So there was kind of a research that I promised to do about the Chinese characters. So there's a story which many of you know about Fa Yan, a student of Di Cang. And Fa Yan was going to He informed his teacher he was going on pilgrimage. And Ditsan said, what's the purpose of pilgrimage? And Fayan said, don't know. And in the record. This is don't. And that's no. This is a... kind of an ordinary word for know, not a technical Buddhist term, to know.

[01:01]

By the way, the word for prajna is like this. That's prajna, which is not normal knowing, it's wisdom, right? Ordinarily, no. Usually you say something in the set. Do you know where the backing player is in the set? Don't know. And then Bodhidharma, the emperor says to Bodhidharma, who is this in front of me? And what it says in the... And that also could be translated as, don't know. But this character also means consciousness, and this is the character that's usually used for ordinary self-conscious consciousness.

[02:09]

This is also the character that's used for eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, mind consciousness. When most people translate it, they say, Who is this facing me? And they just say, don't know. Or I don't know. But there's nothing about I don't know. It's just not know. Or don't know. So the way I'm reading this is Emperor asked this being, this Bodhisattva, what is this here? Who is this? And the Bodhisattva says, it's not a consciousness. It's not one of these. He doesn't say, it's a wisdom. He doesn't say, it's great compassion. He puts it negatively. It's not ordinary human consciousness.

[03:11]

And he doesn't say, it's great compassion, man. Don't you know? It's wisdom. But, you know, part of our imagination of our tradition is bodhidharma was wisdom, embodied wisdom. So he could have said, wisdom. He didn't say, not wisdom. He said, not ordinary consciousness. And he didn't just say, I don't know. That's the character that was used in the record, which, again, that record is part of the wonderful imagination of the Zen. We also have this thing which you've heard. Although it's not fabricated, it's not without speech. You heard about that? What is that that's not fabricated, but not without speech? What is that? What?

[04:18]

Compassion. It's the jewel mirror samadhi. It's a song about the Juhamira Samadhi. Most of the its's in there are referring to the Juhamira Samadhi. So the Juhamira Samadhi isn't fabricated. It's not a human construction. It's not human consciousness. It's not human agency. It's the reality of the intimacy of all human agencies. It's not fabricated by human consciousness or even human unconsciousness. But it's not without speech. It can talk. And how does it talk? Well, various ways, like it says, Don't know. It says, no merit. It says, no emptiness.

[05:21]

It says, see you later, alligator. I'm going up north to sit for nine years, spreading great compassion over this land. It talks like that sometimes. It can talk, but our words don't reach it. And even its words So when it says, don't know, those words don't reach where it's coming from. It's coming from a place. It's sort of like that goes into human consciousness and can make it talk. Okay? So that's my research on that. So this don't know, by the way, oh, that's the rest of the story is, Fa Yan says, don't know, and then Ditsang said, not knowing is closest or most intimate. Now, what I would say, not knowing, among the various kinds of ordinary human consciousness, the not knowing one is closest to this one.

[06:28]

The not knowing is closest to not knowing, is closest to great question. So some people do this in their conscious mind, they practice not knowing as a way to open up to what is beyond our knowing. Like Nathan likes that one. Right, Nathan? That's his research. One other thing I'd like to just mention is I'm sorry that I did not offer instruction on walking meditation to the practice period. And I'm guessing that some of the people in the practice period have not really received much instruction on walking. Is that right? So now I'm going to give some instruction. in what we call kinhin.

[07:32]

By the way, kinhin does not mean walking meditation. It means the scripture. Circulating what? Circulating the scripture. It means circulating the scripture or circulating the teaching. That's what kinhin means. So this is a, I don't know if other forms of Buddhism have that term, kin-hid, for their walking meditation. Cool, do-do walking meditation. This is what we call our walking meditation, usually, kin-hid. circulate the teaching in the hall with your friends. So there's many ways to do walking meditation, many, many, many, and a few, many others. But tonight I'd like to emphasize the one that's usually given in Socho Zen meditation halls, if you want to hear it. Yes.

