Part of the understanding consciousness in such a way as to realize liberation is to understand its dependent co-arising. And so discussing the foundation or the support of the realm of consciousness is a teaching related to the dependent co-arising of consciousness. And earlier there were some questions about that. And so sometimes the foundation mind, it's also called the foundation or the storehouse mind, and again sometimes it's called storehouse consciousness, but I think maybe better to call it storehouse mind, it's said to be the consequence, it's the consequence of conscious

[01:09]

activity. It's a consequence of karmic consciousness activity. So consciousness is supported by the consequences of consciousness at this point. At some point there was this kind of, what do you call it, this kind of unconscious cognitive process which wasn't the consequence of consciousness, I guess, although I haven't heard that said. That seems reasonable to me that in the world cycle that we're living in, there was a time when there wasn't consciousness and then there was this unconscious process, but one could also say that this whole world system is the result of past world systems where there was consciousness and there was consequences of it and so on, but anyway, the support

[02:13]

of consciousness is the consequences of consciousness. Past cognitive activity, past consciousness is the consequence of past consciousness, which is the storehouse mind, and it has two types that you can talk about. One is the shared part, the other is the unshared part. When discussing this, people sometimes say, that sounds like Jung's racial unconscious, is there another word for that? Collective, collective unconscious, it's kind of like that, the shared part. And then the unshared part is the part that's due, so the shared part is the consequences of the karma of all of us, so your karma, my karma, my past karma, your past karma,

[03:20]

and also the karma of other conscious beings that aren't human, the consequences of all them, it's a shared consciousness, in other words, we all make a consciousness, or we all make a mind, we all contribute to the creation of a mind, and we share that consequence, and that consequence is part of the support of our consciousness. We also create unshared unconscious cognition, and the unshared part is the part that supports, that supports, that's related to our own sense organs.

[04:26]

It's kind of like, yeah, it's like very closely related to our own sense organs. It's related to our own individual bodies. That's the unshared part, and that unshared part that's in close relationship with our body supports the arising of consciousness. The shared part is the physical world, that's not our bodies, but it's a physicality that's the result of all of our karma together, and that physicality, which is not our sense organs, it's not my sense organs, it's not your sense organs, but that interacts with our sense organs, which also then supports our conscious activity. Now, your sense organs, from my perspective, are part of my physical world, and my sense

[05:43]

organs are part of your physical world. My sense organs are not your sense organs, but my sense organs as part of the physical world, like, for each of you, the rest of us in the room are part of your physical world. And with the exclusion of your sense organs, all of our sense organs, along with other physical things, are supporting this present consciousness, and interacting with your sense organs. But the unshared part, the unshared part of the unconscious process is the part of the unconscious process that's connected to the working of your sense organs. The shared part is, you know, what we call like walls in other people's bodies, which include their sense organs, but it's not really their sense organs, it's the way they are

[06:46]

to us as tangibles, audibles, visuals, olfactories, and tastes. The way other people are to us in that way is the way they are supporting our consciousness as part of the physical world. In that way, other people who have sense organs are like walls and sunsets. It's not actually their sense organ, but the way they are a sense organ is a physical data to us. That's the common part. So in other words, the physical world that's supporting our consciousness is the physical world which is a cognition. Now, someone might say, is there another physical world? And one might say, well, maybe, I'm open to that.

[07:50]

However, that physical world is not directly giving rise to our consciousness. Our consciousness is given rise to by our own body, which is closely associated with a cognitive process, and the cognitive process gives rise to our consciousness, and a cognitive process which is not our body, it's not our sense organs, but it's also a cognitive process which is including colors, sounds, smells, tastes, and so on, in an unconscious cognitive process. So that's, aside from other implications you might ask about, that's a picture of the arising of consciousness. And you may be tempted to try to find more than that, but this is a story which describes

[09:00]

the arising of consciousness, and this is a picture which is primarily the focus of liberating us from consciousness. So now, you probably have some questions. Well, let's start with Bruce, since he started this whole thing. Yes, Bruce, please stand up. Please stand up, Bruce, it's easier for us to hear you stand up. Can you speak up? Can you speak up? One of the chants refers to our ancient twisted karma. Does that mean the ancient twisted karma of our unshared unconscious? Our ancient twisted karma has two kinds of effects. One is, it affects our sense organs, it has the consequence of being our cognitive process

[10:18]

which are associated with our sense organs, but our karma also contributes to the creation of the physical world, it contributes to both. It's just that its contribution to one realm of cognition isn't shared by other people. So there's a thing about our consequence tends to make, contribute to the creation of our own conscious process, and another part of our consequences of our action contributes to other people's cognitive process, and that's the shared part. So we affect, we transform the whole of the cognitive process. Some parts of the cognitive process other people share with us, other parts people don't. And this is part of the reason we can communicate with each other, that we're not isolated.

[11:23]

It just pops in my mind, if I may say, I heard an English translation of Freud, that human beings are powerful isolated fantasy machines. Or, and I would say, human beings are powerful fantasy machines, and one of the fantasies is that we're isolated. We are powerful fantasy machines, and the basis of our fantasizing is our own sense organs, which are the result of our karma, and our shared physical world, which are also the result of our karma. But this teaching is saying, the physical world is mind, it's an unconscious cognitive process. So now what's your question? Could you speak up?

