I mentioned during last class, and I also mentioned this in other situations, that when we have a series of classes or any kind of a retreat or something, if the people in the retreat or the people in the class aren't present, And it affects me, and I think it affects everybody, but I speak for myself that it affects me if you're not in the room. And I understand there's many reasons why you might not be able to come to some of the classes this fall. So I just request that you let me know, if you know ahead of time, that you let me know ahead of time. And if you can't let me know ahead of time, then you call me or something and let me know what's going on.

[01:08]

Like, you know, sick, or have to be out of town, or tired, or even don't like the class. I would appreciate that. You could email me at rebassistant at sfzc.org. Or you could tell Donald at his number, 510-848-0993. Or my assistant. 415-389-9819. But you also just tell me if you know ahead of time, after class or whatever. So it's partly, it's partly that I would like to know, but also

[02:22]

I'd like you to know, not just that I want to know, but also that your presence or absence makes a difference to me, and also that communicating with me about things I don't know is part of the practice. And I've been emphasizing this fall at Green Dragon Zen Temple at Green Gulch Farm in Marin County. We're having a practice period and this fall I've been emphasizing that I've been emphasizing that to do some practice, to do some practice which you intend as beneficial in this world, particularly and in particular some traditional practice of the Buddhist tradition.

[03:42]

To do it in such a way that it's the true path to enlightenment means to do the practice in the context of the awareness that you're not practicing alone. Or to put it positively, to devote yourself to some practice with the awareness that you're practicing together with all beings and with all Buddhas, and that all beings and all Buddhas are practicing together with you. And so I'm emphasizing and recommending that as much as possible throughout the day, and actually throughout the night when you're conscious, that we try to be constantly mindful of practicing together with all beings and with all Buddhas.

[04:53]

And then the practices we do in that context, you can do good things, I mean your activity can be good, and we can say that you do good things, but if you do them with the understanding that you're doing them alone, the goodness of them is not fully realized. I propose that. That for the full realization of the goodness of activities. There needs to be this awareness of the actual context of our activity. And I hadn't thought of this before actually, but also to realize, to thoroughly realize how bad unskillful actions are also comes in the context of being aware that you're practicing together with all beings and with all buddhas.

[05:58]

Full realization of how unfortunate unskillfulness is and the full realization of how good good activities are happen in the same awareness. And if you don't have that awareness, you can realize to some extent how unfortunate it is to be unskillful. And you can realize to some extent how wonderful it is to be skillful. Just that full realization. I propose this big awareness needs to be remembered. And if I try to practice it, I notice that it's rather challenging to remember all the time that context.

[07:02]

But pretty much every time I remember it, I feel buoyed up and relieved, buoyed up by the sense of support and relieved that I don't have to do this practice all by myself. I don't have to play the role of whatever teacher of this class by myself. All of you help me. All the Buddhas help me. Of course all the Buddhas help me. The class, the topic of the class is something that's been transmitted by Buddha ancestors for a long time. So of course I wouldn't be able to offer this class without that. So, but not just in the past, but in the present too. When I remember, when I imagine, when I imagine that I'm being supported by all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and all of you, I find it the best context to imagine.

[08:08]

And if I forget that, I easily imagine that I'm by myself facing a crowd of people who are separate from me, that reflex of imagination kicks in very easily. And then things are rather difficult then within that imagination. I think I might find other occasions to point, to bring this up, but communicating with me about why you're not in class is an exercise in the mindfulness of your support of me and my support of you. If you tell me about not coming to class, that supports you too. Of course, it supports me and it supports the other people.

[09:09]

It makes it so you don't have to miss class all by yourself. The topic for this series of classes, which is it seven or six? How many classes? Six. The topic is the Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. Is that what it said? What's the title of it? Huh? Four Modes of Action. Okay. And I have a text to offer you written by a Zen teacher named Dogen. You go to the text. It's just four pages, about four pages. You can come and get that at the end of class and take it with you and read it. So in the title of this is The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. And these four methods were taught before Dogen in various scriptures of the universal vehicle, of the Mahayana.

[10:28]

Various scriptures which are written for bodhisattvas have these four methods of guidance, these four modes of action taught. Anybody here never heard anything about Buddhism before? So if that's the case, then you may have heard that in the early presentations of teachings by the founder of the tradition, Shakyamuni Buddha, he taught four truths. The first was the truth of suffering. Second is the truth of the origin of suffering.

