In Japan, and I don't know to what extent, but perhaps in China too, in Japan this version of the Heart Sutra is the one that all the different schools, I think, chant this one. And as we saw in the longer version of the Heart Sutra, where the scene is described And then we're told that Buddha is in meditation. And then coming from, emerging from the blessing of the Buddha's meditation, Avalokiteshvara is also practicing the Prajnaparamita along with the Buddha. And then Also emerging from the Buddhist meditation, Shariputra comes forth and asks Avalokiteshvara a question about how sons or daughters of good family or good lineage can practice the perfection of wisdom.

[01:23]

And then Avalokiteshvara says, if they want to practice sons and daughters of good family, which means of the bodhisattva family, which means people who are children of Buddha, who are Buddha's family, these beings who wish to practice it should practice like this. And how should they practice? They should practice by contemplating or considering that all the aggregates of existence are empty, which I forgot to mention, but that's a recapitulation of what Avalokiteshvara saw in his meditation. In that version, the longer version, we're being asked how people who are in Buddha's family who wish to practice this should practice.

[02:35]

In this version we're just told, we're not asked that question, we're just told Avalokiteshvara practices. And the way Avalokiteshvara practices perfection of wisdom is considering, Avalokiteshvara is also considering that all phenomena, which means five aggregates means all phenomena, all experience, lack inherent existence. He's considering that. That's how he's practicing. But then while he's practicing, he also sees clearly that all five aggregates lack inherent existence. He sees that they're empty. So in this version it says Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, but I think it's good to understand that Avalokiteshvara means us.

[03:40]

And when it says Avalokiteshvara, it's referring to our ability to do this meditation. And our ability to do this meditation is that we are the children of Buddha. We are in Buddha's family. We have the ability to realize Buddhahood. So in this shorter version, when it says Avalokiteshvara, it means men and women of Buddha's family because Avalokiteshvara is a man or a woman of Buddha's family. In the other version, as I said, first it talks about Avalokiteshvara, then Avalokiteshvara is asked, well, how do you practice? How does one practice if they want to practice like you practice? And he says, well, if people who are in my family want to practice, they should practice like me. In this case, it just says Avalokiteshvara. But please understand or consider that maybe this is how you should practice.

[04:52]

So we practice... to actually enact, I shouldn't say we practice enact, but this sutra is offering you the instruction that you can enact the practice of the great bodhisattva, which is to consider that five aggregates are empty. So first of all, the first sentence says, Avalokiteshvara, that means that's the primary condition, is you've got a child of Buddha. Next you have the practice. Next you have the realization, which is seeing After considering, after considering, considering, considering, after considering, considering, considering that everything you experience is empty, you see, you understand that everything's empty of inherent existence.

[06:04]

And then all suffering is relieved. Then you enter into Liberation. You enter into Buddha's wisdom. You attain nirvana. So this first sentence has that. And also, it actually, this translation, they didn't, oh, they didn't, yeah. It says Avalokiteshvara when practicing. So another ingredient in this sentence is the word when. I think the Chinese usually have a character which means time. But the word time can also be translated when. So it's another ingredient in the first sentence is time. When. That these children of Buddha, these beings who have the

[07:08]

what do you call it, the innate Buddha nature and also innate ignorance. But innate Buddha nature is being referred to by Avalokiteshvara when at the time that they practice, they realize and they enter. So, primary condition, primary cause, primary condition are Buddha nature. Then practice, then realization, then entry, and this happens in time. This thing happens in time. However, When we enter into Buddha's wisdom, although we enter from time, we enter into the realization of emptiness, so we also realize that time also doesn't have inherent existence.

[08:27]

So we also become liberated from the suffering that goes with time. Someone asked me a question about how to deal with the phenomenon of death, or in dealing with the phenomena of death, how does the teaching of Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. How does that relate to dealing skillfully with the phenomena of death? So death is an important phenomena to some people. And birth is also an important phenomena to some people.

[09:29]

The sutra starts with form. Form, you know, it literally means color. But putting, taking color and sound and smell and taste and touch and, excuse me, color, sound, smell, smells, tastes and tangibles together with the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue and the ability, the touch sensation, this is, this composition is what we call the body. And the body arises and ceases. And of course colors arise and cease. So at the time of, for example, a body ceasing or a body dying, how does this teaching apply to that?

