Is this set? It's recording. It's recording? Yeah. Okay. And I can't turn it off? You can't turn it off. Okay. I said something like, this is just a story. And so it might have been better for me to have said, I think, I don't claim, I'm not claiming that what I'm saying is true. It might be, but I'm not claiming that it is. And that's another story. And also, I was looking at this chart here, you know, like a river, road building and the road.

[01:07]

So another way is to say that we have a direct experience. And sometimes we say a direct experience of life. We can just say we have direct experience. And another way to say it is we have direct life. We don't actually experience life. Life is experience. But we talk that way. We say, I experience my life, or I experience life. But life is actually experience, cognition. And there is immediate experience, immediate life every moment. And with this immediate experience for us comes a capacity to cognitively construct. So we have direct cognitive, direct cognitive

[02:13]

experience and we also have the ability to construct something upon this direct experience. And to construct theories and images which we can then hopefully grasp and so on. So that's the road building. And then the result, one of the this mental construction is worlds, karmically created worlds. And then And the comically created worlds mix in with the situation in which direct experience arises. So then direct experience arises in relationship to comically created worlds and also... that are sort of...

[03:22]

more basic than the karmically created worlds, sort of uncreated worlds, uncreated existence in the sense of uncreated by mental construction. And then again, from that, with that, those worlds, we have more direct experience, more mental construction, and more worlds created by mental construction. Even the original direct experience is not the entire world. It's the world and the working of the world as it's manifested at our body.

[04:28]

at the interaction between our body and the world. That's our life, that's our experience. It's not the whole universe manifesting as this life. And to some extent then it's limited. This direct experience, although it's a direct and wonderful It's limited and it's somewhat enclosing. It's somewhat enclosing. And then the thought constructions which are built on this somewhat limited universe at the interface between our body and the universe that mental construction then one of the consequences of it is that it can become habitual and that creates even more enclosure containment and it's containment

[05:44]

due to the process of life. So it's not that it's bad that this is necessary, that it goes this way, but it creates a kind of containment due to our thought construction habit, our karmic habit. And then the consequence of that is the cycle continuing but also the creation of new, ever new, ever new worlds which seem ever not new and containing, entrapping. And so towards the end of class, Helen brought up a question about, you know, to what extent is everything... One might say, you know, every little thing in the world is a result of karma. And... every object we, every phenomena we know, you could say, is a result of karma.

[06:58]

But I don't think it's, I think you can distinguish between, there's certain lineage between personal karma and collective karma and the physical. My understanding is that the physical phenomena that we're responding to are the result of collective karma, that we're all contributing to what's called a container world. It has a funny name, Bajama Loka. A container world which we create together. And the container world is the physical world that we're interacting with. And then there's also the world of being, sattva loka, and that's also created by karma. But there I think our personal lineage is more irrelevant.

[08:06]

But there, too, I don't think that we or our karma is all that makes us. I think we are, we, the living being, is made from our body interacting with the world. The body doesn't make the body, but the body interacting with the physical world creates a life experience, then there's a basis for karmic activity. Consequence of that is more worlds and beings to interact and create more consciousness. But the individual doesn't make this go by him or herself. But each individual person, although they don't make themselves, can observe to some extent their own creation, not how they create things.

[09:19]

They can observe the cause and effect of their own selfhood, and see that your self is not self-made. And also I just thought I'd mention at this point that our body is in some sense both a gross and a subtle material event, and that there are gross and subtle material events. The gross material events are the sensible data. the subtle material phenomena, the sensitive organs.

[10:23]

So our body is a sensible body, a sensitive body, a sensuous body. It's five organs. But our body is also a... that can be a tangible thing, Our body can be a tangible thing. It can be olfactory data. It's not exactly a sound, but it can give off sound. Light can use our body to be seen. We don't actually see light. We see light as it reflects off of somebody's body. So people's bodies are part of the visual experience and so on. So our bodies can be part of gross materiality and subtle materiality.

[11:27]

And both the gross material and the subtle material are the result of karma, but not the result of my my body is the result of my karma alone. My body is the result of everybody's karma. So you're all responsible for my body, according to that understanding, I would say. And also, I'm responsible for all your bonds, but I don't make by my own bodies. And you are not responsible You are not responsible for making your body, but you are responsible for your body. You can take care of your body, and you do, one way or another. But you also can take care of other people's bodies, and you do, one way or another. So we're responsible both in terms of contributing to each other's physical existence, and we're responsible for each other's physical existence.

