I wanted to start, I want to start by, I guess, saying something that seems really simple to me. And maybe it'll seem simple to you. Which is that the practice of the Zen ancestors, I'll say it softly, could be the practice of listening to the cries of the world.

[01:00]

Did you hear that, Hannah? Could you say it back to me? Not the whole thing, just the practice of the Zen ancestors could be what? Listening to the cries of the whole world. Whole is fine, yeah. WW, whole world. The practice of the Zen ancestors could be listening to the cries of the whole world. Now I could also say the practice of the Zen ancestors is listening to the cries of the world. Was that simple? Was that a simple statement? Homa, would you feel comfortable bringing me that statue that's on the left-hand side of the Buddha?

[02:18]

The Buddha's left. Would you please bring me that statue? That's right. Is that right or left? Buddha's left. Buddha's left, you're right. Remember that. Buddha's left, you're right. Come this way, Homa. Come this way. Come around this way. Buddha's left, you're right. Or Buddha's still here, you're right. So this is a statue. of the bodhisattva, and this bodhisattva's name is listening to the cries of the world. This bodhisattva's name is listening to the cries of the world. Or Avalokiteshvara, bodhisattva. Or Guanyin, which means listening to the cries.

[03:26]

Guan Yi means observing or the cries, but when it comes to cries, we say listen. And another name for this is, in Chinese, is Guan Ji Zai, which means listen to the cries of the world, listen to the world cries. It's another name for this statue. I bought this statue. in Mill Valley. Next to the theater? Next to the theater. And I didn't tell the story that I was going to tell people that in case there's a run on these statues. Anyway, this is a statue of a great being. Or you could say this is a statue of of a great way to be to listen to the cries of the world but that character also means to observe the first character so when you observe sounds we sometimes say listen when you observe sights we say look so it's

[04:56]

Another way to understand this is that this being is the practice of observing all living beings with eyes of compassion. That's a great way to be. That's an enlightening way to be. So this is an enlightening way to be. The enlightening way to be is to observe... all living beings with eyes of compassion. That's an enlightening way to be. Is that simple? Yeah. And this statue is a personification of that way of being. Is she looking at you with eyes of compassion?

[05:59]

Can you see her eyes of compassion? Can you see her ears of compassion? Anyway, there it is. And I'm saying the practice of the Zen ancestors is this practice. Would you put this back to Buddha's left? Thank you. This statue has feet on the bottom and the feet are golden. It's got gold toes. Not just gold toenails. The whole toe is gold. What does that mean? What does a gold pal mean? I don't know. It has a gold face too. It has a gold face too.

[07:02]

It has gold hands and gold chest actually. Okay, so anyway, there she is and now Alanya, would you bring me the statue to Buddha's right? Here he comes. Bodhidharma. He's coming from the west. Northwest in this case, I guess. Here he is. Bodhidharma. This statue is heavier. This is heavier. Bodhidharma, what big eyes you have.

[08:09]

All the better to see you. Now, again, I could say softly that his practice... This is the statue of supposedly the founder of Zen in China who came from India to transmit the Buddha mind. This is a statue of a supposedly great being, an enlightening being who came from India to transmit the Buddha mind seal. Face to face. And his practice was to listen to the cries of the world. That was his practice.

[09:12]

He is a great being who listens to the cries of the world and his eyes are eyes of compassion that observe all living beings. Wherever he is, he is observing with eyes of compassion. This is the Zen ancestor. He has simple practice. Basically, simple. Observe with eyes of compassion all sentient beings. It's a simple practice, but sometimes it's hard to remember it.

[10:19]

When sentient beings slap you in the face... You may get distracted by the slap and forget the practice of observing this slap or this slapping being to observe this slapping being, this insulting being to observe with eyes of compassion. But that's the practice of the ancestors. The ancestors might have gotten distracted too. But being distracted wasn't their practice. They got distracted from their practice. In their immature years, they forgot that their practice was to observe all insulting beings with eyes of compassion. They're insulting us, but really they're saying, please observe me with compassion. They're calling for compassion in an insulting, disrespectful way.

[11:24]

It's all they don't know any other way at that moment. What they really want is eyes of compassion to watch them and [...] assemble an ocean, a blessing beyond measure. That's what they want. this assertion by me that the practice of the Zen ancestors is observing all sentient beings with eyes of compassion. I'm asserting this because it's so fundamental that people don't say it every minute.