[11:29]

Third is the cessation of suffering. And fourth is the path to the cessation of suffering. How many people hadn't heard about those four truths before? One. Susan. Well, now you heard. Do you remember them? First truth is the truth of suffering. Remember that one? Second is the truth of the origin of suffering. Third is the truth of cessation of suffering. Fourth is the truth of the path, which is the cessation of suffering. Those are the four truths the Buddha taught. Many times he talked about those four truths. And sometimes you hear people say that the Buddha taught that life is suffering.

[12:34]

But another way to say it is that life has basically two ways to live. One way of living is suffering, and the other way of living is the cessation of suffering. Those are two basic modes of existence. suffering and freedom from suffering. The suffering arises because of causes and conditions and the basic cause, the basic condition for suffering is unenlightenment, non-enlightenment, ignorance of the truth. That's the basic condition. And in ignorance we have ignorance and then we have basically also coming with that greed and hatred. So the first truth is that there's suffering.

[13:43]

Well, it's not the truth of suffering. The truth of suffering is that it has an origin and the origin is emotional states that arise from ignorance, so greed, hate and delusion. And then there's also the truth that this suffering can end or can cease, and the cessation of the suffering is the path of practice. So the practice is basically to relieve us addresses the conditions for the arising of suffering. So the practice is to address greed, hate and delusion. To relieve us of greed, hate and delusion. When we're relieved of greed, hate and delusion, we then realize the cessation of suffering.

[14:45]

And this basic teaching of the Four Noble Truths applies to the traditional Zen practice of sitting meditation, which is called Zazen, sitting meditation. It's the central ceremony of the Zen tradition. And in this ceremony, there is the realization of the end of greed, hate, and delusion. and then necessarily ceremonially enacts freedom from suffering and uh... these four methods are in some sense less ceremonial and they're more related to daily life and maybe later want to, we can consider how these four practices or these four methods relate to the ceremony, basic ceremony of Zen practice, the sitting meditation.

[16:07]

But I think we can, I can just suggest to you that these four methods are, do you already know what they are? Did it say in the description? Did it? What's your name again? No, this gentleman. John. John. Do you remember what they are? One is giving. Yeah. Thank you. That was very kind of you. Huh? That was very giving, yes. Totally. Next one. Next one is kind speech or loving speech. Next one. Pardon? Cooperation. Beneficial action. And then the last one you could say is cooperation or identity action.

[17:10]

What is it for? Giving, kind speech or loving speech, beneficial action, and identity action or cooperation. cooperative action. There are various possible ways to integrate integrative action. So the first one addresses greed. The second one addresses hatred. The third one addresses both. The fourth one addresses ignorance. So these four methods are becoming released from suffering by becoming released from greed, hate, and delusion, or greed, hate, and ignorance. Again, these teachings occur in Sanskrit texts in India and when translated into Chinese.

[18:23]

I'll just briefly talk about this tonight, but when translated into Chinese, the character that was used was a character for four, and the character for method or way There's a character which can mean guidance or it can mean also embracing and sustaining. So this could be four methods of guidance or four methods of embracing and sustaining. Bodhisattvas actually, in a sense, they vow to live for the welfare of beings, but they also are said to vow to actually teach beings.

[19:29]

And sometimes bodhisattvas give really brilliant discourses and brilliant instruction to people. They sometimes give brilliant verbal teachings, and sometimes they give brilliant physical demonstrations. But I feel that the main thing that bodhisattvas are really doing is basically embracing beings. are basically like diving into the actual flow of relationship between all beings. That's the basic thing. And then in that soup of relationship, they talk sometimes and people say, well, it's a great talk or whatever. And sometimes in this soup, they practice giving. and they can give teachings and they can give material things.

[20:41]

And the alcohol also can give fearlessness. They can give dharma or the teaching, they can give material things and they can give fearlessness. But basically this giving happens and these other actions too happen basically because the bodhisattva is able to really live in her relationship with all beings, is able to plunge into the actuality of our true relationship. And in that space they practice, for example, first of all, giving. And that giving both enhances the bodhisattva's way of being with people in terms of like it helps them more thoroughly realize their relationship with others, but it also shows others how to enter that same way of being.

