This case seems to me to be a pretty subtle discussion about the function of what's called the Buddha Mind Seal. So it seems to me that before we talk, this is kind of like how to work with it. So I think we should talk about what it is first for a while. And one point of departure for that, I think that's good, is in Dogen's fascicle called Bendowa, at the beginning of the fascicle, he says that the Buddha's who have this inconceivable Buddhadharma, have a wonderful means for realizing it, and this is the practice of zazen.

[01:19]

And its touchstone or its standard is what's called self-fulfilling awareness. or literally self-receiving and self-employing awareness. In Japanese it's called Jiju Yuzanmai. This self-enjoyment awareness is the mind of the Buddha. And particularly it's the mind of the Buddha that arose during his enlightenment experience under the boat tree and his enjoyment of that release for 49 days afterwards. In Sanskrit they call this the vimoksha sukha samadhi, enjoying the sweet taste of release.

[02:21]

But the content of Buddha's awakening is, at least the philosophical content of Buddha's awakening is what he called dependent co-arising. That was his, that's the content of Buddha's awakening, of his mind, the philosophical content. There was some kind of what you might call shamanic content too, like being able to review his past lives and things like that, understanding other people's minds, divine vision and divine hearing. These things occurred for the Buddha too while he was sitting. But the philosophical content which he then conveyed to other people as his basically, his main constructive teaching is called Dependent Co-Arising. the mind of dependent co-arising is the same as this self-fulfilling or self-enjoyment awareness.

[03:32]

And we have the practice period starting now, and I think it's fortunate that we have this teaching from Dogen's energy about this self-fulfilling awareness, because I think self-fulfilling awareness or meditation on dependent co-arising, you could also say, is meditation on the relationship between self and the environment. Or it's ecological samadhi, or the echo samadhi, you could say. meditation on the relationship between the limited self and other beings, human and non-human. This is, how that works is actually called dependent co-arising. Okay? And there is a particular aspect of how this works which is called the Buddha Mind Seal or the Buddha Mudra.

[04:41]

or the Buddha-mind mudra. And in the, in the Vandava Dogen says that that sitting upright, being upright in the midst of this awareness is the true path of awakening. And also being upright is the is the gate of entry into this awareness. You can't like, you know, sort of, you can't manipulate yourself into this awareness. But if you can be upright, just the way you really are is your entrance into this awareness. So, he then says that If even for a moment you impress this Buddha mudra, this Buddha seal on your three activities, your three forms of karma, three forms of action, body, speech and mind, when through this sitting and through this awareness the Buddha seal is impressed on your three types of karma, then

[06:08]

The whole phenomenal world is also impressed by this Buddha Mind seal, because the Buddha Mind seal is actually kind of the seal, like sealing something, between self and the rest of the universe. So when one side realizes it, the other side realizes it. And when the other side realizes it, this side realizes it. So this communication between self and other, that surface, is where this Buddhist seal is happening. Now this case is talking about in a sense, how this seal works, how you can participate with this Buddha seal, this Buddha mind seal. But as I say, I think it would be good if you had a little bit, if there was a little bit more fluency with what's meant by this before you look at this case.

[07:21]

So, Okay, so how, for what I've said so far, how are you at now? Could you say a little bit more about how the Buddha's mind still imprints body, speech, and mind? Okay. It doesn't really have body. The imprinting of this, the imprinting of this mind seal on, for example, thought, mental karma, is, well, just let me say that the imprinting of this seal on all action that you're involved in is a, is a kind of like, very much the core

[08:46]

of zazen, very much the core of Buddhist meditation. And the entrance into this kind of practice is receiving Buddhist precepts. So we need to keep that in mind in what we say about this practice, this meditation practice, because this practice does not put emphasis on actions. This practice doesn't say, you know, practice wholesomeness and avoid evil and benefit all beings. All three of those practices are happening in this Buddha Mind Seal. You should understand that. But there's nothing in this kind of talk about saying to do anything. What's happening at this level of meditation is not karmic. in the sense of giving some instruction that you should do something. This meditation is not just something you do.

[09:51]

It's also not separate from what you do. It is the nature of what you do. You're emphasizing the nature of what you do rather than like being instructed in doing something. So we can say that zazen and this self-fulfilling awareness is not just something you do. It's not another thing you do. But there are things you should do. You should practice wholesomeness, for example. In the realm where you think that you do things, you should do good. But the realm where you think you do things is the realm of delusion. The realm of karma is the realm of delusion, where you think that you do things. And we are involved in that. Even a Buddha has such illusions running through the mind, like, I do something, I walk, I think, I think this way, I talk, I make a posture.

[10:59]

So I'm not going to be saying, you know, do this, do that, when I talk about this. What I'm talking about is that you study the nature of your action. And in the culmination of the study of the nature of action, the Buddha mind seal is revealed. Because the Buddha mind seal is the place where the delusion that you do something meets the awakening that something does you. It is only by means of dependent co-arising that you can think something. You can't think even of any concept except by interactions with all beings. You can't make a posture all by yourself. You can't make a sound all by yourself. However, we do think that we can make a sound all by ourself, that we can make a posture all by ourself, and we can think a thought, or have a thought which has a certain tendency, which is karmic thought.

