Today is, we call it Mother's Day, right, in America? We're celebrating Mother's Day, are we? When I agreed to give this talk some time ago, I think I noticed at that time that it was Mother's Day and my initial response was that I wanted, I thought, oh good, I appreciated the opportunity to be able to give a talk on Mother's Day. I also like to give talks on Father's Day. But as the date, as this day got closer, a couple of times I thought, actually more than a couple of times I thought, first of all I thought, I just got back from England last night.

[01:22]

So I thought, oh, maybe it'll be hard to get off the airplane and give a talk the next day. And then also I thought, Well, is it arrogant for a man to give a talk on Mother's Day? Maybe it's more appropriate for a mother to give a talk on Mother's Day. So I felt a little uncomfortable about coming up before you on Mother's Day not being a mother. Now, I could assuage my ill ease, ill at easiness, by saying, well, mothers maybe should have the day off. Maybe it's nice for them not to have to give a talk on Mother's Day. Maybe they could just sit quietly most of the day and listen to people express gratitude and love for them and not ask them,

[02:37]

you know, where their jacket is. But as I thought about it more, you know, about this question of whether I should even follow through with the talk, I thought, well actually I think part of the reason why I liked the idea in the first place was because I would feel ill at ease giving the talk. I feel a need to... commit myself to situations where I'm not sure I should be there or I feel perhaps if I have any arrogance it might be exposed.

[03:46]

Rather than stay in situations where people might look at me and say, What a humble situation he's in. What a humble position. And I might think so too. This is really a humble position. And then we all might all, maybe he's humble and isn't that sweet. Rather than, perhaps he might think, who does he think he is giving a talk on Mother's Day? Or does he think he's giving a talk on Mother's Day? Does he think he's giving a talk on Mother's Day? Does that guy think he's giving a talk on Mother's Day? Do I think he's giving a talk on Mother's Day? Do you think I'm giving a talk on Mother's Day? Did you say not yet? Not yet. She's leaving in two days, so she's feeling her oats.

[05:07]

She's sowing her wild oats. This exposure is spreading. Well, I don't know what they were talking about over there, but they said something and they felt exposed. That area was exposed over there. And what happened when it became exposed? What happened? Laughter. What else? Humor. What else? Embarrassment. Embarrassment. Well, embarrassment first and then humor and then... And what else? Blushing. Huh? Blushing. And what's a blushing a sign of? Huh? Love. Love. What else? Maybe disease, yeah, but what else? Huh? Blood. It's a sign of blood. And what's blood a sign of? Life. Now, on the other hand, if nobody here is exposed, you usually don't blush when you're not exposed, right?

[06:15]

Like everybody's sitting quietly. Nobody's calling anybody cute. Nobody's saying you're lovely. Nobody's saying you're the most wonderful mother in the world or you are the mother in the world or whatever. So everybody's like in their closet. Nobody's blushing. You know about that kind of life? Do you, Lynn? Yeah. See, Lynn was exposing herself. She was scowling very nicely. What's he talking about? But now she's smiling. Why is she smiling? Because she exposed herself and in her exposed state, I could see her and relate to her, which is what you want, right? Yeah, right. But in order to be related to, we have to offer ourself. And in some sense, in order to offer ourselves more and more fully, or anyway, fully or completely, I think we need to have confidence in some sense in mother.

[07:24]

It's a tenant, actually, of Soto Zen, you know, the school of Zen that we express here. The tenet of that school is that each of us, our life arises through the support of all beings. Zen has some reputation for being strict or whatever, formal. And sometimes, maybe it doesn't, but I think it does, does it? But it doesn't have a reputation for, does it have a reputation for gratitude? Huh? It does? Great. I think that's accurate because we basically are grateful for all the support that we receive, for the support we're receiving from all beings.

[08:37]

And if we can feel supported by all beings, we dare to come out of the closet, we dare to express ourselves. And then when we express ourselves, there's a chance that somebody will hear us and say, what did you say? Or look at us and see us, and then we can feel the blood in the body. Some people probably walk around step by step throughout the day and actually don't feel like blood, you know, don't feel like the blood, don't feel the blood going through them. Do you ever have that feeling of not feeling the blood? Do you spend most of your day like just like walking around thinking but not actually feeling the stuff coursing through you and throbbing? You ever miss a beat? Do you? Yeah, that's kind of response that's like missing the beat. That was an opportunity. That was an opportunity to respond, but you have better things to do, right? I'll wait till some other time before I say anything.

