If I may, I'd like to tell a story and also tell you that this is just one story. It's a story about Buddha. Maybe Shakyamuni Buddha. at the very moment of entering into enlightenment, immediately upon entering into enlightenment, and having enlightenment enter into him,

[01:12]

the Buddha didn't get anything. And there was no thing that the Buddha used to enter. The Buddha didn't get anything. The Buddha didn't get enlightenment. The Buddha entered into enlightenment. entering into enlightenment is Buddha. And sometimes this entering comes with an awareness, a samadhi, called the ocean seal samadhi. This ocean seal samadhi is to completely and dynamically open up to and take in everything.

[02:42]

And although the things may not agree, they open up and take in this awareness too. This awareness opens up and receives everything completely and dynamically. Dynamically means mutually. this ocean seal samadhi is nirvana. And nirvana means, has the root nirodha in it, which means extinction.

[03:50]

So sometimes people might think, oh nirvana, that's like extinction. Extinction. Well, it is extinction, but what kind of extinction? It's the extinction of the ocean seal samadhi. It's the extinction of hindrances to opening up completely and letting everything in. It's the extinction, the calm extinction of being open and letting everything in. And it's the calm of entering everything. So it's not an extinction like nothing's happening, it's an extinction of the hindrance to the happening. it's the absence or the extinction of hindrances to integration with all beings.

[05:09]

This is the Nirvana of the Ocean Seal Samadhi. I heard that Master Ma, the Chinese Buddhist, said, embracing and sustaining all things, and again I say embracing and sustaining because the Chinese character that they use to quote him is this character we use in our precepts, the three pure precepts. Each precept starts with this character, which in Japanese is pronounced Setsu and in Chinese Shi.

[06:17]

It has a hand and three ears. So this embracing and sustaining all things, this is the ocean seal samadhi, this is nirvana. This embracing and sustaining all things is like many, many rivers returning to the ocean. And of course, the ocean is open to all these rivers. And in the ocean, all the water that comes from all the rivers is called ocean water. And so, savoring one taste in the ocean is savoring all tastes.

[07:27]

Living in this great ocean is then living in the turbulent confluence of all the rivers. This is nirvana, to live in a turbulent confluence of all rivers. And the story which I just told is one story about a place that you enter where all the stories enter. And because when they first enter, they may sound different, they're the kind of turbulence between all the different beings' stories. So this enlightenment is not something that you get, it's something you enter.

[08:38]

And living in nirvana means living in the turbulence of samsara, where all the different beings come together and mess each other up. The basic method for entering is like an entry samadhi. It's like the or it's a type of attention training samadhi that enters the ocean seal samadhi. And that samadhi is to meet whatever comes with no fixed perspective.

[09:54]

To meet objects, to meet your environment with a mind of no mind, to meet whatever comes without comment, without judgment, without selecting, without rejecting, with no grasping, in the entry level into the samadhi, this type of attention cleanses the mind and cleanses the object.

[11:03]

Cleanse the mind of all of its opinions and therefore you cleanse the object of all your opinions. Cleanse the mind of all grasping, and you cleanse the object of being grasped. Cleanse the mind of comments, and you cleanse the object of comments. You cleanse self, you cleanse other, and you enter this samadhi. You enter nirvana. You enter. But when you enter, although you've just cleansed and entered by this cleansing, by this cleansing, when you actually enter, things get more turbulent and more dynamic. Because again, what's been cleansed is not the individuality of each thing or the

[12:12]

the virtue of each thing, what's been cleansed is your hindrance to the virtues of others, which you previously didn't consider to be virtues. So this is a story about the kind of mind that comes to Buddha upon entering enlightenment. And this way, this is a kind of training opportunity for the attention to actually enter the mind of the Buddha, the mind of enlightenment. Before entering, there may be some involvement in entanglement with various types of comments, various types of distinctions between self and other.

[13:36]

various deep habitual habits of attention. And by training the attention to meet whatever comes, with non-grasping, there is a kind of healing of these habits. The attention is trained so that the attention becomes liberated from its impulsive and habitual modes.