[12:33]

It's so fundamental that some people never even heard it in a Zen temple. Well, since everybody knows it, we don't mention it, right? But since we don't mention it, some people don't know it. So here I am saying it because we don't say it during every single Dharma talk. Matter of fact, some of you have never heard anybody say what I said before, right? That the practice of the Zen ancestors is to observe all living beings with eyes of compassion. Some of you have never heard that before, right? Is that right? That some of you haven't, not that you haven't. Have some of you never heard that said before? Is that possible? Has some of you not heard that said before?

[13:38]

In other words, nobody's going to say yes? Okay, thank you. Jeez. Now, that was funny, right? The jeez. Now, when I was a kid, there was on TV, I never saw in person, but I saw on TV, there was a man, a human man, and his name was Edgar Bergen. I believe and he had a little friend who looked like Bodhidharma and about the same about this size and his name was Charlie McCarthy and yeah and Charlie and Charlie was a he was a puppet actually and Edgar could move Charlie's mouth with teeth

[14:42]

behind Charlie, and then Edgar would talk for Charlie. But he would talk like this. Hiya, guys. I'm Charlie McCarthy. Hi, Edgar. How are you today? You look a little sad. And I actually used to watch that. And I thought it was pretty funny, actually, that the conversations between the puppet and... the puppeteer ventriloquist. I thought they had funny conversations. Did you think it was real? Were you old enough? Did I think it was real? Yeah. I know it was real. I knew it then and I know it now. It was real. That the puppet was real? I knew that the puppet was real, yeah. And I knew that the man was real.

[15:45]

Have you awakened to that reality yet? So, but I... Yeah. Now I got Bodhidharma on my lap, and Bodhidharma went to China, they said, and he had a conversation with the emperor. And the emperor said to Charlie, who is this before me? And Bodhidharma said, not knowing. Not knowing. And then he went. And the emperor didn't understand the characters. The character for the emperor did not understand it. The character for understanding means like, one of the meanings of it is like a tally, you know?

[16:52]

Like you have a seal that's broken and then you put it back together, they're tallies. They merge, they agree. They're in harmony. The emperor couldn't harmonize with bodhidharma's not knowing. Who is this? This is not knowing. This is not knowing. This is not knowing. But actually it's not consciousness. The character is for consciousness. This not... What's here is not consciousness. This is not consciousness. This is observing the cries of the world. And this observing the cries of the world left the emperor who didn't understand the meeting and went and sat... at the Little Forest Monastery, and faced the wall. And while he was facing the wall for nine years, he listened to the cries of the world, according to me.

[17:56]

He was Avalokiteshvara, looking like Charlie McCarthy, facing the wall, observing, doing Avalokiteshvara's work. of being Avalokiteshvara, which is observing all sentient beings with eyes of compassion, facing the wall for nine years. And based on that practice, we have this thing called Zen coming from that practice. Listening to the cry, isn't that... For me, it's like there has to be some consciousness to listen to the thought. There is a consciousness. There is a consciousness. And these words, listen to the cries, are words which are being delivered to the consciousness. So the consciousness can open to the practice.

[19:02]

Then the not knowing is not consciousness. Right. The bodhisattva is not consciousness. Listening to the cries of the world is not your consciousness. It's an instruction to your consciousness about the practice. The practice isn't your consciousness. The practice is for your consciousness. So like right now, you might think or I might think I'm listening to the cries of the world. I might think. I am observing with eyes of compassion all living beings. That's okay to think that. It's all right to think that. That's a nice thought. And that thought promotes the actual practice of listening to the cries of the world, which goes on even if I don't think I'm doing it. Bodhidharma doesn't have to think I'm listening to the cries of the world.

[20:08]

He is. That's what he is. That's what you are. That's what you are as a bodhisattva. You are that. And you can also think that you're that. That's fine. And you're being told about this practice. You are being told about the practice of how you are a bodhisattva. But the way you're a bodhisattva isn't just your consciousness. For example, I'm a bodhisattva. Or, I'm not a bodhisattva. That's your consciousness. Or my consciousness. My consciousness. I'm a man. I'm a bodhisattva. I'm not a bodhisattva. I'm a Zen priest. I'm not a Zen priest. That's my consciousness talking. But there's a teaching which is being circulated, which is being aired here. The teaching is that the great way of being, the enlightening way of being, is listening to the cries of the world.

[21:10]

And that isn't just you thinking that you are. although you might think that. And we're being told this because if you think about it, and if you remember this teaching, by remembering this teaching, you will realize that you're a bodhisattva. You will realize how you're a bodhisattva by remembering the teaching of what a bodhisattva is. But this listening isn't just a consciousness. So here's the bodhisattva. The emperor says, who is this here? And he says, it's not consciousness. That's what the bodhisattva said to the emperor. The bodhisattva is looking at the emperor with eyes of compassion. The emperor says, what is this in front of me? And what's in front of him says, it's not consciousness.

