Sometimes the awakened ones teach that all compounded phenomena are impermanent, unstable, unworthy of confidence, and changeable. These days, people seem to be willing to see that that's how things are. This teaching isn't just that those people are unworthy of confidence. All compounded phenomena are unstable, impermanent. and not worthy of confidence.

[01:02]

Now when people see this, sometimes they get frightened and discouraged. They feel despair and distress when they see actually what the Buddha teaches about things. When it's revealed to them that all compounded phenomena are unstable and not worthy of competence, when your eyes open to that teaching, even without hearing it from the Buddhas, you may have an emotional reaction to the revelation of impermanence, instability, and unworthiness of in such a world where there's a teaching like this, but also where people are having the revelation of this shocking new perspective on all compounded phenomena.

[02:41]

And having these emotional reactions They sometimes wonder, well, then once this revelation occurs and these emotional responses arise, what further teachings are there? In a world where things are unstable and unworthy of confidence, and there's all kinds of emotional responses, like I mentioned. Plus also, I didn't mention frustration. I said fear, right? Yes. Fear, frustration, resentment, blaming, hatred. When those kinds of feelings arise, how do we deal with it? the world of impermanence and all the emotional stuff that comes up with it.

[03:45]

We had a ceremony last Monday at Green Gorge, a ceremony for the head student of a practice period. And in that ceremony, the head student brings up an example of Zen life, Zen teaching. An example that the head student literally called shuso or first seat. It's called the first seat because That person sits next to the leader of the practice period. Seat number one. So he brought up the case number four from the Book of Suenit.

[04:54]

Case number four. Do you want to hear it? One day, the World Honored One was walking along with the congregation and he pointed to the earth. and said, this is a good place to build a sanctuary. Indra, the emperor of the gods, took a blade of grass and stuck it in the ground.

[06:01]

and said, the sanctuary is built. And the World Honored One smiled, just like some of you are smiling. So that's one example of how to respond in a world where things are changing and unstable and people are crying and frightened. In a world of fear and tears, the Buddha points to the earth, points to the fear, points to the tears, points to the distress, and says, this is a good place to build a sanctuary.

[07:08]

This earth and this affliction is a good place to build a sanctuary. And then it find a blade of grass and put it at that spot, and that's how it's built. You could also use something else, but a blade of grass is what was used in the story, and a blade of grass is kind of a good example. It's alive, it's green, and it's sharp. It's got a point. A sanctuary is a place of refuge and safety. So in this world that we're living in, which is unstable, and it's not going to stop being unstable, and we also have, you know, in this world we have some people who are saying, I will make the world stable for you.

[08:29]

I will make the world stable. It's going to be stable if you elect me. I'll make a world that's not impermanent, that's worthy of confidence. And people flock to such people and give them lots of power, if they believe them. The Buddha doesn't say, I'm going to make the world stable and reliable and worthy of confidence. The Buddha says, in a world like that, where people are distressed and afflicted in a world like that, how can we build a place of refuge, a place to come back to the Buddha, come back to the Sangha, which means come back to enlightenment, return to peace and harmony.

[09:33]

This is a good spot. This is a good time to build such a sanctuary. And how do you build it? With a piece of grass. That grass is also unstable. This sanctuary is unstable. This sanctuary is not worthy of confidence. It's a place to return to what is worthy of confidence. What's worthy of confidence? Planting the grass. Where? In this world of suffering. And then again, plant the grass. And then again, plant the grass. Moment by moment, I wonder what is planting the grass that builds a sanctuary.

[11:07]

Now in the story it doesn't say, but the Buddha's there. And the congregation's there. It says the Buddha was there, right? With the congregation. It didn't mention that in the congregation there was the emperor of the gods was there. But there were some other people too. Like some of your ancestors might have been there. And it doesn't say in the story that the Buddha is here now and the Buddha is walking along with the congregation right now. It doesn't say that. But I'm saying that. The Buddha is in this world of suffering right now. The Buddha is teaching in this world right now that this world is impermanent, that this world is a compounded thing. It's impermanent. It's not worthy of confidence. The green, gorgeous green hills around here are not worthy of confidence.

