Zenji, Zenji means Zen master, so he's called a Zen master. He wrote this Bodhisattva vow and he said that he's a student of the Dharma and that when he looks at the real form of the universe all is a never failing manifestation of the mysterious truth of the Tathagata. When he looks at the real nature of things everything is the manifestation of the truth. When he looks at the truth everything's the truth and then any event in any place is none other than the revelation of the light of the truth and this realization made our founding, oh here again, do you have L's in yours? Could people pass the ones

[01:37]

that have L's in them? Can I see some ones that have L's? So it's founding teachers rather than foundling teachers and virtuous Zen leaders extend with tender care because of this realization when you see everything as the manifestation of the truth when you see that then, then what? Then you extend with virtuous, with tender care the heart of worshipping. What's the heart of worshipping? Worship means acknowledge the worth of something. So when you see everything as the truth then you are tender with everything and you worship everything. You see worth everywhere. You still may see suffering people but you see that they're worthy, they're worth, they're worth

[02:39]

your worship, they're worth your care. So that's what he saw, he said. Now he said even birds, beasts and birds, so for a lot of humans, beasts means humans. Even humans you can be, extend tender care and even humans you can worship. Not like they're better than you but just like you consider every human worth something of value and you treat them with great care because that's what you see because you see the truth. That's what this ancient Zen master said. I have here chapter 6 of something that's called the summary of the Mahayana

[03:44]

or embracing the Mahayana, written by a 4th century disciple of Buddha, student of the Dharma, Asanga. I put a painting of Asanga on the altar. So this first month of 2012 we've been particularly focusing on his teachings of the Bodhisattva precepts and in chapter 6 of the summary of the Mahayana, it's not, it's only, it's only just, it's all on this one piece of paper, whole chapter. It's a short chapter but it's chock-full of Dharma and I just didn't feel ready to bring it out today but next week, next

[04:44]

month, we can study it at the one-day setting. I wanted to, Asanga also taught, well let me say, as I told you some of you before, Asanga was a great student of Dharma. He was a noted great teacher in India but he felt that the Buddha's teaching was not being practiced very well in 4th and 5th century India where he lived with his younger brother Vasubandhu. So he felt, he wanted to make an effort to help people practice Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings more, more authentically but he felt he needed help to help them and particularly he felt that he needed help from the future Buddha, the next

[05:51]

Buddha. Now the next Buddha is called Maitreya and this next Buddha, Maitreya, is not the Buddha but is a living being, a Bodhisattva, who's waiting for her opportunity to be a Buddha. Asanga thought, well maybe I could get Maitreya Bodhisattva, Maitreya Buddha, to come and give some teaching before he comes to be the Buddha. So he spent a big effort and actually he got Maitreya to show up and give him teachings and Maitreya taught him the threefold Bodhisattva precepts and he also taught him the essence of Bodhisattva precepts. So these teachings are coming to us. Shakyamuni Buddha did not, I don't think there's any examples of Shakyamuni Buddha teaching the threefold Bodhisattva

[06:54]

ethics but there are a number of texts which Asanga either wrote down which were dictated to him by the future Buddha or which he composed by himself where he brings up these threefold Bodhisattva precepts. So in the summary of the Mahayana they're taught in chapter 6 and there's another text called the Mahayana Sutra Alankara which means adornment of the Mahayana scriptures and that's a text which he received from the future Buddha and wrote down and there too he teaches the threefold Bodhisattva precepts and then in Mahayana Samgraha he wrote that himself with the assistance of the future Buddha but he actually wrote it rather than it wasn't dictated to him. So I felt today by talking to some people that there's a little confusion about

[07:57]

the four aspects of Bodhisattva precepts and the threefold Bodhisattva precepts. So the threefold Bodhisattva precepts, each one of those precepts has four aspects, each one of those precepts has an essence or there's an essential way of practicing with each one of those precepts and those four stages or those four aspects apply to each of these precepts. So if you're practicing the first pure precept or the purifying precept of presence, if you're practicing that, that's because it's been given to you by the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas of the past, it's been transmitted to you. So these precepts have been transmitted from Maitreya to Asanga, down through Mahayana in India, into China, into Japan or into Korea and

[08:59]

over to America. So the practice, these three pure precepts that we do, we're getting from ancestors like Asanga and from Bodhisattvas. Asanga was a Bodhisattva but his teacher was the future Buddha. We're receiving these teachings from way back then and the way that they practice with them is like we do now in our ceremonies, which I will try to assure you as time goes on. So Asanga taught that the essence of precepts is receiving them from another, you don't make them up yourself, and receiving them correctly, understanding what the person who gave them to you meant by the precept, and aspiring to practice it, and noticing that you fail, and confessing that you fail, and then feeling how you feel when you confess that you failed, and then that melts away the root of failure, which is then followed by

