It seems that many of us have been devoted to the practice of samadhi for a long time. Each step of the way, we practiced according to our current understanding of what samadhi practice is. During this practice period, we have listened to the teachings, various teachings about the nature of the different types of samadhis. I heard about samadhis which seem truly wonderful and some of us may even question whether they

[01:02]

are possible to be actualized in this world. Of course, these great Bodhisattva samadhis are not actualized by one person. They are the practice of all beings helping each other. But is that possible that we could realize the actual way that all of us are helping each other? Some of us wonder, some of us have confidence, but in any case, we have all made a great effort, sincere effort to consider these teachings and practice them in the way we thought was appropriate. I've made a commitment to continue to study

[02:05]

the range of teachings about samadhis, all the different kinds of samadhis, and also the samadhis that include all samadhis, and this study will go on. We've made a nice, a very encouraging start during these three weeks. Some people feel that the Zen school is really devoted to finding a way to extend the understanding of emptiness in each moment and into all activities, and we have Zen centers

[03:14]

to sit still and get a glimpse of emptiness and then cook in it long enough so that we can go out into the fast-moving world and have a chance to stay awake to that in the outrageous slings and arrows of fortune. Today will be a rather active day, I guess. We're going to have a little parade here in the middle of the day, going to do a well-being ceremony for the Dalai Lama who's not feeling well, we're going to have a birthday party

[04:15]

for Ancestor Dogen, and we're going to have a Bodhisattva initiation ceremony, and we're going to be practicing samadhi and eating lunch and dinner. And then tomorrow, many guests will come into the room to join us, that will be quite a hubbub. And then we'll have lunch, and many of us go through a big transition, so the next two days are going to be days to see if we can stay awake to the flow of our mind. And be patient if we can't, and forgive ourselves if we can't, but anyway, let's give it a try. This is the last scheduled time when we

[05:30]

could have sort of an open session. Seems like a good time for the community to express itself to the community. I don't see another opportunity sort of in the schedule, so I would ask you now, if you don't mind, the people on this side, to maybe turn about, what is it, 45 degrees to the right, and would you people turn 45 degrees to the left? I know that you can't see everybody, but I think we can hear better if we're oriented like this. And once you've

[06:35]

settled into a steady, immobile sitting position, and are thinking of not thinking, if there's anything you'd like to express to your Zen comrades, please feel free to do so. I'm loud enough to hear it over the rain. Yes, please, and please speak loudly enough so people can hear you because it's raining and so on, and hearts are beating. By the way, can you hear me okay? See, I got an amplifier. Could you hear him? Great. Yes, things have gone very smoothly. Thank you so much.

[07:56]

I would like to thank all the Bodhisattvas here and in all the times and places who have helped us and supported us through this practice. I'd like to thank all the people here who, with tiny little smiles and gestures and subtle signals and heartbeats, supported me and each other in this, as my first practice period.

[09:32]

Thank you all so much. I'd like to thank all the people who came from near and far to join the residence. I'd like to thank the residents for being so welcoming. For three weeks, we've been able to breathe clean, beautiful air in the Pacific Ocean.

[10:58]

We've been able to drink water that keeps us healthy. We've had food that was pre-prevented illness. Each night, we were able to lie down in beds that were completely dry and warm. We were safe here from any kind of violence. These privileges are so unique and so rare and so supportive of being able to practice this way wholeheartedly. I want to give thanks to all the beings that have come together in this incredible, auspicious gathering of making this such a healthy and safe place for practice and extend wishes that all beings throughout at least this planet Earth can experience like one. Thank you.

[12:42]

I love you guys. That's when you are not even a teacher to you. What does it mean to turn the light inwards? Thank you for your attention, for being a reflector, and for Greenville for providing me electricity. Thanks again for this excellent samadhi.

[14:13]

I look forward to many more opportunities to sit in stillness with all of you. I'd like to thank all the people from the School of Physical and Language and Literature at Greenville for their patience. I'd like to thank the teachers for being so available to us and their Jesus. And the email. And the kitchen and everybody who did so much work to support us.

[15:14]

And all our fellow bodhisattvas for being here. And I feel that with every session that we do, it's like starting to read a book. And so my first session, I felt like I went through the cover and the title. And then the next one was the cover, the title, and the table of contents. And then the next one was all this and the introduction. And this one has been like the first three lines of the introduction. So I'm looking forward to the next one. I would like to apologize for all my mistakes and errors as Jisha. And also to apologize for all my words that were less than kind.