[12:35]

And if you think that they are, then you disagree with the Buddha. If you listen to that teaching, then you feel maybe some anxiety. That anxiety, the Buddha points to the anxiety points to that anxiety and says, this is a good place to build a sanctuary. If you feel disappointment, the green hills are not worthy of confidence. They're impermanent. They're unreliable. They're uncontrollable. Yikes, that's scary. That fear is a good place to build a sanctuary. If these hills and mountains and waters are not stable if they're unstable well then i don't want to build any sanctuaries i'm just i feel i'm i give up that feeling you have is the buddha points this is a good place to build a sanctuary whatever your response to the world is is a good place to build a sanctuary

[13:58]

The hills are green. You understand they're unstable. You have emotional responses to that revelation or that teaching. And in those responses, the Buddha says, build a sanctuary. And how do you build a sanctuary? Once again, planting a blade of grass. What is the blade of grass? Please tell me. It is the practice. What is the practice? Once again, in the story, somebody saw what the practice was, and what the practice was is to take a blade of grass and put it in the ground. How did that come up? Well, Indra was there, the Buddha was there, our ancestors were there.

[15:11]

We were all there. We were there, together, meeting each other face to face. In the face to face meeting of the Buddha with all the beings, the practice arose. blade of grass was seen, raised up, and stuck in the ground. And this action builds the sanctuary. wasn't that Indra was walking along with the Buddha and had a blade, well he might have had a blade of brass in his hand, but it was not time to plant, it was not time to build the sanctuary. I take it back, who knows what he was doing. But anyway, when the Buddha pointed the ground, Indra was there to do the practice. The Buddha points to the ground and in that meeting the student knows what to do.

[16:19]

It arises in the relationship. Another version of the story, another story could have been the Buddha pointed to the ground And the earth goddess sat on the earth upright and said, the sanctuary is built. Another version of the story is the Buddha pointed to the earth and said, this is a good spot. And the wind goddess flew up in the air and spun around in the air and said, this is a good place. Oh, she can't be up in the air. She has to come down. She comes down to the earth. The wind goddess comes down and sits on her head and says, the sanctuary is built.

[17:25]

The appropriate response to the place that we're building in the sanctuary, comes up in our face-to-face meeting with another. And not just any old face-to-face meeting, but a wholehearted, fully responsible meeting. So in Zen, as you see, in this place, we had a morning here. It's still morning. We have a morning. And we sat. I sat and you sat. And we each sat at some place on the earth.

[18:29]

And we each sat with all the afflictions that arose in our life. Each of us sat Did we build a sanctuary? I don't know. Were we trying to build a sanctuary at the spot where we were sitting? I don't know. I was. I was trying to. I was in a room over there, moment by moment, building a sanctuary with each person I met. And my offering, my attempt to build a sanctuary in the meeting with each person I met, came up in the meeting with each person I met. I did not have the way I practiced before the person arrived.

[19:31]

I don't have a way of practicing except the way of practicing that arises in a face-to-face meeting with an other. Every way I practice, every practice that's given to me that arises, every blade of grass that comes into my hand and which I can plant comes up comes to pass, comes to arise in a face-to-face meeting with another. The story doesn't make this point. The story does make the point. The Buddha is telling us this is a good spot, and the story shows us somebody building a sanctuary with something fresh, sharp, green and impermanent.

[20:37]

But it doesn't tell us, but it sort of tells us that that person did that in a relationship with the Buddha and the community and the teaching. The Buddha was there, the teaching was there, and that person met the Buddha in that the blade of grass arose and was planted. Every moment there's this opportunity to build a sanctuary here, and in the face-to-face meeting of this moment, find the practice which will build the sanctuary. In this case, in this group this morning, in the face-to-face meeting that we were having, each of us practiced sitting. That was our blade of grass. In my case, every time I was sitting, I was sitting meeting someone.

