I don't know if it's a full moon night. Is it? Huh? It is? Yesterday? Anyway, it's some kind of moon out there. And so that strikes me, that moon strikes me, to Say, uh... What? Am I going to sing? I wasn't going to, but since you asked. When that moon hits you, I like a good pizza pie. That's a morning. Okay. A Japanese monk wrote a poem like this one time, in Japanese, of course.

[01:11]

In English, one translation is, this leaky, tumble-down grass hut left opening, or left an opening, for the moon. Now I gaze at it. All the while, it was reflected in the teardrops falling on my sleeve. We're all actually living in a leaky, tumble-down grass hut. Some people feel very healthy, and it's true, they are wonderfully healthy.

[02:17]

And some people who are think that they live in a sturdy, virtually indestructible dwelling. Some people think that. Some other people, even though they're healthy, they realize that this even this healthiness is a leaky, tumble-down grass hut, that the healthiness may at any time collapse or certainly let some rain in. When you meditate on the teaching that everything is a dependent core arising, that everything that exists except for emptiness, except for ultimate truth, and a few other minor exceptions.

[03:35]

But basically everything that's put together impermanent and depends on things other than itself for its existence. Bodies and minds, for example. And planets and stars, for example. You meditate and you realize that your life is a leaky, tumble-down grass hut. And in this what's the word in this, in this tumble down situation, there's something good about it, and part of what's good about it is that the moon can shine inside. If it's too solid, the moon, you can't see the moon.

[04:38]

Really, in other words, if you think your body and mind are solid, that view of your body and mind blocks the moon. And then inside your house, that you think is so solid, and that you're actually terrified, even though it's solid, that it might not be solid, because on some level you know it isn't, you experience some suffering and some tears fall. But if you know that your house is falling apart, you still may have some teardrops falling on your sleeves. But if you open to and keep in touch with the decaying, unreliable quality of all things that are dependently co-arising.

[05:57]

You have a chance to see the moon, but you have a chance to see that the moon is actually shining, is actually being reflected even in your suffering. the wonderful Dharma, the wonderful truth reaches everywhere. But our consciousness, our dualistic consciousness doesn't reach it. It reaches our dualistic consciousness, but our consciousness doesn't reach it. In Buddhism,

[07:00]

in the illumination of the enlightened mind, no consciousness can reach it. There's no trace of consciousness there, in the sense of consciousness which knows objects, dualistic consciousness. There is understanding, but no consciousness which grasps objects reaches the illumination of the Buddha. But the illumination of the Buddha can reach all consciousnesses if those consciousnesses are trained to open to the illumination. And one of the main things that consciousness needs to be trained about is that it doesn't reach the ultimate nature of things. When you understand that, when you understand that dualistic consciousness doesn't reach the truth, then the truth can reach you.

[08:13]

But if you think this dualistic consciousness can reach the truth, that belief, the truth illuminating the consciousness. Now what we chanted this morning this discussion of the samadhi of the Buddhas. I think, does it say self-receiving and employing at the top? Is that what it says? Self-receiving and employing samadhi. This is the samadhi, this is the meditation of the Buddhas. This is the way the Buddhas are becoming the truth and the way the truth is becoming the Buddhas. This describes this relationship. And self-receiving means that it refers to that it's an awareness of how your self is received.

[09:29]

It's an awareness of how it's an awareness of how you're receiving yourself. In other words, you're on how you're receiving yourself. You're paying attention, you're watching to see, how am I receiving myself? How am I receiving myself? How am I receiving myself? Rather than how am I here How is this self being given to me right now? So that's what these words are about. And I think rather than read the whole thing, I'd like to read the paragraph where it says, when even for a moment You expressed the Buddha's seal in the three actions by sitting upright in samadhi.

[10:33]

The whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha's seal and the entire world becomes enlightened. What's the Buddha's seal? it's also sometimes, it could be translated as the Buddha's mudra or the Buddha's mudra. So mudra means a seal, like a seal that you put on a document, but it also means a circle or a shape, a mudra. So when you have an action, like a posture or a thought What's the Buddha mudra? What's the Buddha seal on that thought? How is the Buddha seal impressed on your present thought and your present posture? On my present speech?

[11:41]

What's the Buddha seal? Any ideas what the Buddha seal is on your present posture and your present thought? What's the Buddhist seal on that? Awareness? Mindfulness? What's the Buddhist seal on your awareness? Your awareness, your mindfulness is what you're doing right now, let's say. Let's say right now you're practicing mindfulness, okay? Okay? Want to take that example? What's the Buddhist seal on that mindfulness? What? Unstable? That mindfulness is unstable, is unworthy of confidence. And how come it's unstable and unworthy of confidence? How come it's impermanent? Because it's other-dependent.