[16:21]

And ask everyone's help in doing better. I'm the eight-year-old from Barrio, and I'm finally going to do a monopoly. No! I had to lie down during sashimi. And I want to thank everyone for putting up with that. I think I need you all to support me too. I would like to thank everyone here for the possibility of being myself.

[17:31]

In place that nurtures commitment to allowing that. Could you hear that? No. You can't say it again louder? Thank you. Thank you. She said something like, Thank you for allowing me to be myself. I hope to thank everyone for the fire. But I hope it's a little warmer. I don't have any time. I'd like to thank everyone for being here. Thank you.

[18:34]

And all of you for allowing me to be here. For those of you who didn't have much, I'm just going to say a few things. I'm from Barrio, and I thank you for making sure and bringing me with you to the monastery. You put me in a way that allows me to work at the monastery. And lastly, I'd like to thank my mother and father, who are based on the teachings of the Theotokos. Well, I'm particularly grateful to them for all they did to bring me here.

[19:42]

Thank you. If they haven't already come, they have. Thank you. I'd like to thank all of you for making Mount Hall more exciting than I've ever been. And I also want to apologize to those of you who were in the kitchen while I had my comfort camera. Thank you. That was a little like the Oscar night, wasn't it?

[20:45]

I want to thank all those Bodhisattvas. I've never even heard of them before. Who knows how many Bodhisattvas come, or who we meet them. And we never know exactly who they are. They have a really angry face. And they'd be upsetting to us. I love you all. May God bless you. Thank you for your smile, and your beauty, and your frown, and your laugh. I've never wanted to have. And especially, I think the Bodhisattvas are the luckiest. Thank you.

[21:56]

Thank you, Ray, for letting me take a nap in the room. Happy birthday. Thank you. Thank you, Gita, for your sterling and heroic work helping me with the details of my Rakushin. I'm eternally grateful to you. Thank you. I would like to thank you all for bearing with me. Thank you for that. And also, I would like to thank everyone for the safe environment where I've lived and thrived, where I've been cared for, whatever. And I'd like to thank all of those who didn't stay with us all the time. Thank you. And especially to all those people back home who have helped me. I'd like to thank some of the students, first of all, who really ended my prophecy

[23:12]

when I was ready to give up on it. I don't know who it was. Thank you very much. And also, I wanted to say that for the first time, I know what it means to say, practice together. Thank you. This is my first Rakushin, first Rakushin, and I've never done anything so painful before. And I just feel so grateful to all of you for showing me that I can do it, and for sitting through this with me, and for sort of showing me how much they are happy being that I am. I'd like to say that I long for intimacy with all beings, all of you.

[24:13]

And if I seem standoffish or unpleasant or whatever that keeps you away, please know that it's nothing, it's not true. Just try to go through and just come at me. Thank you. I want to thank you for having me as a teacher, and especially for your kindness issue. It was very helpful to me. And I'm sure you're going to be very pleased to have me practice with you when you stop for a moment in between. Thank you. And I also especially want to say that to the people who are sitting next to me

[25:14]

for being patient and kind with me through all my coughing, sighing, physically and mentally, everyone else who's supporting me, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. I want to thank everyone for coming here and inviting me to continue this study. My intention with my foggy emotional pain is to feel it deeply so that when I need it in other people, I know what it is. And I'd like to send that hope for everybody,

[26:17]

whether it be people being irritable or being harsh, all kinds of things that we actually don't want. I'd like to thank you all for doing so much. For encouraging your teaching crew to work as deeply and as fully as they possibly could. And I want to thank the teaching crew for supporting each other and for knowing that practice is everywhere and for giving me the opportunity to do so. I think it's really encouraging that as staff and residents of Greenville

[27:32]

are learning better each year how to do that, and that it's like work, practice together. I think about a lot of how to do this better and better each year. And thank you for helping me. My gratitude and anxiety are both showing up, so I'm going to read you three or four names that I would like to say to you. Linda Anderson, Ed Brown, Richard Baker, Yvonne Rand, Albus Dillard, Martin Marston, and a thousand, a thousand more. Yvonne Rand. Practice, practice, don't know.

[28:52]

We're sitting on the floor until we all become one in time. I don't know if I can do this without you. I'd like to thank all beings for showing up and giving us their devotion. Please don't hang on to this. Thank you. Thank you.

[30:42]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I can't imagine the totality of the energy involved in all the pain and suffering of all the people in this room. Thank you. And to me and to everybody here, thank you again. Thank you all.

[31:49]

Thank you. Thank you. My name is Linda Anderson. My name is Richard Baker. My name is Albus Dillard. My name is Yvonne Rand. My name is Martin Marston. My name is Yvonne Rand. Thank you.