[21:40]

And the meeting clearly, to me, clearly gave rise to whatever the blade of grass would be. I don't know how you feel. When you were sitting in this room, were you sitting in a face-to-face meeting? Were you sitting in a face-to-face encounter with another So I guess I'm proposing now, I did it before and I will do it again, that when we're sitting at our spot, which is the place the Buddha says is the place to build a sanctuary, that if we want to find the appropriate action, to build a sanctuary, to build a place of peace, we will find that in a face-to-face encounter.

[22:48]

If we're sitting by ourselves and not in a face-to-face meeting, then I don't think we will find the blade of grass. It doesn't say Indra was walking along by herself and thought of planting building a sanctuary where she was and she picked up a grass. She was walking with in a relationship. And I won't say that I built a sanctuary this morning. And I don't say that Indra built the sanctuary in ancient times. Indra the emperor of the gods, in relationship with the Buddha and the Sangha and the Buddha's teaching, that relationship, in that relationship, the sanctuary was built.

[23:54]

Buddha didn't build it. Indra didn't build it. The earth didn't build it. The grass didn't build it. It was built in this relationship. Your sitting can build a sanctuary when your sitting arises in a face-to-face relationship with all beings. That's what the blade of grass is referring to. It's the practice that arises in this meeting, in such meetings, at the place we are. Zen is an intimate transmission. Zen is an intimate face-to-face meeting.

[25:01]

And the meeting occurs here, now. So again, it's well known that we practice sitting in the Zen tradition. And sometimes we call the sitting, just sitting. And nothing but sitting. We have sitting, but we don't just say sitting, we say just sitting. Which means sitting wholeheartedly. I'm not suggesting, yes, just sitting, but the just sitting occurs in the middle of a face-to-face meeting. This sitting occurs in an intimate transmission.

[26:08]

And the intimate transmission is just sitting. The intimate transmission is just the intimate transmission. We need just sitting, which we have been doing, to understand what face-to-face transmission is. And we need face-to-face transmission to understand what just sitting is. We need a blade of grass to understand what intimate transmission is, and we need intimate transmission to understand what a blade of grass is. Understanding what just wholehearted sitting requires a relationship.

[27:12]

To understand what a relationship is requires wholehearted sitting. Indra stuck the blade of grass in the earth and said, the sanctuary is built. And the Buddha smiled. You sit on this earth and you say, the sanctuary is built. And the Buddha smiles. The Buddha told you to do it. And you did it. And you didn't do it by yourself. And the Buddha didn't do it for you. You did it with the Buddha and with all beings. And you and I, we build this

[28:19]

We build this sanctuary at the place we are, and if we have discouragement, depression, confusion, greed, hate, whatever, that's always the place to build the sanctuary. There's no other place that's appropriate at that moment. And we can't do it by ourself. And we don't do it by ourself. And it does happen in the relationship where we're fully responsible and the other is fully responsible with us. This is the intimate transmission in which the sanctuary is built. without trying to tamper with the world.

[29:26]

Buddha does not control the world. The Buddha builds sanctuaries at every spot in the universe by this practice. As he said, the intimate transmission is the building of the sanctuary at every spot. And the Buddha is involved with all living beings. Someone came to visit me and said, you know, something like, you know, I make a big effort to come here to this temple here.

[30:47]

Brackets. Partly because you're here. Close brackets. But then I get here and I notice I kind of like try to avoid you. And I said, have you ever heard me tell stories about my relationship with Suzuki Roshi, that I made a big effort to practice with him? I kind of like, to a great extent, gave my life over to the opportunity of face-to-face practice with him. And he noticed that I was there because I made myself almost impossible to ignore. I just read in front of him all the time. You know, not in a rude way, but... He could get around still, but I was ready to go. And he noticed it. So sometimes he would say, well, since you're there, I guess I'll face you and give you a bunch of gifts. And then when he would do that, I would try to get away. And the person said to me, why do I do that?