[09:46]

This is like not, this question is not for me. Because I'm not, because actually, because actually I don't feel any blood. I'm just like dead in the water here. So, you know, so he, so actually he is talking to me, but I'm not going to respond like, yes, I know what it's like to not feel alive. Because I'm so dead, I don't even know what it's like to feel not alive. I don't even notice not feeling alive. I don't know the difference between being alive and dead because I'm dead all the time. Right? No. Well, that's why you didn't have to answer because you're so alive. Aren't you? And you're giving a lecture. No, I'm not giving a lecture yet. This lecture is being given by the support of all beings. That's the sponsor of this lecture. Isn't that funny? This lecture is not a lecture.

[10:53]

This lecture is a bunch of talk that's being supported by all beings. Because it's a Mother's Day talk. It's the talk of Mother's Day. It's not the talk of some guy giving a talk or some girl giving a talk. It's the talk of a guy who's supported by all beings. That's the talk today. So it's a Mother's Day talk, so it's not so bad that I'm giving it, is it? I mean, not so bad that you're using me to have hear this talk. I could also say, hey, I can give a talk on Mother's Day. But then I say, no, you can't. Stop that. I can come up with, no you can't, somebody could come up with my license to give a talk on Mother's Day. For example, I'm the father of a mother, so doesn't that entitle me to give a talk? No, it doesn't. I don't need any entitlement to give a talk because I'm not giving it.

[11:53]

And you're listening to this talk, you're not listening to it by your own power, you're listening to it because everybody's supporting you. And I, you know, I feel, I feel, you know, I feel by the support of all beings that I like to hear that. So. Now, should the talk be given? Or is that enough talk? a thought just arose. There's a scripture in the Buddhist tradition called the Loving Kindness Scripture. Actually, sometimes it's called the Discourse on Loving Kindness.

[13:03]

And I just like to sort of parenthetically mention the word discourse. And would you remind me to come back to it? Because I don't want to get distracted by that word right now. But there's a problem with that word. There's a problem with a discourse on loving kindness. But let's not get into that right now, okay? Let's just talk about loving kindness discourse. And in that discourse it says, like a mother... Does it say, like a mother who would give her life for her only child? Does it say something like that? Oh, at the risk of her life. That's better. Like a mother at the risk of her life to protect her only child, something like that? Watches over and protects. Like a mother at the risk of her own life watches over and protects her only child. It's like that. So on Mother's Day, we bring up that thing. And the other thought is, the mother, at the risk of her own life, at the risk of her own life, not at the risk of her children's own life, but at her own risk, she watches over and protects life.

[14:18]

And I thought, what does the father do? I thought, the father... at the risk of his own life, tries to participate in creating life, tries to work to create life. That's kind of the father's thing. And if you look at various fathers, if you look at the animals and among them humans, you will notice, you could say you may notice that various males lose their life in the process of trying to give themselves to the process of reproduction. And in some ways, some people might say, actually some females do that too, but when the females act like that, we say they're males. But usually we say it's a male. The one has the sperm often, often, I mean like often, like often, like billions and billions of times, billions and billions of times males have given their life to marry a sperm to an egg.

[15:32]

Did you know that? Billions of times males have been eaten while giving their sperm to a female, by the female that they're mating with. That's happened billions of times. And it probably will continue because these guys are so devoted to this project that you can see they're really wholehearted about it and they're quite successful. But they're kind of emphasizing the size of riskier life in order to initiate life. And then the mother who's there, not so much risking her life to initiate life because she can often eat her mate. And she eats the mate partly so that she'll be able to watch over and protect the baby after it's born. This is division of labor. But both of them Both the father and the mother risk their life for life.

[16:36]

They risk their life for life. What do you think of that? risking life, not necessarily losing your life, but being willing to risk it. So a mother would risk her life, maybe, to be able to watch her child at a ballet recital. She might. She might say, it's not that important for me to be at this performance. I shouldn't risk my life to be there. But she might kind of risk her life a little bit to be there because it's really important that she watches over this life. Life tends to be promoted when it's watched over. by when it's watched over, period, but particularly when it's watched over by some being who's risking her life to watch over.

[17:44]

This is like really a wholehearted kind of watching over. Sometimes it happens, as you may have experienced, that somebody might risk their life to watch over you, but they're so pooped out from risking their life that they're kind of like almost fall asleep when they get to see you. So, you know, we can work with that too, but I just thought I might mention that because it's very important that when you arrive at the watching station, you continue to be awake so you can watch and protect. Now, it's not the case, probably, I don't know, that every single time you're watching over a being, your life's at risk. It may not have to be that way, but I kind of think it is that way. I'll just propose to you, I'll just tell you that I think maybe that's the case. In other words, that your life's at risk right now. And if you don't see how your life's at risk, then I propose to you, you kind of don't understand how alive you are.

