I looked in this, I had an ear infection, so because I can't hear very well, I've cleaned it from the clock and it might have violated it. I think I'm talking too loudly, but probably I'm talking too quietly. So if I talk too quietly, let me know how it is. I could talk louder. It sounds really loud to me. I looked in this... Mountain State Study Center had a description of this class. I don't know who wrote it, but it sounds pretty good to me. It says that the continuation of a class offered last fall, June, and is especially good for students who are planning to receive lay ordination in June or any other time. So according to the Zen tradition, precepts help us understand the vastness and magnificence of the practice of just sitting.

[01:02]

The practice of just sitting helps us understand the true nature of the precepts. And the sadhana and the precepts support each other and are not really separate. I think there's no precept aside from diagram. And there's no diagram aside from the precept. That's a nice reduction in this class. I've been, yes. It's a class . Right. But . And this, I wanted to maximize the number of classes between now and June 12 when we're having the initiation of the Chinese people here. But I already committed myself to do a couple workshops at Cox Ohio and in Minnesota.

[02:09]

have a break in the class, so I invited some other teachers to teach some of the classes. So I invited Norman Fisher and Blanche Hartman to teach a class. So there will be people coming to create a class, four of them. I don't know exactly which ones are which, but . Anybody have a copy of Daniel Cohen, you think? What do I do?

[03:18]

Thank you. Yeah, do you think they'll know everybody in this class?

[04:48]

You don't? I do think they're not sharing their name. Andy? Sorry, Andy. I'm trying to remember the name. Michelle. Michelle. Matt. [...] Yeah. [...] I didn't know your name, but I'm doing what I don't know.

[06:39]

Harold. And Craig. Where? Craig. Everybody on side. So, last fall, I was studying... some of the precepts, and I think we started most of our classes by reading this text here that before you. This text is called Japanese . And it's written by Tobin Benji. And it's a kind of short commentary on the 16 bodhisattva precepts that we receive in ordination ceremonies for both lay people and priests in the Soto Zen tradition.

[07:55]

So the 16 bodhisattva precepts are three refugees three treasures to take refuge in the free treasure with the first three the next three are the preacher precept and then the pin called literally heavy or great precepts but three three and sixteen boys up to seven These 16 Bodhisattva precepts were also given, not just in the Precedent School, they were also given in, actually, they were proposed by the regent of Japan in 622 as the basis for Japanese government. Prince Shotoku, who is considered to be the person who, in a sense, introduced Buddhism to Japan, suggested that the 16 precepts be the basis of Japanese nation as a way for .

[09:10]

And so they're also what are received in our tradition. So we studied the first three precepts last fall, and I think we got into the first of the three third precepts. Did we get through any more than the first of the first? Did we get through all three of the three? Or what did we do? Huh? We did? Well, I don't know. So I think of just seven classes, and from my point of view, seven classes is an awfully short number of classes. I want to start by giving you some, I guess I want to get the sense of that.

[10:19]

appealing with precepts that you can use as a kind of medication guide as you study them. And this morning at Kalinga, in morning service, we chanted Ganjo Kalan. And I didn't get a receipt to card, so I just listened. with my unbogged ear and my bogged ear. It sounded very nice. And particularly when we got to this part, which was one of my favorite parts anyway, but particularly when we got to this part where it says, when the Dharma does not feel your whole body and mind.

[11:22]

You think it's already sufficient. When the Dharma fills your body and mind, you understand something's missing. For example, when you sail out in a boat in the middle of the ocean where no land is in sight, and view the four directions, the ocean looks circular and does not look any other way. But the ocean is neither round nor square. Its features are infinite in variety. It is like a palace. It is like a jewel. It only looks circular as far as you can see at that time. All things are like this. Though there are many features in the dhakti world and the world beyond condition, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach.

[12:37]

In order to learn the nature of a myriad things, you must know that although you may look around, although they may look round or square, The other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety. All worlds are there. It is not so only around you, but also directly beneath your feet or in a drop of water. I think this is good to keep that in mind when you study these precepts. If we would go out in these precepts and look around, you'd think these precepts are a circle of water. But these precepts are not a circle of water. But that's what they look like to us. And no matter what you do, no matter how much you study, whenever you look at these precepts, you're going to see a circle of water.