[14:48]

The reward is to enter the realm where then all kinds of other beings come to meet you, perhaps with their habitual modes. And again the process of cleansing and releasing of these habits goes on. continues, but on a much more joyful and grand scale. So this again is a simple practice of, in each moment of experience, relaxing completely. In each moment of experience, releasing completely.

[16:00]

In each moment of experience, resting. Resting in the midst of whatever experience. Receive and let go. and without introducing anything more like that you're going to do the letting go. The letting go is already happening. It's more just a matter of settling into it, resting in the resting, resting into the releasing, settling into the relaxing with this moment, releasing grasping of anything, This way of being with each moment of experience, which is also an opportunity for entering into the Ocean Seal Samadhi, it seems that one can look at this way of being, this way of being with experience, without grasping anything.

[18:23]

this way of receiving experience without grasping anything, that this process can also be looked at as the 16 Bodhisattva precepts of the Soto Zen school. And these 16 Bodhisattva precepts, when they appear, you know what to do, right? That's right. That's what you do. No comment. Don't be tricked by these precepts into thinking that you should grasp them

[19:29]

even though I'm suggesting they might help you learn about what it means to not grasp. Because they might. And they'll especially help you to learn about how to meet whatever comes with non-grasping if you don't grasp them. And also especially if you don't grasp what I tell you about how to use them to not grasp. So just let go of what you're hearing now and you'll hear it best. this kind of attention notices what comes, receives what comes and doesn't grasp it.

[20:38]

Training in this type of attention may involve noticing what comes, noticing that what comes doesn't seem to be received, and noticing that in the process of not receiving it, there's some rejection of it. Such an event might appear in the training of this kind of attention. Or, in the training of this type of attention, in the training of the kind of attention which enters into the Ocean Seal Samadhi, which realizes nirvana, it may come to attention that this kind of attention is not happening, that another kind of attention is happening, an impulsive, karmic attention, an attention which is an attention to making a distinction between this kind of attention and another kind of attention, and making a distinction between what's coming and what's not coming, and rejecting what's coming, or clinging to what's coming, or both rejecting and clinging, or perhaps accepting and then clinging.

[22:16]

Anyway, the process of this kind of training of attention involves noticing that this kind of attention is not happening. process of training the attention to receive without and not make a comment. Receive without comment. Receive and rest. Receive and relax. Relaxingly receive. The training of this involves noticing there's receiving and there's not relaxation. There's tense reception here. Mighty tense reception here happening now. with lots of comments, like I'm not supposed to be tense. I'm a bad relaxer. There's a bad relaxation around here. So when there is a comment, then in some traditions they say, briefly note the comment.

[23:23]

But in this tradition, of the Bodhisattva precepts is more like, confess the comment. Just confess it. So as we approach this ocean seal samadhi of the Buddha, actually we can see that as, I'm coming to Buddha. I'm coming to, I'm returning to Buddha. I'm returning to the ocean of the Buddha's Ocean Seal Samadhi. I wish to take refuge in the Buddha. As I approach, I may notice that I'm making comments all the way to Buddha. And each comment that arises, I just confess and continue to approach the Buddha mind.

[24:26]

and I confess by noting briefly, and that's it. But sometimes, although I say when I do that, I note briefly and that's it, maybe I don't note briefly. Maybe I note briefly and then make a comment again. Well, then that's to be confessed to. I just don't seem to be able to just note my comments, to just note my tensions. I want to comment further. I'm doing a lot of confessing on the way to church. But this is a normal part of the process, and the Dharma wheel is turning with each confession of the antithesis to this type of attention which enters into the ocean seal samadhi.

[25:33]

So one way to see taking refuge in Buddha is I take refuge in the Ocean Seal Samadhi. I take refuge in the mind which opens up and takes in all things. I take refuge in the mind which is entering into all things. I take refuge in the mind which washes and cleanses all beings. I take refuge in the way of being with each thing such that each thing is appreciated for what it is before

[26:48]

any of my comments. And that being with this one thing this way does the same thing with all things. I wish to return to that awareness. I want to take refuge in Buddha. And this way of taking refuge in this Buddha mind also frees me or frees this intention from grasping Buddha because I'm not grasping anything. I'm just grasping being with all beings. And I don't know what that is because I'm constantly washed of my comments of what that would be like. So this is the cycle of confession and taking refuge in the Ocean Seal Samadhi.