[12:36]

And it's not like an assignment that you're responsible, but in fact you do take care of everybody's body. You do respond to everybody's body. You do a relatively wholesome or unwholesome job of it. You can't help. I can't help but respond to you. your bodies. I do respond to your bodies. I am responsible for your bodies and you are responsible for mine. You do respond to me. You can't avoid it. You can't avoid making me. You can't avoid being made by me. And you can't avoid being made by me once I exist for a moment. And then everything changes and you're responsible to the next body that I am. Once again, the definition of a type of mental activity is how we project our stories, how we construct and project stories to the world.

[14:24]

Karma is mental construction to establish relationships with the world. And... I don't remember what I said. Anybody remember what I said? Mental construction to establish relationships with the world. So we do establish a relationship between the self and some sampling of the world. There is a relationship there. We then construct something to establish or order or create our own cognitive version of our relationship with the world.

[15:36]

Once again, we are responsible for each other. I'm telling you that story. Others are responsible for us. We have a relationship. However, being born out of that relationship together with all beings, born out of that relationship with us, we then make a mental construct. So we have our own cognitive version of that relationship. Of course, I don't know of course, but to me it seems to make sense that I can't grasp my relationship with you. I can't grasp how you contribute to my life and I contribute to you. But I can cognitively construct a picture of that relationship and I can, through mental constructions, I can grasp then the relationship between myself and the world, between myself and the world.

[16:45]

And so the way I do it is I construct the relationship of self and phenomena. or grasper and grasped. I can talk about grasper and grasped. So that's one way that we typically construct the relationship cognitively. And this is a way, I could say just now, that this is a way to cope with this ungraspable flux of our relationship with each other. And I also mentioned that we desire because we feel alienated and lacking. And we feel alienated because we have, you know, alienated ourselves from this intense dance by which we, which is our experience, this dance between ourselves and the world.

[18:08]

We've alienated ourselves from it because we're afraid of it. And then we feel a sense of lack because one of the ways we alienate ourselves and protect ourselves from this intense flux is by creating a sense of self. But then we feel lacking all the time because we created to cope with our life, but we don't have this thing which we created. So we feel lacking of something which we've created, which doesn't exist. And we created this thing to cope with what we're yearning for, that we've separated ourselves from, by creating this thing which doesn't exist, which we feel lacking. So we both yearn and fear for this flux.

[19:17]

and we fear it. And we're separated from it because we've constructed something which doesn't exist in hopes that that would give us some peace. And then we feel lacking because we've constructed something which we can't have, namely an independent self. And another kind of, so I'm mentioning this, and this is part of the of our desires, our our longings and our sense of lack and are being driven by this pattern. So studying this is part of rectifying this process. So Buddha teaches cause and effect.

[20:30]

to help us rectify our misapprehension, our misconceptions, our experience. And, yeah, in rectifying our vision, we actually can let go of these habits. Correct? Make upright? It means to make upright. Does that make sense? To be upright? Yeah. To make our erect. Well, erect. Erect. So the usual way, which you talked about yesterday, we have a self which acts on the world, and that way of seeing is part of the causes and conditions of creating our problems.

[21:56]

But if we can study that cause and effect of that pattern of delusion, If we can study that and learn about the causes and conditions there, it's possible that our vision will become rectified and we'll be able to see that actually, we'll be able to see how the self comes to be in the advent of all these conditions, in the advent of a body, interacting with phenomena and consciousness arising. And there's a self there, self, which it turns out to be pretty much the same self which was misunderstood. So it doesn't always say there isn't a self, it's just a question of understanding it properly, and understanding it properly has to do with understanding the causes and conditions of misunderstanding.

[22:59]

and also the causes and conditions as they actually are. Some people have expressed relief that we're not studying the Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra. And some people have said they miss it. So feel that they're missing it. And with the tolerance of those who are glad never to hear about it again. there might be kind of a relationship between the first phase, this direct experience, and what we, what in the sutra is called the other dependent character.

[24:10]

All phenomena have an other dependent character. And then all phenomena have an impotent character. imputational character, a fabricated, a mentally constructed character, a character that's just constructed, that doesn't exist except as a mental construction. The third thing here on this chart is not the third of the three characteristics of phenomena. The third is a consequence of mental construction. upon or it's a consequence of the imputational character of our existence which is, you know, superimposed on the other dependent character of our experience of our life.

