I've heard that the teaching of all Buddhas is to avoid all wrong action and to practice all good and purify the mind. And purify the mind, how? Partly by avoiding misconduct and being devoted to practicing right conduct.

[01:05]

Once the mind is clear, one may be able to see what some other people have supposedly seen, and that is that there's like, in a way, like the way the world appears to be, and the way the world is actually functioning. The way that the world appears to be is that it involves, that there's wrong action and right action. There's good and bad activity, and there's birth and death, and there's self and other,

[02:25]

and there is, and action has consequence. This is the way the world seems to be. And if in the world where there appears to be good and bad action, self and other, birth and death, and suffering, if in that world one is able to be devoted to giving up wrong action and being devoted to right action, the mind becomes clear and the mind opens to another way that the world is simultaneously functioning, in which there isn't, where there's just good. There's no good opposed to evil. There's just good. And where there's no birth and death, no coming and going, and no self separate from others.

[03:36]

And where there's no suffering, where things are basically at peace. However, the lifeblood of those who realize the realm where there's no birth and death, and where there's peace and only good, those who realize this, their lifeblood is also the world of appearances of birth and death, and right and wrong. They participate in the world of appearances by practicing good and avoiding evil, and having a mind which sees that birth and death can never be found.

[04:40]

And good even can never be found, and they realize a good which can never be found, and they constantly realize a good which can never be found, by giving up on wholesomeness which seems to be found, and practicing good which seems to be found. So in the realm where we think we can find things, let go of evil you find, don't get involved in it, and practice the good you think you can find. This process opens the mind to the world of peace and no birth and death. Many of you have heard the poem by the Sufi teacher, Rumi, which is something like,

[05:44]

Beyond wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. There's a field beyond wrong-doing and right-doing. I'll meet you there. The Buddhas teach, I think, basically the same thing, that there is a field beyond wrong-doing and right-doing, and there you will meet all the Buddhas. But you will hear these Buddhas teaching those who still live in the realm of wrong-doing and right-doing, and the teaching of the Buddhas in the realm of skillful and unskillful behavior is, give up the unskillful and practice the skillful. Thus, purify your mind so you can enter the realm beyond good and bad. Birth and death, self and other.

[07:04]

So, a basic way to practice the Buddha way is this way that Buddhas teach. Again, avoiding evil, practicing all good, and purify the mind. Another way to put it is that to learn the Buddha way, to study the Buddha way, to learn the Buddha way, is to learn about the self. To learn about the self, which is separate from the other. To learn the Buddha way is to learn about karma, is to learn about action and its consequences.

[08:08]

To learn the Buddha way is to learn how our actions are driven by past actions, and how our actions express intention for future actions. And it's to learn how this causal process creates an enclosure, a world in which one may feel trapped in birth and death. To learn the Buddha way is to learn how this causal process, to learn about it, to learn about it, to study it, to study how action has consequence. Which, in studying how action has consequence, of course, is closely related to giving up those actions which have negative, harmful consequences.

[09:28]

To study action in terms of, is there a negative consequence? To study action in terms of, is there a positive consequence? Might there be? And to sometimes see, this seems to be unskillful, and watch to see how that works. This seems to be skillful, watch how that works. And watch how the intention, I don't necessarily know what is good, but the intention to practice good is generally in the direction of practicing good. However, there still is some self-enclosure in the realm of trying to practice good and avoid evil. The process of trying to practice good and avoid evil keeps us in the world where there is good and evil, opposed to each other, and birth and death.

[10:34]

Doing good also contributes to keeping the world of right action and wrong action rolling, and keeping the mind which is seeing good opposed to evil in that world view. However, in the realm of where you're doing good and perpetuating the world of good and evil, there is also the getting ready to open to the realm beyond good and evil. If we do not give up wrong action and practice right action, the proposal from the ancestors is that we stay entrapped, although both types of karma, good and evil, and also indeterminate karma, keep the process of karmic enclosure going.

[11:42]

The wholesome karma studies, learns about the process. The unwholesome karma does not learn about the process very well at all. The essential, in some ways, unwholesome type of action is action which is not respecting that actions have consequences. If we do something, even something that doesn't seem wicked, like opening a door, and simultaneously we think or we view opening doors as not very important, and the consequence of opening a door doesn't really matter, or even to think opening doors doesn't really have any consequence, I'm just going to open it.

[12:48]

That attitude towards door opening, in some sense, is worse than doing something that you know is harmful, but which you think, this is harmful, and it has consequences, there will be some consequences. But then, somehow, you're studying even while you're doing something unskillful. You're learning about unskillfulness. You think it's important when you do something unskillful because you know it has consequences. You believe, you're studying until it has consequences. You're giving attention to even unskillful actions. So, by learning, by studying and learning our actions and their consequences, by studying causation in general and specifically about our own actions,

[13:53]

we unlearn our action patterns. By studying our action patterns, or by studying action patterns in the Buddha way, we mean unlearning, or we say forgetting. Again, to study the Buddha way is to study causation, especially the causation of action and consequence. To learn the Buddha way is to learn about action and consequence. The Buddhas study action and consequence. And the way they study action and consequence is that they study it thoroughly. And in the thorough study of action and consequence, they forget about action and consequence.

