the words that seem to be coming out of this mouth might be recorded. They're being recorded for the record. We're making a record of these words coming out of this mouth, but also we're making a record of the words coming out of the mouth of many living beings. Does that make sense to you? Sometimes I share, without mentioning who said it, things that people bring up when they meet with me individually. One of the things I recently heard someone say was, I'm exhausted.

[01:17]

And then I said, what does Zen say about that? And the person didn't say anything. And then I said, when exhausted, then rest. But then the person gave me a little feedback, which I appreciated, which was, not then, not when exhausted, then rest, When exhausted, rest. See the difference? The rest isn't later after the exhaustion. When exhausted, rest. It's a translation from Chinese. Exhausted, rest. Hungry, eat. So eat when you're hungry. not after, and rest when you're exhausted.

[02:30]

So I appreciate that. A simple expression of Zen, when exhausted, rest. Zen folks get exhausted. Zen folks do get exhausted. Wearing the same shabby robes. So when they're exhausted, try a little tenderness. Try a little sweet rest. This morning, as you may remember, I brought up the great flower adornment scripture. Book number 11.

[03:35]

We said a little bit about this sutra, but in a way, a little bit is good because it's rather a simple sutra. It's basically saying, how do we purify our activity to be of truly beneficial benefits? beings in the world. And the way to purify our actions is to pray together with all beings, to practice together with all beings. Then our action becomes purified. So we could talk much more about this chapter because and actually because we can bring in the patterns of spring into this ancient teaching, which we did today. We brought up new patterns that aren't in the scripture and thereby incorporated them into this ancient brocade of the practice of purifying our action.

[04:42]

And I just wanted to briefly mention one more thing as an offering. Is there an insect on me? Is it a happy insect? Is it pooping on me? Is having a nice time here? Oh, it went away. It got bored with me. It came back. Okay, you're my man. I'm here with you. Anyway, I want to say that on the 22nd of September, right? Suchitra and Charlie received the great Bodhisattva precepts. They received they received a name, a new name.

[05:53]

They received a robe, which they sewed the robe and then they gave it to the preceptor and the preceptor gave it back to them. And they received the precepts. They received a new name, a new robe, and the precepts. They received a new Buddha name, a new Buddha robe, and Buddha's precepts. And someone also said to me, just renounce attachment to everything. And I think the person went like this. Just renounce everything and then enter into reality.

[06:59]

just renounce all the varieties of phenomena and then enter the unique breeze of reality. The person didn't say that last part, but they did say, just renounce everything and go for the unique reality. And I thought, that's like the Bodhisattva precept ceremony. The Bodhisattva precept ceremony starts with, we invite all the Buddhas and ancestors to come into the room with us and be with us for this ceremony. And then the first thing we do, besides inviting them to come and be with us and witness us, is we practice renunciation of all attachment. And then after that, we go for reality. We come forth. We return to reality. And what is reality? What is the unique breeze of reality?

[08:06]

Going for refuge in Buddha. Going for refuge in Buddha is one of the ways to understand the one unique breeze. Another way to understand the unique breeze of reality is this insect is really, you know, really giving it to me. You think, can you stand me doing this and not be mean to me? I'm going to see how much you can do that. Yeah, my fan. Where's my fan when I need it? Oscar, would you get my fan to help this, to teach this insect? So the Bodhisattva precepts are 16 ways to teach the one unique breeze. The precept of not killing is an explanation of the unique breeze of reality.

[09:10]

The three pure precepts are three ways to explain the unique breeze of reality. Yeah. So I always thought I'd bring that up to you. Thank you, Oscar. Now that I'm my fan, the insect has moved on. Maybe the insect thinks, he's going to hit me. I won't hit you. I'll hear you come back now. So is there anything you want to say before we say goodnight? Yes. Actually, embracing being exhausted is resting.