[08:34]

Now. So, basically, it's the feet. Those are feet. And usually we do it, we start with our feet about, maybe, sort of somewhere in the distance apart. I'd recommend it. You can put them closer together if you want to, but if they're farther apart, there's certain advantages to that, because then you can kind of flow with your step. If they're close together, it's a little bit unbalanced. So if they're far apart, you can move over to one foot and then go over to the next one. Tai Chi. So usually, I drew it kind of close together, actually. So it'd be more like this. Approximately shoulder-distance apart.

[09:38]

And you start with the front of the back foot, sort of at the instep of the lead foot. That make sense? So like this. See? You start with your feet staggered. When you first start, you stagger your feet, yeah. I can't see your feet. Oh. If you get off the seat and then when you're in position to start, then you put one foot a little ahead of the other. And then, as you may know, it's much easier to actually step if you put most of your weight on one of the feet. Right? So we usually put the weight onto the lead foot. Now with my weight on the lead foot, I'm ready to lift the back foot. Okay? And then so on. But it's recommended that when you start, you get your position, set your feet with one foot ahead, and then wait for an inhale.

[10:43]

And when an inhale comes, as the inhale begins, lift the heel of your back foot. And as you finish the inhale, you're ready for guess what? Then exhale. Then you start the step. And you take the step and you move the back foot to be the front foot. Again, about half a foot, half a foot length ahead of the other one. And then you continue to exhale. And as you exhale, you shift your weight onto the floor. When you finish the exhale, you're ready for inhale and lift the heel of the back foot. And again, when the inhale is complete, ready for exhale, step. Step, step, [...] shift, [...] finish, exhale. Now, on most of my weights, on the feet foot, finishing the exhale, easy to lift my back foot with the beginning of the inhale and stuff.

[11:47]

That's one basic way that it's taught. Now, do you have any questions about that before I get into more than that? Yes? Put feet foot down first on the feet foot. I put down, different from ordinary walking, I put down the ball first. So the weight's up on my lead foot, and I lift the back foot and put the ball down, and then lower the heel. And then shift the weight onto the lead foot, the back foot, and step, and you put the ball down first, and then the heel. Linda and Avi and who else was back there? Tim and Drew? Yes. I breathe slower than most people, so if I did what you said, people would get mad at me for going... No one can ever get mad at you around this place. They've been instructed to always be kind and patient with you if you walk slowly.

[12:53]

whether I deserve it or not. So, thank you for that. If you are... There's one thing you can do. I wouldn't change my breathing. I'd still follow my breathing if I was slow. In that case, I guess if I felt with my great powers that the person behind me was coming up on me, I would modify that into larger steps, which I have sometimes done. Or another possibility is just take a few quick steps and get up. Now, if you are a fast breather and you find yourself tailgating, then I would recommend you take smaller steps. I would recommend change your breathing. Follow your breathing. Your breathing is boss, right? Your breathing is the... I just can't wait to get into that. But anyway, follow the breathing. Don't modify your breathing.

[13:54]

Just breathe normally. And if you notice you're tailgating, take smaller steps. One day sitting, there was a woman, one of the guests behind me. And yeah, she, you know, at the beginning, there was no room for me to move. And she adjusted. She didn't like tailgating. She just took little steps. So, once again, if your breathing is fast, take smaller steps. If you're breathing slower and you feel like somebody's behind you, take larger steps. Or walk ahead a few steps and start over. Does that make sense? Is that okay with everybody? It worked well for me. And I do sometimes... far away from the person in front of me, and I just walk a few steps. And sometimes I do feel like... I don't usually feel like... Yeah, I guess sometimes I feel like the person in front of me is really slow, and I take some more steps. Okay, next was maybe Avi and Tim.