[25:16]

It's a consequence which is then is actually another other dependent character which then you can superimpose the imputational character on. So in this picture here, characteristics are not illuminated directly, or literally. Now some of you don't know much, haven't heard about the Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra, right? So, I'm sorry that I brought it up. But anyway, there's three characteristics discussed for all phenomena. The other dependent character, the imputational character, and the thoroughly established character. Thoroughly established character is the way things actually come to be.

[26:28]

the way they always are. The other dependent character is, you know, how they depend on other things to exist. And the imputational character is an imaginary version of events. So in the study we've been doing so far, really we're talking about just the first two. We haven't so much mentioned the third directly. Can any of you guess how to describe the third in terms of this scenario? Yes? Yes, and when you see it clearly, what do you see? Everything free of our conception.

[27:34]

When you see the conception... You changed language slightly. Conception is the same as imputational character? Or not necessarily... Maybe it's more general. Conception is more general than imputational character. Because some conceptions aren't mere... Some conceptions are just other dependent characters, but it may be better if you don't switch the language. So, start over. You said, see something clearly. What did you say? You saw clearly? That's different from what you said before, but that's okay. I said it would be seeing everything free of a conception. That's what you said, but before that you said seeing something clearly.

[28:37]

Before you said seeing something clearly, what was it? Seeing clearly what? I can't remember. I think he said something about see clearly about how the imputational character how the imputational superimposed on the other dependent. He said something like that. So that would be like seeing clearly how the road building how the road building is superimposed on the river, or to see how mental construction is placed. To see that clearly, that would be quite a feat. And if you saw that clearly, then, did you say you'd be free of conceptual? Free of... Conception? be free of being hindered by conception. That's right.

[29:38]

But it's not quite the same as the thoroughly established character. But there's another part to that, too. The thoroughly established character is, when you see it, you will be free of conception. When you see the thoroughly established character. The thoroughly established character is how it is that the imputation is actually not present in the other dependent character. So our imputations on things are not actually in them. They're actually absent. And to see that they're absent, not to see that they're absent, their absence is the way they really, is their thoroughly established character. Of these projections is the way they actually are. The way they're actually happening is that they're free of these things. Even though these things are are part of the scene, they're not actually in the other dependent character of things. So the road is not actually in the river.

[30:44]

To be able to see that the road is not in the river comes oftentimes from studying the road. Excuse me, the road building even isn't in the river. You can't find it in the river. you would become free of conception, not just misconception, but all kinds of mental constructions you'd become free of. Yes? I thought you, I heard you say that there's a stage of realizing the emptiness of the other before you experience the next stage beyond that. Yeah, that's right. That's pretty much it. Once you see, you're realizing the thoroughly established, once you realize the emptiness, or is the emptiness stage and then there was another unfolding of the thoroughly established beyond the emptiness?

[31:46]

No. There is, by understanding the emptiness of... the emptiness of the other dependent, that the other dependent is empty of, or free of, or lives in an absence of imputation. By understanding that, your vision opens to see what the other dependent is. That's the further. The further revelation is to see when you find that the stories about how they happen are not actually present in the happening. So first you clear your vision by not believing anymore your stories about how things happen. See how things happen. But even before you see how things happen, you're already liberated from the problems that come from adhering to the stories you tell about things.

[32:54]

In other words, you can be liberated before you understand the full range of subtleties of causation. So liberation, in some senses, is the entry into the real unfolding of the Buddha's teaching. So you really enter the path of deepening your revelation upon seeing the way things are ultimately. even though not completely. Ultimately is that any stories we have about how things are isn't found in the way they are. Any stories we have about how things come to be are absent in the way they come to be. When you see that all the stories that you have about the way things come to be cannot be found, when you verify that, then you can start to see how things come to be without

[33:59]

And if everyone has the same story, is that because they have the same karma? We don't have the same story, but we do the same kind of karma in the sense that we tell stories in similar ways. The tremendous similarity in the world creates similar worlds, but we don't exactly tell the same stories. But we tell stories in similar ways. Because I noticed the movement, she thinks the same as I think, so I'm right, and that's that kind of, you know, ego grading, and I know that we all do it. Yeah, and she has the same, so I'm right, and so on. So exercising our grammatical structures is a very intimately close kind of shared karma. So we're contributing to creating a world to our very similar action. And then also you can reinforce that by noticing how similarly we think.