[10:37]

And how in applying that teaching Might that help us deal with the phenomena in a skillful way? birth and death is the way East Asian Buddhists sometimes is the word that they use. They have two characters, birth and death. They put them together and that's the expression that they use for what we call samsara. So in Buddhist tradition, there's an expression called samsara and its partner is nirvana.

[11:43]

And samsara means to go around, round and round. But it means round and round of birth and death. So the Chinese, instead of calling samsara round, they called it birth and death. So it's the samsara of birth and death. And then that is considered also to be suffering. And nirvana is considered to be peace and ease. It's freedom from going round and round in birth and death. So we're talking about things exist like colors exist, bodies exist, pain exists, birth exists, death exists.

[12:55]

These are phenomena, right, that you have some experience with or those are experiences which you have had and will have. And these experiences or these phenomena exist dependently. only. And in particular, they depend on conditions, some particular conditions, and mental imputation. Birth, for example, depends on conditions. Like, for example, birth depends on the condition of past and future. Death also exists in dependence on past and future, but both birth and death also depend on mental amputation. Let's take death, or form, but anyway, let's take death.

[14:04]

Death exists depending on mental grasping. So when there are certain conditions, those conditions are not sufficient for a phenomena. For a phenomena to arise, these conditions must be apprehended as a mental grasping. death without the conditions for death isn't death. But even when the conditions of death are arising there, if you subtract the condition of mental imputation, you don't get death. Death can only exist relying on mental imputation, mental grasping, mental apprehension.

[15:07]

But not just mental apprehension. although it is just mental apprehension, it also depends on conditions. Death doesn't depend on mental apprehension only. It's just that our experience of it is just mental apprehension. So it depends on other conditions besides mental apprehension. But what we come up with as our experience of it is just mental apprehension. In other words, we misconstrue the conditions for it as being the way we grasp it. But we must grasp it in order for it to exist. This is A review, in a sense.

[16:14]

Does this sound familiar? Okay. Now, we have death coming. Death comes to have an apparent existence by grasping the conditions which are other than death, as death. So death has a character and birth has a character and color has a character and other dependent character which is the same as its dependent core arising. In other words, death depends on things other than itself. And one of the things that's other than death, actually, is mental apprehension, mental imputation.

[17:17]

And there's other things that are not death that death depends on, like the past and future of death are not death, but it depends on them. So death depends on things other than itself, but death which the things which death depends on which are other than death are grasped as not things other than death but grasped as, quotes, death. So we grasp things which are other than the thing as being the thing And the things that are other than the thing are the things which power the thing. And we grasp those things, we understand those things as the way we grasp those things as a mental apprehension. So that's how we come up with death. Yes? Are those all our inverted views? You don't have to have inverted views.

[18:21]

you could, it's possible that you didn't have inverted views except maybe the one inverted view of, well, you wouldn't necessarily even have that. In other words, when you grasp conditions with your mind in order to create a conventional existence of something like death, if you understand that that's a dependent core arising and if you understand that you have something here which exists in dependence on mental apprehension and you also understand that this thing does not exist at all independent of the way you grasp it if you understand that then there's no perverted views there's no inverted views usually people grasp a phenomenon like death, they grasp it, and then it exists, but they think, and they maybe even are somewhat aware that the way it appears to them appears that way because it has been grasped independence on and taken for mental apprehension.

[19:37]

They may understand that or they may not, but let's say they do, but they may not understand They may still think that this thing actually still exists in some way independent of the way they grasp it. But there's no way it exists independently. But if we think that, then we have an inverted view of self. And when you have the inverted view of self, then you also usually have the inverted view of permanence. etc so but you don't have to you can have things happening which depend on mental apprehension but understand that that very fact is the same as their emptiness of inherent existence it's possible to like have a conditional conventional thing which exists in this dependent way and understand that and in addition to understanding that also understand its emptiness

[20:40]

So you don't have to like not have anything happening in order to not have perverted views, upside down views. Of course, if nothing's happening, you don't have any upside down views either. It's upside down views about things. And the upside down views are to see things that don't have self as having self, to see things that are impermanent as permanent, to see things that are... painful as pleasant, and to see things that are impure as pure. To misconstrue things, to turn them upside down, goes with not understanding the emptiness of things. So continuing with this death example... The death is originally, the phenomena of death is originally arising, the phenomena of death is born in dependence on mental apprehension, on grasping the conditions for death which are other than death, the conditions of death which are not death, grasping them as death.

