The fourth method of unifying all beings is called cooperation, the unifying method of cooperation or the unified method of identity action. this identity action literally the character one character means same and that character means thing or matter or task or activity so it's a it's a method to achieve unity among beings by emphasizing that we're try looking for what's the same thing we're doing how are we how are we cooperating So in a sense this one is the most, this is the most, in some sense, essential aspect of the four methods.

[01:09]

It should also be called the way of achieving unity among beings by looking at how we're in the same boat or even looking at how we have the same goal or share the same purpose. So pretty clearly now this nation and the world is stressed because it's pretty easy to see that people have different goals and different aims. It's pretty easy people don't share the same goals, right? How can we find the way how we're sharing how we're supporting each other. So this fourth one is emphasizing looking for that, meditating on that.

[02:16]

Or how are we in the same boat? In some sense it's easy to see how we're in the same boat. We're in the same continent, we're on the same planet. But how we're working together is not so easy to see, but that's what That's what this is about, this one. And I don't know if I mentioned this last time. Did I ask you how many people here have read The Life of Pi? I didn't? How many people have read The Life of Pi? About almost a half. Anyway, it's a story about some beings that are in the same boat. In particular, it's a story about a human and a tiger in the same boat. And in a sense, to some extent, they had the same aim. They both wanted to live and survive, and they both had a lot of problems in the boat.

[03:19]

But they didn't necessarily share the same aim of wishing the other one to be well off or anything. It isn't clear that the tiger had goodwill towards the human. And the human actually, in the story, helped the tiger get into the boat in the first place. And then after he got the tiger into the boat, he kind of wondered what he did that for. In the end of this book, though, he said that he wouldn't have survived without the tiger. The tiger was his salvation. Now, I don't know, in this present situation, who the tiger is. But I think this NPR station called, a program called Fresh Air, did a really good job this week. I don't know what they had on Monday, I don't know, but on Tuesday they had a rabbi, and on Wednesday they had this man named Vigory, who was one of the founders of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition, and he sort of pioneered direct mailing fundraising.

[04:31]

And I think he said something like, the way to get people to donate is tell them that whatever is most kind of precious in their life is under attack and is threatened and they'll send you money. He's raised a tremendous amount of money and then put it into the conservative division of the Republican Party. And now this point of view is very strongly represented, the point of view of getting money by telling people how they're threatened. He himself is a Catholic, and he feels that his religion is under attack, that the forces of the society are out to destroy the Catholic Church and Christianity in general. So he's trying to, like, get Christians to stand up and fight back in the war that is going on between the Christians and the... I'm not exactly saying non-Christians, but the people who want to destroy Christianity have declared war on Christianity, so they're fighting back.

[05:52]

It's not a very Christian attitude, but... He says if you don't fight, when someone declares war on you, if you don't fight back, they will beat you. They will just defeat you. And he said a lot of other things. And then today they had a story about a guy who used to write for conservative magazines, and he gradually found out that a lot of the stories he were writing that You know, he was getting information from various sources, and a lot of sources he was using were telling lies. He produced articles which were based on non-credible stories, some of which were used against Bill Clinton in the program which was going on from before he was elected to get rid of him. And so that's another interesting program.

[06:57]

Now I don't know who is the tiger, but there is a tremendous amount of aggressive, destructive energy in this situation. But we're in the same boat. And so one thing I want to say from the beginning is that In the story of the life of Pi there was an ongoing struggle throughout, pretty much throughout the time that they were in the boat together, there was an ongoing struggle between the tiger and the human. And the human put a lot of energy into, for the sake of survival, establishing some boundaries between him and the tiger. And it doesn't mean that when you're trying... I think it may be that in order to realize unity, we may have to struggle with each other. We may wish to sort of like just say, okay, let's just drop the boundaries and embrace each other, but that may not be the way to go.

[08:06]

Maybe the first thing to do is to establish boundaries whereupon we can struggle. And this can be with people who we do not think are out to kill us, like our spouses. So I talked to you before in the last class about the necessity for formality in order to be intimate. And intimate is a place where there are no boundaries in the actual intimacy. There's no separation. That's actually the way we are. We're actually all interrelated. Even though we have different views, we're not separate. So in some sense, we need to formally set up boundaries in order to be able to tolerate our non-separation. The tiger would definitely have died without Pi in the story, and Pi would have died without the tiger. Pi got the food for the tiger, and having the tiger in the boat kept Pi away from suicide or just suicidal depression.

