I heard that an ancient Buddhist teacher said that if you find your place right where you are, the practice occurs, realizing the fundamental reality. If we find our place right where we are, the practice occurs, realizing the koan. The thought arises in my mind to ask you, what is the fundamental reality?

[01:27]

But in a way, I feel like it's not fair for me to ask you that until you've found your place. When you find your place, practice. will occur, realizing the fundamental point. And then if I ask you what the fundamental point is or what the fundamental reality is, you'll be able to express it. You will express it. I really don't know if you want to find your place right where you are.

[03:08]

But even if I found out, even if you told me that you do not want to find your place right where you are, I still say, please find your place right where you are. Please, I beg you to find your place right where you are. Maybe the reason I dare to ask you is because if you find your place right where you are, the practice will occur. And I want that. And fundamental reality will be realized. I want that. So I ask you, if you have a moment, please find your place.

[04:21]

Right where you are. Yes, Astrid? Does finding one's place mean to be present? Does it mean interchangeable?

[05:27]

She said, is it interchangeable to find one's place and be present? Well, it could be, but maybe I would say, you know, you already are present. You already are present. Your mind is present, but maybe in your mind you have this thought that you're not present. Is that possible? Is that what you mean by not in my mind? I don't have to think about that. You are already present according to me. However, I don't think it's the same as finding your place. I think it would be the same as finding your place if you realized you were present. If you found that you were present, then it would be the same as finding your place. You're already in your place, right where you are. You're already present there. But are you finding yourself right where you are? Are you finding the place right where you are?

[06:33]

You're already present. Are you finding that you're present? I need you to find that you're present. I need you to find your presence right where you are. You're already who you are. I need you to find who you are. Everybody needs you to do that. Where you are right now is that you can hear me. And I can tell you a story.

[07:37]

And you can hear it right where you are. We have new voice recording equipment. It's a little one. And it's recording. Maybe. Yesterday a man came to see me. He said that when he was a boy he was a member of a religious organization or like a church or something. He was a member of an established religion and for various reasons he was thinking of giving up being involved with this religion and I think giving up being involved in any religion. Didn't like it or something.

[08:41]

And he just happened to have a talk with a priest and the priest said something like I don't remember exactly, but I think the priest said something like, it's important to notice the difference between selfless grace and graceful selfishness. And the man kept talking to me. And I listened to him for a while. At a certain point, I said, I think it's good for you to... May I say something? I think it's good for you... I think it would be good if you focused on that line... Oh, no, that isn't what the priest said. The priest said it's a fine or subtle line between selfless grace or gracious selflessness and gracefully selfishness.

[09:52]

And I said to him, I think it really would be good if you focus on that line. The man said, I don't know if the priest said this or the man said this, but he said, all you can do is the graceful selfishness. That's all you can do. And I said, That's not all you can do. You can also be ungraciously selfish. But you can be gracefully, or graciously, or I guess gracefully, and graciously maybe too, selfish. You can do that. I mean, you can In the realm of selfishness, you can imagine yourself being selfish and being gracious about it, and doing it gracefully. And I think that's probably good, to do it gracefully. And you can also do it ungracefully.

[10:58]

So you can do that. You can be selfish. I mean, you can imagine that you're selfish. That can be the place where you are, is a place called selfishness, or This place has an address, something like Friars Lane. What's the address? Eight. Eight. Eight Friars Lane is the address. Eight Friars Lane is a kind of example of selfishness. So part of finding where you are is to notice that you're at Eight Friars Lane. But also where you are is a place called No Abode, which is selfless. And it's a grace, it's a selfless grace because you didn't make it up, you just gave it to you.

[12:02]

I gave it to you. And not just me, everybody gave you this place that's no abode. And there's a line between the gracious selflessness of this place, of this no abode. And the fairly graceful, I would say, fairly graceful selfishness. Some of you might be involved in selfishness. But even the address of the place is kind of a gracious selfishness, Eight Friars Lane. Isn't that nice? Isn't that graceful? It's a lovely address. The street has some cracks in it, but we bought some liquid asphalt on the neighbor's recommendation. There will be a little project of filling in the cracks in the asphalt so we can be graciously selfish here and take care of our road for the welfare of the neighbors.

[13:12]

Part of where I am is in this selfish place, Eight Fires Lane, where I'm working together with you to take care of the road. And part of where we are also is that we're in no abode. There's a gift of selfishness coming to us every moment. We can't really find selfishness, but we can realize it. Selfishness? We can't really find selflessness, but we can realize it. We can find selfishness, and finding selfishness is also selfish. So you don't have to get a better place than where you are wherever you are, even if you're like in a tight little twisted kinky spot called selfishness, called concern for your own trip, your own road, your own house, your own teeth, even if you're in some tight little selfish spot, you can be graceful about that and you can look

[14:41]

for the line between that and what you can't get a hold of or get anything from, but which you have to realize. And they're touching each other. There's a line between. So finding your place in terms of your own selfishness, that's part of finding your place. And finding that place more and more completely You also open up to find the fundamental reality, which is these two realities are intimate. One seems to be graspable.

