Now I return to Buddha. Now I return to Dharma. Now I return to Sangha. Now I return to Sangha. This is the sitting of Buddha. This is the sitting of Dharma. This is the sitting of Sangha. I want this to be the sitting of Buddha.

[01:13]

I want this to be the sitting of Dharma. I want this to be the sitting of Sangha. How about you? I don't want to be involved in anything but the sitting of Buddha. I want everything I'm involved with to be the sitting of Buddha. How about you?

[02:21]

If any of you do not want every moment of your life to be the sitting of Buddha, you're welcome here. This is the place for you, because this is the sitting of Buddha, and Buddha welcomes all those who do not want to be close to Buddha. And of course all those who do want to be close to Buddha are also welcome, but they are not preferred over the rebellious ones. They're all adorable. All beings are invited to join the practice, including those who do not want to. But of course it's painful to see people who resist joining this wonderful party of having this besitting Buddha.

[03:46]

It's painful to see someone not accept the great gift of the Buddha, but they're still welcome even if they don't accept. And it's really wonderful to see someone accept the invitation to come home to Buddha. It's really not painful to see that. So we sometimes say life is short, but also I'd just like to emphasize that life is infinite. Life is short, so don't waste any of it. It's precious, don't waste it, but also it's infinite, so enjoy it. And please keep enjoying the infinite life of Buddha, the infinite life of life, which is the infinite light of Buddha.

[04:50]

Just like we received this beautiful altar from the devotees of the Buddha of infinite light. And we put Shakyamuni Buddha here. And this afternoon we invited another person to sit up on the altar. Our old friend Bodhidharma, he's there looking at you. So please come and say goodbye to him when you leave tonight. He goes very well with the altar, doesn't he? Wow! He's actually Avalokiteshvara, but looks different. Is there anything you'd like to express on this Saturday afternoon?

[05:53]

Yes, Anita? Are the Buddhas that have gone on that are around us, are they also in this place of crisis? Buddhas all live in crisis, yes. That's where they live. They live in the fierce flames of the world of change. That's where they live. They don't live in the, what do you call it, the static suburbs. They live downtown change. But they sit completely still in that crisis. They sit still and quiet and cool and warm.

[06:56]

But that's where they live. They live really right in the middle of this dynamic universe. And we're actually there with them. So, why not enjoy it? Yes, Homa? I feel I'm sitting on the agitated, uncomfortable, unsettled Buddhas. And the Buddhas are sitting with all the unsettledness. They're open to all the unsettledness.

[08:00]

They're breathing with all the unsettledness. They've trained to open to all the unsettledness. And they're practicing with us right now. They're supporting us. They're embracing us. They're sustaining us. And we are supporting them. Although we may not understand that yet. They send the word that that's so. Yes, Jimmy? Does it require, if Buddhahood is to be manifested, in the middle of crisis, does it require faith?

[09:14]

What kind of faith are you referring to? I suppose in its simplest terms, that everything's going to be alright. Well, there could be that kind of faith. I don't exactly have that kind of faith, that everything's going to be alright. Because I don't say that when people are being cruel to each other, everything's alright in that cruelty. I would just say that for Buddha to manifest, there is a wish. One of the prerequisites for Buddha manifesting is the wish to open beings who do not see that we're living in peace, to open beings to the wisdom that sees that we're living in peace. That wish to teach beings this manifests Buddha in the world where not everyone is yet seeing this.

[10:25]

And that Buddha has the faith that the best thing to do is to work to help beings open to Buddha's truth. But Buddha doesn't exactly say that everything's alright, because Buddha doesn't say it's alright that people see great suffering. Buddha doesn't say that's alright. Buddha is just trying to teach people that right in the middle of the suffering, there's a peaceful land. It's right in the same place. But people need to be educated in order to open to that. And the wish to educate beings who are living in various states of suffering, that wish to educate them manifests the Buddha. But the Buddha is already in unmanifested form in all situations. Buddha is sitting in the middle of everybody's suffering already.