[12:42]

So if you're being mindful or you're not being mindful, if you're being loving or if you're being hating, whatever state you're in, Whatever state you're in, the Buddha seal is that that state is impermanent. State of body or mind or speech, the Buddha seal is that state is impermanent, unstable, unworthy of confidence. It's other-dependent. Since it's other-dependent, even though it's a nice thing like mindfulness, because it's other-dependent, it's going to change. And also another thing about being other-dependent is that your mindfulness practice in a given moment or your concentration practice or your practice of precepts or your practice of sitting upright or your practice of generosity or your practice of patience, whatever your practice is manifesting or however practice is manifesting through your body, speech, and thought, all those practices, all those activities have this Buddha seal.

[13:50]

They do anyway. But when you appreciate that Buddha seal on your activity, it turns into enlightenment. And the whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha seal. When the Buddha seal of dependent core arising is put on your action, dependent character of your posture is put on your posture. When you appreciate the teaching that your posture right now exists because of depending on things other than your posture, when you appreciate that assistance, that support gives rise to your body right now, that Buddha seal is now impressed on your body, but then it reflects back to all the things that are supporting it. So the Buddha seal then goes from your body to all bodies.

[14:56]

So the entire world becomes the Buddha seal when you see how the Buddha seal is put on your body. When you appreciate dependent co-arising of your body and your mind, that Buddha seal then becomes the Buddha seal of everything, and the entire universe becomes the enlightenment. And then, by the way, because of this, because of this realization and appreciation of the Buddha seal on your body, speech and thought, all the Buddha Tathagatas, as the original source, increase their dharma bliss and renew their magnificence in the awakening of the way. All the Buddhas, because of that, are renewed and the magnificence of their activity refreshed by that meditation.

[16:03]

Your meditation, your appreciation of the Buddha seal on your body, speech, and thought helps all the Buddhas. The Buddhas send you the message of what the Buddha seal is. They tell you. When you appreciate that teaching, you help the Buddhas. They help you, you help them. When you receive their help and let it sink into your body, speech, and thought, they renew their magnificence in the awakening of the way. They renew their great function, which is recognizing and reflecting back to them. Furthermore, all beings in the ten directions and the six realms, including the three lower realms, at once obtain pure body and mind, realize the state of great emancipation and manifest the original . At this time, all things realize correct awakening.

[17:06]

Myriad objects partake of the Buddha body, and sitting upright, under the kingly Bodhi tree, you immediately leap beyond the boundary of awakening. At this moment you turn the unsurpassably great Dharma wheel and expound the profound wisdom, ultimate and unconstructed. Because such vast and broad awakening that has just been described resonates back to you and helps you inconceivably, you will in Zazen unmistakably drop away. This enlightenment that comes to you, you send it out, and it comes back to you, back and forth, back and forth.

[18:19]

the enlightenment, the unsurpassable enlightenment of all things, not just living things, but the enlightenment of all things, helps you inconceivably. Because earth, grass, trees, walls, tiles and pebbles all engage in Buddha activity, those who receive the benefit of wind and water caused by these these things that are engaged are inconceivably helped by the Buddha's guidance, splendid and unthinkable, and awaken intimately to themselves. Those who receive these benefits spread the Buddha's guidance based on original awakening. Because of this, all those who meet with you and live with you and speak with you will obtain endless Buddha virtue and will unroll widely inside and outside of the entire universe the endless, unremitting, unthinkable, unnameable Buddha Dharma.

[19:38]

All this, however, does not appear within perception because it is unconstructedness and stillness. What I just described to you is the realm of Buddha's illumination, and it does not appear within perception, between dualistic perception. It does not reach this realm, even though this realm is always functioning fully. And we can let this realm into our life and enter this realm back and forth. It's just that it cannot be grasped dualistically. It cannot be reached by a mind which sees objects as separate. However, this way, the way that you are receiving the enlightenment of all things, the way that you are receiving support

[20:47]

from all beings right now to have your existence, and not just support to have your existence, but the way you're receiving the enlightenment of all things right now, and the way it's being resonating with you to them and helping them, and resonating back to you, this intimate mutual assistance, which is beyond dualistic consciousness, this is enlightenment. And the meditation on self-receiving, the meditation on how you are born in each moment in the arrival of other things, the mindfulness that you are born each moment in the arrival of other things, right now, in the arrival of the other people in the retreat, in the arrival of the temperature of the room, in the arrival of all your thoughts and feelings which depend on all your past actions, in the arrival of all these conditions, you are born.

