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From Delusion to Enlightenment: Awareness
AI Suggested Keywords:
The talk centers on the study of dependent co-arising, particularly the cyclic nature of birth and death. It discusses the concept of ignorance as the primary cause of suffering and explores how this ignorance manifests through self-conceptualization and delusion. The talk emphasizes the importance of recognizing and understanding one's delusions and mistakes as part of a path toward enlightenment. It further reflects on how non-discriminative awareness can lead to liberation from these delusions and ultimately reach the practice where things practice oneself, leading to an enlightened state characterized by a lack of fixed identity.
- Referenced Teachings and Concepts:
- Dependent Co-arising: Central Buddhist concept illustrating how phenomena arise in dependence upon multiple causes and conditions, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all things.
- Ignorance and Delusion: Described as fundamental causes of cyclic birth and death, highlighting the illusory nature of an independent self.
- Karma: Discussed in terms of action when wrongly conceived as autonomous, contrasting with action within the interdependent framework of dependent co-arising.
- Bodhisattva's Mind: The mind without abode, characterized by adaptability and non-attachment, vital for helping others and attaining enlightenment.
- Non-discrimination: Achieved by deeply understanding one's discriminative processes, leading to liberation from self-imposed constraints and delusions.
The talk thoroughly outlines the process of moving from delusion to enlightenment by studying the self without action, encouraging consistent practice and reflection on mistakes.
AI Suggested Title: "From Delusion to Enlightenment: Awareness"
Possible Title: 2.
Additional text: SONY, CD-R AUDIO, COMPACT disc DIGITAL AUDIO Recordable, 80 min
@AI-Vision_v003
So I'd like to continue to talk about the study of dependent colonizing. That's what is central teaching. And in doing so, I talk in terms of the process or the path that the danger of talking about the path is that it sounds like going someplace or doing something. Kind of paradoxical in this case, though, because the path is the path that might be yourself. So it's hard to talk about it without maybe leading you to think I'm talking about me doing something. I'm very much talking about not moving as the fundamental The fundamental feeling of this process is not to move.
[01:06]
There are different kinds of dependent co-arising in the sense dependent co-arising produces different kinds of things, or different things arise through dependent co-origination. The universe dependently co-arises, the whole universe. And then every being in the universe dependently co-arises with every other being in the universe, but the way each one arises produces their difference. So in a sense, dependent core arising is not a thing, separate from the fact of things appearing and disappearing. But in particular, I want to talk about, rather than get into the dependent core arising of the history of the world or planets or ecosystems, I want to talk about the dependent core arising
[02:29]
Misery, that's one kind of thing that dependent core arises. In the dependent core arising of liberation from misery, I want to talk about the dependent core arising of what we call cyclic birth and death. Cyclic means over and over and over and over and over and over, basically forever. from beginningless time to beginningless, endless end. And also the pentachorizing of freedom from that process. The basic ingredient in the dependent core rising of cyclic birth and death is ignorance.
[03:44]
In other words, ignoring. Ignoring something or everything or somewhere in between. Ignoring your experience, ignoring your pain, ignoring your anxiety. You're flying away from where you are, flying away from being yourself. Flying away from being yourself also can be interpreted as making more of yourself than it actually justifies. Another way to fly away from yourself is to make yourself into more than you are. If you're a 100-pounder, you might fly away from that and think you're a 110-pounder. Or if you're a 150-pounder, you might fly away from that and think you're a 120-pounder. To make more or less of yourself, the basic flight, the basic ignorance is that as soon as the self is born, as soon as we're born as individuals, we make more, a little bit more or a lot more
[05:07]
or a lot less out of ourselves than we are. We take ourselves too seriously or not seriously enough, which is basic. But not seriously enough is just another way to take yourself too seriously. And that sets up this process of psychic disturbance and dislocation Exile. Anxiety. And the anxiety is very difficult for us to stand. So we're driven from the anxiety to fear. And then we're afraid. We'll basically do whatever somebody might tell us or imply or suggest or even hint at. And maybe they don't even hint at it, but we think they're hinting at it. And maybe if we do certain things, we're afraid it won't happen. And then if we do, if we act in that way to avoid some fearful thing, then the anxiety is increased, which even drives us to more fear and we're more easily manipulated by, not necessarily by other people, but by what we think they want us to do in order to avoid what we think might happen.