[15:12]

In the thorough study of avoiding evil and practicing good, and watching the consequence of actions which avoid evil, and watching the consequence of actions which practice good, their minds become clear. And they forget. They forget about the world of good and bad actions. They unlearn it. They almost don't know how to do good and bad anymore. And then all there is, is good. In the field of the Buddhas, beyond good and bad. We open to this field, beyond good and bad, by wholeheartedly observing, by practicing, not just practicing good, but studying the causation involved in good, and seeing how that even in practicing good, there's habit.

[16:22]

There's momentum from bad actions. There's difficulty because of past actions. There's ease in doing unwholesome things because of past actions. Studying all this leads to a thorough unlearning of all this. Unlearning of birth and death. Unlearning of suffering. Unlearning of karmic causation. There's a thorough study of all of those things. But not just study of them, because we won't be able to study unless we're also devoted for the imbalanced way towards practicing good. We have to be kind of partial in our practice towards practicing good, because practicing good requires awareness and attention and devotion, whereas practicing evil does not require it.

[17:33]

Therefore, practicing unwholesome activity doesn't clarify the mind. Practicing wholesome leads to clarifying the mind. When the mind is clarified, you unlearn the entire karmic pattern. When you open it, you awaken it. Again, to study the way of Buddha, to study the way of awakening, is to study karmic causation. To study karmic causation, you really need to forget karmic causation. Only those who study karmic causation thoroughly can really forget it. Ignoring it is not the same as forgiving it. A lot of people can ignore it without studying it much at all. But to really forget it or unlearn it, to unlearn your ancient habit, comes through studying thoroughly the manifestation of ancient habit patterns.

[18:49]

To forget ancient patterns of karmic cause and effect, comes through studying them as they are manifesting and maturing right now. Unlearning karmic causation, through study of karmic causation, means to be awakened by everything. And to be awakened by everything, is for your body and mind to be liberated, and for the body and mind of others to be liberated. To study the Buddha way, is to study karmic causation.

[19:55]

To study karmic causation, is to forget karmic causation. To forget karmic causation, is to be enlightened by all events. To be enlightened by all events, is to be dropping off of the body and mind of self and others. To study the Buddha way, to learn the Buddha way, is to learn about karmic causation. To learn about karmic causation, is to unlearn karmic causation. To unlearn karmic causation, is to be awakened by all things. And when we're being awakened by all things, our body and mind drops off, and the body and mind of others drops off. How do we... that's pretty clear probably, right?

[21:18]

So, if you want to study the Buddha way, what do you study? You study the self. Any self available? Study it. In a sense, the self is a pattern of behaviors. Many of us can identify the patterns of behaviors of our own body, and to some extent we're aware of the karmic behavior patterns of other bodies. So study the behavior patterns, and the pattern, the habitual pattern of behavior, is one way to find the self. Or finding the self, who has some behavior patterns, is one way to find the habit in your behaviors.

[22:30]

So the habit part of your behavior, in a sense, is what you mean by self. But the behavior seems to be kind of like permanent, or continuous, or separate from other behavior patterns. So study behavior, and see if you can see any patterns. Now, practicing good and avoiding evil draws our attention to our behavior. Our behavior, and others' behavior. And you can look at this at the level of intention, like right now, is there some intention?

[23:32]

Is there an intention for me to continue to talk? Is there some habit there? Is there a habit to look at my watch? Yeah, there is. I habitually look at my watch when I give talks here. Sometimes a little too late for some people. Again, simply put, as I speak to you, as I look at you, am I intending to practice good?

[24:39]

And what do I think is practicing good? Do I think it's good to speak to you carefully and respectfully? Do I think it's good to speak to you calmly and attentively? Actually, I do. I think so. I may be wrong. And then, throughout the day, every thought I have, is it a thought to be respectful and attentive? Is there an intention to be respectful and attentive to what's appearing before me?

[25:52]

And what's appearing as me? Is there, in other words, a devotion to practicing good? I don't necessarily know what practicing good is, but is there a devotion to that? And is it alive this moment and this moment? And does any unwholesome intention or impulse or volition arise? And do I think that it would be good to be vigilant and to observe unwholesome intentions, unskillful intentions when they arise? Actually, I think it is good. I may be wrong, but I'm devoted to what I think is good. Because my experience has been that it takes attention to be devoted to what I think is good,

[26:54]

because I have to keep checking with whether I think it's good, what I think is good, and also whether I'm up for that. And again, I think it's good to even be attentive to unwholesome impulses when they arise. I think so. So I guess I think it's good to pay attention to all my impulses, all my intentions, because intentions have consequence. Intentions are the definition of karma, and they have consequence, which is they tend to drive more intentions, which have more consequences, which have more intentions, and they tend to basically reproduce themselves and create an enclosed world, and that enclosed world which they create is the world of birth and death. It's the world of good and bad.

[28:01]

So I watch, I try to watch, the impulses to do good and the impulses to do bad, and by watching these impulses, I'm studying the world-creating process. I'm studying the process of creating an enclosed world where good and bad, wholesome and wholesome, struggle with each other in a perpetual reproducing cycle of birth and death. And I watch, also, when experiences arise, they give some habitual reaction to them. And again, not necessarily try to stop, like when pain arises, not necessarily try to stop the shrinking away from it or trying to avoid it, but notice it. Because noticing it is studying the self, is studying karmic causation.

