keep studying everybody
i've just returned from a says she and in sweden it was a wonderful meditation retreat and several of the people who there

a little what are just a little while ago
i'm
we recited a verse written by our ancestor our founder in japan
a hey joe again
this is his own personal vow he wrote originally had said i vow
i will change it for challenging to we
so he's he vowed to hear the true dharma
and that evolved that when he met the jar mom
he would maintain
it
and in doing so the great earth and all living beings together
will attain the boot away
that's his assertion and that's his vow
and then he notes in his verse that
due to past karma
we have and may now sometimes
become distracted
veer away
from this boot away which we vow
to realize together with the great earth and all living beings
we vow to realize the brutal way together with the great earth and all living beings but because of our past actions
and many other circumstances coming upon us we sometimes forget to practice the boot away
and then him that he moves on to assert that if we do if we confess and repent
are veering away our forgetfulness are distraction from r wow
that we will receive inconceivable help
and that this practice
of confessing and repenting
our distraction
from our vows
is the pure and simple color of true practice
confession and repentance has been put forth as the pure and simple color of your practice
as the true body of faith the true mind of faith

after reciting these verses there was attention given to each member of this assembly
each member received kind attention
generous attention
and each member was then acknowledged
here is the practice in of the social dimension a buddhist wisdom
the social dimension a buddhist wisdom to attend to and acknowledge living beings
with eyes of compassion with ears of compassion to observe and listen to them and to acknowledge them
and this diverse also is to attend to and acknowledge our karma
acknowledge our karma of distraction from
the border way and also distraction from the practice
of confession and repentance
i forgot to put away and i forgot
the pure and simple color of the buddha way which is to confess and repent
my absent mindedness
my excitement my fear which distracted me
rather then observing my fear i turned away from it and then turned away from the buddha way i confess this and repent us

again this practice of attending to others and acknowledging them and also confessing and repenting when we're not attending and not acknowledging

is what is the social dimension a buddhist wisdom
this practice also has a solitary dimension
which is to attend to our own mind and body
and to acknowledge the karma that is there
and if the karma is in a mode of turning away or touching
excitement or hesitation
transgressing away from our vows we attend to that and acknowledge it
this is the solitary
dimension a buddhist wisdom
and we need both the solitary
practice of confession and repentance and the social dimension of confession and repentance
we need both
and together
this practice melts away the root of distraction from our vows
that's the proposal

the buddha away passes freely through the fires of birth and death
through the fires of good and evil
and the practice of confession and repentance
when his mature it's just the pure and simple color of true practice it's the color the simple color
the observable color
a passing through
the fires of good and evil

confession repentance does not
turn evil into awakening
it is the practice of awakening which regards evil and good
with
an empty mind
when we can face
and a give attention and be patient and generous with inward and outward evil
with inward and outward good
we realize the empty mind
which is the meme the practice of confession and repentance to be able to regard
good and evil
with an empty mind
just as the buddha's
regard
good and evil
and in this way we peacefully pass
in their midst
with harmony and compassion

it's not just having a member empty mind it's having empty mine in the midst
of the fires of good and evil
in the midst of confessing and repenting
confessing and repenting in this field
when it's mature
realizes this mind
this mind is the realization that good and evil both lack own being lack independent existence are dependent car risings

but the practice is actually to reveal
inwardly and outwardly
the lack of faith and practice

this morning a poem came to mind
call the snowman
by wallace stevens

one must have a mind of winter
to regard
the frost and bows of the pine trees
crushed him
in snow
and have been cold a long time to behold
the junipers szeged in ice

the spruces rough in the distant glitter of the january son
and not to think
have any misery in the sound of the wind
in the sound of a few leaves which is the sound of the land
oh
of the same wind
that is blowing in the same spare space
for the listener
who listens in the snow
and nothing in themselves
beholds
nothing that is not there
and nothing that is
for me this mind of winter
resonates with the my empty mind of the body sought for
who regards who beholds
this world of good and evil
with an open
m d mind
up winter
and can behold nothing that's not here
only what's here and also than nothing that is here
in this way
the roots of of transgression melt away
like do like do and frost in the sun

this mind of winter this empty mind which is cared for in the midst of the fires of good and evil
in the world outwardly in the world inwardly
it is developed and cared for by again attending to something other than ourselves
and attending to ourselves
it is offering our world
to the other
offering our view of what's happening to others and inviting them to call us into account
to attend to others to acknowledge others and listen to others and in the listening while listening while listening offer our world
now i am listening to you i am attending to you and i am offering you
my world
i'm offering you my world
i'm offering you are my world to your face
with the invitation for you to call me and my world
the into question
i
i
contemplate my world as questionable
i may even assert my world as questionable
and and i wonder if perhaps you might consider the possibility that your world and your views are questionable
in this questioning of our own views in inviting others to question our views
we continue to offer our world
offer our views

this conversation
is necessary in order for us to be free of our views
and see the bodhidharma
this conversation involving are generously giving our world to others
an inviting them to questions this conversation
reveals and opens
the buddha dharma and allows us this conversation allows us this conversation is the way we implement we carry out the boot away