[28:04]

Going for refuge and confessing any fear I have of what it would be like to experience something without comment, approaching in a kind of attention which doesn't grasp anything and noticing that as I intend to practice that way, I don't. But again, accepting that and relaxing with that The practice resumes. Sitting in this seat, there is some awareness of the variety of beings in this room.

[31:21]

And the mind can create the comment that there is some variety among the beings in this room. And there can be a feeling of gladness that there is quite a variety of beings in this room. And the comment could also arise, but I wish there was more variety, or maybe we don't have enough variety. Like in this row here, we have some Asians and some black people. But on the other rows, they're all white. So, too bad.

[32:25]

We don't have enough variety. They don't count. But anyway, that's a very good row. And... If I might also add, we have in this row, Germans and Jews. So this is a very good row here. Oh, we even have Carrie. So there's some variety. There is some variety. So this is a little sample. This group is a sample of the variety of beings a variety of ways of practice, varieties of ways of responding to each other. One might hope for more or less variety.

[33:33]

One might wish that nobody was sitting in chairs, that everybody was sitting in full lotus, But no one ever moved during any period of meditation. One might hope for such things. Or one might wish everybody would have to sit in chairs and that there would be a great hubbub to try to get enough chairs in here. And everyone would want to eat lunch at the lunch table. One could think of such things. Could you imagine that you could think of such things? One might wish that there was less sniffling. Or one might wish that there was lots of screams of pain. But, of course, we have what we have.

[34:44]

we've got what we've got, what's coming is what's coming, and can we receive this sample of the universe that we have with complete release of our opinions of how it's going, even while we're in the ocean of opinions about how it's going, an ocean of beings who have oceans of opinions. We live in a turbulent situation here. Or perhaps we don't live in a turbulent situation here and we're sitting on the beach of the ocean seal samadhi because we don't want to get into the mess with these varieties of beings. Such variety. We have some highly strong people here, and we have some lowly strong people here.

[35:53]

We got some people that are a little too loose and a little bit too tight. We have some people who are like, if you strum them, they go, and you have some other people, if you strum them, they break. Right in the same room. And then we have opinions about which one's best. In the midst of all this, can you rest? And you might think, I think there's some better place than rest than here. But actually, this is a small sample of the turbulence, right? A small sample. We didn't invite... practicing, you know, practicing I don't know what. People are practicing other practices. We didn't invite them in here. For all I know, nobody here has been taking any heroin or cocaine for the last couple of days.

[37:05]

But there are such beings that are included in this samadhi. But they're not in the room. We have this little sample of beings here who are following this program, more or less. And because they are, and you're here with them, so then you do too, more or less. And when you do, then you think, what a place to rest. But if you can rest here, in this rather demanding situation because you got all these people here, because you got a sample of the Buddha's mind here, you got a sample of what Buddha's mind opens to, if you can rest here, it's a good start. Because what we're doing here together is bringing up quite a bit. if you can relax, if you can sit here and let go of your comments about what's going on here.

[38:19]

Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about how the precepts, more about how the precepts are about this kind of attention which enters into and plays in the Ocean Seal Samadhi. I have a text about the precepts that might be good for you to chant, for you to read at noon service today, so you have some background on the precepts. And then that might sink into your neural cytoplasm. and start resonating with your meditation.

[39:59]

And then we can discuss it more tomorrow. Are any of the minds here that are free of comment, have a comment? I think that's a question. You did. Want to ask another one? That's two. Go ahead. You were saying earlier that when you enter into the ocean, somebody, it allows you to, the memories are no longer there, and you can be aware of the virtues of those where you might not be. Is that true? Yeah, well, sort of. What you just said was, when you enter into the ocean seal samadhi, your hindrances to what?