[09:14]

keeping the boundaries up and struggling with the tiger and feeding the tiger kept him alive. He was afraid of the tiger and the tiger was afraid of him. So he makes the case in the book, the author or the hero of the book makes the point that wild animals are really afraid of humans. They're not naturally human eaters. but they are afraid of humans. And they're not even naturally human attackers. They only attack us when we get close, like in a lifeboat. If you're long distance from a tiger and you move towards them, they won't pay attention to you. If you get closer to them and you move towards them, they'll move away. If you get closer to them and you move towards them, they'll move at you. And that's generally true of wild animals. that if you're far enough away, they don't pay any attention to you. And if you get into another perimeter and you move towards them, they'll move away.

[10:23]

And you get inside of another circumference and they'll come at you. But they're afraid throughout the process. And we are somewhat afraid of them. I propose that to you. Especially if they're big. So fear is a big deal in this struggle. Fear, because we are vulnerable to each other, we can't hurt each other. Struggle does not contradict cooperation. Struggle does not contradict working together in the same boat, on the same aim. We can have the same aim, deeply have the same aim, and still struggle as to how to realize it.

[11:28]

Both sides can want to live, and even both sides could want both sides to live, but have very different views of how both sides could live. So here we are. A lot of Americans want all Americans to be safe and healthy. but very different views, struggling mightily about what's the best way to protect the lives of Americans. Many Americans also want beings all over the planet to be protected, but different views. Even when we have the same view, we struggle, but we also have different views. Some people may not want everybody on the planet to be protected. So we have all these different views, but on some level we have the same view. But even there we struggle. We may need to struggle. And when I heard this guy talking, this Vigori talking, and I don't know if he, how afraid he consciously is, but I think he's afraid like all people are afraid.

[12:34]

But he certainly is using fear to get money and power. And he's very successful. And he says, and he knows... he knows how to get people. He knows how to get him to be afraid. He knows how to get him to give money. He knows how to get him to go along with his programs. But frightened people often are very good at manipulating people. But one thing he said was, when he was asked, you know, now the conservatives have... Well, he said this, he said... Our first goal was to get a conservative nominated. Bear Goldwater. Our next goal was to get someone nominated and elected to the White House. Ronald Reagan. Our next goal was to get someone nominated, elected, and then rule from the White House. And then rule from the White House.

[13:38]

Get the person nominated, elected, and then rule from the White House. It says it remains to be seen whether George Bush will serve this function for us. And then he was asked by Terry Gross, well, aren't you happy now that you've got this? He said, well, we've had considerable success, but we're still losing the culture war. And I thought, well, I hope you're right. He might be right, that although they gained control of the government, the culture is not necessarily going in this direction. So sometimes the government is controlled by a certain group and then it just keeps going a certain way and it comes to its own conclusions and the society just watches it. And maybe we have to see what's going to happen now.

[14:39]

And actually the cultural war may be that most of the people in the culture don't really want to have a war. The war may be between those who want to use war as a way of life and those who don't. And it may be that those who don't are not winning the war but simply are not in the war. That may be the case. I think that's what he means by losing the cultural war is that the other side is not fighting back and therefore we're losing. Because if they fight back, we're winning. because we're into war, we're into fear, we're into power through fear and war. So if they don't fight back, we're going to lose." He kind of knows that. But the damage that will be done until he gives up or he and his friends lose power is going to be difficult to watch.

[15:45]

And if we fight back, If in a way of war, I think they win. If we struggle for the sake of harmony, realizing that we are actually trying to embrace and sustain people who speak this way, people who say that americans are really tolerant and then the next breath say that homosexuals are mean-spirited and nasty and want to destroy american culture they don't really want to get married they just want to destroy the institution of marriage that's really what they want to do and then he says americans are really tolerant So then Terry Gross said, well, are you saying that Americans are tolerant and homosexuals are not tolerant? Is that what you're saying? But he's clever. He won't say, he won't answer that yes. So I, but generally my feeling was I just felt inspired to find some way to embrace and sustain this guy rather than be captured by his fear, which is so easy.