[22:13]

This bodhisattva is not consciousness. This observing you with consciousness Eyes of compassion isn't a consciousness. It's an enlightening way to be. And it's not separate from the person. It's what the person really is. But what the person really is isn't what the person thinks the person is. Although, that's part of what the person is, of course. Okay, now, I really appreciate you letting me have you in my arms. I really appreciate you not... striking me with a bolt of lightning and letting me be your successor. I'm supposedly your successor. Isn't that amazing? That you've been succeeded for about 62 or 63 generations. And that's me. And then there's, oh, look at that guy. He's one of your successors too.

[23:15]

Good boy. See, he's happy to meet you. Are you happy to meet him? Sometimes bodhisattvas don't talk. Is he from China? Well, apparently he's from China. Because, I mean... He definitely was in China. I was in China. Aul was in China with me. I was in China with Aul. And we were also with another guy named Andy Ferguson. And when we were there, Andy Ferguson saw this Bodhidharma walking around Beijing. And he bought him and brought him to America and gave him to me. And I brought him to no abode.

[24:17]

Is he from China? I don't know. Are you from China? I'm from India. I'm from India and I went to China and then I went to San Francisco. And I landed in San Francisco airport and then I went to Green Gulch. And then from Green Gulch I went to no abode. But I'm originally from India. I'm an Indian bodhisattva. I'm an Indian practicing listening to the cries of the world. And he hasn't blinked since. And he hasn't blinked since. Okay, now who is going to take him back to the altar and put him in his sitting position on the altar? Okay, got him? Not just yet. Okay, there he goes. Up, bye-bye. Okay, that's... So that's the simple part of the lecture. That's the simple Zen. That's Zen simple.

[25:17]

Zen simple is our practice is bodhisattva practice of listening to the cries of the world. Okay? That's what I say. And I don't say that during every talk. But don't forget it, because that's the basis of the whole thing. That's the basic bodhisattva thing. Now, some people have their hands raised, but I just want to mention, before I deal with these people who have their hands raised, I just want to mention that most of what is characteristically, most of what you find in the records of the Zen ancestors, most of what you read or hear from the records of the teaching of the Zen ancestors who are practicing, observing all beings with eyes of compassion, the records of these people, of their teaching, they don't very often mention what their basic practice is.

[26:27]

If you look in the records of many Zen ancestors, you might find no mention of them saying... My practice is to observe all sentient beings with eyes of compassion. In most of their records, you will not find that. In the record of me, you will find that. It had just been recorded auditorially and visually. It is now in my record. So if you look at my record, you'll find that I said this is basic Zen practice. But I'm saying the people who didn't mention it, I'm saying it was their practice. Bodhidharma, I don't see anything in his record where he said that was his practice. So how can I say that he said it? How can I say it? Because I'm his successor. I'm telling you who my ancestor is. My ancestor is Avalokiteshvara. That's who my ancestor is. I'm telling you about my ancestors, that he was a bodhisattva.

[27:33]

That he was filled with compassion. And it was just oozing out of him and into him and out of him and into him and into him and out of him. That's what my ancestor is. I'm telling you that. But he didn't say it as far as I know. He maybe never said it. But maybe he said it over and over so they didn't write it down. Maybe he said it all the time. And they just wrote down the stuff that... Nobody ever said, like, to the emperor, not consciousness. Nobody ever said that to the emperor before. But the emperor already knew about Avalokiteshvara. Who's this guy? He said, well, I'm Avalokiteshvara. He could have said that. I'm Avalokiteshvara. Well, after he left, after Bodhidharma had left, the emperor's teacher, who was there, said, the emperor says, who was that? So... The emperor says to Bodhidharma, who is this?

[28:35]

Bodhidharma says, not consciousness. Then Bodhidharma leaves and the emperor says, who was that? And his teacher says, that was Avalokiteshvara. So Bodhidharma says, I'm Avalokiteshvara, you moron. But the imperial teachers told the emperor that he had just met Avalokiteshvara. And the emperor was really sorry he didn't notice. And he wanted Avila Kiteshvara to come back. And his teacher said, well, he's not going to come back. And his teacher didn't say, but you could go and study with him. Now, again, what I was about to say was, and I did say it, that in the records of the Zen ancestors, you will not find, in all of them... You might find in some of them this saying that our practice is the practice of Avalokiteshvara. You may find that in some of them.