this is proposed as
the pure and simple color of to practice
to offer
our world as a gift others
so that the conversation
of the borders which is the boot away will be realized
as i say over and over the border way is a conversation
and everything in our world is a conversation piece and everything and others worlds our conversation pieces
we give our world to encourage others to give their world

i think i see some new people cry i didn't see before in this assembly welcome christiane
welcome larry
welcome daisy
welcome gale

okay and there's probably some others i i have given you my world
did you see it
well actually you saw your version of what i gave you and
now you can give me and the great symbol your world
if you wish
as a gift
for the sake
are practicing a pure and simple color of true practice

our first offering is for my rain
thank you
you're welcome
rep i'm i'm wondering when you talk about good and evil and in my mind they tend to be like global turns almost can you say more about confessing oh
what evil and what good may be examples of
a confession of good and evil might be
well the first thing that comes up is evil is what i think is evil
good as what i think is good
if ice if i see if i hope if i see someone being disrespectful of another living being
that looks like evil to me
if i'm if i'm being disrespectful of view i would say that's evil enough for me
it may not be the most terrible evil someone may feel but basically it's it's a pretty basic form of evil
relying on disrespect
other even more terrifying evils could follow
and disrespect and clues that i believe that you are what i think you are that's kind of disrespectful
like even if i think all irene's really a nice woman
that might be somewhat disrespectful if i believe it i think it
i think it i think it may be
there she is a good woman done that part isn't isn't evil
believing it is believing that that you believing that it's true
that's disrespect again i often mention the word respect means respecters as are in the route mean look again is respectful when you look at somebody to look again and wonder and question question your thoughts not
not being open to question our own views is a kind of evil
to say to you i have this thought that years that you're a good woman
i'll give you that but i know that that is questionable what i just said that's that i think is in the spirit of confession and repentance that's in the spirit of living in the world of attachment to our ideas which is evil
attachment to our life which is evil
an evil means is live backwards
life is not meant to be attached are gripped it's meant to be respected and cherished and you know
honored and listened to and attended to and witness that's what is for but just to go putting our thoughts on things and thinking that they're what they are
the i would say that's one form of evil and a very basic one
the horrible things that people do to each other are based on a lack of respect
now what is good while good as i think i think i think be respectful good
i do i think it's a good of i respect beings and and cherish them an honor them and oh and attend to them and be quiet with them and be patient with them i think that those are good things
and i wanted and i wanna be an open mind a mind of winter with what i just say was good because even though i said was good is what i think is good i do think those things are good yes i do
i give them to you i just gave him to you
are you gonna call me into question about them
for you to look at me like is that really if so what you said can i ask you some questions and the answer is yes
the open mind the empty mind the mind of winter says yes to your questions about what i think is good
and what i think it's evil so i just told you what i think is good and evil and so their there and in that field is a fire between the two
and i wanna pass through that peacefully by respecting both and not attaching to either
not falling into either
but respecting them both with this mind
this empty mind of the bodhisattva
thank you thank you for your gift

our next offering is from jacking

hum
good morning good now our just can just pick up a little bit jackie
can you hear me could you speak up a little bit
i don't think okay
i'm
can you hear me now
is this loud enough it's loud and night
okay i raised my hand am i wasn't expecting to be called upon so quickly because they there were several others before me
but talking about karma
and i've had some serious health issues as year as you now
ah i had to add is perforated diverticulitis that was life threatening and i have to have surgery and i was infected and so on and so forth
and my daughter vivian said mom you've released a lot of karma from your ancestors
and she doesn't even practice zen and are buddhism or karma really and it just astounded me and damn
i didn't really know what she met she said it's office female stuff that you've accumulated
and through this disease somehow it it came forth and you released it
and i don't i don't know whatever least or if i have or not
ah can you speak to that
yeah i can
the first thing that comes to my mind is
your daughter gave her world to you
he gave you a gift
she gave you her world
now you have the opportunity to question her and learn about her world
and offer her your world which is which is involved your questions
the real was the word the real practice the pure and simple practice here is to enter the conversation with her about karma

