earlier i spoke to you about
sitting
as good as sitting
and
buddha sitting
as us sitting
another way to a speak would be to say
sitting
which fills the whole universe
and sitting which the whole universe feels
walking
that fills the whole universe walking
that is filled by the reimburse
conversation which fills the whole universe
and conversation which has filled by the whole universe
conversation which is
conversing buddha buddha conversing
huh
when someone asked me today about something like what's the relationship between meditation and the rest of her arrest of your life for
like that
and i said well from me meditate action is
living life fully
or the fullness of our life that meditation
when sitting meditation walking meditation conversing meditation
a sitting that
fully his former some of the life of sitting when setting
and a walking which is
and of course whenever you're sitting there is a fullness of life
there can't be blessed in a fullness of life when you're sitting
but if we don't do that
the ceremony the ritual of sitting
we may miss
the fullness of are sitting
people said all over the world but if they don't make their sitting a ritual they may not understand that they're sitting the minute understand the fullness of they're sitting they may not understand
but the whole universe feels they're sitting
and it doesn't mean that it as soon as you are
sit intending as a ritual that you that you will experience or you will understand
the fullness
nevertheless
if you give your sitting for that purpose you do realize the fullness of your life

someone asked how can a mundane ceremony give rise
to enlightenment
and i thought
the ceremony doesn't give rise to enlightenment
the ceremony is it

and i am
i wrote down this thing
which
about the
that stir you at the end of the ginger cool

this it is
so the zen master ball chair was finding himself
and a man approached her said teacher
the nature wind is permanent
and there's no place it does not reach why do you find yourself
and boucher replied although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent
you do not yet understand the meaning of reaching everywhere
the monk said what's the meaning of at reaching everywhere
and the teacher kept finding himself
the teacher just kept fanning
i would say the teacher kept during the ceremony of fanning

this ritual he's doing his his a way of demonstrating and embodying the nature of wind
and demonstrating
the nature of all things
the monk bow deeply

he did a ritual
the express and in body
the buddha dharma

and this or the to think even i could expand this them to other things like come
the nature
if you see somebody if you see as and teacher practicing giving
it could say the nature of giving his his eternal an all pervading so why do you practice giving
and the teacher says well you understand that
giving and receiving
is eternal and all pervading
but you don't yet understand the meaning of the giving reaching everywhere
what's the meaning of reaching everywhere the master kept practicing giving

so giving or receiving is always was going on it's naturally happening
but if we don't do the ritual of giving
we won't realize
if you say that you do not need to do the ritual of giving because the nature of giving his eternal
and you can
i have given without the ritual of giving you will not understand either the permanence northern nature of giving
nor will you understand the permanence or nature of wind
sell families find and giving fine
but we must do the rich or otherwise will mr fanning
well misunderstand the fanning the wind the giving whatever
it is
he said
is it all as an activity
you have some other guys some ceremony that wouldn't be an activity that in mind
action
over can you take your ceremony that wouldn't be an action
i can't think of one
what

open prizes
open presence isn't a ceremony is just reality
but if you want to realize open present chapters is a ceremony of
open presents
open presents his life doesn't come and go
it's presence is like the nature of wind it's permanent and all pervading nothing can stop there's no limit to open presence
but if you think you but if you think you can have this eternal open presents without during the ritual of open presents you won't understand
you must
you must bring it into your body speech and mind
it already is but you have to you have to perform it
the way the way is perfect in all pervading why do we have to perform it

because performing it is it
that's all there is to the way is performing it practice
practices aberration but also practices to boot away the put away his all pervading
but it also the boot away is performing the buddha way
if you're saying there can be no understanding unless there is action
you could say there's no understanding unless there is action but you can say the action is the understanding that the only kind understand there is the rest of it is just your imagination
hmm
it expresses to be alive and we must perform being alive in order to realize being alive
but we don't get it unless will perform it of course there's always hoping awareness who could limit open awareness
who can measure the wind at circles earth
but you can realize it by making your body speech and mind
the enactment of it
yes is
so in answer to that question was two kinds of thought basically there's one kind of thought which to be used thought as synonymous with consciousness
basic cognition is not an action
just knowing the presence of something awareness itself as nine action but awareness arises with mental construction
action mental action
he said and then the mind just awareness itself is not really we don't call that action we call action the the the power that awareness has to construct
and that's basically that's the basic kinds of karma
and karma has consequence in one of the consequences of karma is to obstruct
true the truth
so we kind of have to take the we have to like engage with the karma in such a way that the karma comes in service
of the way so that the karma no longer obstructs the truth
otherwise the the is just creating more obstruction unless we engage with it unless we make all of our karma
a mindful and accident
of the buddha away
a mindful enactment of for example open awareness a mindful enactment of for example giving and receiving a mindful enactment of supporting our bags a mindful enactment of walking as a buddha a mind for enactment of walking and inactive go
is teaching are mindful enactment of
walking for the welfare of all beings without putting our mental constructions in that way take disappearance
and and as consequences of whatever kind of thought constructions are going on
we're trying to line up they thought picked up the consequential thought constructions on line them up with enacting the border way performing the buddha away making them a ceremony so that our body speech and mind personhood becomes
united with and immersed in the truth
which it always is
pardon