[21:49]

So the translation of Four Methods of Guidance sort of emphasizes this is the way bodhisattvas guide people or teach people. but it's also how they guide themselves or how they are guided into their proper relationship. So part of our proper relationship with beings is the relationship of giving to them. Part of our part of our relationship part of our actual relationship with each other is I don't know, part our relationship with each other is that we are giving to others. That's part of our true relationship is that we are giving to others. And the other part of our relationship, true relationship, is we're receiving from others. And another characteristic of our true relationship is that when we receive something from someone, we give them something at the same time.

[22:58]

The way of receiving is a gift. And the way of giving is to receive. When we're in this mode, we're free of greed. Dogen, in his commentary on giving, he says giving means non-greed. Giving or offering means... Yeah, giving means non-greed. That's the first thing he says. Or giving means not being greedy. i would just suggest that by putting it that way he's um by putting it negatively saying giving is not being greedy by putting it negatively he points us the words kind of point us to look at our motivation when we give and i think it's

[24:37]

maybe not news to you, that it isn't just in Buddhism that when we give with some idea to get something by the giving, if we're primarily interested in getting something, or deeply our agenda is to get something by giving, that that's not the actual spirit of spiritual giving yeah that's probably not so unfamiliar to you right even when i was a little boy of eight i remember one time i was christmas shopping with my mother downtown minneapolis and there was this you know santa claus is on the street ringing those bells Salvation Army or something. And I think I was eight.

[25:42]

I might have been younger, but I think I was about eight. And I had a quarter. And a quarter was a lot of money then at that time to an eight-year-old. And I gave the quarter to the Santa Claus. But I was interested to see whether my mother would notice that I gave it. And I felt, I noticed at that time that it was a little funny to be sort of giving the money to the Santa Claus to see if, and then see whether she would notice it and praise me. And then he says, then Dogen says, after saying that offering means not being greedy or offering means non-greed, he then says non-greed means not to covet.

[26:47]

And then he says not to covet means not to curry favor or not to flatter. So I looked at the word covet, and the word covet means to desire wrongfully or excessively. So greed is not just to desire something. It's to desire something wrongfully, even to the extent of disregarding other people's rights. To desire excessively It's what we mean by greed. Greed isn't just desire. It's to desire excessively or wrongfully. And then it says that to covet means to curry favor. And so I think you've probably also heard this before, but I just want to say again that I feel that

[28:00]

It's fine to want people to love us or like us or favor us. That's fine, that we like that and want that. But to do something to get them to like us, I would suggest that that's being covetous. That's excessive. and to give to someone in order to get them to approve of us or like us, there's the place to look. Wanting to give something to someone and wanting them to be pleased by the gift, I think that's okay. But wanting them to be pleased and then because they're pleased to like me, that's going, that's excessive.

[29:06]

The basic thing about giving is to practice the Buddha way just for the sake of the Buddha way. It means to give a gift just for the sake of gift giving. Pretty simple. For starters, I'm making it kind of simple. And then he says, even if you govern the poor continents, even if we govern the poor continents, we must always convey the correct teachings with non-greed. So if you want to give people the true Dharma, even if you have lots of facilities, still we must give the true Dharma.

[30:22]

with non-greed. It's in the mode of non-greed that the best gift is given. So when I think about this, I think, well now I'm coming here and giving teachings and I'm not saying that the teachings I'm giving are the true Dharma, but rather I would say that if I give you even just crummy teachings, in a sense, but if I give you any kind of whiff of the Dharma, and I give it in the context of non-greed, that's the medium in which the true Dharma will be conveyed. But even if it's an excellent teaching, But it's in this context of trying to get something by giving the teaching, then things get a little off or way off.

[31:34]

So can I give the teaching just for the sake of the teaching? Can I practice giving just for the sake of practicing giving? And then if I notice that I don't just give for the sake of practicing giving, then we have practice which I've mentioned quite often, the practice of revealing and disclosing this excessiveness around the practice of giving, the trying to get something from the giving by the giving. Rather than giving, for the sake of giving. No, I guess I could say, well, if I give for the sake of giving, aren't I also giving for the sake of realizing my true relationship with everybody? Yes. But the true relationship with everybody is not excessive.

