Earlier this morning I said that we are held, we are supported, and that we need to feel held and supported in order to mature. Very simply, for now, I would say that the reason why we need to feel held and supported by the entire universe is that otherwise we may think we have to do something in order to realize the truth.

[01:44]

We may think we have to go someplace in order to find it. But what I'm suggesting is that it's right under our nose all the time. and the slightest approach towards it moves away from it. That we become intimate with it in stillness.

[02:45]

The essential import of the Buddha's teaching is unmoving. And we become intimate with it through not moving. But if we don't feel held, we can't stand to not move. We can't stand to be present through all that happens if we don't feel great support. We think we must do something about the situation. So the first step is to create a container which testifies to this feeling of support, to this reality of being held.

[04:25]

And then in this container we can sit upright and harmonize with all beings. And this process of harmonization may not look like harmony, it may look any way that's possible for things to look. Any way that things can look, the process of harmonization might appear like that. But if we feel really held, we can face it and not run away from it, or face it and not try to get it to be some other way.

[05:36]

If we feel really contained in a supportive way, we can understand that everything that comes to us is the Dharma, is the teaching showing us how the teaching is appearing right now. So is there any way we can contribute to the to the weaving, to the construction of this container? Yes.

[06:43]

Every step you take, every breath you make, If you do this in the spirit of not moving, of breathing and standing and sitting and walking, just as such, with no gaining idea, the container starts to form around you. Walking and talking and breathing and sitting and standing and thinking in this spirit, you start to feel the support around you. You weave a cocoon around yourself.

[07:47]

You weave a cocoon around your present state of development. And when you feel totally supported, totally contained, totally trapped and not fighting the present moment, giving up all ideas that there's an alternative to this, then you melt into Dharma do, and you harmonize with all beings.

[08:53]

As Linda Ruth described it a few weeks ago, in the cocoon of some insects or moths or butterflies, the pupa, not the pupa, the larva stage, once it's completely contained, it melts into a broth. And this soft, this malleable broth can be reformed then into a new being. Coming to the zendo on time, sitting at your seat on time, getting up from your seat on time, putting food into your mouth on time, in place, not going anywhere, not trying to attain anything.

[10:35]

the container is created in this way. All the people in the room are supporting you in this practice. They are being supported by you in this practice. This is the conventional world of spoons and feet and 24 hours of light and dark, male and female, and we let each thing be exactly what it is, and there is no alternative to what it is.

[11:52]

Being like this, the cocoon is spun. You voluntarily unmovingly trap yourself into yourself. You joyfully enter the prison of the moment. And this prison becomes the place where the whole universe can help you drop off all your attachments and that you realize the one mind of all Buddhas.

[13:03]

which is never, ever the slightest distance away from your present mind. But if you wiggle to improve your present mind or to leave your present mind to attain Buddha mind, that shows you don't believe in the one mind and it shows you also don't believe in your ordinary mind Yesterday I told the story of an elephant and a butterfly. A lot of you weren't here for this story. But basically it was a story about an elephant and a butterfly who loved each other.

[14:11]

And it was about an elephant who could accept the love of a butterfly. I didn't stress this point to the children I told the story to, but one of the key factors in the story is that the elephant sat and did nothing all day, and therefore the elephant could receive the visit of the butterfly. Actually, when the butterfly first came, the elephant was a little bit excited and could hardly speak, but the elephant didn't run away from the butterfly. because he was the elephant who just sat and did nothing all day. You need to learn how to not do anything all day so you won't be able to figure out. You'll forget how to run away from love, which is coming to you nonstop.

[15:14]

And it's coming to you just because that's what's happening. just because all of us and all the Buddhas are just one mind and there is nothing else going on in the entire universe. That's it. THIS IS AN EXPRESSION OF ULTIMATE TRUTH. AND NOW THAT YOU'RE TRAPPED IN THIS SASHIN, I THINK IT'S RELATIVELY SAFE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THIS BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING TO GET GROUNDED IN THE CONVENTIONAL TRUTH. I THINK SOMETIME DURING THIS WEEK YOU'LL STOP RUNNING AWAY FROM CONVENTIONAL REALITY.

[16:22]

And then this ultimate truth won't hurt you. And if it hurts you to hear it early before you stop wiggling, fortunately, you won't be able to do anything about it. You'll have to just stay here anyway. Every step you take, every breath you make will be watching you. Every vow you break will be watching you. Once there was a children's poem called How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird.

[17:37]

This is about renouncing running away. First paint a cage. First paint a prison with the door open. Then paint something pretty, something simple, something beautiful, something useful. Got that stuff? We got something simple. Got a schedule.

[18:41]

That's simple. Got a body. Simple. Got something pretty. How about a pretty zendo? Or a pretty robe? Or got something pretty for the bird? Something beautiful. How about the unsurpassable dharma? Something useful. Got something useful? Got something pretty? Got something simple? Got something beautiful for the bird? Put him in the cage. Paint him into the cage. Put him in the prison. Something you've already got there. Notice it. for the bird. Then place the canvas against a tree in a garden, in a wood, in a forest, in a gulch.

[19:52]

Hide behind the tree without speaking, without moving. Sometimes the bird comes quickly. But she can just as well spend long years before deciding to come. Don't be discouraged. Wait. Wait years if necessary. the swiftness or slowness of the coming of the bird having no rapport with the success of the picture. When the bird comes, if the bird comes, and I would say if the bird appears to come because the bird's already here,

[21:08]

If the bird comes up from the depths of your being, at that time, observe the most profound silence. You've been silent all the while, but when the bird comes, there may be some tendency to get very excited like the elephant when the butterfly came to visit him. You've been training yourself through all your difficulties and joys to not move and to be quiet. But now, when what you've been waiting for and dreaming of your whole life comes, now put your practice into practice and continue, even now, to not grab it, to continue to be profoundly still and silent.

[22:16]

So when the bird comes, observe the most profound silence. Tell the bird enters the cage. And when It has entered. Gently close the door with the brush. Then paint out the bars of the prison, of the cage, one by one, taking care not to touch any of the feathers of the bird. Then paint the portrait of the tree, choosing the most beautiful of its branches for the bird. Paint also the green foliage and the wind's freshness, the dust of the sun and the noise of insects in the summer heat.

[23:26]

And then wait for the bird to decide to sing. If the bird doesn't sing, it's a bad sign. It's a sign that the painting is bad. But if the bird sings, it's a good sign, a sign that you can sign. So then, very gently, you pull out one of the bird's feathers, and you write your name in the corner of the picture. This is the story of the great death and the birth of great compassion and creativity. So now, first, please kindly go through the great death.

[24:38]

But you won't be able to do that, really, unless you feel that you're held lovingly. It won't be the great death. It'll be, I don't know what it'll be. It'll be just some dream of death. But when you really feel supported, you can die. No problem. You're safe. You're safe in life. You're safe in death. No matter whether you're alive or dead, you're being held by the entire universe. So as I said, please be still and rest in the arms of the great green dragon.

[25:54]

You will be taken care of. By who? There is a who that will take care of you. So I will tell you more about the who in our next episode.

[27:25]

But it'll still be who. You'll never find out who is who. But you can become intimate with this who. if you don't attach to anything, if you let go. But again, do you feel supported enough to let go? And if you don't, then be more still and more still and more silent and you'll feel the support and you'll be able to let go. They are intentions.

[28:51]

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