[29:36]

But you might not. That's why I'm telling you today is because you might not. And that's why I'm being recorded to say this, I guess, so that it can go on YouTube now and people can hear that Bodhidharma was Avalokiteshvara. And if you practice like that, you're Avalokiteshvara. And then you're a Zen ancestor. So what is in the records? So I propose to you another simple statement. What the records are is their teachings from the bodhisattvas. What bodhisattvas? Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva. Their teachings to other bodhisattvas on how to observe all sentient beings with no outflows. Now, Avila Kiteshvar observes with eyes of compassion, and there's no outflows.

[30:36]

So Avila Kiteshvar observes, listens to the cries of the world with no outflows. Outflows are like impurities. Outflows are like looking at people who are suffering with eyes of compassion and thinking that if they weren't suffering, they'd be better than if they were suffering. That's an outflow. The bodhisattvas see us doing unskillful things to ourselves and others, and they observe us with super-compassionate eyes. And they're sorry for us hurting ourselves, but they don't think that we would be better if we weren't hurting ourselves, even though they would like us to give up hurting ourselves. They think we're just like them. They don't think that they're great bodhisattvas and we're and we're stupid people. They do think that.

[31:39]

But they understand that the great Bodhisattva is the stupid person. If you don't understand that the great Bodhisattva is the stupid person, that's an outflow. So they look at all the stupid people who are hurting themselves and others, and it hurts them to see it, and they're happy to feel the pain of seeing us hurting. ourselves they're not happy that we're hurting themselves they're happy that it hurts them and they're happy to feel that hurt and that's part of their observation and they have no outflows of thinking that they're separate from us and they have no sense of gain or loss so they don't think that they're going to get more famous if their students get more enlightened Or maybe they do think that they'll get more famous because maybe they will get more famous if all their students become enlightened. But they don't care about that. And they don't care about that they'll become less famous if their students get enlightened or get more enlightened than them. They're not concerned with gain and loss.

[32:41]

They're not caught by it. They have no outflows. Most of the Zen teachings are so that when we're practicing the observing, we're not trying to become famous or worried about becoming unfamous. The teachings are about how to purify our listening. That's what most of the teachings are about. They're teachings to people who are listening to help them listen more purely, more free of any duality. That's what the teachings are mostly about. But they're teachings to these bodhisattvas and they don't mention who they're talking to. Because it's understood. This is a Mahayana teaching. It's a teaching for bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are into listening to the cries of the world. This is a teaching to help bodhisattvas do their job. This is a teaching for the people who are on that job. And it's a wonderful teaching. But often people don't understand that it's a teaching for people who are doing this thing.

[33:48]

They don't mention the thing. They just... They're talking to the people who are doing it. Just like the sixth ancestor, six generations after Bodhidharma, we have a person called the sixth ancestor. He's the first, number six, said to the monks, Zen has nothing to do with meditation. That's an instruction to people who are doing meditation. They're all meditating. And then he says to them, this practice is about meditation. has nothing to do with meditation. That's an instruction to purify their meditation. What's their meditation? Listening to the cries of the world. And then here's the teaching. This practice has nothing to do with what you're doing. So they don't get stuck in thinking that what they're doing is the practice of what they're practiced. It's to purify the practice. But when you hear that, you think, oh, the six ancestors said it's got nothing to do with meditation, so let's not meditate.

[34:56]

That teaching was for meditators. He wasn't telling them to stop meditating. He was saying, you're meditating, and please understand that what I'm teaching you has nothing to do with what you're doing. But I wouldn't be saying that to you if you weren't doing that. So that's basically two very simple things. One, what Zen practice is... And it is listening to the cries of the world and it can become listening to the cries of the world with training. Training at listening, remembering to listen, and then listening to teachings. The listening can become wholehearted. And when it becomes wholehearted, it's Buddhist wisdom. So it's both the practice of listening and observing and the practice of listening. of not abiding in the practice of listening. So that's this temple. This temple is for bodhisattvas who are listening to the cries to help them have a mind which doesn't abide in listening to the cries.

[36:03]

So that's super clear, isn't it? It doesn't mean you don't have a lot of questions. But isn't that clear? I thought so. So I see Eric. and Bruce and Sonia. Do you want to say something? I'm listening. I'm listening. I'm looking. Go ahead. Well, that was the first time I heard that... Yeah, usually they translate it as... Here's other translations. Here's one translation. I don't know. And great translators have translated it that way. I don't know. But literally the character is a character for not. And the next character is a character for consciousness. Now that word consciousness has colloquial meaning and it also has, it's a Buddhist term for consciousness.