[32:40]

It's nothing in excess to the giving. True relationship is giving. So I'm just giving in that way, hope to give that way, in order to realize true relationship. Again, there's an opportunity for me to, moment by moment, invoke the presence of all the Buddhas who practice giving for the sake of giving and who practice Dharma for the sake of Dharma and not for themselves, invoke their presence to support the activity of giving just for the sake of giving.

[33:45]

In the Buddhist tradition, as you may know, actually before the Buddhist tradition, there was the tradition in India for yogis to leave home and to beg for their physical support, to beg food. And the Indian people were used to this and they did support people to some extent that way. And that practice was picked up by the Buddha and from the early days until the modern times Buddhist monks and nuns still go out and practice begging. they asked for support and from the early days the main gift one well one of the main gifts that uh... well the main gift that monks were supposed to give lay people they were supposed to give lay people teachings and lay people were supposed to give the monks food and so on but in the sense of tonight i would emphasize that

[35:15]

The main teaching that the monks gave the lay people was the teaching of asking them for food. Because when they went begging, they didn't give a Dharma discourse every time somebody gave them a donation. Sometimes they would. Sometimes one person would give them a big lunch, and then after lunch they would give a Dharma discourse. So then the monks would give the Dharma discourse, give the teaching. But some people, they would just receive the donation and move on to the next house. So really, the thing that they were giving always, with every time that they came, they presented the gift of asking for something. But it's not this practice. Just to go ask somebody for something is not this practice unless you're asked for something just for the sake of asking for something and you can ask for food just for the sake of asking for food not to get the food not to get the food but to give the person the request for the food

[36:47]

with no concern for whether they're going to give you food after you ask. And this practice I feel can be applied very widely in your relationships. Ask people for things. Say, you know, would you please do this? Would you please do this? Would you give me... Would you give me this? Would you give me help? Would you give me money? Would you give me a report on today's activities? Would you do this? Would you do this as a gift to me? Would you do that as a gift to me? I would like you to give me the gift of doing this. I would like you to give me the gift of doing that. I want you to do this, and also I'd like to tell you that I would like you to give me the gift of doing this.

[37:56]

But you could just say, I want you to do this. The key is that when you ask for it or when you say you want it, that you're not saying that to the person to get it. So I, at the beginning of the class, said, I don't know if I said it, but I would like you to give me information if you're going to miss the class. I would like you to give me the gift of telling me, but I did not tell you that to get you to do it. Or if I did say that to you to get you to do it, then I was not practicing giving in this sense. I was just trying to get something for me, or even try to get something for you.

[39:04]

Rather than to do that practice, of asking you to do this for the sake of doing that practice, not to get you to do it. And I know from experience that some of you will do it and some of you won't. And I know from experience that when people do it, I really appreciate it. I like it. I think actually when I said it, I think I was more offering this to you than I was to get this from me, because also from experience I know how much people love it when they do it, actually. I like it too, but I think the other people who do it even like it more, actually. So that's a key thing. Part of what comes to my mind is, well, yeah, you may not very often see an opportunity to practice generosity in terms of asking for giving material things.

[40:19]

Like, you know, yeah, you may not be able to see that at the beginning of the practice, like in your own house. All the things you want people to do, you can turn those into you giving them the gift of telling them what you want them to do. Now, if you don't want anybody to do anything, then I would say, look a little bit more. Look at something you want somebody to do. Now that you've found that, now you have a gift to give them, which is to let them know about yourself, that you would like them to do something. And then see if you can ask that without trying to get them to do it. So again, Buddhist monks in the true spirit

[41:25]

the practice go out begging and they beg as a gift and then I mean they ask they say please give me something as a gift they don't necessarily say those words they just hold up a bowl traditionally and they go whole in Japan anyway they get that's a gift and it's a gift if they do that just as a gift not trying to get anything then when the people give them something and they actually receive it then receiving the thing from the person is also a gift so you give them when you you give to them when you ask and you give it to them when you receive And if the person hears you ask them for something, and they can feel, and not they can feel, and you actually ask to give them a gift rather than to get them to do what you're asking for, they receive that gift.