[31:57]

I don't know why I try to get away. Lots of theories, like I was afraid he would see me, because I had nothing else to look at, just him and me. And I was afraid he would see that maybe I wasn't worthy or something. Anyway, who knows? But anyway, I don't need to know. I just know that I tried to get away from the person I most wanted to be with. I wanted to get away from the intimate transmission which I set up my life in order to have, to live with. So it's kind of normal. And then I thought of this phrase from a poem and also in this book of serenity. Book of serenity. The poem, the line I was thinking of was, why does the ultimate familiarity seem almost like enmity?

[33:02]

The person you want to be most familiar with, most intimate with, when you actually get really close, it's almost like enmity. What does enmity mean? It's kind of like the person you want to be is like an enemy, yeah. Anyway, it's another story which is pointing out, and I'll tell you this story some other time in more detail, but the name of the story that this poem is appearing in is called Dung Shan's Always Close. So a monk asked Dung Shan, among the three bodies of Buddha, which body does not fall into any category? among the various bodies of Buddha, which body does not fall into any kind of abiding?

[34:25]

In other words, how do you build a sanctuary? And the Buddha said, I'm always close to this. To what? To this Buddha body that doesn't abide anywhere. You got Buddha, and Buddha's got three bodies. Which body doesn't abide anywhere? He didn't say which body doesn't abide anywhere. He just said, I'm always close to this not abiding in anything. Buddha does not abide in Buddha. Which kind of Buddha doesn't abide in Buddha? I'm always close to this, Dumsan said. And then later, a monk asked one of Dung Shan's primary successors, what did your late teacher mean when he said all was close?

[35:42]

And the disciple named Sao Shan said, if you want my head, cut it off and take it. The monk asked Dung Shan, what Buddha body doesn't fall into anything, even into a Buddha body? And Dung Shan said, I'm always close to this. What's intimate transmissions doesn't fall into any intimate transmission. I'm always close to this. What planting of grass doesn't fall into any kind of grass planting?

[36:45]

I'm always close to this. What's the special transmission of not abiding in anything? I'm always close to this. And then the monk says, what did the teacher mean by that? And Sauchon said, you want my head? Cut it off and take it. So the poem says, this closeness is heart-rending if you search outside. Why does the ultimate familiarity seem like enmity? From beginning to end, the whole face has no color or shape. Still, your head is asked for by Sasha.

[37:48]

The face you're meeting in intimate space transmission that doesn't fall into anything. The face doesn't, the transmission doesn't. It has no shape or color. If you try to get this special transmission outside what? Outside where you are now, in your present despair, confusion, tears and fears, whatever, if you search outside for this, the closeness is heartrending. So, again, we need just sitting to not seek outside. And we need an encounter to understand what just sitting means. And we need, because again, the face-to-face transmission, you're not seeking outside the face-to-face transmission.

[38:53]

And the face of this face-to-face transmission, it doesn't have a shape. And no matter what shape of face you're looking at, there's another face, a Buddha face that's right there. And there's your face right there. There's your face, which has a shape, and there's your face before your parents were born. And there's the Buddha face. That's not the face of the person, but if you don't plant this transmission with the person you're talking to, you're seeking outside. So, Let me say that I rest my case. Resting my case does not mean that the proceedings will not proceed after I rest.

[40:00]

Now while I'm resting, somebody wants to interrogate me. I'm available for interrogation. And the one who interrogates me is advised to be ready for counter-interrogation. Are you available as a sanctuary? I am available for sanctuary building. But, and if you want to use me as a sanctuary, I will let you try. But then I will interrogate you about what you're up to. Because I am not a sanctuary.

[41:04]

The Buddha said, I am not reliable. I am not reliable, the Buddha says about me. I'm a compounded phenomenon. No. Compounded phenomenon. I'm a compounded phenomenon. Therefore, I'm not reliable. I'm not worthy of confidence. I'm unstable. But my instability allows me to talk. If I was stable, I couldn't speak. Fortunately or unfortunately, I am unstable so I can talk. These arms can move because I'm not stable. I'm not a frozen dead thing. I'm a living, unreliable, unpredictable, uncontrollable, But I'm available for face-to-face transmission.