[14:58]

You're good. Tim? Do you think we could circle the scriptures outside a little more? Pardon? Do you think we could circle the scriptures outside a little more? I think we could. Yeah. And then there is Drew. I... I've done Kenyan before when we went into the corners of the . It didn't seem like there was enough space, and we were all sort of bunched together to go to the corner. Yeah. Sometimes you've been in a situation where a bunch of people have bunched in a corner? Or just bunched in general, and there's not that much space. I guess in that case, one way to deal with that is just take little steps.

[16:08]

And hopefully the person behind you will take little steps too. I mean, you're in a situation where somebody's close in front of you and close behind you, The person in front of you, I wouldn't tell the person in front of you to start walking faster. Somebody else might go, somebody, some official, Zen dog official, might go over to them and say, would you please walk forward? But sometimes maybe it's really crowded. When doing sashimi, it might be quite crowded and not less for them. So basically, in that case, I would just be cramped and take a little step. Sometimes when I'm doing ki, I only move because it's a few feet during the whole time. And sometimes it's, I move like 30 feet. Thank you. You're welcome. Merit. Yeah, I have a question about fasting and just sort of what the intention of fasting is as a practice.

[17:14]

I think it's kind of to get the blood flowing, more like a little bit more emphasis on getting things warmed up. In other schools, like in Rinzai, they generally speak and do fast keihin. Soto is generally slow keihin, but we sometimes do this, particularly after Dharma talks. We do that faster keihin for just to get things moving. And now that I'm saying that, if you're outside, most people outside do not do this real slow keihin, although it's fine. They're still keen outside, too. But if you're walking at a normal pace, another way to coordinate your breathing with your walking is to count, to watch your inhale and watch your exhale. So here comes my inhale. Here it is, coming, coming, coming, coming.

[18:14]

And here's my exhale, going, going, going, going. So watch that, and then count it. So you coordinate your steps with your walking, if you want to. Yeah. Yes, Linda. Would you please comment on, after the clappers are struck at the end, what that practice is? That sort of, that normal, or perhaps even, perhaps even normal practice. That's a little bit on it. Another thing I wanted to say was that there's various ideas about where this practice came from. There is a very influential Japanese Soto Zen monk scholar who says that actually he feels, in his research, that Buddha did this.

[19:17]

that Buddha sat, you know, we say traditionally Buddha sat for seven days after awakening, and then did that seven times. But not without moving. According to this teacher, Menzong, he got up and did some walking meditation, and he walked around the bow tree. And there's even some research which is proposing that he walked clockwise. So we walk clockwise, partly because of that research. But we might have been, this tradition might have been for that, I don't know. There is an article in a book called Zen Ritual, it's a long article on the research of this Japanese Soto Zen priest about this practice of kin-hin. But the scholar who did the research says he feels that sometimes this scholar is trying to make prove doing is what, you know, Shakyamuni Buddha did.

[20:23]

So that's part of our tradition is that we kind of want to honor what the ancestors did, but maybe what, you know, sometimes there's a little, I don't know what the word is, prying into that position. But for me, it's not so much that we're doing the practice that Shakyamuni Buddha did, but it's more for me that we're doing this practice as an offering to Shakyamuni Buddha's practice. Shakyamuni Buddha did walk. And of course, all the scriptures agree that Shakyamuni Buddha was mindful. He was a mindful person. So when Shakyamuni Buddha walked, he was done mindfully. Everybody agrees on that. So when we walk, we can have our walking as a way to our relationship with the Buddha. And by the way, again, I find this practice easier to concentrate when I follow my breathing when I'm doing walking meditation than sitting.

