Last one from Canada is Heart Sutra, right? Somewhat, somewhat, remember what that was about? Heart Sutra is what we call Mahayana Sutra. Very important Mahayana Sutra. And tonight you have also another very important Mahayana Sutra. It's called the Samudra Murchana Sutra. And you have Chapter 5 there? Chapter 5? Okay, so this is another Mahayana Sutra. So let's chant this Chapter too. Let's chant it. The question is of Inshallah Mahdi. For what reason does the Tathagata designate a bodhisattva

[01:22]

as wise with respect to the secrets of mind, thought and consciousness? The Bhagavan replied to the bodhisattva, Inshallah Mahdi, Inshallah Mahdi, you are involved in asking this in order to benefit many beings, to bring happiness to many beings out of sympathy for the world and for the sake of the welfare and benefit and happiness of many beings, including gods and humans, your intention in questioning the Tathagata about this subject is good, it is good, therefore, Inshallah Mahdi, listen well and I will describe for you the way bodhisattvas are wise with respect to the secrets of mind, thought and consciousness. Inshallah Mahdi, whatever type of sentient being there may be in this cyclic existence, within six kinds of beings, those sentient beings manifest the body and arise within states of birth, such as egg-born or womb-born or moisture-born or spontaneously born, initially independent upon two types of appropriation, the appropriation of the physical sense-powers associated with the support

[02:26]

and the appropriation of predispositions, which proliferate conventional designations with respect to signs, aims and concepts. The mind, which has all seeds, ripens, it develops, increases and expands in its operations, although two types of appropriation exist in the form realm, appropriation is not twofold in the formless realm, Inshallah Mahdi, consciousness is also called the appropriating consciousness because it holds and appropriates the body in that way, it is called the basis consciousness because there is the same establishment and abiding within those bodies, thus they are wholly connected and thoroughly connected, it is called mind because it collects and accumulates forms, sounds, smells, tastes and tangible objects, Inshallah Mahdi, the sixfold collection of consciousness, the eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness and mind-consciousness arises depending on and abiding in that appropriating consciousness,

[03:28]

an eye-consciousness arises depending on an eye in a form in association with consciousness, functioning together with that eye-consciousness, a conceptual mental consciousness arises at the same time having the same objective reference, Inshallah Mahdi, an ear-consciousness, a nose-consciousness, a tongue-consciousness and a bodily consciousness arise depending on an ear, a nose, a tongue and a body in association with consciousness, and sounds, smells, tastes and tangibles functioning together with nose, ear, tongue and bodily consciousness, a conceptual mental consciousness arises at the same time having the same objective reference, if there arises one eye-consciousness, if there arises together with it only one mental consciousness which has the same object of activity as the eye-consciousness, likewise if two, three, four or five consciousnesses arise together, then there still arises together with them only one conceptual mental consciousness which has the same object of activity as the five-fold collection of consciousness,

[04:33]

Inshallah Mahdi, for example, if the causal conditions for the arising of one wave in a great flowing river are present, then just one wave will arise, the causal conditions for two waves are many waves are present and multiple waves will arise, but the river's own continuity will not be broken, it will never be entirely stopped, if the causal conditions for the arising of a single image in a perfectly clear round mirror are present, then just one image will arise, if the causal conditions for the arising of two images are many images are present, then multiple images will arise, however that round mirror will not be transformed into the nature of the image, it will never be fully linked, Inshallah Mahdi, just as it is with water and the mirror, depending upon and abiding in the appropriating consciousness, the causal conditions for the simultaneous arising of one eye consciousness are present, then just one eye consciousness will arise one time, if the causal conditions for a single arising of up to the five-fold assemblage of consciousness are present,

[05:38]

then up to that five-fold assemblage of consciousness will also arise one time, Inshallah Mahdi, it is like this, Bodhisattvas who rely on knowledge of the system of doctrine and abiding knowledge of the system of doctrine are wise, with respect to the secrets of mind, thought and consciousness, however when a Tathāgata designates Bodhisattvas as being wise, with respect to the secrets of mind, thought and consciousness, it is not only because of this that he designates those Bodhisattvas as being wise in all ways, Inshallah Mahdi, those Bodhisattvas wise in all ways do not perceive their own internal appropriators, they also do not perceive an appropriating consciousness, but they are in accord with reality, they also do not perceive a basis, nor do they perceive a basis consciousness, they do not perceive accumulations, nor do they perceive mind, they do not perceive an eye, nor do they perceive form, nor do they perceive an eye consciousness, they do not perceive an ear, the body, nor do they perceive a tangible object, nor do they perceive a bodily consciousness.

[07:00]

Vishalamati, these Bodhisattvas do not perceive their own particular thoughts, nor do they perceive a phenomenon, nor do they perceive a mental consciousness, but they are in quarrel with reality. These Bodhisattvas are said to be wise with respect to the ultimate, as the Targata designates the Bodhisattvas to are wise with respect to the ultimate, as also being wise with respect to the secrets of mind, thought and consciousness. Vishalamati, this is how Bodhisattvas are wise with respect to the secrets of mind, thought and consciousness. When the Targata designates Bodhisattvas as being wise with respect to the secrets of mind, thought and consciousness, he designates them as such for this very reason, and the Bhagavan spoke this first, that if the appropriating consciousness, deep and subtle, all of these flowing like a river were conceived as the Self, that would not be right, thus I have not taught this to children. This completes the fifth chapter of Vishalamati. Manjula Deva Srivastava, called the central conception of Buddhism, the concept of Dharma,

[08:34]

and that's listed under the Charivata, or the vehicle of blissfulness, the Staviravata. But he wrote another book, which I didn't put on there, which I really wish you could add to the Mahayana section, which is called Hindus Logic. That's a text which has a discussion of the different phases, the three wheels, the three turnings of the Dharma wheel, and it introduces the Mahayana, in the sense of the Mahayana, Abhijananda Mahayana, teachings about cognition, about mind functions and knowledge. So you can add that to the reading list. So we just chatted another Mahayana scripture, and I wondered if you noticed, how you felt

[09:49]

about it? Did you notice any difference, or what differences were between the Heart Sutra and this sutra? What differences did you notice? And what similarities? Yes. Maybe what similarities did you notice, first of all? The emptiness teaching. The emptiness teaching, yes. How is that expressed in the Heart Sutra? In the context of emptiness, no eyes, no ears. So another way to say it, in the context of emptiness, the Bodhisattva does not perceive eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, sight, smell, touch, taste, and taste. Our consciousness, their consciousness, and so on, and my consciousness, they don't perceive these things, or the apprehension of these. That's in the Heart Sutra. And that's also in this sutra, right? That's a similarity, that's a difference. The Heart Sutra says, in place, no fear exists.