the human being few things i'm not permanent but
the nature of human beings is permanent
the nature of wind is permanent
the nature of human beings is that they're dependent horizons risings and that there
cannot be found the nature of human beings as permanent no human being can ever be found that's our nature it's all and were all whenever we can never be found and that way we can be found pervades everything
it's permanent all pervasive at our nature but we are you know that human beings are
because we're dependent arising we existed for a flip a fleeting moment and i'm just existence becomes a conditions for another existence of some other human being who might have the same name and same
no social security number or something
but a new person
all is a new person
and if we don't do a ritual
performing the new personhood will miss a new personhood
and performing a ritual of new personhood as the same as performing a ritual to enact our nature are are permanent nature which includes are impermanence
if we don't do a ritual to enact the way we're constantly turning will miss however constantly turning the put away is basically turning and leaping
so we don't originally turn and leap will miss the turning and leaping
but when we do ritually
practice turning and leaping at that moment we realize turning and leaping
it's just our little ritual version turning raping but little ritual versions of turning and may be realized the all pervasive turning leaping
because the pervasive turning leaving leaping pervades all the little turnings and leppings of all the little ritual beings
so i use limited forms
to embody and an act unlimited truth
and there's no other way to realize it
but in limited ways
because it's already realized in unlimited ways that start even take care of every moment
but in a limit we need a limited ways we make me to make on our limits in service of all beings or buddhas then the entire universe because it is
so let's get with the program
and make everything we do the same exactly a big act but a little act
to manifest the big act
hmm

thing
you

teaching them
any
a
you are
day

not be any other one
mr quality

i don't want to say you didn't get a correct but i i will i i don't i also don't want to encourage you like to get it correct
i don't want to encourage you to get a correct
and i don't want to tell you didn't get a correct

a while

i think i i think you and i have to limit it
and the way we limited as by going to the grocery store
which is a limited to
and we accepted to limited think said now i'm willing to do a limited thing but i'm not doing a limited thing just ah
know what i'm not doing limited thing to get something i'm not doing an image of thing to control things i'm doing a limited dang to enact the boot away
i i offer this limited thing to the good away
and said in that way i i when i do limited things i want all my limited things to be on my limited activities to be rituals
if all if i realize everything i do at all my all my limited activities are empty
then
i still worry i shouldn't say i still i might actually think well i'm not going to do anything anymore since all my activities are empty
some people do that that's not a very good understanding of of emptiness
amen all my activities are vast and in ungraspable and
therefore i'm not going to do anything anymore
because i realized the emptiness nope
when you realize the emptiness of your activity and you see you still if you understand correctly you still wanna do the things you're doing you realize you have to do when you're alive you have to be active
but you don't have to waste the the opportunity of your action you can make it
a ritual you can make it a performance of the buddha away
which you would do if you understood the emptiness for all your actions