it was about our female heritage and how yeah the panel enabling we are we in a better
the point is that the conversation with her about this is where the living practice is
cause she's the one who gave that to i didn't give it to you she gets to i wanted your point of view on that though that's my point of view years and disease and and wide manifests in our bobby
as the does
my point of view on disease yes
i think that i think that yeah i think that disease is sometimes considered evil
one of the evils of our life is disease
it comes my view on disease is that it's an opportunity to practice compassion
i'm not particularly what called i don't feel called to your yeah i feel like you may be calling me but i don't feel like as my job to give you theories of where diseases come from there are lots of theories and some scientists and as
other people some religious people have theories about where disease comes from what i'm talking about is how to deal with disease in a way that melts away the route
of all evil and good
distractions from the way
but what about the karmic aspect of it
ah the the karmic aspect of it
if you ah are compassionate towards evil of disease
you will melt away the root of the karma
not you will the practice will melt away the root of karma
if you get distracted from being compassionate toward the evil that is more evil
if we are disrespectful of are suffering that is more evil
attending to the evil of disease with compassion
is the path of liberation from good and evil from sickness and in health buddhism not about being healthy
or sick it's about freedom from sickness and health
and in order to be free of sickness and disease and health and and goodness we need to practice compassion with
disease and we have plenty of opportunities to practice compassion with disease
i'm we need to be careful
not to use theories about karma as a distraction from dealing with
our current good and evil our current illness
and if somebody gives you a theory about your illness
that gift that they gave you is an opportunity for you to be generous and questioning and this generous questioning is the compassionate way to become free of the evil of which they gave you a theory
i think she gave you a theory about the evil and that's a gift which you can question
i'm is this word evil sounds pretty intense well if is too intense for you just set it aside and we have you can use disease in place of it
i could this is suggests that they're somehow i'm i'm affiliated with evil is you're affiliated with it with evil are you saying i'm suggesting that you're affiliated with it yeah no i'm suggesting that we're all living in the midst of good and evil that's where we live
that's our world have you noticed plus a good and evil around that's where we live
like now this those floods in pakistan that's evil
that's pain and suffering that disease though those floods in mississippi and in the capital of mississippi people can drink water there's fires in northern california this is the realm of good and evil
we live this is where we live so now how are we gonna find peace and harmony in the world where we live
that's what i'm talking about
thank you you're welcome thank you for giving us your world

our next offering is from homer

warning read the morning on my family
i'm questioning how your mind
not in the form of really questioning or mind by questioning mind
because
when you speak or at least my experience with you even the first time i saw you
i i was able to actually feelings i say few see the presence of here is not going anywhere but here
that is what brought me to this practice
the such this they hear nuts
and now i'm questioning like everybody else is questioning the possibility not only in the form of it's possible but is it really practical can i bring it into the practicality of mind and know mine
and simultaneously at every moment and second

oops i got last year
i have a practicality which reader or remind you of which is it
the practical prac the practical
practice of giving attention
to others and self that a practical thing to do
and by giving attention to your feelings and the things you see in the world by giving that that attention and acknowledging it you're on the path to realize this thing about mind and know mind
being intimate
but if i skip over paying attention to the mental and physical phenomena and given and given this i'm given these world if i'm not attentive to them and a acknowledging them
then i veer off from the path of peace where in i will realize that these phenomena and not these phenomena are intimate that mind that these mental phenomena and know mine phenomena are intimate
yes and i haven't been and i can see that clearly now that how when i started our whisk
wearing away from from the mind you know and wanted to to skip and go to the know mind and as you brought me more and more more and more
with the mind as a way of being with no mind not jumping through the mind to get to know mine so damn rate yes that is like access succeed having very clear thank you you're welcome thank you for the progress report

next offering is from marjorie

green ramp and assembly
come on
i deeply appreciate
every time you talk to us
and sometimes
it's just wonderful
at other times occasionally like this morning
it feels to me so clear so spare so much your deepest and tint embodied
that i am inspired to connect it to something that's very meaningful to me
so i have
this morning
i'm first are and this again has to do with your disciple
georgia sorenson who dives not have covered by the cancer in october twenty twenty in her birthday's august and so sober between the two
when you mentioned the wallace stevens com and i appreciated you tell us the name of that poem again
the snowman thank you
oh i was moved because of causes and conditions your kindness when she died and then your kindness this last spring when her daughter came to spread her ashes at green gulch at muir beach
well where a wonderful but because of causes and conditions she has not had a buddhist ceremony in ah
just to recognize her passion and so
i am hoping that people everybody will accept that i would very much appreciate to be able to show her picture and to have this beautiful talk that this is the green gulch in twenty nine twenty nine
hum
and i have this to dedicate for me to dedicate for my part of my world and my truth
on this wonderful scare talk
as you probably remember you named her pine wind spreading truth or dharma and so of course when i heard the snowman
i couldn't help but so if i may get a cheap for me at least this talk this morning so beautiful so stern to her memory
thank you so much
which i join your dedication
thank you so much may the marriage of this morning's meeting
be extended to georgia sorenson
pined when spreading truth

our next offering is from barbara

rep we're trying here
it can you see me i don't know or you can see okay i like to authors can you hear me
yes okay i'd also diego's here also derecho a la rose you
it's a long time yeah i am stuck just i didn't have barbara wanted to ask a question but in the spirit of what you said on today i i want to confess and repent
to you and to the sangha forum for this long break that i've taken from the social
dimension of practice and i yes i deeply confess and repent and i heard some names of some brothers and sisters i'm kind of like a new person too many but anyway i g
just wanted to say that and that
i hope to continue to join the conversation and offer my world to you
thank you thank you and and what you said
seems to indicate that you heard the teaching well
make your oc
and that on alone a data will lead on states space thank you for that thank you so much
murray next offering
is from rosie