[10:04]

success in practicing it. And these fourfold aspects of practicing precepts apply to each of the three. So when you've received the precept of practicing all kinds of wholesome things, and then you don't, then you regret it. If you notice it, then you confess it and regret it. And then eventually you stop slipping up on practicing all the wholesome things. And if you're receiving the precept of serving beings and you don't serve them, then you look at that, and study that, and see how that is, and confess it, and learn all the different aspects of not serving beings, and how you feel about that, and then that will lead to success in the practice of serving beings. So those four aspects apply to each of the three aspects of the precepts. The four aspects aren't the precepts. The four aspects are how you practice

[11:08]

with the priest. They're not the aspects of ethics. They're not the particular ethic. The ethics are these threefold things. So I just felt there's some confusion about that, and I wonder if you have any further questions you have about how those two work together. How the fourfold essence works with the threefold ethics. Essences and ethics. Any comments about that? Yes. I actually did, but you didn't follow it. I actually said them, but I said them myself quite a few times, so now that I've said them quite a few times, I actually notice it when I'm saying them, that I said them. When you first hear them, you hardly notice it. So the threefold, the Bodhisattva precepts are threefold, basically. Well, actually they're onefold. Bodhisattva precepts are

[12:11]

onefold. What's the onefold? What? Presence? No. That's one of the folds. What's the onefold that includes all three? What? Ethics. Yeah, ethics includes the three ethics, right. But what's the one ethics? What's the one Bodhisattva ethics? If you do it in one fold, what is it? What? It's enlightenment. The Bodhisattva ethics are enlightenment. Enlightenment is the Bodhisattva's ethical responsibility, right? If you wish to be a Buddha, your ethical responsibility is enlightenment. That's onefold. Break it up into three. The first one is the ethics of restraint, which means restraining yourself from getting distracted from being present. And one of the ways to get

[13:11]

distracted from being present is to try to get something or avoid losing something. You know, that's one way. So you restrain all these illusions of gain and loss when they arise. And the way you restrain them is when they arise, you practice these ethics with it, which is that you notice that you didn't do it. So again, the first of the threefold is restraining distractions, restraining outflows, restraining illusions around your life. Next is to practice all wholesome activities, which can be summarized by the six perfections. Giving, ethics in the limited sense of being careful and vigilant, patience, enthusiasm, concentration, and wisdom. Do all those practices. That's the second Bodhisattva precept. And in the second Bodhisattva precept, when it's

[14:16]

based on the first one, the second Bodhisattva precept is all the things that make a Buddha. The Buddha is made by practicing those six practices. Those six practices make Buddhas. And what do Buddhas do as they're being made? They're devoted to beings, which is the third aspect of Bodhisattva precepts. First, restraint, presence. Second, do all the things that make Buddhas. Third, take care of what Buddhas take care of, all sentient beings, and mature them. Those are the three. And then the essence of ethical activity is, first of all, that you receive the precepts. So now, I told you these three, which I gave you one time in a ceremony, and you said you'd practice them. So in a Bodhisattva precept ceremony, you receive these three pure precepts, and I say to you, and I

[15:17]

give them to you, I say, okay, now you have received these three pure Bodhisattva precepts, these three pure Bodhisattva precepts, from now on, even after realizing the Buddha body, will you continue to practice them? And you said, yes, I will. So you receive them, and then we should clarify what they are. So you're asking me questions about it, so we talk about it until you understand what these precepts are, which you have received from another, who received them from another, who received them from another, and so on. From beginningless time, the Buddhas and ancestors have been transmitting these precepts. So the first aspect is you receive them correctly. The second aspect is, you aspire to practice them. I wish to receive them. Will you continue to practice them? I aspire, I will, I will, I will practice them, I'll keep trying. You aspire to that. That's the second aspect. The third aspect is, you don't. You fail. You're not successful

[16:20]

all the time. Occasionally you slip, and occasionally you're successful. And in a given hour, you might be successful many, many times, and also slip many, many times. Because there's a lot of moments in a short period of time. In an hour, you could have quite a few times when you slip away from being present. But also in an hour, you could have quite a few moments of being present. When you're present, when you, when anybody's present, they're pretty good. But if you aspire to be present, and you're present, it's even better. Also, if anybody's not present, they feel pretty bad. But if you aspire to be present, and you're not present, you feel worse. So part of aspiring to be present, part of the result of that is, you have less wiggle room to not do what you want to do. And it's recommended that you