[12:15]

Karmic thought is not just any function of the mind, it is like the intentional sort of watershed of the mind. It's what the mind looks like it is going towards, or what it looks like it's tending towards. We think, as karmic beings, as deluded beings, as independent operators, we think we can do that by ourself. That's karma. But it also can be the case that all things come forward and realize this thought. All things come forward and realize this voice, this sound, this vocalization. All things come forward and then we have posture. Where those two meet, how they meet, is this Buddha mudra. The Buddha mudra is not just the awakening side.

[13:17]

where all things come forth and realize you, which is awakening. And of course it's not the deluded side where you come forward to situations and you do practice and you confirm things. It's not that either. It's actually the non-duality of these two dimensions. You don't have one without the other. You don't have enlightenment coming forward where there's no deluded person. So as I've been saying, you know, it's like the deluded point of view is there's the universe plus you. Or you come to the universe. The universe has got one thing extra. It's you, or me. It's the universe plus me. The other way is it's almost like there's a universe and there's one thing missing. You. It's like everything comes forward and you see everything but except your own face. And the world where there's one thing missing for a flash of a second almost... Not really, but where the last thing realized is you, in a sense.

[14:22]

That world with a little dent in it meets the world with a little bump in it. They're non-dual. That's the Buddhist seal. And that is already being impressed on everything you do. Because already, you do this, is met by everything that makes it possible for you to do that, plus to think that you do it. It's already going on. So, in fact, this Buddha mind seal is right now being impressed on everything you do. And you can talk about the way it's actually working prior to your realization of it. Now, if you want to have realization of it, then you have to do this practice of uprightness. practice of uprightness will take you into the awareness where you can see this happening. Now, maybe I have another question now.

[15:34]

Did that help some? Did you have it? Yeah. So again, the Buddha mind seal, actually the way it's translated in most places, I think it says stuff like, when you impress the Buddha mind seal on your three activities, but you don't impress it. It's already that way. And when you're really the way you are, somehow the way you, your uprightness witnesses this sealing happening. And then you can see that if the phenomenal world comes forth and makes you, you can see that when you realize that, then it goes back into making the phenomenal world what it is. And it's not like you make it. It's this mind seal that wakes you up and then goes back and wakes the world up. that made it possible for you to wake up.

[16:42]

Again, this is dependent co-arising. Dependently co-arising delusion is how it works that we think we do things by ourselves. That's a certain kind of dependent co-arising too. With the aid of everyone, we can think deluded thoughts. That's a certain kind of dependent co-arising of misery. it's a dependent co-arising of cyclic existence. But still, we don't do that by ourselves either, but we think we do everything by ourselves, and even we think we do birth and death by ourselves. And there's also dependently co-arisen awakening, and that's when all things come forth and realize you. All things come forth and realize themselves. All things come forth and confirm you. Everything realizes you. Everything confirms you. That's dependently co-arisen awakening.

[17:43]

But the Buddha body is not one or the other. Because dependently co-arisen awakening is not in a different world from dependently co-arisen birth and death. They're perfectly dovetailed. They're non-dual. You can't have one without the other. This is the Buddha mind seal. It's going on right now. Yes? I have a question. You said Buddha was released for forty-nine days. I just simply… Pardon? He was released after the awakening for forty-nine days. Well, he was released on a certain time… There's a historical aspect to his awakening, in the sense that it seems to have happened at a particular point. Okay? And then there's a historical thing that he sat for forty-nine days and enjoyed it seven times seven. Okay? Right?

[18:43]

This is, however, the historical view of Buddha, right? Actually, this did not happen at a particular point in time. That's another way to look at it. But in a historical way, it happened at a point and then he sort of reviewed it for forty-nine days, in seven sittings of seven days. Under seven different truths. Right. I was just wondering, what was he released from? He was released from delusion. He was released from karma. He was released from thinking that he did things independent of all other beings, which he was suffering from prior to that. even though he had done tremendous, you know, generated tremendous wholesome action for a long time prior to that, he still had not understood dependent core arising until that night.

[19:50]

And in that night he saw it. He saw how it worked. He saw how things arise in dependence on each other and how without that dependence things don't arise that way. He saw that. That's what he realized philosophically. And that's what he taught afterwards. And I just sort of like my mind's leaping that by studying dependent co-arising, how things come together, you realize what's called emptiness of things. You realize the insubstantiality of all phenomena. So you approach the realization of emptiness in this constructive way by studying dependent co-arising. And then you understand the insubstantiality of all things. Then you understand that nothing matters. And then, in the way I was talking yesterday, because you understand how nothing matters, because everything's insubstantial, because of that, that's why everything's important.

[20:52]

Then that turns to everything is important, everything does matter. There's nothing more important than anything else. And the way to understand that is by just studying dependent co-arising. And that ties again into ecological awareness, where, you know, there's no place in the world you can spit, we say, in soto-zen. There's no place in the world you can spit. There's no, like, low place. Every place is equally precious and sacred. This comes by studying dependent co-arisingness. To hear that there's no place to spit is kind of like a signal to study dependent co-arising. to study how all possible spit locations, how all possible spit tunes are creating. Yes?

