I hesitate to say what it is, but sometimes we might say that compassion is feeling, being in touch with the suffering of ourself and suffering of others, and wishing ourselves and others to be free of suffering, and wishing to devote one's life to helping beings become free of suffering. In that way, compassion is a feeling and also a desire. It's a feeling

[01:08]

of sympathy and empathy, but it's also a desire to help beings become free of suffering. The feeling and desire of aspect of compassion, once that has arisen, then this feeling of sympathy and this desire to devote one's life to the welfare of all beings, it's developed

[02:08]

and protected by many practices, which are in a sense also compassion. They're in a sense flowerings or branchings from the basic feeling and desire. And these practices are sometimes presented as in terms of four practices, or two practices, or ten practices, or six practices, many different ways that the practice of protecting and developing compassion are presented. One of the main ways is in terms of six practices, say the practice of giving, the practice of ethical discipline, the practice of patience, the practice of heroic effort

[03:14]

and enthusiasm, the practice of meditative concentration, and the practice of wisdom. These practices develop and the sixth one, wisdom, purifies the compassion. In a sense, the sixth practice is not exactly compassion. Wisdom in some sense is different from compassion, but it purifies compassion. But giving and ethical discipline and patience and diligence, heroic diligence and concentration, those all protect and are very much in accord with and very much the same kind of way of living as compassion. I mentioned that the fourth of these six practices for developing and protecting compassion,

[04:32]

the first way I said it was heroic effort or courageous effort, or you could say heroic, courageous diligence in the practice of compassion. The first practice of compassion, or actually in some sense the first practice of a bodhisattva, the first practice of someone who feels this kind of compassion for the welfare of all beings, the first practice is giving. And through the practice of giving, in that phase of practice, one becomes very joyful. And that's maybe I should mention that the word for compassion is karuna. The Sanskrit word that's usually

[05:40]

translated as compassion is karuna, which I heard etymologized as dented happiness. So the compassionate being feels the suffering of all beings, feels the suffering of all beings, and it hurts them to feel the suffering of all beings, even hurts them to feel the suffering of one being. But although they feel pain at the suffering of the world, they are not unhappy. Compassion is a happiness that hurts. But the bodhisattva, the enlightening being who's devoted to the welfare of all beings, is basically happy but feeling the pain of the world, feeling the not exhausted by the feeling of pain, feeling the pain but full of joy. And in that joy,

[06:47]

which comes from practicing giving, through the practice of giving, great joy occurs. And in the oven, or in the fire of joy, fear cannot exist. So through the practice of giving and the joy which comes from it, the bodhisattva is not exhausted by the suffering of the world, is happy in the midst of the suffering of the world, and also becomes fearless. Therefore the effort they make is a courageous effort, it's a fearless effort. They are fearless because of the joy they feel in the practice of giving. And also the second practice of ethical discipline involves, it involves a

[07:58]

commitment to ethical practice. Some people practice the ethics of a bodhisattva, some people practice the ethics of compassion, but without commitment. And practicing the ethics of compassion without commitment is still practicing the ethics of compassion, and some people do that and are very happy to do that. But there is also, in addition to practicing without commitment, there is also practicing with commitment. Just like you can live in a loving relationship with someone without commitment, and then you can also live with commitment. There are two different ways of practicing together. And today, this afternoon here in this temple, in this room, we will have a ceremony where three people will receive the precepts of compassion, the bodhisattva precepts, the precepts of those

[09:08]

who wish to live the life of compassion. And in this ceremony, we imagine, we intend that these people who are receiving these ethical precepts of compassion will enter into a new life, will be reborn as bodhisattvas. If they also practice giving and work themselves into a state of extreme joy, they will also be fearless bodhisattvas. And I feel, as I've said many times, that in order to really be compassionate, of course we must be non-violent. Violence is the opposite of compassion. But in order to fully realize

[10:20]

non-violence, we must be fearless. It looks to me like, you know, maybe everybody in this room right now is being non-violent. It's possible. But if we are not fearless, situations can arise which can push us into violence. We can feel, or rather the situation doesn't push us into violence. It's just that in some situations, if we become afraid, the fear can push us into violence. So bodhisattvas, those who wish to be compassionate, those who wish to actually completely give up violence, they need fearlessness, so that they never can be forced by fear to harm a being. So you can feel, and I can feel, compassion. You can feel the desire to devote your life to the welfare of others

[11:33]

and to help people become free of suffering. You can have that true compassion, and yet, if you do not develop the practice of giving and overcome fear, your compassion can sometimes be undermined at the arising of fear. So part of compassion is developing fearlessness. Just a little while ago, I was in Montana. I was in a retreat there, and the topic of the retreat was the four methods of a bodhisattva. So the practice of bodhisattva was presented by four, and the four are giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and cooperation. Or by cooperation means the practice of practicing together with everybody,

[12:37]

of acting, what is it, co-action, acting together with everyone, those four. And then just yesterday, I got some mail from Montana, from a person who was in the retreat, and she sent me a xerox of an article in her hometown newspaper in Montana, Helena, Montana, which is the capital of Montana, I think. And the headline was, Dalai Lama, colon, Fight Violence with Poverty, and Fight Peace with Compassion. Sorry. Sorry. And the person who sent me the newspaper article said, this is the actual headline in the newspaper. And she said, no wonder we've got problems.