[37:09]

So sometimes it's translated, the emperor says to Bodhidharma, who is this? And Bodhisarma says, don't know. That character, however more fundamentally, it's this character here. How does it go? It does. This character means not, basically not, or it's a negation. It isn't really basically don't, but it's often translated as don't know or not know. or I don't know. But literally, I just discovered that, I mean, I saw it before, but it just hit me recently, that it's not consciousness. This thing that's in front of you, this bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is not consciousness. Bodhisattva is wisdom. So I talked to you before, there's consciousness,

[38:15]

where there's a self, which is giddy and disorienting, karmic consciousness, and then there's unconscious cognitive process, which is most of what's going on in our mind, and then there's wisdom. Wisdom is not consciousness. Wisdom is the way that consciousness is not consciousness. So Bodhidharma said, not consciousness. Wisdom is, consciousness, not consciousness. That's wisdom. And it's another, it's, all three of these are minds, all three of these are awareness. Bodhidharma says, consciousness, not consciousness. That's what he presented, the emperor, couldn't get with it, and then he found out... way down and just getting this gift and wanting to hang out, but it was too late.

[39:20]

The imperial meeting was open. Not-consciousness is a new translation that you're one of the first people to hear. But the character is literally the character that usually is in a good way of consciousness. Well, I found it helpful, and I was wondering if you could describe how the element of knowing, not knowing, don't know. How would you describe that aspect within not consciousness? Because to me, they seem very different. Yeah, how would you... Well, how I would do that is just watching for the rest of my life, to get a chance to see, this is how I'm going to do that. So, in my ears of him, for example, consciousness we are not familiar with.

[40:25]

That's usually what we know is consciousness. We also know unconscious cognitive process, but the way we know unconscious cognitive process is not... is not... where there's an I, I know unconscious cognitive processes. The way I know them is I can speak English because I can move my ears. I know unconscious cognitive processes in a different way than I know conscious cognitive processes. Now, the way consciousness is not consciousness, that is... The way this is not this. The way that is, is another mind. It's a mind. The way this is empty of this is consciousness.

[41:29]

It is an awareness. It's a cognition. It's more knowing. So the Buddha wants to teach people wants to open people, to teach people, Buddha's wisdom, which is Buddha's awareness. Buddha's awareness is not current consciousness, it's not self-consciousness. It's not a mind where there's a self that seems to be separate from others. It's not that. But Buddha's wisdom doesn't eliminate that consciousness. In fact, Buddha's wisdom is the way that self-consciousness is not self-consciousness. That is Buddha's mind, which Bodhi Dharma transmitted, is the way self-consciousness is not self-consciousness. It's the way the unconscious cognitive process is not the unconscious cognitive process.

[42:33]

It's the way anything is not anything. That pivotal activity of karmic consciousness, not karmic consciousness. That's wisdom. That's Buddha's wisdom. And that's not consciousness. That's the way consciousness is pivoting with not consciousness. So Bodhidharma is talking to the emperor, the emperor's consciousness is talking to Bodhidharma, and Bodhidharma says, your consciousness is not consciousness. That's the Buddha's activity. But he didn't say the first part, he said the second part. The emperor couldn't turn with him. But he was turning with the emperor, trying to show the emperor that it was turning with him. He raised his eyebrows.

[43:42]

Well, I was also kind of wondering the same thing about the use of the term non-consciousness, you know, listening to cries of the world. Could also be translated, that character could also be translated as non-consciousness. Non or not. Okay. So, you mean, non-consciousness is non-dualism. Non-consciousness is non-dualism. It's not dualistic and... What's before you, dear, is not dualistic. The Bodhisattva is not dualistic. The Bodhisattva is you in the form of somebody else. And you... Somebody else is you in the form of death. That's the Bodhisattva. is what he saw his enlightening being, the great being, is non-dualism.

[44:50]

It is a reason the question arose, because usually I would have thought it was dualistic consciousness and non-dualistic consciousness, but you refer to something that... Well, I'd rather not use the word consciousness from that. I would say if dualistic consciousness And there's an understanding, there's a mind with dualistic self-consciousness. And there's a mind which understands dualistic self-consciousness. And the mind that understands that is not a consciousness. There's no self in the mind that understands that the mind with the self is actually not a mind with the self. is, I would say, is an awareness. It's a wisdom. But Buddha's wisdom is not consciousness. But it transmits to consciousness a way to practice so that consciousness realizes that consciousness is not consciousness.