[21:56]

I read in the Tibetan book of... The dead, that when someone dies, their spirit stays in a certain... I can't remember the name of it, but... or their soul stays close to this plane for 49 days before it moves on. Is there any correlation between that? I don't know the right word for that state, but... Is there... Specifically 49 days. There is a correlation, yeah. By the way, it isn't that it stays for 49 days. It stays for a maximum of 49 days. It can go faster than that. Yeah, I think there is a correlation. The number seven is a magical number, which has something to do with the magic of our seven-day week, you know. And seven times seven is 49. So there is some relationship between 49, between the sevens and 49. It's a It's a symbol of some kind of our process.

[23:01]

Yes? This one step I'm not clear of particularly, and that is going from a dependent core arising into seeing if it means empty, that step. Yes? I don't understand. Well, again, logically the way it goes is that you know, the basic formula is, of Mahayana Buddhism is, from that Diamond Sutra, which is that, you know, whatever, you know, Buddha, Buddha, as no Buddha is taught by the Buddha. Therefore, we say Buddha. Or harmonies of Buddha fields, harmonies of Buddha fields, as no harmonies of no Buddha fields is taught by the Tathagata. Therefore we say Buddha fields. Zen center, Zen center, as no Zen center is taught by the Tathagata.

[24:05]

Therefore we say Zen center. The fact that A is A includes that A is not A. And the reason for that is that A is A precisely because of certain conditions, because of certain characteristics of A. That's how you know A is A and not B. Therefore, A is dependent on other things. It's conditioned. It's a dependently arisen phenomenon. Therefore, it has no inherent existence by itself. That's what we mean by empty. Because it's empty, it can be anything. even itself. That's why the emphasis is not on changing the karma, but by studying the karma. The fact that your karma is the way it is is precisely why it isn't what it is. So we don't try to eliminate karma, we try to study it.

[25:06]

And if you study it, you realize that it's not really what you think it is. Namely, it's not that you do this stuff by yourself. You can't do a single thing except by the aid of everyone. And it also doesn't mean that bad things don't happen with the aid of everyone. Everyone lets bad things happen. It doesn't mean they're not important, but it means that they should be studied until you understand how they are dependently co-produced. Is there air in here? Is this kind of stuffy? Yes? You said that even the Buddha has the delusion that I am doing with, and then you said that Buddha was released from delusion.

[26:09]

Right. So does this mean that Buddha is released from delusion but not forever? The Buddha recognizes delusion, for what it is in the moment that it occurs. Seeing, understanding delusion is awakening. So the Buddha wakes up on delusion constantly. Got a delusion? See it for what it is? That's awakening. The nature, the actual nature of delusion is awakening. Or Buddhas are those who are greatly awakened to what delusion is. So the content of Buddha's non-discriminating wisdom, the content of it is delusion, is this karmic creations.

[27:13]

That's the content. The Buddha's non-discriminating wisdom is inseparable from this karmic production, from the created. So it's moment by moment by moment. Yes. However, it also happens, according to Buddha's teaching, that all those moment by moment is eternal. That once this understanding occurs, it is permanent and momentary. So it's forever, moment by moment, the Buddha wakes up to delusion. And also, awakening also keeps going beyond itself, quite naturally. So Buddhas keep, in our ordination ceremony, after the confession we say, after they do the confession at the beginning of the ordination we say, even after acquiring Buddhahood will you continue this practice of confession. So I take that to mean that Buddhas continue to confess, that enlightened beings are confessing delusion.

[28:14]

But they confess it so fast that they wake up right on the production of karma and no karma is created. because it's completely present with the formation of illusion. So again, they're constantly realizing the non-duality of delusion and awakening, moment by moment. Delusion awakens, delusion arises, awakening to its nature arises simultaneously. It never happens later anyway. Delusion arises and awakening happens simultaneously. This is going on all the time. To witness that and live from there, this is a Buddha. And once that really happens thoroughly, then it just keeps happening that way. Now it's already happening that way. So once one is awakened, this is a permanent change in your life. However, it's not an eternal state. It's a constantly reiterated awakening. It's a constant reiteration of the practice of detachment and mindfulness and honesty and humanness.

[29:21]

And also it's constant demonstration of transcending your humanness by witnessing how it's dependently co-arisen. So our regular human mind says, well, if they wake up, then doesn't that last? Sort of we think that permanent things are that they last. That's not what permanent means. Permanent means that it changes and keeps happening. Yes. It seems that there's some concept of time here that's different from the way you generally think of it. That you generally think of it as this happens in this period of time and then this is the close-off that ends up. It seems to be a timeless thing you're talking about. Yeah, that's right. However, this timeless thing

[30:23]

This Buddha seal, which is a timeless thing, the content of it is time. Okay? So what is it that sort of always sits... happily in the midst of time. That's the Buddha mind seal. But it's like, again, if this karma... See, karma is involved in time. Karma is involved in, I do this, and then that has that effect. If you do these things, then because you think that way, there will be effects from thinking that way. Unless, while you think that way, you immediately realize awakening on that thought. But still that thought has the implication of having time, of going someplace, of having some other place, going some other... something outside itself. There's still the idea of externality, that there's something out there. So there's something timeless about witnessing the activity of karma.