[13:41]

That was the headline. Dalai Lama says, Fight Violence with Poverty, and Fight Peace with Compassion. Of course, what it meant to say was, Fight Violence with Peace, and Fight Poverty with Compassion. In the body of the article, it was stated in the most usual way, but the headline actually said that. Maybe it was a good headline, actually, to draw people's attention. But to fight, or to meet violence with peace requires fearlessness. So bodhisattvas have to want to help and then practice giving in order to meet violence with peace.

[14:52]

And of course, we're thinking of the war, and then also poverty. We're thinking of the poverty, particularly of people in Louisiana and Mississippi, and meeting that with compassion, and being unafraid to find ways to meet this devastating poverty. The way I was thinking of talking to you about compassion today is, in a sense, it's coming from an Indian teacher named Asanga. And this way of talking about compassion is somewhat analytic. And in Zen tradition in Asia, you wouldn't find too often a Zen priest presenting sort of this Indian way of looking at compassion, which I want to share

[16:00]

with you. Part of the reason for that is that, in a way, Zen is a form of the Buddha way, which arose in China. It's a kind of creative Chinese response to the Indian Buddhist tradition. However, part of the reason why Zen could be creative and innovative was because of this huge background of the Indian tradition, which was transmitted to China pretty straightforwardly. So in that context of where these analytic teachings of the Indian Buddhist tradition was transmitted to China, Zen could do something new, or a new thing could come, which was called Zen. So in this huge teaching, this huge and elaborate ocean of teaching

[17:02]

of the Bodhisattva path of compassion for all beings, then Zen, based on that or using that as a foundation, could make one point very clearly. And the point is that in order to practice compassion truly, it must not be defiled. So the Zen touch to the teaching of compassion is that when we practice compassion, we must not defile the practice of compassion. So the emphasis in the Zen tradition was to purify the compassion. Today I'm not going to talk about that so much, but just to say that as a Zen priest, I mostly am talking about how to, whatever practice you're doing, whatever

[18:08]

practice of compassion you're involved in, the main emphasis, the main contribution of the Zen tradition is to purify the practice of compassion. How do you purify it? Well, there's many ways, but the basic way is you look at the practice of compassion that you're wanting to devote yourself to, and you look to see if you're trying to get anything out of it. Of course you practice compassion because you think it's good, because you want to help people, but still, is there any sense of gain of getting something out of the practice? Or are you doing the practice of compassion just for the sake of the practice of compassion, with no sense of gain? This is the wisdom aspect meeting the compassion aspect.

[19:19]

Compassion, wishing to embrace and sustain all beings, the wisdom aspect to come and purify the compassion. So as I mentioned the other night to some people, we had this expression in the Indian Buddhist tradition, which is very important in Zen, is that a bodhisattva, a being who's devoted to the practice of compassion, should give birth to a mind which does not depend on anything, to a mind which has no abode, to a mind which is not attached to anything. Even while it's practicing compassion, it does not attach to the practice of compassion. And again, in order to practice that way, in order to practice such wisdom, one needs to practice

[20:21]

giving, so that one is joyful enough to not be afraid to practice a wisdom which doesn't even attach to compassion. Some people deeply want to practice compassion and non-violence, but they're afraid that if they don't attach to compassion and the practice of non-violence, that they'll lose it. It's true that we might lose the practice of compassion. It can be lost. It's an impermanent thing. We can lose it. We can lose the practice of non-violence. We can slip into violence. It can happen. It's dangerous. There is that danger. But if we're afraid of being violent, we're at risk of being violent. To wish not to be violent fearlessly, including not being afraid to be violent, makes possible being non-violent.

[21:29]

Being fearless makes us more confident that we will not be pushed into violence. Being fearless also allows us to produce a mind which has no abode, which doesn't abide in sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, or thoughts, like the thought of compassion. Having the thought of compassion together with the mind of no abode, bringing them together, this is the Buddha. The mind of no abode with the mind of great compassion. The usual Zen emphasis is on the mind of no abode because the compassion is understood. The Bodhisattva's compassion must not be defiled by any gaining idea,

[22:41]

by any attachment. So the text that I have in my mind is a text called the Ornament of the Scriptures of the Great Vehicle, and it's said to be composed by the great ancestor, the great Bodhisattva Asanga, an Indian master who lived like in the fourth century of the common era. And in the 17th chapter of this text, he presents a series of practices, a series of verses. In the beginning he presents practices of worshipping the Buddhas and ancestors,