[10:55]

It says that, yeah. And this one doesn't talk about consequences. But it talks about consequences. Yes, it does. It talks about consequences. It just doesn't mention that there's no fear. It does talk about consequence. What consequence does it talk about? There's two. What's the consequence that's mentioned in both? Wisdom. Wisdom, yeah. So the first one is talking about the Bodhisattva who is practicing wisdom. When they see this way, then they attain perfection of wisdom. When all Bodhisattvas are relying on this, they attain what? In the second scripture it says, the Bodhisattvas are wise if they know the first part of the scripture, but to be wise in all ways, they need to know the second part. So it also talks about when they know the second part, then they are wise in all ways.

[12:01]

Did you get that? Any questions about that point? About difference? What was the point of difference? Actually, that wasn't the point of difference. Was that the point of difference? Yes? Heroine says, if two, three, four, or five consciousnesses arise together, then they're together with only one conceptual mental consciousness. That seems like a different idea. A different idea from? From the Heart Sutra. It's a different idea. What kind of an idea is it versus the kind you learn in the Heart Sutra? What's the difference between those ideas? Can you articulate that? It just seems like it's absent in the Heart Sutra. Okay, so it's different in the sense that it's in this one and it's not in the Heart Sutra.

[13:08]

The Heart Sutra uses similar words, though. But what's the difference in the way the word uses... The Heart Sutra says mind consciousness, too. What's the difference between the Heart Sutra brings up mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness that's brought up here? I don't know. You don't know? Well, maybe Martha will say something. Well, actually, it's the first time I've read that, so I'm not... But it seems like in the Mahayana, the Bodhisattva isn't perceiving. There's not duality. In the Yantra, there's a sense that there's a perception of no eyes, no ears, no mouth. There was some kind of change towards the end, where the Bodhisattva is not here perceiving something. In the Mahayana, the Bodhisattva is not perceiving. Yeah, it's something that is not the Self, and the perception is something else. In the Heart Sutra, it sounds like the Bodhisattva is not perceiving something. And in this text, it sounds like when the Bodhisattva is perceiving the ultimate, the Bodhisattva is not perceiving the Self.

[14:13]

But in the first part of the chapter, they're talking about... They're not saying that the Bodhisattva does perceive things, but they're saying that the Bodhisattva understands how perception works. The first part of this chapter is explaining how perception works, and also implying that when the Bodhisattva understands this material, then they're wise. First of all, it says, the Bodhisattva asked the Buddha, how are Bodhisattvas wise, do Buddhists say? They're wise like this, and he told them how the mind works. For example, that whatever sense consciousness arises, there's also mind consciousness, and so on. So he explained how consciousness works, and he said, when Bodhisattvas know this, then they're wise with respect to mind, thought, and consciousness. Mind with respect to the secrets, or the intimacy of mind, thought, and consciousness. However, they're not wise in all ways. And when they're wise in all ways, then they don't perceive

[15:17]

these things, any of this stuff. But he also says that they know about this earlier stuff. The Heart Sutra doesn't say that they know this earlier stuff. It doesn't say so. However, it's somewhat implied that they know it, because Avalokiteshvara is meditating on the five skandhas. He's meditating on the description of how consciousness arises, and how experience is composed, so he's meditating on an analysis of experience. But the Heart Sutra doesn't explain the analysis. It doesn't say how the five skandhas are interrelated. And also he sees that the eighteen elements are empty. He sees that the twelve sense doors are empty. So the Bodhisattva is analyzing experience into these different categories, and therefore they can see the emptiness.

[16:21]

They wouldn't see the emptiness of these things if they weren't already dealing with them. But the Heart Sutra doesn't tell you how to find these things, or how these things work together. First of all, because the Bodhisattvas already are doing this. So, it goes to these people who are already watching, who are already wise with respect to mind, thought, and consciousness. And then it pushes them just to go beyond that, to step forth from there into perfect wisdom. But it doesn't tell you how to get stationed in the first conceptual level. This Sutra shows you a way to get stationed in the first level. Not just tell you about the first level, and then tell you to go beyond it. But it tells you about the first level. It teaches you about the first level. And it tells you even some more things about the first level, before pushing you beyond.

[17:24]

And so the first part of the chapter five is exactly teaching a conceptual approach to wisdom. And it says, if you understand the first part, you are wise. The second part teaches, I would say, non-conceptual wisdom. And I wouldn't say a non-conceptual approach, because even approach is conceptual. It teaches non-conceptual wisdom. So they don't perceive eyes, ears, and so on, or color, sounds, or speech, or smells. They don't perceive these things, in other words, they see the emptiness of it. They see the ultimate. They see the ultimate of these things. They see the ultimate of color, they see the ultimate of sound. So they do see these things. And then, based on that, they see the emptiness of the things, and in seeing the emptiness of them, they don't perceive these things. And also, there is an instruction about how to see these things,

[18:31]

how to actually be able to study these consciousnesses. The Heart Sutra also doesn't explain, because if it starts explaining then it's afraid, then you're going back into conceptual approach again. So if you would ask, if you hear Avalokiteśvara was practicing Prajnaparamita and saw that all five aggregates are empty, if you would ask the Heart Sutra, well how do you meditate on them? How do you see the five skandhas empty? What are the five skandhas? It won't tell you. Now some of you might say, actually I have to go study another sutra. But some of the answers say, no you don't have to. You don't have to. When you hear about the five aggregates being empty, and you want to know what they are so that you can meditate on them and find out what they're empty, actually all you've got to do is give up your conceptual approach to finding out how to do this practice.

[19:36]

And you'll be doing it. So you don't actually have to learn about the five aggregates. You don't have to learn how to do it. And immediately, right now, we think emptiness. But some people say, I can't. For those people, we have this knot in every teaching of the Abhidharma so that they can see the Abhidharma and then see that that's empty. The other reason for having this teaching is that some people who leap into emptiness don't properly understand. They don't really understand emptiness. Because they think that emptiness of these things, the non-perception of them, means they're not there. But that's not what it means, because if they weren't there, there would be no emptiness

[20:40]

of them. So they actually are there. And you are perceiving them. And based on perceiving them, you realize emptiness. And when you realize emptiness, you don't perceive them. So that's kind of a basic suggestion to me about how sometimes, often, many, many, many times, the Buddha, in order to teach people non-conceptual wisdom, which is the Buddha's basic wisdom, the Buddha doesn't really have a wisdom which is knowing something separated, which knows something separated by some concept. It's an intimate wisdom, with no conceptual separation in it. It's a non-dual wisdom, which realizes the non-duality of everything. If there's a dualistic understanding of non-duality, it really isn't completed.