[31:25]

Yes. To say that, is it somewhat misleading to say that you continuously realize the illusionary nature of self and other, and that being awakening? Yes. Because there is no self. Wait, just before you said that, you gave me two parts. The first part's good, though. I mean, the second part's good, too, but the first part's enough. You see, human beings are constantly realizing the delusional nature of thought and realizing always in the sense that you're making it real. We are demonstrating the delusionary quality of our mind. We're doing that. That's good. That's what's happening.

[32:33]

Now, you are actually doing that. And the fact that you're doing it is Buddha. See, usually we think, oh, I'm involved in this. Again, we think, oh, I'm involved in creating illusions or karma. And then to realize that it's karma, that would be awakening. But it's not like that. The actual realization of delusion itself is awakening. And everybody is doing that. You are realizing delusion. That itself is awakening. It's not that you're realizing or making it real or manifesting delusion and then later you understand it. The way it's actually happening is enlightenment. That's why we practice not moving, because the fact of the stillness and the itselfness of your delusion is precisely what's meant by awakening.

[33:47]

And again, if you watch this language here, you can see that it turns, that you realize that realizing delusion means that you make delusion real and also it means that you realize what delusion is. You can't realize what delusion is before it has arrived at being really deluded. You can't sort of like put on the brakes a little bit beforehand. It has to happen at the culmination of the processes of delusion being actually happening. Really karma. And that's the place where the Buddha mind seal is impressed. But that's already going on too. That's why they say to sit upright. It's the sitting upright, it's the not moving moment by moment in your state of human delusion that is your entry into this awareness.

[34:55]

Yes? Oh, Stuart. Good evening. It's really difficult for me to follow this last part that you said, because it seems to me that I'm almost always involved in delusional activities. and in the midst of them, and fooled by them, and karmically caught up in them. And it's very difficult to understand that as the circumstances of awakening or enlightenment. When I think about, when I think about my thinking about the awakening of the Buddha or many of the great teachers whose teaching I've heard, it seems that there is another kind of realization or another step that takes place beyond that.

[36:12]

It isn't just being caught up. that they seem to speak of as realization or that encourages me to see them as awakening people. I can understand that everybody is involved in the process of awakening. But it does seem that enlightenment involves another step. So, For me, the expression in the subtle round mouth of the pivot, the spiritual work turns.

[37:17]

I see it more as a pivot than as like a springboard. So you have delusion. Now, is this delusion realized or not? When the delusion is realized, when it's actually manifest delusion, this delusion, the way it actually is, itself, is to be released from this. It's not, as you said, it's not just being caught up. Realization is to be released. Realization is emancipation. Life is realization and emancipation. But to me, rather than another step, like some other place, it is that this thing just turns constantly, like, what is it, the mother bird turns the egg because she likes to sit on the cool side.

[38:26]

If you sit on delusion, it warms up and you naturally turn it over to the other side to be sitting on the cool side of it. The cool side of it is the release side of the Buddha. Buddhas have realized complete emancipation from delusion, but they do it on the delusion and on the manifested realized delusion. So you realize delusion and you realize what delusion is. There is release. It is permanent. But it is release from realized delusion, it is release from yourself and you can actually be yourself just as you are. You don't have to become another person in order to help people. You can help people from right where you are. Just the way you are now, you can use that to help people. Now, to realize that and to turn the egg over is highly unlikely, it turns out, according to the rules of Buddhadharma, it's highly unlikely that the egg is going to be turned over if the way you are is really angry and really distracted.

[39:37]

However, your delusion is being turned over constantly, you just don't realize it. So, in a sense, this practice of Soto Zen and just sitting is not to be manipulative and to just sit and realize this release by that process. But you need to understand the reason why you can just sit. Otherwise, you're subject to what we call the naturalist heresy. naturalist heresy, which is, in a sense, to hear what I said and think that all you have to do is sit in your delusion and be caught, and that's enough. You need to sit in your delusion and be caught and also understand the logic of how that turns. And your understanding is not what's going to make it happen.

[40:42]

Your understanding is going to protect you from thinking that you're doing enough. that just being yourself is enough, because this practice is not something you do. It's something that is done, you are done by, too. You do it with all sentient beings. So you can't rest in being deluded and being caught. There should be this turning. The pearl rolls on itself in the bowl. It's transformative. Again, the standard response to transformation is this kind of like prototypic conversation between the sixth ancestor and one of his main disciples, Nanyue Huayron.