[42:46]

They receive somebody asking for something without trying to get it. They receive that actual Dharma gift. And again, when they receive it, they're also giving back to the person who gave it. Then, if they think of giving, of course, that's a gift. And then if they give in the spirit in which they were asked, and they don't even give to successfully give, They just give for giving. They might not be able to give. They might just try and not be able to. But they're not even giving in order to actually succeed at giving. They're just giving to give. This is kind of the actual environment of our relationship. And this is how giving can enact that. I don't know who wrote this poem, but it goes like this.

[43:49]

With no mind, The flower invites the butterfly. With no mind, the butterfly visits the flower. When the flower opens, the butterfly comes. When the butterfly comes, the flower opens. I am the same. I don't know people, and people don't know me. without knowing, we follow the divine teacher's law. I'll say just a little bit more.

[44:57]

I think this is a big thing, but I think I can say it quickly. Another basic principle in the practice of giving is that when we give, when we give, And people can accept the gift. They open up. And so when the bodhisattva gives and people can accept the bodhisattva's gift, they open up.

[46:04]

They open up to the bodhisattva, but they also open up... well, they open up to everything then. They start to open to the bodhisattva by receiving the gift. They open to their relationship with everything, which means they open to their relationship with the truth. So bodhisattva's don't necessarily come and give the person the truth right away. They often start by giving the person some gift that the person is ready to accept. So bodhisattvas, like if they go to the hospital, visit a sick person, they don't necessarily go up to the sick person and say, life is suffering. they usually bring the sick person something, because the sick person might not be ready to open to the teaching of life is suffering.

[47:09]

They have enough problems. They don't need somebody to come in and say that to them. Bodhisattva comes and offers them something that they can open to. Or if somebody's, if you just lost someone that you love, Bodhisattva doesn't necessarily come up and say, Everything's in, all compounded things are impermanent. You may not wish to open to that. So they offer you something else that you can open to. They want to offer you something you can open to. And if you open to that, you open to the loss. And if you open to the loss, you can open to the teaching about loss. On Sunday at Green Gulch we're going to do a ceremony which we call Sejiki Ceremony. It's a ceremony where actually what we do, it's actually originally a ceremony for feeding what we call hungry ghosts.

[48:16]

And the origins of this go way back to the early days of the Buddhist tradition. And the idea of the ceremony is that there is a state of being called hungry ghost which is sort of visualized as a person, a being who has a big mouth, a tiny thin neck and a distended stomach like a person who is malnourished. A person who has very strong desire but can't open to that which they wish to receive. So the ceremony is to try to find some kind of offering to the spirits, to the spirits who desire to receive something but are too closed to try to find something that these spirits can open to.

[49:19]

with no idea of what the gift should be but just like I'd like we'd like to give something that you could accept so they can start to open their throats to receive something and if they can receive something then they can receive perhaps something more and then perhaps they can receive love perhaps they can receive compassion perhaps they can open up to to compassion in a big sense rather than in a very small sense at first. Yeah. Well, I kind of feel like that was, I wanted to bring that up but I I don't feel like I can give enough time to it, this ceremony.

[50:26]

Because I want to stop now and invite your comments about what I've presented so far. Yes? When I think about my experience of giving, When you think of giving, the giving and the giving to get something are usually entwined. Yeah, right. So I think I understand that. And so I'm proposing that I and maybe you see if we can find a way of giving. where you just give to give? Is there any giving you can do where the trying to get something is not woven in there?

[51:35]

Except, you know, to the extent of I want to give something just for the sake of giving, so I do, if I give, sort of do get the giving in that sense so if I give you the gift of saying I want you to do so I want you to come over here or I want you to you know take care of this if I give you that as a gift so I do give I do get to give the giving when I give but beyond that I think it is possible to have nothing more although it's commonly there is something more it's very difficult actually to Even if I do the giving in the form of asking you for something, to ask you to give me something as a gift without trying to get you to give. I do want you to give it to me. I'm not pretending. I really do want you, for example, to be kind to me.

[52:43]

So I might say, would you please be kind to me? And I'm actually telling you, I'm actually asking you that as a gift to you. To let you know I want you to be kind to me. But I'm not saying it to you to get you to be kind to me. I could do that. You could do that. Ask you for something as a gift. is one of the main ways to give, is to ask people for things. Again, it is the traditional way for Buddhist monks to give, is to ask for something, is to ask for support. Now, if they get the support, when the person gives them something, they've also given the person something. But before the person gives them what they asked for, they have already given the person a gift. But if you're actually dependent for your life of people making donations to you, it's not that easy to not wish that they would give you something.