[10:21]

When you're exhausted, the most restful thing you can do is embrace it. If you fight it, that takes more energy. Get more tired. So sometimes when I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open, I notice that just accepting that I'm having trouble, it relaxes them. Shutting them actually takes more energy than just letting them... It takes a little effort to shut them. So yeah, resting, thank you for that. Resting is... just embracing the exhaustion rather than fighting it or distracting ourselves from it or going to sleep. Embracing it is not necessarily going to sleep. However, if you do embrace it, if you do embrace your sleep, your exhaustion, you might go to sleep. However, if you don't embrace the exhaustion, you also might go to sleep. So some people fight the exhaustion and immediately conk out

[11:45]

You know conk out? It's an unusual English expression. Conk out means go to sleep. We used to, at Zen Center, have a stick when people were sleeping and we would hit them. So in those days, the people would be sleeping, you know, bobbing like this, and the person would hit them with the stick, and then they would wake up, and then the person would walk away and they'd start bobbing again. Compassionately embracing the exhaustion is resting. The resting we mean is to rest with what's happening. And it's restful. Still, you might still be exhausted, but you're getting some rest now. Thank you, Tracy. Lean. I think my question is too intro-level.

[12:50]

My question about exhaustion is, when we're sitting, what happens? Like after 30 minutes, 30 minutes, the legs get too long. Do we just bear it? Or what do we do? Her question was, if you sit for quite a while, and she said, if your legs get too numb, but you could also say, if the legs become numb, then what you usually should do is ask a teacher about it, which you just did. So your legs are getting numb, and you're not sure if that's okay or not. So she asked me. And then I say, and then we talk about it, and I say, well, after you end the period and uncross your legs, does the numbness go away within five minutes? And if you say yes, I say, it's not a problem. But if you say no, it lasts for 15 minutes, I say, I think maybe you should make a change in your posture.

[13:55]

But the thing is that when you have numbness or other kinds of pain, if you're not familiar with it, you should talk to a meditation teacher about, is it okay? For example, also, you might have pain in your butt from sitting. Does that make sense? No, you don't have that, but I'm saying you might. Maybe not in 20 minutes or half an hour, but after three hours, you might have something feeling kind of hot back here. And then so people, that particular kind of pain, if people tell me about it, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be a problem because I've had that pain and it's never been a problem. But it is a kind of burning sensation. Or the sensation of the bottom, the top of my foot on my thigh, that can also get burning. But that also is not a problem. So if somebody asked me, I'd say that's not a problem. I have a lot of experience and it hasn't been a problem.

[14:58]

And also numbness, as long as it comes back within less than five minutes, I haven't seen it as a problem. But I do say, if your leg is numb, then be careful when you get up. Be very careful so you don't step up, stand up right away because you might fall down because you can't feel. So this is an example of What do we do with the numbness? Basically, I would say don't worry about it, but unless it lasts for more than a minute or a few minutes. And if it does, then change your posture or something, or stand for a while, walk for a while. But most people, when they get numb, almost all examples I can think of, if they get up and it goes away quickly, it's not a problem. But if it lasts for a while, it could be nerve damage. So then we should change. We're doing something to press usually on the sciatic nerve. So we should change the posture or walk for a while.

[16:01]

I think my situation is the one that is not causing these problems. But my question is, should we continue? Just ignore the numbness? It's not that you ignore the numbness. You feel the numbness. But it's not a bad sign. As long as it doesn't do any damage. Yeah. It's not a problem unless it's a nerve numbness. oftentimes it's a circulation numbness. Like if you bend your elbow sometimes for a while, your hand becomes numb and you straighten your arm and it goes away. But if you bend your hand and your hand goes numb and then you go like this and it's still numb, then you probably should not be in that position. But the thing is to talk to an experienced person about the problem. So I don't ignore my numbness. Matter of fact, please do not ignore your numbness because if you ignore it, you might try to walk on a foot that's asleep.

[17:03]

That wouldn't be good. So be compassionate to your numbness. And if you have any questions about it, talk to your teacher. So most of the physical problems that come up with sitting... If you're experienced and you know they're not a problem, like I have various pains, and I know from experience they're not a problem for me or other people. But there's other sensations of pain which I know are a problem, and then I advise people to make a change in the posture. And then one type I know it's not a problem, the other type I know it is a problem. And the one that is a problem, I say don't continue that. And there's a third kind which is don't know. whether it's a problem or not. In that case, too, I would say treat it as though it might be until further information. Yes? As you were describing this,

[18:06]