[22:05]

And those conditions change and you cease. Your birth and death is other-dependent. And because it's other-dependent, you're constantly being born and ceasing. However, if you learn to witness this birth, the action that emerges from it is the action just described. Namely, there's this great light that's coming to you that out. So meditating on this imperceptible mutual support and mutual assistance, mutual aid that's going on in each moment, how everything and how you contribute to everything. Meditating on this is part of the meditation on the other dependent nature of things.

[23:13]

As I mentioned earlier, it is said the, what do you call it, the enthusiasm of the Zen practitioners for their ancestors We praise our ancestors. We say things like, when our ancestors, when our great ancestors were about to die, they frolicked joyfully in old age, sickness, and death. They had old age, sickness, and death, but they didn't get depressed about it. The Buddha's teaching as she was dying, the Buddha got quite sick at the end of her life. But the teaching was unhindered by the sickness and the joy of conveying the dharmic to people in the sickness, in the Buddha's final sickness.

[24:24]

And this is typical of the great ancestors. Not only are they not worried about their own pain in their own death, not only are they not afraid may be coming next and what physical and mental facility may deteriorate next. But they're enjoying sharing this fearlessness and sharing their dharma understanding with all those who are around them. So in a sense they're kind of having a good time in this degenerate situation of old age and sickness. So one story that I want to bring up tonight was a story of an ancestor in our lineage.

[25:31]

He's named Dung Shan. And when he was about to die, a monk said to him, teacher, you're not feeling well. Is there one, is there someone who's not sick? And Dungsan said, there is. And the monk said, does he look after you? And Deng Xiaon said, I have the good fortune to be able to look after him. And the monk said, When you look after him, what do you see? And Deng Xiaon said, When I look after him, I see that there's no sickness.

[26:36]

So, who is he? Who is the one who's not sick that Dung Shan's looking after? Who is that? It's the monk? Could be the monk, yeah. Yeah, could be the monk. Yeah, I think he could be looking at the monk, but he's looking at the dependent core arising of the monk. The monk actually might not be sick. But the monk might be sick. There's a sick monk that's talking to him. But there's one who is not sick. And that's the one that Dung Shan looks at, looks at, looks after while he's sick. He's sick. I'm sick. You're sick. Or you're not sick. when you are sick you can look after the one who isn't sick and when you look after the one who isn't sick you will see that there's no sickness in dependent core rising.

[27:53]

There is sickness and dependent core rising is the basis of sickness But in the basis of sickness, there's no sickness. And it's good to look after that. Then when sickness , you won't believe that the way it appears actually reaches its base, where there is no sickness. And there's no health either, by the way. And there's no birth, and there's no death. ...and death, and they're based on dependent core rising. But in dependent core rising, there isn't really birth and death. Yes? So with the self-receiving and the point of the body, like you're giving us now, where we're kind of working with it more, you know, actually, or sort of, you know...

[29:09]

Yes. So, in this kind of a phenomenon here, is this happening? In this kind of a phenomenon here, is it happening? In this kind of phenomenon, is this whole thing about, you know, getting it out and it's coming back in and all that stuff happening? It is happening. Yes. I mean, my understanding is that it is happening, that the enlightenment of all things is happening. And the way that all things are actually happening is the enlightenment of all things. The way things are is that everything exists in dependence on other things. And each thing is also other things to exist. You are existing through the independence on things other than you. Including, very importantly, you are existing depending on all your past activity.

[30:14]

You are existing depending on the structure of your body. But the structure of your body and mind is not you. And your past activity is not you. Right? But you depend on your past activity for your present existence. And you depend on all your past thoughts for your present existence. And you depend on the way your mind works for your present existence. But none of these things are you. And you depend on all of us. And you depend on all the Buddhas to be the person you are. Whether you like it or not, all Buddhas are practicing with you. Those who understand the enlightenment of all things practice with all beings, some of whom do not understand the enlightenment of all things. Even though the enlightenment of all things is totally resonating with them — and resonating means it's coming to you and coming off of you and back to you and off of you — that's going on all the time.