[15:43]

It isn't really, but it seems like it is. And seeming like it is, is that same realm. The other, if you think you can grasp it, that's not the other one. That's the same one. But they're touching. They're locked together very nicely. If you take care of one, that's good. Find your place right there. The practice occurs, realizing the other one. Or so they say in the Zen school. Yes, Tracy.

[16:49]

My name's Tracy. Didn't seem to fit for a second there. Something about the Zen school? Oh, Grace. How can I mix up the Zen school and Grace? Yes? Yes? I think you just said a while ago, we were talking a little bit about it, when you said, it's like it's given to you, it's already there. And I can't figure it out. I recognize it, I have experienced it, but I can't figure out what's the relationship between grace and application. What's the difference between grace and application? What's the relationship between diligence and grace? Well, diligence is grace.

[17:53]

Diligence is a gift. When you're diligent, it's grace. It's by the grace. Where does the grace for diligence come? The grace for diligence? It's the same thing. When there's diligence, That's a gift. It's given to you. Why me? Why you? I don't answer why questions. Ask Lisa. Do you answer why questions, Lisa? Anybody willing to answer her question about why her? Why not? Huh? Molly's going to take care of you. Ask her. Oh. That's the answer. Why not you? Want to answer that? Do you answer why questions?

[18:55]

It's a why not question. Love made me welcome. Love made me welcome. Yet my soul drew back, feeling guilty with dusted sins. But clear-eyed love, observing me, grow slack from my first entrance in, drew close to me and asked if I lacked anything. I guessed I said, worthy to be here. Love took my hand and sweetly asked, know you not that you are she? No, you're not. You are she. I changed the original he to she. We are guilty of dust and sin.

[20:15]

We are guilty of dualistic thinking. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to talk But the gift of diligence is for guilty people. And when you're diligent, when you're diligently living, at that time, your diligence is a gift which has been given in response to your request to be diligent. You want it to be diligent. You said, please let me be diligent. And you were allowed to be diligent. And your allowing was a response to your request. So even, it isn't that the gift is shoved on your throat of diligence. It's coming to you because you want to be diligent. But you, yeah, even if you want to be diligent and you say, why me?

[21:20]

Or you know, Am I going to be able to be diligent? You can say all that stuff, but still, if you want to be diligent, it will be given to you at some point, but not necessarily on your schedule. Not necessarily what you think it would be given to you. Oftentimes it comes way ahead of when you think it's going to come. Like you say, may I be diligent? And then you start looking around for when you're going to be diligent. But when you said that, you were already diligent. You didn't notice it. And when you started looking around, it's like, well, because you weren't grateful for getting the response that you asked for, you're kind of lost temporarily. But it comes right away. It comes at the same time. And it's selfless. You don't make it come.

[22:24]

Nobody else makes it come either because they can't make it come unless you ask for it. And unless you're you. You can't get anything if you're not you. So you've got to be you. You've got to find your place. When you find your place, you're diligent. You're doing what I asked you to do. Diligently. Diligently. And that question is about continuity again and again. Yes? Are you comfortable? Yeah. It's okay? If one receives ungracefulness, is that also wanted? If you receive ungracefulness, un-whatfulness? Ungracefulness? You mean, is it also wanted?

[23:26]

When you're ungraceful, you requested it. Yes? Does Eight Friars Lane find its place by finding Eight Friars Lane or by finding Noah Bowden? Well, it could be either side. Eight Friars Lane could find its place by finding Noah Bowden and would find Eight Friars Lane With it? With it. Because they come together. But you can also find Eight Friars Lane with the gift of finding your place at Eight Friars Lane and then you'll find out that there's no such place. There is no actual graspable Eight Friars Lane. But it's possible that someone would stumble upon no abode and then find out about Eight Friars Lane. Like most of you, you know, you came here to know a boat and found out it's Eight Friars Lane.

[24:36]

Other people, you know, like the mailman comes and finds it's Eight Friars Lane and then, hey, this is really no boat. And he goes, wow, I'm so happy. And then he says, where can I find out more about this? That's the story of the sixth ancestor. He thought he was in the market in Guangzhou. And he was, in a way. But then he found out that he was at an old boat. And he woke up from the dream that the graspable story about where you are is really where you are. He woke up from that. But the awakening occurred because he thought he was someplace. And then he found out that wasn't true. But it goes the other way, too. When you find out you're nowhere, you wake up the night and find out you're somewhere.

[25:39]

You know, a boat is like, it's where you are. It's who you are. That's emptiness. It's form. Most people go from form to emptiness. Most people go from eight friars' lane to no abode, or zen center to no zen center. But you can also go from no zen center to zen center, no abode to friars' lane, or no abode to you, being somebody who says, why me? But you can also go from why me to It's a gift to me who is not really a self. Either way, and not just either way, we need to learn both ways. We are being requested to find our place right where we are.