[29:10]

Because the avoiding of the pain, the impulse to avoid the pain, is determined, to some extent, importantly, observably, by past responses like that. So I can actually see the unfolding of the karma around my pain, and my pleasure, the pleasure I experience, also do I wish for more of it, to hold on to it, to prolong it. There, too, is the manifestation of the conditioning process. And the feelings that I feel at every moment, these feelings, some of which I'm conscious of, some of which I'm not, these feelings are the maturing of the same process, and opportunities to perpetuate it. So I can see the maturing of the process, and I can see new opportunities to crank the karmic wheel again.

[30:19]

I don't advise myself or you to interfere with it, but to observe it. Being devoted to good and avoiding evil doesn't really interfere with the process. It eliminates the whole process, without interfering with it. It eliminates it by the mind becoming clear and opening to the field where there is no karmic causation. But holding back in my devotion to careful attention to all action hinders the opening of the mind, the purifying of the mind, to see the realm beyond the training world, the world of training, the world of patience.

[31:31]

Where there's self and others, good and evil, suffering and so on. So, there's a proposal that it may not be possible to realize liberation from the... process of suffering without studying the process of cause and effect, part of which is the process of suffering, another part of it is the process of action and consequence.

[32:34]

So it may not be possible, or someone might even say, it is not possible, to practice the Buddha way and liberate self and others from this process of suffering without attention to karmic causation or the causation of intention and consequence, intention and consequence, intention and consequence. Without studying that process, it may not be possible to attain liberation from that process and the suffering which is involved in it. And the other thing is that some people think that if you study the process and see the causation, that would also show you that there's no freedom because you're caught in a mechanical process of cause and effect. So that even your good intentions, of course, have good consequences, but the good consequences lock you into more good intentions, which cause more good consequences, which lock you into more good intentions.

[33:41]

And that's right, that does happen. But seeing that, how that happens, how even good intentions lock you into a world, a pretty nice world, relatively speaking, of good intentions and good consequences, it's pretty good because it's setting up the possibility of freedom from that bondage. And even good intentions which have good consequences, like pleasure, the main good consequence of doing good, the main good consequence is the consequence of being free from this process. Right there it looked like that surprised some people, although I said it before.

[34:45]

Was there a little catch there at that point for some people, or just one person? I'm going round and round because I'm in samsara, talking to you in samsara, which means going round and round. So as we go round and round, between birth and death, all day long, this is samsara, teaching is to avoid evil, practice good, and by attention to this, the mind is predicted to clear up and open up to the realm where there's only good, there's no good opposed to evil. But I have lots of opportunities to see good and evil, unfortunately usually when there's evil it's a lot harder to see because that's part of what's evil, it's not looking at what's happening, but when there's a chance to watch, we have this opportunity to study karmic causation and completely unlearn it, and enter the realm of freedom,

[36:22]

which allows us to plunge right into, back into, the realm of birth and death and play there, play in the realm of doing good, and doing good, and doing good. But not by habit, but by being drawn to those beings which we are being liberated with, and to help them appreciate this process of liberation, by inviting, by showing them that you're willing to study cause and effect, very carefully, very respectfully, and showing them that it's really good to practice it, and whatever way you can do this, you can even make it look like fun, if that would encourage them to do it, or you can even make it look like something which you don't want them to do, you want to do it all by yourself and you won't let them do it.

[37:31]

Whatever approach, in the world of birth and death, even good is not perfect. So we go on with awareness, and courage, and freedom, to use imperfect means to deal with the imperfect situation. So today I've offered some imperfect means to deal with this imperfect situation. Even practicing good is not a perfect means, but it's a good means. Of course, evil is quite an imperfect means, but trying to give up evil is an imperfect means which is recommended to deal with an imperfect situation called evil.

[38:37]

And again, the proposal is, if we do this, if we enter into this way of living, of using these imperfect practices in this imperfect world, the mind will become purified, and we will forget the whole world, unlearn the whole world, and open to the world of Dharma, of no birth and death, no right and wrong, and there we will meet the poets, the enlightened poets, all the Buddhas, and great Sufi masters, and Jewish masters, and Christian masters, and atheist masters, and communist masters, and capitalist masters, we'll meet all the masters and mistresses of the universe who are playing in a field beyond good and bad. But the price of admission that they've all paid is a completely thorough study of the difficult world, the painful world of birth and death, the painful world of karmic causation.

[39:51]

They have unstintingly studied their own actions, and the actions of others, to the end, and realized liberation. And then they come back into the world of birth and death, and send us this message, and invite us to come and play with them. But it's a hard job. However, it's available. What is it? Nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try. It's nice work, but it's hard work. It's partly hard because you've got to be right on the case. You can't be like generally in the area of maybe I had an intention. You've got to get right down to the intention of the moment. What am I...

[40:54]

What am I... What's my intention to... What intention is there? What is my intention? I'm just wanting to be expressed right now. I grow up, I struggle, not to have an intention, but to attune to it, to discover it, to be close to it, to learn it. To learn it, to learn it, to learn it. So it isn't really that I... So there's one instruction would be... It isn't that we value karmic causation, or demean it. It's that we learn it. We study it. We become intimate. We become adept at karmic causation.

[41:58]

And becoming adept at it, we open to the realm of reality where there's only good, and we're only working in cooperation with everyone, and there's no birth and death. But it isn't that we esteem that world, or demean it. Because esteeming and demeaning a part of karmic causation, it's rather that we become adept at it. We learn it. And the way we learn the realm beyond birth and death, the way we learn the field beyond good and bad, is by learning the field of good and bad. And in particular, learning good and bad by giving up the bad and practicing the good. Very simple. But of course, again, difficult to do it in the moment, in the moment, in the moment. Not just a general policy, which is good.