[21:44]

We have to have a non-dual understanding of non-duality. Yes? Does that mean that when one's aware of, or seeing through the empty nature of things, that there wouldn't be any kind of separate awareness that one would notice? Right. There wouldn't be any awareness separate from what the awareness knows. There wouldn't be a separation when you understand the ultimate emptiness. Because the emptiness, one of the basic meanings of emptiness is that the separation is insubstantial, is empty. So if you're able to say, oh, look at this, then that's not what it is. When you can say, oh, look at this, you can talk like that, coming from a place where there's no sense of this being separate from the looker. But you can say that. The Buddha actually did talk like that, so that's the point.

[22:47]

First he talked in a way that sounded dualistic, because people just couldn't leap into his non-dual wisdom. So he taught them a dualistic approach to not realizing non-duality. So the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, the Bodhisattva asked the Buddha, from where did the Bodhisattva set forth into the Perfection of Wisdom? And the Buddha said he set forth from the triple world. He set forth from the dualistic world into the realization of non-duality. So, that's when he set forth. But you're already in that world, so you can set forth right now. So he talked about climbing to the top of a hundred foot pole and step off. Another expression he was in, well, you're already at the top of the hundred foot pole, all you've got to do is step now. But some people just can't get it, so they've got to give them a hundred foot pole,

[23:48]

a hundred foot abhidharma pole. And they learn all this stuff about how non-consciousness works, and when you learn it, they're wise. When you're at the top of the pole, when you climb the pole, you're wise. Now, if you don't climb the pole, you're not wise. The Sutra in his chant says, Bodhisattvas are wise when they climb to the top of the pole, of the teachings of how mind, thought and consciousness operate. You're wise because you did the study and you understand correctly. Now you can step off that, and not perceive the pole, or the distance to the ground, or how to step. How do you step? How you step is part of the climbing of the pole. You get to the top of the pole, you're not asking anymore about how to do anything. You're done with that. Now you can step. But if you didn't climb the pole, you're not wise. So if you're just standing now, where you are, and you don't feel like climbing the pole, you're not wise. However, you can go from your unwise state directly into wise in all ways,

[24:50]

by just stepping off here. Because you're actually on top of a hundred foot pole. You're on top of a hundred foot pole of everything you've learned so far. And based on this, everything that you've learned, all the things you've learned, to whatever level of analysis you've practiced, that's where you step off from. But again, the majority of Buddhist students that we hear about historically, they weren't ready for that, so they taught in this conceptual approach. They say that there were Bodhisattvas who were there at the time who understood the immediate non-conceptual wisdom, and the Buddha just said, there it is, and they realized it. But the less developed people got the conceptual approach. Or they saw a conceptual approach, and they used it. But in the end, they also had to finish the course,

[25:55]

you have to shift to the non-conceptual mode, and actually that final step is in the earlier scriptures. I'll point it out, and I'll point it out again. This is one of the large sutras. The Heart Sutra is 154 characters. I don't know how many slokas are in the Heart Sutra. Do you know how many slokas the Heart Sutra is? A sloka is 34 syllables. The Heart Sutra is probably 10 syllables. 20 slokas. Slokas are a verse line in the transcript. So this is 25,000 slokas. So it's a much bigger version of the Heart Sutra. Xiao Hou was looking through the storage areas around Green Gulch, and she found several copies of chapters 16 through 22 of this book. Chapter 16 starts off by saying,

[27:05]

"...and further Subhuti, the Great Vehicle of the Bodhisattva, the Great Being, is the Four Foundations of Mindfulness." So in this Mahayana scripture, they go through what the Four Foundations of Mindfulness are, and it's almost a direct quote from the early teaching of the Buddha. Almost a direct quote, to a great extent. Basically, I think it's probably a direct quote. It's just slightly different translation. It's just that at the end of Harvard, at the end of the instruction on how to conceptually approach wisdom, then the Buddha says, "...and all this through non-apprehension." But even before that final line is put in, if you look at the original text, you can see that actually the last phase of the Buddhist conceptual approach,

[28:11]

in the early teachings, the last phase, I would say to you, is actually the non-conceptual phase. It's actually in the early sutra. So the Mahayana, in one sense, wants to bring something out and show something which most people didn't see, and it also wants to stay connected to the Buddha's early teaching. And this sutra actually brings out the early teaching and adds something that the Mahayana can also just point out that the teaching on emptiness is already in the early teaching. So I can point out to you that, whether you agree with me or not, I see and I can show you that I think the Mahayana teaching is in the early teaching. In this chapter, the Samyama Chandra Sutra says that actually the third turning of the wheel, the ultimate teaching is actually, the definitive ultimate teaching is actually found in all the other scriptures.

[29:14]

It's just that most people couldn't see it. It's actually in there. So the Buddha, for some people, teaches a conceptual approach, and then, when they're ready, teaches non-conceptual Dharma teaching. And sometimes he doesn't tell them he's teaching it, but it's there. And sometimes, because he doesn't tell them that it's there, later people say, and all this, by the way, through non-apprehension, in other words, through not perceiving any of this, through not grasping any of this. So this sutra adds that in, basically quoting the conceptual approach. When he quotes a conceptual approach, he doesn't say, in emptiness, and then say, no, no, no, to the conceptual approach. He just gives a conceptual approach, and then he just says, and this whole conceptual approach, they practice this whole conceptual approach without grasping it.

