hey that i think that the theme for this meditation course
is like meditating on the bodhisattvas creativity and freedom
a bodhisattva is
it is being
devoted to realize
enlightenment for the welfare of all beings
i said you know anybody thought that is being devoted to or
boy sought by is aspiring to
supreme enlightenment for the welfare of all beings sometimes we say our body sought for
is devoted to can say that way to
but that sounds like there's this thing called body sought for that devoted to the welfare of all beings
it makes it sounds like that that there's a son that's devoted rather than the thing is the devotion
the bodyshop is not an addition the bodyshop there's not a being who in addition to aspiring to enlightenment for the welfare of all beings
it is that kind of being it is the being
devoted to the welfare of all beings it is the aspiration
to become to be very skillful it's not somebody who has the aspiration that is the aspiration
and if sort of like when you if you would aspire to the welfare of all beings if you would aspire to be devoted to help the welfare of all beings the same would apply to you or me you are not something in addition
to the to you're not something in addition to being devoted to the welfare of all beings
you might think so
but the body sought phase is representing that non dual
kind of life where
the devotion to the welfare of all beings it's also not separate from the welfare of all beings
and it's also not separate from the beings
it's that kind of a being that's the bodhisattva
but where that way to if you know when we feel the aspiration
to live for the welfare of others
when there's not me in addition to the aspiration that's like bodhisattva
or that is a bodhisattva
so bodhisattvas or the bodhisattvas could also aspired to creativity and freedom and to fill that out
i would say that bodhisattvas
our free
and their freedom is inseparable from creativity or the freedom of a bodhisattva as inseparable from the creativity of a bodhisattva

and then to fill this out more which i have done before in a sense situated in the middle of the creativity and the freedom is understanding
so there is there is creativity and in that creativity there's an understanding and the understanding
in the middle of creativity is freedom
so in a way i i would propose to myself and new that freedom is inseparable from creativity that without the when there's freedom and creativity and that when there's creativity this freedom
and
the lack of realization of freedom is related to the lack of realization of creativity
and again in the middle of the creativity and freedom is understanding
and understand that comes when when we are situated and creativity
one step back from creativity is playfulness are being playful for a bodhisattva
ah aspires to be playful
or a body fate
is shot for is aspiring to be playful is aspiring to be creative is aspiring to understanding is aspiring to freedom all this for the welfare of all beings
and thirty one more step before playfulness
body spots sought as aspired to be relaxed
so they can play
but again i said bodhisattvas aspire to be relaxed was i can play but bodhisattva
is the aspiration to relax
that there can be playing
and then step before the requirement for play is trust
and trust i
the bodhisattva as aspire to trust
relaxation
and an order to trust be relaxed
we need to be generous
an ethical and patient and we need to is aspire
they're needed shit again i say we need to be risks we need to aspire but again there needs to be the aspiration to relax
there needs to be the aspiration to learn the art of relaxation
and then there needs to be the trust that it would be okay to practice the art of relaxation
an hour to trust that he'll be okay to do this practice
of the part of relaxation we need to be ethical and generous and patient and we need to want to
or again in order for there to be the practice of relaxation which enables play and creativity
there needs to be generosity
ethical discipline and patience and again the aspiration
i used example on monday ah
if you if if you're practicing sitting
in practicing sitting as an opportunity to practice the art of relaxation
and the thought occurs to you that you do not sure if you turned the burner off on the stove at your house
are you not sure you close the garage door or you're not sure the dogs in the house are you not sure the baby sitter showed up for your kids
you can you weren't careful
then you might sort of have trouble relaxing in the meditation hall same if you come here and you didn't pay attention to where you parked your car and maybe you parked in a tall weighs own that he didn't look
it may be hard for you to relax unless you can say hey
i totally in support of the towing companies
and i i i give them my car and are given the money and are given the time it takes to go get a than your standard practice generosity and then i kind of take care and then in context and then you're willing to give away your car in your money in your time so you can then your fact in practicing ethics even without going to fix your car you're practicing generosity and ethics
and you also being patient with the amount of time it's gonna take you to go get your car so you will have to then get up and go check you can relax
i propose that to you
but in case you don't feel but again house burning down a little bit different because you know your neighbors may not be up for their houses burning down slightly bit different so maybe you either you're going to be not be able to relax or you can have to get up from your place and go check to see if the fires off
and also when it comes to like is the baby being taken care of you not really up to you to give the baby away with that the babies permission
so he probably it's gonna be hard to relax on that one
but if you did carefully arranged your car parked car parking and your child your dog carrier take quick to carry your house everything's ok now you can let go of all that stuff
and relax i say relax
and that's that's another way to say
concentrate
another way to say
be absorbed
enter a state of absorption
enter a state of tranquility of serenity
so that part of the process which sets up the playfulness which will initiate the creative process which will enter the creative process the setup is tranquility and i said tonight
when you are sitting
without contrivance
the mind is calm
and then i turned around and said calm the mind without contrivance
the hallmark of concentration one one of the main hallmarks of concentration is relaxation now the way to put it is a supple
relaxed
flexible body and mind
that's so kind of like a criterion for concentration that the mind is supple and relax
and one of our ancestors heard that expression and he asked his teacher what does the body sought for suppleness of mine mean and the teacher says is the readiness
for body and mind to drop away
it's a readiness to let go of your body and mind
and when you're this this readiness or willingness for body and mind to be like go to be released to be surrendered in the moment this set up the possibility of play
what's again the practice of tranquility the practice of concentration this kind of concentration which sets up entering and
creativity this kind of concentration depends on
be generous ethical patient and enthusiastic about
having a supple relaxed body and mind
so that you can be ready to let go of your body and mind and then be playful
it's hard to be playful if you're holding onto your body and mind
not impossible to start but the real playfulness is you really you really ready to let go of body mind but again you don't do this letting go of body mind you just ready for it and it can happen