[17:02]

And hate him is so easy. It's easy to love people who agree with you. Not necessarily easy, but it's easier to love people who agree with you and basically go along with your program. But that's really loving yourself. And it's not that difficult to love yourself sometimes, especially when you're going along with your own program. And I think self-love is good. It's part of love. It's an aspect of love. A small aspect of love, but an important one. Because if you don't know how to do that, it undermines your love of others. But the love of others comes through loving people who are not going along with your program to some extent. Like my grandson. Generally speaking, he does not go along with my program. But I don't have difficulty loving him even though he's not on my side. you know, and he's trying to get control of me.

[18:05]

And if I'm under his control, he actually kind of likes me. And last week we talked about this one, I thought, really important paragraph where it says, It goes, action means right form, dignity and correct manner. So this cooperation, this cooperation which can include struggle, we struggle in a way that has right form, which has dignity and correct manner. I was listening to a show, also on NPR, about medical attention for American soldiers in Iraq. And I think that the guy said that people who get medical attention very quickly, like 98% survive.

[19:17]

But if it takes them 20 minutes or half an hour to get it, the survival rate goes way down. So now they have these medical units which are right out near the battles. So I thought, well, good, saved their lives, great. I thought, that's good. It's kind of like, it's a good meditation. How do we take care of these kids that are getting wounded? But I listened, and I didn't hear the whole show, but I was going to actually contact them and say... Are you also giving medical attention to the other side? Are the insurgents also getting this high-quality medical attention? I don't know. Does anybody know? Do they? Huh? Do our doctors take care of the other side? They do? Yeah, I thought, yeah, we should take care of the other side. When somebody attacks you... you know, and tries to kill you, and then they get wounded, then your doctor should come and take care of them.

[20:28]

It's a little counterintuitive, but that's called being dignified. Somebody attacks you and somebody comes up to hit you, they slip on a banana and fall down and crack their head open, you go and take care of them, even though they were trying to hurt you. That's called Dignity. Dignity is a way of acting where people respect you. Dignity is not that you think you're hot stuff, or if you do, that you think you're hot stuff in such a way that other people think you're hot stuff. Dignity inspires respect and appreciation. This kind of action, this kind of struggle, we're struggling with somebody and they get hurt, we take care of them. We have right form, correct manner, dignity. And I think I maybe told you that story that I heard about Waterloo when the French were attacking.

[21:33]

Did you hear the story? The French were attacking the British line. They had these squares, and the French cavalry were trying to break through the British squares, which have riflemen all the way around the outside, and then an officer inside. who will shoot any rifleman who backs away from the attack. And the riflemen are mostly stoned out of their minds so that they'll be able to stand this. So the French are in the retreat, and one officer in retreat on a horse gets off his horse to pick up a fallen soldier. And a rifleman's going to shoot this officer who's helping this wounded person, who's basically now a medic. And his officer says, don't shoot him. He's risking his life to help somebody who's out of action anyway, and he's going to retreat. He's going to go away. He's a noble person. Don't shoot him. If we take care of the wounded insurgents, there's some possibility that they won't be insurgents anymore.

[22:37]

If we give them love and skillful medical attention, that does sink in to some extent. They may continue to hate for a long time, but if you just keep it up in a dignified way, without seeking reward, according to this tradition, it works. It realizes harmony. But it's counterintuitive, right? Well, they just tried to kill me. Well, let them just sit there and rot, right? And the next part I said last week, and I In this manner, you cause yourself to be identified with others after causing others to identify with yourself. And I kind of turned that around last week and I kind of think it goes the other way. Other translations are, after regarding others as self, there must be a principle of assimilating oneself to others.

[23:46]

So I think it starts with us feeling that we're in the same boat and struggling in that situation in a non-oppositional way. to get others to join us. We join them, and then they join us. We sincerely join them without any sense of gain, and then they join us. The next part is, I think, kind of interesting, about the mountains. not excluding the mountains, and the ocean not excluding the water, and the ruler not excluding the people of the country.

[24:51]

Oh, excuse me, I just want to reiterate this one other point, that last sentence there where it says, however, the relationship of self and others varies limitlessly with circumstances. So under certain circumstances we're struggling with people in one way and in other circumstances we're struggling in another way. Now we're in We have this view and they have that view, but later we may have that view and they may have this view. Now you may feel opposed to the activities of the Bush administration and someone in that administration may be supportive of that activity and think that you're off base, but it could switch. You could switch to the other side. As horrible and unbelievable as that might seem, this is saying that it can happen.