[35:09]

But our similar thoughts are similar mental constructions. And these constructions that are similar, which we can use as proof, we could use them as proof to hold on to them, as justification for being rigid about them, they're actually absent in the way things come to be. But of course you can have stories about the way things come to be always. I just thought I'd briefly reference that and I hope that wasn't too difficult for the people who hadn't studied the Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra. Are you ready to ask questions? Some people are. Are the people who aren't ready for the people who are?

[36:11]

I think I can stop now for a little while. Do you want to stop now? I'm happy to stop now, yeah. Is there any particular direction you'd like me to go? Is there a number three? I noticed when I wrote this here, I noticed that this particular story here does not literally list the third characteristic of all phenomena. That's why I brought it up. Yes? Isn't it the river without the rope? Is it the absence of the rope building the river? The absence of the road building in the river, isn't that there established? Yes, that would be, but it isn't on there literally. The absence of two and one is the third characteristic of all phenomena.

[37:15]

That's right. But that's not number one. Number three is the result of road buildings. And again, there's two kinds of world. One kind of world is the world of direct experience. It's still somewhat enclosing, and it still depends on the environment. But it's not the same world that's the result of road building. It's a somewhat different world. it's, you know, it's graspable, it's unknown, it's unlocated, and so on. It doesn't have street addresses. But it's a world, so to mix these terms, and it also is conditioned by karma.

[38:17]

So anyway, when I... The first two are similar to the first two characteristics, and the third is not mentioned here, but actually a third is one. The absence of two and one is the third characteristic. The absence of two and one? Yeah. The absence of two and one. And it's also the absence of two and three when you look at three as a dependent core rising. It's also the absence of two and three. That's right, actually, because three is a version of both the river. All these have... The river's an other-dependent character. The river depends on things other than itself. Even the quality of being flowing depends on things other than the flowing. The road building is other-dependent character, and the road is an other-dependent character. But in terms of experience, like if you're having immediate experience, and then you do some road building with that immediate experience, and you do,

[39:29]

actually. In immediate experience we do this road building. So that would be, the immediate experience would be the other dependent and the imputation would be the other building. But then when the road occurs, it's another, you can have a direct experience of the road. But the road, you know, the road is, yeah, you can have a direct experience of the road. And then you can do thought construction on the road and so on. Mm-hmm. Yes? If the third characteristic, to be a characteristic, it's a phenomenon? So it can be, is it perception? Is it occurring? Is it fairly established? And if so, are you perceiving nothing at all? You have a phenomenon that has three characteristics, but the characteristics are also phenomena? Does the characteristic mean it's a phenomenon, the fairly established characteristic? Is that defined as a phenomenon?

[40:32]

It can be sensed? Yeah, you can do that, so be careful, because it's going to balloon all of it. But okay, so let's say you have the other dependent character, and you have, yes, three characteristics. Yes, mm-hmm. character of a phenomenon. Yes? So the fairly established, at the moment of the experience of the fairly established, is there perception? Do you mean you can have a perception of the fairly established? Yes. And what's the object? What's the object? The object is a... It's seeing that the invitational character cannot be found.

[41:37]

It's not just not finding it. It's seeing that the story cannot be found in the phenomenon. It's seeing that. So the story has to stay there long enough. It has to still be in the picture. At the moment of… Well, it's implied, but you actually can't see it. You remember it? You could remember it so you know that it isn't there. When you're looking for something and you can't find it, you remember what you're looking for, hopefully. Or you used to be able to remember. So you're looking for something and you can't find it, but that's not the same as looking for it, not finding it, and knowing that it can't be found. Seeing the thoroughly established character, you see that it cannot be found, and also you don't find it. However, you know what you're looking for, and you'd be the first to know.

[42:42]

So you know what it looks like, so in a sense you've understood. You can say you remember, but you've also understood what it is that you're looking for. You're looking for this story, this mental construction. Okay? And you see that it can't be found, and you have a perception that it can't be found. Or you have a cognitive, a conceptual cognition that it can't be found. You can also have a a valid understanding conceptually that you can't find this in a way that you've never had before. So it isn't just the way that you've heard about this teaching, that our stories about things cannot be found in them, and you say, oh, that makes sense. But usually when you hear that's teaching, that your story about people and events and so on cannot be found in them, and it makes sense to you, and you think about it on that in your daily life for quite a long time maybe, right?