[13:45]

But that's not what these precepts are. Still, you have to admit you see a circle of water what are you going to do with the circle of water well the circle of water but what is the ocean what are these precepts so uh we can't help but have some idea about what it means to not kill every you know you draw it in the ocean called not kill and you look around you think oh not still means It's like this. It looks like this. This is what noctil looks like. You can't help but think that. But that's not what noctil means. Noctil is an ocean. And if you study noctil a little, you'll think it's a circle of water. And you'll think, oh, I know what noctil means. And I follow it or I don't follow it. And you follow it or you don't follow it. You can judge that way. But if you study more thoroughly, you'll understand

[14:47]

that nobody knows what not kill means. Still, we should, well, I'm not sure. Some of us do receive the precept that means you go out in the ocean called do not kill. When you live in that ocean and you see a circle of water and you wonder what the ocean is, and you always think about that. And the same with the other precepts. Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, practicing wholesomeness, practicing right conduct, saving all beings. We always see a circle of water. Now, of course, if there's an island out there, then you see an island. And you think, well, there's an island. And this is what the ocean looks like. Some places where the ocean doesn't have an island. And also, this island doesn't look like this from the other side. So other people are on the other side thinking that I'm what's another one.

[15:54]

But all of us have a different understanding of what the precept is. This is inevitable, unavoidable, should be taken into account. And if we can, I don't know what, in a friendly way, practice together, knowing that none of us are free from a limited view of the precepts, together somehow it's possible for us to understand even so. Because he's basically saying, you know, that we have these limitations, but if we understand our limitations, we can realize the unlimited way. And, well, is a good commentary on these two sets. But I'll try to restrain myself and get back to you.

[16:58]

Yeah. Good? Yes. All the things about the .. I was puzzled by that first line where it says, you know, exactly, but it's when you enter the .. You think everything is .. But what is real is that full body and mind is what's in the draft. And I think in contrast, it's such a good thing that the draft is down to the state of Michigan's quality. Let me tell you how the state of Michigan looks. I think it would be a lot of good for the state of Michigan. Thank you.

[18:21]

I guess the first thing I'd like to say is that there's a realm that is both the gate, the Dharma gate of repose and bliss and repose and bliss itself. Repose and bliss is such that You no longer have a problem understanding that something is innocent. That's the nature of good hope and bliss. That's the kind of thing it is. Correct. That's the best thing about reposing bliss. Now, it's not so much that because of reposing bliss, you feel something missing, but more that we could say that because of reposing bliss, you're comfortable in living the limitations of human consciousness.

[20:10]

Or, taking another cycle around, you can say, if you accept the limitations of human consciousness, that is the darn gate of equality of beliefs. And once you enter, you won't then need to forget about the limitations which you saw. And they won't bother you. In fact, the limitations of human consciousness do not actually bother us unless we ignore them. Only by denial of the limitation are they a hassle. But one of our limitations, which isn't universal, one of our optional limitations is a resistance to admitting our limitation. We have limitations that are unavoidable. But one of them you can avoid is turning away from limitation. People can face limitation.

[21:18]

People cannot be free of limitation in the sense of not having it there. But again, if it's not there, you wouldn't be free of it. You would be enslaved by its absence. Put away, as the Pentecost says, leap beyond whether there's limitation or not limitation fine no limitation okay i can live with that because the basic principle here of the way that the buddha mind works is that limitation limitation has no limitation is a limitation understood therefore it said in the patient But that has no meaning unless you've got the limitation right there. Theoretical admission of limitation does not open you up to the realization that limitation is no limitation.

[22:26]

OK? So on one level, if you study something a little, you think, boy, this is great. I understand something now. This is wonderful. As you study it more, you realize that what you understand is wonderful, but it's limited because you can never understand something the way everybody else understands it. And many of these precepts is not what I think they mean. It's not what you think they mean. It's not what all of us together think they mean. It's really an ocean. However, it doesn't exclude what I think. The circle of water in the ocean is not part of the ocean. It is part of the ocean. And if you look at the circle of water, if you study it carefully, you'll notice that it behaves kind of funny It doesn't make sense that it would behave the way it does if all there was was a circle of water.

[23:32]

As you're studying the circle of water more and more, you start to think, the circle of water, it doesn't behave. It's not a whole system. But you can eventually understand, through recognizing the limitation of how the energy doesn't make sense, you can understand we'll see you know spain okay that's one thing i would say the overall thing about the reason nothing i'd like to say is that uh... that uh... put away practitioner that would away should be able to have it what i would call Well, I would say they should be able to inhabit the realm of radical skepticism and also the realm of, I shouldn't say radical skepticism, I'll say genuine inquiring skepticism.