olivia
hello
i've been missing for a little while on missing being with all of you like this
i am
i i will i was just astonished and enjoyed the snowman oh
i also on really appreciated what homer said about bringing
i can't get it back clearly but about bringing empty mind and mind like this this is
my constant challenge in practice and
one of the things that came up in my mind by an or after you are reading the snowman and and sang about empty mind through those images of winter well as stevens was
ah you know okay there are three other seasons
oh that we
circle through not some at much definitively here in california where i am
in santa cruz but where i grew up in michigan and
many knows is
and so on my mind who was going to the other seasons and how do we keep the winter mind he could
the metaphorically empty winter mind
close to each of those other seasons which each one has its on said actions for me of beauty
and we could say good and evil
in this oh
how how with you
don't know what what my question would be to you but you know i i don't want those of their seasons to be forgotten as we are you know just staying and are frozen winter mind oh which we can get seduced by as well
so i would say that the winter mind that the poet is encouraging
would be applied to winter also yeah so when when when in winter he sang it's
ah it's to be nothing in yourself and to behold nothing that's not here
that's the mind
when in summer you're in summer and summers here
so the winter mind and summer is that nothing in yourself you behold nothing that's not here
you don't be hold spring
you don't be hold for you don't behold winter you you only behold was here
in the winter
you behold what's here not spring summer or fall this mind of winter is actually not frozen it is completely flexible
it applies to being here and not being with and being with nothing that's not here
but the inflexible mine gets taken away to places that are not year
it clings to them and goes with him
so the winter mind can be practiced in the summer
in the in california where we have fires the winter mine is not think of anything not to behold anything that's not here that's the winter mind right now in this world of fire
so thank you that would be like not longing for something helps there could be longing but notice noticing but the longing if the longings here then we are with we're not thinking of anything but the long
we don't get distracted by our habits from this precious longing because this longing is nothing other than that we're longing for
but if we look for someplace else other than belonging we might derail ourself from what we're longing for
because we're thinking of something that's not here
longings great when it's here and if even if is not here we gotta be careful not to go looking for it and just be here with the new
person we are
great well thank you so much and i love it when you laugh thank you

our next offering is from brac
my rum the morning everyone the morning break
oh
i am caught before the sun gather in my
actually speaking here but no
opening a pokemon sharing the world but in the world legal bought something might happen with me earlier with me i just returned after being aware about four months will come home for about four months and
i discovered for a walk down the weights on oil
evidence of a mouse not reply
the on the bed
on the bookshelf and then subsequently i noticed that the milestone while then my kitchen was well
and so i thought well i should do something about this coincidentally wednesday morning or less control people will hear this dispersing
you will fail around the house to prevent other ministers be joining him but i have had a problem with rage know why you can have it here
so first and morning i woke up fast jet lag about and three murray boardwalk and a went into the kitchen and he fell open the window and click on the lake and looked over in the mouths trotted right along count
tucked in behind microwave and a very happy yeah right now see them in all gender at a glance
and then i thought what shall i do
i'm of the
pest control personal fame on one that nurse the put out some snap traps at my request and in the living space in the house
and i decided i really i don't object likes living in the world i just thought and a little lighthouse
ah
then suddenly took one step trash a fan made it with some the spirit of trillions of mouth and been chewing on the left behind microwave the middle with peanut butter an hour to layer which can put it in the oven which smells nelson route from wherever their home was
up through the marketplace and heard this noise of the later statkraft had gone off the track the mouse
and initially i hope the mouse with is trapped the man who i hustled out to release it
if a local park but unfortunately of snow james stokes or contractions college and mouse snow move
and i felt a great sad that
and
some supply
a propelling wrap the mouse in a the of little shroud and invariably your backyard
and i wished to the fortunately birth
when i went back of the back few times to visit the burial site
goodness but on
it's it's just been yeah i don't normally kill cohabiting this year
something capture the an outdoor spiders and fine with that leave them be
and anyway i just wanted to share that with you
it certainly a karma the aspects of it
the i don't know where to place in world of getting or what i did
but i do take responsibility for any
in practical terms iraq way could have been definitely with liver
but i just wanted to share share my confession
so
you i i i hear an witness your confession and repentance
and is practicing in this what you've just done if the pure and simple color of true practice
the true mind faith if your body of face is practice well
melt away the root of transgression
much you're welcome