[23:49]

then the practices of serving the Buddhas and ancestors, and then he gives a teaching on what are called the Four Immeasurables. And these Four Immeasurables can be found in early Buddhism and also in the Great Vehicle tradition, the Mahayana. The path of the Bodhisattva also has these four, and early Buddhism has these four too. And these four are loving-kindness, maitri or metta in Sanskrit and Pali, karuna, compassion, mudita, sympathetic joy, and upeksha, equanimity. These four practices are recommended in the text. Loving-kindness means you give rise to loving thoughts, wishing everyone well,

[24:51]

wishing yourself and others well. Compassion I just talked about and we'll talk about more. And sympathetic joy means you meditate on, and you have sympathy for everything good about anybody. You look and see the good qualities of people and you meditate on them, again, until you feel joy over how wonderful their good qualities are. And the last one is equanimity, where you meditate on not having a preference over pain or pleasure. And then, after introducing those, the Sangha says that among those four, karuna is chosen

[25:59]

as the most important of these four practices. Loving-kindness is important, but in this text for Bodhisattva, compassion is more central and more important. And so this section of the text is called the analysis of compassion. And again, in some sense, analysis is kind of a problematic thing to do, to split something into parts, to divide something. So, in compassion, subject and object are not two. Compassion is the ground upon which we develop an understanding

[27:03]

that we ourselves and others are not two. And compassion really is subject and object not being two, and that's also what wisdom is. And yet, for the sake of understanding, the great ancestor, a Sangha, analyzes compassion into subjects and objects. And the objects of compassion, he suggests, are ten types, ten objects, ten types of beings who are the objects of compassion or the foundations of compassion. Compassion is built upon these objects. The first type are beings who are inflamed, who are burning,

[28:10]

who have desire, but a desire that's burning them. Next type are beings who are conquered by enemies, and enemies in this case mean what we call Mara, the forces of the psyche which deaden us, the forces of the psyche which deaden us. All kinds of addictions in modern language. People who are conquered by the deadening forces of addiction, they are objects of compassion. They are the foundation of compassion. They are the life of Buddha. Other people who are conquered by addictions are the life of Buddha.

[29:14]

If you want to bring Buddha alive, you have to give compassion to beings who are conquered by addiction. Even if you yourself are conquered by an addiction, compassion towards yourself gives rise to Buddha. Buddha can arise in you who is conquered when compassion comes to you. Compassion coming to the conquered one gives rise to Buddha. Those who are oppressed or invaded by suffering, of course, are objects of compassion. Those who are enveloped by darkness, those who are enveloped by the darkness of ignorance are objects of compassion. Those who have fallen on a difficult path,

[30:18]

and a difficult path means people who are trying to practice to be free but are using an inauthentic teaching, they are objects of compassion. Those who are bound by the chains of wrong view are objects of compassion. Those who are fond of banquets mixed with poison are objects of compassion. And the comment on this is that this refers to people, actually, who are good meditators, who are successful at developing tranquil meditative states,

[31:21]

but get stuck in them. And then the nourishing meditative state turns into a poison because they attach to it. Such people who are actually good meditators are objects of compassion. And these successful meditators, some people actually don't feel compassion for them. But they are objects of compassion because they're poisoning themselves by their attachment to their meditation practice. Another one is those who have strayed from the path. So some people are on the path and get good at practicing it and become arrogant, and in their arrogance they stray from the actual correct path. They are objects of compassion.

[32:25]

These last two categories are not the people who are captured by and submerged in ignorance and addiction, the way some people are. They're actually people who are practicing but getting off the track. In one case attaching to meditative tranquility, in the other case getting arrogant about their ability to practice the way. They are actually good at it, let's say, and they become arrogant and then they trip. They are objects of compassion, not celebration. But some people do actually feel happy about these people who like get good at practice and then get proud of it and fall on their face. Some people say, oh good, they thought they were so good at the practice, it's nice to see them fall. No, they too, these successful spiritual practitioners who actually got really good,

[33:32]

as a matter of fact, better than us. We started practicing with them and they just like zoomed way ahead of us. They were so good, and actually that's just too bad, that's fine. And we see them heading ahead of us because they're so excellent and so diligent and so blah-blah, we're supposed to be practicing sympathetic joy for them, like, boy are they great, it's wonderful to see how wonderful their practice is and how rapidly they're evolving in a positive way, supposed to be doing that. But actually what sometimes can happen is that then, after that happens, then they become arrogant because they take it personally, their great progress. And then, rather than saying, oh good, they are objects of compassion. Practicing the wrong path, in this case, is the next category of objects of compassion,

[34:36]

and that's people who were practicing the right path but veered off. And finally, this last one is a good one, I think, it's called those of little strength. In other words, they have a little strength. And who are the ones who have a little strength, do you think? Who might they be? Those are the bodhisattvas who just received the precepts, for example. These are the beginning bodhisattvas, who are excellent, wonderful people, but they're beginning bodhisattvas, in other words, they're not yet Buddhas. Everybody who's not a Buddha, even bodhisattvas, are objects of compassion. So those are the objects of compassion, or you could also say those are the foundations of compassion.