[24:51]

They should be able to inhabit that realm, and they also should be able to inhabit the realm of moral judgment. particularly I feel that people should be able to inhabit the realm of moral judgment because people do, generally speaking, except for the radical skeptics, people do inhabit the realm of moral judgment. Most people do. So, and by skepticism I mean, or radical skepticism, I mean that you question everything. that you never really come up with the feeling like you can judge yourself or somebody else, like you have no way to figure out right and wrong. It isn't that you even say that isn't right and wrong. You can't even figure that out. You really question everything, and you never are sure about that thing.

[25:58]

It'd be good if you can inhabit with the person such and such a mind. But also, there's a mind of being judgmental. If we also do inhabit, then we should be able to inhabit that with skill. I say that as a preface to the idea that these precepts, as they're taught as Zen meditation, are not about, say, They're not about doing anything. They're not about doing anything. They're about imprinting on everything you do a way of being which is what we call upright and aware.

[27:08]

All day long, people act. You think pretty much nonstop. You speak sometimes. And you enact posture pretty much nonstop. The Buddha's teaching about karma comes in these three varieties. Action comes in these three varieties. Thinking. Speaking. And posture. But the Buddha's teaching is not that karma is like this. It's not emotion. Karmic Action is this, and this, and this. It's posture, it's gestures, it's not a whole, this is a whole bunch of gestures.

[28:18]

The sum total of all these makes a movement like this. So by that definition, just any posture, you're always in a posture, you're always acting physically. and you're almost always thinking and walking. These three kinds of actions have to do with doing something. These precepts are not about doing or not doing these actions from the point of view of this precept. They are about the mind of Buddha being imprinted on these types of actions. Whatever action is happening, the mind of Buddha can be imprinted on that action. And you might say, and this is something which we could discuss, that when the mind of Buddha, or when the Buddha mind seal, the seal of Buddha is placed on the three actions,

[29:39]

that maybe that would have an evolutionary impact on what actions would come forth from the practice. In other words, maybe the person would start acting in different ways if they did the practice. But the Buddha practice is not thinking that way. Well, we put the Buddhist seal on by action, and then we'll do such and such. That way of thinking is what we call thinking. Thinking in terms of, I do this, then that will happen. I do this, that will happen. It's not the Buddhist seal to think, I do this and that will happen. It's the Buddhist seal to observe that kind of thinking and to see how that kind of thinking works.

[30:46]

To put the Buddhist view of upright sitting and awareness of the dynamic interpenetration of all being. To sit upright with this awareness. It's the way we think, not the way we think, but we have that with us as we think about whatever we think about. We have that with us, or we are with that, with whatever we speak. We have that, or we practice that way, in whatever posture we make. How that may be, it's... In the back, I'd like you to put it in the background as you look at each of these precepts. So, these precepts, you see, are just what I just said.

[32:29]

They're all good what I said. What I said is what all precepts are about. They're just a 16-fold an aberration of that state of mind and not the state of mind, but that way of being. And those 16 precepts hopefully will help you understand that way of practice. And that way of practice hopefully will help you understand what these 16 precepts are. At Buddha's precepts, But I also, I mentioned before that we should also be able to inhabit the realm of thinking, which sounds like judging right and wrong.

[33:31]

We don't need to be afraid well. But we don't need to stay away from, necessarily, getting into the nitty-gritty realm of judging right and wrong. That's one of the kinds of thinking which we may be able to put the Buddhist seal on. But that kind of thinking is what a lot of people think is the beginning and end of ethical But that's just one type of thinking, which is pretty important, of course. But that's just one kind of thinking that people do. That's not all there is to Buddhist ethics. And as a matter of fact, that's not really Buddhist ethics. That's just the way some people think about ethics. That's one circle of water in the ocean of the precepts. Even what I just said to you is just another circle of water in the order of your precepts.

[34:42]

Even though I'm saying it's a bigger circle of water than another, maybe it is. Some people can see part of it. Maybe now it would be a good time to touch my home. You have that. Let me respond to it myself. Yes? I'll tell you what I think of it. Could I ask you to speak up? Could I ask somebody to give me a glass of water? I was looking at African art. When I said that, I thought that I was a little bit, what did I say, That's a pretty subtle point.