our next offering is from children
i read and the greatest family
am
so i had that i have to eliminate the blame the land and little bit so i can actually extricate a question it has to do is put a needle but i'm not exactly sure i've been spending a lot of time the internet like evil taught in myself and in my me
unity i have had a dinner with somebody while hook committed a crime was in jail for twenty years for complex to murder your thoughts of felons in this group i've been hanging with and i recently discovered one of my clients confessed that he was a pedophile that he had a furnishing he was
lived a double life and it abusing children so i've like been close to people that would be considered somewhat to have crossed the street another side is good and evil and
and one thing that the phelan said that was early a perfect was he said yeah jail it's like were a lot of good people do have done bad things that that was really good people have done bad things and i'm looking at a lot of the evil that i do and i'm trying to be a tender with it
and it has to do with things like being distracted and being patient and being mean and yeah all sorts of things that are really evil actually i am not even having to like fudge it that they're evil eye can see direct lines that cause people things families
so there's a lot of evil in me and i mean i wish i didn't have to have so much of it
why i wish i wasn't so evenly balanced wishing the naval
but anyway i don't have the question is what i said what i said to the guy with a or if it's about
i don't wanna be condoning evil i don't want to be i wanna be loving like i wanna be capable of being intimate with it without being but i don't want to participate and home and so i guess the question is ah how does that work
how can i be close to evolve and give it compassion and can i ask can is it evil to want to give evil compassion so it will flower away from evil or is that trying to change it
in myself or
oh compassion was evil
has the color
of confession and repentance
confession repentance helps us
melt away the root of the evil
i do not condone evil
but i vowed to pay attention to it to give attention to it and to acknowledge it
not to look down under your opponent but just listen to it and watch it with eyes of compassion
our teachers the great body sought for teach us to observe evil and good with eyes of compassion this is this accumulates great blessings in the world of good and evil
if we don't compassionately give attention to evil
that stalls
the arising of blessings in this fiery world that we're living him
i want to learn to love in the world of good and evil
liking and disliking
i want to learn to love in the world of like and dislike
not contain dislike not condone liking
to witness them with compassion that's the path a blessing that i'm betting on
the buddha's have not gotten rid of evil they but they have created great blessings in the world of good and evil
which we are but which we have received these blessings
we are blessed
by the compassion
on the awakened ones
and they offered us to join that practice
i i really resonate with what you're saying i feel like i have received blessings by this exploration and this intimacy and in really big ways and ways that romi me where i'm really added will he would call comfort zone and the past
not even thinking of it is not a comfort zone but definitely widening my experience but i i did feel when out when i was with this patience patience yeah
attending a convention and patience attention to the pain and patients the patients will grow the intention will deepen and blessings will come from this practice
okay i'm gonna give have faith in that and i also one quick question about when i was with this gentleman and doing healing touch on him after this confession yeah i did notice the arising of jesus and around his mean jesus arose as it's nice if jesus was in
room and i think so jesus was affecting the outcome of our our of our thing together and i was wondering if there was in jesus a moral stance that isn't in buddhism that i felt like my unconscious needed to have jesus in the room
to make sure that when i offered what i offered to this gentleman i told him you know he needed he did harm we all have done harm he needs to be compassionate with his harm and he needed maybe to see the faces of those people he has harmed people in his mind's eye and give them apology and wishing for
they're healing but
i had to have jesus in the room to feel safe enough to feel like i was gonna be guided maybe to say the right the i didn't have the i didn't put him there he came there he was there jesus was in the room so what is your take on that christian like the moral stance of right and wrong verse
is the buddhist stance of what you say there is a blessing in offering compassion to evil
i needed hit the are different protection
i think or he did or what what is that
oh
i haven't noticed any mom would code i haven't noticed any conflict between jesus and budget the buddhist dharma i haven't seen any conflict
that's very good care

our next offering as from co

hello hello assembly hello
i think i have a question and a confession and i'll start with confession right now i mean it's very sweet period in my life i'm i'm with a toddler who i'm about to adopt and i am cocooning and not wanting to
to connect outside and i i worried that i'm
i'm not entering fully into the conversation of the world
so i confess
and were hemmed my attachment to
this sweet bubble at this time
so you
you're taking care of a sweet bubble i am a bubble of sweetness around in a bubble of sweetness
and that's that's what you're working on and you watch you're noticing have some attachment who and you're confessing that yes
are you confessing that because you think maybe the acknowledgement will not be beneficial

i think it's beneficial to
a small area but i don't think it radiates
what i smoke as much a small area that is beneficial to the little girl that we're caring for and my husband and myself
you think the attachment is beneficial
no i think that commitment the commitment to taking care of her is beneficial yes so the is the compassion helping that commitment
yes
i question that
you questioned that that compassion
no i question that attachment benefits the commitment yes my question is do you think that the attachment
benefits the commitment no i agree with you
the attachment increases the likelihood that a commitment will burn out
yes
the commitment that's the thing you want to protect this precious living being
that's the body sought for way a child with that
undermines that commitment
and that's didn't that would be a good thing for us to commit to confess yes i i festival i confess that i am totally devoted to this being
and i don't regret that yes i confess that i'm attached
and i regret that yes because i can take better care of her if i'm not attached to my commitment
my commitment blooms in non-attachment
like we say flowers fall in our attachment
so yeah so i hear your confession of some attachment around this very good thing
and confessing and repenting in that way will melt away the root of transgressing from the commitment into attachment
you're committed to her welfare to her protection to her life you're not committed to attachment
but when we take care of something a compact attachment can sneak up on his and happen
like secures his wife said to me famously sometimes when we take care of something for a long time we think we own it
so this precious being that you're taking care of you do not honor
if you have the great joy to care for her
but you don't honor however in your great care is
this feeling of ownership may sneak up on you gotta watch out for that
i don't want her but if i was taking care of her like you do i might think i did
so you're the one who is being so kind and generous and the more kind and generous we are for something the more the the ownership may sneak in
watch out for them and we notice it give it attention acknowledge it and see if you feel sorry about it because it's not helpful to is not helpful to the flower of compassion is however helpful to undermining your compassion
so thank you for your confession and repentance
and i have a question about the true color of practice yeah i think i heard not to it's the pure and as it is too pure and simple color so this practice is a adrian pure and simple color there's other colors
in in the practice but this is the pure and simple one
there's also complicated colors
will got one i did that i i i i witnessed that i attended to that i acknowledge it and i'm sorry that's a simple practice with your little is almost ready to start that one
balmy i'm sorry i did that
she's almost ready for that practice and need on to tell her to do it just demonstrate it and she'll appreciate it sweetheart i'm sorry i was impatient with you i'm sorry i'm sorry i didn't pay attention to you i'm sorry
thank you mommy
and then she'll learn that from you we shall be so beneficial to everyone
so am i if the pure and simple color
and is that how perceivable i think you said it was perceivable are observable is that and i it's capable that's howard's that's the atoll with a color and how the color so practice have that color the bodyshop for practice has the color of confession and repentance it also has not a cult
her is just space it's like space the spaces in a color
so the bodhisattva in the body salford practice is like space but it also has a color and the color of it is this practice which you can see
with your eyes and you can hear it's also the sound he says the colored but it's not it's also the sound the sound of practices
i wasn't kind to you
i'm sorry i didn't i wasn't listening to you
can hear that
and the touch and it's a touch
so we can perceive this practice of confession and repentance which opens us to a path which is really like space
it was just totally free
but in the realm of color here is a color of practice
in the realm of
evil colors and good colors here is the color of practice
thank you thank you