[06:27]
It causes more anxiety, which causes more challenges for us to be present and so on and so forth. And it gets so bad that we have to deny everything that's going on there. And so if we see anybody else doing anything that reminds us about that, then we will have trouble letting it be that way. In fact, since they remind us of something so painful and we weren't aware of it before they did it, we'll go to great lengths to get them to stop that, even if it would hurt them. So then that, of course, you know, this is the kind of co-riding of misery. Do I need to go into more detail on that right now? Does everybody understand that sort of? Is that clear? I mean, is the sound clear?
[07:30]
Clear at all? Well. So that's a dependable variety of misery in very short form. A couple other things I would like to add into that, though, even though you don't seem to need it, is that in this situation, one way to typify our behavior is that we, like I said, we make more out of ourself. We make a little bit more out of ourself than is appropriate. So we actually, one of the things we think about ourselves, or one of the ways we think about ourselves, is we actually think that we can do things by ourself. Like we think stuff like, we think we can raise our arm up by ourself, or put it down by ourself. Or we can talk on our own.
[08:31]
Or that we can practice Buddhism. that we personally could just, like, go ahead and practice Buddhism, or that we could, like, confirm things, you know, affirm them and deny them and stuff like that. We think we can do that on our own. This is one of the kind of basic things that we feel capable of when we ignore what we really are and make a little bit more out of ourselves than we really are. We kind of make ourselves into little gods. And God is... And this way of, for example, practicing Buddhism or driving a car, this basic approach is what we call delusion. This is the basic definition of delusion, that you can practice various things and confirm various things while carrying a self. Or while carrying a self, under the burden of a self,
[09:35]
that you think you can do things, you can practice. This is the kind of basic definition of delusion. It's quotes delusion. It's not really delusion because there is no such thing. So since there's no such thing, it wouldn't be right to say, well, that's delusion. But if you want to know how delusion, the illusion of delusion appears, that's how it appears. That's the basic way it appears, that we think we can do things. on our own. And that's also a basic definition of what we call karma. Karma means action. But it doesn't just mean action like the action of the universe. It's not the action of dependent co-arising. It's not dependent co-arisen action. It's action that I do or you do. Dependent co-arisen action, if you see action dependent co-arising, that's not something you do independently. That's something you do with everyone. But when you think that you can act on your own, that's called karma. So then, of course, in that way you think, or you understand, or you believe.
[10:44]
But the way you see it is that you can actually think on your own, too. Like, you can go ahead and say, I can think of a woman. Or I can think, you know, walking out the door. Or I can think of a man. I can think things. I, myself, can go ahead and think things. I can dream things up. I can dream things up. I can dream things up. I can imagine things. Like, I have the power to imagine all by myself. I can just go ahead and imagine things. In fact, imagination does happen here all the time. And I do dream all the time. But I don't do it all by myself, really. The thing that I do, that's delusion. And I also can imagine that, not only can I imagine that I do things on my own, by my own personal power of imagination, but I also, I also, whether I admit it or not, and a lot of people don't admit that they do this, they attribute reality to their imagination so they think they can imagine things on their own and also that what they imagine is true or that what they imagine is false but basically they're turning the dial true false truth false they can decide that's the goddess god thing you can decide this is true this is false you can talk to other people if you want to and you can say you know stir if you agree and he says no i don't
[12:00]
And then I'd say, do you agree? And she'd say, yes, I do. And do you agree? Yes, I do. OK, true. Or you can say, no, I need higher percentage. But you can decide what kind of agreement you need in order to basically you're in charge of the universe. So that's not taking yourself too seriously. And that's delusion. So then, now, how to study dependent core rising when you basically don't see it that way? So we're living... Let's say that basically we're subject to some extent, or to a great extent, to this way of seeing things, that we think we can do things independently. So we are deluded to some extent. Let's say we even agree. Okay, I agree.