[36:04]

We do observe causing effect. But thinking in terms of I do this, period, just I do this, that way of thinking is what we call basically thinking. Thinking I do this or I do that, or thinking I do this and then that will happen, that way of thinking is just thinking. What do we mean by thinking? By putting a seal of uprightness on that way of thinking. That way of thinking can go on. And it will go on. That's just one example of thinking. Some people think, oh, if I do certain things, there will be consequences. This way of thinking is a lot better than to think, if I do things, there will be no consequences.

[37:19]

One way of thinking is I don't know what to call it. I forgot what to call it. I don't want to call it any bad. Anyways, it's like you probably can't learn anything if you think that there's no consequences of action. But if you don't believe in cause and effect, you're going to have a hard time learning anything. So to think that, to believe in cause and effect, that there are effects and consequences of action, that's a pretty good way to think. But you don't have to tell yourself to think that way or tell yourself not to think that way. It's just that if you are thinking that way, put the Buddhist seal on that. What's the Buddhist seal on that way of thinking? Or what you think it is.

[38:25]

Do you have any idea, a little bit of an idea? Think about the actors. Think about the actors. Yeah, that would be fine. So you might think, so how would you do that? How would you think about the action if you took a three-step? Well, ideally, I wouldn't have to think about it. I wouldn't have to think about it. How's that? So you take action, right? Let's say you take action. All right? how would you put the Buddhist seal on the action you took? That's it.

[39:44]

Something like, you know, I think that whatever action you're aware of, it comes in, I think, you know, like the circle of water. That, to realize that whatever action these thieves... Whatever action you take, or whatever class you have, or any class they're in, is only for you, that's it. Uh-huh. That would be part of it. And how would that be? How would it be that you observe yourself thinking? And when you understand that what you see there is not even the whole picture of your thinking. And how would it be with that? How is that? How would it be to live like that?

[40:53]

Try it out. How is it? Is it causing a change? Is it a different way from the usual way? And it's so hard. Put down the edge of your seat. Put down the edge of your seat. What are you doing? Letting go of what? Letting go of what? Letting go of what? What do you mean by be comfortable?

[41:55]

I think that's the left-hand result. Those left-hand results are left-hand results, right? Doing something with being ready to go is equivalent to watching I don't know if you did, but as soon as you get a hand or something, you put your hand up there, you have a thought, so you have that thought. You're limited by that thought. That's the one you've got, okay? How are you comfortable with that thought? Well, I'm just sort of using it to get comfortable. And I'm trying to understand if you were comfortable with saying, perhaps, like the word I'm using, upright. Is it the same?

[43:33]

Could be. You said something about being comfortable by something like letting go. Well, letting go, it's quite a little... I think that one of the things that we found in the disciples is working out a precondition idea or thought or using big words or not knowing those or acknowledging that we all have limitations. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, except that it makes sense, but I want to get very clear about what you're saying. Part of our limitation, part of my limitation is to have preconceptions.

[44:35]

To try to let go of my preconceptions, My way of trying to let go of my preconceptions is to admit my preconceptions. Otherwise, again, to get comfortable with my preconceptions. But not to get comfortable with my preconceptions like, this is my preconception and I'm going to do it on you. Rather, I have a preconception about you and I'm going to get comfortable with that. But what I mean by get comfortable with that is, Well, not to the head of it, not to behind it, not to the right of it, not to the left of it, to be completely upright with my preconceptions about me. And I think that will be actually comfortable when I get there. But it's an unbiased, complete absorption or acceptance of my preconceptions.

[45:43]

I'll go to the old man. And so here is my point in letting the myPCC's ideas out there and letting go of the fact that the myPCC that was only physically there. When you're asking, I want you I thought about, you know, to be comfortable with it and what it means to let go. I guess I was just thinking out loud in a way to myself, and I was thinking for me that it means, I mean, I don't think I can let go of anything or get, what it means for me is to just be there with it and pull a chain, isn't it something else? And the word that kept popping up in my mind was Zazen, as we were taught.

[46:46]

But, um, it's a good ball. Zazen is sometimes called Comfort Boy. That's one of the English words. Well, it's just not in the volume. It's touching me. Then you need a big light, and I put it up here for you. That's why I got the idea, too. So, you know, we have this so-called upright posture, right? Get all that stuff. Just do this one, okay? But everything all day long like that. Put your hand up there. Get your hand. Now, don't lean it to the right. Don't lean it to the left. Don't lean it forward. Don't lean it backward. My voice right now, the sounds I'm making, Don't get ahead of the voice, don't get behind the voice, don't get right of the voice, don't get left of the voice, don't get on top of the voice, don't get even. Just speak the word. And this is my voice.