[35:36]

Who are not objects of compassion? Buddhas. Buddhas are not objects of compassion, and bodhisattvas who don't have a little strength but have a lot. Some bodhisattvas are not Buddhas yet but are very, very strong, and there's no more slipping. But they're still sort of, what do you call it, they're still behind the plow, you know, they're still in the world working for welfare of beings, but they actually are very strong. They're enlightened but not yet Buddhas. So enlightened beings are not objects of compassion. They're objects of veneration and devotion, and also, in that way they're similar to objects of compassion. We're also devoted to the objects of compassion.

[36:42]

We love the objects of compassion. We practice loving-kindness towards the objects of compassion. You can practice loving-kindness towards these enlightened beings, but there's no compassion for them because their suffering is the suffering of their compassion, not the suffering in these ten categories. Next comes the five fruits of compassion. Traditionally in Indian Buddhism they had five types of fruits for certain actions. So compassion is a feeling, a feeling is an action, a desire is an action, it's an action of a being. We, here we are, we desire, that's an activity. Compassion is an activity of a living being and an activity of a Buddha. Five fruits.

[37:45]

The first fruit is relinquishing injury. This fruit is called, in some sense, the liberating fruit, the fruit which liberates you from violence. The first fruit of compassion is to be liberated from violence. The next fruit is that compassion becomes a seed for supreme enlightenment. And this is called the dominant fruit. So the first fruit is a liberating fruit, becoming free of violence, so you can be non-violent.

[38:47]

And the second fruit is the fruit that compassion becomes the seed for supreme enlightenment. This is the dominant, the main fruit. The next one, this is a difficult one in a way, is that compassion becomes becomes becomes the happiness of others and the misery of yourself. The misery of yourself is the hard part. And this is the, and this fruit is called the fruit of virile performance.

[39:48]

In other words, you're willing to, because of the happiness that arises from the happiness that arises from it, you're willing to fully accept the discomfort for yourself. It is somewhat discomfort, uncomfortable. It is somewhat uncomfortable. It is somewhat a problem to be interacting with all these, with the foundation, with the objects of compassion. There is some problem. There is some difficulty. It does hurt. But the fruit of practicing compassion is that you can be man enough, or woman enough, to take it. You can be a mensch enough to take what it's like to be in this world.

[40:51]

For the happiness of all beings. You're happy, but also some people aren't. And you keep working with them until they are. That's what can happen as a fruit of compassion. By practicing compassion, you can hang in there with the ocean of suffering beings until they're happy. And you can have the ability to take the pain that that involves. That's a fruit, to be able to do that. The next fruit is that, which is called in some sense the flowing fruit, and that's the fruit that because of practicing compassion, you get to practice that compassion some more. Practicing compassion supports the continuation of the practice of compassion. And the next fruit is the cause for the desirable.

[42:02]

This is the maturing fruit. And the desirable means the new life of compassion. You practice compassion to live the life of compassion, and then you have the path of compassion. It may not be surprising that you hear that a sangha teaches that once these five fruits have occurred, enlightenment is not far off. And then comes the kind of, in some sense, this next verse is a kind of a... It's maybe the first time this teaching appeared in the Indian Buddhist tradition, very clearly. And it's the verse about not abiding either in birth and death, samsara, or nirvana.

[43:16]

Now you all know what nirvana is, right? That's the name of a rock group, right? But they named the rock group that because everybody knows what nirvana means, right? What does nirvana mean? Absence of suffering? No, not the absence of suffering. What? It means happiness. Because again, but it means more than just happiness. It means happiness. It means peace. It means the ability to be at peace, even when you're surrounded by the ocean of suffering. So nirvana is not the absence of suffering. It's the absence of suffering. Being at peace with suffering and being at peace with nirvana. It's peace. We use nirvana to meet war and violence.

[44:19]

But the Bodhisattva doesn't abide in the world of samsara. Samsara means going round and round between birth and death. It's the world of cyclic misery. It's the world of, hmm, that ice cream cone looks good. And then you get the ice cream cone and it falls off into the dirt. And then you slip on it. And you feel not so good. And then you think, a little bit later, you think, hmm, ice cream cone. That probably would make me happy. And you go to get the ice cream cone. You have to wait in line a long time. And then when they get there, they say, we're closing. And then you get angry at the proprietor and become violent.

[45:26]

This is birth and death. This is samsara. Bodhisattvas don't abide, they don't attach to samsara and they don't attach to nirvana. They don't attach to peace. They realize peace, but don't attach to it. They enter samsara, but they don't attach to it. And the verse says, having understood that all existence belongs to, excuse me, all existence belonging to samsara, after having understood samsara, birth and death, as both having the nature of suffering and not-self, those who possess compassion and highest wisdom neither fall into disgust, nor into impermanence, suffering, emptiness and not-self.