[11:34]

But they aren't manifested necessarily, but they do manifest if we cry out in suffering. And they will respond to that. And if we notice our cries, we will notice something comes to meet them. And then Buddha becomes manifest. So from our side, the Buddha's side, is the Buddha has faith in helping beings. That's Buddha's faith. And Buddha has faith that if beings would start to be concerned about helping beings, that would be helpful to them. That's their faith. Our faith might be, for example, faith in being where we are, returning to where we are, returning to this mind,

[12:37]

and also faith to return to this mind in the way that it doesn't abide, in the way that it doesn't cling, in the way that it doesn't grasp. There is a way that the mind is that way. That could be your faith or my faith, would be faith in meditating on the non-abiding, ungraspable truth. It would be faith that it's good to keep thinking about the truth all the time, the Buddha all the time, and also be here in this life, with my suffering, and feel it, and also remember this is where Buddha is. So I have faith that it's good for me to be aware of what I'm feeling, what I'm thinking, what I'm doing. I have faith in that. I could have faith in that. And also could have faith that while I'm this way, and while I'm aware of being this way, I'll also return to Buddha. So I'm not just mindful of my experience, I'm also mindful of returning to Buddha.

[13:41]

That could be my faith. That faith meets Buddha's faith. That faith meets Buddha reaching out to assist me to become Buddha. But it isn't just me being aware of what's happening for me, and me being aware of what I've heard as the Buddha's teaching. It's also that I get what he called as a matching grant there. When I give myself to my experience and to being present, when I have faith that being present is good, and not only that, but I realize that being present is returning to Buddha, I get met by Buddha. Buddha is trying to meet me all the time, but if I don't make my contribution, I miss Buddha's contribution. So Buddha is completely faithful to all beings. Buddha is ready for that. They're willing to be devoted completely to all beings.

[14:43]

That's their faith. They believe that would be good. They want to do that. I would like to learn that. I would like to return to Buddha to learn that. I would like to make Buddha help me learn that. And I also have to be willing to be me. I can't do that from some dislocated position. So I believe in being me, and I believe in having me be returning to Buddha. It's not that I'm Buddha, it's that I'm returning to Buddha, and realizing that me and Buddha are not two. And Buddha wants me to realize that, because Buddha already knows that. That's my faith and Buddha's faith, gradually becoming one. Such faith is required. You can say it different ways, but faith is required. Buddha has faith, and those who wish to become like Buddha have to develop Buddha's faith.

[15:48]

Does that make sense now? Yes. Okay, thank you. Yes. To follow up on that, when I was going through a major crisis in my life, I had my daughter paint me a painting that said faith. Wow. And I had it where I could see it. And for me it meant having faith in what was happening. And what was happening was Buddha. It was for my higher good, I was in the process of learning. Wonderful. So that's how I interpret faith. Okay. I also think when you use the term Buddha a lot, you can get confused a little bit by that. Yeah. Because to some people it might be that big fat guy that's smiling.

[16:57]

Yes, yeah. Rather than that enlightened part of ourselves. Yeah, they might think it's that rather than that. So when you said mind earlier, Buddha is mind. This very mind is Buddha, that's what Matsu said. For me it's hard to think that the mind can also be evil. Yes. And so it's difficult for me to think that Buddha is not just the enlightened part of us, but also the negative part. It's difficult for you to think that Buddha is the negative part? Yeah. It's not so much that Buddha is the negative part, but Buddha is the way the mind actually is when there's a negative mind. The way that mind actually is, is Buddha.

[17:59]

So the way the negative mind is, is that it doesn't abide in anything. So the Buddha is not just a negative state of mind, it's the way that mind, that negative state really is. That's the way the mind, the very mind, the way the mind really is, is Buddha. Which encompasses both parts is what you're saying, right? It encompasses both parts, or it's what's the same about the two parts. It's what's the same about a wholesome thought and an unwholesome thought. Or it's the same about a cruel thought and a kind thought. The thing that's the same about them is that you can't abide in either one. So how do you take refuge in it? You take refuge in not abiding in your states. But not abiding doesn't mean you space out, or that you run away,

[19:00]

because running away is abiding. A negative version of abiding is trying to get away from your evil mind. So you don't indulge in your evil mind, you don't run away from your evil mind, you pay attention to your evil mind, and you take refuge in Buddha, which means you take refuge in the non-abiding quality of your mind. So that's what taking refuge in Buddha is? Yes. And when you first say, take refuge in Buddha, people have various responses, and some of them are kind of confusing. So hopefully they'll ask questions, like you did. Somebody said, what's Buddha? So what will you say? That doesn't end the confusion, but at least people can start to see, oh yeah, other people are confused besides me.