It seems similar to, well, can you tell us, is it similar to maybe how you would deal with personal relationships? And if somebody says something to you that is irritating, but you're not sure it's a real problem, it might go away. Or maybe it's something that you do need to talk to them about. Yeah, well, again, it's good to talk to a teacher about it. And you could also talk to the person about it, but talk to a teacher about it. A teacher might say, that doesn't, that sounds normal. A teacher might say, yeah, that won't hurt you. That doesn't sound as good as hurting you. It's painful, but it doesn't, like for example, somebody you're in a close relationship might disagree with you. And that might be really painful. But I might say, yeah, I think that's fine. But somebody also might talk to you in a way that I think is really disturbing and harmful.

[19:10]

I may say, I think we should get some help with that. I don't think you should just allow that. Like, you know, where people are being abused, right? I think that maybe we shouldn't go on with this being hit or being screamed at or et cetera, which often happens in conjunction with Drugs and alcohol or too little sleep or whatever. So in those cases, I might say, in those cases, I think that is harmful, so I recommend changing the posture. In that case, I think it's fine. I think it's good for you to have this person not agree with you. It's good to be close to somebody who does not agree with you rather than surround yourself by people who pretend like they agree with you. We know about that, right? That happens. It's not good. So it's nice to have people who disagree with us. But do they disagree out of love?

[20:13]

And is it educational? So check it out with the teacher of your relationships. And the teacher might sometimes say, that sounds really harmful. Like, for example, someone is addicted to alcohol and they're acting in a certain way, I might say, I would suggest you ask for a change. Like, ask them to enter into a 12-step program or something. Do not stay with them if they're not getting some help, because they need help. But in other cases, I might say, I don't know. Because I might not know. I might not be sure. So in that case, too, we should treat it as though it might be harmful. But in some cases I feel like, that's really good that that person thinks you're stupid when you talk like that. We need loving people to help us notice our shortcomings. We need people to question us. We need people to call us into question.

[21:13]

But being called into question can be very painful, especially from somebody who we really care about. People who don't even know they're called into question may not be so painful. Still might be good. So that's what I would say. And again, I do sometimes feel like somebody's having a lot of problems with their close relationships. They're saying to them, I feel like, you're so fortunate. This is a great opportunity. I just feel so grateful for you. I'm so happy for you that you have this challenge. Which, when I say that, then I feel encouraged in my relationships where people are challenging me. When I tell them how great it is, I feel, oh, yeah. Yeah, right. Leslie, did you raise your hand? Say again louder.

[22:15]

You say, I have a tendency not to say the critical thing when I should. I've had trouble saying the critical thing when... It could be helpful. Yeah, you have a hard time saying the critical thing when it could be helpful. Many people do. So I have a critical thing that might be helpful for the person to know. However, if I don't deliver it with non-attachment, it might backfire. It might be worse to tell them than not because if you tell them with impatience and and other kinds of non-compassionate feelings, it may undermine the message. So sometimes we need to develop a compassionate feeling about this to deliver it in a way that's skillful and could be helpful, but it won't necessarily be helpful if it's delivered without compassion.

[23:29]

And sometimes when we're delivering these kinds of messages, we're feeling some impatience with the person or some disrespect of the person. So this person's doing this thing. It would be good for them to know about it. But a disrespectful person should not be delivering the message. So if I see somebody's got a problem and I think it'd be good for them to know, it'd be good for me to go find somebody who respects them and have that person tell them. And then they say, you know, hello. Who am I? Am I your friend? Do you feel like I really respect you? Yeah. Yeah. I have something to tell you that I heard about you. You want to hear about it? And they say, yeah. And you tell them and say, wow, thank you. That's really helpful. But they're listening to somebody who respects them. And when we respect people and they think we're respectful, they think we're intelligent. Yeah. Yeah, respecting me is like, that's right.

[24:37]

That's what should happen. But if we can't respect the person, we are not, excuse the expression, we are not the angel to deliver it. Angel means messenger. These messages to benefit people are delivered by angels. So if you're not yet in angelic mode, wait till you are or find an angel to send your message. Oh, there's an angel. That person respects this person. Would you please tell them about this? Do you see this? And they say, yeah, I do. Thank you. I'd be happy to tell them. So then the angel comes over and tells them, and they go, oh, that's terrible. Thank you for telling me. I didn't know it was so harmful. Thank you. I was unaware. That's really helpful. But it's coming from somebody who loves them. And somebody could love them and still be disrespectful.