there is focus in absorption is focus and concentration
but it's a focus that's relaxed it's a focused it exists in relaxation it's like you can pay attention to and stay focused on something
because you're relaxed
as for the body sought for one of the main things are focused on
is again playfulness but it's not just playfulness
with colors and smells and physical postures his playfulness with all beings
so and it's playfulness for the welfare of all being so they're focused on their actually focused on and absorbed in the topic of the welfare of all beings are actually concentrated on that topic
but along with the focus on that is a kind of restlessness
so they're focused on this living being right now
but they can easily switch to focus on another being
if another being shows up and calls for help
one time i was in the austrian alps and it was he was not the winter but there was still snow up there
and i went
for up
mountain climb with my host who is an austrian swiss person and another zen student who was visiting him who is familiar with mountain climbing and i took me for a climb and and when we started the climb there was no snow but as we started climb start to be snow
and they gave me no instruction i'm not climbing but as we got higher they gave me a little instruction and also as we've got higher and also as we got onto a place for are basically walk walking on lead on on a ledge and both sides of us the snow went
is a lot we sort of walking on net on the peak of a ridge
and then they gave me some instruction nice they they had me a pic and they said
pick step
pick step so you put the pic and then you take a step rather than step in and pick pick step pull the picard pick step instruction the gave me that worked pretty well they went up a ways and and in one i'm started playing
when you know started skiing around i just felt stuck with pick step
while i was climbing up there i think as i as i got into the swing of i pretty relaxed i started to think about
ah my wife who was way down in the in the town down below and i was aware that she was actually washing clothes
i knew it shows i knew would be washing clothes and doing some other things down there and i thought
that kind of work is a different kind of concentration and that kind of work next possible this kind of work
so the bodhisattva isn't just like picks the picks up the bodhisattvas mind actually is focused here but it also doesn't have any boundaries it's open to be aware that other people are doing other things
and it can be and i can appreciate them while it's going pick step is claimed pick step other beings
there's this being who's picking and stepping and there's his comrades were picking and stepping with him and then there's many other beings and the body such as mine isn't just narrow isn't narrowly focused is just focused
because the mind is focused actually it does focus on stuff it does focus on stuff like right now i'm focusing on pink of maria's shirt and green of john's shirt and the calligraphy which is attributed to me and deirdre his arms or her neat
i'm aware of that stuff i'm all my mind is focused or whatever i'm looking at let's just say i'm i'm good at this okay and the whatever i'm looking at i focus but actually all of our minds are always focused on what they're looking at
it's a natural thing of the mind that is what is to wear off at the moment it's focused on
but it's not necessarily relaxed with that focus
and if he's not relaxed with that focus
it tends not to be open to everything around it
when you relax with the focus in subsection more absorbed in what you're looking at
you're more absorbed when you relax with what you're focused on
and when you're more absorbed you actually open to being restless and looking at other things and hearing other things and i used to think that concentration was being concentrated but i didn't think that it was open but actually when you're concentrated you're very open and vulnerable
you're vulnerable and open when you're concentrated
even though you're always a focus on what you're aware of your not necessarily concentrated because your body may not be flexible and open
that's not the state yet so when you're focused on things which are always doing and you're open and relaxed that's concentration that's the concentration which sets up being able to enter into play with what you're focused on
so for example again you might be focused on a color are your breath or your feet but again the body sought for although the bodhisattvas focused on what she's smelling she simultaneously
focused on the welfare of beings
all beings while she's taking care of present bull washing clothes are putting a pic in this now
so there's a restlessness with the focus is not a fixation on the focus
i used to think that concentration was fixation and i actually worked on that and had trouble getting my mind to be focused and region
but i finally got it to be focused rigidly
i thought that i supposed to do and i was kind of aggressive about getting rigidly focused rather than focused and flexible focused and restless
i was kind of aggressive with myself i threatened myself if i were deviate from what i was focusing on and i finally got myself completely under control
and fixated on what i was focusing on which with my breath
and there was no restlessness
i didn't allow any
there was just focus with no flexibility i attained focus with no flexibility which i thought was what i was trying to do
and again i threatened myself if i would
ah let the focus moved to anything but the breath and i attained it when i attained it i retired from that practice and have not return to it for forty some years
when i got there i said this isn't what i came to zen center for
i'm i'm totally under control in a way
but i'm also not happy and not relaxed and this isn't what i came for