[26:08]

That you could be in a position that you think makes no sense at all. Just like maybe occasionally in your life you may have noticed that you held a position and then suddenly realized your position made no sense at all. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever had this feeling like maybe your view might not be perfectly correct? And then have you actually gone so far as to think your view is totally baseless and not correct? Has that ever happened to you, that you feel like, I'm totally off base here? Of course, at that time you think you're on base again, and maybe you are. But I think the main thing is, that somebody has to be able to move in this picture. Somebody has to be able to be aware that everybody that we're looking at has once been our mother, our good mother.

[27:16]

And we've been the mother to every... And for some of us, it might be better to say everybody we're looking at was once our child. We've been their mother. We've been their father. We've been their sister. We've been their brother. And brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers can disagree about what to do in the face of danger. When we're afraid, we can have different opinions about what to do. But I think this text is saying, remember that because of interdependence, all different positions in this pattern are possible. This is trying to ask us to look at that and be open to that. I feel that if I go through this, things will get kind of bogged down, so I'm not going to. I'm just going to do a couple more highlights. and ask you to look at this text on your own later and one of the highlights for me is that well one of them is that even if a ruler does not weary of the people even if an enlightened ruler does not weary of the people

[28:39]

does not reject the people, does not hate the people. That does not mean there will be no rewards or punishment. But the rewards and punishment do not come from rejecting or hating. So now we have Scott Peterson thing. He got the death sentence. And I heard also that part of the reason why they gave the death sentence, some of the jurors anyway, because he showed no remorse They just couldn't bring themselves to spare him when he showed no remorse, some of them said. I, myself, I think I would be kind of a problem on that jury because I think I wouldn't vote to kill him because I feel that if he gets killed, He won't learn anything. Well, I shouldn't say he won't learn anything, but I'll put it positively.

[29:43]

He spends the rest of his life contemplating the situation, and there's a possibility that he'll wake up. And all of us then can contemplate the situation together. And I know it's expensive to take care of him for the rest of his life, but I think Besides the fact that there's some slight possibility that he didn't do it, I suppose. I don't know. But I'm in the same boat with this guy. He's been my mother. He's been my father. I've been his mother. I've been his father. I'd say let him live with the consequences of his karma because that's going to happen anyway. It's just that to traumatize him at this point by killing him, by murdering him, I don't think is going to help him learn.

[30:50]

It might, but I don't think necessarily. And I don't think it will help us learn. So I wouldn't have voted for it if I was on the jury. The concept of reward and punishment was different in the old days before they had governmental laws and so on. And then Dogen says, even at present, there should be some people who seek the way without expecting reward. Even now, there must be people who seek the right way even without reward. So here again, you know, if we seek the right way and we don't get rewarded, we may feel like maybe we should try a different way.

[31:59]

If we seek the right way and you know, things go the way they're going, maybe we should try another way. A way that would work. Like the way that they use. The ones who won. So that's another part of this teaching is to seek the right way even if you don't seem to get your way. To continue what you think is right even though you don't get rewarded for it. And then it says, this is beyond the understanding of ignorant people. And this has been a struggle for several months here, particularly during the previous class of No Outflows, to talk to people of how do you make, how do you try to do something good? Why would you try to do something good if you didn't think you'd get some reward for it?

[33:05]

Why would you do something good if you didn't get something to gain from it? And this is hard for ignorant people to understand. But if ignorant people would do this thing which is hard for them to understand, they would stop being ignorant people. They would start to understand. They would become enlightened rulers if they can learn to do what they think is good without expecting reward. Because the wise Lord or the enlightened ruler understands this, they do not weary of people. So there it is. If you do what you think is right, it doesn't mean you're right. But you do what you think is right without reward, I say you're doing the right. If you do what you think is right expecting reward, I say yes. you're not doing what achieves cooperation.