[22:05]

There's a contradiction there, see? You grasp things that aren't death, that are not death, as death. The emptiness of death is that it has no existence apart from what it depends on. It does not exist at all in an impossible way. Death does not exist in the impossible way of being inherently existent. When we believe that death exists apart from mental apprehension, when we think that death could be there and it really could be there without our mental apprehension,

[23:08]

which we do have a tendency to do, to think it is there, in other words, that it's not empty, then we get stuck to death, we are bound by it, and death becomes suffering. When the phenomenon of death arises, in parentheses, independence on imputation, and we don't honor that, and we think it exists independent of our imputation upon these conditions. When we don't, when we think it exists independently, when we think it's not empty, which we naturally do, then we become stuck to death and death becomes suffering. But when we understand that death is empty of any existence apart from its conditions and apart from mental imputation, then we are liberated from death and liberated from suffering of death.

[24:14]

We enter nirvana. So that's a kind of somewhat technical way to talk about how you would relate to death with this teaching. So we have form and emptiness. We can say death is emptiness. Emptiness is death. Now, someone told me a story which I thought related to this. After I heard the question about how does death relate to this teaching, someone told me a story. I thought, oh, that's kind of a little bit of an example of this. This person came to see me and have a formal interview with me. And the formal way of doing the interview is that people... They don't just walk up to meet me. They come up in front of me, and then when they get close to being in front of me, they sidestep. That make sense?

[25:15]

Hmm? No? Doesn't? Want to show them, Gary? Show them how you don't do it. Show them how you don't do it. Show them how you don't do it. You do it how you do do it. Don't you understand? Okay, show him how you do do it. Like that, okay? Now can you show me how you don't do it? Do it another way. Can somebody show him another way to do it? Do it another way. Diego's got an idea here. Like that. See the difference? That's all right. That's like informal, right? The formal way is you don't just walk up. When you get close, you sidestep. See the difference? That's the difference. You sidestep. You sidestep and then you bow. And when you're done, you bow and you sidestep rather than just walk up and walk away.

[26:20]

So this person came to see me. during a meditation retreat, and she sidestepped and bowed, and she talked to me, and then she got up and bowed, and she sidestepped and left, and she thought it occurred to her, that's like a crab, it's like a crab walks. You sort of scuttle to the side and bow and talk, and then stand up and bow, scuttle to the side. So then after this person had this interview with me, she went, had a break, and she went down to the ocean. Muir Beach. She went out. There's rocks in Muir Beach and there's some parts of rocks, big rocks, but there's also rocks that are sometimes above and sometimes below the water. So at this time the water was just covering some of these low rocks. And she went out there and not quite covering the rocks so that the rocks were just a little bit above the water. When the rocks are just a little bit above the water, there's lots of animals you can see a lot of animals on the rocks when the rocks get up higher above the water the animals back off down deeper you know that makes sense when they're and then of course when the rocks are lower you can't see the animals so clearly but they're right at that point where you can see she went up she saw and she saw these these crabs going side to side like she was doing you know and then she saw

[27:44]

all this life, you know. She saw just, not just the crabs, but she just saw life everywhere. And then as she looked and saw the life, it all sort of ran away. You know, it's like, she felt like because she was like trying to, seeing and then trying to get it, the life sort of like got scared away. But after it left and it wasn't there anymore, she realized that it really wasn't not there anymore. Or in the disappearance of all that life, she realized that the disappearance wasn't actually disappearance. And she felt really good. She felt good about seeing the She felt good about seeing the abundant life.

[28:50]

And then she was kind of like surprised by seeing how it disappeared. But what made her really feel good was when she understood that the disappearance wasn't disappearance. And that's like when you understand a phenomenon like death, arises in dependence on mental imputation, and you understand that it doesn't exist independent of mental imputation, then you realize that this thing called death is not actually substantially this thing called death. It's just something that exists in this dependent way. And what you're apprehending is not actually there. The thing is there, and it depends on your apprehension, but your apprehension is not the thing.

[29:55]

And that's relief from the thing that happens depending on your apprehension. And in that relief, the thing's still there, like no animals are still there, but you're relieved of thinking that it's there independent of the way you grasp it. That's the case of when it's gone. When they're there, when their animals are there, then their presence also, you're relieved of their presence being something independent of the way you grasp their presence. So their birth or their death, their color or their sound, whatever it is, you realize that it's not actually there on its own. It's only there dependently. And it does not exist the way we usually assume it exists, is that there really is a thing called disappearance. You know, it's a substantial disappearance, a substantial death.