next offering is from angela

good learning rep
good morning good morning create assembly or good day
great assembly
and when you brought up ah the fires of good and evil
it feels as though app
they're presently dancing with then
this body
adam
and i
i wish to receive your invitation and tokens then she's invitation to confess that i recognize all the time and they want to veer away
i'm from this intensity
and
and so i'm sorry
ah for wanting to vero way
and an excuse me
first of all you acknowledge that
yes new you acknowledged it you're paid attention you acknowledge it and now you say you're sorry
yes thank you so and i feel i'm
ah i i feel sorry for doubting to practice
am
that's how it feels to me when yeah so her again you acknowledge your your sorry but you will be good to acknowledge first i acknowledged that i doubted the practice and i'm sorry okay you did it but maybe just beware okay i'm now i'm ignore
aging that i doubted and i'm sorry okay okay
and i wish to be no generic parish tom here's your vow yes i wish to be generous and ethical and patient and
ah enthusiastic
i'm
with this
wanting to fear with this am
a doubting in practice
am
and being that way
well will be available after you confess and repent
so your confess repent and then you do all those things with it than you're ready to practice the precepts with this situation
it's good to start with acknowledging
i want to get outta here he had sorry now do all those good things with it and even when i think i can't
that's another one
so i acknowledge that i think i can't know and so in i confess that i think i can and then being attentive and caring for that
i i wish to be attentive to it and care for the thought i can't yeah and i also wish that you'll be generous to that thought however one more detail is you had the thought
but the thing the thing to be sorry about is not that thought
so you confess the thought but you didn't say i didn't hear you say anything that you need to be sorry about
you don't need to be sorry about that thought you but you do need to be kind
and you didn't say i i had that thought and i believed it
have i didn't inspect that thought i believed it
and that's why i'm sorry about
but you didn't say that you believe that far
hey you just said you had it
i could have a thought like that too and that would before i even get into and that's true i just said on nine visited by this thought that i can't hi
i love you this move on but if i have the thought and believe it done i'm sorry
hey if i had the thought and than i was not generous
because i believed it
i think may you might have missed something there in in your confession you might have missed the the i'm sorry i believed it
yes i believed this far i can't
and i'm sorry i believed
so now i can be kind to it
you're good great teacher thank you
like you're better than me
thank you the welcome
our next offering is from scott