[43:01]

That's part of it. Okay, I have a general policy of practicing good. That's fine, great. Right now in the present, I'm glad to hear that. And if I feel that way, I'm happy for myself, and everybody around me. Now, let's check it out. Is this practice of the policy being applied? And in order for the policy to be enacted, somebody has to be watching each moment, because it's enacted in the present action. Okay? I'm not checking the watch. It is what might be called relatively early. I feel an impulse to sing a song. I don't know if it's... I'm looking to see now if it's good or not.

[44:06]

I hope it's good. It might be good. Well, you can tell me later. I welcome your feedback. You can tell me if it's good. You can tell me if it's bad. And you can tell me if you're not sure. But also, you can even tell me if it was beyond good and bad. This may launch us into the realm beyond good and bad. And of course, some of you know this song because I've sang it quite a few times. You're welcome to join in. When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along, along There'll be no more sobbing when she starts throbbing her old sweet song Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead

[45:18]

Get up, get up, get out of bed Cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red Live, love, laugh and be happy Though I've been blue, now I'm walking through fields of flowers Rain may glisten, but still I listen for hours and hours I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again Singing a song When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along Bob, bob, bob, bobbing along The last part is Louis Armstrong When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along

[46:27]

Bob, bob, bob, bobbing along Bob, bob, bob, bobbing along Are you using some kind of guidelines to decide what is skillful and what is unskillful? Are you looking to see what's happening? You could use guidelines, like you can see, for example, there's the Bodhisattva Precepts You could use them as guidelines, or you could use them as meditation objects So, like right now, I'm talking to you And the first Bodhisattva Precept is taking refuge in Buddha

[47:28]

So, I could look at that first precept And consider now, when I'm talking to Lin Am I talking to Lin? As an opportunity to take refuge in Buddha right now So, I'm just sort of like opening to that way of talking to you Would I like to take refuge in Buddha? I ask myself, and I hear, yes, I would If I'm talking to Lin, or looking at Lin, do I want to take refuge in Buddha? Do I wish to take refuge in Buddha? The answer in my heart is yes So, in a sense, in talking to you, or whatever I'm doing I can just consider that first Bodhisattva Precept, all the time

[48:30]

I mean, I say I can, I mean, I could, I might be able to So, in that way, I'm meditating on taking refuge in Buddha while I'm talking to people And while I'm taking refuge in Buddha, I sometimes talk to people and sometimes I listen to people So, in that way, I could try to practice or devote my attention to taking refuge in Buddha all day long And in that way, practice the first great Bodhisattva Precept, which is Going to Buddha, returning to Buddha, returning to Buddha I want to go home to Buddha, in everything I do, all day long Of course, I do, as a disciple of Buddha, I wish to return to the source of our tradition And so on, through all the other Precepts Like if I thought, okay, I'm taking refuge in Buddha, now it comes time to, I don't know, what Maybe, maybe it could be something like

[49:37]

Now it comes time to have dinner, and people are serving alcohol So, if I'm taking refuge in Buddha, would I accept this offering of alcohol? If I was taking refuge in Buddha, would I practice the Precept Of not, you know, using liquids and solids to intoxicate myself? How would I practice that? Could drinking this beer, or one sip of beer, be in accord with taking refuge in Buddha? I would look at that, I would consider that And if I didn't feel, you know, that drinking some beer Was compatible with taking refuge in Buddha, then I would have kind of a, well, what am I going to do about that? How do I, you know, maybe I say, well, maybe I won't drink the beer then Or maybe I drink the beer and say, well, I don't feel so good about that, afterwards Or I might say, well, I think actually, maybe it would be good to drink the beer

[50:41]

Maybe Buddha would be okay with that, we'll see You know, anyway, you watch how it works So all these precepts are very helpful to focus on While you're breathing, while you're walking, while you're talking, while you're cooking You can say as guidelines or as just look at them, you know, consider them Along with all your activities They will help you practice good Not exactly determine that it's good, but help you try to practice good I don't think we can determine that it's good by our own mind But our mind can wish to practice good, this is possible So that, when I asked you the question, that, if you, that, the Buddhist, and if you followed it

[51:44]

The precepts are, as you said, the first three are large, meaning the other three aren't that specific That's all you need, that's all you need If you were taking refuge in the Triple Treasure, that would take care of If you really took refuge in Buddha, that would take care of those precepts But if you also receive those precepts, that means, in some sense, if you formally receive all those precepts And you're taking refuge in Buddha, you also let people know you're practicing these other precepts So if they're looking at you, they can ask you, are you practicing these ten precepts? And you say, I'm committed to practice them And then they can say, well, how is what you're doing not killing? How is what you're doing not stealing? How is what you're doing not intoxicating yourself? So those precepts give you and others ways of, you know, interacting And checking to make sure you really are taking refuge in Buddha

[52:47]

If you really are totally immersing yourself in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha These precepts will be cared for But they help, they fill out the picture to some extent, and they're helpful And I think if you take refuge in Buddha, you would also say, OK, I'll also practice these precepts, no problem And I'll tell people that I'm committed to them So they can check me out And see how my taking refuge in Buddha is going So you look at your own mind, and you can get help from others as well Yeah, I think, because when you take refuge in Buddha, you take refuge in Sangha And taking refuge in Sangha means you say to the community, I'm with you guys You know, I'm here to help you, and I invite you to help me We're doing this together If you have any questions about what I'm doing, I want you to give me feedback Because, again, I may think I'm taking refuge in Buddha, but I need help to really pull that off