[43:46]

Then one day suddenly you see it in a way you never saw before. you see it for the first time, that that's so, conceptually. And then that's a big transformation. And then you can also have a direct perception of that. The absence of the karma, actually, the absence of your karma in the world. or not so much in the world, but in your life, which is the relationship between your life, which is the world. Because again, you see the absence of the story that you're separate from the world. You see the absence of that, that's a big, you see the absence of the separation between the grasper and the grasped. And you see that it can't be found. if they looked for the substantial separation between the grasper and the grasped, they would have a real easy time not finding that.

[44:51]

They'd go, huh? They wouldn't even know where to begin to look. They would just say, I'm winning this game. But to hear about the teaching and see that, you can perceive that because it's a phenomenon. So phenomena have characteristics and the characteristics are phenomena. Does that make sense? I mean, it's kind of a difficult idea, actually. Characteristics are also phenomena because if they weren't, you wouldn't be able to investigate them and discern them and know them. And then they also have three characteristics, which are phenomena. So starting with any phenomena, a color, for example, it has these three characteristics. And as Fu said, you'd have to, first of all, you can't directly see the other dependent character of phenomena. You can't see the other dependent character because by habit, we do the thought construction on top of it.

[46:00]

So you're experiencing the world, but then you're really experiencing the world through your karma. You have a cognitive version of the world, and then you superimpose your relationship with the world over this color, you know. This color is now. in terms of your needs in relationship to the world you see, or in terms of how you see yourself in relationship to the world. So that's the imputed picture on top of the phenomenon of the color. So you need to study your karma to know that's what you're going to be able to find out is not actually in, not found in any of these phenomenons. And that itself can be a phenomenon. It has three characteristics. So you can have a story about what the story is, which you do.

[47:07]

But also the story you have about the story is not found in the story either. Stories also are phenomena, and stories have these three characteristics too. But the stories I have about my stories are not actually in my stories. even though they're my stories, so I should be able to say. Neither I nor you, is that correct English? Neither I nor you can make a story. that actually is found in the story, make a story about our story that's found in our stories. Even though it's my story, I'm saying it, I can't actually make a story about it. Yes? In one of the sutras that we chant in the morning, it says, when dharma fills your whole body at night, you feel that something is missing.

[48:14]

Yes. Is that what you're speaking about, that the thing that is missing is the story? Yes. Is it what you think is missing, in this terms of... I'm asking, is it in the sutra... Yeah. ...that it's wonderful to hold body and mind, you feel that something is missing. Is that what we sense is missing, is the stories and the kind of body and mind are filled by... Is that what that means? Well, I don't know. Lately I've been thinking that what you realize is missing is the 95% of your consciousness is missing. That's what comes to mind. But now, what's the other kind of missing that you're proposing? You're talking about the stories and the karma that we now have a sense that... So it's another version of it, is that you would sense that your story is missing in... in the ocean. So another way to look at it is you go out in the ocean and you have this story about the ocean, that it's a circle, and you realize something's missing.

[49:21]

This doesn't really characterize the ocean. That way of looking at it is more like realizing this is only five percent of what's going on. But another way to look at it would be another version of missing, because there could be infinite versions of missing. Another version of missing would be this not in the ocean. But because of us being in the ocean, the way we see things, there seems to be a circle in the ocean, but there actually isn't a circle out in the ocean, and the ocean isn't circular. The ocean isn't circular, plus there aren't circles out in the ocean, and there aren't sky. But in order to make sense of the sky, we make these stories about the sky, and it's nice. And we can't help it anyway. So we go out in the ocean and we make a circle. But the circle isn't in the ocean, plus also the ocean isn't actually fully represented by the circle.

[50:25]

However, and this is also part of the Genjo koan, which is particularly brought out in the part where it talks about firewood and ash, when you realize that how limited that limitation, you understand that the entire ocean is creating this limited version of itself. But if you don't accept the limitation of it, you're confused about what the ocean is, and you're both confused about what the ocean is and the circle of water. If you accept that this is a circle of water and a very limited version, and you really accept that, then you realize this circle of water is the total manifestation, is the whole works of the ocean. It's not the whole ocean, it's the whole works. It's the whole ocean, not the whole. It's the whole ocean because the whole ocean works through these little circles. And you can experience then the manifestation of the whole works in a part.