hello to hear me now yes now we can hear you ah greetings dear web regime and assembly i just want to ah
ah i to address my own experience the question that the designation of illness and sickness and disease as being evil i i don't think that's really the case if not get the are evil they are forms of eva well i i admit i am
me discuss this with you
a year and a half ago i had heart surgery
i'm ah at to repair my yeah my a i that was failing and the when they there and they patched it
and it was a profound experience for me and i understand from the nurses that i very nearly died during the procedure and i know that i have and i the a literally felt my heart open after the after this procedure i felt like a very different but it is a different in it in some fundamental way
that was good in an opening that occurred in that process of the surgery and that and the recovery
a top of that am i bet i've had the great privilege of serving as a as a chaplain up and a little community hospital for the past year and am in that capacity for number i go in
i have a list of patience
all of whom are extremely ill
otherwise i wouldn't be fit be sent to talk to them and
at
and i have found
that that that this
the dirt people who have are experiencing serious profound illness
and a and maybe on a point of passing away
many have have come to a place of
oh ah of letting go
and and accepting what has happened to them and and and and to have come to a time of for them am a new peace and reconciliation with with who they are and what's happening and they're and they're ah
possible imminent passing away and and i and i found
they my work is chaplain that that m that i
at the this person that i didn't know five minutes before i go to the room and i began talking to the person and quite often we fall into this intimate relationship fazer and the person i didn't know become someone that i can see into their heart and
they can see into to me and and and all you know i'm
hypertension all pretending all you know all of the stuff we normally in are healthy lives do with have you been thinking about it you're covering ourselves and pretending to be in and you know hawaiian to be important and hiding things for themselves for for many of the people that i have serve
if my capacity all that falls away
it falls away and then they're just they're just themselves their justice this human being who is ah
who was on the verge of of other a possibly die and any case of been seriously depleted
in in various ways and and i would ever canada most extraordinary
courage and even and and and even a joy in in in some of these people that i've had the privilege to
i to work with and sit with him and talked to in that circumstance him and in which i've found you know that
that their illness
has often served even if they did not attend to really as a profound spiritual journey for these people may fan for me every time i encounter this
ah and and am
and i i certainly have found
that there's no evil there you know that we're all dependent arising beings and our bodies are designed to break down are designed to fall apart
as we all know and and the acceptance of that seems to be a very important
step in our spiritual life so i just i just want to bring that to you my personal experience rather than just have that have that have a respective about sickness and illness let us not necessarily something terrible at all even if it's terrible
because of
and what it can bring out in a person in their in their deepest spirit and you know and to find themselves
in a much more intimate relationship with them with their own life and with their own death
so place why give it to the simply into you thank you for your thank you for your gift

our next offering is from laurie
i'm sorry nicely
that's not me

awesome and wasn't ready because i thought other people were ahead of me
i'm i just have a short questionnaire this jewelry yeah
i can

good morning good morning and great assembly high so this i have to say i probably asked you this question twenty or thirty years ago at city center my problem with noise with neighbors and when you're talking about confession i
i'm confessing that i still have great anger with noisy neighbors and people just no doubt and i had to really look at this that for a whole year i've been angry with them every day and it goes to a feeling of being attacked by their noise although they're probably not doing it on purpose
to me that's what it feels like and i have to admit i'm not even are thinking that confession and repenting i'm not even ready to repent i'm still holding onto that anger and i know that what will happen is new neighbors will come in and i'm gonna go through this whole cycle again so
so i'm asking you for your help in sorting this out from it i don't go through the cycle it's been going on for too long
thank you
oh so it sounds like you you did the first part of confession
you confess that did you had a certain response to this attack on your ears
but you're you're not aware that you that you regret that that anger you're not aware that you're sorry about it that hasn't come yet
i am sorry i feel kind of embarrassed and ashamed like a superior a a better students of there's the repentance embarrassed sorry there's a repentance so the proposal from the ancestors is
the practice of
acknowledging the anger towards this noise and people and feeling embarrassed about it and sorry about it to do that practice like you're doing right now in this assembly this practice will melt away the root of the anger
and perhaps anything else on helpful in response to these people if you confess it and and feel sorry and embarrassed and you do that like you doing right now with the assembly or with the buddhist and ancestors if you do that that practice
has the power to find a peaceful path through this
the situation and melt away the root of the anger which is interfering with your piece
with this noise
so on a very practical level new people move in the make noise that i don't find acceptable and i'm feeling attacked then i need to
repent right them like i'm sorry i'm being angry if you're feeling know if you're feeling attacked him you don't have to be if you're feeling attack if i'm feeling attacked i want to pay a tank give attention to that feeling of attack and acknowledge it
if i'm feeling attacked i i should respect that feeling of attacked if i'm really respectful of the feeling of of attack i might not get into ill will or anything i can be attacked and if i'd take care of that feeling
then i'll be fine but if i don't take care of the feeling of being attacked
then i may slip into
i don't know what revenge hatred whatever then i want to acknowledge that and if i feel sorry to say i'm sorry
and that practice will free me and everybody else have this your will that's arisen in response to feeling attacked so you you just did the practice
that will that will work for you if you again are attacked and instead of just taking care of the feeling of attacked with compassion you slip into
you know whatever turned to get rid of these people are
yes knocking on the wall like behind be quite well again you can offer knock on the walls
not as ill will not as not as disrespect but here this is lorries world lorries saying please be quiet that's your gift it's not anger it's not hatred is just i'm stressed please give me a break as a gift
and you can confess you could confess that too but i i wouldn't feel sorry if i if i gave people a gift like that but i might say the i did give him that gift i told him i i have seen to be require i help them understand me
but if i start hating them then i'm i'm embarrassed by that and i'm sorry about that and the two together is the pure and simple color practice
cry well that's a wonderful it's wonderful k yeah
the houston which will have to rewatch the step that such a revelation to me that i could actually give a gift okay thank you rep your dog is you really thought this was a great practice
thank you you're welcome
our next offering is from pam