[21:35]

I personally do. quite easy. When I'm doing the crawl in the water, it's quite easy to be aware of my breathing, because if I'm not, you know, I'm going to swallow it. So swimming is kind of easy for a lot of people to be mindful of their breathing. They don't think of it as mindful of their breathing, but they are. They are aware. Okay. Exhale. Okay? Now, exhale. And inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Okay? So anyway, I find it easy to follow my breathing when I'm doing walking meditation because my walking meditation follows my breathing. And I almost never get tired of doing walking meditation. And I'm also, because I'm walking, I have to pay quite a bit of attention to my walking. So anyway, I find it quite easy to be aware of my breathing when I'm walking. Whereas when I'm sitting, I find it more challenging. And I've heard this amount of people do, too.

[22:38]

So anyway, walking is a time to easily follow your breathing. And because you're coordinating your walking with it, that makes it easier to follow. It's really easy. So it's a nice practice, easy to concentrate. It's just wonderful. But then there's this other aspect, the ritual aspect. which is that we are circulating the teaching while we're walking, and also we are doing this together, and that's why we want a tailgate, etc. And also this is an offering to all the Buddhas and ancestors who have done this for 2,500 years. We're doing, not to say we're doing exactly what they did, but we are in the spirit of what we're doing is that we're doing an offering to what they did, that we're doing this with past practitioners and the future practitioners.

[23:40]

and the present practitioners. So that's a little bit about walking meditation. I have Sashen coming up, and there'll be more opportunities than usual for this practice. Sorry enough to bring it up earlier, but now you have it, so please take care of it. I enjoy this practice, and I'm not the only one. Also, I remember one time, Here's also the side-to-side thing. So if you watch me, it's hard for you to kind of see me. Exhaling. Inhaling. Exhaling. Inhaling. Exhaling. Inhaling. See, I kind of go... And I... I know my wife, Katagiri Roshi, the kin-hin, he very much did that.

[24:54]

And I remember she said, Katagiri Roshi's kin-hin is really good. It was very nice and flowing. A formal, dignified, mindfulness practice. Okay, so another thing I wanted to mention to you is that I'm sorry that I have to go to L.A. on Thursday. I got a request to go down to L.A. and give some talks on the Bodhisattva precepts And I really felt that I just couldn't say no without being offensive and disrespectful. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, back Saturday night. Please excuse me. They wanted me to come today. You may have noticed Maya left yesterday to go to that ceremony on the precepts.

[25:57]

But I said, I'm just going to come for three days. And they didn't argue with me. I think they understand. But I will be away, so I'm sorry. And I entrust you to the care of the shiso. I entrust you to the care of the shiso and the and Eno and Linda Ruth, you'll be here, right? So they'll take care of you, and you'll take care of each other, and we'll be able to do this wonderful thing called the practice period, right? And we can watch your talk on video. Yeah, you might be able to watch. I'll be watching them too. So... So it's a celebration of 100 years of Soto Zen in America.

[26:59]

1922, right? Which, by the way, I haven't heard about this, but it's also the 100th anniversary of the Julian Morgan building that Zen Center is in. I haven't heard of celebrations of that, but that building was built in 1922. And Soto Zen came, and now they're united. And so that's the anniversary. And in Zen, when we have a party, we sometimes do things like Transmit precepts and talk about precepts. Do confession and repentance. That's our kind of a party. So it's going to be that kind of a celebration. And there's going to be this five-day ceremony of bestowing the precepts with some people getting talks on the precepts. No, she's doing lots of other ceremonies.

[28:04]

So the other talk is given by Okumura Roshi, Shilaka Okumura. He's going to do, I think, the three group precepts, and I'm going to do the... How many people will read there? I think they said they limited it to 100, and I don't know if they have 100, but 100 in person and 100 online. But the online here is many people, so there might be quite a few more than 100 people watching. But we have one account, right? And you're all welcome to join that account as it works for your schedule. But there is some conflict, I'm afraid, because some of the talks are 10 in the morning. That's why I'll be away and, you know, it's a big deal.