[53:56]

And actually wishing that they would give you something is not the problem. It's the excessive thing that you not only wish that they'll give you support, but you ask them to get them to give you support, rather than you wish they would support you, both for yourself and for them, And you want them to give you support for yourself and for them. And then because you, not so much because you want them to support, and more important than them supporting you, you want to practice giving. And the practice of giving is then, in that context of wanting them to support you and wanting them to have the chance of supporting you, you then give them a gift saying, I would like you to support me. And you do that not to get what you'd like to get. You would like to get the support, but you don't tell them that. I mean, you don't ask them to give you the gift to get it. You could also say to them, I would like you to give me the gift.

[55:00]

You could say, please give me the gift, and you say, I would like you to give me a gift. And you can also say, I would like you to give me a gift, but I'm not saying that to get you to give me the gift. Yep, I actually, that's where I'm at. You don't have to say it. You can actually just actually be that place and and giving that way opens their throat to receive this gift and also to receive more important than the request which they heard which they also might open to. If you act If I ask you for something, and I ask you as a gift, I suggest that that actually opens you up more than if I ask you in order to get it. And when you open, and when I ask to give you as a gift to you, to give you a gift, not to get this back, you open to that way of being, which is opening to the Dharma.

[56:12]

which is what I want also. But it's easy to not do it that way, of course. And then when I do not do it that way, I just simply and hopefully I notice that it's got that other thing woven into it. Last summer we talked about no outflows, which is basically the same thing that If you do things with a gaining idea, it introduces this seed of suffering. So to ask for something as a gift potentially is a good thing, but if you're really trying to get something by asking, then that's an outflow. And also to give other kinds of gifts, asking for things is one kind of gift. Asking for things is one kind of gift, but also when people ask you, To give something is another kind of gift.

[57:15]

In both cases, to give the gift of a request or to give the gift of responding to a request, in both cases, are you doing anything other than giving the gift for the sake of the giving? And if you are, then spot that. Be aware of that. And that awareness, especially that awareness in the context of the other awareness, the bigger awareness that you're practicing together with everyone, that awareness will help you find the way of asking for something as a gift and also giving something just as a gift, not as trying to give something. This path is available. It's called the path... it's called the true path of enlightenment. Yes. It sounds like a desire is the birth of the request.

[58:23]

It sounds like a desire is the birth of the request. It sounds like a desire is a condition for the birth of the request. In other words, I have a desire for food, so I get my request. Yes. Right. But it feels like there's a separation of that one aspect. Yeah. So there's a desire for food, so I might ask you for some food. And between the desire for the food, which is fine, and then the thought, and there actually might be a thought, oh, I'm hungry, so I have a gift to give. And the gift I can give is I can ask for some food.

[59:25]

So far, so good. So first is a desire which is fine, namely I want food. Second of all, I think, oh, now this can be a gift because I have a desire. And I find somebody to ask to give this to me. So there's Reed. I'll ask him. So far, no problem. But then the greed can slip in there at any point. The greed can slip in there right after, right after the desire for food. Instead of thinking, I have a desire for food, so now I can ask somebody, I can give a gift of asking for help, the greed can come in right afterwards. Then, asking for help, even if I think, now I can ask for help as a gift, it's still that the greed's popped up there. But again, if I notice it, and say, oh, got that there, but this still would be good to ask him for it. Okay, let's see if I can just set the greed aside for a second now. Can I ask him that without this?

[60:27]

I'd like to get the food, and I want to give him the gift of asking for the food. Okay, let's try it. Please give me some food. Yeah, it got set aside. And then you say, no. And I say, wow, great, wonderful. I didn't get the food, but I did give you that gift. And when you said no, it doesn't mean that you didn't actually see the quality of my request. You might just be kind of like giving me a gift, which is helping me see if really I wasn't greedy. And when I go, wow, that's great, you say, that's great. And now here's some food. You might do that. And I think some people do that with monks, actually.