[18:54]

If you have a really reduced and diminished sense of your life, then you might feel like your life's not at risk. But when you feel really alive, that big life you can see is at risk of diminution, of being lost to some extent. So that's why I like to give a talk on Mother's Day or come in the situation where people are expecting a talk on Mother's Day because then I can feel my big life because I feel endangered. And again, I don't want to be rude unless necessary. I don't want to be rude unless necessary. I don't want to be rude unless it's helpful. So if it's helpful, then I do want to be rude. And that's a warm-up to say, I can guess that, well, actually, you already did something slightly dangerous or you put yourself somewhat at risk because you got in a car to come here.

[20:08]

That was kind of a risk you took to come to this place. And now that you're here, you might think, well, I got here through all that traffic and everything, and now I don't have to take a risk now that I'm at Green Gulch. I'm not saying you think that, but you might. And so because you might be expecting to come to Green Gulch and then take a break from being at risk, finally you're safe and not at risk, then I'm a little shy to bring up the fact, the view of the necessity of experiencing that your life is in danger, that you are a vulnerable event, that your life is a vulnerable thing. So I kind of hesitate to bring that up because this may be somewhat shocking. But I bring up two things.

[21:13]

Not just that, also that you are supported by all beings to be a vulnerable thing. If we're not supported by all beings, we tend to slip back into more of the view of, well, I'm not that vulnerable because I'm basically in control here, and I sometimes lose control, but basically I'm going to keep this thing safe. And of course, the main way to keep yourself safe is to hide And don't tell anybody what's going on. Don't be yourself, really. Put out a fake, have kind of a decoy out there, and then live sort of in the neighborhood of the decoy. It's not really safe, but you kind of feel that way, like, well, if they attack me, they're going to attack the decoy. And if they like the decoy, well, then I'll kind of like, I'll move over closer to it. When my daughter was in high school, sometimes kids from her school would come to Green Gulch to talks, Sunday talks.

[22:25]

And sometimes the person giving the talk was her father. And so she would kind of hide out when her friends came at a distance to see if they liked the talk. If they liked to talk, she would have sort of come out of hiding and say, well, that's my dad. And if she wasn't sure they liked it, she just, you know, didn't appear, they wouldn't see her, that she lived at Green Gulch or that she had any association with that guy. There basically was a potential, you know, a risk there because they could easily think he was weird. Funny haircut, talking about really boring things. that she thinks are boring, et cetera. So she, it was a risky situation for her having me as a father. So she was always, you know, I think she experienced some of the risk of that.

[23:28]

I put it to you, I offer it to you to take a look, take a peek, and then go from a peek to a look, and then from a look to a steady awareness of whether you're hiding out, and whether you're playing it safe. Okay. Not just being careful, but playing it safe by avoiding situations where you actually would be out there showing who you are. And also, please be aware of whether there are situations where you're being not careful and endangering your health. Please observe those too. But I think, in other words, please drive carefully means please drive with an awareness of whether you're driving safely, and please drive safely.

[24:42]

Drive in such a way that your life is protected and other lives are protected. But also I suggest please open up to, at your own rate, the vulnerability that you're getting into when you get into a car. And the vulnerability in particular, the vulnerability that you get into when you tell the truth about how you feel, what you think, and so on. I'm not actually saying that you should take that chance unless you want to be alive fully. It's up to you to decide whether you want to be fully alive because it's such a risk. It seems to be such a risk. But once again, Really, we're already at risk, so it's kind of a matter of getting used to it. So being fully alive is closely related to becoming aware of what you are and becoming aware of your fears and your constrictions and your limitations and your attachments and all that.

[26:00]

and by becoming familiar with them to become free of them. But this whole process of entering into this facing or confrontation with yourself in the process of expression is really quite challenging and you are taking a risk. Once again, you as isolated person is the one that's at risk. What you really are is not an isolated person. What you really are is a being whose life is born of the support of all beings. The life that's supported by all beings is not in danger. But in order to realize that, we need to put ourself out there and see how we're supported by all beings.