[33:07]

Thank you. Thank you. I came here almost three years ago having crashed the plane of my life. Now I have everyone's help to gather something that is not separate from it.

[34:37]

That is not anything else than love life truth and

[35:43]

believing now. Words can't reach you, but thank you for all your compassion. Thank you.

[36:48]

Thank you. Thank you everyone for all the questions you asked for me. And thank you for having to go a long miles with only one fridge. Thank you for the hot drinks at night. Thank you for, it was someone's cushion underneath me that I found one day and I've been using it. Thank you for letting me use it. And thank you for seeing all my paintings. I just want to give thanks for the opportunity to have the chance to sit in here. That's a lot more still than I was before I was here, but this is me.

[38:23]

There's no excuses. I'm really grateful for that. That was so cool. That was pretty good. I'm a pretty ridiculous person. You know, when I came to this talk this week, I was coming from a pub in Harlem and I had a lot of friends. I kind of came here with the intent to not be so social.

[39:29]

I can be very drawn in to other people very quickly. And so I wanted to experiment with kind of being light and being a little bit more in touch with women. And... So, sorry, I may have been a little bit, you know, standoffish or something. I usually just practice creatively. I've never really had a chance to interact with anybody. Virtually. But... Anyway, I feel really out of policy. And I can't help but be drawn in to all of you. And I may never figure that one out. Um...

[40:32]

I didn't want to kind of resist saying thank you, but I still appreciate it. Just everyone doing this. Constantly. It helps me a lot. Helps me a lot to see people come out to me. The thing about people sitting for each other. That's one thing I've always understood. I'm really good at that. I guess that that's pretty great. I really don't know anything about life in the creative world. I know that so much.

[41:36]

Right now. What's this? There's a... It's a knot. It's not for me to go on to the next page. It's not for me to do this. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry for taking so long. I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm going to do. Um... Um... I have to have seven children of my own.

[42:42]

And I'm not good at myself. So I apologize for that. I'm not the queen of the children. I'm not the queen of the children. The first time I was out in the center middle, it was when I was ten years old. I was here on Sunday at lunch time. I can probably repeat it. I don't think I'm that smart. I don't know what that would mean. Even now. But the fact that... It's okay. It's nothing. It's not... I'm fine. Well, since the kitchen's leaving...

[43:46]

Don't leave yet, okay? We can end when you leave. Okay? Well, I... No, I'd like to stop when they leave. So you have something you want to say? Go ahead. Can you stay a little longer? Huh? Okay. Yes? I don't know what you want to say. It's been... Would anyone else like to say something before the kitchen leaves? Yes. Yes. My gift to you all.

[44:49]

Thank you for coming together. First, I'd like to thank the field, I guess, for putting us together. And... I promise... I think we're pretty close to the structure of the work we've been doing. And... Next... There's a beautiful laurel tree that I had in the company. And I'm sitting, and I have this wonderful pot on it. When I was younger... Is this okay, if you can? Okay, louder. When I was younger, I had a pair of gloves called Creaky Creaky. And these are the attributes of these gloves

[45:49]

were that when it froze, images would appear. And... It's a whitening gloss. It sits together with the tip, and if you made a touch of water, images would appear. And the images that would appear would be like, wake up. And then, I thought, it'd be great if we had a collector's edition. We'd have a space that said, just hold on. And so... I'd like to thank you all for this talk. And... Thank you. Anyone else? The more I hear, the more I see.

[47:04]

More arms, more eyes. Thank you. Don't forget more legs. Anything else? Pardon? Yeah, I do feel adequately thanked. I mean, up till now. If you just keep up this present level, I'll be fine. Just every now and then. We all need a little thanks, right? Anything else? Oh yeah, somebody...

[48:10]

I asked if I was not gentle enough to let me know. And only one person told me that I was being too gentle. So... Thanks for helping me be gentle. Learn how to be gentle. Thank you. Anything else? Yes? I just want to thank and acknowledge the people who made a tremendous effort this week, or in the past few weeks, and tonight for the Bodhisattva Initiation Sermon. They know who they are. And I think it's, I want to say, I think it's a tremendous support for all of us in this moment. Anything else?

[49:14]

There may be trouble ahead. But while there's music and love and romance and moonlight, let's face the music and dance before the kitchen has fled, before they ask us to pay the bill. And while there's still a chance, let's face the music and dance. May our intentions pervade every being and place with the true merit

[50:24]

of Buddha's way. All Buddha's ten directions, three times...

[50:39]

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