[46:00]

Or so that there is a realization that consciousness is not consciousness. That's what Buddhist wisdom is trying to transmit to us. The way you understand that is by with your consciousness, for example, hearing and teaching of listening to the cries of the world. If you listen to the cries of the world, there will be the dawning of the wisdom that the cries of the world are you. You are the cries of the world. There's no need to be afraid of all this suffering, which is actually who you really are. Holy Sakras are this understanding. And they practice this understanding by listening to themselves in the form of all living beings. And they receive this instruction from the Buddhists.

[47:02]

So... Yes. I was remembering something that I was reading about listening, and if I apply the practice of enneagram to that word, it's got silent letters around. I was thinking about your teaching about silent and still, which I think Bodhidharma was silent and still, and that was his practice of listening, and that she said, Listening is an anagram of silence. Silence. Silence. So listening, Sonia has discovered that listening, or listen, that listen is an anagram of silence. So deep listening, in order for us to deeply listen, you have to be quiet.

[48:04]

Sonia says, in order to deeply listen, you have to be quiet. Kind of. She said, kind of. Silent. Quiet. Kind of quiet. And the other way around, when you're really silent, you're listening. And when you listen, you need to be silent. I need to be silent. That's why we're remembering silence. Because in silence, there is this listening. By listening, the bodhisattvas is living in silence. Thanks for the antebrain. And I thought that maybe the ancestors didn't give this simple practice, or speak this simple practice, because

[49:07]

I think everybody came here to practice or just come here because they couldn't hear not only the cries of the world but themselves. So I'm looking at the others. I'm looking for practices, to articulate practices to work with, to be able to be with the cries of the world so that if you didn't hear it in the first place, Maybe. A lot of people come to Zen temples because they heard the word Zen and they thought it was so cool. They heard, they didn't hear, well they didn't know they were hearing the cries. They were, of course. They didn't know they were hearing the cries. They came not knowing they were hearing the cries. Because they were really equal Zen teachers, the Bodhisattvas.

[50:10]

But they didn't know that these teachers were Bodhisattvas. And there was no mention of compassion. But they were attracted to the Zen Zen. Because they really liked the way the Zen teachers talked to the Bodhisattvas. They didn't understand where the Zen teachers were talking to the Bodhisattvas. And they didn't understand that they were Bodhisattvas. So people come into the Zen center and they hear about bodhisattvas and then they go to the teacher and they say, excuse me, but I just wanted to confess I'm not a bodhisattva. I don't care about the other people at Zen center. I'm not here to help them. I'm only here to get them to help me. And they say, can I stay? Even though I don't care about the other people, I only care about and helping me be happy and at ease. And I don't care what we're very happy. It's got to stay as innocent. And we usually say yes.

[51:11]

Now, in many Zen stories, they kick the person out and lose that honest. And then the person begs to come back and they say no. And they beg to come back. And after two years, they come back and they become a great teacher. Because they were honest. About what? They don't want to be a boy's son. by being honest about not only being a bodhisattva and telling bodhisattva that you wouldn't realize that you're almost bored of bodhisattva. Part of the problem that happened in Zen Zen, nobody mentions compassion, so that people do cruel things, because they didn't realize that this teaching, which doesn't mention anything about being kind, was a teaching for how to clarify your kindness. So there's something I need. So how come people are so uncompassionate and mean? You will be told to be kind.

[52:14]

You didn't realize that that's what they came for. But of course that's what we're all here for. We're all here to become great bodhisattvas. We're on that path. I really like this kind of review of fundamentals today. And I was wondering if you could define consciousness. You've mentioned that word so much, we talk about it so much. Sometimes I'm not sure if I actually have a clear understanding of what you mean by consciousness. I think the basic definition for me is it's an awareness where there seems to be a self, where there seems to be somebody there who's not other people. There's a specific awareness of the notion of self. Yes, but it's also an awareness of others. There's a self there that's aware of others.

[53:17]

So like, I'm here aware of you. That's consciousness. These are my feelings. Those are your feelings. This is what I think. That's what Jesus thinks. That's consciousness. So unconsciousness has always involved self and self. If you take away the self, it's not consciousness. That's not what I would call consciousness. And the unconscious cognitive or cognitive process, it isn't a sense of self, there's nobody there. However, things which are considered to be other, in consciousness, they're appearing in the unconscious process. It's just that there's not a self saying there's other. Like... In consciousness, there's like, there's like, if my consciousness is Justin apparently, but in my consciousness, I don't think Justin is me. I think Justin is other. But in my unconscious cognitive process, there's also a Justin, but he's not seen as other for me.