[12:35]

So you're saying that the immortality is maybe associated with the unshared? The unshared, mm-hmm. I'm just talking in terms of how much like the idea of the soul is the idea of the unconscious, unshared part, which continues to exist after the death of the body, which doesn't quite

[14:01]

make sense, because of the closeness, because of the sense organs, it is unshared. I've always wondered about these things, it's a little, it's kind of murky, and I was wondering if you could shed a little light on it. Well, I don't know if I can shed light on it, but when you're talking, you know, when I see you talking and hear you talking, part of what comes to my mind is that, two things, one is that after this teaching was introduced in India, some people kind of like put it aside because they felt like people couldn't resist making it into some immortal event. But even when it was introduced first in the Samadhi Nirmachana Sutra, this teaching, the Buddha said, this teaching I only, I don't teach to just anybody because some people

[15:08]

might make this into a self, you know, a self in the sense of an independently existing permanent thing. So, I'm introducing this and you're noticing some part of your process is kind of feeling like maybe you can, somebody could make, maybe not you, but somebody else might be able to make this into a soul that continues. And so there is that temptation of this teaching. But there's, so that's a danger of this teaching. And then there's some advantages of this teaching too, which maybe might encourage one to practice, because one could see that practice transforms the basis of our problems. But as you hear this teaching, which has this optimistic implication, you also maybe notice that the mind might be able to corrupt it in some way and make it into something

[16:12]

which is basically, it's intended to liberate us from that kind of thinking. But it doesn't exactly destroy that kind of thinking, it just teaches us how to understand that that kind of teaching is erroneous. That's enough light for now? I see some hands, and Charlie seems to be really energetic here. Yes, Charlie? I see the closeness that you're talking about there, and I wonder if we can be more skillful using the other direction, rather than making this unshared, unconscious into a soul, can we perhaps use this understanding to dissolve the concept of the soul that we've been holding onto throughout our life, so that when we hear other wise teachings that

[17:16]

kind of come to the concept of the soul, can we maybe draw some more use from them by dissolving that concept of this real soul into just an understanding of the unconscious process, or is it dangerous to even associate it with the unconscious process? I think that you can associate them or not, but even if you don't associate them, you might bring the teaching, the meditation on the way the unconscious, unshared cognitive process gives rise to consciousness. The hope of that is not to associate it with some ideas like an immortal self or an immortal soul, but if that comes up and somebody grasps it, there will be suffering, so we could bring this teaching to relieve that suffering. So you could associate them or not, but even if they weren't associated, you still might

[18:18]

bring this teaching to that illness, or actually to that symptom of illness, because this teaching is not only to address that idea, which is a symptom, but by addressing that idea in a proper way, it transforms the basis of that idea, so that even if that idea still arose, that idea would arise in such a way that there would be no belief in it, other than that it's appearing and it's just a conscious construction. That sounds like a yes. That sounds like a yes? I'm glad. Did you basically say yes to what I proposed, or was there some twist that I missed there? I thought I was doing what you proposed. Great, yeah. I thought I was relating to this in such a way that whether you associate or not, that

[19:18]

the teaching would address this belief in order to liberate beings from such a belief. That's one of the main points of this teaching. By seeing the dependent co-arising of something, you realize that the thing cannot be found. So it's not that we're saying there isn't an immortal self, it's just that whatever it is, you can't find it. A mortal self you can't find either. It's not like there is an immortal self, it's not like there is an impermanent self, it's just that the Buddha starts by saying, if you would keep in mind that the self that you're concerned about is subject to death, old age, sickness, and so on, if you keep that in mind, that doesn't mean that the self which is subject to impermanence exists

[20:20]

and it's subject to those things. It doesn't mean that. It just means that if you keep in mind that the self which you think is permanent is impermanent, that will sober you up. And when you're sober, you'll be able to see that the self that you think is permanent cannot be found, and the self that you think is impermanent cannot be found either. The self you think is unreal cannot be found, and the self that you think is real cannot be found. But a warm-up to realizing that you can't find anything, you can't find rebirth, a warm-up to realizing that you can't find rebirth is to hear the teaching of rebirth. A warm-up to find out that you can't find impermanent things or permanent things is not the teaching which warms you up to realizing that you can't find permanent things or impermanent things is not the teaching that things are permanent.

[21:22]

The Buddha doesn't teach that you're permanent. The Buddha teaches that you're impermanent. But that's not the end of the story. That's just to sober you up so you can realize not only are you impermanent, but you can't even find the impermanent person. Impermanent things cannot be found either. It's not just you can't find permanent things, you can't find impermanent things either. But teaching that things are impermanent first, again, sobers you up. It makes you able to practice virtue. And by practicing virtue you can realize the way things really are, is that they're conscious construction only. So the early teachings were things are impermanent, ill, and not self. And the reason why they're ill is because we think they have a self, but also they're not self.

[22:25]

Those are warm-ups to everything is conscious construction only, including impermanence is conscious construction only, ill is conscious construction only, and no self is conscious construction only. No self doesn't have a self. But it may be helpful just to mention, just so you don't get intoxicated as you're practicing that all these things are impermanent. Is that okay for now? And then there was Paul? Consciousness, the unconscious process is the support of language. Both.

[23:29]

Like for example, see this piece of paper here? This piece of paper is an example of the shared unconscious process and there's words on it. And it's also supported by unshared cognitive process. They support the appearance of language in consciousness. Language is not going on in the unconscious process. Otherwise, babies could immediately talk, but they can't. But they have a process that supports them learning language in consciousness. So they keep trying to say words. They make this conscious effort which transforms this process which is predisposed to do that, to support this language process they transform it and transform it until it supports the performance of language

[24:34]

in an individual person with individual sense organs. But how practicing language transforms the unconscious process in order to support language, no conscious mind knows how that happens. I don't know how, I can't see how I'm able to speak English. There's a story that I practiced it a lot when I was a little boy. I did a lot of karma, language karma as I was learning and trying to form these words. And I'm still doing language karma to keep my cognitive unconscious in shape to support this. As you may know, if you go to a foreign country for a while and come back to the United States and the foreign country does not speak English you'll notice somehow your conscious mind is not operating like it used to. Because your body has changed. Your unconscious process has changed.

[25:35]

It's not supporting your conscious activity the way it did before because you've been speaking Chinese or whatever. But how that works, no conscious mind can see. But you might be able, if someone could like, watch the physical ramifications of the unconscious process. You might be able to see these little lights going off about signifying the consequences of conscious activity that support. So I'm just saying that all these things that we learn, the way we learn Buddhism, the way we learn piano playing, the way we learn dancing, the way we learn walking, all these things, we learn them in consciousness, which is the great thing about consciousness. But the learning process is supported by the conscious activity, but when you actually learn it, it's coming completely from the unconscious process. In the unconscious process you can do things perfectly,

[26:36]

completely, without even being aware of it. You can perform complex feats and be thinking about something else, but you couldn't learn them that way. So how that works, we do not understand, but we know it's possible. And the same would be possible with learning this teaching. After a while, without even thinking about it, you would know that everybody was not separate from you, and you could do things based on that understanding, but you cannot see how you got transformed into such a creature that could respond that way. So language is the type of karma which creates a shared reality because the karma is similar. That's another aspect of this teaching, is that when you do similar karma, the physical world you create looks similar.