and what an i say this but i don't say this i shouldn't say i don't say it but i say this without trying to control may getting it right
i'm just offering this mouth
but really i can't find getting it right
and yet i'm willing to be limited i'm going to participate in limited thanks yes john
the you can respond to this one
as is this was different from one yeah
a similar job
ah i heard something very similar in my interpretation of which were saying to use the were superimpose and i am troubled by that
i think because i'm hearing that for those of us haven't realized emptiness that practicing ritual is is an awareness training a mindfulness training but rather than going to the supermarket little the trouble of the idea and i'm going to go out into the world with this idea that practicing rituals or work go
and be in that mindset as opposed to being in the supermarket and suddenly being aware of my presence for market and realizing opportunity for practicing mindfulness and making my experience there
original
turning and leaping what's the difference it into two cases
walking up this door and seeing everything i'm about to do as a ritual
oh right her rather eat why you could also walk out the door and say i want to make everything i do original rather than everything is a ritual everything is is to say that everything is to say it
it's would it would be the same as saying everything is because i'm always understand emptiness i'll be darned the to merge super oh yeah but to say i'm in a god and and i intend to make everything i do a ritual
that's different
and if if if he knew if we had it is possible that you would be going out the door and i said john where you're going and you'll save a longer and and grocery store and i would say what's the point of that why what's the reason for going and you say well i want to go to perform the boot away i take okay fine
but if you if you didn't say that i might keep questioning you about what you know why just why why move why why go anywhere
unless you're gonna go like do something like perform the buddha away and save all sentient beings and and and guide beings in the grocery store
if you just want to guy being you don't have to go anywhere you can do it right here without moving but you miss it i want to go guide beings in the grocery store
because my wife wants me to get something at the grocery store so i'm gonna go there to guide beings that's my intention
i don't know how be able to remember to do it but i would like to so as a difference in that and what you are talking about that you didn't feel good about think the differences i'm and among a little fearful that i'll walk out the door with a mindset of what that rich was going to be
appellant going to be in the grocery store before i show up in the grocery store ah and yeah that would and kind of locked into that would be a that's one of the dangers in practicing ritual is that you might have a fixed idea of what the ritual be there are doing it that's one of the dangers of ritual and i had this experience down
i love shushing one sunday and i went to whole foods in your belly and immediately from machine and i entered the store with the grocery cart and as i pass people i stopped and bounds and did that at least five or six times just because that's the for my enterprise yes the repeal it was very awkward
in the store and yeah
and i was in this other mindset yeah i wasn't been with what was going on sort of sense yeah i was almost a robot sense why he a i was practicing for the weapon
okay so that's your story and when i heard it i thought
i thought well that sounds like somebody's acting like and a way that you wouldn't expect that the ceremony to be in a grocery store this is true
the fact the fact that you bowed kind of surprised me
actually
it's it's the fact that you bought some different from i went to the story and i thought that the way to do ritual in the store was to gone out of the people i didn't feel like you're saying that i thought a king kind of spontaneously that you borrowed
get any a little program i think
yeah probably really aware what science program does okay program is okay as long as you don't expect beforehand that programming
but you aren't programmed you know you went in the you like you one in the front door you didn't go into backdoor
you didn't crawl in your program to walk in and so the program is okay
you have a certain to a certain idea what it means to go shopping at whole foods are you accept that or you are you or you don't he missed i'm not going to shop the way i use a shop from the shop a different way okay fine how do you make that a ritual
and
if it then if you think well i'm going to make an ritual by such it's such a way of doing it
okay fine we can wake you can have this idea that this is the way you're going to do the ritual
go try it
but if you think that that's the only way you're the ritual
then i would be an opportunity for you to learn about the function of rituals
namely if you're if you fixate around a ritual
then it's not a ritual anymore really because either rituals trying to enact the truth name of that you can't grasp anything so really if you if you're doing a ritual you're not trying to get anything or control anything
a lot of people don't tell me that the way i'm talking about it is different than way a lot of people to speak of ritual ceremony that lot of people do rituals to get some result
but i'm talking about the ritual enactment of the buddha away which is the original enactment of the truth
which requires surrender which requires getting up trying to control which requires being gracious so if you walked into the door of whole foods and you thought prominent to a ritual such as such a ritual
when i go in there i'm into a ritual of making everything i do
you know how all my actions rituals serving all the beings here
i could be that can be with crusher and could have been before you walked in he could have had an idea of what i was gonna be
now if you then think
you know that that's gonna control has been a
i know what you control the situation then the ritual would help you see that you think that
and you would experience what that was like to go in there and say i'm going to make my shopping ritual
and i'm i don't know what that's going to look like that's another way to do it but you could say i'm going to cause shopping and i'm gonna do differently than usual
i'm going to go slower than usual
i might want to do that and i want to make this slow moving original
are you go faster than you you and you might have some might say well but that's not a good ritual because you know he you know you might run over people is announced they will go slower isn't a return because you might inhibit people's movement but you can make going faster or slower original
and now would you be mindful of the original
would that go with it while i would think so do you have you fixed on the idea that you should be mindful yes i am okay so there now and now this is something funny now because you know being rigid about being mindful so that wouldn't be the kind of mindfulness that would go to this kind of ceremony they'll be mine
what mindfulness west of various ideas of what it is but you don't know what mindfulness is
various ideas or what the ceremony would be but you don't have
and it fixed idea you heard that when bodyside physical shopping at whole foods they are mindful of following the path and buddha when they're in whole foods they're mindful of that
and they walked the path of buddha in whole foods in order to guide all beings they actually think of that but they haven't but they don't know what that will be
but they use something for in off for that purpose they use a shopping cart or they don't they walking on earth are they don't
they do use a limited form and they're doing for this purpose and they understand probably that whether they think that are not in fact they are doing what i call a ritual enactment of reality when they are barefoot for the welfare of beings which is reality we are here for the welfare of banks that's the
a reality of the buddha that's it we're doing here in buddha's world
and an order to fulfill this we must understand the emptiness of all beings
and then we do a ceremony in order to enact the emptiness of all beings in order to help all beings understand emptiness we do a written for that purpose and we can have ideas about how to do the ritual
but there would be no fixed
why of doing so again back here we are no abode so the bodhisattva goes to the whole foods to do the ritual to realize the buddha away
and they know they must take a limited form and and taking a limited form to realize the buddha way makes that form of ritual
and they do that with a mind of know abode
they do not take up an abode in that mind which is using is formed to an act the buddha away
and they have everything they do is this
advanced practitioners everything they do is an act of mindfulness of the buddha where it's an act of walking this path for the welfare brothers to think act of guiding beings
and they have and their mind does not abide in our depend on the thought which they have
of i want i wish to guide all beings
they do not their mind is not abide in a posture that they use to do the ritual of walking on the path with our beings
but they use these forms with is mine of no abode for the welfare of all beings and that's and that's the way they manifest the mind of no bowed their great vowed to live for the welfare of things that's where they realize that and manifested in the world of limited forms all of which
are marked by emptiness
so because they have a mind of about there be no attachment to the original form which they will use they could walk in and
and the pretty much shop and seemingly and way it's indistinguishable from the way they shopped before they realize the mind of no abode
before they were practicing the mine of no border shopping center that they shop physically and verbally look quite the same as possible
how do you feel about that
good
cosima thoroughly
okay okay like now you're confused so what are you do with the confusion
run away run away when are we going to with the running away
okay now we're back to the running away now somebody's home
got some mindfulness gotta run a year and but somebody's running somebody's present with the mindfulness now do you want to run away for the welfare of all beings
you want to be kind your wife yeah yeah so you want to make your running kind of kindness to your wife