so now i still try to practice concentration but i try to do it the way i hear from i didn't hear to practice this way really from knock on the ancestors i sort of was kind of like in the culture
in a kind of aggressive culture that were i sort of picked up on
among my male friends
and i gave that up i'm still trying to practice concentration but i'm trying to do it without music without a contrivance without trying to get concentration
i still try to remember the boy sought for practices i still try to remember what i'm doing them for i still focus on the point of it all
another thing that i've found which i find i find when i talked to people is that
when you're studying something
when your garlic studying something like how to like if you're studying how to concentrate or your studies and teaching are you studying some practice
sometimes you notice
that you're not absorbed in the study of the thing which you think you want to study you think you want to study it and you try but then you notice you're not really doing it
you think you heard it's good and you're trying to be engaged but you noticed you're not really engage your not wholehearted about the study
and in some people like i did it for a while they're like particularly with the meditation i thought it was posed to focus on something but didn't really want to and i just forced myself to do it because i thought i was posted and again i found this is not just wasn't right for me
we also have mindfulness practices and in in this tradition so some people try to match practice mindfulness and then they come and tell me i don't want to practice mindfulness and i say what don't
are they say i'm practicing mindfulness but i'm half hearted and i say well what would you be whole hearted about
and also our i i heard when i've heard met really days a study about certainly very important buddhist texts
one of them was called the lotus sutra
and
i heard from suzuki ratio this is really important sutra and he was gonna teach it and you and i was gonna go to a practice where he was going to come down and teach it so i thought well after reading it lot of us were gonna read it
waiting for him to come down and teach it
the and you hadn't come yet tries to open the scripture up started reading it and i don't think i read more than up two pages
and i noticed that i wasn't very whole hearted about reading anymore i was not absorbed i was not interested and he was no around so i closed the book
and i kept trying to read the book but i didn't push myself when i when i felt like i was resisting it i just closed the book broken open another book that i was that i could be absorbed him
and but i but i i heard it was really important so i kept checking it out every now and then
and the day came one
the day came when it was time to read it and i read it and i was absorbed in it
so when people are trying to study something and i know in their tell me their half hearted i say what would you be whole hearted about
so let's go and find something or whole hearted about and when you learn again get a feel for wholeheartedness
wholeheartedly engage in something
and you check it out is the relaxation
is there
if their focus is their openness
and say it the answered yes they are what about this thing you weren't whole about
are you open to that
yes
when i look at it
let's say yes do you look at it and he said no time
i don't i don't i don't feel like time to do it do you open to that
but eventually
it according to this theory you would eventually be able to wholeheartedly engage in anything which means you'd be wholeheartedly able to engage with anybody which means you would be wholeheartedly able to live for the welfare and everybody but not by forcing yourself to be interested in people who are not interested in
but rather
relax with not being interested in some people
relax with your disinterest
become com with your disinterested witness in some people and in a disinterested in a disinterested with some people
if you can really relax with it and really be absorbed in that disinterestedness when it shows up you can start playing with it and if you can play with you can be creative with disinterestedness but you have to be wholeheartedly engaged in the disinterested not forcing yourself to be interested but accepting that you're not
cause you're not i mean cause you're not interested you are just interested
and you can be concentrated with disinterested in shows up
and when interest shows up again if there's interest shows up and you get rigid about it you're not going to concentrate or you're not going to be able to play
another aspect of absorption which is kind of surprising
is that
it's kind of a
well one things about absorption is that when were absorbed in something we can accomplish great works
if were concentrated if we're focused if were absorbed in the welfare of all beings we can accomplish the welfare of all beings
if we're if were absorbed in wish to benefit all beings we can read will be relaxed with that will play with that will be creative with that will understand that will become free of that will come free of
i've tried to benefit all beings and in becoming free of this devotion to benefiting all beings which were totally devoted and absorbed in where it will be accomplished but along with his great works
comes a kind of indolence or laziness and the word indolence means the root of it means it's actually it's actually a latin word indolent
and it means that we're not indolent means
he couldn't it's similar it will be in dormant
dolan is like dolores in is not it means not harming or not painting or not suffering
along with accomplishing great works in the state of concentration is state of indolence which is some kind of like lazy but it's also means you know not not painting not suffering
in other words you're not giving yourself a hard time
however not giving yourself a hard time depends on this practice of not giving yourself a hard time