[46:32]

They shortened it to suffering and not-self. The compassionate ones who understand samsara see that it consists of suffering and impermanence and not-self and emptiness. Because they understand this, they don't have disgust or become tormented by the faults of cyclic misery. And the other night when I was talking to people about this not disgusted and not tormented, people said, well, how could anything be disgusting in nirvana? And actually, today I feel like it's actually there are two different ways of relating to samsara. Because of compassion, you're not disgusted by samsara, you're not disgusted.

[47:38]

Because of compassion, you're not disgusted by suffering beings. And also because of wisdom, you're not embarrassed or tormented by the faults of cyclic existence. So you can live in samsara without disgust, and because of compassion, you dare to live in samsara because of compassion, without disgust for it, and because of wisdom, or due to wisdom, you live in samsara without being tormented by the faults of birth and death. So, due to wisdom, the compassionate bodhisattva does not abide in samsara. If you abide in samsara, you'll be tormented by its faults. But you don't abide there, you enter into samsara without abiding there.

[48:42]

You have this mind which doesn't abide in sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or mind objects. You totally enter samsara, enter birth and death with all beings, and don't abide there because of wisdom. And because of compassion, you do not abide in nirvana. You realize peace because of wisdom and compassion, you realize peace. But you do not abide in peace. You even let go of peace. Birth and death, samsara, cyclic existence as suffering is the life of Buddha. If you try to exclude the world of suffering beings, you lose the life of Buddha.

[49:48]

If you cling to it and abide in it, you lose the life of Buddha too. Only when we give up, disliking the world of suffering or longing for the world of suffering, do we enter Buddha's mind. There's a simple way to become Buddha. When you refrain from unwholesome actions and are not attached to samsara or nirvana and are compassionate towards all beings, not excluding or desiring anything, you become Buddha.

[50:54]

The ancestor, Asanga, goes on to say, do further analysis of the subtleties of compassion, but he's telling me that you've been sitting here long enough. So maybe another day we can talk about more of his teachings about compassion. Compassion. A person said to me just last night something like... well, basically, I forgot what they said exactly, but it was an expression of gratitude. I think what she said was, if it doesn't get any better than this, that's okay. Or if it doesn't get any better than this, we're still lucky.

[52:17]

She was happy, and I said, yeah, and some people who still have a house in Louisiana feel guilty that they have a house, and other people don't. And the person said, yeah, they have a house now, but soon they won't. We're all going to lose our house pretty soon. So it's okay that we have one now, if you remember not to live in it. Don't exclude your house, and don't cling to it. Have compassion for all beings, and you will become Buddha. Of course, easy to say, right? Don't exclude anything.

[53:25]

That wasn't so difficult to say. And don't cling to anything. That's all. And you'll become Buddha, or the life of Buddha will be here. But I must confess that just a short time ago I was taking a nap and the nap sort of, the nap kind of came to an end. I mean, there was a nap and then there was like the nap was kind of over. But I kind of wanted to stay in the nap. I was having trouble like leaving, letting go of the nap, even though the nap was over. But there was this

[54:26]

other thing happening which wasn't really the nap but it was more like clinging to the nap. Having difficulty getting up and living the non-nap time. So naps are sometimes very nice and then when they're over sometimes we want them to go on longer even though they're gone. You know that feeling there? That post-nap thing? That feeling of, oh, a little bit more and this is really nice to hold on here. And yet there was an arising, there was an arousing, there was a letting go of the nap and moving on into the non-nap time. But the transition was difficult not to cling to this thing, this nap

[55:27]

and then not to sort of like hang out in that space right after a little longer. Maybe go back to the nap. I told this story quite a few times when I was... I had only been at Zen Center for a few months I asked Suzuki Roshi, what's right effort? I don't know where I got that question but anyway, what's right effort? And he said to get up without hesitation when the alarm rings in the morning, when the alarm clock rings in the morning. When the nap ends, when the alarm clock has awoken you, to just get up rather than not clinging to

[56:30]

nap, not [...] clinging to that. Just get up. And also not excluding it. I'm never going to take a nap. Or I'm getting rid of my alarm clock. Not excluding anything and not attaching to anything. And yet it's hard to like really be that clear. Not exclude this person, not exclude this suffering, not exclude this, not exclude this, and not attach to this or this or this. Very subtle but lots of opportunities, right? Lots of opportunities to not exclude because there's lots of opportunities to exclude. Not to cling because there's lots of opportunities to cling. So

[57:34]

it's actually a very challenging practice but this is the life of the Buddha, this practice. It's very challenging. Bodhisattvas are very happy about it, though, even though it hurts. They are the dimension of equanimity for it extends to every being and place with the true merit of the Buddha's way. I remember a time when I actually didn't practice and it always seems like there's a need for self-control and you know the game doesn't have to be tangible, it can just be

[58:35]

something you survive and you can feel it, right? As a result. I'm wondering if that type of game is acceptable or a monetary game may not be. So oftentimes I embrace it well because sometimes one of my instincts is to feel that I'm good at it. I feel that I have some transactions that I'm thinking of not doing, so I feel that as a result I feel okay with the game. Well, there was several questions there. One was not exactly a question but anyway it is possible that you, for example