[54:20]

He's just like Justin, and Desi, and Kirk, and Kirk, Kurt. Are you Kurt? Kurt. Kurt and Kurt. So in my unconscious, there's Kurt and Kurt. And that's the injustice. But it's not me, Kurt, in my unconscious. It's just Kurt. And it's also, it could be me too, but the me in the unconscious is just like, it's like, Justin, that's leading me. Kurt, Justin. Kurt. It's like, It's not the center of what's going on there. It's just one of the people. In my unconscious, I'm one of the people. My body is one of the bodies. It's not like I'm there and this is... And that's most of what's going on in our mind. We're talking about various sex consciousnesses. Sense consciousnesses is I.

[55:22]

But there's also sensory processes going on cognitively, but there's not I in that cognitive process. And those aren't consciousnesses. And the objects are not out there accepting the subject. So consciousness is subjectivity. I'm very thinking about why, as you said, many teachers love to talk about, looking with eyes and with action, and thinking it's because of non-consciousness that actually there's nobody doing it. It's not like, in a way, it can be a practice, but actually it's also just what, you know,

[56:27]

It is the practice. So it's indescribable. It's like an indescribable. It's not indescribable, but the description won't ever reach. Yeah. It is the practice of reality. Observing all living beings with bias and compassion is what reality is doing. In a way, you can't do it. The whole universe is looking at the whole universe. Getting rise to the whole universe. That's our life. The practice is to join that process. But it's not that this universe, looking at the universe, the self is part of the whole universe. It's looking at the whole universe which has the self in it. giving rise to a universe where there's a self, actually the infinite selves.

[57:31]

Because there's infinite consciousness, individual consciousness. Individual consciousness is a cognitive process that has an individual in it. And also, this individual appears to be not interdependent. So it's a type of awareness that is deluded. So the universe has infinite deluded consciousnesses in it. And it looks at the universe which has infinite deluded consciousnesses. And that gives rise to a universe with infinite deluded consciousnesses. Which means consciousnesses. Which does the self. Which thinks it's not interdependent. And that self. can't really look with the eyes completely with the eyes of compassion. It cannot, and it is totally included in that.

[58:39]

Because the eyes of compassion see the self. What you can't look with eyes of compassion is exactly the same as the eyes of compassion. The eyes of compassion see the self which thinks it can or cannot look with the eyes of compassion, it sees that deluded self as exactly the same as the eyes of compassion. But it doesn't think that the eyes of compassion are doing it, because even the eyes of compassion aren't doing it, the eyes of compassion of the whole universe, as the eyes of compassion. So there's nothing, there's no place to abide in the whole process. More to think of. More to think of. More to remember. All the better to remember. Why do you talk like this? All the better to remember. Why are you so strange? All the better to remember. Katie?

[59:43]

I'm wondering if you are... Did you speak up? I'm hearing aids. Hearing aids for the people in the suburbs. Did you know they were in the suburbs? No. Charlie's in the wilderness. Yeah. So if you're still practicing with an immature practice, and maybe you'll hear some of the cries of the world, but in response you feel... You feel things. You feel despair or you feel fear or you could feel many things. And maybe there are some outflows. Probably there are. So I guess I was curious if you could talk a little bit about the relationship between listening to the cries of the world and listening.

[60:52]

acting, taking action in a world that's crying when there is immature, there is this imperfect outflow and response to the cries of the world in the self or the non-self. Well, I will, I'd be happy to, and I am. Did you say, did you have me hear something? What did you ask me to do? Can you have me say something? And I'm saying, yes, I know. And I am. Do you see? What do you see? Do you see what I'm doing? And do you see that before, in sport, I was already responding to it? You were talking and I was like... I was like responding. Did you see it?

[61:54]

This is reality. Your question and my response come up together. Immature practice doesn't understand. Immature practice says, I asked you to respond to me and you didn't. But I responded to you before the time when you looked. You looked after my response. But your sponsor sees that when you ask a question, you're already being responded. Immature, since you ask a question, then later you're going to get a response. This is part of the later response that is being offered to you. Immature, did you say immature listening? I didn't, but... We used to say immature practice. Yeah, the immature practice of listening is that we haven't really arrived at mature practice of listening, right?

[63:03]

You literally got that. Immature listening is that we haven't yet become mature in listening. Still don't understand. Are you understanding this? I'm listening. Isn't it? I'm asking, is that clear to you? You have this look on your face like, I don't know what you're talking about. You're going to say, do you need some help there? Probably. You've brought up the mature listening, right? You've got the mature practice. Immature practice is not yet mature practice. Now you're nodding. immature practice has not yet arrived at mature practice. Okay? Immature practice is still in the realm of, for example, duality. So the responses that are going to come in immature practice are going to seem perhaps dualistic.

