It's a good place to start, because it's pretty easy to see it there, what you do. Sitting in meditation, you're literally trapped, especially if you're sitting with a group of people. You put your legs in a certain way, you lock yourself in with your legs, and you lock yourself into the room, so to speak, because other people are there. And then you try to stay at your seat. And again, the inquiry and response, or the next level of it is, you try to stay in your seat in such a way that everybody else you're aware of anyway, certainly all the people in the meditation hall, are also staying in their seat.

[01:13]

So right now, each of you, are you staying in your seat? And if you feel like you're staying in your seat, then I ask you, do you feel anybody else in this room wiggling? Do you feel anybody else in this room who wants to get out of here, who wants things to be a little bit better, who wants to understand Buddhism more clearly? Do you feel anybody? Anybody? Do you feel anybody here who wants a little bit better of a lecture? Who wants to hear something interesting, rather than just kind of talk? If you feel that, it's your job, not mine, to accept your situation.

[02:20]

And your situation is that you hear somebody, maybe you, who wants things to be different from this. And can you sit so still and accept that there's somebody else in this room who's wiggling, who's not satisfied with staying here forever? Who doesn't feel like eternity is here right now? If there's anybody that you can feel in this room who doesn't feel that all time and all place is here right now, then it's your job to be where you are, in such a way that they can be where they are, and be totally satisfied with that. And are you doing that? So, not only do you have to sit in such a way that you can stay in your seat,

[03:31]

but you sit with your eyes open, and your ears open, and then you sense whether everybody else is staying at their seat. And if they're not, then your job is to do the staying of your seat so completely that they will be able to stay at theirs. You can't teach them, and they can't learn from you. All you can do is do it. You can't go over and say, well, here's how you do it. Because if you try to do that, you'll be trying to improve them. You won't be accepting them. If you go over to the one who's wiggling and try to show them how to stop wiggling, that won't be right. They won't learn how to do it if you try to show them. All you can do is do it.

[04:35]

They learn by example, but the example is not the example of you showing them. Because you don't show them. That's the example. The example is you don't show them. The example is they show you. Because what they show you is if they tell you whether you're sitting still. Well, if somebody else is wiggling, that means you're not sitting still. The way you tell if you're sitting still is if everybody else is sitting still. If you don't limp, the rest of the world limps. It's not very instinctive to not try and teach the child.

[05:39]

It seems like that's really instinctive behavior. To try to teach the child? I don't know. What you learn on the child, it seems like, for a lot of parents and kids overall, it seems like a really strong instinct on the part of the parents to force that teaching on them, because it's a necessary thing for animals to survive. I'm just wondering if you're really in a way overriding that instinct. Well, again, you know, here we're sitting still. This is the essence of the matter. But, again, it doesn't mean you can't walk and talk and teach. It's that you can't teach. You can teach many things. You can teach whooping crane dancing. You can teach bicycle riding. You can teach car repair. You can teach many things. But what he does, he can't teach.

[06:42]

You can't teach. Like you can't teach your son how not to go fast and not to go slow. That you cannot teach your son. You can only do it. You can teach your son how to go fast. You can teach your son how to go slow. And your son can learn from you how to teach how to go fast and how to go slow. That your son can learn. That you can teach. And while you're teaching your son to go fast, you can be going either fast or slow. But the thing is, it's not the teacher to the student. It's mutual response. It's the response. They turn on each other.