[41:03]

I thought you were saying you no longer experience hindrances to being aware of the ocean seal samadhi. When you enter into the ocean seal samadhi, you have just at that moment become free of your hindrances of entering the ocean seal samadhi. So you train your attention to become free of the things that hinder you from entering into the Ocean Seal Samadhi. Then once you have entered the Ocean Seal Samadhi, you continue the practice of unhinderedly getting jostled about by all beings. You now are entering the space of where you are opened up to and are entering and being entered by all beings. By entering that awareness, however, you've already let go enough to enter.

[42:06]

And then you get tested further by that world. When you say the virtues of knowledge, are you talking about other selves? virtues other self well by entering the ocean seal samadhi you have released there has been a releasing of the distinction between self and other no the virtue of a something is what a something appears to be The virtue of something is how it seems to appear, how it happens. And when we release our hindrances to meet things, and then we release our comments on things, we have a chance to meet the thing which is free of, first of all, that we're trying to get away from it,

[43:18]

And free, second of all, we're trying to control it. And free, third of all, of what we think it is. Our comments, our opinions, our values about this thing. And then the beauty of the thing is revealed to us. The virtue of the thing, what it actually is, how it actually is, is then speaks to us. like that story about this guy, he's named George Washington Carver. You ever hear of him? Hey, look, I got a reverse, one of those reverse force things. This is a reverse force mudra. So George Washington Carver, the little guy, you know, living in, I think, Alabama or someplace like that. And he loved plants. And he made himself a little kind of plant nursery. And all the people in the area, mostly women, who had houseplants would bring their sick plants to him.

[44:25]

And he could always, like, cure them. And they asked him when he was a little boy, he said, how do you know how to cure the illnesses of these plants? And he says, because I go out in the forest and I love everything I see and the things tell me their secrets. So this way of being with things, what they actually are then becomes revealed to you when you just release and relax and don't grasp your idea of what they are. But otherwise we interpose our ideas about things, grasp them and reject them, and it's pretty hard for us to see what they are. Comments are beings too, yeah. So we also, when our comments arise, we also have, we grasp and reject our comments. Like we look at someone and we think, that person is really cute.

[45:29]

And we think, I shouldn't be saying that. I shouldn't think that. Or that person is really ugly. I shouldn't be thinking that. So we make comments on our comments. We reject and grasp our comments. Or we think, that person is really good and I should be thinking that about them. And I'm going to hold that idea. We say, hold that thought about this person because that's a good thought. Well, that seems nice to hold it. If you have a good thought of somebody to hold it, that seems kind of good, doesn't it? I think it is good to have a good thought of someone and holding it is kind of good. But entering the ocean seal samadhi is to relax around your good thoughts so that they can be released and you can enter into the realm where all the good thoughts are there and all the bad thoughts are there and you're open to them all and they're all entering you and leaving you with complete freedom and initially tremendous turbulence because that's samsara, the big mess.

[46:41]

But once you have — usually we're holding ourselves away from entering into that world of the virtues of all beings where all the virtues are bumping into each other and creating quite a mess. By training your attention to relax, release, and settle into, to not grasp or reject anything, you enter into the actual world. And then if you can continue that practice, there is the revelation of the nature of the Buddha's mind. and the appreciation of the virtue of all beings prior, we say prior to your comments, prior to your grasping, prior to when your parents were born. We say you see your original face, which means you see the actual face of all beings, which was your face before you were born. and you get to see it.

[47:45]

And this is what Buddha sees in that samadhi. Original faces all over the place. Everything is enlightening and releasing. It's a process not of getting enlightenment, but of everything becoming enlightening, enlightening, enlightening in the ocean. Enlightened by the virtues of others, the virtues of others, not what you think is virtuous about them, but their actual virtues free of your thoughts about them. So the people you think that are virtuous, you let go of your thoughts of their virtuousness and their virtue enlightens you. The people who you think are non-virtuous, you let go of your idea that they're non-virtuous and their virtue enlightens you. And since you're in the ocean with them, when their virtue enlightens you, your enlightenment of their virtues enlightens them.