[27:37]

So the physical world that humans see is not the physical world that rats see or that mosquitoes see. Even though rats and mosquitoes, or certainly rats, they make the physical world too. Their conscious activity makes the physical world with us, but the way they see the physical world, or which they contribute to, is different than the way we do, because the way that they contributed to it was not like the way we contributed to it. So when our contribution is coming from similar karma, we see the physical world in a similar way, and we can talk about it with the same equipment we use to create it, in such a way that we can see it the same. So, according to this, people who speak English would see the world more similarly than they would with people who speak Chinese. But there's a lot of similarity because they're both using language. But the Chinese see the world a little differently from the Farsi speakers or the Ubangi...

[28:44]

Is Ubangi not a language? What's an African language? Swahili, or Japanese, or Korean. They all see the world differently, but when the language is similar, it starts to get more similar. And also, like, sometimes women's language and men's language are somewhat different, so they see the world differently because the subtleties of the different ways of using English create different views of the world. And if men would learn women's language, they start seeing the world, they have more sense of the way women see the world, and vice versa. Or teenagers. If you learn the language of teenagers, which is very difficult, if you're not a teenager, because they're speaking so fast and so inaudibly, because they don't want adults to learn it, you would tune into that world. You know, like, I remember I was watching this TV show,

[29:51]

it's called The Wire. It takes place in Baltimore. When I first started listening, I couldn't understand too much. But the more I listened and understood, the more rapport I felt with the people who were speaking it. The more human they seemed to me as I learned their language. That doesn't always work that way. Sometimes you might meet some people that you feel very much rapport with them, even though you don't understand their language. But still, understanding somebody's language does help you start to see what they see. Because it's conscious construction. To understand the process by which we see the world we see, and to see that actually the world we see is conscious construction only, and that this helps liberate us from thinking that what is consciously constructed is actually not the mind. It's external to the mind. Let's see, I see...

[30:55]

Well, let's see. I'm going to call on Ralph, because he hasn't asked a question. Go ahead, Ralph. So, you've talked a lot about this conscious construction, and in some cases like confession and repentance, a deliberate act of consciousness kind of trickles down to the subconscious and affects change, positive change. Yes. In understanding, perhaps, even. Yes. Could you talk a little bit about these Zen stories, these koans? I see a similar thing there, where they're communicated at the conscious level, but from what I understand, the intent is that the answer is not. And so somehow that trickle-down has to happen to a different level of meaning. I don't quite understand that. That's what I'm asking about it. Well, in my consciousness I feel a dilemma.

[32:00]

And the dilemma is whether I should bring up a new story or go over another one, which I told yesterday. To go deeper into the one I told yesterday or tell a really new, interesting one. Huh? What? That was a tease, yeah. See? Because of our language, you can tell that that was a tease. You can tell in our world, in our world together, that was a tease. Somebody who doesn't know English as well as you might not have noticed it was a tease. I think it might be good to go over the previous example because you're somewhat familiar with it and then do the new, really interesting one. So the previous one was this very brilliant person who has a very brilliant consciousness was trapped in his consciousness and the teacher said to him, in consciousness the teacher said, I don't want to hear anymore from your brilliant consciousness. I want you to say something to me,

[33:09]

and when you say it, it's going to be in consciousness that you say it, but I want you to say something to me from before you had consciousness. But you can't speak from the unconscious. The unconscious if it wants to say something, it creates a consciousness which has some image in it in response to what it wants. So it wants something and then consciousness arises and maybe speaks to that or for that. It would have to be a shared symbol that the teacher could understand. Right. And not just a teacher, more than the teacher probably, but at least the teacher. And in fact, I'll tell the rest of the story, but anyway, and the monk tries in consciousness to figure out how to get, you know, sort of free of consciousness and say something from there, and the teacher is talking to him in consciousness

[34:11]

and keeps saying no. The approach you're using is not going to work. And the monk hears that and receives it and is saddened by it and troubled by it and humbled by it and keeps trying and the teacher kept saying no and then finally he just says, okay, I can't figure it out, you show me. And the teacher won't do that either. So the teacher is doing something that the monk hears it in his consciousness and the way he hears it in the story seems to be transforming his unconscious just in the right direction. First he keeps trying it, then finally he despairs of his old method and wants to give it up, but he still wants somebody to show him in consciousness how to give it up. And the way the teacher shows him in consciousness how to give it up is the teacher says, I won't do it for you. I won't show you how.

[35:12]

Because if I show you how, you'll revile me later. He gives him a little bit of an explanation about why he's not going to tell him. In other words, I'll rob you of your process. It's going to be hard even if I don't tell you, but if I tell you how to do it, it's going to be even harder because I will be feeding your addiction to solving your problems with consciousness by consciousness. That's not how it's going to solve. So he goes and does some simple work. And while he's doing the simple work, he's planting new roots. And the roots he's planting is, sweeping the ground is not going to make me understand. This is not how you study the scriptures, by sweeping the ground. But what it is going to do, it's going to transform my cognitive process

[36:13]

along the lines of not trying to find an answer in consciousness to how to be free of consciousness. It's going to... I'm giving up my old methods of how to free consciousness by using consciousness. By doing something that's not directly trying to figure anything out. It's more of an expression of renunciation. Which transforms the basis of consciousness, which is going to allow a new consciousness to arise that's open to reality. But I can't figure it out, you know. Another story that pops in my mind, this is quite common, many stories like this. There was a theology student in Kiev who heard about this great wise person

[37:17]

named Starets Ambrosi. And he thought, and he was just tortured by his... He was kind of like this monk in this story, he was just tortured by his consciousness, trying to figure out, you know, theological problems. And so he wanted to go talk to the saint. And he walked, I think, 400 miles he walked. And then he got to the town where the saint lived and he said, where is he? They said, he lives in a hut out at the edge of the town. And he walked over and he looked at the hut and he couldn't even look inside, the monk sage was not there. So he went around behind the house, and there in the tall grass he saw this sort of slumped body, because Starets Ambrosi had been beaten by a beggar so he couldn't sit up straight. He was kind of this slumped figure sleeping in the grass.