[17:24]

reduce the wiggle room by commitment to what you want to do. Otherwise, you say, well, I never said I would be present, no problem. You're suffering, but you don't feel so bad as if you really said, I really want to be present, and now I'm not. So, that's the third aspect, is when you fail, you notice it, you confess it, and you repent it. That's the third. Based on the first two, receiving the precept, and wishing to practice it, you have the third. Based on the first three, you have the fourth. So complete success is based on receiving the precept, wishing to practice it, and quite a few times noticing that you haven't. Until finally, you're consistent. You're able to continue the precept non-stop, after long training. And Torrey Zenji's teacher, Hakuen,

[18:29]

he said that when he was 65, he finally was able to get through the whole day without slipping. But, you know, I'm more than 65, I haven't got there yet. But he's more intense than me, I think. However long it takes, I'm heading in that direction, and so are you. You're heading in the direction of success, non-stop success in the Bodhisattva precepts, unless you haven't aspired to it. We're not going to be non-stop successful at these precepts unless we aspire to it. It doesn't happen by accident. Bodhisattvas don't get to be all Bodhisattvas by accident, they get to be Bodhisattvas by having this aspiration to practice these trainings, to have the aspiration arises in their heart, and they take care of the aspiration, and they take care of the aspiration. And in taking care of the aspiration,

[19:35]

you notice when you're not taking care of the aspiration. If you don't take care of it, you might not notice you're not. If you are taking care of it, then you have a chance to notice when you don't. It doesn't mean every time you don't, you notice it. It just means that if you are taking care of it sometimes, then you have a chance of noticing that you're not. If you're never taking care of it, you might never notice that you're not. So those are the four aspects of the essence of ethical training, which is applied to all the precepts. Threefold, but under the first fold, there can be lots and lots of forms of training and ceremonies to practice presence with, like doing bows, joining your palms, sitting upright. There's lots of opportunities to use some form, being quiet, and so on. Various

[20:37]

forms to use to see if you can be present with them. And also, if you're practicing with others, and it's a silent period and somebody's talking, then you have a chance to see if you can be present with somebody who's talking during a silent time. Can you go up to them with presence and say, excuse me, did you know that this is a silent time? And then they can say, no, thank you, I didn't know that, thank you. And you can look to see if you were present when you asked them about that, or were you trying to gain something? Or were you trying to avoid something? You can notice that. So it's possible that you would be checking on somebody else's presence and lose your presence in the process. A lot of people come and tell me that certain senior people who are checking on their presence weren't very present. The junior people don't so often check on the senior people when they

[21:38]

think the senior people are not present. But you're welcome to do so, but see if you can check and be present while you check. So part of the training is to see if you can check on whether people are doing what they said they're going to do in a way without losing your presence while you check. Because people ask senior people to check on them when they see them not doing the practice they want to do. People come to me and say, if you see me veering away from these precepts, please give me feedback. But they want me to stay present when I give them the feedback. They don't want me to be getting distracted from the precept while I'm checking with them about their distraction from the precept. They want me to show the precept while I check on whether they're doing the precept, right? Isn't that what you want? Of course. Thank you. Is it okay to change a little bit? Is it okay to what?

[22:39]

Change the subject a little bit? Yes, you are welcome to change the subject. Good luck. I'm wondering about restraint and welcoming. You're wondering about restraint and welcoming? Is that kind of like Sanatana and Vipassana? I mean, restraint involves sort of concentration, it seems like, but it's a very different approach than welcoming, being present and welcoming everything that comes. Or it sounds different, as a word. So, the first precept supports the other precepts, right? And among the other precepts, the one

[23:43]

of gathering all wholesome things, under that is giving. Under that is being welcoming to everything. So the first one supports the welcoming. Now, is there welcoming in the first one? The thing that supports, the first one not only supports the welcoming, the generosity, it purifies it. Could there be welcoming involved in the purification of welcoming? Yes. So these things are like, it's not one directional. So, if something comes and you're present with it, you're actually welcoming it. What you're restraining is you're restraining yourself from not being present with what's being given to you. You're restraining the distraction. So, restraining distraction does sound different from practicing giving. Or welcoming. So let's