[48:46]

That's why this training of attention is not the training of your attention, it's the training of Buddha's intention. the training of Buddha's — it sounded like I said intention, but that applies too. It's the training of your intention, it seems, but it's really the training of Buddha's intention. It's the training of Buddha's attention. It's the type of attention training that enters into Buddha's awareness, Buddha's understanding, which is the understanding that's constantly enlightening. It's the actual life of the bodhisattvas. And so we have this little workshop here where we're trying to develop that together. And we have all these actual individual beings who might actually be individual beings even if I didn't have the comment on them that they were individual beings. Who knows? Maybe if I let go of my comment that you're individual beings, you won't be individual beings anymore.

[49:53]

I'll get to see what you actually are when I'm free of my comments about you. Now I'm constantly offered the opportunity of my comment for me to rest in my comment about you. And you are offered the opportunity of your comments about me and everybody else here. And these are opportunities for you to see if it's possible to relax with these comments. And some comments, again, are that this person is just splendid. And that's a nice comment, but if you attach to it, you block yourself from entering the Ocean Seal Samadhi. Some other people you think are in need of improvement. So that's a fine comment too, but if you grasp it, you close the door on the Ocean Seal Samadhi. If you release any thoughts, you set yourself up to get ready to enter the ocean of Buddha's mind, the oceanic appreciation of the harmony of self and other.

[51:03]

And that sounds fabulous to me, but I'm letting go, I'm relaxing about that fabulous possibility. And then here I am with a bunch of turkeys. And then I relax with Turkey, with Turkeyville. And then where am I? Whoa, I don't know, so maybe I better get back to Turkeyville. Okay, here I am back in Turkeyville. Relax with Turkeyville, and then I'm back in Buddha's mind, which I don't own, which doesn't own me. Any other comments? That was good. And I'll release that one. Okay, it's up to you guys. Why do we have to meditate to realize this, she said.

[52:16]

We do not have to meditate to realize this. But you could say that realizing this is meditation. But the meditation, you don't do the meditation in order to realize it. It's just that that's what we mean by the meditation is realizing it. Make sense? Sitting so still. Sitting so still. Yes. What's it got to do with it? Do you want an opinion? Will you let go of it if I give it to you? I can't find one. Yes, Lynn. This image is that

[53:22]

The comments are tiring? The comments on what's happening are very tiring? What else is tiring besides the comment on what's happening? Images are tiring? Images of something happening in the past, people... Images of past, images of people you know. These are tiring. And of future events. Images of future events are tiring. Of yourself, your image of yourself. Very tiring. Very tiring. So it sounds like a good situation to take a rest. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So this is a very tiring situation. So taking a rest is the way to enter into the non-tiring realm.

[54:31]

So in the realm where we're grasping and rejecting, our comments and our images of past and future, we feel very tired, we feel exhausted, it's time to rest. And the real rest is you basically give up what's tiring. You give up whatever's happening. Whatever's happening, you give up. It's holding on to what's happening that's tiring. So you're going to rest from doing that very easy work. it's very easy to do the work of grasping. It's just that the work of grasping is tiring. What's hard is to rest. It's actually hard. It takes effort. And when you rest, then although it's hard to rest in the middle of a mess like this, in fact, a lot of energy comes. Because resting is not tiring. It's just hard because you're not used to it. Usually you only rest under special circumstances. We're talking about resting right in the middle of creating the tiredness.

[55:40]

And any other time, we're talking about resting all the time. In every moment, rest. In every moment, release, release, release. Now, if there's no grasping whatsoever, then I guess, you know, if there's no habits whatsoever of grasping, then you wouldn't be able to rest. But there is, so that's not a problem. So resting in all these tiring situations. So some people are tired during this little, you know, pond of practice we have here. Some of us are tired. So we're trying to rest, trying to find the true rest in this little session. It occurred to me that These images that keep coming are coming because at the time they present themselves, I grasped them. These images are coming because... These images keep coming.