[38:18]

And he saw him and all his spiritual doubts dropped away and he walked back to Kiev. So, I imagine that this walking to see the teacher was not, he wasn't like trying to figure things out all the way, he was realizing, I have to go find out another way, maybe he can help me. And the walking to and from. And I heard another story, which maybe you read, it's in the New Yorker, about this Buddhist priest, this Zen priest who wanted to help suicide people. He started to, he was kind of like a one-man suicide hotline and people were calling him from all over the world and he was trying to help them all. What? No. And finally he was just realizing he was killing himself by, you know, people were calling him all the time,

[39:20]

day and night, and so on and so forth. He was draining himself and then finally he almost died actually, he had a heart attack and so on and so forth. And then while he was in the hospital he sent an email out to some of the people that were needing him. He said, well, I'm sorry I can't respond to you, I'm really sick. And people were writing back to him and saying, well, we're sick too. You know, how can you abandon us? And he realized that there was no way for him to do this for them. So then he said he stopped being available and he just went to live in a temple and he said, if you want to see me, come to me. And people had to go a long ways. And many people, by making the trip to see him, by the time they got to see him, they were okay. The walk to the temple, they couldn't drive right up to it, the walk to the temple, the effort of sweeping the ground is not trying to figure out how to be free. It's just like real life. I've been trying to figure it out,

[40:21]

I've been asking great teachers, I've been studying. It's just reinforcing the old habit. It's just reinforcing the cognitive unconscious, which is producing another consciousness which is going to try to figure it out. And the more sophisticated you are in trying to figure it out, the more it reinforces, the more it has consequences of making consciousnesses which are trying to be more sophisticated. If I just got... In other words, at a certain point you see, this is never going to work. I remember when I was Abbot of Zen Center, I thought that the job of Zen Center was... I put my hands together, and it was like this triangle, this is where my job... And I worked really hard, but I couldn't get into all the corners, I couldn't do the whole job. And I worked really hard. So I thought if I worked harder, you know, I kept working harder to get into every corner of my job and reach completely. And I worked harder and harder, and then suddenly I realized that my job was like this. And I would never be able to do it all.

[41:25]

And I stopped working so hard, and I haven't been working hard since. I didn't want you to believe it. Thank you. I was hoping you wouldn't. I hope you don't believe anything I say. But, you know, in other words, I went from trying too hard because if I just do a little bit more, you know, a little bit more, a little bit more, I'll completely do it. The idea that if you do more, you will be able to... That's arrogance. And so sometimes you realize, it just opens up and you realize, Oh, I get it. It's not going to be by the power of what I'm doing where the self is operating. It's not going to solve the problem. And then the teacher keeps kind of like gently or roughly saying,

[42:26]

You're not going to solve this problem. Matter of fact, I don't want to hear any more from you. I want you to talk to me from before this hard-working monk appeared. So then the hard-working monk does something easy in a way. It's easy to sweep the ground. It's hard for him to give up his old habits. That's hard. And that was hard. That was the hard part. For just to be a simple monk who sweeps the ground and begs for food. But by doing that, this simple thing over and over, the basis of the idea that I'm going to be able to figure out what's going on, that I'm here and I'm going to figure out the basis of that, gradually gets transformed. And then finally it's like it turns, you know, and then all things come forward. The sound comes forward. Rather than I'm going to understand the sound and I'm going to understand bamboo and I'm going to understand sweeping

[43:28]

and I'm going to understand Buddhism. Most people who are sweeping are not, most people are not thinking I'm going to understand sweeping. Some people actually are so scholarly that they think I'm going to understand sweeping. I'm going to really understand the sweeping. I'm going to understand weeding. I'm going to understand, you know, cooking lunch. Some people carry it that far. And those people then have to be converted from sweeping to like, I don't know, what? Licking the ground? What can you do that you stop trying to figure it out by your own power? Yeah, that's what Zazen is. In other words, a mind is not abiding in the sweeping. Most people do not think if I sweep enough I'll understand the abstruse details of Buddhist theology. They don't usually think that. So the more you sweep, the more you realize this stuff is too profound for any conscious mind to understand. So I'm going to do something which makes a testament to that. I'm not going to move a muscle

[44:29]

in the direction of figuring it out. Or I'm going to do things that are just simple things like sweeping the ground or asking for food or eating the food. I don't think that if I eat this food this is going to be a great enlightenment. If I do, I have to stop eating that way. So this transformed him so that he finally found this mind which doesn't abide. Which doesn't grasp the self. But it was by consciously doing different things than he had been doing before. And doing things differently in consciousness transforms the unconscious. And the unconscious supports a mind which is more and more willing to do things differently than it used to. It's not that the new things are any better. It's just that by doing new things and new things and new things you kind of get ready to not abide in

[45:32]

the old or the new. It isn't that you switch to the new and abide in them, which some people do. It's abiding in the old and switch to the new and they abide in that. So the teacher says, give up your old way and then they try a new way. He said, give up that. That's not going to work either. They keep jumping to try new options but each one they reside in. The teacher said, well, show me how. You think I'm going to give you something to abide in? I can show you something, but it's not going to work for you. But if I give it to you, you're going to really be sad. It's going to be worse than the stuff you came up with if you abide in my stuff. So I'm not going to do that. And he didn't. And so he went and he probably swept for quite a while and now he's probably abiding and sweeping. But after a while, you just sweep. Try it sometimes, just sweep. After a while, you realize, this is not going to solve my problems. It's not. What?