[51:32]

But if you refuse to accept the limitation, then you're just confused and you don't see the manifestation of the whole works. To understand that something is missing is actually very funny. To understand that something is missing is very freeing. Yes. Well, yes, right. And it's a result of letting the Dharma fill your body and mind. Then you can understand something is missing, and then you can be liberated by understanding that the limited situation is actually the whole universe working this way. Yes? Yes? Thank you, Ms. Chris, very clear about the good confession. Thank you. Thank you, the common law, the right, no, consciousness, the right from common law, and leave for more relationship for everybody.

[52:36]

You have to be very clear about that. How to apply. Did you use the word contrition? Contrition. Oh, construction. Yeah. Yeah. Well... Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. How does it apply to practice? Uh-huh. How does this apply to the practice of calm?

[53:48]

For this lesson, how to apply How does it apply to practicing calm? Well, first of all, it's good to practice calm. Usually not in the way of meditating on this kind of teaching. This kind of teaching is not usually recommended at the beginning for developing calm. But if you're already calm, if you're already calm when you hear this teaching, you will become more calm when you understand it.

[54:50]

But usually for calm we recommend not actually looking at your thinking. Pardon? Like, I make a sample. Like, yesterday we cook, like we cook kale or some kale, have some food, and we have the condiment. Yes. Like everything you explained today. Yeah. We have every condiment put together. We make the food. Yes. And the postpose of food for feet or everybody eating it. Now, I would like to know how your... I would like to know your teaching of life.

[55:52]

To that? Yes, so when you're cooking? When you're cooking? So when you're cooking, each moment you're cooking, you have some story about cooking. Yes. So, the basic teaching here is be aware of what your story is while you're cooking. ...by moment. Be aware of, okay, now I have this story or now I have the intention to cut this vegetable. Now I have the intention to bring these ingredients together, to add this condiment. This is my intention. I see myself... I see myself in relationship to these people. This is my position here. This is my job. This is what I see. Okay, now I see, now I have a different job. I see that. And now because of my different job, I want to do this.

[56:56]

And so each moment, noticing these intentions. I know, I know, I get it. This means like I cook, I do something, just do it. And now if anything arise, arise from Kalman for everything. Just arise. Right. Yes and yes? The other day you said that the river breaks through the road, and I'm trying to understand why it's called a dogan. And I know yesterday you made the distinction between an earlier dogan and a focus of a later dogan relies on karma. But when I see that, it looks to me like it's a road that breaks through the road, and the road builds up.

[58:00]

I wonder if we would breathe it. That the road breaks through the road? And a road can build a river? Yeah, it's a cyclical process. You can tell that story too. What's the difference in practice? Solid independent dharma. Okay. You think it's a solid independent dharma? Sometimes. Yeah. And then what do you do when you notice that? I notice that. I accept that limitation. Mm-hmm. Or not. Or not. Yeah, right. And you notice whether you do or not? Sometimes.

[59:01]

Do you have the intention to notice whether you do or not? Sometimes. Do you have a now? Yeah, so, all right. Any further questions on that? Just this sort of distinction that was really quick yesterday about the understanding of Dogen. I didn't quite believe in that. I don't think there was quite the abandonment that you were saying of an earlier teaching necessarily as a reiteration in a different form. And I'm not sure you meant as firmly as what you said about I think that I would be comfortable with the story that Dogen didn't entirely abandon his earlier view and his later view, but that in his later emphasis there's still some kind of valuing of the earlier point.

[60:04]

And an earlier point, there's probably, you can certainly find in the surround of the earlier point, the earlier view, indications of the later view. And so to, just like with anything, looking at this person's life and this person's teaching, it's very dynamic. But there is a difference between the way he presents the story about karmic cause and effect in the early fascicle called The first fascicle is called Great Practice, Dai Shugyo, and the later fascicle, which is called Shinjin Inga, Deep Faith in Cause and Effect. The position he exemplified in the first fascicle, he criticized the first fascicle. But even though he criticizes it, I'm not saying that he totally is not involved with that anymore and doesn't appreciate it.

[61:09]

I felt like he was addressing it because the undoing was just addressing the same problem over again. Some reification of some aspect of the practice. Say it again. It's addressing what? Some false reification of some aspect of the practice in actual practice. He was just turning over what was being misconstrued. Yeah, right. He's trying to overturned, misconstruing, which he found in some, the way some people talked about this story of cause and effect in relationship to practice. Yeah. Yes? We could go back for a moment to what you said about Each person observing their own selfhood and through that observing that we're not self-made. Yeah.