[42:13]

And the face-to-face transmission also is not a sanctuary. It's where the sanctuary is built. I'm available for sanctuary building in face-to-face transmission. with you, of all people. But all I have is a blade of grass. Now for me, I'm smiling. Yes. So when I'm at home and I seem to be alone and there don't seem to be other faces in the vicinity, is that sanctuary building still a possibility?

[43:16]

When you are home alone, you have an opportunity to encounter another In a face-to-face meeting with another, the bodhisattva precepts are arising. And the other is not the appearance of a human face. If you see another human face, fine, but the intimate transmission is not just with the face you see. It's with the way that face is other than what you see. And that could be seen as a reason why when you meet the person you most want to meet,

[44:28]

you want to get away from them. Because when you meet this person, you also meet the other, which has no form, no shape. That's what it said, didn't it? Isn't it? It's just kind of amazing what a copycat I am. Yeah, there it is. The whole face has no shape or color. So you're sitting someplace, you don't see any faces. You don't see anything shaped like what you think a face is. But the whole face has no shape or color. So, do you think that you can be someplace on this earth and not meet this face of the other which doesn't have a shape?

[45:41]

I don't think so either. This face of the other is always in our face. The shape of that face, that comes and goes. And that can be like a blade of grass, like somebody... The story could have also gone like this. The Buddha points to the ground, Indra laid on her back, looked up at the Buddha, and said, the sanctuary is built. Indra could have used the shape of her face to build the sanctuary. Wherever you are, this face that's offering itself to be met, to be encountered, it's always present.

[46:43]

And sometimes it's present in the form of a... It's present, and you also can look at a human face. And the human face can look at your human face, and the human face can say, Are you here? Are you here? Are you seeking outside this closeness? And you might say, Yep, that's heart-rending. So, yeah, wherever we are, and then also some people say, that's fine with me, I'll just go take a walk in the woods and encounter the other. And I would say, great. And if that encounter is really a lively, that encounter where there's no humans appearing to you, you're encountering an other that's not a human other. Does that encounter teach you what it means to just sit or stand where you are? And if it does, I would say, great.

[47:46]

And I would say, now you're talking to me, telling me about that. How's it going? So we also can test it with other humans who can speak English to us. You see, you can do it with humans, You can meet the other who has the other face that has no shape in the midst of an encounter with a human. And you can be a human encountering another human face at the same time you meet the face of the other which is other from the human face. And you also find your other face. Which is what we're really seeking is to realize our original face. and meet the face of the totally other and realize the total otherness of me and you and everything. And where do you do this practice?

[48:52]

all the time in each place, each time, each place, each time, each place. And you don't do it by yourself. And no smart person, no wise person is doing it for you. But you are doing it with the perfectly wise. And the perfectly wise is not falling into any category of perfectly wise. all pervasive, but we need to be ready for it at this place. And we can be. We have to practice being at this place. That's one of the basic requirements. It's got to be here. So we have to learn how to be here.

[50:01]

in order to be here for the meeting. So when it's painful, when it's frightening, when there's tears, when there's fears, when there's disappointment, when there's hatred, whatever it is, we have to be there, here. And so we have to be very compassionate in order to settle down here. If we're someplace else, we miss the meeting. Because the meeting is not happening someplace else. I can't meet Siddhartha Kurukshetra someplace else from where he's meeting me. So we have to be very kind in order to settle down, to be generous, and discipline ourselves, and be patient, and be diligent, and be calm in order to be ready for the meeting, which is always presenting itself. We are being called and we need to be fully responsible to that call, then sanctuary will be built by that fully responsible relationship.

[51:19]

that responsive test we talked about, is it also dependent on our ability to improvise with what we're needing, to have that face-to-face? The word improvisation has a root of not-impro-vision. of not having seen before. Probably you've seen it before. Improvisation, you haven't seen it before. So it does depend on something you've never seen before. Yes, improvisation is integral. We have to be open to what we haven't seen before. And what? This is actually an invisible thing that we're trying to meet. So we're trying to open to the invisible meeting and the inaudible meeting.