[46:35]

Say again? Oh, you get a clean floor. Yeah, but he wasn't cleaning the floor, he was cleaning the ground. It never got clean. It never got clean, it just kept cleaning and never gets clean. The more you clean, the more you dig up more rocks. Anyway, after doing it for some period of time, there was still stuff to clean up. And I never heard anything about it. Maybe when he first started, he said, Well, I really got this place cleaned up and now I'm enlightened. I didn't hear about that. He didn't think that cleaning the floor was going to enlighten him, and it didn't. What enlightened him is that he gave up his old methods and that transformed his consciousness. So when the pebble struck bamboo, he could be open to it. But he had to be open to doing things in a different way in consciousness so that the unconscious would let his consciousness be that, in a sense, totally stupid.

[47:39]

And then he could say these things from that place. And then he became this really creative guy who, you know, I've told you stories about what he does after all this stuff comes up. Then he can put all this stuff into karmic consciousness to help other people give up their karmic consciousness. But you have to give it up repeatedly or operate... You have to change the way you do it over and over so that you're more and more willing to let it really be different. And, you know, I just wanted to mention to you a practical example of this is that I love coming to Noah Boad and doing these one-day sittings, but I'm a little bit... They're so nice and they work out so well that I'm a little concerned that we're stuck in a certain wonderful pattern. That's why I like this retreat, because it's different. And so this week, this month,

[48:43]

we had three retreats instead of one. We had one on the 1st, one today, and one on the 19th. We had a Bodhisattva vow ceremony. But it's difficult to change. If we don't have a work period, it's kind of a problem sometimes. It works out really well to have a work period for many reasons. But part of what I like about Noah Boad is theoretically I could do different things each month. It's great. But then there's some problem of doing things differently. So then it's easier just to do the usual. So, that's an example of... Well, the problem is people say you should have warned us, or whatever. Huh? What? What? Yeah, but that's, you know... Which is reasonable. I brought my work clothes. Why didn't you tell me? It would have saved me a lot of work. I wouldn't have to bring my work clothes.

[49:44]

So I said, okay, next time, if I'm not going to have a work period, I'll try to tell you beforehand. But also I would like to not know beforehand if there's going to be a work period. You know, and be surprised myself, you know. Yeah. If it rains, people can understand. If it's raining really hard, okay. But for me, just without the rain to make the decision, it's like, wait a minute. I wouldn't... So... Isn't that a good Zen teaching? Who cares if I brought my work clothes? Who cares? Me. I do. No, I care. I already have my work clothes here. I didn't have to bring them. Isn't it kind of a good thing? I have really nice work clothes. Have you seen them? They're really nice. It's not... To me, I've already got them here, so it's not... But if you bring them and you're sad that you brought them, it affects me. So, if it didn't affect me, if it didn't...

[50:48]

Did I miss a joke? Pardon? I'm talking to you about it. If I didn't care about how you felt, it wouldn't be so interesting. If I could make changes and no effect on you, or if it had an effect on you and it didn't affect me, then that wouldn't be the way it is. The way it is is what I do has effects on you and what effects it has on you has on me. That's part of what this... But I feel more daring here than I do at Zen Center because at Zen Center everything you do you're supposed to have a committee meeting before you do it. But the committee meeting at Novo only happens once a year. Right. It would be more exciting but no one would come.

[51:49]

That was really exciting. But anyway, this was exciting and it was different. Was it okay? Yeah! Great! And so I'm just saying that it's nice to do something different to see what happens to the process to do something different. And I... And speaking of something different, somebody said to me that maybe it would be good to raise the seat up. Like right now I can see everybody but sometimes I can't see people. Yeah. If I'm higher, I can see over the people's heads. Like I haven't been... John, right now I can see everybody. It just happens to be that at this moment I can see everybody's face. Like Elizabeth is between Jerry's and Kira's and I can see John's. But if you sit up straighter, Deborah, I wouldn't be able to... Most of the time I haven't been able to see John. But right now I can see everybody.

[52:52]

But sometimes four or five people I can't see if I sit a little higher so someone said maybe raise the seat up. But I don't want to get too high because, you know, that's kind of like too high. Yeah. So how high can I be? Two more questions. So anyway, I'm just saying that the... A little elevator. That's a choice. A jack would sort of raise up and people would say, OK, OK, that's it, stop. That was good, that's good. Now no higher than that. And then if people change positions then you can bring it down. And if there's only one person I can sit at the same level because I can see that person and they can see me if there's only two of us. Usually when I'm meeting with one person I don't have to be up above them and sometimes they're above me and they feel uncomfortable looking down on me. Some people say that, you know, really tall people say, I feel funny looking down on you. It's OK. It's all right. I always sit up there.

[53:54]

But some people need to sit in chairs and I don't sit on the floor when they're sitting in chairs. I sit up in a chair too. It's kind of uncomfortable to be sitting there for a while. So does that address your question? This is how... In this practice we're transforming the body, right? Not just because we're trying to be all-inclusive and not just liberating the mind. It's not just that. Of course we want to liberate the body too. We want the body to be happy along with the mind. Right? It's not just that. It's that if the body is not happy the mind will not be allowed to be free. The body has to be trained before the mind can really be free. So some people actually do, in their mind, have great insights and they're very happy about it. But the body is like, you know, in a pre-enlightenment stage. So after this insight the body then conjures up an unenlightened

[54:57]

or a troubled consciousness. Enlightenment is great but it has to be reiterated over and over to transform the body so that more enlightenment comes up. It's not just a one-time thing. Even though one-time things can be great, we have to do it over and over to transform the whole body so the body is totally on board with this understanding. When it first happens the body does not get totally transformed. But even a not-so-enlightened but just really kind thought transforms the body too. And some things transform the body more but the body is included in it. And that's also, understanding that is part of what will lead to enlightenment in consciousness, which again, develops the body to lead more enlightenment in consciousness. But it's the whole body and mind, not just the consciousness that needs to be involved for the consciousness to be liberated because the consciousness

[56:00]

is where the suffering is. Yes? Are you aware of anybody waking up or coming into enlightenment that hasn't had the intention to practice in a community, in a sangha? Like this monk, and he wasn't just sweeping, right? Didn't he go... He was sweeping... He had an intention and he was sweeping at a memorial site for ancestors? Yeah, but I don't think he was in a sangha. At the time he wasn't in a sangha. He was in a monastery previous to that, right? When he was with the teacher he was in the teacher's monastery. He was one of the monks there. He was... He was actually a student of this teacher's teacher. The teacher's teacher was the great Baizhang. He was a student of Baizhang for a while, but he couldn't