[64:11]

And maybe... Unhelpful. And many afflicted and afflicting. That's part of what comes with the immaturity. The mature practice, what comes from there is the performance of non-nuality. It's the performance of reality. It transmits peacefulness. It's not harmful. However, part of the non-duality of the mature practice is to understand that the immature practice that didn't yet understand non-duality, it was caught up in duality, is the same as the mature practice. But in fact, the immature practice does think, the immature practice thinks this is mature or not mature. This, and it would be better if I was more mature. That's the mature practice. that's just thinking.

[65:17]

Immature practice, basically immature practice is still falling for thinking. It's still falling for discrimination. It's still falling for gain and loss. So as I said earlier, you hear the teaching, listening to the Christ of the world, but when we start to practice it, we do it with some purity, with some artworks, like better if things were like this, or it would be worse if things were like that. It falls for that thought. Immature listening hears those thoughts and gets caught by them. But hearing those thoughts, mature listening to thoughts like it would be better if it was like this, and worse if it was like that. Mature listening hears those and is not caught by them. And here is the Dharma through those statements in both cases.

[66:21]

And here in the Dharma of things are not good, things are good, it would be better if things were like this, it would be worse if you... This kind of consciousness, right? If you're sure listening, there's a wholehearted listening to that consciousness. and there's a not being caught by it. And that listening to the cries that are being caught by creates the blessing of the practice. And the mature listening is not trying to get rid of the thinking that comes from immature listening. Mature listening is not trying to get rid of the thinking that comes with immature listening.

[67:27]

It's not trying to get rid of judgments. But even the materialism, it doesn't want to and it doesn't get rid of the thinking. In the materialism, all the kinds of thinking are still coming up. It's just that in the materialism there's no being caught by any kind of thinking. including the thinking that mature listening is different from immature listening. So immature listening, can you hear in the voice that immature listening is different from mature listening. Immature listening can hear that voice. Mature listening hears that voice too and does not get caught by it. And not get caught by it. The responses that come up with them would not be caught to liberate all beings. Be caught by the thought that materialism is better or different from nature.

[68:34]

Immaturity. Be caught by that is immature. And from that immaturity there is a transmission of suffering and misery. The materialism understands that. and isn't caught by that, and transmits a blessing. Immature is caught by, maybe we should try to get rid of some of this kind of thinking. Maybe we should upgrade. We should upgrade the thinking. That's, that's, it's caught, it's not good. It's caught by that. Mature, and you mature, listen, it isn't like you don't have this thought. Hey, let's upgrade it. the thinking of these people. Let's get this thinking and let's get the maturity of their listening to you. You name it. Mature listening is listening to. It's listening to all infinite deluded thinking.

[69:40]

And not being caught by any of it. And that kind of listening is what saves the world. Immature is listening to and being caught by some or a lot of all other things. And therefore, we have suffering. And mature listening is not trying to stop that. It's listening to it. And it's listening to it without being caught by it. And it's transmitting this non-abiding mind of compassion to all the immature listeners. So that they will also not be caught by their been caught. Okay? Now, it might be clear to everybody, and I just wanted to add one more thing which came up at the beginning of what you were saying, is that listening to the cries of the world really starts with listening to the cries of your own consciousness.

[70:42]

So it starts by listening to what you're thinking, your own cries. If you skip over them, it will howl your You're listening to others. A lot of people think listening to the cries of the world is not listening to me thinking that I'm not too good at listening. I think I'm not too good at listening. That's one of the cries. Or if I think I am above average at listening, that's one of the cries. Or if I think I don't know how to listen, that's one of the cries. Or if I think it's stupid to listen, they should listen to me, that's one of the cries. These are my cries for me to listen to. I'm better than her. She's better than me. I can't be like him. I can be like him. These are cries in my own head. I'm a sensory. I'm not a sensory. These are cries in my own head. So I listen to cries in my own consciousness, inwardly, so I listen to cries of what seems to be all right.

[71:46]

Some people are actually, they do think, they do think, and they seem to be right. that they listen to the cries of others more than they listen to the cries of themselves. Even though when they tell me that, they have just listened to their own cry, because they just told me what they want. They missed it. It's getting up towards the Nikko, the good vision now. It's getting up towards the watch. Going along with T is going to get a good vision. So maybe it's time to have lunch break and stop.

[72:41]

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