[47:48]

This is my karma. Now, I might wish to have a different voice or to say something nicer. It would probably be a good idea. You know, I don't believe in that path. Because if I try to do that, a stupid person is going to try to fix me up. You know? My limited understanding is going to try to make what I'm doing into a better thing according to my limited understanding. I don't really, you know, that's not the main way. Although I'm willing to play that game to some extent, mostly I want to trust the nature of things. to realign themselves and liberate themselves from themselves by being what they are. If things aren't actually free, then we're sunk. And if they are free, well, first of all, let's relax.

[48:52]

That's it. But not relax in general, but specifically relax at this particular situation. Because the freedom happens in where the thing is, not where it is. That's why we can't realize this freedom unless we practice. In other words, unless we are not ahead or behind, right or left of what we're saying, what we're thinking, what we're posturing, after posture and after posture. So with this attitude, we enter in this study, for example, what does it mean? You know, it's all good. So, yeah. Well, I think we're having a positive doctor.

[49:54]

I think the things we're all considering here and there, that's upright. It's upright. It has a certain quality. You know, I have a certain feeling about it. It sort of made me a rigidity a little bit, or... rather than letting go, it seems like they're just insisting on a certain posture or something. Things like that. I mean, in other words, if you see a stature like the blue or someone sitting, I think when you look at it, not easily, they look pretty relaxed, but they don't really look completely relaxed. They don't look particularly upright, a little, you know, they're putting some effort out of something. How about a green... How about a flower? Fortunately and unfortunately, human beings cannot sculpt flowers. I think that they do sculpt Buddha.

[50:58]

I did a workshop a few weeks ago at Mount Madonna. And at the beginning of the workshop, I put the flowers in the balloon and I said, I'd like that the flowers be articulated for this workshop, because I feel that flowers are actually quite strict, you know? Like they go . Not flowers, but plants that have flowers. They go . and they do that very strictly you know like they never get them but when those petals unfold they're never kind of like getting ahead of themselves we never kind of like hang back maybe some of the sick ones do i don't know but basically there's a strictness in the flowers they work out you know but they don't they're not stressed at things like but they do their thing they go and it's

[52:00]

and uh that kind of how that's i think that's uprightness the way flowers come up and open uprightness now when an artist tries to sculpt a buddha you know they do it best and some artists are more stressful than others some buddhist statues look really relaxed i mean they look like they're going to melt even though they're sitting up straight. So, in a sense, I can point out about vaginal posture as an erect swoon. It should have those two elements in it. So part of the art of our Zen practice is how can we sit, how can we be upright? You know, not forward, not backward, not the least bit ahead of yourself, not the least bit behind yourself. No bias, completely present.

[53:04]

How can you do that and be completely relaxed? That's all. So my practice, the way I've been talking lately about my practice, is my practice is to be completely present and to be nothing. So, you know, next week I'll say it differently, maybe, but that's what we're trying to do is we're trying to be upright and present, unbiased, while we have ideas about what that means. Circling around us as we try to be upright and not biased are ideas of what upright means. If we try to practice putting a Buddha mudra on a body, speech, and thought, if we try to practice that, again, we have a circle of water about what Buddha mudra is, about what uprightness is, about what it means to be aware of cause and effect.

[54:09]

We have some idea of that. That's our limitation. But again, if you can be aware of the limitations of your understanding of your practice that you're applying in your limited understanding of your body, speech, and mind, again, by understanding and accepting the limitation, you gradually can zero in on where you are. It is possible. And if you work too hard, you take a break. If you get too tense, you relax. If you get too relaxed, you get up. If you get too, you know, company with your position, when the bell rings, you give it up. So all these different things are part of the art we learn to try to find this, you know, true, what do you call it, congruence. Like the congruence of a quality.

[55:12]

These powers are strict about the way they do their thing. They don't do it in a kind of They really do what they're doing, and they don't do anything else but that. And yet, they don't exactly train. It's beautiful the way they do it, and it's hard to see in a way, too. And while they convey their ballooning, they also remind us of their death. They tell us the whole story of the minute. And they do that by not getting ahead or behind in thought. They don't give us a signal, kind of like, hey, you know, I'm going to die. In the most vital moment of their expression, they tell us that they didn't die. Of course, they also tell us that they didn't die when they tried to wilt. But when they wilt, it's a different kind of a poignancy than the impermanence they show you in their radiance.