[52:35]

That's integral to his improvisation and inaudiation. And so that's how it's going to happen. But we have to be at the visible and the audible in order to be ready for the invisible meeting. But the visible and the audible is always contingent too. So even that is... Yeah, and if you can accept the instability of the visual and the audible and be compassionate with what it feels like to be in an unstable, unreliable situation, if you can give up trying to control the visible, try to control people instantly, everybody smile now, everybody smile now, if you can give up trying to control the visible, that get you ready to meet the invisible face. But we're highly conditioned to try to get people to smile at us.

[53:37]

And then when they do, you know, that's enough of that. We're highly conditioned to try to control other faces that we can see and to control other voices that we can hear and also even to control our face. Like somebody told me, she looks in the mirror and she'd like to make the face look different. I said, oh, not that one. We're conditioned to try to make this face be cute if we have to see it ourselves, and make other people think it's cute and get other people... That's our conditioning. And we need to be flexible and playful and not seeking otherwise than this face. Didn't you say that we apply that same conditioning to our emotions when they arise? Same, yep. Same with our emotions. Our visible, audible, knowable emotions. Yes, yes, yes? Do you think that it's the day grass that it's the way to think about this grass as one of those plants that just the more you pick it, the more it grows?

[54:52]

That too, yeah. So when you're making sanctuary, that's part of it, but actually... It's an ongoing process, and also the more you use it, the more vital it becomes. In this process there's... you can't get satisfaction in this process. There's some things you can get satisfaction in, but in this thing you can't get satisfaction, and as I mentioned recently in Ling-Dazhi, you also can't get no satisfaction. In this process you can't get anything. There's nothing to get. That would be falling into some. That would be falling into the special transmission. You can't get the special transmission. You can't get the satisfaction in it.

[55:53]

And you can't even get no satisfaction. It's a desire that grows on its own hunger. Do you have any other questions? Yes, I did. I'm just kind of going through what you're saying. Do you want me to come back later? Yes, please. I was just thinking about wanting an outcome from it, like the pain that comes from that. Wanting an outcome? Not just wanting an outcome, but wanting it to be a certain outcome, and then even thinking that you could control it into being what you want. That's, of course, very stressful. And that... We want unstable, unreliable things to be stable and reliable. And also we would like our attempts to control them to also be stable and reliable.

[56:55]

The things aren't that way and are not that way. But we have this tendency. And it's available as a place to build a sanctuary. There's an expectation of the meeting that the meeting should be something, right? There's like a... Yeah, there's an expectation of the meeting. I mean, you have a feeling of a good meeting, right? You mean you might have a feeling that this is a good meeting? Well, you're carrying that. I'm carrying that. You have an idea of what a good meeting would be. Yeah. And then you go to a meeting with this idea. Mm-hmm. But before you even arrive at the meeting, you have an opportunity to build a sanctuary in your idea of a good meeting. Right? You're on your way to the meeting, and you've got an idea of a good meeting which you're afflicted by. So if you never meet the person, you still have an opportunity to plant a sanctuary in your idea before you meet them.

[58:02]

Like opening the windows. Like opening the windows, yeah. It just reminds me of this story about a theology student in Russia, or I guess in the Ukraine. He lived in Kiev, and he had... He was having a religious crisis, and there was... He knew about this great teacher, and I think the teacher's name was Staryts Ambrosi. I think Staryts is Russian for, like, saint. Anybody know Staryts? It's like saint? Old man. Old man. Old man. Yeah. So Old Man Ambrosi was a known saint in Ukraine at that time. I mean, someplace in that area of the world. He lived so far away from Kiev that I don't know what problems he'd been in.

[59:08]

Starr Zambrosi was also beaten up by bandits, so he was kind of deformed from the accident. I don't think he beat up any bandits, though. He wasn't into bandit patrol. He was like, gave up trying to control bandits, and also he gave up trying to control other humans. He gave up trying to control peasants and serfs, and he gave up trying to control princes, and they all came to him. Anyway, this guy walked from Kiev 400 miles to meet Starditz and Brozy to settle his religious... And he came to the town where the old man lived, and he said, well, where does he live? He lives over there in that hut.