with your great work you go your great work and it's not and you're not getting yourself a hard time you're really absorbed in the welfare of beings and you're not giving yourself a hard time you're lazy lazy doing his great work
but in order to do that you have to give yourself a hard time before that
based on this ability to be lazy and this huge project you have to start to give yourself kind of a hard time
like what you have to practice generosity and before you know how to practice generosity you have a hard time practicing generosity
before you pract know how to break generosity you got stinginess and you give yourself i mean you don't give yourself a hard time about being stingy you just have a hard time being generous when you're stingy it's hard to be generous when you're stingy but you you give yourself that hard time if you want to practice our concentration
you have to practice generosity if you don't know how you can have a hard time yet also practice ethics and ethics are kind of hard for most of us to get really good at 'em it's kind of hard
it's kind of hard not to be possessive
it's kind of hard to tell the truth
ethics is kind of hard until you're perfectly enlightened ethics are little bit hard think ethical discipline is kind of difficult
but if you'd take on ethical discipline york and you're devoted to it
then you get to move on to patients patients isn't exactly easy patients is like when somebody slaps you in the face or when people hurt you and hate you
that's not exactly easy to be patient with
kind of hard when trouble comes to meet it when trouble comes that's not easy plus being patient with it isn't kind of harder easy to get angry when people are mean to you
it's not easy to for when people are being mean to you is kind of painful so when people are being mean to you and where you're not been lazy when you feel that pain
and then to be patient with it is not easy either but if you're patient with difficulties and insults and attacks and your ethical and your generous then you can relax
you can trust it's okay to relax because you're having such a hard time
and you and you're willing to have a hard time
for the welfare of all beings and you also understand that you kind of have to do these practices in order to trust that it's okay to relax it's okay to be hum
open you've already opened practically all the difficulties there are so now you can open the rest of the way
but again it it usually i wouldn't think that being lazy and indolent go with accomplishing great tasks but i'm suggesting that it they do and also being focused and can restless not distracted but rest
atlas
like you focusing on something and you just feel like
your focus would be more relaxed more soft more open if you just go around and look at it from the other side again i always think michelangelo he's pounding on the front or respects his his pounding on david but you know
and he says something i go around and partners tummy now
i've had enough for this but i'm a got to his chest down his ear so it's not just like
just drilling right through the chest to the back he does the front and you know he's focused on the statue can you imagine that he was kind of focused on the surgery when he did that sculpture for quite awhile
but he was flexible
wonderfully flexible magically
miraculously flexible while he's pounding away on this thing and i would say also
he was lazy
lazy yeah
he could this guy could afford to be lazy
this guy could afford to relax
he worked so hard
he could relax and he did relax and he danced around that statue
in in in pain
he was in pain
and he was patient with his pain
he was uncomfortable and he was patient with his discomfort he was working really hard but another level in his hard work he was relaxed he was indolent he was flexible and he was restless he never rested in
in his focus and he wasn't fixated that wouldn't serve the art constantly moving up and down
up and down sixteen feet or seventeen feet of marble all around
doing this great work playing with it
creating with it understanding what should be done
and achieving freedom in amidst or the bodhisattva wants to do the same thing but the body surface
marble is living beings
who are actually just about as difficult as a huge piece of marble
they did the same thing that they're devoted to the art of making some beautiful relationship with every living being
so again
again
i think that what i'm saying to you as things that surprise me but i've come to this understanding of what concentration is
it's not exactly playful itself it just as it allows us to be playful when you start being playful you're moving into the next dimension of the practice which is wisdom
starting to open to the wisdom
creative and the the creativeness because wisdom is what works with creation what opens to it contemplates it enters it
you could be concentrated but not yet moving into the playfulness but you but you're setting the stage for it also you can practice giving quite a quite thoroughly ethics by thoroughly and patients quite thoroughly but not yet be relaxed and calm and still be a little tense while you're pretty
sincerely practicing the first three practices which serve the trust of relaxation know when you relaxed he haven't yet started playing necessarily but you're getting ready to play with whatever you're focused on in this case for bodhisattvas to play with all living beings
and in the process of playing with them create the situation in which they will join the play create a situation where they'll pick up how to practice concentration
well they'll pick up the practices of giving an ethics and patients so they can dare to relax and play and then when they're relaxing and playing together with us then we move into the real creation and that's where the healing understood
landing arises
huh