[56:14]

And I say that we and flowers convey that most when we're upright and upright means again another way to say what it means is it means that one way to say is it means that i you we do uh a path Which is the opposite or the reversal of our usual way. Whatever our individual way is. It's not like I do the opposite of me. I do the opposite of me. Uprightness is the opposite of me. Uprightness is not my idea of uprightness. So part of the trick of it and part of the art of it is that uprightness is not just you go do your idea of uprightness.

[57:25]

It's more like something you discover, you look for. It isn't like I go do this thing called not getting ahead or behind myself. It's not my personal power trip that I'm able to not get ahead or behind myself, that I'm able not to be biased. We're not to bias. Uprightness is something I discovered. And it's something related to the opposite of the way I do things. It's the reversal of the way I do things. But the way I do things, you see, is not kicked out, is not eliminated, is not put down, because the way of freedom is related to the way I do things. The way I do things is what makes my bondage, my freedom is in reversing the way I do things. Now, one of the ways I do things and one of the ways some other people do things is they try to stop themselves from doing things.

[58:33]

That's one of the things they do. That's one of the ways people do things, is they try to stop themselves from doing some of the things they know how to do. And they also know how, to some extent, if they try to stop doing some of the things they do. Right? But that's not the reversal. That's just basically the same thing. What's the reversal of the way you do things? That's a mystery. And the reversal of the way you do things, and one of the words that reverses the way you do things is to be upright. In other words, to really leave him alone is the reversal of the way we usually treat people. But again, not to leave him alone in the way that you do this thing called leaving him alone. Or you do this thing called giving up. It's not something you do. That's again, you know how to do the thing called giving up or not to be able to do the thing called giving up.

[59:37]

Giving up is not something you can do or something you can't. It's again, giving up uprightness, Buddhist seal, same thing. Put this uprightness, put this detachment, put this surrender, put this Buddhist seal on all your activity. That's what all these precepts are about. That's it. Another way of kind of a revert of that, but it didn't help over me, is that not to put the imprint or the seal on these activities, but to notice that these activities can be imprinted, that these activities are such that the seal can imprint them.

[60:38]

I think there's an affinity kind of between the activities you know you know but yeah it doesn't look one way but right yeah that's nice i don't know if i i don't know if i heard you but i thought i heard you say what your karma is just sitting there waiting to be used you know it's already actually perfect unfoldment of the dharma In fact, the Dharma is, right now, penetrating completely, perfectly, unhinderedly, has totally illuminated every action you're involved in at that moment. And never stops. But we need to sort of appreciate that. We need to sort of observe how the Buddhist view is being embossed on our actions. You can say just being if what you mean by being is not like the being of the opposite of not being.

[61:55]

If you have no category about what being is or just is, then it's OK. But it's not the being that you think about it being. Again, it's not just being like your circle of water being or the opposite of your circle of water. The being which is free of all categories of existential attribution. You could also say uprightness is light. Uprightness is like for illumination. So you take it. I said to somebody, I guess, in the class, I said, you take suffering, put a happy face on it, that's Buddha. Did I say that?

[62:59]

Hmm? Thank God. Did I say that? Is that what I said? Take suffering, put a smile on it, that's Buddha. But what is a Buddha's smile? Buddha's smile is radiance. So the radiance of sakri is Buddha. And what's sakri? Sakri is not just karma, but even the resistance to karma. It even being kind of a chicken about the karma. But worse than karma, but bad karma. Anyway, karma, suffering, whatever, the light of it is what we mean by Buddha. And the light of the thing, the light of ignorance, is the way ignorance actually is. Does that make sense?

[64:07]

So these precepts, what I'm trying to bring here the light of these precepts here. The light of these precepts is the same as the light of suffering, the light of ignorance, the light of delusion. Delusion, take some delusion, man. You look at the way the delusion is long enough, study it enough, the delusion will turn into light. The delusion will turn into light. That light is the same as the light of everything. Do you know what I mean by light? I was wondering. What? I was wondering. Do you have any idea what I mean by lighting? Now, lighting, well, first of all, light's not something that, this light is not a light that would diminish if somebody went back there and turned those lights off.