[59:40]

are generous to give a gift and maybe the gift is quite helpful and beneficial to those who you give it to and then this good thing very good thing there can be this thread of some sense of gain running through it and that sense of gain defiles what was actually a good thing and if you give a gift and you feel good afterwards the feeling good doesn't have to be seen as a gain but if you feel good and then you project a gain on it you just defile the mind that saw the feeling

[60:40]

good as a gain just defiled that good feeling and planted a seed of suffering at the same time if something if you give a gift and feel bad afterwards right afterwards for example and you see that feeling bad as a loss or a gain like some people might feel like well if I give and if it's really good I should have some pain I should feel bad after I give so then they feel bad after they give and they say oh good I got the bad feeling so to project gain and loss onto negative feelings or positive feelings that projection onto the situation plus the concern for whether it is a gain or loss

[61:42]

that is that's like abiding in samsara that's not abiding in nirvana that's abiding in samsara and to give out of guilt if you feel guilty of some of being stingy in the past or something maybe you've been stingy and you feel guilty of past stinginess and if you give from a place of feeling some remorse over being stingy but you just give without some gaining idea like maybe after I give I won't feel guilty anymore but if you just feel guilty like a guilty bugger and you're generous but with no sense of getting anything out of it then the giving is pure pure compassion but again

[62:50]

to give and feel good or to give and feel bad that happens sometimes the projection of gain and loss onto the situation plus the being concerned with which it's going to be that's what defiles the compassion or that's one way to defile the compassion and that also that way of defiling compassion is also born of basically dualistic view of you know move from me over there and over there separate from me over here that kind of projection onto the situation is another way to talk about how to defile compassion but even if you have the view of gain and loss still it's not the end of the story because if you don't get involved in that it's kind of okay it doesn't get any traction if you say oh I gave and I got this good feeling that seems like a gain but if you don't really get into it if you don't really believe it

[63:51]

and try to do it again so you get that same kind of result then you're not getting involved in the gain and loss and your compassion or your giving is pure I think what's really not exactly out there but I think what's actually here is true compassion I think what's actually going on is true compassion in this world I think what's actually going on is true compassion that's actually what's going on but I think what's also going on is that we don't see that a lot of the time we don't see true compassion sometimes we don't see any compassion

[64:54]

and other times we see compassion but then there's some gaining idea comes in there but the gaining idea is a mistake there really isn't anything to gain out of our life life is not something to get something out of so really what's actually going on is we're actually being perfectly compassionate with each other however we don't realize it a lot of the time because of our views our misconceptions and our attachments based on those misconceptions but actually the compassion is actually the way we really are is compassion pure compassion so we gotta wake up to that so when Buddha woke up Buddha said oh my god this is cool but most people don't get it so it's a matter of waking up and then realizing waking up and then proving or realizing

[65:56]

true compassion yes as a psychiatrist I'm making money off of helping people and I feel good when I get the money and I feel good when I'm helping people so now that seems like a problem I heard you talk and well even before you get the money there's a problem got problems man endless problems then there's also the issue of therapeutic zeal where I want someone to get better and that's actually harmful and I disagree well this is part of my training and there is some advantage in neutrality

[66:58]

yeah well I agree I think therapeutic zeal if therapeutic zeal means a bad attitude then I agree with you but wanting your patients to get well I think is the same as compassion but the wanting them the compassion is supposed to be joined with equanimity so you don't really you're not into you're not into some gaining idea around this wanting them to get well you want them to get well and happy and fully alive that's compassion but having a gaining idea about that that's not that's not conducive to what you want wanting people to get well with no expectation

[67:59]

that they will get well that no expectation or no gaining idea purifies that wonderful wish that they get well but to be zealous about about people getting well is fine as long as it's not have this threat of gain running through and I was thinking actually just yesterday I read that Confucius said if someone is not bubbling over with enthusiasm I won't teach them and that struck me in one sense it struck me yeah that's a good point there and the other side is what do you do with the people who aren't bubbling over with enthusiasm let's just hold them to the side for a second the people who aren't enthusiastic about the practice or the teaching and I was thinking that the Buddha also didn't teach unless people

[69:00]

kind of really ceremonially asked him and they could ask three times verbally or they could bow three times as a gesture of asking you three times to teach in other words they're zealously bubbling over with enthusiasm to receive the teaching from the Buddha and if they don't have that kind of like wanting the teaching the Buddha doesn't give it because the person has to provide the ground of receptivity and I was thinking actually just apropos what you were saying was that one of the problems in Zen practice is people don't pay to receive the teaching sometimes so maybe in some ways it's a kindness to get people to pay you for the teaching so that they will be enthusiastic of course some people pay and then they say well now I can be a child since I paid

[70:01]