so again this type of concentration is not an aggressive controlling concentration
this kind of concentration is
doesn't have a plan to get concentrated his chest
a mere fact when we give up the plan to concentrate for the sake of concentration we were concentrated
and there's another thing we also say sit in meditation or walking meditation
with no gaining idea so we want we want to give ourselves to the practice without trying to get anything you want to give ourselves
to be relaxed and open
and flexible
and focused we want to give herself to that without trying to get anything
and they will get in the state will rise
without saying at it again
you could see it as again but that probably with some that that would be to example of a distraction
shifting to another perspective doesn't have to be a distraction but thinking of it as a game is kind of a setback it's not the end of story because you can notice that and admit that and come back to practicing it
find the point of view of giving yourself to the practice of meditation giving yourself to the practice of concentration i donate myself to the practice of concentration now i donate myself to
calming down without a new plan about how to do it
one can go further on that say i give myself to the great body surface i donate myself to their meditation practice and if they want to support me which i'm sure they do i'm available if they want to help me become i'm turning myself
to be helped to become
also if i'm in this class i don't it myself for you to help me to become
and you come and done it yourself to this class so we can help you become in this way we help each other com without any plan or game to get anything out of this class or out of the practice of meditation and this attitude is compatible with
concentration
one more thing i want to say is i'm in relationship to this some
being kind of lazy when you're practicing concentration is like you're you're letting go of i got are purposeful thought you're letting go of thought which is full of purpose
there is a place for thought that full of purpose
but this this concentration time is not the time to have a thoughtful a purpose it's time to have ah thought which lets go on purpose
thought which
the which isn't full of purpose maybe thought which is focused on purpose but not fall of it
again focused on the welfare of all beings
but not full of it
relaxed with it
so those are some of the things i wanted to say about concentration or
that
the context for playfulness and creativity
and i welcome your
responses
yes
is your name margaretta margaretta
is that your name
yes sweetheart
pardon
margaretta