[24:50]

say you're practicing welcoming. So then the first precept is to restrain yourself from getting distracted from practicing welcoming when you're practicing welcoming. Restraining yourself from pushing away. Right. So, but it's emphasizing that you come to certain practices, like giving, with illusions of gain and loss. You're going to come out practicing giving, but you have a tendency to see, you know, that you're going to get giving or not get giving. So you have to train yourself to approach giving from this first precept. Well, the outflows are trying to get something. So you're restraining the outflows

[25:56]

as you go into practice, for example, giving. And other kinds of ethics, other kinds of being careful, like checking to make sure that your speech is kind, being careful of that. But you're approaching it from a place of restraining outflows in relationship to that precept. But it's not like giving is not present when you're practicing restraint of outflows, because the outflow is the outflow of trying to get things and hold on to things. But it's starting by emphasizing, you want to practice giving? Well, you're probably going to have trouble because you see giving in a kind of corrupted way. So you've got to, in some ways, be humble. If you wish to do wholesome things, realize that you're going to probably have some kind of illusions about what wholesomeness is as you approach it. So learn to spot those things so that you can see how to practice giving without

[26:57]

trying to get anything from practicing giving. So you're just practicing giving, and that's what giving is. In other words, you're not trying to get anything from it. But if you try to practice giving, you notice that you're having trouble being present with giving. And when you see that trouble, you note it, then you're veering away from the first precept. So all these practices are interpenetrating each other, but the first one is emphasizing purifying the outflows. And giving is, you can practice giving without having purified the outflows. Or you can purify the outflows and then practice giving. But just as you can slip from practicing presence, you can slip from practicing presence when you're practicing giving. So in the process of giving, you can notice that you're not present. In the process of giving, you can notice you're reaching out a little bit beyond the giving.

[28:00]

You're kind of like giving, but well, what's going to happen now? How do they feel about it? Are they getting famous? So if you practice presence perfectly in the moment, and then you practice giving, then the giving will not have outflows. If you practice giving and you're not trained at outflows, then outflows will show up in the giving. But when you notice the outflows in the giving, then you're practicing the second precept of giving, but you're also practicing the first one, and noticing that you're failing at the first one. But that's part of practicing the first one, and that's also part of making the second one pure. So the first one is applied to all the wholesome activities you're attempting to do, and catching yourself at any outflows around the activities you're doing. So would you say that for that first one of restraint, likening that to a form of meditation? They're all meditations. They're all meditations. Giving is meditation. Ethics is meditation.

[29:08]

Ethics in the sense of being careful and vigilant. Patience is a meditation. Enthusiasm is a meditation. And concentration is a meditation. And wisdom is a meditation. Everything's meditation. Everything's practice. All practices are meditations. You're meditating on a teaching of the Bodhisattva precepts. They're all meditations. However, there's a difference. There's a difference between you can practice giving without being careful, and still giving, but you're still trying to give, but you're not being careful. It's possible to not be careful. It's also possible to practice giving and being patient. You give something to somebody, and they slap you in the face, and you're not patient with the slap. But you did give them something, and you enjoyed it, and you meant to, and you can give again, and lose your presence when you give. You can give somebody something, and then as you're giving it to them, you can look away, because it gets really intense. Here you are giving the person, and their

[30:10]

face starts to light up, and you cannot stand to see that face. We have to train ourselves to be able to stay, and deliver, and stay all the way as we give the gift, right to the end of the gift, and then ready for the next moment. It's possible to try to do wholesome things without the first precept, and then the second precept is not a pure precept. It's undermined by a lack of presence. The lack of presence can be practiced while in some sense doing nothing, just purely be present with your experience, or it can be practiced with all these wholesome activities. And you can notice a shortcoming in your presence when you're just with your breath, and not think of breath as giving, or not think of breath as being careful, or not think of breath as patience, or not think of breath as enthusiasm,

[31:10]

or not think of breath as concentration. Just, I'm with my breath, and I'm not trying to get anything, I'm not afraid of losing anything, I'm just here. This is great. Now, you can start thinking of your breath as a gift. Both you're giving your breath, and you're receiving your breath as a gift. And so on. And you can practice ethics, and you're practicing with presence. So you're practicing all these good things you're doing now, with your breath, or your posture, or your voice, or whatever, your mind. You're continuing to practice presence with them, because that's the basis of the other two bodhisattva precepts. Without that basis, they have outflows. But with that basis, then all these activities are enlightenment itself. Then when you serve people, it's enlightenment, because you're not trying to get anything by the service. And you're not afraid of losing anything by the service. Before I started studying with you, I had an idea in my head that the basis of Buddhism