[57:00]

give up his karmic consciousness. He couldn't become free of it. He didn't understand because he kept trying to use... It's like, again, like Twelve Steps. He was trying to use the addicted mind to become free of the addicted mind rather than do something with the addicted mind to transform the support of the addicted mind. Which means to do some things that aren't the addiction, which you haven't done before, which aren't, you know... And so he... But he was still addicted to his previous methods and the teacher said, This is a pretty nice addiction to be using your understanding of the teachings as a way to become free. But he was abiding in his... He was abiding in the mind that studies the scriptures. The teacher wanted him to give up abiding. And he couldn't do it while he continued to study, so he stopped studying, burned his books

[58:00]

or threw them away and went to just do something really different which wasn't his habit, wasn't his addiction. And probably when he first started doing it, the addiction was still there, but the more he did it, the more he transformed the basis of his addictions. And finally he was like able to hear a sound in a way he had never heard before. But he wasn't in a... I think he was a bodhisattva throughout. He went to this monastery where the great teacher was. This is a monastery for bodhisattvas. But his training was incomplete, so he studied with a senior disciple of him and he studied with that person long enough for that person to say, Okay, fine, I've heard enough from you. Just don't tell me anymore about what you already heard. Don't tell me about your studies or the scriptures I don't want to hear about anymore. Not because I'm not interested, but I want you to speak to me

[59:00]

from a different place than your addiction. And the guy couldn't do it. But he didn't just go off anywhere. He went to a memorial site, right? So he had the intention of helping all beings. Yes. He still wanted to do that. You say he didn't go just anywhere. Where he went was he went into a state of renunciation. He went to a place where he's basically saying, I'm giving up being a scholar. I'm giving up studying the scriptures the way I've been doing it. I'm just going to be a simple beggar monk, which a lot of monks were. But he actually was not, most monks were not like him. He was very brilliant. And he was going to use his brilliance. And sometimes people say, really smart people have a harder time learning Zen than people who are not so smart.

[60:02]

Like I know some people, you know, and the scariest thing I can ever say to them is stop reading. And I do say it to them and they don't do it. They keep reading. Because they're so smart and they get such a kick out of reading the scriptures. And I'm just going to give up. They refuse to stop studying. And they become famous, you know, teachers and so on. But they can't use too much. But this guy, the teacher didn't tell him to stop. He saw that continuing along this line of using his conscious mind to figure out how to be before the conscious mind, he could see it wasn't going to work. And then when he saw because it wouldn't work, he thought, well, maybe the teacher can show me how to do it. But that would just be another conscious trick. It's also like that story, you know, where the famous story of Zen and the Art of Archery where the teacher said, just pull the bowstring back and hold it until it's released.

[61:05]

It'll be like the bowstring goes through your fingers. And he figured out a way for the string to be released without him doing it. And as soon as it got released, the teacher saw the trick and said, get out. He figured out a way that he wasn't really letting go of it. He wasn't like saying, okay, I let go. He figured out a way for it to be released without him releasing it. What he did was, I think, he held on and then half as hard. Didn't release it, he just held on half as hard. And then he held on half of half. And then he held on half of half of half. And so on. And finally the string just went. So he figured out a way to not consciously release it. And the teacher saw that that was just another trick. And he could tell. And he kicked him out for quite a while. But this story,

[62:07]

I'm telling you, the teacher didn't kick him out except in the sense the teacher said, he kind of said, stop doing everything you've been doing. And if you stop doing everything you're doing, give it up, you might be able to find this. And he tried to stop doing it, but somehow he felt like he had to leave the teacher so he'd stop trying to get the teacher to show him how to do this thing. And he found it by doing something different that wasn't trying to find it. Just taking care of the ground and begging for food. And that, we don't know how long that went on, but it's a famous end story of the pebble striking bamboo. Hearing the sound, he heard the Dharma. Just like, it's not the sound, it's just that hearing the sound, he heard the Dharma. Because he had transformed the mind which supports his consciousness in such a way his consciousness could like

[63:08]

hear it, hear it, without abiding in it. He heard the sound without abiding in it. And therefore he was not abiding in his self either. He was released. And at the same time he understood the teacher's instruction. And he said, remember what he said? He said, the teacher's kindness surpasses that even of my dear parents. If you had told me, if you had explained to me, I would not have, this realization would not come to pass. That's what he said. And then he wrote his poem which I was going to read to you. Yeah? So, by not abiding in the sound that the stone is struck in the Dharma, is that the embodiment

[64:08]

of letting the sound just be the sound? Is that the embodiment? Or is that an example? If you let the sound just be the sound, then that would lead you to not abide in the sound. And probably when he was sweeping he was not trying to like understand, he probably wasn't, every sweep he probably wasn't saying how can I, after a while he probably wasn't saying how can my sweeping show me the mind, show me the place before my self was born. He probably gave that up and just was sweeping and letting the sweeping be the sweeping. Does that sound familiar? Kind of Zen thing, sweeping be sweeping rather than sweeping. Sweeping is a conscious activity, right? Every time you sweep it transforms your unconscious process. And if you sweep to try to become a famous Zen master, which you could do by sweeping in a certain way, you could become famous. But you can imagine

[65:14]

if you were sweeping to become famous that probably wouldn't release you. Actually, there was a picture of me in a newspaper with my daughter on my back sweeping the streets in Page Street. I got in the New San Francisco Chronicle picture of me sweeping. And somebody saw that picture and when they saw that picture they went to Zen Center. This was like a professional gambler, a Mexican gambler. He saw this picture of this guy sweeping the streets of San Francisco and he gave up gambling and went to become a monk at Zen Center. So you can have big, you can become famous just by sweeping. But if you're sweeping to become famous, that's not in the sweeping you're just sweeping. But whether you're famous or not, just to keep sweeping, [...] this is not trying to figure out enlightenment with your consciousness. This is using your consciousness

[66:14]

to find the mind of no abode and even forget about that and just sweep, sweep, sweep, sit, sit, sit, eat, eat, sweep. And he couldn't do that but after a while by sweeping, sweeping, he got to this place where he was just in the sweeping there was sweeping, in the seeing there was just a sweet seeing, in the hearing there was just a hearing, the mind of no abode and when he heard, finally, when he heard that sound he did not abide in it, there was just, in the hearing there was just a hearing. And then he saw a life before the self. And then he saw, he understood what the teacher was asking. But it took a while to transform the support of his consciousness so his consciousness could let things be without trying to get anything from them. And one of the things you don't try to get from them is a place to hang out. Just one question? Okay.

