sometimes i sit i know i feel as though i know she is aware and sometimes
i think she's on quite far away but somehow she still there
and then
this time i spent with her has been
on i didn't think i could do it i didn't think i want to to do it i'm at well strong more strongly than that i wouldn't have wanted to do it
but and
i am
i am so glad that i've been able to be here with her and at times i've resented it
and
now my sister has come as well she's she lives in pennsylvania but she was over to come and she's been here for a week
and
i felt the resentment go away
i felt a great am
gentleness for her my mother
and then
i find it really hard now because decent her last days but i find myself varying between seeing how it is
i'm just being with that and also than wanting to happen quickly or lonely happening it's own time
am
so
it does feel like i'm in the presence of our kind of darkness and a bright light at the same time
and them
yeah and i feel so i want to be i want a want to learn
just be present with it
hmm
i want you to be present with it too
thank you rep i'm calling you to be present with the new
and then be distracted
i understand it's hard to be present or moment by moment but that's what i hoped for you that's what i before yeah
yeah thank you you're welcome

okay
are we
are we complete
okay now we do another vow okay the i didn't tories and jeez wow now do is a universal bodhisattva vow
may our intention equally extend to every being and plays where the true married buddha as way
beings are numberless i vow to save them
afflictions are inexhaustible i've ah to cut through
dharma gates are boundless i bow to enter them
who does way is unsurpassable
i vow to become in

thank you everybody by
thank you ma'am
buddy