[56:43]

I'm reluctant and they keep coming back. I keep getting high-related images. And it occurred to me the reason that the images are coming is that when they were in the moment, I had grasped them. And so that's stuck with me. Pretty much, yeah. That's a good story. That the images are coming because of past grasping. So maybe there's some hope that if I can learn how to relax, I won't be tormented by these images in the future. There's some hope that if you can learn to relax, you won't be tormented by these images in the future? Well, be careful of the word hope because the word hope goes often with grasping that hope. But I would say something different from hope. I would say it is an established teaching in the Buddha Dharma, not a hope. It's a teaching. There's a difference between a hope and a teaching.

[57:47]

There's a teaching that if you, what? Let go of grasping. If you let go of grasping in the moment. That. That in the future... That in the future images of that moment will not be tormenting. Yeah. So I've changed it slightly actually. It is a teaching, established teaching in the Buddha Dharma that if in the moment you don't grasp images... In the moment, you will not be tormented by those images. Matter of fact, those images don't torment you. They can only torment you when you plug them in to the electric circuit of grasping. The images that come by that aren't grasped do not bother you. But when they're grasped, almost any image will torment you, will afflict you. But it's not really the image that's afflicting you.

[58:48]

You're afflicted by the grasping. It's the grasping, it's the attachment that converts this life into torment. So it won't be in the future. It will be immediate. In the moment of non-grasping, you will be free of affliction and torment. That's a teaching. I wouldn't hope, I wouldn't say that there's a hope that that's so, because that tends to get back into grasping that. But rather it's a teaching which if you accept that teaching, if you accept that teaching, let that teaching enter your life, give it a chance, you may realize it. You didn't use the word future in idea. Yeah. Yes. Well, again, the reason for not addressing the future is because I feel like to address it in this particular instance would be trying to grasp something other than what's going on right now.

[59:56]

Like, I'm not satisfied with just being released now. I want to be released later, too. Okay? And actually tomorrow, when I talk about the precepts, I will address this point of meditation under the heading of the second grave bodhisattva precept of taking only what's given. Sivan? How do I explain it? What's the difference between what? Well, I don't know if actually we're all individuals.

[61:05]

I can't remember what individual means, but we appear sometimes to be, there is the possibility to make a distinction between this one and that other, and make a distinction of this one as apart from that other. This is something which our mind can do. Okay? Is that all right? So we can make that distinction. And Non-duality can be realized by practicing the training of attention to release and rest around that distinction. So when that distinction of this one apart from that other arises, take a rest, relax, Release that distinction.

[62:08]

Don't kick it out the window because there's tremendous neural support for that. We have a body which has wonderfully created this illusion of this one as a separate being from that other. This is an illusion which should be respected, deeply, fully respected, not trashed. Just like you don't trash other beings, you don't trash the distinction which makes them seem like other. By relaxing and embracing and sustaining the distinction, by loving the distinction, by giving up, grasping the distinction, we realize the nature of this illusion and we realize non-duality. which is there all the time, but can be realized when we enter into the awareness of what it's like before we make the distinction or after we let go of the distinction.

[63:22]

Does that make any sense? So separateness exists in our speaking. Separateness only exists in our speaking? Separateness doesn't only exist in speaking or in conceptual thinking. However, there cannot be any separateness aside from words and concepts. But it takes more than just words and concepts for the phenomena of the appearance of separateness. Separateness isn't just conception. However, there will be no separateness without that conception.

[64:25]

And relaxing in the midst of the phenomena of separateness will reveal to us how separateness arises. And separateness is another thing which has the phenomena of separateness, the appearance of separateness, is another being that we will come to appreciate. Separateness is beautiful, just like every other kind of being is beautiful, once we see how it really is. So it's now 1121 and some hands are raised, but I guess that a lot of you are ready to stop, right? So if it's okay with you, Mimi, I think maybe everybody's had about, you know, enough.

[65:28]

And maybe you can bring that up later. even if you let go of it, it might come back. Okay? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the Ocean Seal Samadhi? May our intention

[65:55]

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