[34:10]

But if you are a wise ruler and you do what is right without expecting reward, if you understand that this is the way to go, then you will not become weary of people. You will not reject people. You will not hate people. That's what he's saying. If you understand this and act that way, you won't become weary. And aren't we getting weary? Isn't this tiring? We have to have energy to keep this up, to keep the struggle up. But if we're doing this expecting some reward, we're going to get pooped out these people we're going to get impatient we're going to reject them the wise person does not reject people does not get weary of people how can they not get weary of people people are awfully challenging aren't they this struggles takes a lot of energy how can I not get weary and reject them hate them if I struggle with them with no expectation if I struggle in the dignified

[35:32]

correct way with no expectation I won't get tired and I won't reject people who really disagree with me and think I'm really stupid and even think I'm trying to destroy their religious life even if I say I totally support your religious life I totally support your Catholicism I totally support your presbyterianism i totally support your judaism i totally support your muhammadism i support your buddhism even if i say that they may still think no you really don't and i may get challenged by that again and again but if i don't have any expectation i just tell them that and work for their welfare to support their religion I won't get tired and I won't hate them.

[36:33]

And if I continually work for them, Buddhist and non-Buddhist, if you continually work for Buddhist and non-Buddhist with no expectation in a dignified way, you won't get tired, you won't reject them, you won't hate them. I won't hate them. Even when they say, You know, homosexuals are mean-spirited and nasty and trying to destroy this country, even when they say that. I will embrace and sustain them with no expectation. If I embrace and sustain them with expectation, I'll stop embracing and sustaining them and I'll get weary of them and I'll reject them and I'll attack them and they'll say, see, you really are trying to attack me. Oops, you're right, I am. But the reason why I am is because I forgot about embracing and sustaining with no expectation. which of course is Christianity as taught by Jesus.

[37:36]

Help people with no expectation. Of course that's what it is. And that's Islam too. The Turks were never conquered by the armies of Islam. Turks are not Arabs. The Arab Islamic huge armies attacked the Turks of Central Asia. They never could beat them. The Turks are too tough. The Sufis, the Sufi saints conquered the Turks. The Islamic saints loved them to death, loved them to defeat. The meek can conquer anything, but they get pushed around quite a bit in the meantime. Meek means not trying to get reward.

[38:46]

Meek doesn't mean sneakily trying to get reward, like, oh, can I help you somewhere? No, you say, can I help you some way? But without trying to get anything from that. It's just a way to try to be dignified. So maybe stand up straight and say, can I help you anyway? Like, what's his name? John Waters, you know, he has his Christmas album out. And one of the things he has in the album is the chipmunks singing sleigh bells ringing or something. You know the chipmunks? Remember them? He loves chipmunks. He said, basically, I love anybody who talks fast. And if they talk so fast that they sound like a chipmunk, I'll marry him. Did you sing a chipmunk song?

[39:51]

Huh? I'm going to try to learn that one, yes. People seek in light the wise Lord, but they do not know completely the reason the wise Lord is the wise Lord. The reason the wise Lord is the wise Lord is because the wise Lord doesn't reject people. And the reason the wise Lord doesn't reject people is because the wise Lord realized that he's in the same boat with people and he's not trying to get any reward from them. But people don't understand that's why the wise Lord is the wise Lord. They only hope to be supported by the wise Lord.

[40:53]

where they only hope to not be rejected by the wise Lord. They do not notice that they are the ones who support the wise Lord. The wise Lord can't be the wise Lord unless the wise Lord is supported by everybody. The wise Lord does not reject people, does not hate people, is not weary of people. And because of that all the people support and make the wise Lord into the wise Lord. But people don't realize that they actually make the wise Lord the wise Lord. They need to realize this. And then it says, in this way, the principle of identity action or the principle of cooperation is applied to both the wise Lord and people. It actually says ignorant people.

[41:57]

I think the translators didn't like to put ignorant in there because ignorant people doesn't sound very polite. But the point is that the identity action applies to those who understand identity action and those who don't. Those who understand that we're working together, those who understand that they're supporting you and you're supporting them, those who want to support you and aren't trying to get anything from that, those are the enlightened ones. And the ones who want to get support and don't realize they are supporting are the unenlightened ones. However, the cooperation applies to the enlightened and the unenlightened. We're in the same boat and the actuality of cooperation applies to those who understand it and those who don't. And those who don't support the ones who do, but they don't understand that they support the ones they do. But we must listen to the teaching that this principle applies to us prior to being a wise leader.