[41:44]

Nanyue comes to the Sixth Patriarch and the Sixth Patriarch says, where do you come from? And he says, I come from Sung. And the Sixth Patriarch says, what is it that thus comes? In other words, what's the Tathagata? And he says, to say it's this would miss the point. What's the Buddha? To say it's this would miss the point. And then the Sixth Patriarch says, well, does that mean you say there's no practice in realization? But you could say, does that mean you say there's no practice in transformation? No practice in emancipation? Is that what you're saying? And he says, I don't say that there's no practice in transformation or no practice in realization. I just say it must not be defiled. And the Sixth Patriarch says, this non-defiled way has been practiced by all Buddhas.

[42:54]

I am thus now, you are thus too. So this non-defiled thing is that right in delusion, right in the practice which realizes delusion and admits it and is honest about it and upright in it, right in that In a non-defiled, non-dual way, there is transformation. We don't say there's not transformation. We just say don't defile it. Don't bring any device to it. Trust yourself. But not in a naturalist way. Trust yourself as a person who's practicing very thoroughly. Don't trust yourself like, okay, well, no problem. Trust yourself to be in the most thorough way you can be yourself. Trust that thoroughness. Trust the depth of your study of yourself rather than trusting that you should make yourself into somebody else by some means.

[43:59]

Because that would defile the process of thusness. So we don't say that this is awakening. To say that this is awakening wouldn't be right. You say, what's the Buddha? I wouldn't say, this is the Buddha. That would miss it. So then the teacher would say, well, does that mean you don't say there's any practice in realization? I don't say that either. I just say, don't defile it. So I also don't say, when Stuart says, it seems like there's another step, I'm not saying there's another step. There is another step, but the other step is just whatever step you take. you must take another step. There is another step, there is deepening this and going beyond it, too. But first of all, the realization should not be defiled by any kind of device.

[45:02]

Now, some people, they refuse to realize themselves without a device. Okay, well, have a device then. But that's not what realizes. That device is just another karma, another example of karma where you do the device. An example of the device? A koan. So, you know, I've told you this before, this kind of cartoon interview of Dogen, right? So the interviewer says to Dogen, well, what is it that realizes... And he says, well, just sit upright and don't move. And the interviewer says, is that really what is the total, you know, working of the enlightened mind? Yes. He said, what about koans? And Dogen says, well, they're good too. He said, I thought you said that just sitting still was enough. He said, it is, but some people won't sit still unless you give them a koan.

[46:07]

Karma is what cause and effect gives us to play with, so we'll sit still. Karma is sitting still. It's not really moving. It just looks like it's moving. And the definition of karma, the basic definition of karma is what we call in Sanskrit, cetana, which cetana is the overall shape of the moment of consciousness. It's the way the consciousness looks. It's like, sometimes called the synergy of a moment of consciousness. And if you look at a moment, if you take a snapshot of a moment of consciousness with all the various mental factors there, if you look at it, it might look like it's going someplace, like right now. And if I make this gesture, you might think, well, he looks like he's going over that way. And if I go, I look like I'm going this way, but I'm not going that way, see? But I look like I was.

[47:11]

Moments of consciousness look like they're going towards wholesomeness or unwholesomeness. And some moments of consciousness, if you look at them, if you study them, you're not sure which way they're going. They're indeterminate in terms of their karmic value. There are these tendencies, or these apparent tendencies, which are then worked up into action, into movement. That's the definition of karma. That's what it looks like it's doing. But it's not doing that. It just said we're caught by that illusion, and we play that. It's actually sitting still. And in fact, human beings need a mind and a body, and it needs to have patterns, and that's what it takes for us to be here and have that and take care of that for a moment. We need something to work with. We've got enough. That's it. Be upright there. But some people won't celebrate that uprightness except if they're given a koan or a breathing exercise or some other kind of practice. Some people will celebrate that just by simply literally sitting still.

[48:15]

But you don't do the thing called sitting still, you're already still. So our sitting practice is a ritual celebration of that stillness. It's not... You don't do that stillness. You don't do uprightness. But we have a ritual practice here. You know the, what is it called, the fukan zazengi? It's sometimes called the universal admonitions on the sitting meditation, on zazen. But it usually isn't translated literally. Literally it would be the ceremony or the ritual practice. Zazen gi. Gi means a ritual. It's a formal ritual. A formal ritual. Like it has a physical form. Like you put your hands in gassho and you bow to the sitting place. You turn clockwise and bow away. It's a ritual to celebrate sitting still. And then you sit there, kind of like you sit kind of still.

[49:19]

Of course you're moving some, but it's like a celebration of the real stillness. And the real stillness is faith. in the fact of Buddha's teaching that all dharmas don't move. And Buddhas do not move. Buddhas do not move. Buddhas do not move. They do not move. That's one of their things. And we do not move either. That's one of our things. We're just like Buddhas. But in our movement, we're kind of like the antithesis of Buddha. And as human beings, we're into thinking we move. That's our karmic life. But that actually is not moving, and if you study karma thoroughly, you see it's not moving. That's the realization of the Buddha mind seal. If you celebrate this non-moving quality of your karma, so all day long there's a Buddha sitting

[50:21]

completely unwavering in the middle of every karmic act, if you celebrate that, the Buddha mind still dawns on your karma. This kind of working with your karma where you're simply upright and honest and flexible. And also you practice virtue. You practice virtue means you practice the virtue of studying your karma. which means that you enter into the life of being a human being. You enter into making gestures, thinking thoughts, saying things. You enter the mud. As a bodhisattva, in order to benefit all beings, you're willing to be a human being. This is called practicing all virtues. And you sit upright there. And you're honest about your activity. And you're flexible and gentle so you can adjust to the new circumstances.