[13:01]
I do think I can do things. So I guess, according to your definition, which isn't my definition, according to your boss's definition... I guess I'm deluded then. Fine. Well, how would a deluded person practice then? Well, most people start out practicing in a deluded way because when you hear about practice, how are you going to do it? Well, you're going to do it. If we talk about right away start out practicing not in a deluded way, it's going to be hard to not do it that way because that's the way you see things. But just right off, even though it might be different, even though it's kind of like, what do you call it, in some sense, logically inconsistent, if I'm talking to deluded people, if I'm a deluded person, to even talk about a non-deluded approach to practice, still I will mention it right off, the non-deluded approach, and then I'll discuss how you won't be able to do it that way.
[14:06]
The non-deluded approach is, For when all things come forward and practice you. Or when all things come forward and practice one self. And they come forward and practice one self all over the place. And when all things come forward and practice one self, all things come forward and practice one self, all things come forward and practice one self, that's the world of enlightenment, or that is enlightenment. But that's not in quotes. That's actually happening. So if you hear about that practice, you may or may not say, well, it sounds strange, but I probably should try it. That's what the ancient Zen master said, I'll try it. But of course, if you try it, then you say, I'll try it. So what you're doing, you're hearing about a really great practice, and then you're going to do it. So actually, you're back over just in the realm of delusion again.
[15:09]
So in fact, I think we need to admit that our first approach to practice will be in whatever realm we're in. If we're already in the enlightened realm, fine. But if we're not, then we're not. If we're not, then let's admit it. Even though we're not sure, let's consider it a possibility. Now, in order to turn this process around, and even while still being deluded to turn the process around, Anyway, so one, two, three, let's try to turn the process around, OK? And let's turn around now. Start turning the thing around and start looking back at ourself.
[16:19]
Let's start studying ourselves. Even though we're still like, I'm going to study myself now, and it's a deluded approach to some extent, let's try a deluded person. Look at ourself. Look at your body. Look at your feelings. Look at your feelings. Look at your emotions. Look at your temperature. Just check yourself out, okay? And again, but the approach here is, like, don't go anyplace to do this. Don't, like, start looking around exactly. Just don't move. And if you don't move, quite naturally, your opinions will start arising, right? Your opinions will start arising. Like, your opinions will come up like, maybe I should move. Maybe I've sat here long enough. Maybe this is stupid. Maybe this is great. Maybe I'm finally doing the right thing. Maybe this is painful.
[17:21]
Maybe this is too painful. Maybe I'm hurting myself. Maybe I'm scared. Maybe I'm anxious. Actually, it feels like I am anxious. And it feels like I'm in pain. It feels like I'm getting angry at the Japanese people. Or translating this practice. And, uh... But, oh, they said not to move, so I'm not going to get up and look for one to beat up. I'm just going to stay here for a while. And notice how angry I'm getting about this whole situation. I'm getting angry that somebody told me about sitting still. I'm getting angry at myself for sitting still. I'm angry. And I think there's a whole bunch of excuses for being angry. Oh, and I'm scared, and so on. And the more you sit still... the more you get out in these waves. They don't necessarily get bigger and [...] bigger. They just get bigger and then they [...] get bigger.
[18:23]
Or they pulse. They go ouch, ouch, ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. Hey, a break. Ouch, ouch. Anxiety, fear. Hatred, it's a mess. It's called inner chaos. Inner chaos produced by taking yourself too seriously. And taking yourself too seriously has all these current consequences, right? I mean, taking yourself seriously, you did karma, like you beat people up or push people in boxes. All this bad stuff you did to people to try to get them to be other ways then starts welling up in you while you're sitting. Because you're not moving away from the stuff, you start opening up in your karma. The results of the things you've done starts revealing itself to you, and the waters get rough. Plus also, as I said, you're still probably taking this approach of, I'm doing this, I'm sitting still, or I'm going to get out of here, or I'm going to stay here, which causes much more waves and turns the water into poison.
[19:33]
And you start to see how, and you start to notice that not only is this stuff difficult to deal with, but this attitude is also making it worse. This is part of what you learn. However, if you continue this practice of not moving and just be upright and dignified about the whole thing, there will be an impulse to try to fix it. Like, will somebody please freeze this water? Or could we have your steamroller in and level it? Or basically, let's get out of here, all that stuff. You'll notice that that stuff makes it worse. And also, maybe you keep getting information and hints The teachers at the practice that you sort of have just signed up for, the teachers keep saying, don't do anything about this. Don't try to fix it. Don't try to make the ocean go flat. Don't try to jazz it up. Don't try to make it not poisonous. Matter of fact, notice how the fact that you have some fixed views about this is making it that way. Check it out, check it out, check it out, and keep walking through this stuff.