[67:17]

So when you were talking about the shared reality, the shared reality and the non-shared, the non-shared is the one that's beyond the... it's the no-mind. No, no. Like you're sleeping on the ground, the shared is that somebody else is standing nearby and they both think there's a ground there, especially if humans. The sounds and the smells and the tastes, that you share. And that's the result of all of us, including the rats and the deer. We all have this ground to stand on. This is our consciousness which we share. This is a consciousness, that's also called the container world. It's a world we all live in, and that world is the result of our karma. This is from the early Buddhist teaching. The physical world that we live in together is the result of the karma of not just humans,

[68:19]

but non-humans. And within that world, there's another world called... It's called the Bajama Loka, the container world. It sounds like pajama, right? It's very funny. So Bajama Loka, we share that world, we live in that world, and that is, according to Buddha, that's the result of all of our karma from beginningless time. Then within that, there's another world, which is called the Sattva Loka, and that's the world of individual living beings, and each person lives in a different Sattva Loka, which is related to your individual sense organs. That's also an unconscious process. And that unconscious process, the shared unconscious process, I have a shared unconscious process with you, which supports my consciousness, and I have an unshared unconscious process,

[69:22]

which supports my consciousness, but doesn't really support your consciousness. That's why my consciousness is different from your consciousness. So, the way I'm practicing is different from you in the sense that my sense organs are supporting my consciousness, but not yours, really. I don't share that with you. Part of my unconscious process I do not share with you, and I don't feel too bad about that because you don't share part of your unconscious with me. But part you do, and part you don't. The part you do contains us all, the part you don't is just for you, and just for me. So these two parts of our unconscious process make our consciousness. That's the story. Yes? So is it just the story, because I'm getting it confused with interdependence, that all of our sense experiences are interdependent, versus hers and mine?

[70:25]

Our sense experiences are interdependent, but I don't have your sense experiences, because your sense experiences and my sense experiences are related to the same world. So because we share the same physical world, we can have intersubjective communication. Intersubjective. But I thought it was a delusion that anything was separate. Did I say separate? No. I don't think I said separate. I might have, but you don't do that too often, except when I say not separate. I'm interpreting that yours and mine are different and separate. No. One of the ways they're not separate is that the karma that arises in your consciousness is supported partly by the same thing that supports mine. And also, the karma that is done in your consciousness creates my world. So your karmic activity,

[71:27]

which is partly supported by your sense organs, changes my world. Your sense organs change my world. Your sense organs make my world. Your sense organs make my day and my night. How much interconnection do you want? But the way your sense organs, which are not mine, and I do not experience how they're working, except by watching you as the world, the way that that affects me is that your sense organs contribute to your consciousness and your consciousness creates my world by transforming my unconscious. Your conscious activity transforms my unconscious. And yours. And Elizabeth's. My conscious activity transforms your physical world. If I sweep the ground, that transforms your world. But if I sit still, it transforms you. No matter what I do in my consciousness,

[72:28]

it transforms your physical world. And no matter what you do, it transforms all of our physical worlds. That's how your conscious activity makes my world, and makes literally my day and my night and my droughts and my spring and summer and fall. Your conscious activity maintains that world and mine, yours. That we share. That makes we're never unconnected. But your conscious activity, which I do not share, the consequences of it is the way I share it. I don't know what you're thinking, but what you're thinking makes my life. So this is not separate. The fact that I don't know what you're thinking and I don't know what you're feeling does not separate us. And matter of fact, it's what connects us, because we're both that way.

[73:28]

And we're not even connected, because connection kind of implies separation. We're not even connected. We're not separate and we're not connected. We're interdependent. We're inseparable. So we can't actually be connected even. Separable also implies that we have independent existence. We have no independent existence of each other. So we're not separate and we're not connected, but we are totally interconnected. Interdependent. The Buddha didn't say connected co-arising, he said dependent co-arising. He didn't teach interconnection, he taught interconnection, he taught interdependence. I depend on you, but I'm not connected to you because I'm not separate from you. And we often like connection, but liking connection has a price,

[74:31]

which is separation. Buckle means to fall apart and to come together. Cleavage means to separate and it's where the breasts touch. Everything's like that. Any separation makes a connection. We like connection, so let's have some separation. Separation makes the heart grow fonder. But the Bodhisattva's heart is fond enough, it doesn't need any separation to get fonder. That was funny, wasn't it? You mentioned two worlds, the collective world and the individual world. There seems to be a third thing, though. It's not really collective world and individual world. It's not. I just want to say it's not world, it's collective cognitive process and unshared cognitive process. And the unshared cognitive process is not a world.

[75:33]

Pardon me, okay, whatever you just said. The collective unconscious process is the physical world, which then supports images of it in our consciousness. Okay, next. Okay, here's the next thing. My parents were extremely unskilled. That's what you think. You damn right I do. But fortunately, you're not attached to that anymore. For a very long time, I was attached to that, even though I didn't want to. Right, you don't want to be. All my interactions. It's like I had a karma implant. Exactly, exactly. And I'm thinking, what's this intentionality and karma bit? How did that happen to me, you know? All my relationships are screwed because of that for 47 years. You know, so there's this third thing, which is not really mine, but I got it.