[29:06]

They're making a tremendous effort and I'm making a little effort myself. Let's see. Also another The ritual I thought I'd mention to you is the ritual of ringing, particularly ringing the Bonsho, the big one. I personally want to tell you a story. Are you ready? So once upon a time there was a monk who went to a Zen temple in Japan and it was time for him to go to Eheiji, the big monastery Eheiji, one of the two main monasteries of the Soto Zen in Japan. And his father said to him, when you go to Eheiji, they're going to probably invite you or allow you to ring the big bell. And they have a big bell like we do.

[30:07]

It might even be bigger. That's what it kind of goes. And there it goes. They have a big one. So anyway, they'll ask you to ring that bell. And when you ring the bell, after you ring it, they'll have you do a prostration. So when you do that, please be aware that this ringing of the bell is turning the wheel of the Dharma. Every ringing, the wheel turns one degree. received that information, went to Heiji and did the practice of ringing the bell and having the bell ringing and the prostration turn the wheel of Dharma. And when the abbot of Heiji heard the bell ringing, he said, Who is ringing that bell? He could feel this person's offering.

[31:08]

So if you wish, when you're ringing the bell, you can do a prostration. And you can do your prostration and your bell ringing to simultaneously turn the wheel of Dharma. It's more difficult to do it with the little bell, with the densho bell. There's not room to bother. So I'm talking about the big one. Because you're out there by yourself, you have plenty of room. I would invite you to give that practice a try. Yeah? Is it after each time you hit the bell you do prostration? Yeah. The 52nd intervals. The 52nd interval. You could do a prostration. Sounds good to me. But again, it's... Does that mean moving the Dharma forward in the world? Yeah. Promoting the Dharma?

[32:10]

Yeah. So this is... Even if you don't think that, this is a ritual of ringing the bell, and it's ringing the bell for the people in this valley, but we're also ringing the bell for the people of Mir Beach. They can hear it down there, and a lot of them really appreciate it, and maybe some of them are resisting it, I don't know. But anyway, we're ringing the bell for all beings, right? That's our ritual. But you can also practice even beyond that, that what you're doing. And, you know, set up that resonance in your body and in your spirit. And as I said before, I'll say it one more time, I feel like Bodhidharma's way of practice, the way he taught, about like when you see somebody, you know, don't activate your body and mind when you're seeing.

[33:19]

Look at it without adding or subtracting. And if you're adding or subtracting, just say, I'm sorry I added, I'm sorry I subtracted, I'm sorry I meddled, I just go back. Just listen. Just observe. I feel like his practice... When you're aware of something in yourself, some pain, some fear, some resistance, just look at it. Just listen to it without adding or subtracting. This is what Bodhidharma teaches, right? But this is how Avalokiteshvara... He's teaching us. Avalokiteshvara... I haven't heard Avalokiteshvara tell us how Avalokiteshvara looks and how Avalokiteshvara listens. I feel like Bodhidharma has told us how Avalokiteshvara looks and listens. And this is also Avalokiteshvara practicing prajnaparamita.

[34:22]

This is how you see that all the aggregates of existence have no inherent existence. But Bodhidharma kindly, and not too elaborately, gave us some further insight into how the bodhisattva of compassion observes sentient beings. Thank you, Bodhidharma. So Bodhidharma teaches us the great compassion samadhi. And he also teaches us the jewel mirror samadhi, the precious mirror samadhi. He teaches us how, although it's not fabricated, it can talk. And he's a mouthpiece for those samadhis. And one of his disciples who received this instruction about, you know, don't add or subtract anything outwardly or inwardly, the second ancestor, he gave that instruction.

[35:31]

And then after some time, some people, in the story, he gives the instruction and the disciple says, I managed to, you know, I'm practicing that way now. I'm not adding, I'm subtracting, I'm not involved at all. I'm just observing outwardly and inwardly. By some stories it says after seven years he got to that point. Did you follow that? Here's the instruction, next line the disciple says, the disciple is doing what you said. but some of the story says after seven years the disciples said that. So maybe he said some other things in the meantime and got further insight how to deal with external and internal phenomena. And after he said that, Bodhidharma says, well, this not adding anything or subtracting anything, is that turning into nihilism?