[30:16]

Which means, without perceiving it. But they practice it, and they get skillful at it. And then, when they're really skillful at it, they don't grasp it. They're still doing it, but now they're completely doing it. Because there's no separation. It's not just... Now they're practicing Buddhism, but not just Buddhism as they perceive it. They're practicing Buddhism without perceiving Buddhism. Of course, they're also perceiving Buddhism, and based on perceiving Buddhism, they now complete the practice by not perceiving Buddhism. And if the teaching is an Abhidharma teaching, then this is Mahayana Abhidharma, and that's what the Sangha Nirmachana, that's the way it teaches. It sets up these conceptual approaches, and then it teaches you how to remove the conceptual underpinnings,

[31:24]

or it teaches you the conceptual approach and then it gives you little signs by which you can understand the conceptual approach. So, again, it teaches you the conceptual approach but in order to understand the conceptual approach, in order to have meaning to the conceptual approach, it also has to give you signs by which you can interpret the conceptual approach so that it's meaningful. And so you use these signs to understand the teaching, and once you understand the teaching, then the next phase is it teaches you how to take the signs off the things which you understand by which you understood them. It gives you a conceptual approach to how to dismantle the conceptual approach. So it gives you a conceptual approach, then it gives you a conceptual approach about how to take away the way to use the conceptual approach, and then you understand these things in more ways. So, again, to go through in detail, a little

[32:46]

And here's a little chart for you to relate my little scenario to this. So, in the early teachings, not the first teachings, but, you know, in the teachings during the historical Buddha's lifetime, one of his most important scriptures is called the Satipatthana Sutra, or the Srutipatthana Sutra, the scripture on the foundations of mindfulness, the scriptures on the establishment of mindfulness. So, again, as I said, the

[34:03]

direct path for purification of beings, for surmounting sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realization of nirvana, namely the four foundations of mindfulness. This is one of the four. Here, a monk abides contemplating body as body, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world, and in the same for feelings, thought, and mental qualities and In this Sutra, this Mahayana Sutra, this big Mahayana Sutra, when it says it the way it

[35:06]

says it is, a bodhisattva dwells with regard to the body, feelings, and so on, contemplating the body, and so on. He does not form any discursive thought associated with the body. I thought that was an interesting variation, translation. Here it says, he contemplates, a monk abides contemplating body as body. Another translation is, a monk contemplates a body in and of itself. Another translation is, he contemplates the body without forming any discursive thoughts in association with the body. That's the first phase. And that corresponds to, in my work chart, that corresponds to what? In my work chart,

[36:18]

that corresponds to entrust and relax. Trust and commit and relax. That's the first stage. So you contemplate the body as the body, which means you just really commit and entrust, entrust the body, you entrust your life to contemplation of the body as the body. That's the first step. And then you, part of that, you give up your ardent, your mindful, your alert, really right there with your body, that's what you're going to be working with. And you give up discursive thought in association with it, which is another way to say you give up covetousness and grief with regard to it. In other words, another way to put it

[37:20]

is you relax with it. You're just totally there and relaxed. Not totally there and like, I'm going to be totally there. Just being totally there in a relaxed way, which includes that you're mentally relaxed, which means not that you've turned off, but that you're attending, alert, alert, alert, attention, attention, attention, in a relaxed way. And if you have any discursive ideas about that, you relax with those. They may arise, so if you're focusing on the body, you may have discursive thoughts about the body, about how to contemplate the body, you let go of those too. Even words, discursive thoughts about how to contemplate the body, you let go of those in relaxation. There's a famous story, I think it's an EQ, I think, either he asked his teacher, I think

[38:27]

he asked his teacher, he asked him how to practice, and his teacher said, attention! And he said, how do you practice attention? He said, attention! He said, would you please give me some instructions about how to just do that? He said, attention! Like that, but in a relaxed way. Attention! Attention! Like some relaxed, really being established in the first stage. That's the first, that's kind of like, commit and relax. And that's the first thing that's taught here, in this early teaching, and it's also taught in the large sutra on perfect wisdom. To contemplate the body, as the body, without forming any discursive thoughts relative to whatever you're focusing on. Or, even if you do form discursive thoughts, just let them drop out. That's a part of relaxation.

[39:27]

Then, in the early sutra, after going through that, in various examples of how to focus on negative specifics, like the breath, or the posture, the specifics of the posture. And then again, when you're working on your posture, you're working on your mudra, your neck, or your tongue, or your eyes, focusing on a particular point of your body, as your body, with no discursive thought, completely entrusting yourself to this awareness, with no discursive thought. Then you've become established in the mindfulness of the body. So, for example, someone told me recently that she likes to practice mindfulness of breath in terms of the sensation around the nose. So, one way to practice mindfulness of the body is through the tactile sensation that you have when the breath moves across the skin below the nose, below the nostrils.

[40:32]

But this person also likes to pick a small point on the skin below the nose. So, to take a very small, specific, physical sensation, focus on that, and become established in mindfulness of breath. And this phase of the meditation is a concentration practice, it's a tranquility practice, because you're focusing on something, but it's not the focusing that calms you, it's the giving up the discursive thought about it, it's giving up the consciousness of grief about it, and gain and loss about it. That's what calms you. But it's nice, not nice, it's nice, but it's more than nice, it's more effective if you're not just calm and relaxed about whatever man, like the hippies used to do, but calm about something very particular. Because I think there was this thing about the hippies, it's like, whatever man, but then when it came to a particular point, not that one,

[41:40]

not whatever man for them. Anybody can be whatever man with whatever. That's what actually their practice was, not their practice, but some of them, that's what their practice was, and you could test them. And I used to go all the way to that day and test them. It's not just whatever man about whatever, it's whatever man about this particular conversation we're having right here. It's about this word, in this body, in this drug deal. It's about this, it's about this money, in this girl, in this boy, in this part of this girl, in this part of this, specifically, whatever about that. It's not whatever about whatever, because it's whatever about whatever, you can't tell if it's really whatever. Does that make sense? So the more specific you are, the easier it is for you to see, is it really whatever? And if it is specific, and you think it is whatever, you will notice you get very calm. That's the first phase of this teaching.

[42:47]

So it's in this, it's in here, it's all, it's in here, this very so-called Shravakayana or teaching, vehicle of the listener's teaching. It's in the second turning, Prajnaparamita scriptures, and it's the third turning, Samadhi and Maturna. It's in all three. But the heart's, the second turning and the third turning really focus on the next couple phases, and this one tells you, but it doesn't highlight it as much. The next phase, it says here, the Buddha says, or, in other words, after you get established this way, or, instead of next, he says or. I don't know, maybe or is better because then you don't get into next, but anyway, it's kind of like next or, or next. For example, contemplating the body, or it could also be contemplating the sensation of

[43:58]

this breath as it comes to you from the skin under your nose, or the sensation of the breath in the area below your navel, some particular spot like that. So you've settled into that, you've committed and calmed down with this sensation of the body, and then the monk abides contemplating the body in its arising factors, or he abides contemplating the body in its vanishing factors. That's basically the second step. So now you watch how the experience of this sensation arises and how it ceases. And I think it's nice to emphasize that you're not so much concerned, in the second phase