I don't have to be enthusiastic but there's some enthusiasm in the money coming forth and maybe that's the only way that they can give something to the situation is to pay because maybe they're so negative that that's the only positive thing they can do is give the money but it gets them in the mode of I'm giving something, I'm actually requesting this lousy therapy you're giving me you're a terrible psychiatrist you're a waste of my time you're really blah blah blah I hate you but I pay you so maybe the money actually is when you said therapeutic zeal maybe it helps them be zealous at least financially if you see the money as gain and loss rather as something to make the whole thing work so that you can keep helping them and helping them also express their enthusiasm then that's your problem if you see that as a gain and you get caught up in that

[71:02]

then you have to work on that yourself in your practice to see even if in some other area if the person did something which was good for them and they didn't do it would you actually continue to love them the same as much if they didn't do something else that was good for them and if they didn't pay you which was good for them how would that affect you so you can look in yourself on those points but it actually may help the process for them to pay in some way so it's not a one directional giving but you can look at that like maybe some gaining idea

[72:03]

there on my part regarding this payment and one other question that's very difficult for me to ask and is troubling and that's we've heard of schadenfreude schadenfreude tell me about it the joy one feels in the suffering of others the joy one feels in the suffering of others sometimes I feel that and it's very scary and I'm wondering how to work with that you mean you're happy that they're suffering like the antithesis of the Holy Spirit I guess we have this practice it's called confession and repentance that I feel joy over someone's suffering

[73:06]

then I confess that and you just confessed it that's good and then you see how you feel about it and you said you felt troubled and that feeling of troubled I think is the repentance part the confession is the admission and the feeling troubled is the repentance and that feeling troubled the confession and repentance we say before the Buddhas melts away the root of that veering away from compassion but it melts it doesn't instantly vaporize it it just gradually melts there's usually quite a few applications of the confession and repentance to melt away all traces of ever rejoicing in someone's suffering or someone's unskillfulness

[74:11]

which will lead to their suffering but before Buddhas were Buddhas they were like us they had moments where they rejoiced in the suffering of others sometimes actually probably innumerable times in the course to supreme enlightenment there's innumerable occasions for rejoicing in other people's suffering especially somebody you're competing with like you know you're in a race and somebody slips and falls down and they maybe get hurt or anyway they feel bad because they lost the race but you feel happy that they fell down because now you're going to win

[75:12]

so there's something about our basic animal competitiveness that's closely tied to other people's unskillfulness and unsuccessfulness and the misery they feel around that so we have to practice many many times catching that deep animal programming that's in our body we have to confess it many many times before we start to actually change our body into a strange Bodhisattva body that actually does not want to beat people anymore that actually doesn't want to be ahead of people and better than people anymore, that wants to be together with people so we don't want everybody in our boat to be miserable we want a happy boat we don't want to have a happy boat where we're also, it's a happy boat but I'm in charge or I'm the best one in the boat I'm the most popular

[76:15]

sailor on this boat but that's deep deep in us to be the most popular writer so we want to practice giving to these people even while we still feel competitive to practice giving until we become unafraid of being not better than other people unafraid of having basically being in it together with everybody unafraid of that but partly because we're so joyful we dare to not exclude anybody or anybody suffering it will still hurt to be in in some situations but we have enough joy to make us dare to make us not disgusted enough joyful compassion not to be disgusted

[77:17]

with misery but still even though we're not disgusted and we're together with suffering people we still would like them to get well just like we would like to get well we'd like them to get well but again we dare to be with them the way they are which means we dare to go on with them not getting well for a long time we really respect the situation as it's manifesting but thank you for your confession of a German problem yes? what? a German problem he brought up a German word huh? no it's he used a German word pardon?

[78:19]

right pardon? that it's a human problem yeah but it's also a German word pardon? I don't like it yeah but I'm just talking about the German word I'm not talking about German people we agree it's a human problem yeah that's all but it's also a German problem it's a word problem it's a word problem and the word got you well your word got me yeah but the word got you you attached to the word I attached to what you said you attached to the word you didn't attach to what I said you attached to what you heard fine

[79:22]

do you say fine? yes can you really not hear me? actually I really cannot I couldn't I'm sorry about that anyway we agree it's a desire to suffer others or enjoy the suffering of others it's a human problem all cultures have this problem yeah that's all I'm saying ok yes the question I have is the opposite of feeling the other person's bodily suffering in your own body the opposite of feeling the other person's bodily suffering the opposite of joy in someone's suffering would be feeling an experience I have sometimes witnessing something traumatic or witnessing someone in physical pain and feeling physical pain yes in a sympathetic way from the perspective of compassion what is the right attitude or the right practice

[80:24]

well it's not so much from the perspective of compassion but it would be compassion that you would want that person to be free of that pain that would be compassion and almost sort of like feeling their pain vicariously which your version of it also could be called empathy so empathy and compassion are synonyms but they have a little bit different nuance empathy is emphasizing more the fact that you're actually identifying with the person suffering compassion you might not feel so much that you're identifying with it but that you have your own version of it so my version of it is enough for me to wish that they become free but also sometimes I feel like I'm actually vicariously feeling their pain in both cases based on that kind of experience I could wish them to become free and that's compassion empathy doesn't usually mean isn't usually