[31:25]

That's what the Buddhas, that's the samadhi that these Buddhas are in. So the Buddhas are in the samadhi where they see things as we are just describing. And there are beings in these realms who do not see. However, even though they don't see it, they are nonetheless totally immersed in this broad awakening. This broad awakening does not, like, come up close to them and back off. it totally penetrates them. However, causes and conditions are such that they may not be aware of this. But when you are aware of this, when this Buddhist seal is impressed on your body and mind, when you are aware of that, then you start to participate in this process. When you think about it, you're starting to participate in it.

[32:27]

When you think about it again, you continue to participate in it. When you think about it again and again, you will notice that you are changing because of that. That becomes a condition for you to become a different person, a person who is repeatedly thinking of this description, of this samadhi. And you can gradually become more and more convinced that you're this way. And becoming convinced that you're this way also goes with you feeling impermanent, fragile, and falling apart all the time. Falling apart not in a bad way, falling apart just because that's the way you are. And this falling apart way you are is in accord with this process. When you're into being not falling apart, then falling apart, when you're into like being permanent, then falling apart sounds like not so good.

[33:31]

But when you're into being permanent, then this world that's being described here sounds very unrealistic. When you're unrealistic, then the way things really are sounds unrealistic. When you're into being permanent and solid and dependable and reliable, and sturdy and healthy, etc. The world of enlightenment sounds really impractical and silly, like kind of neat, but just talk. But when you're a total wreck, when you're a total wreck, or almost a total wreck, not a total wreck, total wreck, when there's a total wreck it's not like there's nothing there. some stuff there you know broken bones and broken wood and fallen roofs and dirty kitchens and cockroaches when it's a big mess there's still something there but in that mess in the letting it be a mess which means not having it under control you can let this teaching it's kind of like i got nothing to lose i might as well like just dive into enlightenment but if you've got something

[34:48]

then diving into this world of enlightenment might be kind of scary because you might lose your billfold or your credit card. And wouldn't that be troublesome? Or your driver's license, you have to go to DMV. Do you have DMV in Texas? You call it DMV? Huh? Yeah, so you have to wait in line in one of those places. You can probably find parking someplace to get there. It's a big mess, right? So if you've got things pretty well controlled, Enlightened because you may get in a bigger mess, but if you're already in a mess, there's the moon, my God. And also, it's been shining on me the whole time. This is the enlightenment of all things, is the way they actually are. And it's a question of awakening to that and then putting that to work. So it's like, witness how you're made and then act from that witnessing.

[35:58]

And again, but if you already put together, then how can you see yourself made? If you're already made, you can't see yourself created. But if you meditate on how you're not already made, but that you're made moment by moment, then that opens you to the scary side, which is that you're falling apart moment by moment. You can't see yourself created if you don't let yourself, in a sense, be destroyed. So, but, you know, it's hard to, like, be tuned in to self-destruction, channel self-destruction. But it's not self-destruction, it's just destruction of the self. not because you destroyed yourself, because you didn't make yourself so you don't destroy yourself. You're made by things other than yourself, and the other things don't destroy you, they just go away, so you flop. But in the flopping, you open to this realm where everything comes back and makes you again. And all the Buddhas are in there working together.

[37:00]

fabulous way, plus you are also resonating this back to everybody else. So your life is unrolling widely inside and outside of the entire universe. The endless, unremitting, unthinkable, unnameable, ungraspable, unstoppable, un, [...] Buddha Dharma. That's actually what's going on according to certain enlightened beings who in the midst of this mess where everybody's helping each other in this messy way, they sing out these songs and invite us in. But the price of inviting in is you have to meditate on how you're not solid, dependable, self-created, which is a little bit hard to make the transition to that. But that seems to be how we do it. And so Dungsan, when he's sick, meditates on this.

[38:09]

The Zen master meditates on this. And because he's meditating on this, when the monk comes to talk to him and says, asks him a question, he can make a nice answer like that. And he also sees himself in it. Well, that's what Jim said, and I think he's looking at the monk. He probably also sees himself in the monk, yeah. He sees how the monk's helping him becoming a famous Zen master because he's going to give this nice answer and the monk's going to tell people and it's going to be written down. Yes? The witness is not falling apart. Pardon? I said, is the witness falling apart? Yeah, the witness is falling apart too, but the witness keeps getting reborn. The witness witnesses the falling apart, and then everything comes back together and makes another witness.