[45:01]

you're not so much concerned about what you're focused on now. First you're concerned about what and how to be with it. What and be with it completely and in a relaxed way. Now you're concerned with sort of how the what happens and comes and goes. You're meditating now and you're entering into meditation on causation. And when you watch a sensation like breath and skin, because skin is one of the ways you sense your breath, when you watch that interaction, your attention to the process affects the process. So actually you start basically moving to the next phase where you start playing with it. It's a playing part. But you don't play to get something, to make something happen,

[46:07]

you play to see what happens, you play to see how things happen when you start playing. But you don't play to get something to happen, you play to see what happens when you play. In other words, you're kind of being playful. So you're actually starting to realize how you and the experience are independent and how the experience is impermanent and how you're impermanent, and so on. But again, in a playful way. You're calm and relaxed and committed. And because you're committed, you can be playful. If you're not committed, then playful is like whatever about whatever. But if you're committed, it's whatever about a very clear commitment in your meditation. So it's important in this way, in all three of these levels of teaching, that you be clear about what you're committed to when you sit and meditate. And not too many Zen students, actually not too many,

[47:13]

a lot of Zen students don't clearly specify for themselves each period what they're committed to. How to increase the frequency of meditation Well, you might slightly increase the frequency without making much noise. Or you might change the focus, not so much to go to another thing, but to see what happens when you change the focus. Or you might watch this point again, this tactile sensation, and just see if you can see what, again this is like in the realm of concepts,

[48:17]

but what factors contribute to it, to the arising of it. And there'll be different breaths, the breaths will be somewhat different, and you'll notice the difference, but then also what factors contribute to the difference. So noticing, just doing that is kind of playing with it. And maybe you can make some other suggestions. When I notice what factors are contributing to the arising of the sensation of the breath, or what factors are contributing to the cessation of the sensation of the breath, that changes it right there, just noticing it. And then noticing the different things, I may actually manipulate the situation, just to see what I find out. And again, not to manipulate to get some particular effect,

[49:22]

but to understand what the causal process is. So you've probably heard it, some people say, you know, breathe, make the exhale longer than the inhale. Some people say that. Or, hold your breath, every 10 exhales, hold your breath at the end of the 10th exhale. That's something you can do. But not trying to make something happen, but rather to sort of understand how things happen. And the main point here is to study causation and not to have a particular state. So that would apply to the playing and creating part. Play, create, and understand part. And I was thinking also to maybe modify that chart a little bit.

[50:26]

But let's stand like that for a while. That when you are playful this way, you start to become more and more immersed in the creative process of this kind of little world of breathing. Another way you can play with it is to notice how the awareness, your awareness of feelings, and your awareness of thought, of the quality of thought, your awareness of positive, negative, or neutral sensation, not so much how your awareness, but how those things, as you are aware of them, you can see how they affect also the body or the breath. So notice the other frames or foundations of mindfulness. They will also be going on and you will notice them sometimes. Because even if you are focusing on the body or the breath, it's not like you don't notice pain, as most of you know.

[51:30]

Now sometimes people just focus on the breathing and they feel like they feel less pain, and that's part of... that would be maybe something... If you are doing mindfulness of feelings, you might notice that when you are more... If when you are doing mindfulness of feelings, if you actually would give a lot of attention to the breath when it appeared, you might notice that that made you more relaxed with your mindfulness of pain. That's an example. If you wouldn't be doing it, would you? To reduce the pain. And if you were doing it for that reason, then you would notice, perhaps, you would be meditating on thought, that you have a mind which is trying to reduce the pain by giving more... paying more attention to the breath. But in fact, you might be actually focusing on the sensation that might be the one you are working on. Because certain things you will learn from focusing on sensation, special things that you can learn there,

[52:35]

because it's more subtle than the breath in a certain way. Is it good enough to get started? And then the next phase is... Or... The mindfulness that there is a body, or, again, mindfulness that there is breath, mindfulness that there is the sensation of breath, in a certain part of your skin. So mindfulness of body, like a body with arms and legs, that's one kind of mindfulness. Body is also mindfulness of sight and touch. If we take this example, mindfulness of breath at the nose is simply established in her to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness. And on this phase, in some sense, you are no longer being playful. Stop being playful.

[53:36]

And be more simple than you have just been. In a sense, go back to the way you were being simple at the beginning of giving up discursive thought. However, and that's why I think I've changed the chart, this next phase starts... You see the third phase there, which is non-conceptual, right? No more fabrication, no more input, no more playing. Sorry. The third phase, in the center column, you have some understanding now of reality, of dependent co-arising, because you've entered into creation. But there's still a little bit of duality in it. And you stop being creative, in a sense,

[54:42]

in the form of making any input or experiments of play. And you get very simple again like you did at the beginning. And then that understanding starts to remove the signs by which you even understood how signs were involved in the process of play. So, in the final phase you actually remove the signs and the experience becomes non-dual. So, I'm proposing that in the early teachings of the Buddha you have actually the Mahayana's in there. But the Mahayana puts a lot of emphasis on the third phase, the third phase of non-duality. The third phase of emptiness. In the early teachings there didn't seem to be such a big problem

[55:48]

of people thinking that Nirvana and samsara were dual. It didn't seem to be such a big problem. People knew about samsara to some extent, or suffering. They wanted people to be free of samsara. And they heard about Nirvana, which is freedom from samsara. And they wanted to attain Nirvana. And they did. And everybody was happy. And if there was any sense that what they attained was separate from what they used to be involved with, if there was anything like that, it didn't seem to cause much trouble. They were just cranking these people out, these sages out, sending them to Nirvana, and everybody was really happy about the whole thing. But over time, this little bit of separation, which is present in some people's understanding between the enlightened and unenlightened, it became more and more a problem. And, or you could say, the world became more and more ready

[56:49]

for the teaching that the liberated and the non-liberated are not two, and that samsara and Nirvana are not two. And the one who realizes Nirvana and the Nirvana are not two. And creation and you are not two. But in order to understand creation, originally, you sort of have to be like you and it and how you're playing together, and then here's creation. But the here's creation, but there's me seeing here's their creation. So a little bit of, I'm doing something to help me understand creation. I'm creating this. Like the artist creates the thing and then they understand it. And you take one more step in this process of removing the separation between the artist and the creation. We're all artists. We're all artists. And in order to realize that, most of us have to create something.