[51:23]

This practicing virtues of being willing to enter into the entanglements and realities, apparent realities of karmic life, and being upright and honest and gentle, these are the qualities of someone who can see this Buddhist seal right now in this activity. So it's this kind of practice that is the prelude and foundation of this case. This is what these guys are into, completely thoroughly, when they have this conversation that they have here. The teacher and this elder, this elder it looks like this elder is somebody who has, he says he has the working on the iron ox. In other words, he knows how this Buddha mind seal works. And he's going to do kind of like, you know, a subtle and, a subtle and interesting suggestion about how to work with it.

[52:32]

So I, I, I'm about ready myself to look at the case, but I'm not in a hurry. If you need a little bit, if you want more, not even a little bit, if you want more background on this meditation. This meditation is, I feel, very fortunate that this case is the case we start with because it's so apropos of what we've been studying. I consider it a nice case of synchronicity that this case turns up right while we're studying this samadhi. Are there any outstanding hands raised up there? Who's that? Oh, Ellen, that's right. Yes? This is my question about karma. Okay. Very often, at least the common part of the provision, commoners treat the queen as a localized responsibility, individual responsibility, individual collection of things and events, whatever that particular person is supposed to take care of.

[53:53]

It often feels very confusing to me. I don't know how to put that together with a sense of participating in well-being and all things creating, all of my attribution. So I don't know if I should put those together. In fact, I'm going to do a different sense of keeping very proud of. It feels like we'd be going to more on the It would help our life have a sense of connection with all beings instead of complicate the particular aspects of our nature or our history. It's the same thing. That's a good question. This is just another look at the same pivot here. thing about karma is that karma is that you think that you individually do things that's what karma is by definition basically action is that you do think that way that you that you that you think individually that you're thinking in terms of your limited self which is not other people doing things would you stand up please would you stand up please so i can see your face

[55:19]

Okay? That's what karma is. So, I'm not telling you to do, I'm not telling you to act that way. I'm not telling you not to act that way. I'm just saying people do that and so we should be responsible and honest about that. Just as a kind of like leap, I would just say this little slogan that I was using before is that if you take responsibility for being involved in the thought that you do things independently, in other words, if you're honest about that you think that you do do these actions independently, that honesty in its thoroughness and the willingness to accept that you're that way will lead to the transformation of other beings. it will lead not to you being able to make the appropriate response which helps other people.

[56:22]

The appropriate response to every situation is, what's beneficial to beings? But again, if you do the beneficial thing, you're still involved in karmic life. If you do something that's beneficial and you admit that you think that way, you're admitting your karma in the midst of doing something beneficial. then that allows a transformation, and that allows entry into Buddha's Way, which is no longer that you do beneficial things. It is the appropriate response of benefiting beings starts to become fully realized by me being willing to admit that I am involved in thinking, or that there is involvement in thinking that I do beneficial things or unbeneficial things. There is two kinds of karma. There is not two kinds of karma, but there is two kinds of karmic effect. There is karmic effect of one person's action, and there is karmic effect of all of our actions.

[57:25]

The physical world is the result of all of our actions. There is the world of being, what's called the sattva loka, the world of being, and then there's what's called the pajama loka. It sounds like pajama. And pajama loka means that it's called the container world. The container world is sounds, smells, tangibles, tastes, and colors, or light. Those five dimensions of physicality is the container world which we share. This is the result of the karma of all living beings. The physical world is a result of all our karma. The state of being is in individual lineages and is a result of individual karma and is individually experienced.

[58:28]

So we live in a container world, all of us together, and our individual karma causes our states, and all of our karma together causes the physicality of existence. But karma originates from the thought of an independent self who does something. And taking credit for that will bring you to the surface of your individuality where you realize how the other makes you. And when you realize how the other makes you, you awaken the other. Ecological awareness is not to expand your individual consciousness, although that's a wholesome thing to do, That isn't ecological consciousness, that's just an expanded individual consciousness, which is swell. If in the process of expanding your individual consciousness you take more credit for it, then that will open you to this, that will bring you to the surface of your individual consciousness where you are met by what negates you.

[59:45]

When you realize how what negates you makes you, that realization is ecological consciousness. So, psychotherapy, according to some people, I think sometimes people interpret Freud as, you know, making your conscious light gobble more and more of your unconscious, expanding it, that'll make you healthier. I think that's probably true. But you'll never expand it enough. It's better to have a self this big and completely exhaustively realize it than to spend your time making a self bigger or more expansive or more enlightened. Although that's good, the main good of it would be that if you made it big enough you might hear a teaching which would tell you you've done enough. And you should concentrate on what you've got now and be thorough about that. And that will lead to a... a sudden and complete compliment, a self-fulfillment.