[36:36]

And the disciple says, nope. And Bodhidharma says, prove it. And the disciple says, just clearly aware, and no words reach it. So it's talking, and what does it say? Just clearly aware, and no words reach this. But it can report that no words reach it. And Bodhidharma says, Yep, this is the practice of all Buddhas. Have no doubt. Okay, well, those are some things, updates I wanted to give you. And if there's anything else you want to talk about tonight, You're welcome to bring it up. and we'll all listen to you, without adding or subtracting anything you say.

[37:48]

Yes, Nathan. I'd like to go into the not adding or subtracting. It's one thing to sit in zazen and you don't have to do anything, you don't have to add anything. Another thing to be in a conversation trying to figure something out, and it's a certain need to be analyzing or in conversation. alluded to, and this part of me that wants to analyze is, well, am I adding too much? If I'm doing this analysis, am I analyzing too much? It's like these parts of me that are regulating parts of me that are regulating parts of me. Could you hear what he said? Okay, so here's an example of, in this case, something internal is arising. For example, it seems to be analyzing is arising, or a wish to analyze.

[38:51]

That's a phenomenon that can arise in the mind, a wish to analyze. So, not adding anything to the analyzing, not subtracting anything from the analyzing, that's the practice. I was talking specifically about being in a worldly responsibility and you need to get something done effectively. Now we have this thing called, I have a worldly responsibility. That's a phenomenon in your mind. So, you cannot add or subtract the phenomenon, I have a responsibility. Then you have another one. How am I going to fulfill my responsibilities? Same with that one. Then another one. Your mind is going to keep producing stuff. And one of the things it's going to do is say, I'm not going to add the action of going to do my surgery job.

[40:01]

I'm glad people thought that was funny, I didn't hear it, but want to tell me again what you're saying? I said I could just be standing there and saying, this is giving me my 30 job, and I'm not going to... No, you just said there was another phenomena not to add or subtract anything from, like the thought, I'm not going to do anything, I'm just going to stand here. That's something that's calling for compassion. That thought doesn't want you to like... and abide in it, but it also wants to be recognized. Here I am standing there thinking that somebody has given me a soggy assignment. And now I have the thought, I'm just going to stand here and I'm not going to do it. Pardon? You could also... Well, just a second. You're getting ahead of me. You're doing Keen Keen too fast. So, you said you could have no thought.

[41:13]

If you have no thought, that's fine too. But no thought is not really a phenomenon. So, if by any chance you don't have any phenomena in your mind, I would say, don't add or subtract. And that won't last long, that nothing in your mind. And I haven't seen you demonstrating that much at all. You're telling us about lots of things going on in your mind. This is saying, this instruction is for people who want to learn how to be compassionate with what's going on in their mind. Now, question. If I am compassionate with what's going on in my mind, I will have a certain kind of life. If I'm not compassionate with what's going on in my life, I have another kind of life. In both lives, stuff's going to be going on. In both lives, what's going on is my mental karma and my verbal karma and my physical karma.

[42:17]

Stuff's going to be going on. It's just a question of whether I'm going to be dealt with compassionately or not. If you deal with it compassionately, there's just going to be more stuff going on. If you don't, there's just going to be more stuff. Compassion isn't like running the show. It's liberating the show. And so if... Is it in here? Where is she? So, you can try to meet him now. You can give me a subject. Oh, but there isn't. Maybe some other day. Because we have them. And I'll listen to it and figure out what to do with it. And I'll try to be kind to it. And I may say something back to you. Actually, this morning, this morning, I was... There was all this stuff on the top of the shoe rack.