[31:02]

And that kind of death is very bad, very painful. But also that kind of birth is painful, too. We don't necessarily understand that unless we're being born. When we look at something born, we don't understand that it's suffering, usually, because we're overwhelmed by the gift. But the person who's born suffers as much as the person who's dying if they don't understand emptiness. So the disappearance is the condition or part of the condition. Disappearance is a phenomenon. But it's part of the condition of death. It's one of the conditions of death, right. These animals didn't die. They just disappeared. But when someone dies, we sometimes feel like life has disappeared. but when someone's there and then we feel like their life has disappeared that disappearance when you understand emptiness you understand that disappearance is not disappearance and death is not death it's not that there is no death there is a death and the death depends on this mental apprehension death but

[32:33]

There's not, but we think there's actually some death that's actually there, independent of this imputation, death. And that's what hurts. Yes? Is an example of apathy something that is not as experiencing someone else's death as a loss in your life? Yeah, well, yeah, right. You feel like you lose something, and that's a phenomena. Okay? You lost something. I don't know what it was. And that loss, quotes loss, that also exists for you, independence on your mind-grasping loss, on the mental imputation loss. And there's conditions by which You know, just like, for example, right now, just thinking loss is not a loss.

[33:38]

It's thinking loss in conjunction about something, about some conditions. It's imposing loss, the concept of the mental apprehension loss upon certain conditions. Certain conditions. So if I give you an avocado and you say loss, you might say loss, but you might not have the experience of loss even though you think loss. In other words, you wouldn't really be apprehending the avocado as loss. But if I took the avocado away That would be a condition for you to grasp that experience as a loss. You wouldn't have to necessarily grasp it as a loss, but you could.

[34:47]

You could grasp it as loss. I see you. The thing is that when we are stuck to phenomena, we're not only in pain, and part of the reason why we're in pain is because we are stuck. Our life isn't flowing because we think that the thing exists independent of our mental imputation. We think that death really is something existing that would be there if we weren't thinking it was there. So is it that if one fully understood this teaching, one would not experience death as a loss?

[35:52]

If one would experience this teaching, one would be free at the time of death. and you wouldn't have to experience it as loss. Did you say not necessarily? Have you said? No, I didn't say necessarily. Yeah. You might experience it as a loss. You'd be free. Kind of like here you are, death, okay, death time. It's like you can do anything with that because actually anything can happen. Anything can happen when you understand emptiness of a phenomena. So death comes up. you can do a backflip, you can experience, you can have, you can like, this is like big loss. You can also say, this is like big gain. This is like big happy. This is like big, you can, anything can happen as usual. However, when we think that the thing exists, they're independent of our thinking, which it doesn't, then we're locked into that belief and our life is paralyzed, which is painful.

[36:57]

And then the way things happen seems to be driven by the bondage which is set up by this misconstruing things as existing independent of these conditions. Still things are actually happening quite freely, but we're like totally exiled from that process of freedom. Because actually, the way things are such that if we could see it, we'd be free, are exactly the way we usually see things. They're exactly the same, it's just that we only look at one side of the story. So we see things that exist independently, we see that, but we believe that they exist independently. But the things existing dependently, okay, is that how they exist?

[38:02]

Come on. Come on, answer the question. Things existing dependently, is that how they exist? Okay. Things existing dependently, that's how they exist, right? That's kind of a basic teaching. Now, does things existing independently, does things existing independently on something other than themselves, does that go with things existing independently? Does it go with that? No, it doesn't go with that. What does it go with? Huh? Things exist dependently. Like a normal hand, normal human hand exists in dependence on certain things, right? This hand exists dependent on a certain number of fingers and a palm and mental imputation. That's how it exists. And that goes with something else. What does it go with? Emptiness. It goes with emptiness of what?