[32:21]

was, if you're going to do a real shortcut way of saying it, was wisdom and compassion. And is that not quite accurate for Zen? Because none of this list you say compassion, knowing the word, it's not one of these categories. It is. Will you say the first three perfections are the compassion ones? I think you said the path? Well actually, it's... Where does compassion fit? All the bodhisattva's ethics are compassion. And in terms of the six bodhisattva training methods of giving ethics, patience, up to wisdom, all those are what? They are practicing the... All wholesome things are included under there. Those things are ethics, because those practices are the bodhisattva's ethical responsibility,

[33:29]

because the bodhisattva is trying to realize Buddhahood. And those who try to realize Buddhahood have an ethical, you know, action obligation. Ethical action obligation. Ethical action commitment to do those practices which make Buddhas. So then all those practices of compassion and wisdom go under ethics for one who wishes to make a Buddha. Now, what are the bodhisattva ethics? Again, start with number one. Ending outflows. Restraining outflows. That's wisdom. Having no sense of gain or loss, or self or other. That's wisdom. So the first bodhisattva ethical practice is wisdom. And based on that wisdom, you practice all these practices of compassion. They're not really separate, and yet you can practice

[34:31]

compassion to some extent without wisdom. You can practice compassion and still try to get something. It's still compassion. You can still be giving people material that they need. You can give them attention. It is compassion, but you can be trying to gain something, because you don't have wisdom. If you have no outflows, that's wisdom. And that's the basis of all these compassion practices. And the compassion practices are a constant opportunity for enlightenment, for Buddhahood to develop itself. Now, the six perfections are sometimes broken up into the first three, are the things you do to benefit suffering beings. That's how you benefit or help beings who are not enlightened. You're generous towards them. You're careful with them. You're patient with them. You're patient with their suffering. You're patient with their attacks and insults to yourself

[35:33]

and to your friends. You practice those three, and that benefits beings that aren't enlightened. The next three, or especially the last two, are not just what benefit beings, but what liberate beings. Concentration and wisdom liberate them. But you can't practice concentration and wisdom until you've practiced benefiting beings. And the fourth one fuels the first three, but it's fourth because until you practice the first three, you really don't have full enthusiasm. Until you benefit beings, you don't have full enthusiasm. When you're benefiting beings, you have a lot of energy. Particularly if you're suffering and you practice patience, you're not spending a lot of energy fighting your suffering. You're just present with it. So a lot of energy that's wasted by wiggling away from the suffering is not wasted anymore, and you have it to use to practice the first three, and then you have enthusiasm to practice concentration. Concentration. Concentration on what? Concentration on doing what helps people. Concentrating on the happiness of others.

[36:37]

You focus on that. And when you focus on that, you become wise. And that concentration and wisdom is what liberates beings. So first we help them, then we liberate them. First we help them, then first we love them with that compassion, that helpful compassion, and then we can liberate it. First help the world, then liberate the world. All these practices are included under the second Bodhisattva precept, which is based on the first Bodhisattva precept. And the third Bodhisattva precept is the beneficiary of the first two. And all three of them, all three of these precepts, are the full body of Buddha. The true body of Buddha, the bliss body of Buddha, and the transformation body of Buddha. Buddha has three bodies, and so there's three precepts for those who wish to realize Buddha. What are the Sanskrit names of those three bodies? The three bodies? The

[37:42]

first one is called Dharmakaya Buddha. The next one is called Sambhogakaya Buddha. The next one is called Nirmanakaya Buddha. Those three bodies are the total bodies of Buddha, and the three Bodhisattva precepts match those three bodies. Can you explain that a little more? Well, again, the true body of Buddha is reality. And reality is just presence. Reality is not trying to gain anything. Can you believe it? Reality is not trying to get something. And reality is not trying to avoid losing something. So the first precept is training in no outflows, no gain or loss, no self or other. That's the true body of Buddha. The second body of Buddha is all the wonderful practices, the joy of all the practices of

[38:50]

Bodhisattvas. Doing those practices based on the first one. Doing them without trying to gain anything or fear of losing anything. And not only doing them, but doing them together with all the other Bodhisattvas. This is like bliss. And this is the reward of practicing the teachings. And then the next one is the ability to respond to beings in whatever way will help them. That's the transformation body. You are transformed into whatever helps people. You appear to come and go, because that helps people. The Dharmakaya doesn't come and go. Presence doesn't come and go. Coming and going is distraction from presence. Coming and going is not the Dharmakaya Buddha, is not the true body of Buddha. The true body of Buddha is when we have totally become present. When we are no longer concerned with