[60:52]

The self-fulfilling awareness will dawn on you when you completely take responsibility for your limited understanding and the pain of it. Again, I've said this, you know, that the inconceivable dharma is the place where you meet not you. Right at that surface is the inconceivable dharma. Inside of that surface, inside of that world right now, we have, you know, all of us, we have a conceivable dharma. We have the dharma which we can conceive of. It's our truth. And again, I'm not saying, hey, throw that out of here. Get that conceivable dharma and toss it. No. That would just be another conceivable dharma trick. You need to identify what dharma you believe in, what truths you have, how they make you, how you make them, and

[61:56]

At the exhaustion of that, you achieve what we call uprightness. And then you will naturally enter into awareness of how everything that you don't think is true, everything you don't think is true, makes you. Everything that negates you, creates you. But this is by piecemeal expansion and embracing of these things that you'll never make it. Although I'm not opposed to that, it's just another karmic activity called I grew such and such, I incorporated such and such a negative energy today, which is good. Okay. So what's happening now?

[62:59]

It comes to mind, in the Heart Sutra, it says, All dhammas are marked with emptiness. They do not care of this world. Thank you. Yes? How does that, in any way... It's time, you said. Or how does it in any way not coincide with what I'm saying? It's the same thing, isn't it? It's just a different scripture. Do you see some difference between those? I don't. No, it's the same thing. It's the same teaching. It's just that the heart scripture does not... This particular... This upright sitting in the midst of this awareness is... The self-fulfilling awareness is the same as the Heart Sutra.

[64:03]

The Heart Sutra doesn't specify the yogic practice very clearly, very literally. I don't think. Whereas sitting upright in the midst of this awareness, I think, is helpful. There's a... I don't know if it's new, but there's a channel going around called Eco Psychology. Eco? Eco Psychology, which your last comments are reminding me of. What's Eco Psychology like? Well, I don't know, really. And I'm wondering if it's, after what you said, is it maybe a oxymoron?

[65:05]

In a way, I think it is. Studying Zen is to study not the ego, but the ego. Study the self. Study your hang-ups. If you study your hang-ups, you'll be released from them and you'll realize in ecological awareness. You will understand. I mean, it won't be your understanding anymore, but it illuminates you. It isn't like... In the Buddha's awakening, in the illumination that comes, there's no traces of consciousness in this awakening. It isn't like... There's no... This isn't a perception. Ecological awareness is not a perception. What I mean by it's not a perception. Real, really understanding how we all work together is not a perception. The pinnacle of rising is not a perception. It's an understanding of perception. So if you understand how the ego works, you will develop an understanding of the totality of our interconnectedness.

[66:11]

But nobody can understand with their perceptual equipment interconnectedness. It's far, far, far too complex for this little perceptual equipment to get a hold of. But if you understand the perceptual process, you will be emancipated from that little world and illuminated by the world of actual interconnectedness. And then the ability to respond appropriately given all that information will be manifest. So as I said before, the monk asked Yunmin, what was Buddha's teaching his whole life? And Yunmin said, literally, meeting a thing or meeting one thing, there was teaching. or meeting oneness, there's teaching. When you meet one thing, you're meeting your perception. But if you meet your perception thoroughly, you realize the oneness of your perception and what you're not perceiving.

[67:13]

And then there's teaching from that basis. Or it's also translated as the appropriate response. we cannot make the appropriate response by our own selection process of pulling up, you know, another behavior to help somebody. But if we enter into our limit, accept our limitations when we meet people, the appropriate response comes from that understanding. So I don't know what eco-psychology is, but... I think that to have practices by which you bring your attention to every little thing that happens is not to make yourself different.

[68:14]

It's to bring your attention to what you actually are involved in anyway. And it just turns out that you are involved in your environment moment by moment. So being aware of every little thing you take care of, being aware of how your food comes to you, being aware of how it goes from you, being aware of your posture and your breathing, all these things, being aware of where all of our waste products go and where all of our resources come, this is something we're already doing. We're doing this in the realm of our limited world. Being aware of all this stuff and realizing this is all important. is not expanding your mind at all. It's being honest and responsible for what you're already doing. That's more the emphasis I would say. That's more like uprightness rather than like trying to make your mind into a bigger mind, which is one of the things that people's little minds think of doing. But the big mind never tries to get involved in making the mind the slightest bit different size or shape than it is.

[69:16]

Because the big mind has chosen to make your mind like it is right now. This is the way you're supposed to be. This is what you're supposed to be working with. But if we think we're supposed to be working with something a little different from this, we flinch from taking complete responsibility for this. We think, well, you know, this mind is not that important. Now, if I had a really enlightened mind, not bad I would pay attention to. Or if I had a really compassionate thought, That I would really groove on that. But you wouldn't. You wouldn't. If you're willing to take credit for this one, then you might be also willing to take care of some other one. So I'm not saying that practices of mindfulness and being concerned and careful of each thing we do, I'm not saying that those are contradictory to being upright. I think they're the same thing. But I want you to understand that this is not like to make yourself into a more holy person by saying verses before you brush your teeth.