[39:07]

Yeah, emptiness of inherent existence. Existing dependently goes with not existing independently. Those go together. Everything you see is a dependent existence. Right there, which is the same thing as it, is that the way it isn't independent. One's positive, namely it exists dependently. The other is negative. It does not exist at all independently. It does exist dependently. It doesn't exist at all independently. It's empty of independent existence. When we see that one, that cures us of this view we have which doesn't go with the way things are. Okay? This is the way things are. They're dependent. What do we think? We think they're independent. That's our view. Because of that view, we hurt ourselves. And in our pain, because we have this view of things being the way they aren't, in our pain, we also then act upon the pain and that false view and then we do

[40:21]

we act ignorantly out of that pain, and then we cause more trouble. So when death comes, that's a dependent co-arising, a dependent phenomena, and we put together with that as independent phenomena, and then death is painful, and then we do strange things in our painful reaction, our painful diluted reaction to the phenomena of death. The same phenomena, without changing at all, if it's accompanied by the understanding that it does not exist independently of this, that can gradually overthrow our indigenous belief that it does exist independently. It overthrows the thing that causes us to be all twisted up and suffocated and blocked and suffering in relationship to death. or birth or colors or pleasure or pain or anything.

[41:24]

We get relief from that misconception and then we get relief from pain and we enter Nirvana in this way. Okay? Yes? When we say that we say a form, okay, is a form has no existence independent of mental imputation, that's what the form, that's the way the form really is. The way the form really is, is that it's empty of being independent of imputation. That's what the form is. So the emptiness is actually how the form is. How's the form?

[42:30]

It's empty of independent existence. And in particular, it's empty of being, of existing without the mental imputation. So that takes us back to the form. That shows us what the form is. You want to know about emptiness with form, right? That's how it is. Emptiness is the way the form really is. Jack? Yes, with the bodhisattva, see death as, well, this is, I have to respect what I don't know. Would the bodhisattvas say, I have to respect what I don't know? Yeah. I don't think, yeah, I don't think, I don't know if bodhisattvas would be saying that, but I don't think they, I think that they would, bodhisattvas respect everything.

[43:38]

Bodhisattvas respect everything. So bodhisattvas would respect what they don't know and they would respect what they do know. Would they be saying at that time of death that this being now becomes one with all things? Would they say that? Not necessarily. You can't script what bodhisattvas will say. Bodhisattvas won't even necessarily ever say, I'm a Bodhisattva. Almost all Bodhisattvas have said at some point in their history, I want to be a Bodhisattva. Seems like almost everybody has to do that. Just like almost every little boy or girl has to say, I want to be a fireman. or a firewoman in order to get on the, you know, into the profession. It's pretty hard. But it's not always the case because some people just like, you know, actually I think it's always the case because some people walk into the firehouse and there's a fire and people say, and the fire truck starts running out of that thing and they say, you want to come?

[44:56]

And they jump on the thing and they go to the fire and they help put out the fire and but they were never a fireman because their mind didn't apprehend it that way. So they never existed as a fireman. Some other people watching them would say, boy, you were quite a fire person there. You, like, put that fire out and they'd say, huh? So for them, that phenomenon never happened. So you can't really say what a bodhisattva will think. But you can say they're free because they understand phenomena are empty. And so anything is possible for them. And they can think, I am a bodhisattva, or they can think, I am a creep, or they can think, I'm one with everything, or they can think, you name it, anything can happen. And how do things happen? In accord with causes and conditions, as usual. but they're like in accord with how things happen.

[45:59]

So they're free. They're like these freedom resonators. We're all actually in accord with things. It's just that if we misconstrue our relationship, that misconstruing creates this other condition called suffering. which also happens very lawfully, but, you know, we got plenty of it. So we're trying to promote this other scenario called freedom and happiness. And we are without any hindrance and, you know, demonstrating freedom. So again, one story about the conditions which make possible the Buddha to appear in the world is that Buddha's want to open beings to Buddha's wisdom.

[47:03]

They want to open beings to the wisdom which understands conventional reality and emptiness. And they want to demonstrate conventional reality and emptiness. And they want people to wake up to and realize conventional reality and emptiness. And they want people to enter it. So they have to also, like in this sutra, they have to open to it. You have to open to the teaching. You have to practice it, you know, demonstrate it. You have to awaken to it and enter it. And you become able to, like, help other people open to it, see it demonstrated, awaken to it, and enter it. But how that goes, you can't really say beforehand, but you can say at the time. You can say it's happening like this.