[60:11]

So he walked out, and he looked in the hut, and nobody was there. And then he looked around the hut, and in the tall grasses, he saw a bent-over form. And he approached... And he saw that the old man was sleeping. And the sanctuary was built. He didn't think it was going to be like that. That's why it's good to walk 400 miles. In the process, you're going to go through various stories about this great meeting. And you're going to realize how silly that is. And then finally you arrive at the meeting and it, in fact, is not what you thought it would be. You didn't ask him your question, you didn't say anything, but the sleeping form on the tall grass. You weren't seeking outside.

[61:18]

You were 400 miles maybe, a good share of the 400 miles you were seeking outside. Finally you arrive at the meeting, you're not sitting outside, and you can meet the person. So he saw him and then walked 400 miles back to Kiev. The sanctuary had been built. So again, that's one of the reasons why there's often long paths going up to temples. Or that the Now we have all these cartoons of where the old man's like, you know, up in the mountains, the person has to climb a really steep thing. As they're climbing, they might go through various stories about what's going to happen and what they're up to. And when they finally get there, then the guy does something that they weren't planning on as being very enlightening. But they have to settle down before the medium.

[62:21]

And if you settle down before the meeting, as soon as you settle wherever you are, the meeting happens. But it's hard to settle in tears and fears. It's not easy. It's hard. It's difficult. But when we settle, suddenly we realize here's the meeting. And even if there's an old wise person in front of you, you realize you're meeting another face than this one that you can see. And you're hearing another voice than her voice. And you're hearing her voice, yes. And you're seeing her face, yes. But when you see her face, you're not seeking for something other than seeing her face and hearing her voice. And you're not trying to get her face to be something other than you think it should be. And when you're that way with the face, a human face, you meet this other face, which I wouldn't say is not human.

[63:32]

It's an other than the human face, but it's not a negation of the human face. That face is calling us and we're responding to it. But we need to settle here to feel the response, not to feel the response, to fully engage with the response and fully engage with the call. Yes. It might even be in the Book of Serenity, but Nagarjuna presented the moon face, and only Kanadeva, I think, could see it. And then he declared to the congregation, look at Nagarjuna's moon face. I think everybody saw it, but it wasn't discernible as a moon face. It's pretty much like that. And Nagarjuna, part of the job of a teacher is to encourage people to settle down so they can see the actual face.

[64:43]

Sometimes we need a human face to keep encouraging us, here's the place. Because we need a human face to tell us how not to run away from the face we're really yearning to meet. And sometimes the human face is acting in a way that makes us want to go away from the human face that we wanted to help, that we came to, to help us not run away. I'm going to this person to get help not running away, and when you meet them, you want to run away. But if you can stay there, open to the the real face that you've been wanting to meet, and also open to the real face you've been trying to realize in yourself. And we do this. face-to-face. And we do it face-to-face all day long, including while we're with human faces. And also when we can't see a human face, practice can go on.

[65:46]

But again, it goes on by us listening to the audible teaching, this is a good place on earth. This is a good spot of earth to build ascension. And Nagarjuna helped Kanadeva be present with his face, without seeking outside, and then he got to see Nagarjuna has this great round face. Yes? This is a new question that just rose. When you're speaking of human face, are you speaking of just physical human face, or you're speaking of human face which is Every face. What face? I don't mean the face, it's every face. I mean particular human faces. Just human faces. Particular human faces help us get in touch with any, try to run away from this human face.

[66:51]

Or any human faces are quite good tests of our, you know, can we really let this this expression beyond this face? Or are we trying to manipulate this expression into another one? Because we have a long habit of trying to get human faces under our control. So we can use human faces to test to see, can I actually let each person's face be the way it is? Can I be generous and careful with each human face? because human faces are where we're most conditioned. When we see a tree, we're not kind of like, okay, you've got a tree, adjust that back a little bit. With animals? Yeah, with dogs, I think people try to adjust dog faces. Dogs, you know, they're kind of like already saying, I'll make whatever face you want, just tell me what you want. That's the spirit.