[43:25]

There was some stuff for, like, I think it was athlete's foot treatment. There were some of those Marley mugs. There was a bit large container of water. And there was a bunch of other sort of things on the shelf. And I said, and I asked, and she said, come over. And we looked at, I said, what does that say there? And she said, this is for water bottles. But there was one big water bottle. That was it. Everything else was. And so I was going to take the marimba and Zuzu said, I'll take it. But hopefully Zuzu and I were both not adding anything or subtracting anything at that moment. And we can talk about taking care of the surface of the shoe rack while not adding or subtracting anything from it. Yes. Could I talk to you? Yes.

[44:26]

Would you come over here? Yes. And then Susan goes, I'm coughing. Then she goes away for a little while. And when she was coughing, she didn't have to add or subtract anything. And then she came back, and while I was waiting for her to come back, I didn't need to add anything. It wasn't necessary for me to add anything. And while I was waiting I had some thoughts like, maybe I could say, how's your cough, Zuzu, even though she's kind of... We can practice with this stuff and have conversations with that kind of presence or not. And we can learn to deal with everything that's coming up without meddling. And bodhisattvas learn that thing, they handle High-speed life, and they know how to be there without adding or subtracting. But it's training.

[45:28]

Okay? Yes, Anne, am I speaking loudly enough? You are. At the front row, though. I have a question about Bodhidharma and Avalokiteshvara as being one. Yeah. I always see bodhidharma as what you say, like just not adding and not subtracting, as being really mindful, but not necessarily a compassionate figure, and I wondered if you'd be clearer. So that's why I'm saying is that Avalokiteshvara is that way, but Avalokiteshvara has not very often given us instruction about how she's that way. She just says, observing sentient beings with eyes of compassion, listening to the cries of the world. She has filled in the details of the meditation practice that Avalokiteshvara is doing while she's listening. And that's why I gave that example of I was so happy to see Avalokiteshvara in the cave, like Bodhidharma, just sitting there.

[46:37]

But it wasn't like she wasn't listening to the world. But she looked like she wasn't adding or subtracting anything. So the teaching that the emperor's teachers gave the emperor, tipping him off of who Bodhidharma was. Before that, people didn't know it was Avalokiteshvara. So we're seeing this non-meddling bodhisattva. And now we're told this is a bodhisattva of great compassion. And also this bodhisattva of great compassion is telling us how the bodhisattva of great compassion meditates on emptiness. Avalokiteshvara is listening to the cries of the world. That's her name. But she's also meditating on emptiness. She's practicing Prajnaparamita while she's listening. That's what the Heart Sutra says. And the way she practices Prajnaparamita when she's observing those five skandhas

[47:39]

Skanda one, not add or subtract. Skanda two, not add or subtract. Skanda three, not add. She doesn't add or... She compassionately observes the aggregates of phenomenal existence without adding or anything, and that's practicing prajnaparamita with these phenomena. And then, in this way of practicing, the revelation of emptiness manifests. So that's why Bodhidharma helps us understand Avalokiteshvara, and Avalokiteshvara helps us understand who Bodhidharma is. It's not just giving radical meditation instruction, it is a gift of compassion from this monk. And when he's sitting in the cave, he's practicing that radical non-meddling, And he's compassion for the whole country of China.

[48:47]

And in many sutras it says, bodhisattvas do not meddle. They observe with great compassion without meddling. is a natural part of great compassion. Great compassion doesn't make the things that are being observed separate. Making things separate is a meddling. Okay, we have a little time more. Anything else? So this is actually a question that arose while in Honkio's class, yet Fernie still, depending on some answer, you spoke of non-origination of all phenomena.

[49:49]

Wow, that's great. I was just about to say something about non-origination. Yes, go ahead. And what you told me during the one-day sit was sort of this question, Not this here, but this little bit in the background. If an emotion is boundless and of no origin, what is it? Why does it arise? Where does it come from? What is its origin? If it's boundless and has no origin. Well, just in the first part of the question, it sounded just like a Mahayana citra. Congratulations. The second part's okay, though, too. Okay, so, where does this thing come from?