[43:05]

The principle applies to us and applies to the wise leader. It's the same principle. And then it says, this being so, this kind of identity action, this kind of cooperation is a bodhisattva vow. It says, is a bodhisattva vow. Another translation says, this being so, this cooperation, this being in the same boat and having the same goal is the practical undertaking of bodhisattvas. This is the actual practical work of bodhisattvas. This isn't the whole work. There are certain kinds of other meditations which are in some sense more abstract and theoretical. But actually putting this into practice, this is the big one. So I hope you enjoyed studying this little fascicle as much as I did.

[44:11]

I think it's a It's a great way to meditate alone by yourself and also to realize harmony in the world. And it certainly is hard to embrace and sustain people who are going around saying how tolerant they are and how nasty everybody else is. Well, not everybody, but certain people. It's very difficult to listen to that and be dignified without expecting any academy awards. Yes? Yeah, I've heard. I know somebody who was in a hospital in Cuba. She said it was great. They really took care of her. And she's an American. Did really good care of her. Yeah, that's what I heard, too.

[45:16]

Yeah. Well, no, it's not true that they're rewarded. They get tremendous reward. They get the best possible reward. It's just that that's not what they're there for. Like this friend of mine was in the hospital in Cuba, and this nurse just sat with her all night. And nobody can make the nurse do that. It's a male nurse, and he just sat with her all night. You do get rewards. You're just not trying to get them. They get rewards. That's why they keep it up. You do get rewarded. You do get rewarded. Just don't be looking for it. At least financially they make peanuts, at least in Cuba. Yeah, they feed them in peanuts, that's right. Peanuts and cigars. They teach for free anybody in the world, including Americans who want to go there and be fully trained.

[46:24]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really wonderful. Yeah, thank you. And their music. And their baseball players. They have really good baseball players there. Really good. And really good music. And really good people. And we're in the same boat with them. These are our mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters. Right? But we have to be careful. Otherwise we might... And his vigour, you know. He's my brother, he's my mother. My God, I've got to work there. This is a real challenge. But it just shows the unlimited horizon of love, you know, that I could love that guy. It's like, yeah, there's some growth. This is a growth of possibility there. That's what I liked about Zen from the beginning, though.

[47:28]

I thought, boy, this is some... You can really... Yeah. To go from where I am to there, that's like... I'm reading a book on the neurobiology of love. And it makes the case that the ability to feel compassion or even connection to kin is dependent on certain biological structures, like the limbic brain, which mammals have, but reptiles don't have. So if the bodhisattva path, depending on having a limbic brain, It may be the case that although I am not wary of reptiles, that reptiles might have some gaining idea towards me.

[48:52]

that they may not understand about dignified behavior without any expectation of reward. Or maybe I should say you. Maybe you could not be weary of reptiles. Maybe you could not reject reptiles. Maybe you could feel compassion for reptiles and not get weary of them and not want to kill them. And even if you're afraid of them, maybe you could, because you're not weary of them, you could work with your fear and be kind to them. But they may be at a stage of development such that they cannot understand that they're in the same boat with you and they may be mostly in the game, you know, maybe not trying to eat you but trying to eat something else. That's mainly what they're concerned with. But this teaching is saying that even so, This cooperation applies to them and you, even if you're more evolved and your limbic brain may help you.

[49:55]

But some people have limbic brains and squash reptiles. And we also, another animal family is amphibians, right? And we have a lot of amphibians at Green Gulch during this time of year because when it's moist, the newts come out. And recently I saw, I see a lot of newts at Green Gulch, but recently I saw them in a row. It was really cute to see them lined up in a row by the office early in the morning. Some people with limbic brains can step on newts on purpose. But even if they do, Still, this principle applies. even though they're ignorant and don't realize that they're in the same boat with newts or reptiles as the pies. So we need to understand that those who may not yet be able to understand this because they don't have limbic brain or whatever, they're still supporting the wise ruler.

[51:02]

They're still supporting the compassionate one. And the compassionate one, of course, supports them. The actuality of harmony between the different levels of life We need to realize that. It doesn't mean necessarily that if you're nice to newts or nice to reptiles that they will, while still in a reptile body, be able to understand. But if you understand this, you won't get weary of them. You won't reject them. You won't hate them. And you'll be able to do this with other beings, too, who you have other expectations of, like you think they should know better because they have a limbic brain. One of my friends, you know, who's been practicing Buddhism a long time, I was talking to him earlier today and he said, he said, I think giving solace is actually part of the practice. And I looked at him and I just felt, you know, in one sense I felt like, yeah,

