A monk asked the great compassionate ancestor, Yunmun, what is the teaching of Buddha's entire lifetime? Yunmun said, an appropriate response. An apropos response was what Buddha taught throughout his lifetime.

[01:03]

Apropos means to the purpose, to the point. What is the purpose of Buddha's entire lifetime? Liberating compassion. Buddha's teaching is, what is the response that liberates beings? This is all he taught. What is the response appropriate to the purpose of helping beings find the way of peace and happiness in this world. Someone said that the Vajrayana yogis sit in meditation

[02:30]

chanting the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the mantra of the enlightening being of infinite compassion. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Chanting this mantra with the hope, with the intention that great true compassion will fill their body and mind. This person also said, but the Zen people do it somewhat differently. In Rinzai Zen, the yogis sit and they chant the mantra MU with the intention that their body and mind will be filled with compassion.

[03:45]

In Soto Zen they just sit silent and still with the deep vow that perfect compassion will fill every atom of their body and mind with deep trust that the true nature of every cell of our body is compassion and all we need to do is simply settle into this body of compassion until it is fully realized just sitting and dropping everything and realizing our unborn compassion. If we can practice this way together with all beings we will be able to make the appropriate response.

[05:04]

Or not even we will be able to our life and practice will be the appropriate response. Joining hands with all beings and walking together through birth and death. We stay close and do nothing. We stay close and have no agenda. Just being present, ready and listening.

[06:13]

And then the heart responds. So I offer you the image of a wind bell. Our great ancestor Tiantong Ru Jing said about the wind-bell, about the heart of compassion, the whole body is like a mouth hanging in vast space. The whole body is like a mouth hanging in vast emptiness.

[07:50]

It doesn't care whether the wind blows from the north, the south, the east or the west. no matter what direction, it just sings pure wisdom. Ding dong, ding dong. Ding dong, ding. hanging in emptiness with no preferences.

[09:01]

When the wind touches us, we will make the appropriate response. This is the teaching of perfect wisdom. of the Buddhas and ancestors. The entire body is wisdom. The entirety of other people is wisdom. The entirety of the self is wisdom. The breeze from the east and from the west and from the north and the south is wisdom.

[10:10]

But we must be present with no agenda to awaken to this teaching. It's coming to us every moment. beyond our conception of lovely. Lovely in a way that transcends our idea of beautiful and ugly. As the ancestors say, the teaching of suchness has been intimately communicated.

[11:49]

Now you have it. Please take care of it. Take care of it by being like a wind bell. Don't take this gift personally. It's yours to care for, but you don't own it. The breeze at dawn has a secret to tell you.

[13:32]

Don't go back to sleep. You have to say what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. All living beings are walking back and forth. at the threshold between the two worlds. The door is round and open.

[14:43]

Don't go back to sleep. Just sit still and be quiet. Don't move. And the world will reveal itself to you. It will roll in your lap in ecstasy. But please, don't go back to sleep. Don't miss it Please, witness your life as it's arriving, as it's arriving by means of all things and all beings.

[16:03]

Here it comes. Here it's coming. As I continue to talk, I want to let you know that I do not want you to push yourselves too hard.

[17:18]

I really don't. I want you actually to be quite relaxed and at ease and just hang in vast emptiness with no agenda. Don't even have the agenda to hang with no agenda. Just drop everything and you will be able to respond. Trusting your deepest, deepest aspiration. Can you hear what your whole body wants?

[18:22]

Can you feel it ring when the wind touches it? The whole body like a moth hanging in vast space. So quiet and still at the slightest touch

[20:03]

You see the response. The unique breeze of reality.

[21:09]

As it's blowing right now, can you see it? Creation is working right now through you. Working her lumen shuttle through you. incorporating the latest edition of life into the ancient brocade. Can you witness this creation?

[22:44]

You don't have to do it, but it's not easy to drop everything and witness this creation. But I really believe that if we are able to sit still and be quiet, creation has no choice but to reveal herself to us. And I also feel that unless we see this creation and thus have the great joy of seeing this creation.