[50:51]

It doesn't come from anywhere. How does this thing come to exist? Independence on... And that's the same as to say, it doesn't come and it doesn't go. It has no origination. It is unoriginated. It's in a dependent way. But it doesn't really have a beginning or end, an arising or ceasing. Heart-Citrus says that, right? No arising, no ceasing, no increase, no decrease. But it doesn't say there isn't anything there. Because there is something that appears on everything that's not itself. Now here's what I want to say, which is really great, but I'm not going to say it because I'm going to call on Ramsey first.

[51:53]

But thanks for coming up with that sutra. That was great. Okay, you spoke, so now I can say it. So, at the team, Royce brought up this thing about patient acceptance of the non-origination of phenomena. And then somebody came and gave me a gift. They wanted me to tell them what this non-origination was. And I was quiet. I breathed a long time. Because there's a two-fold thing. When you accept the non-origination, you are free of trying to get anything. You're free to what? You're free to... When you actually accept this, that things don't come and go, arise or cease, that they don't have origination, you are free of trying to get anything in this life.

[53:02]

And this person, this sweet person, wanted to get what non-origination was. And I thought, yeah, well, there it is right there. Now, and give up trying to get what non-origination is, that's what it's like when you accept non-origination. and turn it the other way, if you accept non-origination, you're free of trying to get anything out of it. And this whole thing, sort of for me, comes from a series of events like Royce asking the question, and this other person asking me, what is this non-origination? And I could just feel to go for what it is, is not in accord with it. If you're in accord with it, you don't try to get what it is.

[54:11]

If you don't try to get what it is, you're in accord with it. And it also resonated with this one, which again is a story of, which I told you about before, and I said I would tell you if you asked me, and you didn't ask me, but sort of, You did. Royce kind of asked me, and Drew kind of asked me, and now Ramsey's kind of asking me, so I'm going to tell you this story. It's a story of Shakyamuni Buddha. And this is going to take, I'll try to make it fast. Shakyamuni Buddha, before Shakyamuni Buddha, when Shakyamuni Buddha was a bodhisattva, Shakyamuni Buddha went and practiced with Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha. And he made extensive, beyond measure extensive offerings and services for the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha.

[55:13]

For a very long time he did that. Then he to another existence, and he did the same thing with another Shakyamuni Buddha. He did that with billions of Shakyamuni Buddhas, serving them, you name it. And the first one, the second one, the billionth one, even though he served them wholeheartedly as you could imagine, they did not protect his Buddhahood. And then, why? Now, here's Shakyamuni Buddha in a Mahayana sutra, confessing and repenting. Why? Such a great student. I served them like... Want to talk about service? I did it. But they didn't say, you're going to be a Buddha. Of course, I will be, but they didn't say it. Because they wait to say that.

[56:16]

The Buddhas do. They wait to say it. Stop trying to get anything. And he said, they didn't predict me. Why didn't they predict me? Because I had a greedy mind. Shakyamuni Buddha confessed to having a greedy mind with serving that Buddha. And he did it over and over and over and over, serving and trying to get, serving and trying to get. And finally, he met this Buddha named Dipankara, and he served him, and he didn't try to get anything. And he realized this importance of the non-origination. And Pankara said, you're going to be Buddha. You're going to be So it's hard to be of service without trying to get something. And maybe we will too.

[57:26]

I really appreciate seeing you people serve your friends in the Zendo. It's lovely. It really is. And some of you told me how much you're enjoying it. And I would just say briefly, it would be nice if you did that service without trying to get anything. It's a beautiful thing, it really is. But then there's this thing called the mind of non-origination, serving wholeheartedly, going up those rows, giving people the best service, and I'm not trying to get anything. I'm not trying to get a pat on the back. I'm not trying to get applause. I'm just wholeheartedly making an offering. And this is how you become Buddha. Thank you so much.

[58:30]

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