[27:13]

So in a way, what that means is to see how we're married to all beings. But the way to see what it's like to be married to all beings is to marry all beings. Don't just wait to see, actually enter into a marriage with all beings. Start and do it with one person at a time. I mean, yeah, one person at a time. And also realize that the marriage is not complete on the first date or at the marriage ceremony. It doesn't end until perhaps death does us part. And marriage is practiced in sickness and in health, right? I mean, I think so. It's practiced for better or worse in richness and in poverty. In other words, it's practiced in all situations.

[28:19]

And the key point for me is that you endanger your truth to the other. And you understand that part of the truth you must endanger to them is, well, if it is your truth, in my case, in my truth, the truth that I endanger to you is that I need you to endanger your truth to me. So that's my truth, that little truth that I have, not something that I think is true. which I'm telling you about now. I endangered it to you a little bit, and I'm telling you I need you to endanger your truth to me. But the main way you endanger your truth is just simply telling it to me, you know, fully as you can, honestly as you can. And I also feel that everybody needs you to endanger your truth to them.

[29:25]

And they need you to endanger your truth. I already said that. And you need them to endanger their truth to you. This is the way we realize how we are supported by all beings. Now, if you don't want to support somebody, then that would go along with don't encourage them to tell you their truth and don't tell them yours. Keep them at a distance and that will make a successful non-marriage. Unless you would tell them, I'm keeping you at a distance. That exposure of your attempt to keep at a distance is not keeping them at a distance. A long time ago, When I was young, sometimes women would come up to me, sort of out of their way, and say something like, I don't want to talk to you, and walk off.

[30:48]

Or, you know, I'm really not interested in having anything to do with you. Or something like that. And then go off. And I would think, hmm, that's interesting. And I would follow them and ask them what they meant. And then they would often tell me. Or maybe they'd say, I don't want to tell you. I thought, hmm. But there's a lot of other women and men who don't want to talk to me, who don't come and tell me that they don't want to talk to me. And I just let them walk by. All the people who don't tell me they don't want to talk to me, I don't go up to them and say, you look like you don't want to talk to me. Is that true? I mean, there's a lot of people I see walking around on this little planet. I mean, I see a few people, a few thousand people, all right? I see them zipping by airports and stuff. They look like they don't want to talk to me. And, you know, kind of like I'm trying to catch the plane, too, so I don't know if I really want to stop and talk to them. So we all look like we don't want to talk to each other. So I don't walk up to them and say,

[31:53]

You don't look like you want to talk to me. You look like you're in a hurry to catch a plane, like you don't want to actually have a real meeting with me today. Is that right? I don't do that usually. But if they would, as they're running by me, if they would say, I don't want to talk to you, I might stop and say, wait a minute. This is interesting. Has anybody ever done that to you at the airport? Come up to you and say, I don't want to talk to you. Has anybody ever said it to you, period? And what did you say? Did you say, oh good, I don't want to talk to you either. Let's just keep away from each other because you don't support me and I don't support you and that's just fine with me. Have you ever felt like that? This is called hatred. This is called heading towards death. This is like not the realm of, you know, the mother.

[33:04]

The mother is, let's watch over and protect life. So today, as you know, maybe, many, many, many mothers went out of their way to go to Washington and to stand up and say that they want gun control. Of course, a lot of them just want zero guns, I would guess. But they're taking a step in that direction by saying gun control. So today probably a lot of people who used to come to Green Gulch are at brunch someplace. A lot of mothers are not here or a lot of people are entertaining their mothers.

[34:09]

But there might be a few mothers here. And I kind of want to ask the mothers to stand up for a second if they're if they want to. And now they're sitting down again. Was that okay for you to stand up? Would you mind standing up again?

[35:13]

If you would mind, let me know. Would you mind? Would you mind exposing your motherhood to the world? Now, I thought of the mother standing up and I thought of clapping, but then I thought, Actually, first of all, I thought, well, just first of all, mother standing up, first of all, it's kind of like a quiet thing that they do. They just stand there mostly quietly. And I thought of mothers, I thought of the mother of Jesus standing up when Jesus was on the cross and she stood there. She stood there and faced the suffering of her son quietly. And I thought, I don't know what the mothers in Washington are doing, but I think they're mostly like standing there. I picture them standing there. Maybe they're talking and shouting too, maybe. But first of all, they're there. And they're bearing witness to this situation of all these guns.