[26:45]

We're being requested in English. and Japanese, ancient Japanese, ancient Japanese Zen masters saying, in Japanese, mind your place right where you are, realizing the fundamental reality. The practice occurs. Please, honored followers of Zen, practice this way. long accustomed to the carved dragon, find the line, the subtle line between the carved dragon and the real dragon. We don't disparage the carved dragon. We just want to realize the fundamental reality, which is the carved dragon and the real dragon come up together. Yeah, Jackie?

[27:54]

So is who you are a carved dragon? Well, half. You're half carved dragon, half real dragon. And the carved dragon's easier to find. And when you say take your place... Find. Find your place. Find your place. After you find your place, you can take your place, which is where you already are. When you say find your place, is that who you are? Totally. When I say that, that's who I am. And who's you? The talker who's been given the job of talking. Isn't that objective, find your place? Do you want it to be? Well, it's kind of like, it feels like making a thing out of it.

[28:58]

Do you want me to make a thing out of it? No, I don't want anything. It's just, it's happening. So you don't want me to make a thing out of it? No, I don't. I won't then. Drop that then. No more of that from me. Unless you want me to. Then I'll switch back and make it for you. No. I mean, I'm just telling you in case you change your mind later. I'm not stuck in my blast assignment. But are you answering my question? Yeah. I am. You are? You know. Not the way you want me to, it looks like. right well I think you I get the impression yes that you really do suggest that people know who they are I do yeah and I would like a definition of that in context with

[30:15]

What we're talking about. A definition of what you mean. A definition of what I mean. When you say who you are, to be who you are, and to take your seat. I mean, find out who you think you are. Find out who you think you are. And be right there with who you think you are and how you're thinking that you're that way. And also look right around the edges of where you think you are, where it starts to be what you don't think you are. You know? That place where it starts to be not who you think you are. Like me, for example. You're talking about conventional form of thinking about who we are.

[31:20]

First of all, I'm talking about that. Then I'm saying, find the edge where you don't think you are anymore. Where you don't think it's you anymore. Find what you don't think is you. And it's you? Well, you might think I'm not you. Do you think I'm not you? Yeah, I do. Okay, so now... You be who you think you are, and then look at the line where it starts to be me who's not you. Okay? And also be aware of that line there, because that line is where selfless grace starts. I'm like the beginning of selfless grace for you. And for you to realize me as selfless grace, is the next phase in you becoming who you are. Because you're not just your idea yourself, you're also me, and Deirdre, and Nancy.

[32:26]

And everything that you don't think is you is selfless grace. So I also want you to realize how everything is selfless grace, but don't overlook this wonderful thing that you imagine yourself to be. That's part of it. It isn't just selfless grace. It's also more or less graceful selfishness, which is like believing your idea of who you are. But we have to take care of that, too. Hopefully gracefully. Be very kind and respectful of who you think you are. Is grace this presence that sort of makes up our life in a non-literal way?

[33:31]

Before you said non-literal, I was about to say yes. When you said non-literal, that's not very gracious. In other words, you can be literal. The presence can be given and it can be literal. That's part of the graciousness of it. You can be a person who is guilty of dust and sin. And in the Buddha Dharma, dust and sin are... It's interesting, the word sin has a root to sunder, or split. And dust in Buddhism means that it's seeing the world as external. When you see people as external, then that's dust. But also that's sin in the sense you're separating yourself from beings that you're not separate from. So dust and sin is interesting.

[34:38]

The English poem says dust and sin. So we can't speak English unless we're guilty of dust and sin. You have to separate. You have to enter that world. So that's part of what we have to be present for, is the dust and the sin. It doesn't all. We can also be present for the fact Love welcomes us, and we are worthy of love. Bernard? Yeah, I was thinking of Bob Dylan. Oh yeah, Bob Dylan, thanks. He has a, you know, it's all over now, baby blue. His appraisal is the highways, gallows, and our usual students. As they say in Japanese, moshi roi.

[35:41]

Did you say sense? Spell it. Actually, sins. Yeah. Well, maybe the book doesn't have a sense. Yeah, it must be right. It wasn't written. But I read another book, actually, that's a bestseller book. He says sense. Sense is what it sounds like to us. Yeah, but it's actually sins. It rhymes with coincidence. And it makes more sense than sins. Or sense as sin. Yeah. In a way. You need your sense to see your sin. So, anyways, I was thinking, it's sort of like this gracious talk from this film. You also need teaching in order to see yourself. What's the next line, Bernie? Take what you just heard from coincidence. Now I was thinking about the like, formula. It doesn't, uh, sense of sense.

[36:53]

We need to use both. We need to use both. Senses, our senses, um, operate in such a way as to create sin. To recognize it. That, too. .

[37:08]

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