[57:54]

You're an artist, but when you paint a picture, you kind of feel different than before. You know what I'm saying? You're interacting with something and you feel creation and then you understand. But then you have to take one more step of putting down your brushes and chisels and welding torches and whatever, dance shoes, voice, piano, put it down. Now that you understand, through the creative, through the conceptual approach, now that you understand, then just no more fabrication, no more words. Just be very simple with this understanding and realize that there's no duality in this creative process. It's not that there's not suffering and liberation from suffering, it's that they're completely intimate. It's not that there's not enlightened people and deluded people,

[59:00]

it's just that the enlightened ones realize that they're intimate with the deluded. And the deluded feel some separation from some of the deluded and some of the enlightened, which is their suffering. But that suffering is not separate from liberation from it. There's time for some more discussion. So, the difference in a Tridacyclone would be to have seven things, to have understanding maybe six would be realized and that's where the bracket, the first part of the bracket of number three, would be in the middle one of those. It's almost like number six would be understand-recognize and number seven would be understand or realize-cognize.

[60:03]

So, recognize means to understand, right? But it also means to make real, or to realize, or to actualize. So, in some sense, the seventh phase of the process is not a recognition, it's like the sixth phase of an understanding where there's recognition that you understand. So, five should be like understand, and you recognize that you understand. Six would be like understand-recognize, not recognize. Or realize-cognize and understand-recognize. Does that make sense? So, that's why I thought maybe the chart could be done that way. To recognize and realize the difference between the still conceptual,

[61:10]

the indirect conceptual correct understanding of independence from the non-conceptual cognition of independence. Liberate would then still be the next phase, would be number seven. So, I think that might be a little clearer that way. It's a work in progress, it's true. So, I've given you an overview of this process, and so, this fall, I entrusted myself to do a class here on the same topic. Is that correct? So, I'm going to offer another class on the same topic this fall. So, this gives you a picture of the kind of thing we'll be looking at.

[62:13]

We'll be learning about how mind, thought, and consciousness work. So, we'll hopefully become wise about that, and then learn how to go, based on that, into the non-perception of the things we've just learned about, and hopefully relate it to the meditation practice. Anything you want to bring up? Yes. How are play and create different phases? Yes. It's more, maybe, different phases of understanding. Like, you're always playing, but if you don't relax, you don't get it. In fact, you're always playing. If I go over to you and do something a little bit surprising, you might tense up. No. But actually, that tension gives you a response to this thing I'm offering.

[63:24]

And you actually were relaxed enough to move from being this way to being more tense. You actually were relaxed enough to get more tense. Most of us are relaxed enough to get more tense. Yes. And there's a play in that. And actually, I do sometimes play with people that way myself, interacting with them, to see how good would it be to be rising with more tension. But there's actually a play in that. But you don't necessarily get it. If you have some level of tension, and then somebody interacts with you, and the tension seems to raise, you may not realize that there was a play there. But you could somehow relax with the increase of the tension, and realize that you're playing with the person, as your tension increases. I'm getting more and more tense! So really, the play is actually already there. And the relaxation is already there.

[64:27]

Your life is actually relaxed. But we sometimes don't get it, because the way our life is relaxed is that we're also tense. And then we feel, and we're not in touch with the relaxation side when there's tension, because there's some tension, too. Like, I know I can say to my wife, since you're like this, but you're always ready to go like this. Does that make sense? I'm kind of, like, tense. I'm kind of upright, but I'm always ready to sort of, like, think. And I sometimes talk about the Zazen posture, as an upright swoon. So it's like, I've got a commitment here, I've got an effort, I've got a tension, I'm ready to, like, conk out any time. So we have tension, but we appreciate the relaxation, and most people do not appreciate it as much as they need to,

[65:30]

to realize the playfulness Creativity is going on all the time. Like I mentioned to some people, somebody told somebody at Greenwatch, I said, you know at Greenwatch, creativity is not encouraged. And I think it is encouraged, and one of the ways it encourages is by telling people, do not be creative on my time. You can be creative, but not when you're talking to me. I'm the one who's going to be creative, not you. Right? That's the way we talk around here. And a lot of people fall for it, they don't get the joke. You're shaking your head. I haven't heard anything like that. You haven't heard anything like that? I haven't heard anything like that. You should come down to the slum sometimes. The slums are right over here. People bring me to slums, and people come and tell me about some really grisly details of this place. But of course we cannot, you know,

[66:34]

we cannot hinder it. We cannot hinder creativity. But I know it can look like we're hindering creativity, but you really can't. And you can also promote people's realization of creativity. So getting people to wake up to the possibility of committing something, so then we can say, whatever, and it'll be playful, and then we can see, my God, I'm involved in a creative process here. How did I get here? Well, you know, when you started playing, did you notice that? Oh yeah, right. And suddenly you've slipped into this creativity. It's always there, it's always there, it's just like, but if you don't relax and play, you don't notice it. It's always there. And when you notice it, then you kind of understand something. Which was always the case. So although we're always creative, we don't always understand it. Even though what we are

[67:37]

is exactly the realization of our creativity, we don't, somehow, we don't get it, we don't cognize it. And that's what it affects us as well. Am I missing? Yes. Missed? Yeah. Yeah? Huh? You said... Yeah, yes. I was trying to remember, so... Oh yes, that's me. When we put down the chisel and drop the signs, is that it? Does that happen all at once? And there's a, like an, I don't know, an existential change that happens in that person? Or is this a gradual unfolding of the dropping of signs that is maybe not perceptually cognized? There is a kind of like, what do you call it, a watershed kind of thing where you cognize. When you first cognize, and that's part of what, part of what I hope to go into this fall

[68:40]

is the teaching of what, you know, what is actually a valid cognition. Valid cognitions are cognitions when you first have a cognition. There's some cognitions that you have not had yet, and you're going to have. And a lot of cognitions that you're having, they're not exactly invalid, they're just, they're really, they're reworkings of past, actual, fresh experiences you have had. It's possible to have an experience of this process you never had before. And that moment when you first have it, that is a life-changing event. And then you can have it over and over after that. So there are certain ways of having a take on this that aren't just like, you know, talking about it or understanding it, but actually cognizing these teachings. And that does make a big change. But usually you have to learn quite a bit in order to realize the cognition. Yes, ma'am? Can you talk about the,

[69:42]

does it, the playfulness of Zazen that you were talking about earlier in relationship to the instruction to give up all control? I think the first phase is, giving up trying to control is the first phase. That's a relaxing phase. And then the next phase would be where that, even the giving up control, there's still some formula that you, that you, you know, you can't really get in the Zen door and sit and make that commitment without the form of sitting that you commit to. And then you can't really relax with that particular form of sitting unless you have that form. But you can, you can commit to it

[70:43]

and you can relax with it. Now, at that point, you've gone through the phase of giving up trying to control. You're not sitting down and trying to control yourself. You're trying to sit down and just be with and relax with whatever's happening. You're trying to get yourself into a state of concentration. In fact, this is how you get concentrated. Like the guy who gave the class on concentration last week, class 22, one of the first points he makes is that to try to get concentrated is somewhat greedy and that's antithetical to calming down. So, you know, it's not exactly a trick, but sort of it's like a trick. You've got to, like, not try to get concentrated in order to get concentrated. You've got to give up trying, it's not, you have to give up trying to get concentrated. You just be the way, be with what's happening now with your body. And if you completely relax with what's happening, you do calm down. Which means you stop thinking about the form.