[53:49]

That's why Sangha is part of taking refuge in Buddha Really, it's all about taking refuge in Buddha, but Sangha is in there So one triple treasure is Buddha, but Buddha naturally has a Dharma and a Sangha So that expands the picture, and then also Sanghas have precepts sometimes And we do in the Sangha So, fine, I want to practice these precepts As part of my study of karmic cause and effect These precepts are helpful I find, and a lot of people do So, there they are If you want to receive them, let us know Yes I have a question regarding karmic history

[54:54]

Yes And taking inventory of that in the past Yes If one does that on a regular basis, one is pretty aware of what the karmic history is How does that come about? How does your karmic history change? Is it just a constant awareness of it on a moment-to-moment basis? Taking inventory of that I mean, how do you change from, say, a karmic history that might have self-dignity to not have self-dignity? Well, I think the observing, for example, maybe self-pity arises To observe that, and then also, in observing it, somehow be illuminated to the suggestion that there is a history to this It seems to me that I felt like this before So not only do you see that you have self-pity, but you see it harder before

[55:56]

And then you also get to see, well, this isn't just self-pity, this is like a habitual self-pity So, sometimes we feel things and they're not habitual Not everything we feel is habitual Sometimes it's the maturing of something that was habitual Sometimes it is habitual So then, again, the more light and awareness you bring to habits, the more they're doomed I feel it's a constant awareness What? I mean, it would be a constant question Well, hopefully it's constant awareness of your intention Over time, for a purpose Right That's a good point, that some behaviors were useful at some point But they're not useful anymore, but they've been established And now it's time to change them, but they don't want to be changed And they're in charge, they've got the force of habit

[56:58]

And part of what karma is doing is trying to keep the thing going Just like genes sort of do that too So there's a force, there's patterns in the causal process which are stuck Which are habitual And aren't serving the health of the process By studying them, by being aware of them, by learning about them The habitual side can be dropped So, awakened people can still do good things, but they don't do it out of habit They do it because it's good now It's not because it was good last year And they've watched the pattern of doing things now that were good last year They've seen the habitual nature of even good karma And the more you see the habitual nature of good karma, the more you move into having good That's not the opposite of bad, that's not in the realm of habit

[58:02]

But that's in the realm of the good for all right now And that's just for now And then tomorrow, it won't have the consequence That tomorrow you'll think that this is a good thing again to do So that's the idea, learning the karmic habit You unlearn the karmic habit But it takes a lot to... As you learn the karmic habit, you also learn often the conditions that support it So just learning the karmic habit and saying, Oh, this is a habit and it causes a lot of problems and I'd like to change it That may not be sufficient That's why we have practice centers Where the whole situation gets changed And then sometimes these habits can be opened up Because we're in a whole different social arrangement than the one in which the habit grew up And then these new possibilities of action which isn't habitual are released

[59:06]

We start acting in concert with all beings rather than out of our habits And that's the realm beyond our habits But we get there by studying our habits for a long time, very carefully With the support of other people who hopefully are also studying Their karma, their intention, their habits So I see Yuki and then... Who has a hand back there? That lady in the red and you? Yes, Yuki So you learn certain habits, okay? Like when we're children, we have a relationship with our mother or father

[60:09]

And we learn in the relationship how to modulate the intensity of our experience By looking at them and looking away We develop habits of how to soothe our nervous system So we can go to sleep and walk across the grass and so on We do this back and forth until we have a certain style by which we... Through the interaction we learn how to modulate our affective experience, our feelings And we develop these habits, these styles And they become fixed And that's sort of the way we relate to things And people can see, you know, that's kind of the way Yuki is She kind of does it this way That's the way Rab is, he does it that way And these things kind of get maintained As we study them We unlearn them in the sense that we no longer do things the way we've done them for a long time New ways of relating to people in our experience start to be opened up

[61:12]

So we unlearn our habits In other words, we become more and more free of our habits Our mind becomes purified of our habits By being in a situation where we can see our habits Just being in a situation where things are different and we're trying to get over our habits We may try to get over our habits in a habitual way That's why in AA they say you can't change this all by yourself It's not by your power that you're going to change your habits Because you'll use your habits on your habits And then others keep basically keeping themselves going But studying it With the help of other students Of the studying Studying the self with others who are studying the self You gradually see new possibilities That you don't have, you know, even if while you're still being like you used to be You're kind of seeing, you know, it's possible to be another way And I'd like to be another way And part of another way is actually I'm going to be patient about being another way

[62:17]

I'm not going to get excited about being another way But I would like to be another way I'd like to be able to be free of the way I always am I'd like to be like a man Sometimes, or a woman Or a falcon Or a storm Or a song I'd like to like be a lot of possibilities But I know in order to open to them I have to recognize I'm kind of in a rut You know the word rut? Yuki? It's kind of like being in a ditch Or it's being stuck in a certain way On a certain path and you can't move off of it Because of the force of habit By recognizing that Things start opening up The mind becomes purified And so in my habits Some of my habits are good Some of my habits are not So by studying which are which And gradually applying the intention to give up the bad ones And practice the good ones It isn't that I just practice good I start practicing good and then I see Actually I'm in a rut I'm in a pattern, a habit of good too now