[61:30]

They kind of like make some gestures to see. And they still might give it even after the monk demonstrates some greed. They still might give it. And if they give it, just to give it and not trying to get anything, and not trying to get the monk to open his throat to the way of giving which isn't trying to get anything. They're giving in this pure way to show the monk how to give, but they're not doing that in order to get that from the monk because that's not the pure giving that the monk... realizes the way that the monk should have asked by the way that they responded to the request. In that case, the layperson would be teaching the monk. The lay bodhisattva would be teaching the monk, lesser developed bodhisattva. John?

[62:42]

John? John? It's a joy, you know, joy. Well, it's a gift. God, I don't feel motivation. Feeling joy at other people's joy, I don't see any problem in that. But to give things to people so that I will have the joy of seeing them happy to receive it, that's not giving. That's not giving just for the sake of giving. So again, To give things to people so they'll be pleased, I don't see a problem in that.

[63:45]

But to give things to people so they'll be pleased and in awe, from my experience of seeing their pleasure, that's off the track a little bit. Of course you want to please people, generally speaking. I think you do. That's good. And then to do something in hopes that it will please them, I think is fine. But to give, not to get anything, but just to give for the sake of giving, is more important than pleasing people. Because that shows them how to open their open to the truth how to open to the practice of doing things for the sake of dharma, doing dharma practice for the sake of dharma practice. It shows them that. Which is, I think, that's what liberates them from suffering.

[64:48]

You can, I can, you can give things to people wishing to please them by giving it. And they can be pleased or not pleased. But let's say they're pleased, but that does not liberate them. But if you give it, wanting them to be pleased, not giving it to get them to be pleased then they receive and they receive not only this gift but I mean they receive the actual giving they actually receive the truth they actually receive enlightenment and it's important when you also it's important then to learn the way of giving this actual giving either in the form of giving something or in the form of asking for something, it's important to give that in a way that they'll be able to accept. So even the asking for something, not to get it, and actually showing true giving by asking for something, it's also good to do that in such a way that they can receive that gift

[66:03]

In other words, try to do it in a way that works for them rather than the way you'd like to do it. So they can open to this, well, inconceivably wonderful thing called giving. This actual pure giving, which again means open to their actual relationship with you. So your relationship with them is You want to realize your relationship with them through giving, but also it's not over on your side to decide how that's going to be realized. Lynn? It's like giving the opportunity to create willingness. Giving the opportunity to create? To create willingness. Mm-hmm. Yes.

[67:07]

Carmen? May I adjust that? I don't think this creates intimacy. I think this realizes intimacy. It isn't that this creates our true relationship. This realizes our true relationship. So bodhisattvas don't go around and create relationships. They dive into relationships. And they realize the relationship. They don't create the relationship. We all create the relationship together. That's our relationship. Our intimacy is that we mutually create our relationship. So we don't create intimacy. We realize it by giving. So that's another language. Giving as a gift or requesting as a gift and giving just for the sake of giving realizes intimacy.

[68:25]

It's this thing like with the butterfly and the flower. And also that they don't know each other. We don't know each other. But we interact in this way and we realize our true relationship even though we don't know each other. Even though the butterfly doesn't really know the flower, the flower doesn't know the butterfly, they have this intimate relationship and they realize it. Butterfly doesn't know the flower. Flower doesn't know the butterfly. You don't know people, they don't know you. But by giving, you realize your actual relationship. You can just give openness almost, too. Well, this is kind of like giving openness, huh? But again, giving openness is fine, but it's nice to give openness in some form.

[69:34]

openness that doesn't take some form might not open if people are closed then unless you give the openness of form it may not be meant they may not be able to open up to it so if you say to somebody what you're really giving is openness but you're saying to somebody would you please come over here and you want them to come over here you don't just say it just arbitrarily to pick a form for your openness you sort of have to find something you actually when you do want to come over So you say, would you come over? And you're ready for them to come over. You know, but you're not doing it to get them to come over. You just want them to come over. So you say, would you come over? And if they don't come, they get to see that really you're giving openness. You are openly telling them that you want them to come over. But that's it. You weren't doing it as a manipulation. It was a gift. a gift of openness, but your openness had the form of wanting them to come over.

[70:42]

But your openness was not the form of getting them to come over. So you give openness, but something about openness about you. It's openness, but it's li-openness. It's the present moment of li-openness. And that's their relationship with you. So the giving exercise realizes the relationship with the openness and also with the particularity of the two people or whatever number of people. So you sort of do have to have a desire before you can ask somebody to do it. But these things do come up. They actually are available. They're not so rare. Yeah?