so that i know
are you wanna go home and practice been kind to your wife yes yeah
get
so this is how we took this is how he related to your confusion
we we we expressed it then we came to meet with we engaged with it and in the process of engaging with it there was a moment of like trying to run away from it and then we engage with the running away and prison we're back now with the confusion and then we engaged with it again
when and then we found out what how you want to practice with confusion you want to be caught you want to practice being kind with your wife even when you're confused
then the confusion is a ritual
opportunity to practice kindness to your wife
and
kind is to meet you
cause you talk to me listen to me in the time
sorry do you wanna be kind to me also
yeah
yes san

ho on
the ritual of a dark chocolate cake
so and for example the preceptor for this inertia of sixteen boys than for precepts
and the first one is going for refuge in buddha
so now we have a talk and and
and am
does he know desert
we can i can make this with you this diamond talk a ritual
okay and what can be rich or comes to my mind well how about making this dhamma talk a ritual of going for refuge in buddha
i'm talking i'm talking to you but i'm not just talking to you i want my talking to be a performance of going for refuge in buddha so then
this dharma talk
which is a ceremony is it's any particular it's a ceremony to
in body and manifest the bodhisattva precepts
for example the first one
so i i think of that precept so then i want my talk to you with you to be going for refuge and buddha
so the precepts and this ritual of this time to talk or exactly the same i also for example wish and the suit and and that's the first three boys have precepts are going for revision buddha dharma sangha the next three the first one is to embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies
so we do as dharma talk and it's a ceremonial dharma talk
then we have just literally practice the first of three pair precepts
but if i do a dharma talk to try to control things
the my dharma talks and based on the idea that things can be controlled
so my dharma talks not based on the dharma
it's based on delusion
so
then i'm not doing then my damn trucks not a former as not a ceremony
it's a human manipulation
gay but if i do a diamond talk understanding
but this is a ritual enactment of what cannot be grasped
i'm a buddha that cannot be grasped that cannot be limited this is a limited form a limited ceremony
in order to a sample this is a ceremony to manifest the buddha in the world then literally the ceremony is practicing one of the bodies our precepts
move on to the other ones how is this
ceremony i'm giving a dharma talk
practicing the precept of not killing
is it me saying well i'm not pregnant i'm not killing anybody
he
is it
this ceremony
is for the welfare of all beatings the ceremony is to guide our beings
send living for the welfare of all beings is the precept of not kill me
and for me to do this as a ritual which means i'm just doing this little thing now
to celebrate my relationship with all beings
and my commitment to the welfare of all beings
this is my
practice of the precept of not killing
and so on
endlessly bringing all the dharma together with our little human acts before him
yes
technology
where's the coherence acknowledging your relationship
for