[81:25]

used as that you feel the person's pain and you wish them to be free of it compassion has this additional thing that you want them to be free of it rather than you just are you know entering into the sharing of their and compassion also means to suffer together etymologically right but it has this additional thing of wanting the person to be free okay yes a lot and then I thought

[82:29]

well what do they have to come to be um to be joyous and I thought maybe what they have in common is both coming from both and I'm saying my question is there's all different ways of relating to suffering that are not really compassionate I'm wondering that of all those different ways of relating to suffering is there a common denominator between well maybe I mean fear is pretty pervasive so it might be that there's almost always some level of fear unskillfully relate

[83:30]

to our suffering or other suffering probably there but again the fear yeah and the fear maybe is coming from some sense of separation from the suffering so both a sense of separation from the suffering your own or another's and the fear which comes with the sense of separation so those two might usually be present in unskillful responses to suffering then um if um well well actually um maybe before you meditate on dependent co-arising which is a wisdom practice it would be good to practice giving ethical discipline

[84:33]

and patience for starters because if you're feeling fear and fear and impatience with somebody's suffering it may be pretty difficult for you to start meditating doing wisdom practice while you're feeling that agitated or that disturbed so patience is is usually at the root of successful wisdom practice it doesn't mean that you have to have no pain in order to do wisdom practice but you can be afraid and feel some fear until you're wise you probably feel some fear and some pain and then you practice patience with that fear and that pain and then you can practice meditation on dependent co-arising

[85:33]

more successfully and also practice generosity with the pain in other words be generous about the pain be big minded about the pain let the pain be pain and see that letting pain be pain is a generous act and again develop fearlessness through that practice now there's still some subtle level of fear until you have perfect wisdom we sometimes say in Heart Sutra without any hindrance any kind of hindrance to knowledge when the hindrances of knowledge have been dropped there's no fear until you have perfect wisdom there's a little bit of fear but if there's a little bit of fear or quite a bit of fear practicing generosity and patience with the fear will help you develop the wisdom which will totally undermine the fear but basically I think

[86:34]

don't skip over those compassion practices in the face of fear and pain and try to go right to wisdom do the compassion practice first to get your base in compassion and then meditate on dependent co-arising Question? Doing tranquility practice alone? Working alone? There's a propensity or there's certainly

[87:44]

a danger of that that's why it's good again in some sense to work up to tranquility practice by practicing giving ethical discipline patience and diligence so that you're already involved in relating to people in a generous way before you start or as a base, not necessarily before but along with your practice of tranquilizing meditations so that if you're practicing tranquility and somebody comes up to you they're not going to disturb you because you're practicing generosity with them which feeds your tranquility so you don't see people as disturbances to your tranquility but rather opportunities to nurture the roots of it through the precepts and through giving and patience oh here I am practicing tranquility

[88:47]

and somebody's coming up to me and irritating me so now I can practice patience and that will deepen the tranquility I knew I needed something to help me deepen my tranquility and then so you give up your tranquility to practice patience with this person and then by giving up your tranquility it gets deeper the perfection of tranquility is giving up tranquility that deepens it if you don't have any tranquility to give up even giving up not tranquility deepens the tranquility that you don't have yes yes, preferences if I'm alone with myself you know, if I enter a situation

[89:49]

even in a cafe I want to go to a table with people that I feel I feel like monotone or disturbed not disturbed something where or if I saw a new sitting at a table in a cafe and I saw someone very disturbed sitting at a table in a cafe I would want to approach the table where he was sitting the calm table that well I mean I think that you're because you have a because you have a commitment to exploring what I'm interested in so you have a tendency to be attracted to like-minded people so

[90:52]

actually the Buddha encourages people if you want to practice skillful, wholesome behavior to go hang out with people who are committed to practicing skillful behavior and don't go hang out with people who are practicing unskillfully however, he didn't say prefer one over the other so the bodhisattva might if they wanted to do certain things they might go hang out with certain people but could they do that without preferring the one over the other and so ultimately they want to like not have preferences among anything not exclude or cling to anything and yet in fact if you wanted to drive a car or go riding in a car you might choose someone who is a good driver rather than someone who is for example intoxicated but

[91:54]

could you also not prefer one person over the other at the same time or not even prefer to be in the well-driven car over the unskillfully driven car so that if you got dropped into if the universe plunked you into the car with the drunk driver there you would be and you would practice with that which might mean you would say excuse me, could I have the keys or would you stop the car so I can get out you might do that but again could you do that without preference so that you give the gift of would you stop the car but if they don't stop the car then you're in the car not stopped it's going to crash we're going to crash anyway the question is can we be in a state of not abiding

[92:57]

in where we are if we're not abiding where we are we won't be tormented by the faults of the driver if we're abiding where we are then we're going to cling to the cling to it or exclude it but you know in fact if you want to go from point A to point B in a car it's good to choose a good driver makes sense and if you can then you get this nice ride but sometimes you can't and when you can can you be equanimous about the fact that you got a good driver

[93:41]

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