[39:11]

And then the witness can watch another falling apart. But the witness also gets to see the moon shining through the falling apart. If there's no falling apart, the solid wall of your nice, well-constructed ceiling blocks the truth, because the truth is that no ceiling is permanent. We try to make a good ceiling, right? We don't make crummy ceilings just so people can get enlightened. But the witness is changing too. However, the enlightenment in a sense doesn't change. In a sense, that's permanent, the enlightenment, because it's always basically the same. that the non-dual witness isn't impermanent. Yeah, non-dual doesn't really fall apart because non-dual is not constructed.

[40:17]

It's not disconnected, there's no separation, so then there's no like this helping that in that situation. What kind of animals are those, I wonder? Some animals want to come to the Dharma Talk. What animal are you? Are you a Buddha animal? Armadillo. Yeah, I smelled skunk out there by the door, didn't I?

[41:24]

We like skunks. Be nice to us. Was there a paw raised up there? Yes? I have no clue how to meditate on this practice. You have no clue how to meditate on the other dependent character? Yeah. There's many ways, but one way is Well, this is, I'm not going to say this, but somebody said to me earlier today, they said something like, how you doing? Somebody said that to me. And I said, when people ask me that, now I say, great. When people ask me how I'm doing, I say, great. And sometimes they understand what I mean.

[42:27]

What I mean by great is not good or bad or nice. What I mean by great is I'm very, very big. And it's not a compliment to me. It's just that I'm much bigger than good or bad, happy or sad, sick or healthy. I'm really great. So in one way to meditate on this, other dependent is meditate on great. on something really big that nobody's idea of it can ever reach it. And actually every old way you are, when you're sick, when you're healthy, you know, when you're depressed, when you're happy, when you're tall, when you're short, when you're male, you're female, when you're father, you're mother, a child, whatever you are, actually, It's great. It's really, really very, very big. It's beyond comparison. It's incomparable.

[43:30]

Now usually when you say great, most people would probably think, oh, he means good. That's okay. They can think that. It's all right. They'll say, oh, that's nice. But I don't mean good. I mean great. That's what I, another thing I used to say, which I think people don't like so much, is I say, I have no idea. Or, even the 10,000 sages don't know. Or I sometimes say, no one knows. How are you feeling? How are you doing, Reb? No one knows. I really, you know, I believe that, I believe nobody knows how I am. He's not so well. You may think, he's fine. You may think, I don't know. But it's not just that you don't know. I'm saying nobody knows how I am, including me. So I'm not the only one who doesn't know how I am.

[44:39]

You don't know. Even all the Buddhas don't know who I am. As it says here at the end, even if all the Buddhas in ten directions as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges exert their strength and try to measure the merit of one person's zazen, they will not be able to fully comprehend it. We can never comprehend somebody else's zazen or our own. We'll never know with our usual our grasping equipment, how things are. So one way to meditate on this teaching is just everything you see, just say, great, [...] great. Remember, great, great. In other words, what you see is actually

[45:43]

not the way a person really is. It's just the way they appear to you. It's just the way your mind is packaging them so you can talk about them. Of this pint-sized version that you see of a being, or any of your own feelings, your own pain, your own pleasure, your own happiness, is great beyond measure. It's beyond measure means it could be smaller than anyone could find or bigger than anyone could find. That's one way to do it. It seems like kind of like a daydream. I mean, if I get off on a thought like that... It could be a daydream. It could be a nightdream, too. When you're sleeping at night and dreaming at night, in your night dreams you could go around like that too.

[46:50]

All the things you mean in your dreams go, great, great. It's like a mantra, yeah. You could use it like that. Say other dependent character or other powered nature. Just say that to yourself whenever you look at anything. And that means you understand that whatever you're looking at does not make itself happen. But also, it's good to remember that the way things appear to you is they make themselves happen. Things look like they keep themselves going. You look like you keep yourself going rather than the wall keeps you going. That's the way you look. You look like you're out there on your own making yourself be the way you are. That's the way things appear. That's to say, that appearance is an illusion. Really the way this thing is, is he doesn't make himself. So.

[47:50]

And then that leads you to understand that what you're looking at is impermanent, that what you're looking at is not worthy of confidence. And again, that's a hard thing for people Especially you say, well, how can you have a teacher if your teacher is not worthy of confidence? Well, I can see that might be a problem, except that sometimes the teacher is telling you, the teacher is saying, please look at me and remember I'm not worthy of confidence. And you say, well, then why would I apply your teaching that you're not worthy of confidence if you're not worthy of confidence? I said, well, just try it. Give it a try. If the teaching makes some sense to you, give it a try. And notice that if you see me as not worthy of confidence, you might find that I'm a better teacher for you. In other words, that you start learning better from me when you stop thinking I'm worthy of confidence.