[63:20]

As I study the habit of good I become free of the habit of good And then I join the practice of good Which is not a habit Buddhas aren't habitually good They're freely good They want to be good and that's enough They are Because their habits of what is good and what is bad Have been illuminated and opened up And aren't boxing them in anymore And when we open When we look at our boxes, our traps Our good traps even If we look at the good traps Our mind becomes purified And the good is not a trap anymore It's a door So like this poet This Sufi poet I mentioned earlier So one of his poems is this one of Beyond wrongdoing and rightdoing There's a field I'll meet you there But another poem of his is The breeze at dawn Has secrets to tell you

[64:23]

Don't go back to sleep You have to say what you really want Don't go back to sleep The threshold You know threshold? It's the place at the door The threshold where the two worlds meet The world of birth and death And the world of the Buddha Dharma The threshold where they meet People are going back and forth on that threshold We stand between the Dharma world And the world of birth and death That's where we live all the time We're all going back and forth at this threshold The door is round and open Don't go back to sleep But if we don't study the birth and death We won't see the door Then the door will be like a box A prison As we study it more and more We can walk through the door And we can walk back in, back and forth We can live on the threshold and be free At that place

[65:26]

And the breeze at dawn The world could be understood as At the beginning of every action At the beginning, at the morning At the dawn of every action Be awake And you will see some way To open up And also remember what you really want You have to say what you really want I really want to practice the Buddha Dharma I really want to practice Buddha's practice I really want to practice Doing good and avoiding evil And then Don't go back to sleep Now, you know Many of you have good intentions But then sometimes we fall asleep So we have to stay awake To what we really want But it's also good to say what you want And then try to stay awake It's really important to say what you really want Is that okay? Yes Yes

[66:35]

Yes Yeah Yeah Well, I I find it very useful to Study stories We have a lot of Zen stories, right? In a way, what the Zen stories are often about Is they're about people who have stories Who are letting their stories flow and change So, even if you have some old stories That aren't applicable anymore And now you have a new story Which seems more applicable More useful At the same time The important thing is not to believe in a story But remember that a story is a story A story isn't any more than a story And let, basically, let the story go But the way you let the story go

[67:44]

Is not by just throwing out the window But by studying the story Study the story until you understand the story When you understand the story You'll let go of it But also As part of studying stories Invite other people into your story studying So other people can say You know, you have this story And you seem to be kind of stuck on it That's their story And you can say, are you stuck on that story? And they say, well, actually, no I mean, maybe I'm wrong You think you're not stuck? And you might say, no, I think you're right I think I am stuck And then they say, well, you know Can I help you get unstuck? And you say, you know, maybe, yeah Help me let go of my story Not that my story isn't bad Stories are useful But mainly they're useful To test to see if you can let go of them So, yeah, stories We do have stories about what's going on

[68:44]

Like we have various stories And our stories may be quite similar Like we may have this story That we're in this room together right now On Sunday You know, and this is Green Gulch Farm And so on, we have that story But then we have different versions But the important thing is that we Study the story Because the word for The word, the characters For cause and effect Or karma, cause and effect The Chinese character for that For conditions That character means also History Or story So we have karmic stories Karmic history Karmic conditions So studying stories is another way I know I can't bring up everything On Sunday morning talks But that's another approach to this Study your stories Study Zen stories Study Buddhist stories But also study your stories And study those stories Until the stories open up

[69:45]

And also study the stories And see if you don't want your stories to be open Up with your stories Then your stories will turn into a habit Okay Just one second, she's next Not the habit maturing But the emotion What I said was that In every moment of experience Although we may not We may not be conscious of it We have a feeling We experience what's happening In terms of positive, negative And neutral sensation Like right now I'm looking at you And I can see the blue of your sweater And I could have a pain arise While I see the color Or I can see your face And I can feel the pleasure In every moment we have this kind of Way of experiencing

[70:46]

Called feeling And in feeling We often have a lot of conditioning Around feeling Of avoiding certain feelings Certain painful feelings And trying to hold on So feelings are a place of conditioning But also feelings are one of the ways That our past karma is maturing In each moment So because of past action We evaluate certain situations Even colors As painful We evaluate other ones as Kind of neither And that evaluation Is due to past conditioning So we can actually watch Our past conditioning maturing before us By watching our feelings So watching feelings is part of Tuning in to karma causation Then we can see when feelings arise What kind of intentions arise with them Because intentions Are connected to feelings Through past conditioning So that's a good place to locate The current intention

[71:48]

It's a way past intention Is maturing Another way that past intention Is maturing is in terms of Present intentions So past intentions Mature in a passive way In terms of feelings And an active way In terms of new intentions So this is a way to tune in To this process Moment by moment And every moment There's a feeling to turn into The process But you've got to be right there And know what you're looking for That make sense? Not easy, but there it is It's available Yes? Yes, you've been speaking about Intention And you could be trying to say That most people intend To get rid of bad things Yeah They intend to Maintain or keep a hold Yes

[72:50]

So in terms of evil or bad You can think on a macro level Of war, poverty, discrimination And on a micro level Things that arise in our life We think are bad But I've always been taught That if we really wanted to get rid Of everything evil We would also have to get rid Of everything good In other words, that these things Are just spontaneous It's not possible Just to get rid of one Right Well, I would say Getting rid of In order to get rid of evil In order to let go of evil We have to let go of good too I agree And I would say that when I let go Of good and evil That's really what's good But it's not the good that's The old good that's opposite of evil It's the good which is freedom From the mind which is Discriminating between good and evil I agree