[36:18]

What? Uh-huh. Right. Okay. At Lake Merritt in Oakland, there's a walk. So anyway, I thought in some sense the first thing is a mother is, I think in some sense, first or anyway, I don't know if it's first, but there's a big element of silence in being a mother, of standing in silence and in this watching and protecting, being ready. And... And also the clapping that we did, you know, I'm not criticizing the clapping because I think in some sense it was pretty wimpy clapping. And I, huh? It was kind of silent clapping or somber clapping. And I think probably that's because people were, maybe some people were, I don't know, maybe some people didn't want to clap, or maybe some people felt like, well, maybe the mothers don't want really uproarious clapping.

[37:29]

Maybe they would feel too alive if we were totally freaked out. So we're kind of like being polite. We don't want to clap too much for these great heroes who have done... Now, some of these mothers may be mothers of little babies and just starting out. but I see a number of them look like they have not just brand new babies, because the babies aren't, unless somebody's taking care of them. And I know some of them have adult babies, and I know some of them are grandmothers. I know some of your children that are adults. And my daughter said, you know, in the first three months, which she just recently completed, when she was like up to her eyeballs taking care of her little boy, she said, it just occurred to me that every mother has done this and they got through it somehow. They all did this. It's like, you know, we work hard sometimes in our Zen retreats, but... If people do these Zen trainings and then they have a mother, they say that being a mother is like being in a sashin or a Zen intensive for like three months or six months without a break.

[38:39]

So I don't exactly know what the expression is, but I just want to say that my heart kind of like aches. in awe of what you women in this room have done for life. And I just want to express my gratitude for all the devotion and support you have given, not just to your children, but I know many other children. I mean, you know, it's just really wonderful how much you love life. and that you're willing to take care of little men. It's really great. I'm really surprised. I can see why you take care of little mothers, little girls, but you actually take care of the boys, too. It's really nice of you. And now that I have a little boy, I kind of see, I kind of understand why you do it, because they can be really cute, can't they?

[39:47]

They have their way of encouraging this support. Thank you for standing. Yes. Oh. Your life is in risk of danger. Pardon? My life is in danger. Do you want me to sing something? May I sing? May you sing. Definitely. You want a microphone? Okay. Please sing. Butterfly, butterfly. Butterfly, butterfly, butterfly.

[40:52]

Butterfly, butterfly, what do you need? Butterfly, butterfly, my heart sings. Butterfly, butterfly, I want to be alone. Butterfly, butterfly, When it rains, when it rains, I love to laugh. [...] In particular, would any other mothers like to sing or stand on their heads?

[42:03]

No other mothers want to sing? And I just thought that would be wonderful if we could all be that brave. Yes, yes. You're impressed by guts. You're impressed by bravery. Yeah. It takes bravery to admit and live in such a way that you open up to your vulnerability. Speak up, please. Are you singing now?

[43:14]

Is this your song? Yeah. Well, if the mothers... No other mothers want to sing? Really? Really? Yes? You do want to sing? Please, stand up and sing. And dance if you'd like. I receive to you I give together We share from this we live From you, I proceed. To you, I bid. Together we share. I give to you. I give to you. We share some of this. We live. I give to you. I give to you.

[44:17]

To you I give. Together we share. From this we live. This is a tenant of Soto Zen, this song. Orthodox Zen. Traditional Zen. So Zen's about love, but also all kinds of love, but particularly there's an emphasis on pure love. And pure love is the love that's purified of ownership. It's not my love. It's not your love. It's our love. Any other mothers like to sing before we sing the next song? Yes.

[45:33]

I don't want to sing because singing is not my art. But my art is in the dining room today. I forgot that it was going to be up during Mother's Day. But it's entitled Buddha Mother. Can you hear her? Her art is up in the dining room, and she forgot that it was going to be up during Mother's Day, but the title of the whole show is Buddha Mother. Is that right? Yeah. Had I realized perhaps that it would be there on Mother's Day, I might not have had the guts to do it. But I did. And if any of you see the tiniest flicker of what so many people are expressing there today, then you will have heard my song.

[46:37]

And I thank you. Sidney. Guess what? Guess. No, I've seen it. I looked at someone very closely, and I like your work very much. Very much. It's great. But guess what else? Just take a guess. It's something about me. I'll give you a clue. It's something about something I feel. Guess what it is. Yes, but it's also something I would like you to do. Now, I would like you to sing, but that doesn't mean I don't think you're already singing. Okay? In particular, you see, one thing you did was you put your truth in plight to me. One of your truths was, guess what? What was one of your truths, Sydney?