did you say you have trouble excuse me can i say it back to you did you say you have trouble trusting because it seems scary
hmm

i'm sorry but i i heard you say that tibetans are trying to be free and

you're afraid that if you stand up for what you believe in you might be oppressed or pressed somebody might have press you if you stood up for you sir
okay so
so you have to have a question about that i've heard

i think
being willing to being willing to play without being attached to your thoughts to you say
via result being willing to play without being attached to your results
beat that does not being attached your results go very well with being playful let's go very well together case

you can be playful with are joking around
and you can joke around without being playful some people are joking around but they're actually not too relaxed about that
so they're they're playing on they're joking around but they're not like they're not focused
and they are are not accomplishing great work and they're not being patient and they're not being ethical careful and they're not being generous but they are joking around
like my grandson a while ago he started to joke around by saying kind of like nasty things
like he wanted to see one of things he said was one of his jokes was you're disgusting
and then he say just kidding
and i thought you know it is kind of easy to to
and think it's funny
even though the other people don't think so
it's little harder to try think of something positive as a joke
you know like
you're handsome
what then you could say just kidding
so maybe i wouldn't be so difficult anyway i noticed that his that his early attempts at being funny were like by saying something negative
and then not and then we'd some time with that were actually wasn't we i didn't think that was that funny you know so yeah i think joking around can be playful
it can be is possible but again this joking around this playful is based on ethics

well for example again my grandson remember when he is little i would watch him
like he would pile up objects
it'll make piles of objects with his tiny little hands and and very carefully pile things up with great concentration but he seemed like he was playing now he would he he would not probably have like anybody to knock over what he piled up that would he wasn't ready for that but he seemed quite concentrated and he was playing
but maybe you wouldn't say he was playing around and he said he was seriously playing with these things making these constructions but i think you can be playful for example if you're visiting somebody who you really love and who is a lot of suffering and sickness you can be playful with them but you wouldn't
exactly be joking around necessarily
what would it look like well it might look like he might say i'm might be with them and then you know your patient with the pain you feel being with them and you're careful and you're you're very generous about giving your attention and present to the situation with
that any expectation and then you like and you and your focused on their welfare and you're focused on offering them something good k and you also on
relaxed
and then you might say
would you like some water
and that my that may be quite playful predeceased him you want some water
are you might say would you like medium is you know wash your back
but it might be actually up you might feel quite playful about that
and what is play for me it means is coming from this relaxed place and where you're a
in a year you just feel you know you're just feel like you're you're groping your way with the person
and
and then the the next stage of neared inner personally so you want to actually find the way that person who's may be sick can play with you so that they can say you know no thank you or thank you may say thank you and i knew had this may be some soap and some water and
a washcloth and you start playing with the washing thing
and and you actually enter into this may be experience of that of the creativity of this washing like activity
and the new the new together are doing this playfulness and and finding creativity in that play
and then all your friends still sick and used to feel
you know some pain over their sickness you starting to feel some some understanding what's going on here in this world
in this relationship and some freedom right there and not understanding of this relationship
and enjoy and yeah
once i was they want i've watched say one more thing and that is sometimes when you're with someone who suffering a lot
it's hard for us to relax
but again if we're being very careful and were being very patient with the pain we feel being with them our patients with our pain with being with them we can relax being with someone who is suffering a lot and if we can relax and but they met a day they made with state let's say they can't read
lax as to say that but we can and we can be careful we can be generous than we can start to come down with them
we're in pain with them and they're in pain with us but we calmed down with them and then we feel that placed with their some play with there's some room to play with them
the other way around it sometimes you go visit somebody one second okay
it happens the other way that sometimes people go visit perhaps somebody who's good at playing and good at concentrating and their the sick one so you go to them
and you're not able to relax with this person who you may be your teacher right your concentration teacher going to visit but your concentration teachers sick go visitor and your tent you're not you're not you're tense you're not comfortable with your pain of their suffering so you're going there in
your tents you're not able to relax you're not concentrated and they the sick one teaches you they show you that their com with their pain and they're relax with their pain and they're relaxed with you being uptight and then you see that and then you say oh i guess i can play with them even though they're really sick
you know like i'm never time heard a story somebody's going to visit the karmapa
before you know before you die the last time they went to visit him and he was really he was really sick with cancer and they went to visit him and marina and the person went in i just felt like he was ready to play and i heard but this other guy to was really sick and somebody kinds of illnesses hi sweetheart what's happening man you know
it's like they're really they're they're into it even though they're sold the sick when they're actually playing with their sickness and they can invite you to play with them and then you can happen either way or com could sometimes be simultaneous both people going into some difficult situation and multiple suddenly like oh you're doing this too
yeah right wow
we're ready to play without any warm up
okay
yes john and then
there
great great