[20:40]
And you're walking to the center, but you don't know where it is. And of course, it's not someplace other than here, so you're very close, and yet you're walking through stuff. The reason why you're walking through stuff is because the stuff that's happening is from the past walking you did. So it seems like stuff is moving because you moved before. So in a sense, you're walking through this stuff to the center of your being. You don't know how long this is going to be. But it's rough. It's difficult. It's a difficult walk. It's difficult to be upright. And even if you're upright, you'll be given difficult temptations. Things are happening which are kind of saying, now, don't you want to fix this? Don't you think it would be better if you weren't here? And so on. Don't you think this is true, what's happening?
[21:46]
Don't you think this is false? And being upright means you don't fall for any of that. It means when they say, don't you think this is true, you don't say, no. When they say, don't you think this is false, you don't say, no. You also don't say, yeah. You don't say anything. There's enough noise already. There's plenty of noise all around you. You don't have to say anything, there's plenty happening. And of course, what's happening seems like you talking to some extent. But there's basically your practice is just to sort of walk through all this noise and all this turbulence. Not any particular place, just walk through it. You may understand that you're walking to your true nature, but you're basically walking through. And you're carrying this self all the time.
[22:47]
Self on top. You keep doing it. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. As you go through this, as part of being upright, you have to develop patience. Otherwise, when you get a real noxious splash of yuck in the face, You have trouble reacting, fighting back, but finding somebody to blame for it. So you have to develop patience. And patience means not just gritting your teeth, but it means going to finding the center, trying to be very much in the present of this noxious onslaught, or pleasant onslaught. You have to be patient with pleasant things, too. If you can be patient with pleasant things, it doesn't mean you can be patient with unpleasant things. If you can be patient with unpleasant things, you can be patient with pleasant things.
[23:50]
So basically, you work on unpleasant things with patience. And if you can practice patience and settle in the middle of this stuff you're walking through and be still and quiet and not mess around with it, but mostly just keep trying to find the unmoving presence and non manipulative way to deal with what's happening, gradually you start to actually want, you actually kind of want to drop this burden that you're carrying, which has caused, and you start to see also that this burden you're carrying has caused all this mess. And not only has it caused it, but it also makes it harder to and negotiate the space too. And you kind of wish you could drop it. But again, trying to drop it is not being upright. It's not being still. So without moving in a kind of unmoving, un-greedy way, you wish to let go of this body and mind and just drop them off.
[24:57]
You want to drop them because you can see that if you dropped them, And wanting to drop it means not I want to drop this so this thing will all go down, because that wouldn't really be like wanting to drop it. Wanting to drop it means I'd be willing to drop this even if I don't give anything for it. I actually want to drop even trying to get something out of this because wanting to get something out of this is what I want to drop. I want to drop trying to get something out of my life. I want to stop being concerned with me getting something out of this. That's what I want to drop. I actually would like to drop it. If it dropped, it would be fine with me. And you keep walking. Meantime, you're a little bit learning. Even though you're still carrying yourself, you're learning a little bit about dependent colorizing. But you're learning about dependent colorizing in the misery. getting more and more lessons about how misery, how turbulence, how attachment causes problems.
[26:04]
You get more and more information about it, getting more and more knowledgeable about it. At the same time, while you're getting more knowledgeable about it, also your interest and willingness to drop the cause is getting stronger. The knowledge is increasing, and the willingness to drop the cause of the problem is increasing. And as your willingness to drop your self-attachment increases, your willingness to study increases. And you gradually start spending less and less time fighting the turbulence and the obnoxiousness. Spend less time fighting it, in other words, being more upright, and more time actually devoting your attention to study rather than worrying about the future or the past. In other words, your uprightness becomes more effective. You're also willing to drop past and future.