[23:57]

We will not be able to do our work. We need this vision of our life as it is born. in each moment to fuel and support our compassion. just being like a wind bell and playing patty cake with the universe.

[25:21]

In the Diamond Sutra it says that once the bodhisattva has given rise to the aspiration to save all beings before herself, then in order to go forward on this path of compassion and to perfect and protect this mind of compassion, the bodhisattva must produce or at least witness the production of a mind that has no support, of a mind that abides nowhere. The bodhisattva must produce a mind like a wind bell, a mind that is unsupported by anything.

[26:58]

In other words, just sit. And just sit means give up just sitting too. Don't push yourself onto your seat. Don't push yourself into your experience. Don't be harsh. Just simply, completely sit in the middle of your experience. Don't run away. And you will naturally deepen your intention to drop everything until everything drops.

[28:05]

You don't cause it to drop. It's dropping all the time. But unless your will, unless your vow to drop is developed, you can't catch up with what's already happening. producing a mind, witnessing the production of a mind which has no supports, which doesn't depend on anything. One day, Yaoshan, Medicine Mountain, was sitting.

[29:09]

And his teacher, Sherto Stonehead, came up to him and said, What are you doing? Medicine Mountain said, I'm not doing anything at all. Right now, what are you doing? Do you want to join the club of not doing anything at all? Or do you have something more important to do? Don't go back to sleep.

[30:25]

What are you doing? I'm not doing anything at all. Then are you idly sitting? Stonehead said. And Medicine Mountain said, If I was idly sitting, I would be doing something. You say, said Stonehead, that you're not doing anything. what is it you aren't doing? What is it you aren't doing? And Medicine Mountain said, even the 10,000 sages don't know. Are these appropriate responses between these two?

[31:53]

Are these two wind bells responding to each other? When Medicine Mountain was sitting, was he ready and waiting? Yes. Did he have an agenda and a plan? Well, his plan is to save all beings, but did he know how he would do it? Now, if he comes over here and asks me a question, I'm going to say I'm not doing anything at all. Do you trust the response that comes?

[33:12]

Do I trust the response that comes? It's hard to trust it. It's hard to have confidence in the actual response that comes. It's hard to have trust in the actual response that you see happening in others. But it's good, I think, to start with myself. If I can witness my own response first, then I may be able to accept the other person's. But if I miss mine, theirs may not be quite what I want. What am I doing right now? How am I responding right now? Such that all you are responding in each way you're responding.

[34:26]

I can't figure it out. I just have to get close to the place where the first breeze blows. And I will hear the secret. Staying close and learning. How do they say, it's whispered on the wind? Then the secret is whispered on the wind? Stonehead was very happy with his disciples' responses, so he wrote a poem.

[35:38]

about Medicine Mountain. He said, though we've been going along together from the beginning, I didn't know his name. Just going along with the flow of destiny being just so. Even the ancient sages don't know him. How could hasty, careless people understand? So I offer a challenge to myself, and you can listen to it if you wish.

[36:56]

The challenge is, do I trust the teaching of the ancestors to be like a wind bell, enough to stay close to my body and mind every moment, and to watch it, to watch the whole body as it responds to the wind blowing from whatever direction. Could I trust this enough to give up everything but this simple observation of creation?

[38:04]

I don't answer yes or no. I will say I want to do this, but I also know it's hard for me because I have habits. But I want to do this. I trust this to some extent. And I will be checking out myself to see if I'm going to do it. And one of the side effects of checking myself out is that I can't help but check you out. So although I would like you actually to check yourself out so that you can check me out. If you watch yourself, you'll be able to see me.

[39:12]

And I need your help. So in that way I request that you witness the birth of your life each moment as it arises in the arrival of all things. In other words, I request you to be enlightened. Here's a children's poem about this.