[71:44]

You have a form, now stop being discursive about it and you calm down. Then, stop trying to control it and you calm down. Based on that, the first two phases of commitment and relaxation, now you can start being playful. Because the form is not really the sitting itself. It's just some form we use to get to the sitting itself. The sitting itself is more like the interplay between you and everybody in the room and between you and the tradition and between you and your body. That's really what the body is. It's not something all by itself. But if we say the body is all this stuff, whatever man, then we somehow don't come to Zazen on time. Or we sit on somebody else's seat or we lie down or whatever. So we make a kind of a commitment to something. And if you want to really commit, some people say, could I commit to lying down? Could that be my thing I commit to?

[72:45]

And they sometimes have reasons for that. And usually I say, yeah, that can be your thing. And you're now committed to reclining posture. And there's lots of different things people commit to. But then that's the form. But that's not really the practice. The practice isn't that form. It doesn't really reach the practice. The practice is necessary to have that form. And then one of the ways to play with the form of sitting, and we sit like Buddhas, right? We sit in postures like Buddhist doctors. You know, if we can. If we can't, we recline like a Buddhist doctor. If we can't recline like a Buddhist doctor, we wish we could recline. Anyway, we actually use the form of a sitting Buddha in our practice. And then we relax with that. But then we start being playful with it. One of the playful ways is we listen to teachings. Which is, one of the teachings is,

[73:46]

this form that you're using to practice the sitting of the Buddhas is not reaching the actual sitting of the Buddhas. That's one of the ways you play with the form. And working with those two things together, Gauden says, working with the form of the sitting, together with the understanding that this form doesn't reach the actual sitting, that concentrated effort of working with those together, that playing with that, is called dropping off body and mind. Which means, in other words, is entering into creativity. Then, once you've dropped off body and mind, then go back to letting go, no more teachings, no more nothing, just sit. So at the end of our practice we have just sit, but it's often said, just sits, that's what we call our practice, but just sit is something you do after you understand what sitting is.

[74:46]

Just sitting is the way you practice when you understand what sitting is. Namely, you understand sitting is this, but this doesn't reach it. Sitting needs this, but doesn't reach it. So that dynamic helps you realize what sitting is, and then when you understand it, then you just sit. So we go back to, we do tranquility practice at the beginning of our practice, and throughout, but then at the end, in some sense, we just do tranquility practice, we just sit. But that's based on understanding what the sitting is. Namely, the sitting is something, you know, you are not it, and it actually is you. This is dynamic, non-identity. It's intimacy between you and your posture, between you and your thoughts, and you and your feelings. That intimacy, when you understand it, then you just sit in that. I really don't agree with that.

[75:49]

The simple fact is that, how can you separate the two? Separate what two? The posture and the form, that's very important. The posture and the form? Not the image. No, I'm saying that the posture is the form that we use to sit. We need to use the physical posture to sit, otherwise we really can't practice sitting without the physical posture. But that physical posture does not reach the actual practice of sitting. But we couldn't, we couldn't, we must commit to that posture in order to realize what sitting is, but that posture, the form of that posture is not the posture. The form of the posture is not the posture, but we must commit to that form in order to realize what the posture is. Then, once we have committed to that posture and relaxed with it,

[76:51]

if you commit to the posture and you're not relaxed, then you're not ready to hear, by the way, this practice you're doing is not reaching, you know, the actual practice you're doing. If you're tense, you don't want to hear that. So we don't say that in the beginning of the Zazen instruction. But once you're committed to that, from the instruction, and once you're relaxed with that, then we tell you, by the way, this practice you're doing is not reached by your ideas of this practice. You know. But you need some idea to get started. Yeah, you need a hundred-foot pole. Then, when you're relaxed with that, then you can say, okay, now I can listen to the teaching. Would you please step off the pole? Would you, like, realize that this pole is not the practice, it's just a point. Now you're ready to really do the practice, but you need this form first before you can do the next part, which is listening to the teaching. This form doesn't reach the principle of the sitting.

[77:54]

Then you live with that for a long time. The dynamic between I'm working on this form, I'm committed to this form, I practice it day after day, hour after hour, even if it's difficult, I practice it. But we don't say you have to practice this form. We just say, do you want to commit to this form? You say, yes. You practice it. We don't tell you, be tense about it. You say, relax with it. You say, I can't relax with it because if I relax with it, I'll just stay in bed. Okay, fine. Be tense. And then when you get in a zendo, then relax. Well, I don't go to sleep. Okay, well, after you wake up, relax. So once we get people on stage, we say, relax. Now that you're trapped, relax. So I told that story about the bird, right? You heard the story about painting a picture of the bird, right? Pete? Did somebody not hear the story? No? It was on Tuesday and Thursday.

[78:57]

Yeah. And we've been here for a while. Yeah. Did you have it? Did you have it in church? It's here. So this is a poem about my son, Peter. He's 10 years old. And I've hurt him a thousand times. So this is a poem about, a children's poem, okay? So, first, this is called How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird. First, you paint a cage. That's a commitment part. upright sitting in the zendo in your seat at a certain time. That's your cage. You paint a cage with the door open. Then you paint something pretty, something simple, something beautiful, something useful for the bird. You know, something pretty, something useful, something beautiful,

[79:58]

something simple to get you to go into that cage. So you've got the cage, the posture in the zendo where there's other people, right? That's the cage. You've got to paint it. The door is open so the bird can go in. But you've got to put something nice in the cage to get it to go in there. Good stuff in that cage, right? You've got to get that bird in there. The bird might not want to go in the cage if you put something nice in there. The best stuff's in that cage. You put that in there for the bird. Then you place the canvas against a tree in a garden, in a wood, or in a forest, or in a farm. And then you hide behind the tree without speaking, without moving. Sometimes the bird comes quickly, but it can just as well spend years before deciding to come. Don't get discouraged.