what was

yeah
yeah
right
yeah i don't know what's going on the sale of the situation and i'm patient with that i'm careful of that i'm careful of it because sometimes when we don't know what's going on we you know we're kind of tempted to try to find out what's going on company
what's going on i can't stand is so we're careful of it and then were
and they were patient with it
and then we can tolerate not knowing what's going on you know am i right am i wrong maybe i'm right maybe i'm wrong i only know i'm relaxed with you
so then he relaxed with that you open to that you're flexible with that and then you can start playing with it and one of the ways to play with it is to ask questions but not as questions because you can't tolerate the annoying but as questions as a way to play with it
and then again that questioning goes very nicely into the creative and phase questioning as the wisdom and start when the playfulness starts the wisdom starts
and the wisdom often starts with questioning but not questioning to get answer not to gain something questioning and this non gaming environment of relaxation and flexibility and if you're flexible you may just kept like a fountain and questions coming up and maybe right it may seem like wow this is really funny i'm just like a
inundated with question where do they all come from that can happen
was he
yeah
yeah what else
yeah well it could be aware you could use questioning as a way to settle in because the way the way of calming down you do it you know you don't you ask the question not as a plan to get yourself concentrated but sometimes i think they get your concentrated is something surprising
like what's going on might com you or i don't know what's going on suddenly might be really calm having no contrivance doesn't mean that something doesn't happen which helps you calm down it just means you're not trying to get yourself concentrated but still asking a question or somebody asking you a question like you might be doing something in somebody might say what are you
doing my stop a yeah what am i doing just feel really com all of a sudden
just because that question and you're receiving and thinking about it you just like drop a whole bunch of stuff
vira

was always talk about how furious
the has just the power
curious about the
i said curiosity is very good thing
top
after she said something about die
curious

did you last year
congratulations
i thank you i say you too cute to die anyway
as somebody just told me today or i think was today he said he went to see his mother who is in hospital with cancer and she was close to death and she said what are you doing here
he said that a people at or say all the time to themselves what am i doing here
and there's something to say this you can eat it and you can say that and people who are dying when you come to visit they can ask you what you're doing here
and you can ask and ask them what you what are you doing here
what are you doing in the hospital here and they might tell you something pretty interesting
if that what are you doing here is coming from like i'm here with you and i don't know what's going on and i'm relaxed with you and i'm ready to play what are you doing here and i have no expectation that you think that was smart or helpful i just that just happen to ask that question and you might
even say beforehand can ask your question
and i may say sure you say what are you doing here
what are you doing here
pardon
you're about to talk he as you are