[52:05]

and you, this is like new to you. You've been practicing for 30 years and you now realize that giving solace to people is part of our practice. But at the same time I just loved him for being like a little kid who just kind of like dawned on him that compassion is part of Zen. He thought Zen was, you know, a little bit groovier than just like giving solace. Of course it's fundamental. And it doesn't, and we do it with reptiles. We give reptiles solace. They don't have limbic brain. They don't feel like... They don't say thank you. Like birds are originally reptiles, right? If they get stunned by the window and I take care of them, they don't say thank you. They just fly off. But they're still part of this process. And we can have bad relationships with reptiles. We can still hurt them even though don't have the ability to feel certain things they can still feel pain in their in their own reptilian way and we have a reptilian thing in our down in here too we got a reptilian brain in here we have it it's part of us they got a reptile inside here we have more so right in our own body we can like work this out

[53:31]

And the cells in the reptile brain can be transformed by this practice. And the cells in reptiles can be transformed by this practice. And the zillions of Buddhas in the cells of the reptiles can start cheering and saying, look, look what these humans are doing with these reptiles we live inside of, you know. And the reptiles can be this huge palatial galaxy filled with Buddhas who are happy that we're being kind to reptiles. Reptiles don't know it, but the innumerable Buddhas inside the reptiles are very happy to see our practice. The reptiles to some extent feel you know like they're housing something really great Get the picture This is called imagining the world of being in the same boat with the entire universe and working in cooperation So the key thing is wanting to give solace to all beings as fundamental

[54:45]

wanting to bring peace is fundamental, but then also no gain, no reward. And, of course, the reward is really wonderful, but we're not looking at that because that tires us out and makes us get disappointed in birds and humans. I'm curious whether you think little children have a better notion. My child was maybe two or three. He thought that there were ghosts inside us. Ghosts. And they are us. And they tell us what to do. And I thought it was very interesting for a little child to come up with this out of

[55:51]

nothing that we have told them. But I'm wondering if that's common with old children, that they are in touch with something that we would touch with as we age. Do you think? Oh, I thought that was, to me that sounds just like the idea of a self inside of us that's doing things. Yeah, that's what I thought. It sounded like a self, which they are in touch with from birth. that pre-linguistically I think children have the idea of separation from others. At first they think they own others and then when they realize they don't own others and others are not them then they think they're separate. So I think actually children are ignorant like us. And the story you told I think is a story of belief in a self. But children, the word self is kind of

[56:53]

You know, they don't have cartoons showing selves. They have cartoons showing ghosts and monsters. But then they can feel like those things are in them, that there's a little self in there. That's the way I would hear that. And I think they do know that. Just like we think that, they think that. And just like we believe that, they believe that. And now we're in a course of getting over believing in that. My grandson says, there's no ghosts, there's no monsters. He says, there aren't any. They're made to pretend. Yes.

[57:58]

How does the tiger keep the man alive and full? Well, one way is that it kept him busy, you know, that he would have probably gone into extreme depression of he lost his family and here he is day after day, hour after hour out there, you know, what's the point of continuing to live? So he's just too busy to feel sorry for himself? To some extent, yeah. too busy to really get into his depression. But he also was facing his fear all along, and at the end of the story, he seems to be pretty liberated. When they finally landed on land in the story, the tiger ran away from him, and that really hurt him that the tiger ran away. Although he can understand the tiger can't live with them, you know. But still, the tiger didn't even say goodbye and thanks, you know, for saving my life and feeding me all that time. The tiger just ran away.

[59:00]

But I felt that the way he was described after his landing on, getting back on land, he sounded pretty liberated. I think that which we're afraid of liberates us if we face it. And, yeah, I think that's the case. And, you know, face it in a dignified way without expecting any reward for facing it. Understanding that it's the path of freedom but not expecting reward. Understand that not expecting reward and not trying to gain anything is the path of freedom, but then apply it to fear. You can say, okay, here I'm with these nice people, okay, the path of freedom is not expectation, I won't expect anything of them.

[60:07]

That's good, but what about when they start misbehaving? Continue that practice now that they're not going along with your program. And then you have a chance to not reject them, because rejecting beings is not the path to freedom. Rejecting beings is the path to what we call hell. Hating beings is the path to the worst possible situation. the worst possible way to live is to hate what gives you life. Because that's your hating life when you hate anybody, even nonliving beings. But, you know, if somebody says, I hate that, you can say that.