[48:54]

So I become a better and better teacher, a greater and greater teacher, the more Confidence in me. Better, better, better, better, better teacher, and I don't have confidence. Funny, huh? But the mind can work that way. Whereas if you get more and more confidence like, I have confidence the teacher is going to be this way, then you block the teacher from helping you because you're holding on to your idea of the teacher. So part of what the teacher is telling you is, get rid of not just your idea of this teacher, but get rid of your idea of teachers in general. People might say, I'll consider you not worthy of confidence when you tell me not to have confidence in you, but I'm going to have confidence in some other teachers who tell me to have confidence in them. Right? Trust me. Have confidence in me. That sounds pretty good. But I'm suggesting don't trust me, don't have confidence in me, and don't have confidence in anything else either.

[50:04]

Even the teaching of don't have confidence, don't have confidence in it. But I would, I am kind of suggesting you give it a try. And then see how, and then watch, see if it makes you respond more skillfully to things. see if it makes you feel more and more silly about trying to get a lot of stuff for yourself, get a lot of impermanent stuff, you know, pile up, make a huge pile, huger and huger piles, you know. Lots of people to help you take care of these piles of impermanent stuff, so spend the rest of your life taking care of stuff that's going to all collapse and go away. See if you start feeling more silly about that. And if you do, You know, see if that silliness, kind of feeling silly, kind of makes you feel differently to that stuff. Kind of like, yeah, well, you know, there's a pile of impermanent stuff there.

[51:10]

Maybe I should give it away. So that, yeah, maybe I should give it away. Nobody wants it. And if nobody wants it, could we recycle it? And then after it's all given away and recycled, then all that's left is like the impermanent me. And I can give that away too. And now I've given me away, and now what do we have? I just gave myself away and all my stuff. What do I have? Love, yeah. But in what form? Me. I come back, here I am again. Because I'm not giving myself away and there's nothing left. Now everything makes me again. And now I'll give it away again. And everything makes me again and I'll give it away again. Like that. And this is like no fear at that point.

[52:14]

Not afraid anymore because you already gave everything away. And then it's not the end of the story. Because anybody who's given everything away, the world wants to make him again. You know, let's make somebody out of this non-existent guy. Let's make another one. Because we know what he'll do, he'll just give that away too. All the time, you're constantly giving yourself away. You're constantly receiving yourself and employing yourself. And you employ yourself so fully that you're gone. And then you're open for the moon to shine and to be born again. And then, if you witness that, you're going to get with the giving yourself away again. Actually, you are receiving yourself and giving yourself away anyway. It's just a question of joining the program, getting with the situation. And if we don't get with the situation, we're more than happy.

[53:21]

And if we do get with the situation, we couldn't be more happy. We're being maximally happy when we get with the program. There was a river. The river became covered No, no, the river became a road. In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road. And the road branched out over the whole world. But because the road was originally a river, it was always hungry. In the beginning... In the beginning there was this flowing interdependence, and this gets covered with a road.

[54:31]

This gets covered with some way to grasp it. This becomes a resistance to the flowing, covers all the flowing. But because that resistance was originally flowing, that resistance is hunger, is very hungry to return to the river. And when we return to the river, we'll probably just make another road again to tell people about the river. But in the road, there's always hunger to go back to the river. But the river's going on anyway. And in a way, you know, Robert said he had no clue or something about how to meditate on this.

[55:36]

So I made some suggestions to him. And I basically went on throughout this evening. I've made several suggestions. But I don't want to make one nice tidy suggestion because my suggestions also should not be like roads. Because then my suggestions will get hungry. The instructions will start getting hungry to go back you know, version of the instruction. So it's hard for me to give you like a definite thing to hold on to, to help you let go of things. Yes? If the definite thing, you know, to go back to the river with is Ego-lessness. The ego-lessness. Well, that's the ultimate. Ego-lessness, selflessness is the ultimate.