[48:04]

And the reason it's happening for this is because of conditions and mental imputation. And it's also happening not independent of these conditions. That's how it's happening. And then you're reenacting the freedom on this occasion. that's what the bodhisattva would do they'd be like that but how they would be would would be colored by the conditions and the mental imputations so they're playing along with this but in perfect accord because they understand emptiness they do not believe that strange thing that human beings think namely that things exist independent of mental imputation this is like our you know epidemic I didn't say that, but that's also true, that it's not separate from the mind which apprehends it as death.

[49:10]

But I think what I meant to say was it's not separate from the mental apprehension, quotes, death. Just like the phenomena of a firefighter doesn't exist independently of the mental imputation firefighter. But you could also say it doesn't exist independent of the mind which imputes it. That's another dimension, is that the mind which imputes the phenomena is not independent of the phenomena imputed. And the invitation is also not independent of the mind. That's another implication of this process is that the seeing and the seen are not separate, which is another thing we innately believe. Yes, Sonia? Thinking of this and fruit is like two things.

[50:20]

Death and birth are like two wings? Yes. And so for the first time in my life, I'm thinking it's coming. It's part of me. So this is my mental apprehension. But I'm trying to see where the lifeline starts. Is this suffering line or can it be just flying itself? Did you hear what she said? Now let me say, let me see if I, if I, not exactly say what you said, but something like what you said, it was kind of like, you had this feeling like life and death or birth and death are like wings.

[51:30]

And is it possible that this life and death could be like wings and you could like fly with the wings of birth and death? Is that possible? Like geese. Like geese. Is that kind of what you're talking about? Is that possible? Yes, it is. Because birth and death, sometimes we say birth and death are the lifeblood of the Buddhas. Buddha's lifeblood is birth and death. There's no Buddha separate from birth and death. Or birth and death are the wings of the great Buddha eagle. Okay? But the Buddha, when the Buddha sees birth and death, the Buddha knows that birth and death exist dependent on mental imputation and have no existence independent of that mental imputation. Therefore, birth and death turn into the great wings of the great, beneficent, compassionate being.

[52:35]

But if you don't understand that, then those wings turn into a prison and they hit you. Again and again and again and again and again. And you think, well, phew, I could take it. But after a while, it gets to you. So they can be wings. They are the actual wings of the Buddha. They would draw the Buddha, though they provoke the Buddha into appearing in the world. so that beings can understand the nature of these wings, so we can understand the nature of birth and death. That's what the Buddhas appear for. And when you understand the nature of birth and death, you understand that birth and death exist dependently, not inherently. When you understand they exist not inherently, then birth and death are wonderful opportunities for the Buddha

[53:39]

that what you just said exists in dependence on mental imputation and it has no existence apart from the mental imputation I think there is a I know you do. And that's what this course is for, is to help you. I know. Did you see me in it? I was that duck that got stuck in the oil. Summertime. and the living is easy fish are jumping and the cotton is high your daddy's rich and your mama's good looking so hush little baby don't you cry

[55:02]

One of these mornings you're going to rise up singing. You're going to spread your wings and you'll take to the sky. Until that morning there ain't nothing can harm you. with daddy and mommy standing by it's possible someday you can fly just gotta get some wisdom then birth and death will be your wings yes Garuda yeah, Garuda or we have Garuda's we got dragons we got Phoenix's We got swans we have flamingos and we have dumb ducks We got a variety of migratory birds and They all have the potential

[56:29]

to realize Buddha, but they must overcome their innate tendency to think that things exist independently, which beings do think that. It's a funny situation, but it, again, there's another kind of dovetail thing there where beings who imagine inherent existence suffer and provoke the appearance of beings who do not believe in inherent existence, who teach them to get over it and become free. That's the story in Buddhism, that there wouldn't be any Buddhas who understand emptiness if it weren't for suffering sentient beings who believe in inherent existence. But anyway, there are people, you know them, they're all over the place, you're one of them, who believe, who have belief that things exist independent of our mental imputation.

[57:30]

We naturally do that. You can get in touch with that. It's possible to discover that. Then you can confess it. And there's a teaching which will help you get over it. That's a teaching, for example, the Heart Sutra, teaching you that. And so part of what you can do is just look at everything and remember everything that you see exists dependently. And remember, the Heart Sutra doesn't emphasize this, but I'm emphasizing it as a prerequisite for studying the sutra. Remember that everything you see does exist. It does exist dependently. The only thing that doesn't exist dependently is independent existence. That doesn't exist dependently, of course. And so that doesn't exist at all because only things that exist dependently exist. So all the things you see are fine. They do exist. They have an apparent existence which is dependent.