[71:45]

I was thinking, forget about anybody else, just about . Yeah, forget about everybody else. Forget about everybody else. Let's do that. Just not being in a situation where you can't practice with everybody else, but you can actually practice with yourself. You don't need the physical presence. You do have the physical presence but you don't need to be able to sense it. You can have the physical absence of people around you. You can sense the physical absence. So you can practice generosity with yourself any place. And you can practice it with yourself any place, and you can practice it with others when they're not around. When you read the text, it talks about you can practice generosity with people when they aren't around.

[72:46]

If I think, if I actually had the thought, I would like to give Bernard such and such a gift... When you're not around, that totally counts. Totally counts. You know, I really want to give him such and such a gift. That counts. That's giving. And also, in some ways, if the person isn't around, it's in some sense easier to be pure. Because you just think, I want to give him the gift, but that's not, you know, I'm not going to get anything from him from thinking that thought. Totally. So if you read this text, you'll see lots of kind of like, you can also give things that aren't yours to other people. Not, you know, not physically, though. I mean, like you, like I can't give your car to Bernard without talking to you.

[73:50]

But I can think of giving your car. Like if I see one of you driving away, a nice, safe car, know like what is it not just safe but like a Prius you know a hybrid you know I see a driveway nice safe ecologically kind car and I think oh I'd like I'd like to give that to Bernard you know that counts I gave your car in my mind to Bernard but if I want to actually give the car in a physical sense I'd have to sort of say, could I give your car to Bernard? You can just give me a new one. Yeah. They have the GM. Right. Or I can just say, I would like you to give your car to Bernard. Now, it's fairly easy for me to say that to you. And you know, just what kind of car do you want, Bernard? I want my new Yate Hybrid. Okay, I'd like somebody in this group to give Bernard that car.

[74:57]

Now, that was pretty easy for me to do that without trying to get you to... I wasn't doing that to try to get you to do it, but I actually would like that. That would be great. Fran? How about in the situation of homeless people Yes? Well yes, I mean, It depends on you, though.

[76:07]

If you think, if you see somebody and you don't have any money and the person asks you for money, if you can think of something to give them, like one thing you would give them is you could say, I would like you to forgive me for not giving you any money. You could ask him for that. Say, I don't have any money and I would also like you to give me some forgiveness for not giving you anything. I'd like to ask that of you. But you could also say, in your mind, maybe it may be kind of rude to say it to them this way, but in your mind you say, I have the gift to give to this person of saying to him, you know, I'm going to give you my face right now. I'm going to look into your eyes and I'm going to give you a warm feeling. You're not going to say this out loud, but you actually feel like this. And you're not getting that to try to get them to like you back for giving this warm feeling. And you might also say to them, I actually don't have any money. And you're actually giving that to them, that information. But you're also not trying to get something back from them, like some forgiveness for not giving them anything or get them to like you for telling that.

[77:12]

But you actually do want to give them that. And also you might actually not want to give them some money. You might have some money and not want to give it to them. So then, in that case, what can you give if you don't want to give them money? Sometimes you might be able to give them something else. I don't want to give you money. You might even tell them that. You might say, I don't want to give you money. But you might do that as a gift. And again, a gift not to get them to forgive you for not giving them the money or like you or something, but you really feel like this is the gift I want to give you. and i and this is the gift i'm giving and i don't think i'm trying to get anything out of it i'll look i don't think so i'm just saying i don't want to give you money and you might say but i would be willing to give you fruit i have some fruit i i would be willing to give you that and then again give that and see if you can give that without again trying to get them to like you of course you do want them to like you that's fine

[78:20]

you're not giving the fruit to get them to like you, and you're not telling them that you don't want to give them money to get them to like you. I think we can actually see the greed. It's possible to find it and to, like, set it aside sometimes, just for, put it in parentheses just for a little while and then see, now, if that wasn't there, would I still want to give? And maybe yes, and then do it that way. But sometimes you say, I can't get the greed out. It's stuck in there. So I have to admit that too. But again, admitting that is very good. This practice is, we have how many classes? Six. So we can spend more than one week on this practice, I think. So continue. And if you'd like to read this text, it's up here for you. Come and help yourself. Thank you very much.

[79:20]

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