[62:13]

Gross material and subtle material. I'm not really clear on the distinction between those. And I'm wondering for sensory perception, you started speaking a little bit about sensory organs. Well, maybe those are two different levels of discussion. One is the level of once your mind is constructed, Once there's a mental construction of self and the world, once you're at that level, which is the level most people are at most of the time, self and the world, then you... Is it like me talking to Myoki? Is it me looking at you? Is it me practicing with you? Is that the way I see it? And if I do see it that way,

[63:14]

And this is, I know that I have known what's called delusion. The way of seeing things is called delusion. And by studying this pattern of delusion, I will see that the same situation, the same ingredients can be seen as, really there's talking with myoki and practicing with myoki, and then as the talking and practicing come forward, there is me. That's the way I come to be at this particular moment is through the experience of seeing you and talking to you. Those phenomena arise and then I'm created. That's the accurate way of seeing how I come to be. So that's one level of practice and that level of practice is justified by a story about another level of which is not a realm where there's thought construction operating.

[64:26]

For example, in the realm of direct sense experience. So we can switch to talk about that. But part of the reason why I bring that up is because the cause and effect of sense experience I think helps us understand the difference between that and the realm of karma, where we're actually representing the sensory world through a cognitive construction of the sensory world. And then in that presentation, we're separate. But in the actual arising of our sensations, we are not something separate. from our sensations. It's not like we, now back in the realm of sense discussion, it's not like I have an experience of color. There's really the experience. There's not me having the experience of color. There's not a self having the experience of color. It's actually self is the experience of color.

[65:32]

The way I'm experiencing color is is really who I am. I'm not the color at that moment. But we tend to think there's a self that has the experience or the self that knows rather than just knowing. And some texts they talk about, instead of saying, you know, it's tricky, but in some texts they say, and the known. What we usually think is there's the knower, the knowing, the knower has the knowing of the known. There really isn't a knower which has the knowing of the known. There's really knowing the known. But another way to do it is to say there's knower and known. But there's not a knower plus knowing in the known. There's just a knower and known.

[66:38]

Or there's knowing and known, but there's not somebody who has knowing of known. But we think there is. We think, I know you. Rather than getting to know you, getting to know all about you. That's all. So that's the case where the river breaks through the road. In song. In song, yeah. Yes? Can we function without road building? I don't think so. Yeah, definitely in order to live in daily life, but even... In any other way, it's part of the deal, is when there's life, that's the same as saying that when there's cognition.

[67:49]

When there's life, there's knowing. When there's knowing, there's life. And when there's knowing, there's mental activity. There's road construction. And the consequence of road construction is roads. So if we choose to live functionally in the world, we always have to feel alienated sense of love and fear? If you don't choose to live in the world, even if you don't choose to function in the world, what's the alternative to choosing to live in the world? Is there an alternative to that? Death? Death. So you choose death? Yeah. But anyway, whatever way you're living, whether you say live in the world, if you have an alternative to living in the world, tell me about it. But I think we're living in the world and we really don't have an alternative to mental construction.

[68:58]

Mental construction comes with experience. We're not going to stop constructing things. That's why I say It really makes sense to me from what … Actually, I haven't really heard this teaching, the way I'm saying it. It's my experience that everybody's thinking all the time, active all the time. That's my experience. I don't know any inactive people. I know people … I experience people as knowing beings, but not just knowing beings, but active knowing beings. Like people say to me, what should I do? I say, well, you're doing something right now. What should I do? That's a big, big active thing you're doing right now, but you don't notice it. So activity, when you say what should I do, that's road building. Asking the question, what should I do, is road building. Saying what should I do has consequences.

[70:00]

It creates worlds. If you say, what shouldn't I do? That's an action. That's a mental construction. That's a story. It's a short one, but it's a story. If you don't say, what should I do? And you keep quiet, that's what you're doing. You're going, I'm not going to say anything. That's a big part of Zen. We're not going to talk about the following topics today. That's called, I think, apophatic. So anyway, we have no choice but to be road builders. If we're doing things, we're road builders. We're going to be active all the time. But we do seem to, in a sense, we have an option. We seem to be able to sometimes pay attention to our road building and most of the time not pay attention to it. Paying attention to it is a great disaster.