[58:35]

And those things, all those things which you can see moment by moment, all those things which you can feel moment by moment, pay attention to them, And then you gradually, gently bring this teaching, which is that we should consider that all these different varieties of dependent phenomena lack inherent existence. Learn how to, like, think that. This is the wisdom training. Yes? Yes. Uh-huh. When you look at the drawing like that, you say, oh, what a teaching.

[59:37]

Actually, a little wave is just a tiny thing on top of the ocean that it really is. I guess the perfection of wisdom would be knowing in all your atoms, that this is so. It has nothing to do with fate in the way that's been experienced. That you are the ocean, not the wave. It's possible to come to a place where you actually can see it. That's being proposed. But even before you can see it, if you're actually convinced... that's actually really helpful too. Now we're actually, we can't actually see independent existence. We only imagine it, but we believe it.

[60:41]

So we already believe our imagination of the way things are, and we're neurologically programmed to imagine things to be a way that they aren't. We're neurologically programmed to see things existing in a way that they don't. And we also believe them. We've got that set. It's possible by meditation to actually come to be convinced that that's not true. And then, based on that, it's possible eventually to actually see what you're convinced was so. and then that really overturns all occasions of misconception and ignorance and again in this in this sutra it says when when Avalokiteshvara was practicing okay when so we've got a big when here that's why we need to like understand it's a big when and like work with work with being patient about the when

[61:54]

And even like, even, and also work with being diligent about the when. Diligent means be enthusiastic about the when. Like, hey, I'm going to like, whatever the time is, I'm going to like, just like Avalokiteshvara's when, I got my when. And I'm going to work with that when, just like Avalokiteshvara had his when or her when. When Avalokiteshvara was practicing this. I got my when. This is my when. My when is, okay, now I'm thinking about all these things that lack inherent existence. Okay, yeah, that's my when. Now I'm thinking it again. That's my when. Now I'm thinking it again. I'm remembering it again. I'm applying the teaching again. This is my when. This is my when. Just like Avalokiteshvara had a when, I got a when. I don't know how big my when's going to be. Maybe I'm just a little guy with a big when rather than a big guy with a little when. That's not the point. You're on the same page.

[62:58]

You got your when. You're avalokiteshvara. You got your time to practice, to think about this teaching, and to practice compassion alongside of it. That's your when. And so you're in Buddhist family. You're in Buddhist family. You're Avalokiteshvara, just like Avalokiteshvara is you. That's what this is about. We're in the same family. And everybody's got a when. There's no hurry in this when. Because this when is the when practicing. It's not like, when is the practice going to be over? It's like, oh, this is like practice time. Fine. Right? Yeah, but it's taken so long, I still don't understand emptiness. That's your when. That's your own particular when, this one. You know, but I thought of it like 17 times now. Still don't completely understand.

[64:02]

Yeah, that's your when. But who cares? It's wonderful. You're in the family of the bodhisattvas doing this meditation. unless you're not doing the meditation and then you're not on this page and you don't have a when got a different when when Reb was not practicing the profound perfection of wisdom when he wasn't practicing he didn't see that all five aggregates matter of fact he saw that all five aggregates did have an inherent existence and that when's also a big when Form is form is true. No, it's form inherently exists. Form is not empty of inherent existence. Form is full of inherent existence. That's what the when that I've been doing for a long time.

[65:02]

And that means I've been suffering for a long time. Birth is full of inherent existence, suffering. Death is full of inherent existence, suffering. When practicing that way, that's a big when. However, even the people practicing like that are also in Buddha's family. It's just that they don't remember it. They just don't accept it. And that's part of the faith thing, is that this sutra is saying you're in Buddha's family, so you can practice this way. This is a practice for people in Buddha's family. If you're not in Buddha's family, then well, then I guess you don't want to do Buddha's practice. This is a practice for people in the Buddha family, in the practice for the people who have the potential to wake up. That's what this practice is for. And from Buddha's point of view, everybody's in this family, but some people in the family don't accept their family.

[66:05]

They think, me? The Buddha's family? Please. That's too much. But Buddha, looking at you, thinks that you're in her family, even if you say, oh, no. Just like kids, you know, who say, you're not my parents. The queen of Russia is my mother. Okay, darling. Whatever you say.

[66:45]

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