[25:41]

So find somebody who loves them, who respects them, who is not impatient with them, and they can deliver the message, which would be helpful. If I'm not that person yet, I'm not qualified to give them this wonderful information. We all have some good comments to make about people, but we're not qualified to deliver these comments until we really are compassionate. But still we might be able to find somebody who is. That's why we might tell them to go see a teacher or enter into a 12-step program or something like that. Those people are skillful at giving each other feedback. They're trained to how to ask questions. in kind ways, as far as I know. They don't lash out at each other about their shortcomings. They bring up their own shortcomings and listen to each other. How does that work for you, Leslie?

[26:46]

Good. All right. And Suchitra, yes? I just wanted to put a little footnote on that from my own experience, which is Correct. Even if an angel delivers it, they still might not be able to receive it. But I would say usually when the angel delivers it, they don't completely, you know, they don't feel attacked. So they hear it, but they don't necessarily know how to practice with it. And so further angelic messages may be appropriate. And angels are willing to do it over and over without expecting any result. Just, okay, you want to hear another message? Yeah, okay.

[27:48]

Remember what I said last time? No, I forgot. What was it? Yeah, part of delivering these messages is you don't expect the person to like them or to follow what you think would be appropriate. That's part of lovingly giving a gift of information. And also, I forgot to mention, usually when the angel delivers it, I shouldn't say usually, but often when the angel delivers these messages about considering shortcomings, the angel often says, May I ask you a question? And then you say, yes. May I give you some feedback that might be difficult for you to receive? And the person might say, no. So you don't give it. And they might say, yes. And you give it, but you don't expect it to let it sink in. And if it doesn't, they see you're OK with that.

[28:54]

Just to let you know. Like we say, just saying. We know this expression now. Just saying, right? You don't have to believe this. I'm just saying. You should know. Yeah, thank you for that additional comment. And I think I have time for one more, which is, what's your name? Gloria? Yeah, it's sort of the- Gloria. Gloria. Sometimes what you look at that, if you hand it off gently, you know that Did you say the angel's going to deliver the message that something's not appropriate? It shows angels what they've done.

[30:13]

Yeah, so angels sometimes do make mistakes too. And so they do deliver it with respect, but maybe not perfect respect. And so then the way the person receives it is feedback to them about how well they delivered it. But the person rejecting it does not necessarily mean they didn't do it well. But sometimes they get feedback that maybe I was a little too assertive. In other words, I thought I was respectful, but maybe I wasn't really respectful. Yeah, so it's really a two-way street. The receiver educates the giver. Yeah. Would you speak louder please? Okay, so you feel like you're not allowed to speak to this person?

[31:21]

Hmm? I just want to tell you, I'm not putting my hearing aids on, because when I put them on, I don't talk loudly enough. But you have to speak louder, because I'm not going to wear my hearing aids when we're in a big group. When we're in person, I can wear my hearing aids, and I can still talk loud enough for you to hear me. But when you're far away, if I had my hearing aids on now, you'd probably have trouble hearing me. But I need you to speak louder about this. So a woman? Please. Yeah, and also particularly good for women to turn the volume up sometimes. Okay. So I'm happy to turn the volume up, and it's helpful to hear that, because I can't stop. And I hear myself dropping it. But yeah, to be immediately desperate, you know, don't even look at me, you...

[32:23]

female does not know what it is like, which is true. I don't know what it's like to be this person, this other person. And they tell me that to be pounced on, because it's easy to be pounced on. Do you say they feel pounced on or they'll pounce on you? Yeah. So again, I wouldn't ask you to talk to a man about certain things if I didn't think you were really up for being pounced on. I'd say, oh yeah, if she brings that to him, he might pounce on her. I'm not going to ask her to do it. I'm going to ask somebody else to do it who can deal with pouncing. So I can't deal with it, so I'm not going to do it because he might pounce on me. I'm trying to find somebody else who can deal with the potential for being pounced upon. Oh, really? Really? Right.