[65:14]

Not that kind of light. It's not the kind of light that a whole bunch of wonderful, you know, I don't know what, great body of thought would, The Buddha walked in the door, but it would feel differently, wouldn't it? I think we would. It would also feel differently if a bunch of probably anybody came in here. But it's not what would happen to it if a bunch of Buddhas came in. It's not what would happen if a bunch of Buddhas left. All the Buddhas in the class left. It wouldn't be something that would decrease that. It would increase when they came in. What's light? Light is what sets people free and makes them happy. Maybe I think about practicing before there's light. That's what light is. Do you know what that light is?

[66:16]

Can you see that light? Can't see where this fleshy eye may be. Maybe sometimes you think you can, but probably you can't most of the time. You know that thing, heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter? Therefore ye soft pipes, play on. Not to the sensual ear, but mourn dear. Pipe to the spirit, ditties of no tone. It's the realm of deportment beyond hearing and seeing. Where does the light come from?

[67:20]

Where do you discover the light? Where do you see it? Is it reflection? Huh? Is it reflection? Is it reflection? Is it reflection? And where is it reflected? Inside. Inside what? In. What? In. Just in. That's a pretty good location, in. Nobody knows where that is, do you? I, uh, the light is, uh, the light really, in, uh, the light really, it's a little dark and simple, and that's where I can find it.

[68:24]

You, you're always believing that the, that basically there's a cause for assistance. Pardon? There's a cause for assistance. You create, like, a system of things, figuring things out, wanting to fix things up. It creates a system. The system creates, like, sort of resistance to something. The system creates... Resistance to a state is... Resistance to a state is illusion. That's it. Basic illusion is resisting a state. Or just seeing a state as separate from yourself. That delusion.

[69:36]

It creates a friction. And it creates and it creates pain. And it's a light in the sense of a warning light going off. It tells you what to go look for. So the friction that happens around the illusion shows you where to go to look to find the light. The friction or the pain in that resistance to what's happening shows you where you're going to find the light.

[70:54]

So basically, there's me, this self, and between this self and everything else in the universe, there's, as you say, a kind of friction. There's a kind of rubbing between self and other, between self and the rest of the world, a kind of irritation, that pain. We kind of want to get the back together with it, but we also are creating a sense of separation. Without this separation between self and the rest, there would be no sense of self. I felt it born on the fact of realizing that it has an end. What's the question? The question is not the light?

[71:58]

Let me tell you, it's a warning light. Yeah, it's like, I think it's pain. I think it's pain. I think it's pain. It's painful. And one of my neurotic things would be to try to, for example, bridge the separation, like to grab you or something, as a way to eliminate the pain of being separated from you. But that's inappropriate. What's appropriate? Appropriate is to feel the irritation or the friction in that separation, and to also admit that I would like to eliminate that friction, and also admit that I have various kind of inappropriate ways of doing that.

[73:03]

I'm not talking my repertoire of comments. But that's not what's going to reveal the light. What's going to reveal the light is to accept the friction of irritation and live with it and not be upright with it. To try to eliminate the separation by reaching across the barrier and trying to grab the other thing does not eliminate the separation. It actually is an action based on belief in the separation.

[74:11]

And it is also based on unwillingness to accept the separation. But if you accept the separation, then you understand what these precepts are about. Basically, that's one way to talk about what they're all about. Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, they're all about not accepting or accepting, whichever way you want to put it, not accepting that separation violates the precepts. If you think that there's somebody out there and you can wipe it, you haven't accepted the separation. When you accept the separation, that thought is still yudra tathāra. This is you and your awareness. This is what you're aware of.

[75:13]

You need to realize that this line of separation is where they join. This is delusion. Self and other. Then you're separate. And we think that way. And we think that way, and we think that way, and we think that way. And Buddhists think that way. If you admit that thoroughly, you realize that it is not actually true. It's not really true that you're separated from your death. It's not really true that you're in opposition to what isn't you. That's not true.

[76:20]

That's false. Because you would never be you if there wasn't all the stuff that you did. It's only because you die that you're aware of having a self. Because if it wasn't for death, we wouldn't be unique, precious creatures. Because we're going to die, we have a self. It's because of our death that we have a personal life. And beings that do not understand this do not have a self. And beings who do not have a self do not have a sense of separation from others. And therefore, they're not deluded. And therefore, They don't need to meditate on this separation in order to achieve the union. They don't need the light.