[20:00]

Or everybody else is confused but me. Isn't that interesting? That's why we need Sangha, we need to interact around our understandings of these things. We need to express ourselves and get feedback. Which we're doing. Yes? I just really appreciated you reminding me of your obvious teaching of taking refuge in Buddha, because when I sit I feel it, but it's actually really nice to be so aware that that's what I'm doing. And it's not as if I'm a different person when I'm out there, when I'm here, or when I'm sitting, when I'm not sitting. It's just that I'm aware of how crazy I am when I take refuge,

[21:09]

because I feel like, I feel literally like I'm taking refuge from this crazy mind. And it's still crazy, but at least when I'm here I know that it's crazy, I know what's going on, rather than being delusional, getting caught up in, you know. So I just really appreciate being here today, and I really appreciate you reminding me of that. Great. Yes? When you said this morning, Joss, are you returning to Buddha? I went, ooh. You went, ooh? You know, I felt kind of like Mr. Magoo. You know, I was kind of, ooh. He would kind of go off, you know.

[22:09]

He would be all involved in whatever this was. You know, he couldn't see very well. Instead, then he would get all involved in this little... And then he'd go, ooh. He'd kind of, like, get over into it. I kind of felt like Mr. Magoo. Try it. Another thing about Mr. Magoo, however, was that as far as I know, maybe some of you know more about Mr. Magoo than me, but I recently met Mr. Magoo, and I noticed that he didn't really see any evil. Whenever people were doing evil things, he always thought they were doing nice things. And he says, oh, thank you so much. And by responding to their evil with thank you very much, their evil was disarmed. You know, like, I don't know what, somebody would be coming to rob them, and he would think they were coming to help, so he'd open the door to let them in, and then they would go right through the house to the other side or something, you know.

[23:12]

He couldn't see, so he was bumping into things a lot, but he was also, he was seeing a world of kindness. So, Buddha is kind of like Mr. Magoo. Except Buddha has two eyes. One he can see, oh yeah, this is the world of suffering, and this is what these people are really up to, how wonderful. And I would like to show them what they're really up to. I would like to make an offering. Yes? It's a song I would invite you to. This is an offering she's going to make, which is a song? And I invite you to just repeat after me. Let us wholeheartedly

[24:16]

Let us wholeheartedly Practice the sutra Practice the sutra And moment after moment Moment after moment Meeting Buddha Meeting Buddha We will speedily We will speedily Accomplish the way Accomplish the way Together Let us wholeheartedly Practice the sutra And moment after moment Meeting Buddha We will speedily Accomplish the way Let us wholeheartedly Practice the sutra And moment after moment

[25:16]

Meeting Buddha We will speedily Accomplish the way If I say that I want to encourage all beings to enter the Buddha way and attain Buddhahood speedily, I am quoting the Lotus Sutra when I say that. Even though I actually may feel that I want to live in such a way as to encourage all beings to enter the Buddha way and attain Buddhahood speedily, still I'm quoting the Lotus Sutra. But what I feel could be actually already written down in the great Mahayana Suddharma-Pundarika Sutra.

[26:25]

And the Suddharma-Pundarika Sutra says what I'm going to say now too. It says that when you say something that's in that sutra, you're quoting that sutra. And when you quote that sutra, Buddha is born right now. Buddha is leaving home right now. Buddha is attaining the way. Buddha is teaching and Buddha is entering into perfect nirvana. So I just said that and that's in the Lotus Sutra. And because I said that, the Lotus Sutra says that that's what's happening now. When I say I want to live so that all beings enter the Buddha way, at that moment Buddha is born. Thank you.

[27:31]

Thank you for taking care of this practice place. I hope you can stand how beautiful it's becoming. Bodhidharma's eyes are popping out. It's getting so lovely. And we're going to have a work day on September 6th. We're going to have a half-day work day. Which half is the work? So in the morning it's going to be like nirvana relaxation time. We're going to like massage each other all morning. And then in the afternoon we're going to get dressed up in bulletproof vests. I mean, not bulletproof, poison oak proof vests. We're going to go out and clean the yard up and stuff like that.

[28:32]

We're renting a dumpster. So we're going to clear out all the debris to make this park out there clear for various parties. And we'll probably do some other work too. So this is going to be a work day. So if you'd like to come to the half work day and half not work day. So the first part is not work. You can come to the part that's not work and leave. You can come to the part that's not work and stay for the work. You can also just come for the work. A lot of possibilities. It's a multi-dimensional practice opportunity. September 6th. Be there or you know what. I do enjoy laughing at my own jokes.

[29:37]

Because otherwise I might not get to laugh much. Thank you very much.

[29:52]

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