[61:12]

That can be part of the struggle. But you don't mean I hate that doesn't equal, I wish that that thing would suffer. I wish that that thing would be harmed. I wish that that thing would be destroyed. You can say I hate it without feeling that way. You can say to someone who you love, truly, I hate you. People say that to me quite frequently. But almost nobody that really is not in touch with their love of me, talks to me that way. Of course, everybody loves me, but only those who are aware that they love me dare to say, I hate you. So far, that's been my experience. Nobody who really doesn't love me has ever said they hate me. I should say, nobody who is not aware that they love me, who doesn't feel that they love me, or put it positively, only those who are aware that they love me have been able to say, I hate you to me.

[62:12]

Now, I'm not saying that you people don't love me, just because you haven't said that to me yet. I think some people probably who are not in touch with loving me think they hate me, but they don't tell me, because they don't think I'd have to love them to tell them it's not worth the trouble. and I'm not going to tip my hand to that creep. The idea of fear and facing fear, I'm just wondering, all the fears that I may have, how do I know which one To face. So there's fear of not having anything.

[63:16]

Face the one that's happening. And not go out of my way. I mean, well, they're always there. Well, yeah, I mean, there's other causes and conditions for facing certain kinds of fear. Like, for example, I have fear around tango dancing. But I didn't sort of think, now what am I afraid of? I'm going to do tango. It's more like my wife wanted to learn a dance and I thought there's something for us to do together. And then you go over there and there's the fear. And then you keep, even though there's a fear, you keep keep going back into that arena. Yoga classes can be frightening. You don't go to the yoga class necessarily just because they're frightening. When you get in there and the teacher says, well, try this now, you feel like, whoa, you know. Or like Donald told me about when he first went to India, Mr. Anger said, you know, just fall backwards. He didn't go there just for that, but that happened.

[64:21]

So he got to face some fear, right? But he didn't say, okay, I'm going to go to India to get scared. That wasn't the main reason. It just comes with a lot of things. A lot of things, it comes. If you go looking for the fear, you're going to choose the wrong one. Just basically do something you think is good and the fear will come, rather than do something you think is afraid, because then you're going to choose something you're not really afraid of. Probably. So don't select your fear. Just be present and it'll come. Like Thoreau said, all you got to do is sit in an attractive spot in the forest. He doesn't say go sit in like the darkest, coldest, smelliest part of the forest. You know, don't pick the scariest caliph, you know. Sit in a nice place in the forest. All you got to do is sit in an attractive spot in the forest, some place you'd like to sit long enough, and all the inhabitants will come and meet you.

[65:27]

Some you may not, some may be chipmunks. You think, oh, how cute. But bears will come, skunks will come, coyotes, people, conservative people will come. And say, you're trying to destroy my religion. Everybody will come if you just sit in the practice spot long enough. They'll all come. And then you've got no selection problem. Because you didn't choose a place. Now, where's most people coming by, you know? You just chose a place you like to sit. Like, we've got a nice little cushion here. This is nice. Quiet people will sit here. And they'll all come. That's the idea. And then when they come, practice cooperation. I'm in the same boat with this bear. We may have a struggle, but I'm in the same boat. I'm supporting him, he's supporting me.

[66:30]

I'm supporting her, she's supporting me. And I don't expect anything. And I don't have to reject. Oh, yeah. And the last line is, with a gentle expression, practice with all people.

[67:30]

Meet everybody with a mild and gentle expression. And you folks are not very talkative now. And I don't know what that means, but I see a lot of gentle expressions, a lot of mild and kind expressions. So now just with this feeling, practice identity action with all beings. Please. I'll try, too, with you. And if I forget, I will say I'm sorry, and I will be forgiven by the jury if they'll take pity on me and realize that I'm supporting them and they're supporting me.

[68:43]

One time I was talking to somebody and I felt this kind of pain and dustiness in my heart and I just felt like I had to say, I love you. I felt like I was, by not saying that, that I was holding back here. So I said, I love you. And I felt some more blockage. I still felt kind of obstructed, holding something back, and I said, thank you. And then I didn't quite feel completely clear, and I said, I'm sorry. And then I felt I said everything I had to say. So I feel that way. I love you, and I thank you, and I'm sorry.

[69:53]

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