[73:52]

And in addition To saying I agree In order to give up evil You have to give up good The way to give up evil Is impossible Pay attention to it If you pay attention to evil Evil doesn't thrive under Mindfulness And the way to pay attention Is in such a way That you actually can let go Of the good So like, you know In Ganga Khan I would say, you know It says, flowers fall In our attachment So if you're doing good And you hold on to the good The good falls But if you are doing good And you let go of the good It blooms But not because you're trying to make it bloom But because you're attending to it And letting go of it If you hold on to evil

[74:53]

The evil blooms If you let go of the evil The evil dies So letting go of good The evil blooms Letting go of evil Evil dies So the way to get rid of good and evil And attain actual good Which transcends it Is to let go of good Which you want to do And to let go of evil Which you want to let go of If you hold on to evil Of course it thrives If you fight evil It thrives If you fight evil It'll thrive If you hold, of course it'll thrive If you fight good That's not good either If you let go of practicing good That's how you let go of good And good will thrive And let go of evil And evil will not thrive That's how I would try to practice

[75:58]

Letting go of evil And letting go of good I want to let go of evil and good I think letting go of both of them Is really good Do you agree? I would agree with that But I found a little bit of questions About the actual meaning Of how that's going to happen Yeah, day by day Moment by moment I question How How do you like Really try to do something carefully And skillfully At the same time let go Yeah, exactly That intention could also Get in the way Exactly And what are the standards You're going to use To determine whether that's good or bad Right, and then if you use standards How can you use those standards You know, like have a story About what's good and bad How can you have that story Without then using the story To like, this is really This is, we have to like

[77:00]

So this is the real balancing act Yeah Yeah, right And how is it going to actually happen Yeah, and like you teach calligraphy How do you like Do the calligraphy In the most beautiful way Without holding on to doing the calligraphy In the most beautiful way How do you do your, you know Put your whole best heart Into the calligraphy Without Holding on to the brush Or what's happening This is like, this is art, right This is art How does the artist Whack that marble You know And giving up the whole project At the same time A million times And we see how they do it We see Some have been successful And it's so, you know It's wonderful

[78:01]

But of course There's a million mistakes In the masterpiece too I think, I don't know Maybe, I don't know who was next I see three hands, four hands Five hands Anyway, whichever one you want to go first I didn't say that I just said I didn't say you should always be talking to yourself About what you want I just said You have to say what you really want Sometimes you just say it once And that'll do for quite a while You don't determine what you really want Everybody You together with everybody else Creates what you really want But you can discover And other people can find out too What you really want So if somebody asks you Like I could ask you You could answer

[79:02]

But you didn't make that happen All by yourself I asked you That contributed to you saying Sometimes somebody says What do you really want And suddenly, boom, there it is You didn't make it come They didn't make it come But it arose between you and the person Looking at that question But sometimes also Someone says to you What do you really want But once they plant that seed Or you plant that seed That thing lives in you And sometimes the answer comes And it's great Because that's really You can use that to orient your practice around If you want to practice the Buddha way If you want to practice the precepts If you want to practice kindness If you want to practice generosity I really want to practice generosity I see it now, this is what I want to do And that may be really clear for A long time But the question is How do you practice that

[80:04]

Moment by moment But sometimes people ask that question And they don't get an answer Or there's an answer But they didn't hear it It was too quick So I have to keep asking My experience is Some people answer right away And that answer works for them For quite a long time Other people it takes months To find it To determine what you want It's in your heart And you don't make your own heart But you've got one So check it out It wants to do something Ask it what it is And it'll tell you someday Then you can start taking care of that Yes It strikes me that I was trying to ponder What was my question Which you said about purpose Which is saying The question I have

[81:04]

Is something I'm not sure Yeah I suppose I'm wondering The good When you say let go of good Does that mean letting go Of being proud of doing good? That would definitely be part of it That really helps You could say also I also want to be good I want to be good When I was a kid I told this story When I was a kid I was enjoying being as bad as I could be It was during a time When I got a lot of social Praise actually For being really bad It was the time of Elvis Presley And James Dean Being a bad boy Was considered Really sexy

[82:04]

So I thought okay I'll give it a try I met a man Who was Big, strong Courageous guy And he told me that when he was my age He tried being bad too And I thought When he told me his story I thought yeah you were bad You were bad You got it done And then he said From authority It's easy to be bad And when he said that I knew it was right It takes a little guts But it's not that difficult to be bad Easy to think of bad things to do And easy to do them Actually He said you know what's tough What's really hard is to be good Because it takes Much more attention

[83:05]

It takes a lot more attention You don't have to You can be bad Without being mindful You can just sit there And think of bad stuff all day It comes off very naturally And then to do them And if you think of a bad thing And you don't do it properly It doesn't make it that much worse usually Like if I try to insult you And I do a sloppy job of it It still counts Sometimes it's even better Because I'm offended You know Sometimes some other unconscious stuff Gets contributed that I didn't even know about Because I was so sloppy Whereas if you're trying to do good And you see all this unconscious stuff coming up To try to get in on the good Because you're paying attention You have a chance to say You know I was about to give you a compliment But I noticed an insult coming along with it So I was going to drop the insult And just give you the compliment But you have to pay attention You know you dress really nicely