[67:54]

That's the look I want. The look of, I'll make whatever face you want. I'm totally under your control. That's all I want to do. People are pretty happy with that. But still, it's okay. You can have intimate transmission even with a dog going along with your control trips. But humans... Fortunately, humans have not been destroyed and domesticated, so most humans do say, basically, see this face? It's not under your control. Can you work with that? I think animals are like that, too. Well, particularly wild animals. Yeah. They're not under your control. nobody's under our control, but some people and some dogs do say, I love you so much, I'll be totally under your control.

[68:56]

And some people love to see somebody who acts like that. Some humans actually go along with that addiction, particularly before you get married to them. You're the most perfect person I've ever met, and I'll do anything you want. And then we have a tendency to be tempted to abide in that. And then they say, oh, now we're married, I just, now I have some more information for you. And now it's a little bit more complicated than I told you. I wasn't really lying, but I just thought it was good to make a commitment before I told you the whole story. Because otherwise you might have run away from how inconceivably wonderful I am. That I'm actually something you can never control. And that's, you know, I'm here to awaken you to the nature of reality.

[69:59]

But people do sometimes like, kind of say, yeah, I'll be whatever you want. And we kind of go, sounds good. This is like, I mean, you're already not only like your looks, but now you're saying that you'll be under my control. You'll be my every whim. How does that song go? I tried to show my dear that you on my every dream. Anyway, he was into like being whatever she wanted him to be. And that didn't work. if you try to control people, you make them into cold, hard-hearted people.

[71:18]

Well, anyway, I'm very happy with the opportunity to build sanctuaries here, and Well, this is probably the day we're going to end early. I don't know if we'll have another meeting today. We'll see. Maybe we can have one more shortly. We'll end around 4 or 4.30. But it's been a great year. I've been so happy to practice here. And I'm so happy that you've been so happy to practice here. To come to a place where we don't fall into any Buddha body. Where we can practice being close and be compassionate to how difficult it is to be here. It is difficult to be here. To be with this anxiety.

[72:31]

What should we do next? What should we do now? To be with that. To build a sense of And we have millions of people who are having the same opportunity so we can be where we are, and they can be where they are, and we can build sanctuaries all over this land. It's okay? It's okay. I keep having the question when you say the word sanctuary. Is there a sanctuary? Is there a sanctuary that can be built? Is there a sanctuary? Yes, there is a sanctuary. And, by the way, the sanctuary is completely other. The sanctuary is... is not abiding in any idea of sanctuary.

[73:37]

That's the place of refuge. That's going back. That's returning to Buddha. And there is such a place, and you can't abide in it, and it is not abiding in anything. And it's not a place. And it's not a place. It's a place that's not a place. But still, you have to build it at a place where you are And you cannot build it at a place you're not. You can't build this in another place. That's the hard part. But once you're willing to be in your place, then you get to build a sanctuary at your place, which is not a place. Is Michelle her sanctuary? Is Michelle? No. She's not my sanctuary either. But the meeting between me and Michelle The meeting between me and Michelle, I'm talking about now.

[74:39]

And the meeting between me and Linda. And the meeting between Linda and Michelle. That's where the sanctuary is built. In that meeting. Michelle's not the sanctuary. Linda's not the sanctuary. I'm not the sanctuary. Linda is unreliable. Unstable. Not worthy. It's my job, it's my job to demonstrate instability, unpredictability, uncontrollability. unreliability, not worthy of confidence. And you can just go ahead and have confidence in me, remembering that I'm not worthy of it. I also can remember I'm not worthy of it. But I'm here to offer you a chance to meet. And everybody else is too.

[75:41]

In the meeting, the sanctuary will be built. I have confidence in that. And that is, that's not a compounded thing. The sanctuary is not a compounded thing. It's the Buddha body that doesn't abide in it. And it's living in a fully responsible meeting with other all of us right now. So, let's enjoy it. May our intention be present to every being and place, with the true merit of God's way.

[76:41]

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