[81:01]

Wait. Wait years if necessary. The swiftness or slowness of the coming of the bird has to do with having no rapport with the success of the picture. When the bird comes, if the bird comes, observe the most profound silence till the bird enters the cage. And when the bird enters the cage, gently close the door with the brush. Then paint away the bars, one by one, taking care not to touch any of the feathers of the bird. Then paint a portrait of a tree, choosing the most beautiful branches for the bird. Paint also the green foliage and the wind's freshness, and the noise of insects and the summer's heat. And then wait for the bird to decide to sing. If the bird sings, if the bird doesn't sing, it's not a good sign. It's a sign that it's a bad thing.

[82:05]

But, if the bird sings, it's a good sign, a sign that you can sign. So then, very gently, pull out one of the feathers of the bird and sign your name in the corner. That was George didn't you? No. It's just the last line. Okay. So you've got to get in that cage and then close the door on yourself. That's a commitment. Then relax. And when you relax, then you can start painting the bars. And part of the way to paint the bars away is, you know, you needed this form, but now you've got to remember this form is not really, what this is about. So now you can paint it away. And then, you just sit. In this case, you sit on the branches and with the trees.

[83:08]

You just sit. But you're sitting in freedom from the form now. But you have to enter the form and close the door on yourself in order to realize that you're free. Otherwise, even if you're sitting on the branches, you think, where's the beautiful, pretty, simple, useful stuff? What's beautiful and simple about just sitting here? Say, well, come here. I've got a cage for you. Come on. Get in the cage. So that's the process. Does that make sense? We need to commit to some forms. Buddha offers these forms, these conceptual forms. And then, you can paint away. Yes? Did you say that just sitting

[84:09]

is a tranquility meditation only? No. It's a tranquility meditation only based on wisdom. So you've entered the wisdom and now you're in there and then you're no longer doing any conceptual activity. But there's still... There's still... I was going to say wisdom activity. Yes, wisdom activity. There's wisdom activity, but you're just sitting in it. So in a sense, in a sense, it's not even a tranquility practice either. It's just... It's an enlightenment practice. But you're being with your wisdom the way you used to be with your not-wisdom. So at the beginning, when you're first practicing tranquility, you're not... you haven't realized wisdom. And then, you don't see your body correctly. You see it as your conception of it

[85:10]

and you believe that your conception of it is your body. So then you relax with that. You relax with your immature understanding of everything. Then you calm down. Then you start becoming interactive with your immature understanding and your understanding evolves, it matures. And then your mature understanding, then you stop interacting with it. And you relate to your mature understanding the way you used to relate to your immature understanding. Namely, you don't do anything with it. You just enter into a non-conceptual relationship with an understanding that arose through using your concepts to some extent. Again, using your concepts in order to realize wisdom works best if you've already learned how to relax with your concepts. And when you pick them up again, you do it in a relaxed way. In the end, though, to find the deepest level of realization comes from

[86:11]

meditatively letting go of all the concepts in which you know and recognize this wisdom. So that you have a non-recognizing way of being at this. So it's like tranquility practice. It's like steeping your wisdom in tranquility which allows the wisdom to function in a more profound way. How does the intention to save all beings fit into that? That's part of the first phase of the commitment. That's the entrustment and commitment at the beginning of the process. If you're not committed to that, you won't be successful in going through this course. Because in some ways

[87:16]

it might not be interesting sometimes. It might be difficult. You might not know what you're getting out of it, or something like that. But based on a commitment to the welfare of all beings, it's not such a big problem. Almost no problems are big problems. Because of this big commitment. And then you're committed to the precepts, and you're committed to being giving, and you're committed to being patient, and you're committed to being diligent. All these commitments. And then in particular, the commitment to a certain type of meditation. So, committing to giving, precepts. You're committed to the welfare of all beings, and then to enact that, you practice giving, precepts, patience, diligence, and meditation. It's not even the meditation part. But all the other steps surrounding it. Surrounding the commitment. So it's in that commitment, it's in the commitment to compassion, this whole process, it's a bodhisattva's commitment. And they do this to realize the commitment. Make sense?

[88:21]

So that's why it's good to keep checking back to your commitment. So you can say, OK, I'm going to be meditating on my feelings today, or my posture, or my breathing. That's my commitment to meditation. But also, this whole program here is for the welfare of this world. So this practice can be realized by all beings. That's what this city is for. So check out the big motivation, and the little motivation. The big motivation and the smaller focus, in some sense, for each period. It's good. So start each period with that. And in some sense, when practicing in a group, most people just go and sit, they bow to their Christian and so on, and bow to their neighbors. But the doji comes in and offers incense and does vows to Buddha. And the vows to Buddha are, we take refuge in Buddha and Dharma and Sangha here.

[89:25]

That's in this meditation practice. We want to be like Buddha. We don't have everybody come in. You could do that. Have everybody come in and bow to Buddha and offer incense. But the style of the school is to have everybody come and sit down, and have one person do it, rather than everybody do it. But you could practice that way. There would be a group of us in the room, and then we'd all do it together, everybody together do three vows, and I have them, and everybody offers incense, and everybody does three vows, and one person offers incense. This is a perfectly reasonable, alternative way of doing it, to make clear to people, that when we sit here, it's in the context of commitment to becoming Buddha for the welfare of the world. That's the context of the zinda. If you're not clear about that, then check out if you want that to be the context of your sitting. If you do, then be mindful of that too. Every period you sit, just take a moment and say,

[90:26]

What's the point again? Oh yeah, I dedicate this period to the welfare of all beings, and also to the realization of Buddha in this world. Not me realizing, but the realization of Buddha, the realization of everybody's practice. That's the motivation for this zinda. And I'm also choosing to focus on this type of practice today. This period. Now if you already understand, you may not feel the need to reiterate. If you feel that you've completely immersed yourself in all of this, then you can just go sit in this understanding. That's my point too. But if you don't feel the immediacy of that vow, then maybe you should save yourself. And sit. And tell it, and bring it in, and let you feel it all the time.

[91:27]

So you don't have to say this or something. So the intention is to continue studying this type of Mahayana teaching as well. You're welcome to join. I've committed to it, so I guess I'll be here. I vow to end them. Dharma is my promise. I vow to enter them.

[92:32]

The way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[92:40]

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