[33:26]

And that can happen, but they might also, before they get it, they might pounce on the person. So if we're going to deliver messages like that, we have to kind of like, am I going to be able to deal with them pouncing on me? And if not, find somebody who can. And it may take a while to find somebody, but we need help sometimes delivering certain messages. I can't talk to that person about this, and they need to know, and I care about them, so I want them to know, but I'm not the one to deliver it. And part of the reason is because they might pounce on me, and I'm not up for that. That won't be helpful. I don't want them to do that either. That would be bad for them. So let's find somebody who's like, well, hello. I'm here and if by any chance you want to pounce, I'm ready for that. There are people like that who feel like they can deal with this person pouncing.

[34:33]

There's a story from my childhood. I don't know if this is a good story, but I'm going to say it anyway. It's about three billy goats. Have you heard about the three billy goats? Have you? Yeah. So it's the story of the three billy goats gruff. And the three billy goats lived in a pasture where they ate grass. And after a while, they ate all their grass. And they noticed that on the other side of the river, there was another pasture that had a lot of grass. So they thought, let's go over there and have some grass. So they headed over and there was a bridge where you could cross over the river to the other pasture. Are you following me? So they had this plan of sending the littlest one first.

[35:35]

Not the big one and then the little one. Send the little one. And the little one As he or she approaches, oh, it's the billy goats. So the billy goats are male goats, right? So the little billy goat comes to the bridge and starts walking over it. And under the bridge, there's this big monster who says, who is walking on my bridge? And the little billy goat says, oh, it's me, little billy goat Gruff. He said, well, I'm going to eat you up. And the little billy goat says, kind of like, I'm not worth your time. I'm not here to push you. I don't want to bother you. And if you want to eat me, it's a waste of time because a much bigger billy goat is coming. If you're going to eat billy goats, forget me in the next one. So then the next billy goat comes, which is much bigger than the first one, and the monster says,

[36:40]

They've also called it troll. T-R-O-L-L, right? The troll says, I'm going to eat you up. And then the second Billy Goat says, don't waste your time. I'm not worth your time. Because there's a really big, delicious Billy Goat coming for you. He says, OK. And then the big one comes. And the big one can deliver the message. The big one can handle this. So the troll says, who is this walking on my bridge? And the big billy goat goes, big billy goat gruff is on your bridge. And the troll says, well, I'm going to eat you. And the big billy goat says, go ahead, give it a try. And he tries. And the big billy goat can deal with him. So there's something about some wisdom in that story of

[37:41]

And also don't have the big one come and leave the little ones behind. Protect the little ones by giving them a way to refer the little ones to the big ones who are able to deal with it. And it's no shame in being a little one. I'm not ready to deliver some messages. That's too advanced for me. I'm going to get somebody else who can handle, who can deliver it and can handle the negative response if it comes. You're welcome. Yeah. So working together, we can get the message across, not by our own power, but by working together. So thank you for another lovely day at Know About. I really appreciate you holding up the practice all day long and taking care of the temple. Did you get some succulents planted?

[38:46]

A couple? Yeah. And did you get the planter moved? Yeah. Thank you. And one other thing is, during the work period, Tracy went through a bunch of copies of a great sutra called the Samdhi Nirmocana Sutra. And there's a book in which I collected commentaries on this sutra. called The Third Turning of the Wheel. And one of the chapters, one of the biggest chapters of the book, chapter 8, we have copies of the 8th chapter. So if anybody would like a copy of the 8th chapter, Tracy has collected the 8th chapters, and they're in a box right there. And you can help yourself to the 8th chapter of the great Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra, which is also called the Sutra revealing the hidden meaning of the Buddhist teaching.

[39:46]

So chapter 8 is, I think you can read it and learn a lot, even though you haven't read the previous seven. So help yourself if you like. I thought maybe we had some full copies, but I was wrong, as often happens. I was wrong. I'm wrong. I need help. I'm sorry. And there's one more. I forgot. No, but we can add that. You will forgive me if I'm sorry. Thank you. Have you already forgiven me for saying I'm sorry?

[40:48]

I was wrong. I need your help. I'm sorry.

[40:52]

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