[70:21]

It's just so you remember you're brushing your teeth. And also remember that your teeth are being brushed. Both of those. Do you have a feeling for what this Buddha Mind Seal is now? So maybe we should just dip into this case a little bit before we end the class. And I just want to tell you one piece of information before we read the case, and that is that one allusion here is to an ancient king who is said to have built an iron bull, quite a large iron bull, big enough, must have been approximately, you know, maybe a mile long, because this bull straddled the Yellow River. And he built this bull to... It's not clear exactly whether it was like a dam or, you know, what, but anyway, the plan of this bull was to straddle the river and to prevent a flooding in the springtime.

[71:36]

Okay? Okay? So you've got a big bull here, like, you know, a mammoth bull, almost like what if the bull works, right? It's like a dam to protect, to stop the flooding. This image is in the background of a huge bull, a bull of great function and great activity in the world. But actually it's referring to a much bigger bull than that. It's referring to how the whole, the entire world, Phenomenal world comes to meet you and how and how you Meet it. It's referring this huge boat Okay Make sense so then This teacher Fung Shrey which means wind cave Was staying at the government headquarters

[72:38]

of Ying province, he said in an address, the mine seal of the ancestors is like the working of the iron ox. When it's removed, the impression remains. When it is left there, the impression is ruined. Just suppose it's neither removed nor left. Is there sealing right? Is sealing right? Or is not sealing right? Is that image clear? If this huge imprint is taken away, the impression remains. If you leave the huge hoof or this huge seal on the thing, you will ruin the imprint. So that's the basic thing. Now he's saying, now if you don't take it away or leave it on, then is there correct and incorrect sealing?

[73:45]

This is the basic message here. And then this elder comes and says that he has this function of this great bull, iron bull. And he asked the teacher to please not impress the seal. So does this make sense to you as a basic thing to think about to study this, the setup here? Yes?

[74:46]

The trouble that I have with resolving that is that one would think the function of the iron bowl is the seal. So if he says that he has function of the iron bowl, then what would mean to him, the teacher pressing the seal? Or is that a play on seal? Ask the teacher not to recognize it. Well, that's part of what's going on here. That's part of what's going on. There's multiple meanings of mudra. Mudra means a ring, but also means a stamp or a seal, a document. a ring on a finger, a ring around your body, a ring around the world, also the sort of overall shape of your body when you're doing a posture. It also refers to these things, right? These are mudras too, all these things.

[75:48]

And it also refers to being approved or recognized. It also refers to recognizing a sense of meeting, not recognizing that also the other person just recognized you, but a kind of an agreement has that meaning too. All these things are going on here. So part of what's being indicated here is that when you feel all things come forward to make you, they seal you. But you also seal them. Before they make you, they haven't become, they haven't done their job. before the seal comes down and makes this imprint called you, it's not really functioning yet. As soon as you're made, you make it what it is. So again, that story, it's also that meditation. It's the same thing as that meditation on life is like riding in a boat. You ride in the boat, you row with the oars, you raise the sail, you work the rudder, you do that.

[76:55]

But without the boat, you couldn't ride in the boat. No one can ride in the boat without the boat. However, your riding in the boat makes the boat what a boat is. And so on. That's the same thing. That's the same image there of how you're made, you make it. And if things come and stay on you, if what makes you stays on you, so to speak, if you realize it that way, the imprint of the impression is ruined. Or vice versa, if how you make things, in response to that, if that stays and is fixed at all, it ruins it. The impression is made, and when it's removed, it's done its job. That's part of what's being said here. But then he says, what about if it isn't taken away or left? What's that like? Look at that too.

[77:58]

And this is a very easy practice to do. It's extremely subtle, but it's very easy to do. You can do it every time you meet any person you can do this practice. And because every time you meet someone, this is exactly what's going on. But it's hard to pay attention to this because you see there's tremendous contradiction and paradox in this process. It's hard for us to be in that mode. We want to switch over. Our strong habit is, I'm here doing things. I'm here seeing you. I'm here talking to you. This is so strong and so easy to fit in that. However, this is dependently co-arisen misery too. So, you understand how to do the practice? And you have opportunities everywhere to do this, but this practice is pointed to by this.

[79:05]

At least this is my, anyway, my suggestion of how to enter into the practice that's behind this discussion. There's a practice behind this discussion. This is not just philosophical. There's a practice here. And the way they're talking about it is telling you something about how to practice when you meet a person. how to practice when you meet a plant, how to practice when you meet a rock, and how a rock practices you, and how all beings are practicing you, how you're being embraced and sustained by things, and how you embrace and sustain things. It's dynamic interaction. which is called self-fulfilling awareness in dopaidogam, or self-joyousness awareness.

[80:08]

When you can enter into this meditation, having a self becomes a joy rather than a misery. This powerful self that can perform karmic acts is an unhappy self. the self which arises from this meditation is a fulfilled and released self. So next week I'd like to go into this. This case even goes deeper than this. See if you can use this case in your meetings with sentient beings.

[81:10]

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