[47:39]

I don't want to sing. Sidney went out of her way to tell me she didn't want to sing. Now, that was just a prelude to something else, but she did tip her hand a little bit there and say, I don't want to sing. Then she tipped it further and told us the reason she didn't want to sing, her reason was because singing's not her art. To me, I really appreciate you telling me that you think singing's not your art and that you don't want to do it because you think that. Now, is it okay with you that I'm saying this? Yes. You see, she says, I don't want to do what I'm not good at. And I say, thanks for telling me. And I'm happy that you are so good at your art, and I'm happy that you know how to be good at something. So you can tell the difference between what you're good at and what you're not. But what I most want from you is what you usually don't do, namely show what you're not good at. That's what I like. Because that fills the picture out.

[48:43]

So we have an example. You can all see what she's good at. Now we want to round the picture out. See the full expression, right? So, you know. We want the whole picture. We want the whole person. We don't want to just see the skillful, practiced, professional Sidney. We want to see the little girl Sidney. And not only little girl Sidney, but the part that Sidney never really worked. So I thank you for singing your song and telling us, singing us a song of I don't want to sing a song, which makes me really interested in you and hearing your song that you already sang. And I look forward to more songs. in which we could even have one right now. But if you're not in the mood, I'd like you to sing this song called No, I Really Don't Want to Sing. I'm not kidding. I've got one, but I need your support. Will we give her our support?

[49:44]

Our full support? Okay, you got it. This is a Mother's Day song from Sydney. Yes. You must remember this A kiss is just a kiss A sigh is just a sigh The fundamental things of life As time goes by When two lovers kill you, they say, I love you. But if you can't be like the one that goes by. Thank you. So give your mother a present today.

[50:50]

Play your truth to her. Tell her something about your love that you never told her before. Some new, scary dimension of love. Share with her. And remember, we're all supporting you to do this amazing, vital thing called being yourself. called marrying all beings and being truly Soto Zen. I say this because some Zen people don't know that this is Soto Zen. They have some other idea. But really Soto Zen, of course, you know, what is Soto Zen? It's to give up your idea of Soto Zen. That's Soto Zen.

[51:52]

I have someone say, what's Rinzai Zen? I say, Rinzai Zen is to be attached to your idea of Rinzai Zen. So I said that to endanger myself to Rinzai Zen. You can tell those people that and tell them to come and get me. And I'll tell them what I really meant when they get here. You really couldn't hear? Could you hear me, Bert? Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, I said, you heard what Soto Zen was? What is it? Yes, yes, express. Yeah, give up your ideas of Soto Zen is, which includes telling people what your idea of Soto Zen is.

[52:58]

endangering your ideas, say, this is Soto Zen. That's the best way to give it up, to tell people what you think it is. So I just told you what it is, but I gave it up when I told you that. I forgot what I said. I know, I know. That was just a warm-up. So Rinzai Zen is to be attached to your ideas of what Rinzai Zen is. Could you hear that? You heard that but what? You see, is there a reason why you couldn't hear it because it's so outrageous? You thought it was funny? You didn't think it's funny. It is. It is. It's not true. It's funny.

[54:00]

It's really funny. Huh? It's really funny, yeah. But of course, all Buddhist schools, all Buddhist schools are about giving up all Buddhist schools' idea of all Buddhist schools. That's what they're really about. Like Suzuki Roshi said, You know, Buddhism is not one of those religions like Christianity, Islam, Sufism, Judaism, etc. Excuse me, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. It's not one of those. Buddhism is about when Christians forget all about Christianity. When Jews let go of their ideas of Judaism, when Muslims give up their idea of Islam, and when Buddhists give up their idea of Buddhists and Zen gives up its idea of Zen, that's Buddhism.

[55:02]

So, go ahead. What about discourse? Oh, discourse. Yeah, discourse. Discourse means a speech, a talk. Discourse is related to discursive. Cursive or course means to run, to run. And dis means to run back and forth. So it's like you go back and forth. So one way of back and forth is somebody's giving a talk and it goes back and forth between the speaker and the listener, back and forth. That's one idea, talk back and forth. Or think back and forth. You jump back and forth between ideas. That's discursive thinking. You run back and forth. Or to flow, to run or flow apart. Another way to translate discourse. And it looks sometimes like in Buddhism, somebody's giving a talk to somebody else. So the talk's going back and forth between speaker and listener.

[56:12]

But really what Buddhism is about, in a way, is concourse, that we talk, we flow, or we run together. And concourse means a river, too. So it also means a big group of people. So when a big group of people come together and flow together and run together, this is really the aspect of practice which I'm emphasizing today. This is the mother. Okay? Thanks for the reminder and please enjoy your tea.

[56:50]

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