[40:45]

The name of this poem is To Paint the Portrait of a Bird. First paint a cage. A body, mind. Every moment. You do that painting anyway. So please, paint it. And paint the door of the cage open. Then, paint something pretty. Something simple. something useful and something beautiful for the bird. Then place a canvas against a tree in a garden, in a forest,

[42:11]

in his endo. Sometimes the bird comes quickly, but it can just as well spend many years before deciding. Don't get discouraged. Wait. Wait years if necessary. The swiftness or slowness of the coming of the bird has no rapport with the success of the painting. When the bird comes, if she comes, observe the most profound silence. When the unique breeze of reality comes, if she comes, observe the most profound silence.

[43:44]

Until the bird enters the cage, When she has entered, gently close the door with the brush. Then paint all the bars away, one by one, taking care not to touch any feathers of the bird. Then paint the portrait of a tree, choosing the most beautiful of its branches for the bird's feet. Paint also green foliage and the wind's freshness, the dust of the sun, and the noise of insects in the summer heat.

[45:08]

and then wait for the bird to decide to sing. If the bird doesn't sing, it's a bad sign. A sign that it's a bad painting. But if the bird sings, it's a good sign. It's a sign that you can sign. So then very gently, you pull out one of the feathers from the bird and you write your name in the corner of the picture. Now certain animal rights people might say, well that's not very nice to take the feather out of the bird.

[46:18]

So I don't know what to say about that part. Do you have any questions? about such a practice of the wind bell? How are you feeling? Relax. Did you have a relaxing time in the last hour?

[47:26]

Yes. I was sort of swinging around. Do you feel willing to be yourself? Yes. How is that? Confused. Is that a song? No? Are you singing? Was I singing? No. Then it's a bad painting. Yes. Are you singing now? It's rising. Who's making that funny sound over there? You?

[48:29]

Who's behind there? Who? Okay. So Tayo is feeling relaxed and almost singing, being himself. Carrie? The wind does not always flow gently, no. That's why it's good to catch it at the beginning. It takes a little while to build up velocity. At the beginning, it's the most gentle. A huge eucalyptus tree was once a sweet, soft little sprout.

[49:37]

Who can untie the bell strings around the tiger's neck? Do you know who can do that? Who can do that, Susan? You don't know? It's a question. What do you think, Eva? Who can untie the bell strings around the tiger's neck? His children. His children. Very good. Another answer was the one who tied the bell strings around his neck. which might have been his children. Come on, Daddy, put this bell on. Now take it off. Okay. Are you ready to go to work, Bodhisattvas?

[50:45]

Hmm? Good. Do you have something to say to your neighbor? Do you have a neighbor? Everybody have a neighbor? Pam's kind of far away, but you still have a neighbor. Right there. She's kind of close, that one there. Does anybody not have a neighbor? Peter's kind of far away from everybody, but he still has a neighbor. Do you have anything to say to your neighbor? I love you. You're beautiful. I just saw you. I don't mean to force you into talking to this person next to you if you don't want to, but...

[51:51]

You might be able to enlighten this person right now. Or they might be able to enlighten you. You might ask them to enlighten you if you wish. Excuse me for... That makes you self too. If you really believe that. Do you really believe that? Yes, I do. On both of them? Both of them. Really? Really. How about you? I don't know about that. Good. Is there any reason that you have for thinking that they're enlightened or feeling that they're enlightened? Vyokanth said, why ask me who's enlightened? Everyone's enlightened. Do you all have a sense of where to go from here?

[53:11]

Hmm? What? Nowhere. Okay. Is that pretty clear to you? You feel ready to go there? Okay. Yes? Yeah, I learned by going where I have to go. Is straight ahead okay? Okay. Do you understand how to figure out what direction straight ahead is? Do you understand what I'm calling straight ahead? What? Whatever way you're facing, right. The appropriate response is straight ahead. Has anybody here had an appropriate response lately?

[54:16]

Good. Has anybody here had a response recently that wasn't appropriate? Wow. Well, then there's two of us. Well, besides the fact that we have lots of habits to the contrary, habits of thinking that we need to meet situations with all kinds of agendas in our hand and so on, does anybody have any problems with this practice of the windmill?

[55:24]

I mean, is it okay, at least theoretically, to try it? Okay. Well, in that case...

[55:36]

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