[56:39]

Right. That's the river that's only coming up. No, selflessness isn't the river. Ego-lessness is the river. No, I don't agree. I would say that ego-lessness is the absence of the road in the river. So there's three characteristics. One is the river. That's the other dependent character. The other is the road. That's the imputational character. And the ultimate way that is, is that the road never reaches the river. That's egolessness. That's selflessness. So selflessness, the selflessness of the river, the way there's no road that can reach the river, That selflessness is what helps us actually understand the river and not believe that the road is the river. Right. But what I'm saying to you is that the basis for going for selflessness is

[57:46]

is to meditate on the river. The river, the meditation on the river is the launching pad to realize the selflessness of the river. And the selflessness of the river is the fact that the road never actually reaches the river. The road cannot be found in the river. The road can cover the river, but the road doesn't reach the river. So that's like rotting off, buying your mind. Realizing that is dropping our body. So we need to understand the other dependent character. We need to understand the imputation character, and we need to understand the thoroughly established character, which is selflessness. When we understand selflessness, then we shouldn't be tricked by the superimpositions upon the flowing interdependent world.

[58:48]

So we need to understand all three. I'm starting you with the basic meditation, the fundamental meditation in the Buddha way is meditating on the river, dependence, on the other dependent nature of things, on how things are impermanent. That's the basic meditation. And from there you move deeper into the deeper meditation, which is the meditation of selflessness. But we need to be based on the other dependent. That's what I was saying about last night. Meditating on the other dependent is being committed to the precepts. You need to make a commitment to the fact that there is something. What it is can't be grasped, but you have to commit to good in this ungraspable situation. Otherwise, as you go deep into the truth. If you can't find anything anymore, you might think, well, whatever, man. But no, that's not true. It's not whatever. We still care about beings even though they can't be grasped.

[59:51]

So you need to meditate on the other dependent and practice the precepts, and then on that basis we can go into the truth, which I haven't really brought up that much yet. I'm trying to build the ground of the basic meditation on the impermanent, flowing, other-dependent phenomena, which is basically what is, but the ultimate way that these things are is that you can't find them. There's no way that any graspable version of them reaches them. They're empty of any kind of graspable self. But I want to build a base for that realization first, okay? Even though selflessness is the ultimate medicine, we need this other medicine first as a basis for it. Yes? Well, I was going to tell you that... Thanks for the water, Robert.

[60:53]

You were going to tell me? I'm trying to grasp your words by writing them down. You're trying to grasp my words? Making them worthy of confidence. You thought if you wrote them down they'd be worthy of confidence? I wrote down, give yourself and everything away again and again so you can be recreated. And I realized that recreated is... Yeah, it's recreated. You can become a recreational person. And you can frolic in your destruction because you know that your destruction opportunities for your recreational activity. But if you stay solid, that's the end of your recreation. Then it's more like, instead of recreation, it's more like Defense Department and military dominance to protect and keep things

[61:59]

and crush anybody who threatens the indestructible safety area. It means that you don't exist before the universe. Okay? So it's like, usually we think, okay, I'm here, and now I'm going to go over to the universe. That's our usual approach. I'm already here and then I'm going to go into the room and meet those people. I in there and do something in that room with those people.

[63:03]

That's the way we usually think. I sometimes draw a circle on a blackboard and I say, this circle is the whole universe. Now, isn't there one more thing in addition to the whole universe? Isn't there one more thing besides the whole universe? Isn't there? Huh? Yeah. There's the universe plus me. That's what we think. That's what a normal person thinks. There's the whole universe and me. In addition to the whole universe. I mean, I know I'm included, but really there's everything plus me. That's the usual approach. That's delusion. which most people understand. You know, I draw a circle and then I say, this is the whole universe, and I make a little bump on it. I say, what's that bump? Everybody knows who that is. I mean, they disagree about who it is, but they all have the same answer, me.

[64:07]

But they mean me, they don't mean you. But it's more like, it's more like there's the whole universe and It's more like you, when the whole universe comes forward, when everything that's happening in a given moment comes forward, then you witness how you, then there's me. Seeing that way is the reverse of the other way. There's still you in both cases. Just in one case, you're a priori. In the other case, you're born in the coming of everything. That's seeing yourself born in the coming of things. That's enlightenment. So like your activities arising, you know, or the activity of your body-minds arising, and then suddenly you see, oh, I'm here too. That's enlightenment. That's that perspective. It's right there. It's just spinning around on that pivot of you. Rather than you act on things, things act on you.

[65:12]

And then from that place you can act, but you're acting from the body and mind which have been given. Isn't that the same thing as everything coming at you as you? It's similar to everything coming at you as you, yeah. Or it's similar to what you are. In other words, it's similar to other people are actually more what you are than you. You are actually more about what I really am than what I think I am. You are more, you actually are more closely related to what I am than what I think I am. My idea of myself is based on me, but it doesn't reach me. But actually, the birth of me is more like dependent on you. The birth of me is not dependent on me. It's dependent on you and everybody else, not on me.