[27:06]
So you're willing to study just to study rather than study in order to get something. So little by little, you start to realize this mind of renunciation, this mind of willing to drop. And your uprightness becomes more and more clear. Your study becomes more and more effective. You understand dependent polarizing better and better. Until finally, you realize something. Finally, you realize dependent coalescing. You become a dependent coalescing thing. You stop turning away from what you've been turning away from this for a long time. You don't turn towards it either. You just become dependent coalescing. In other words, you understand dependent core rising, but it isn't like you're out here understanding dependent core rising over there. You understand it means you realize it, which also means dependent core rising realizes you. And then you switch to this other practice that we talked about earlier, when everything coming forth realizes you.
[28:14]
Then you switch from your practicing to everything's practicing you. And you switch from you thinking things Everything thinks you. The whole world thinks you. Or you think as the world. And you practice as the world practices. And then the illusion is dropped. And the enlightenment is born. And dependent core arising is manifested. And this is the dependent core arising of awakening. And then from there, you walk out from there, and you go to work, interacting with people, being a person again, having an identity, even being deluded maybe. You can see all that. And at that place where you realize dependent core rising,
[29:21]
This is what we call Bodhisattva's mind which has no abode. Not like you're there with just a mind, but rather all things come forward and the mind is created. So there is a mind there, but it has no abode. It's signless. This is what we call signless sight of awakening. So that's also why from this place you can accommodate all circumstances appropriately, not just appropriately. You adjust the circumstances because you have no fixed agenda about how you would help people. And it would be vile to help people is what gets you to walk through this crap for such a long time.
[30:23]
to get to the place where you really would be able to help. People wonder, well, can't you do any help on the way in? The answer is yes, you can, definitely. It is helpful to people to see you at the beginning of your turnaround. When you first start looking at yourself at the beginning, that encourages people. People love to see people starting. Because a lot of people haven't started. It's very encouraging if someone else sticks their toes in a little bit. So you're just a beginner and you're still totally, you know, deluded and fixed opinions. You haven't even got into facing your problems yet. But you're contemplating the possibility of facing some of your problems. And some people don't even want to do that yet. But the fact that you're willing to do it and they see you do it, it's very encouraging. Then they get into it a little further and actually start to tangle with some of this crap. That encourages people, too. They say, oh, God, what's horrible, buddy?
[31:26]
He's surviving. You know? He's still there. And as you go deeper and deeper, at whatever stage you're at, it encourages people behind you, and it encourages people ahead of you that you're coming. So all the way through, on the way into the place where you become most effective, Every stage of the way, it's helpful to me. And everything, and the things you do are helpful, but it's still, still you're creating more trouble until you get to that place. You're still causing yourself some trouble, so you can't really stop, because you're still a pest to the universe until you drop this taking yourself too serious. And you kind of know that, so it's really difficult, and you're thinking of backing out now and then, You know, logically speaking, you can see that it's not going to work to turn around. You're causing problems now, and if you go backwards, you're just going to make more trouble. And going forward, you'll also make more trouble, but you'll gradually make less and less trouble.
[32:31]
I'm telling you, not troublesome at all. But actually, I would say, another thing I want to say is that as you're going through this stuff, if as you're going along in your uprightness, you will notice that you make mistakes. many, many, many, many mistakes. Every time you notice you make a mistake, that's a little enlightenment. And if you notice your mistakes and look at them, that makes you harmless through this process. If you don't notice your mistakes, you're still harmful to yourself and others. Before you start this process, of course, you're non-stop, you know, non-stop, ceaseless damage. Because you're making mistakes and hurting people and yourself, but you don't even notice it. When you start noticing your mistakes, you've ended the process. And noticing your mistakes is upright. You're upright when you notice your mistakes. And noticing your mistakes and examining their causes and conditions is studying depending for arising of your error.
[33:36]
And that protects you and other beings. So when you don't notice your mistakes, you're again dangerous. When you do notice your mistakes and study them, you're safe and others are safe. So it doesn't mean you don't make any mistakes and continue to cause problems in your grind, but if you notice them, that protects the process. When you get to the center, not only are you harmless, but you can actually start doing lots of group things besides showing people that they can survive mistakes. OK, so that's basically it. And now, Martina has a question. You! Me? Yeah. Although I may have something to say, you're the one, you're the final judge. Who determines if it's a mistake? Who catches the mistakes? It's you.