and where ceremony is ah ok i would caught a limited form
to manifest
an unlimited relationship
and not just a not just any old unlimited relationship but a relationship of unlimited harmony and peace between yourself in our bags
now of course that would be a way than to sort of check to see if you're limited form seem to be really sincerely dedicated to the on grass mobility unlimited ness of your relationships
and one way that you know one way to test will be do have some fixes some any kind of fixation around the performance of this limited form it's a flexibility is their openness is are welcoming
and so that would be something you'd look at us to see if you're really doing a ritual or if actually you're doing something which in sometimes contradictions the inconceivable harmonious relationship with our bigs
and maybe even catch a little bit of a little bit of grasping their
nnu and how to practice with a little bit of grasping well you do a ceremony and for example confessing i think there's little grasping here in my mind around this
but this is a ceremony of confessing this
is it is another example of a ceremony i'm not trying to control myself out of making mistakes i'm just doing a ceremony of admitting i i think i found a little error there
and this again manifest
your infinite relationship with all beings
cause everybody's in on this
i don't get
a funeral

is there a goal
there is a point unimpeded a goal there's a point hand the point is
the point of the funeral is to help
all bags
my say the point of humor i mean a point of of the buddha's funeral ceremony the ceremony buddha dharma
funeral ceremony is to help our bigs that's the point of it
which is similar to the point of the ceremony is to realize the emptiness of the ceremony the emptiness of the people there the emptiness of birth and death and also to realize it and an emptiness there is no birth and death the point is to realize emptiness and help all bags or the point of the ceremony is too
help all beings by realizing emptiness or to use the understanding emptiness to facilitate helping all beings that's the point of the buddha's the buddhist ceremony if a buddha is a ceremony that's what the buddha does it for that's the point that's a goal
and it's it's also to that includes teaching other people how to do things
in that same way so people watch you to a funeral ceremony you know it they're attracted to the funeral ceremony because their husband just died and then they see the the body suffered performed a funeral ceremony and they and they get a glimpse of some of this mind of no abode
and when they see that this that's really has helped them
it helps them deal with this change in their life of their spouse dying but it also helps them it's actually maybe right then see the truth in this in this thing called the death of their spouse
the up shows the kind of mind which if they enter that mind with the body starts that they will see the truth in the funeral ceremony
and then an may say that was great where can i get more this and a new start practicing
themselves to more to mourn and more cultivate this mind through which they saw the truth in the ceremony by watching somebody else who did the ceremony in this way of this is just as little thing i'm doing here to manifest the inconceivable boundless put away and the person is mindful of that while there
doing this than of the wonderful opportunity
up doing the ceremony for the welfare of everybody and not just to help him out but to help him to the truth plus the person had no attachment to the whole process because they understand that they couldn't does not then totally not in control of this complex ceremony
you know and and they did a complex ceremony that they will end in it somehow that this complex when it happened
and they and they knew during the whole time that they weren't in control so you get to see somebody who does some fancy thing
who doesn't isn't knows they're not in control and isn't trying to control say get to see because of this thing can see a mind of new abode know some people come into something really sloppily and they're not trying to control you don't it's harder for you to see the mind of knob of no bowed
but if they do something complex and they're not trying to control it
then it's easier for you to see why some funny about the where they did that thing there's different from other people would do complicated things they
they were like
totally out of it
and yet the same what happened
and i got benefited
and my spouse got benefited and all beings are benefited i want to learn this
i did learn it but i want to learn more
then the person is really being helped and the dead people are being helped and the boy as demonstrated is being helped that that's the point and ceremony
and the point of sitting in meditation to us to sit in such a way that people say wow he's making a bigger for to sit that way sitting quite still for quite a long time now kind of relaxed
and doesn't seem to be attached to this amazing thing she's doing
who what is this how how can you do something so wholeheartedly without trying to
control how you doing it well actually did the same thing when you do it wholeheartedly you're not controlling when you're not controlling and been devoted to it that wholehearted
so not trying to control something you don't care my doesn't count something you really care about
and then don't control i don't try to control
and so now we're going to assume wanted tomorrow and we're making some effort to do things in a certain way and get things organized we do care
and we're not going to be in control
and it may all be just a big mess
and and
you know that may be truly wonderful
but not a big mess because we don't care a big mess because
a what caught a ceremonial earthquake happened right and the ceremony
and we're totally surprised
and you know nobody's got showing there's no gosh oh this is evaporated
to suffer know we lost all the guys show was no bombing occurred
and the and offerings were displaying and ten directions and
and the buddha was there
and everybody got to see it but our little ceremony didn't didn't happen the way we kind of thought it might
that's the point
may our and ten equally extent