[84:12]

You make us all feel terrible You know Or I really like your haircut That really makes me feel ugly You know Or I like your haircut And you do that just to make us feel bad Don't you, you rat So you're trying to give a person a compliment But because you're not paying attention Other habits come out And to actually like be able to Do something skillfully And cope with the tremendous amount Of other stuff that's going on Takes a lot of attention And often what is good is also Not necessarily what you had in mind A few seconds ago So sometimes just because We're on a momentum To do something else Somebody offers us a chance To do something good And just because of our momentum We have trouble doing it Even though we totally wanted to do it

[85:14]

And thought it would be good And thought it would be fun Because we were in this rut We get taken away by the force of the habit So it's hard to like Even when you see a good that you want to do It's sometimes hard to do it Because you're kind of like Happen to be going in a different direction And you can't like drop that Sometimes But again watching these patterns Tends to make you like Next time that person asks me I'm going to Next time people ask me I'm going to try to see if I can stop for a second That's why it's nice to slow down That helps you also tune into this So you say okay I'm heading to the bathroom And if somebody asks me A question And I think it would be good to answer I want to be ready to do that So I'm going to the bathroom And that's my intention And I have this habit to go To the bathroom But I just don't have to go to the bathroom actually So I say You know Could you wait a second

[86:17]

I'll be right back Rather than just Oh no I can't talk to you right now The habit of the force To make it hard to do something That you really want to do When doing good usually If you feel a momentum Towards doing good In that case Let's not hold on to that Because holding Because if you're heading towards doing something good And you're in a rut about it That destroys the good So how do you like Have the intention to be good Like we were talking about before And when the time comes to have it Not be stuck on how to do it So it really can happen Not necessarily what you thought But the real good Rather than the good you were holding on to So you see how difficult doing good is Doing good is like But doing bad It's always available Just millions of opportunities Easy to fall into Just don't pay attention And be a bum

[87:18]

And you'll be successful Yes How to be authentic You say And be attentive Well I think in some ways People who are not attentive Are in a sense authentically not attentive However they don't usually know it Because they're not paying attention So I think that When we talk about being authentic It's not just that we're authentic Because we can be authentically A confused, distracted, miserable Frightened, selfish person Some people are Kind of pretty authentically genuinely that But most people that way Are not aware of it They're not like In a balanced, calm way Of all those things I just mentioned

[88:18]

If they do watch that They start to appreciate the authenticity Of their habitual, miserable life And in realizing that authenticity They develop clarity And in clarity They open to the freedom from that habit So authenticity really is what's happening We are authentically who we are No matter what The question is how to wake up to that We have to pay attention And again If we're inattentive It's a big change to start Changing from being inattentive And speeding around To being present and attentive But that Is the beginning of the study Of the learning The learning of Our authentic, karmic habits And that sets up the possibility Of authentically being someone who Has awakened To these habits How do you not become an observer?

[89:27]

How to find the balance between Fully participating And observing In such a way That you become dissociated? Yeah, so you seem to be trying to balance two things, are you? So what are the two things you're trying to balance? Living your life and watching what you're doing. So that's a balancing act for you, right? Yeah. We'll start with meditation and then have the intention or the aspiration that it could be extended when you're talking and when you're moving.

[90:42]

That's part of the reason why we don't just, in our practice, we don't just sit still, we also do other activities which are specifically set up to extend the balance that you're looking for into various types of movements and physical postures and verbal expressions, to see if you can extend that balancing training into all realms. I don't know, I think he was next. No, excuse me, I think he was next. He looked like he was next. Let's say you have a business and you're balancing, and you're meditating and you're going to say, for example, you're crossing the street. Some of you perceive you're crossing the street as it's going to be very low down. How do you deal with that? And maybe the person says, you know, you're doing something horrible by crossing the street. Right.

[91:45]

Do you understand the question? I think so, yeah. So how do you deal with someone coming at you and saying, you're wrong, or you're a horrible person because you're crossing the street? Well, you mean how do I intend to deal with it? I guess, I don't know what I do do. I might do something really stupid, but what I intend to do, when somebody talks to me like that, the first thing I intend to do is to listen to them. The first thing I do is to listen. You know what they're saying to me? You are a terrible person, or you're stupid, you seem to be about to do a bad thing, or you're doing a bad thing. The first thing I do is I listen to them. That's number one, I think. And then try to, I guess that, and I think that's good, to listen to people who are talking to you. I think it's respectful to listen to people. In fact, it's respectful to yourself too,

[92:51]

because you are hearing them. So why don't you get with the program? You are stupid, I'm hearing them. Now, what is the person trying to tell me? What could they possibly be trying to tell me by telling me that I'm stupid? I wonder. You could ask them, what are you driving at? Or you could say, is there something you suggest me doing instead? Do you have some suggestion? Or, is there something you need from me? These are possible ways of dealing with it. Or you might just say, I hear you, man. I hear you. And then go from there. I hear you. What's happening with you? I think those would be some good things to do,

[93:59]

in response to somebody calling me stupid or telling me I'm bad. Yeah. Yeah. You might say, do you feel like I'm challenging your belief in what I'm doing? You might say that. And you might be right. And they might say, yeah. I think you are. You're kind of disrespecting my belief. You know, what I think is good by what you're doing.

[94:39]

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