[34:38]
I may say, in my opinion, you made a mistake, but then you can decide whether it's what you think it is. It's when you think it's a mistake that it counts, because you have to feel in yourself that's a mistake. That's off the point. And when you feel it's a mistake, that means you feel uprightness. So as soon as you know it's a mistake, uprightness is alive. You're balanced. Maybe I'm fooling. If you think it's a mistake, you're not fooling yourself. Never. If you think you're not making a mistake, you are almost always fooling yourself. Because how can you possibly think that you don't make a mistake without fooling yourself? Because that's delusion. Buddhism is not about walking the path and thinking, I'm not making a mistake. You know, I'm not making a mistake today. I'm not making a mistake. This is right, and this is right, and this is right, too. That's not Buddhism. Buddhism is about
[35:39]
They're doing well. [...] They're virtuous. They're great. Yay, yay, yay. I'm making mistakes. I'm making mistakes. I'm making mistakes. They're not just saying, but noticing. Notice your mistakes. Notice others' virtues. That's Buddhism. If you don't notice any mistakes, you haven't started. If you notice other people's virtues, you've started. Well, can you just talk a little more, if you're exercising a non-discriminating mind, how do you distinguish, or how do you view that and still see virtue versus mistake? How do you see virtue if you're not exercising a discriminating mind? If you are aiming towards a state of non-discrimination... If you're aiming... If you're aiming... No, it's okay.
[36:45]
If you're aiming, you're discriminating. You're still discriminating. Do you want to say if you have a non-discriminating mind, then how would you discriminate? Is that what you want to say? Well, you ask your question. I'm not going to guess. No, you get it out. I don't even know my question. But there's some tendency among people when they hear about non-discrimination to think that non-discrimination means you don't discriminate. That's not what it means. Non-discrimination means you understand the process of discrimination. So, before you understand the process of discrimination, you at least would do well to watch yourself discriminate. So you're present, right? You're practicing uprightness. You're not moving. You notice somebody's discriminating around you. Now, what are they discriminating? They're noticing the virtue of these people. They're discriminating. These people have virtue.
[37:45]
And also there's discrimination. Oh, I made a mistake. This is discrimination. You're still in the realm of discrimination, and you're also noticing your discrimination. All right? Following this? Okay. So this is the realm of discrimination, and you're watching how you discriminate, hopefully. You're learning how you discriminate. You notice, for example, I notice myself, people I've noticed, is that when I notice people's virtues, when I discriminate, and I see, oh, there's a person, and it's a virtuous person, I notice that that discrimination goes with me being very happy. Also, when I notice my errors, I notice that goes with not being real happy about that, actually feeling some remorse and maybe some embarrassment. But it goes with me being less dangerous because I don't think I'm right, at least for that moment.
[38:48]
And when I don't think I'm right, I'm not as dangerous as when I think I'm right. Because when I'm right, well, I'm right. You better be right too, otherwise we're going to have to do some correction. So noticing that you're making a mistake, you humble yourself. And also when you notice, which you kind of experience, gee, that kind of like feels good to be humbled in a way. It's not humiliating, humble. That's kind of like a Buddha or like a Zen master to be humble, right? That's cool. I feel good when I'm humble. And also when you're humble, you start noticing the virtues of others. You get lower and lower and they get higher and higher. And you just say, gee, they're really great. That feels good. So this whole thing of watching that kind of discrimination, you notice that noticing your own errors makes you safer and less, you know, like, what, the autocrat of the universe kind of thing, laying down the law because you know what it is. You become more humble and soft and... and you also appreciate people more, so you notice that process of discrimination and how that works.
[39:52]
And you also notice that you still may have the habit of thinking that you're right, and they're less than virtuous, and you notice how that works. You watch that, and you notice that it's caused lots of problems. And you hear about Buddhism being the path of peace and harmony, and you notice that that sort of goes with this thing of you noticing your errors and appreciating others, and you notice that Buddhism says that noticing others' errors and your virtues, that that's not the path of Buddhism, and you notice that does cause lots of war. You can go over that path, you can go over to Yugoslavia and have a great time. and find a lot of people just like you there at this time who really want war because they're right and they themselves are right and the other people are wrong. Is that correct? Isn't that what's happening? Are you with me? I'm following. Are you with me? I'm with you. Oh, good. I don't want to get ahead of you, all right?