[76:36]

So what I hear is, this whole practice seems to me to, it helps me to groom my responsivity. I'm no longer responsible, but I can... You're still responsible. Oh, yes. I can respond that way. You're responsible, but you're not responsible about yourself because of the karmic implant. The karmic implant is responsible too, and you're not the karmic implant. So once I see it's an implant, I can respond in a way. It's my job to respond to that and to purify it. Yes, but even before you saw it, you still can respond, but your responding would not be as skillful. You do respond. We cannot help but respond. But studying responsivity, having that be part of our work, makes our responding more skillful. Thank you. Can you stay around another hundred years? Yeah, I kind of feel like it would be good if I could continue practicing with you for a while.

[77:40]

Because it's really enjoyable. And Leon? And Leon's still here? Yeah, I've got these things to save you from things going on too long. Yes, Leon? Right action, right speaking. You think there's an assumption that there's a consensus. Yeah, I'm not part of that consensus. So if you're assuming that, please excuse me from that consensus. I do not have the assumption nor the belief that we have a shared consensus of what's right.

[78:46]

Yeah. And I'm happy to work with that. And I'm happy to work with that. You might think that we do have a consensus. But I just told you that we don't. Because I don't think that I have a consensus. And when I talk to people, I find out that I get reinforcement that I don't have a shared idea. So, what will do I draw from to find right action? What will do you draw from to find right action? Well, there's various wills. I have some recommendations though among the various ones. I'll tell you some ones I don't think you should draw from. I don't think you should draw from the will of I know what is right. That would be not a good will to draw from. Okay? That's what I think. Some people might disagree with me. I think some people do.

[79:47]

I get the impression that some people are drawing from the will of I know what is right in order to do right. I don't recommend that will. So, that's why you're here. We share that belief that being non... the belief in giving up self-righteousness would be good. So, one of the places... The will that I'm working on and which I welcome you to join me with is the will of I aspire to do good. I wish to do good is the main will from which I draw to look for, explore, and perhaps discover and realize right action, is I wish to discover that. And also part of that will is that I think that the best action will be an action which comes from not dwelling

[80:49]

in any idea of what's right action. But first, I have the wish to practice right action. I really want to. I think it's really a good idea. And when it comes to action, I may think something's good. I may think something's helpful. I may think something, for example, is gentle and respectful and loving and patient and careful and tender and generous. I may think so. And according to what I think would be helpful, all those things I think would be helpful. And I would like to act in accordance with those. But I don't know if such and such an action will be in accord with it. I may wish to be generous towards you, but I don't know what I'm doing if it is generous. And you might say to me, that wasn't very generous.

[81:51]

And I would draw from the well in responding to that by saying, I hear you, you know. To listen to that. Again, to try again to be generous towards you telling me I'm not generous. Or I myself might think, you know, Reb, you're not very generous. Like I was saying before, you're sitting there trying to be upright between you're not very generous and you're too generous. Or I'm going to be so generous that no one could ever accuse me of not being generous. But that's not generous either. And that's a kind of an ethic that's arrogant. No one could possibly accuse me of not being generous because I just did that. I just gave my body and my life. Well, you were still trying to get famous by that. You weren't really being generous, you were trying to become the most famous Buddhist in Mill Valley, you know, by giving your whole body. Okay? And I would think that finding right action

[82:55]

would be to listen to that comment. And again, part of finding... So you want to practice right action. This is how you do these practices to develop your good roots. And you do what you think is good, but also you serve Buddhas, which means you serve your good friends and you ask for their counsel. And you say, I'm thinking of doing this. Or I did this and I thought it was good. What do you think? I'm thinking of doing this and I think it would be good. Most people, you don't have to go to your teacher and say, I think this is bad and I think I'm not going to do it. You can do that, but you don't have to tell your teacher all the stupid things that you thought of doing that you don't think you're going to do. You don't have to tell your teacher all the stupid ideas that came in your mind and nasty comments that you didn't say. But if you think something is good and you're going to do it, it's good to tell. And if you think something is bad

[83:55]

and you did it, you should tell. So confess to things that are bad and the things that you think are good, talk to your good friends about it, see what they say. And they might say, again they might say, well that sounds really good, but I feel like you're abiding in it. It would be nice if you not only did that, but did it without abiding. Like that story I tell over and over about this monk, this teacher who was in a monastery and one of the senior monks in the monastery, he said to the monk, he said, you know, it really, it's just so heartwarming and so inspiring to see the way you take care of the other monks. You're so kind to them. You give them such excellent instructions. It would be nice if you did something spiritual occasionally. And then he said this about various, you know, sincerely appreciating various things you did and then he said, it would be nice if you did something spiritual about it also. And finally the monk said, well what do you mean do something spiritual? He said, stop trying to get something out of this stuff. So you can do good and defile it by trying to get something.

[84:57]

It's still good, it's not bad all of a sudden, it's still kindness, it's still giving good instructions, it's still encouraging people, it's still protecting them and being their friend, but you're trying to become the most famous monk in the monastery or whatever. It's tainted. So in addition to trying to do what you think is right, you need good friends. And you tell them about the good things you're doing so they can say, I smell something funny. What is it? Oh, it's a saint. Maybe that's you. Wow. So I thought that you might have said this, might have come from the shared unconscious. I thought maybe that's where this idea is coming from. The shared unconscious is the way I get to see if somebody is... The shared unconscious is the physical world where I get to see somebody who looks like they're arrogant. That's a shared unconscious.

[85:58]

That produces images in words so I can hear a person talk and I can sort of hear the way they talk and I can say, it sounds like you think you're better than that person. I hear a certain tone, do you see that? That's... My conscious hearing of somebody is supported by the world I share with them. That's right. So that's part of the virtue of the shared unconscious is that you can see great teachers. You can see them and other people can see them. And also you can see that you see them differently because you have different sense organs. But you still see that... You see that guy there? Yeah. You see that girl there? Yeah. And then we can talk about it. That's really helpful. See that teaching? See that teaching? See that non-teaching?

[87:00]

See that bad example? See that good example? This is... And our karma has created a world that we share and we can talk about together. That's very useful. But this teaching is just pointing out that what we're looking at is something that's supported by a cognitive process that we're creating together, that we can transform the world... that we are transforming the world, so let's transform it in a good way that will promote more practice. So should we do a little walking meditation? Are you ready? First we go like this.

[87:43]

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