[39:57]

gain and loss, which comes from thinking of self separate from other, or this separate from that. When we cut off those illusions, those outflows, we have the Dharmakaya, which naturally responds to beings as the transformation body, and the practices which make the Dharmakaya, which make us able to be present, and practicing those together with all beings, that's the second Bodhisattva precept, that's the Sambhogakaya. Now we can practice the three Bodhisattva precepts forever with considerable failures. But we have a practice for failure, and the

[41:05]

practice that we do when we fail to do these practices is part of the practice. It's not separate from the practice, it is definitely part of the practice. Part of the practice is that third aspect of ethics. And most of us see some opportunities to do that third one. Most of us notice some veering away from presence, some slipping into gain and loss. And then, again, to notice it is part of compassion. Q. Do you think that with increased practice, awareness increases, and the three and then

[42:05]

the four? Because sometimes I'm not sure that I'm with you when you go through the three and the four, and then the six. But I'm not going to worry about it. A. Good. I don't need you to worry. Does anybody need her to worry? Q. I find myself thinking, did I get it? Did I get it? I hope I get it. A. Well, it's okay to say, I think that's a perfectly reasonable question, did I get it? Do I understand correctly? Q. I'm sorry, I interrupted you. A. Did I interrupt you? Q. I'm just so grateful you know so much. It seems like it just overflows. A. Like an outflow? Q. Like a good teacher that knows his or her stuff unequivocally, and then on receiving it, I'm thinking, you know, it's like, and then I say,

[43:13]

Suzanne, just relax. With increased awareness, it'll work. It'll work not to worry. Q. Am I making sense? A. Yeah. Q. Or is it getting more convoluted? A. No. And I'm just saying that wondering whether you're understanding correctly can be done. You can wonder without worrying. So part of correctly receiving a precept, a teaching, part of the correct reception, is to check with the transmitter to see if you understood it the way they meant it. And you can ask that, like you're doing right now. You're checking about the precept right now, and you're kind of asking me, is it okay not to worry? And I'm saying yes. Q. Well, you know, sometimes, not sometimes, often I know when I messed up, and then I'll make amends quickly. And that's been something that's part of, but then when it's put in this context, I'm thinking,

[44:17]

well, am I really doing that the right way? Because it's in this context. But intuitively, you know, I know I'm on the money. When I make a mistake, I'll make amends, especially if it's a mistake, if I've offended somebody inadvertently or maybe advertently, I'll make amends as quickly as I can. But then putting this in this context, I'm thinking, I'm not sure if I'm doing it the right way or not. Because it's in this new context. Do you want me to say something? Q. I would welcome that. It's possible for you to have the questions that you just mentioned, and to have them without worrying. The worrying is necessary. You can ask questions, and I can wonder about whether I understood something

[45:24]

that has just been taught to me. I can wonder about that without worrying or with worrying. And I recommend to you that you wonder about it without worrying. And if you worry, I recommend that you notice the worry, confess the worry, and let go of it. Be kind to the worry. Relax with the worry. Or if you're receiving a teaching and you wonder if you understood it, relax with that wonder. The wondering is good. And then from the wondering you can ask a question, but not from worrying that you maybe didn't get it right, but just wondering. I wonder if I got it right, I think I'll go ask. Here's what I thought, what do you think? Yeah, that's right, I agree. So the worry actually doesn't facilitate the learning. Relaxing with it helps. But again, if I'm worrying then I say, now I'm doing something which is making it more difficult for me to learn.

[46:26]

So I accept that, and now I think I'll just see if I can start over and wonder about this teaching again, and I can't wonder. And now maybe I can ask a question, which you just did. And I'm saying, yeah, ask questions about it. Check, check, and check, and check. And if you're not worried, it'll be enjoyable. When I was a young student, I had a teacher, and I just loved to ask him questions. And I had always had a lot of questions to ask him, and he was happy for me to ask. And I wasn't worried about not being sure about the answers. I wanted to ask him questions. So I recommend that you ask questions in a relaxed way without trying to get anything. But just still try to clarify, but you're not trying to get clarification. No, I understand. Okay, good. Thanks. Thank you. It is fun. Well, great. I think so too. And thank you all for your practice of presence today.

[47:32]

I hope it was a joy. And hopefully we'll meet again here someday. And we can study some more of these Bodhisattva teachings about the great vehicle. Thank you very much. May our intention equally extend to every being and place. With the true merit of Buddha's way, beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible.

[48:18]

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