[66:13]

We're not dependent on ourself, we're dependent on others. We don't make ourselves, others make us. We, you know, we don't make our own feelings. Other things make our own feelings. Things don't make themselves at all. Not at all. Not at all. Not even a little tiny bit. So, things do not contribute to their existence. They don't have a core. They don't have a substance. Everything is really, really, really, really wonderful. All these dependently co-arisen things are really wonderful and really beautiful. And putting a self on them kills their beauty. Their beauty is basically, you know, not beautiful. Beautiful. That's their beauty.

[67:15]

And everything in its other dependent form is inconceivably beautiful. It's beautiful beyond anybody's idea of beauty. And ugliness, of course. But anyway, it's getting late. We probably only have time to call on Mike. Because he's going to get really depressed if I don't call him, aren't you? I was going to sort of say what you've been saying, but I haven't experienced it well. You were going to say what I've been saying? That sounds good. No, I mean, well, I look at birds. I mean, I can, as goodly as you can, look at birds. It's harder to... Well, you said, I think one of the verbal phrases you used was, it's hard to get yourself... But just let me play with that word, okay?

[68:24]

It's hard to get yourself in the process. And part of the way I heard you meaning that was hard to insert yourself in the process, okay? But another way is, to hear what you said would be, it's hard to find yourself in the process. But actually, when you see the bird jumping from branch to branch, you are actually born in the bird jumping from branch to branch. You're actually born there. But it's hard to get a hold of yourself because actually what you're getting a hold of is not yourself, but the bird jumping. So the bird jumping is more you And Carolyn is more you than your usual idea of you. So if you try to get your usual idea of you in the bird jumping, it's pretty difficult. That's why you actually sort of like look at how the bird's dependently co-arising, which is true, but how you're dependently co-arising in the bird's jumping.

[69:29]

That's more you than the usual you. But it's hard to do that you can say. But then you can stop saying that and just look at it and see yourself as the bird jumping. Right. Right. Yeah, right. So look at the bird. Look at the bird, and then you'll see yourself. Look at me, and then you'll see yourself. Just look at me. Don't you being over there looking at me, but just look at me. Just see me, and you'll see yourself more clearly. But, you know, it's hard for us to look at other people in order to see ourself.

[70:45]

Not all the time, but a lot of the time it's like we kind of think we're looking at somebody else. So it's kind of like that person's like looking that way. We get kind of into it. We get kind of into this person looks this way and this person looks that way rather than... Wait a second now. Great. [...] Great means great. What does that mean, great? Beyond conception? Hm? Beyond conception? It means beyond conception? You're right. It means beyond conception. But it also means it's me.

[71:48]

I'm looking at me, which is beyond my conception. It's beyond my conception that when I'm looking at you I'm seeing myself. That's beyond my conception. That to myself is meditation instruction to tune in to how you are beyond my conception. Because my conception is that you're not me. That's my conception. But you're beyond my conception that you're not me. Which means you're not not me. You're not not me. Not me is not what you are. But you look like not me. And in fact you are not me conceptually. That's what you are. You're all a bunch of not me's. People are not you's. You notice that? That's what they are conceptually. That's not what they really are. They're really not not-yous. They're actually not-yous that really give you your life.

[72:53]

So they really are you. Which is kind of like, really? These are the people who are giving me life? Well, that one's okay, but this other one too? That one and that one? How about, could I have these ones be the ones? No. All of them. All of them. Yeah. I thought Lydia's face was Donna's hand raised. But it wasn't. Well, does this feel like the Dragon's Cape? Kind of weird down here, isn't it?

[74:02]

There's jewels rolling around on the floor. Yeah, there's jewels right down in front of you. Just scoop them up as soon as you want to. They're right there. Little jewels, see them? Yes? Could that be witnessing our imagined separateness and then there being sense? Yeah, that's another meditation is to is to remember that your separateness is imaginary. Just keep being mindful that that feeling of separateness is imaginary. And the more you get into that, the more you stop believing it and get over the duality. But, again, that meditation should be based on the other dependent meditation.

[75:09]

Right. So meditating on the interdependence is the basis of challenging the appearance of non-connection and meditating on that. But if you get off into the non-connection and challenging it without being based in the other, it might get too you might not have enough virtue to capitalize on that meditation. Yeah, well I hope you would dance in that. That's what I would hope for everybody. Any time, go ahead. May our intention equally penetrate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way.

[76:21]

Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[76:50]

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