[07:44]

It's not the teacher teaching the student. Because there's no teacher teaching the student. In all of China. Don't you know? There's no teachers in China. There's not a Buddha here and a disciple here. The disciple makes the Buddha. Well then is the disciple the Buddha or the Buddha the Buddha? Who's in charge? It's not this side or that side. It's the union. That cannot be taught in the way of this teaches that. The principle doesn't teach the phenomenal. And the phenomenal doesn't teach the principle. It's just that when you don't... It's not this side, it's not this side. It comes into whatever's happening. There's no duality. No teaching can occur. But that way of being, of practicing,

[08:48]

which you can do. Okay? He said, the Wheelwright says, I don't go fast. I don't go slow. It just comes into my hands. And for 70 years, I've just been doing it. Just been doing it is Shikantaza. You've just been doing it. Just do it. But, you can tell if you're just doing it by your environment. Because if your environment's not doing it too, you're not just doing it. You're not just doing it. You're ahead of yourself or behind yourself until all sentient beings are doing it. But you don't teach them. They teach you. You can tell whether you're doing it by looking at them. But they don't teach you either. You can look at them. They're not the teachers, you're not the teacher. But they teach you as much as you teach them.

[09:50]

So it's an example, but it's not like there's an example over there and I'm over here looking at the example. You and I all together, we are all the example. The whole universe is the example. It's not like you're over there and you're an example for me. Because you're not an example for me because until I'm practicing, you're not practicing. So how can you be an example for me? You're not. And yet we practice together. And we need each other. We teach each other and we don't teach each other. But we also have things that we do teach. We teach incense offering, we teach bowing, we teach sweeping, we teach sewing, we teach cooking, we teach many things that you can learn. But in those things we teach, we should not forget there's no increase and no decrease. There's no improvement

[10:53]

and no falling backwards. There's just this. And we can tell whether we're just doing this in the middle of whatever we're learning by whether the persons that we're with are also doing it. Not to mention whether you're doing it yourself. It's enough just to feel like gee, I'm pretty much here. Right in the middle of my pain. I'm kind of here. I'm accepting my pain. I'm not trying to get away. That's very good. That's really good. But then it's not enough. You have to look. Because you don't attain sitting still by yourself. You cannot sit still by yourself. The whole world has to sit still. Because if you're not limping, everybody else is. If you are limping, then is everybody else not? And when nobody is limping, then you're not limping.

[11:54]

And sitting is our wonderful laboratory to catch on to this a little bit. And the funny thing is that what you would ordinarily think probably, even you wouldn't, is at first you don't know how to sit still yourself. And then you look out to see if other people are moving. And you find out that they are. And then you realize that it's not enough. Okay? And so you find that out. In other words, you thought you were sitting still, but because other people are uneasy, because other people aren't settled, because other people aren't satisfied, you know, I'm responsible for this. I'm responsible. It's my job to get these people able to sit still. So I must not be doing it.

[13:05]

I must be wiggling myself. Okay? That's one round of the cycle. But that's enough. That's enough. Now that you've found out that you're the one wiggling, in other words, you're the one who's not taking care of your responsibility because everybody else is wiggling, or somebody else is wiggling, then what I would suggest, or should try, is just to keep accepting that you're wiggling. And accept you're wiggling completely, and see if that lets everybody else sit still. So the first time through, you try to sit still. And you think, well, finally I sit still. Then you look around and you see everybody else is moving, or somebody else is moving, or somebody else can't stand to be themselves. Somebody else must be moving. So this time, instead of sitting still, I'm going to completely move. I'm going to completely be

[14:05]

a moving person, and see maybe that will let everybody else sit still. And actually, that way actually probably works better. To be the last person in the world to be free of their movement, the last person in the world to be free of their desire and confusion and wiggling and craving. To be that worst person in the world. To be the one that's limping. Then the rest of the world will stop limping. And when the rest of the world stops limping, well, guess what? So you don't teach them because you are the limper. You are the one who has problems. And because you have problems, you don't set an example for them. Exactly. Because they don't have problems.

[15:05]

You're the only one who does. Anyway, this is a terrible practice I'm telling you about. I'm really sorry. But what I'm talking about just happens to be this to save all sentient beings that there are. So it's really a terrible responsibility that you have. But you've got it anyway. I hear you every night you chant that you want to do that. There's no other thing to do but anyway, that's it. So, please, forgive me for putting you through such a terrible week. I'll keep trying to accept

[16:13]

my problems. Thank you. Thank you.

[17:21]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am bound

[19:01]

to a thing.

[19:02]

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