as sounds like you're fully engaged sounds like you're focused sounds like you flexible
it sounds if this sounds like you know i don't know what you doesn't it didn't seem like you're trying to get much it wasn't much to get and i sound like you are pretty relaxed pretty concentrated in pretty playful and that you are starting to the to taste creativity and freedom under these
under the circumstances of a sick father
but again that this is the bodhisattvas work is being with sick people which is kind of like
everybody everybody sick
the bodies and bodhisattvas since other people are sick bodies are present sick
they're not healthier than other people they're not sicker than other people they're just sick and they and they do these practices with their sickness the practices practices which set them up to be able to relax and be serene and flexible
an open with their sickness and other people's sickness and and then be opened a plane with their sickness and other people's sickness and then be able to play with other people who are playing with their sickness and there's him and then enter this and your father when he's heavily sedated still can play with you
from that position just like a baby now i have this why haven't i have met this baby my daughter has his baby is
you know it doesn't know how to be distracted jet and is totally concentrated on like
things like getting milk
and
and this is for people are really playing with her but it's maybe a little hard for them sometimes when she's like screaming because she's hungry it's a little hard for her mother to relax i think her mother has no problem being generous no problem being careful by little bit a problem being patient
that scream
i asked my wife has a problem with being patient with a baby scream has really hard to be present with that pain of the baby's baby screams like one the most painful things to be present with for people for certain people
particularly i think mothers are well suited to really be challenged like it's like a very difficult not to be moved by that scream that hunger scream the anger screams difficult to with the hunger one had really and when any especially when you know that as what it is don't have any milk
that's really tough so i don't know how my daughter's done with patients department but i'm sure she'd doing well in the previous two so know how relaxed years but i
well
there are certain advantages to that come along with that called when you're nursing you get a little hormonal assistance to the relaxation which isn't even if you're not a good meditator those hormones that come with the mouth may get a little easier to relax when the baby's screaming
and then if you can relax you can offer yourself you know with a reduced amount of with a murderous thoughts
for this person who is you know doing this very painful thing
that's for the nice to have to be able to
take a break so you can relax and then again be willing to offer yourself
yeah so yeah i think i think you you got a good exercise the and exactly we're talking about with your father
yes margaretta pardon
is it okay she asked a question
he's not sure
so one person not sure but everybody i'm seems to be okay and he's not opposed to it he doesn't know he doesn't know go ahead margaretta

what for example like i said michelangelo he's working on the statue or or like me studying buddhism right
pardon
oh being distracted be distracted would be to try to get something out of the situation
there would be distraction to try to get something out of life is what for bodhisattva that a distraction
to try to gain something that's a distraction from what
from living for the welfare of others because the problem of people were having is trying to get something there distract most people are distracted that's enough to distract you from what from being present with what's happening without trying to get something we've been just distracted from being relaxed and playful and created a day
extracted from that how do they get distracted by trying to get something out of creation okay guy creation you're what can i get out of it you just got off off track of love it there now of course this thought of what can i get has creatively arisen but you didn't understand that saw you you got distracted from the creation a miracle just of rose and
and you didn't understand it cause you weren't flexible and open and so on so you got caught by it so we get caught by stuff which is actually a miracle
and we don't see it as a miracle because we're not relaxed
so if we force ourselves to study certain scriptures we don't see that their miracles right in our face if we force ourselves to take care of babies we missed a miracle we force our tastes had arts or ourselves to take care of our sick friends we missed a miracle
for relax with it
we see that i was a miracle in front of us which in part of the miraculous thing is we're participating he doesn't like that that there's the miracle and i'm over here it's it's it's better than that it's more miraculous than that
maria
you gonna ask me a political question
okay we were before we interpret that way ask it

yeah i was that i was exercising at the community centers afternoon and i saw that thing about they're going to roof they're going to have a cock they're going to start talking about what's the next step i saw that too so what's what's your question

yeah that that's one way to see it because they weren't like are actually asking for something the way usually you do it that's a different mode of being and in some ways that mode of being as the
in some ways looks more like related to practice
and now should they cash in their chips

how do they preserve what
you say the essence what are the ethos ethos of the movement yeah

give it up it might be there

yeah dude there's i think there's there there's purposeful thought to set up this situation where you can let go of it and then after you enter it and have understanding you can then
re-enter purpose for thought again if you want
so i
i think just it
i feel that a lot of people who are participating in this process i feel i feel like been and i'm not just did the so-called protesters but everybody that interacted with them i think as has seen something kind of enlightening something different and i think it's real
been that's really good where they go from here i do not know
i'm i'm but but what contact i've had with it i i feel like it's very interesting it's different from things i've seen before and
and it it has gotten a lot of attention to this ninety nine per cent thing lot of people are thinking about such really been good i think
and the people who are bring into attention our our i think
for me it's easy to respect them and appreciate them and i think maybe other people
some of the people who are not necessarily
i don't know what are not necessarily opened this kind of comment i've become more open to it perhaps
bill

hmm

hmm hmm
yeah
yes
okay

i
are you from scotland do you know peter bernard is to

may our and tangy
equally extend to every being and place where the true marietta
way beings
the number was
how to save them delusions are inexhaustible
the to win them dialogue aids on our list
to enter them go as well as possible
try to become