the morning good morning
am so i just wanted to offer a little bit of my world and at your invitation you want now
so
i use my share my experience that had a in listening to you you're you're talking about confession and repentance senate am me and brought up though one particular way that i have not been following the precepts
and i was thinking of that and then i was listening to you read the snowman poem and i really listening to it and and i was hearing the
the the message of the of the interdependence of things and of not putting anything extra on it and just being with the thing itself which is an expression of everything and and i and i fell i was really moved by that
and i felt a feeling of forgiveness i felt that i had been forgiven i and i cried a little bit and then i i i didn't i am
i brought up a question and the question was well you know in in seeing the interdependence the causes and conditions of why might have behaved in this way am in the feeling of forgiveness arises but what about the accountability that was my question and then i saw
thought well what is that about you know and it's kind of goes back to what g when was talking about like like there's kind of this you know this need to have to call people yeah hold people accountable yeah for a while ago for example
carol
told us that she wants to create a really sweet bubble for this baby she is committed to their
no problem
and she also told us about some attachment
problem and
but she didn't she's in it wasn't clear but she gave me her world in the way she gave it so then i could ask her questions you know the the commitments good right care of yes it is the attachment good no that's not what i want i'm not committed to attach to this bubble i am committed to care for
for
so that's an example where she gave me her world and then i could look in up i could ask your questions about the world because she gave it to me and i i felt when she gave it to me that she was also welcoming me to questioner
if i wasn't sure i might have said while i heard you tell me something about your world i'm
are you open to me questioning this a little bit and she probably would have said yes and also with angela when she told us about this situation i didn't hear i did i questioned about well is or where's the repentance incident we looked at that so we need when we we i need when you give
near when you give me your world i need to question you and when i give you my world i need you to question me
and if you give me your world ah then i checked can i questioned you
and you say yes and so now we're not there is the accountability and but we didn't even when you give it to me you can say i'm giving hey reb on give me my world and on given uses for you to question me about it
which you just use did you gave me your world and you kind of said questioned me about them so i'm doing that
but it's sometimes have to tell the person i'm giving my world and please understand this is a gift that you that you can question
i need you will question my gifts and like you need to give my gifts first
do you have a question for me
not no not right now but you hundred and as a question for me about where's the accountability and i will i showed you well i i was that was just part of where i was going in my story that shows you happen to you know
so when occurred to me then was that that that question of accountability it was coming from canada's you know my upbringing and kind of a way that our society of structure when you have to single somebody out and they after be punished in some way for what they've done wrong and and i was thinking more about
my dad and i thought well that's really am in this case at least out the ideas kind of beside the point it's not really necessary star really helpful it doesn't add anything it doesn't it doesn't make anything better what doesn't add anything ah
having to
punish so in in forgiveness sometimes that is very close to condoning like you see the causes and conditions you understand where the behavior come from the you know there's a forgiveness and understanding it from that perspective and but it is almost can feel like condoning sometimes even though the to or
really different they're really close
and either way everything's really close yeah and then so i hit some people don't wanna forgive because if they think if if they forgive people might say you condone right right and i think it can a teacher just a sometimes for me a it does canning go there
that was but the it is who are going around apprehending people you know and there there are not condoning it they're actually in interacting with what they're doing and trying to stop them from doing it
they can a while they're doing that they could forgive the person yeah and also you know basically use force to stop them from doing some harmful thing and forgive them
forget about the police you can do that you could you could intercede or interact with some harmful situation and really a work to protect pig being from it totally not your whole heartedly not condoning it your whole heartedly trying to protect people from it
and forgive the person is possible
he feels like the that condoning yeah but you bulletin of the koreans feels like the condoning like condoning and punishing are just
like like what is it touching employing away or something like that like they're both wrong and the both officer upside i agree and so the punishment it seems to be necessary in order to tell people we don't condone this right but i lose my doesn't it doesn't bring out usually
doesn't emphasize or doesn't clarify the forgiveness yeah but then not a punishment making clear we don't condone and also forgiveness right along with the punishment it can spartan i
i felt like in that place of as a f
listening to you read the homing and considering the emptiness of it that i was i was also able to see the root of it in that place of forgiveness and and the intention to an ten to make to
to make right to like to apologize to someone who is also involved in situation and and seeing the harm that it caused me was all very clear and i wasn't condoning or punishing it was just in that space of forgiveness there is there's a lot that happened in there and so none of the other parts of
it weren't where necessary i'm so i just wanted to share that because it was really helpful thank you and the thought just occurred to me that in this system of blaming people and punishing them
fishing and blaming which is not forgiveness and is not usually associated with yeah with compassion it it gets people's attention they pay attention to the process of studying is the situation
i'm sorry that we have to punish people in order to get people's attention like without punish if we don't
floyd with people
impossibility of of punishment and that possibility helps get
what punishment
but the people who don't want punishment everybody's looking at it
so i i in buddhism and in the aging there is no blame
but but maybe in society we need punishment and blaming in order to help people realize such as no blame i don't know we anyway of got it
but i think we can we can protect beings
we can project base from harm and forgive the harm
and and forgiving the harm actually might make us more whole hearted in are protecting activities
i think it does when
you certainly opens up the heart of wanting to repair it opens up the heart
and helps us engaged more wholeheartedly in protecting beings from the harm which we might want to blame and punish
rather than open to it and heal the world
can i do have
well we're i'm sorry the several people waiting but i'm i think it's time to say so long
may our intention equally extend to every being