[77:23]

They don't need the practice of light. The light is completely pervading them, but they don't need it. Because they're not in the darkness of self. I'm sitting here trying to think of all the creatures, but I know that The best of that is of not having it felt, of not being separate from objects, of not being afraid to die. Now, I don't know the experience of an ant, but the actions that ants make when they're dying seem to me to be fear or not want to die. So in order to understand what you mean, I'm trying to go through a catalog. But that ultimately limits the thought.

[78:24]

Well, if there's some trees that know they're going to die, or have some awareness that they're going to die, then they have a self. But, as far as I know, trees do not know that they're going to die. They don't think about that. And because they don't think about that, they don't have a sense of the limitations of their existence. And, therefore, they don't have a sense of self. It doesn't mean that they don't fit out when you kick them or chop into them or anything like that. That's different. You could feel pain and move away from pain and toward pleasure without a sense of self. Amoebas can move away from, you know, salt concentrations that they don't like and towards one they do, or towards sugar concentration that they don't like. They do move away and toward. For us, that's greedy illusion.

[79:25]

Greedy behavior. But I don't think amoeba is aware of the conscious awareness. Therefore, I don't think amoeba has a sense of itself. Not yet. Maybe someone needs a view. I don't think they do. And I don't think even human beings, I don't think even primates, before they understand that they're going to die, before they see that their parents died, and realize that they're next or whatever, and that there's going to be a limit to this, before they see that, I don't think they have to think they suck. I don't think you feel your uniqueness when you feel like basically this goes on. It goes on for me, and it goes on for me into all of you. But when you feel like this one's gonna die, because of your awareness of death, you become a self. Therefore, your self can only exist because of not you.

[80:34]

I suppose that that's the way I might view it. The only you because of not you. There's no way to get you without the end of you. And if you think about this, it's pretty hard to actually conceive how a being would do this if they don't have this thing that human beings have and which some other animals may or may not have, which is called objective knowledge. Being able to see something outside of itself. We can see, we can think that something's outside of ourself. I can think it's external to me. Human beings have not been able to do this for like 100,000 years. It is fairly recent that we figured out how to do this, to be able to know things objectively. When you can know things objectively, when you have that psychic equipment, then you can realize that there's a thing called depth which is external to you, and then you can have Other people who are on the other side of death.

[81:36]

There's you, death, and other people. There's you, death, and trees. There's you, death, and frogs. Between really you and anything else is not you. It's the end of you. It doesn't go from me to you. It goes from me to no more me to you. There's actually a big lot of me and not me in between me. And not me, I do not feel comfortable with. Even though, without not me, there wouldn't be a me. That's why we're supposed to meditate on birth and death. That's what we preach about. It's about birth and death. Self and others. So if these other beings can pull this off, this psychic trip-off of being aware that they're going to die, fine.

[82:38]

I can't really imagine knowing what I do know about their psychic ability. I don't know if they even really know that they're going to die. I think some dogs would help me with that. I don't know. But I have my doubts because I see that human beings and some primates apparently have not been able to do this for long. I mean, even some human beings who have developmental problems don't seem to be able to understand that they're going to die. And they seem to evince a lack of ego or sense of self. And most of what we try to do is to get them to be able to do this psychic trip of being able to see because of that external self to promote them to whatever self. So then they can be a normal human being and have art then. I think it's quite a feat to actually heal it. Can you put that just a little more? Can I ask one question on that? How about a sense of loneliness?

[83:40]

Loneliness? Yeah, as opposed to a sense of death. Perhaps a dog isn't aware of the potential death, but it's aware of the loneliness. Oh, yeah, I guess they're lonely when they're out with us. They're depressed or something, so... Well, this is a homework assignment. Think about dogs and how much they love to be with their mistress and master, and how much they whine when we go away. And what's like that to do with sense of self? Okay? Is that the same thing? Does that show that they have a sense of their death? What if I'm not going to bring you the dog? Huh? We can bring the dog in and see if the dog has food in it. Now, these things I talked about, if you'd like to use it, leave it in here. I think they're fairly important. Get into your, within your class, in your circle. If you keep them waiting, it won't bring you back to the reading class. This time you're new and out, it's probably me, okay?

[84:43]

You're welcome to take them, but then you need to take them, you have to pounce on them, and you have to follow them. You have to be responsible. It's much easier for me to write a story sheet than to do it on my own. My best wishes to you, and I hope my help performs. Good night.

[85:11]

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