[40:56]
I don't want to get ahead of you. Could you wait? I'm sure we're talking to him. I'll talk to you later. I just want one person at a time. So if you watch the process of discrimination in this way and get more and more familiar with it, after a while, you develop what's called non-discrimination. In other words, you no longer are caught by your discriminations. You understand so well how they depend on the co-arisen that you're detached from your own discrimination. You start not believing your discriminations as realities. When you really understand your process of discrimination, when you're, in other words, very skillful at watching yourself discriminate, you become liberated from your process of discrimination. That's called non-discrimination. Before that time, you believed your discriminations to some extent. You still believe. You think, oh, that person's virtuous. I'm an error. That's not really true that they're virtuous and you're an error. It's actually neither one of you are virtuous or an error. Both of you are far beyond any such measurement.
[41:57]
But temporarily, you think it's true. They're virtuous and I'm in error, or I'm right and they're wrong. That also we think is true, which is much more dangerous. So you learn all the textures and landscapes of discrimination. You become a master or mistress of the process. And when you're a master or mistress of it, you fly out and far beyond discrimination. But based on mastery of the process, is how you fly beyond it, not by stopping it. Because if you stop the process of discrimination, you know what will happen? It will get very big, turn into this immense monster, and it will come and get you. But it will be much worse than it ever was before you got rid of it. Like I heard Jesus said, if you bring what's inside forth, it will save you. Okay? But if you don't bring what's inside forth, it will destroy you. So you have a process of discrimination inside you. If you go in there and master it, become proficient at it, learn about how it works, you will be able to bring it forth.
[43:05]
And when you bring it forth, it will set you free from itself. That's non-discrimination. If you don't learn about your discrimination, you don't bring it forth, it will destroy you. And unfortunately, it won't just destroy you, it might destroy some other people too. If they don't if they were not discrimination-based. OK? Does that address your question? Right. You're welcome. Let's see. Who was next? You were next? I think so. This is kind of a way to .. Yeah. The thing about harm and harmlessness, I can see there are these situations where a certain kind of pattern is indulged and it isn't yet fully recognized as harmful, and yet there's some kind of, you know, drag that occurs. Partial recognition is fine. Well, let me just think further. You know, it's not even partial recognition.
[44:06]
It's just like, well, why am I back? You know, and so, in a sense... Once that, you know, the next time it happened, well, maybe that has something to do with something else. Yeah, right. So there's a whole process of this recognition. Yes. So even from the very beginning with, you know, calling it harm, there's a sense in which the whole thing is coherent, whole. Yes. And then there's a recognition of something like perfection. Yeah. So what I want to ask about is celebration of Okay, what do you want to ask about it? Well, it seems like it's a little different than just recognizing a misstep. It seems like it's a little different? Yeah. How is it different? It's just seeing this kind of natural process, natural kind of movement away from literary. And that's great. And so there's a kind of happiness, and there's a kind of, you know, kind of not entirely visible, but some, well,
[45:13]
There's some kind of perception or apperception of things working out that's great. That's great. So what's your question? I wonder, I mean, it seems to me that sometimes there's a way, sometimes there's a reminder or something. There's an internal reminder of that that produces happiness or something happens that produces that kind of recognition. Yes. And... For me, it feels different than just noticing, uh-oh, there I go again, and I never saw that it had this effect. It is different. It is different to notice an error than to have a kind of inkling of perfection. But they are different, aren't they? Yeah. So what's your question? Whether that's Buddhism. What's Buddhism? That kind of inkling of perfection. Eagling of perfection? I mean, it seems like sometimes it seems to me that... It's not Buddhism, no.
[46:16]
No. But also, nothing's Buddhism. Oh. Don't worry. But the eagling of perfection, if you enjoy it, I would suggest you enjoy it and have a party about it if you want to. And if you want to know if that's Buddhism, I would say no. But notice the misstep. What? But notice the misstep you were told. No, I wouldn't call it Buddhism exactly. I'd call it Buddha's way. It's definitely Buddhist practice. When you make a mistake, to notice it and to admit it honestly. Buddhism has to do it honestly in many ways.
[46:54]
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