[71:03]

Paying attention to it is an aster. That's English etymology, you know. Aster means star. Aster means star. Wrecking the stars. So if we pay attention to the stars, Things go well, will go well. Our vision will improve. The stars will get healthier. If we don't pay attention to the stars, there'll be disaster. There'll be misery and desire and longing and, you know, feeling lack and pain. If we pay attention, we will feel those lacking and fear and alienated a little bit? Maybe a lot. But the feeling of the alienation and feeling the lack is part of the education of the causes and conditions of the storytelling.

[72:11]

So I'm telling you you're telling stories. I'm telling you you're thinking. I'm telling you you have intentions. psychology is saying you always have intentions every moment. You're always actively constructing worlds in your mind. You're constructing a relationship with the world in your mind every moment. I'm saying that. And that construction comes because we're alienated and lacking and suffering and afraid. That's why we're doing it. To see the reasons why you're doing the thought construction should help, I hope helps you study it and also see the relationship between the study and these feelings. And to see that these stories make sense to a great more and more as you see that you're trying to make sense in order to assuage, in order to calm down your longing and your desiring and your fear.

[73:13]

So part of the causes and conditions of the storytelling is the fear experience, the longing for a direct experience, the creation of a self to defend against direct experience, the sense of lack because of the creation of a sense of self, and so on. All these things are the causes and conditions in the process. And if we study the causes and conditions of this karma, our vision will become and we will see the way things actually happen. And then there will be no fear, no longing, no lack, and no alienation. But it requires clear vision for these things to be dropped. These things will drop when we see how things happen. But before you see things happen, you get to see the illnesses that drive the misconception, that drive the karma, and that are a result of the karma. So the karma makes problems, is a problem, and comes from problems. So originally we have an unenlightened state and to cope with it we create this karma.

[74:22]

Then the karma creates more problems. Studying the cause and effect of karma and how it chokes us and suffocates us and how we struggle with it and the reason for constructing something that's bad for us, studying these causes and conditions helps our become clear. And when our vision becomes clear, the problem is resolved. The problem of karma is resolved. The cognitive processes which create this entrapment are, we say, appeased or dropped. There's a transformation of the cognition. There's a transformation of the mental construction. Does that make some sense? Yeah. Yeah. More functional. Like I said, you become at the beginning.

[75:26]

Ray asked me, what does freedom mean? Something like that? Yeah. After you have clear vision, you're free to be kind to everyone. You have no hindrance to be kind to people. Even people that are Even people who actually say to you, I want to hurt you, I hate you, even people who say that kind of thing, and you have a story about them, like, oh, they want to hurt me, they say they want to hurt me, but I don't believe that story. That's just my story. I don't know what they are. I don't know who they are. I do hear them say, I want to hurt you. I do hear them say, I hate you. I hear that and I can make a story, they hate me. But I don't believe that story. I can make another story. I can make a story. I don't believe that story either. No story about them do I believe. Therefore, I'm totally free to love them.

[76:27]

I'm not afraid of them anymore because I have no story. You can't be afraid without a story. Now that somewhat contradicts me saying that in the realm of direct experience we're afraid. There's a little tiny story in the realm of direct experience. There's kind of the effect of past stories in the realm of direct experience. And in some sense the past story is don't look at what's happening. So yeah, very functional. You're a great compassionate being then. which is the point of all this. To be happy and compassionate, functioning, because your vision is clear. With happy freedom to be kind. Okay? Is that enough for today?

[77:29]

Yes? Was there anybody else out there? Yes? Yes? I understand a little bit more than what you shared and asked a question. OK. So I had this story come in here that I was tired, and yesterday was such a condensed class that I didn't think I could take on anymore. Yes. So as I was sitting here, I realized in that story that my intention was actually not to listen. And then I saw that this is my question, so I saw that I had this intention to listen. But really, I did want to listen from another. There was a greater intention to listen, but I couldn't. I was tired, and there was already too much. So when you see this intention, then there's also a question I want to ask. Could you all hear that?

[78:32]

So we have, I've had too much, and I don't want to, I can't, or I don't want to hear anymore. I didn't quite go that far. Let's just say, okay. Until I was sitting here, then I realized I don't want, I can't listen. Oh, okay, so now you're sitting here. I saw the intention, I was like, I'm not going to listen. Okay, you saw the intention. So that's a kind of mental construction, okay? There is a direct experience that you were listening. It wasn't your intention, but you were listening. So your direct experience was you actually were hearing something and you were listening. But your mental activity accompanying that actuality was in some sense a story which sounds like it contradicts the actual experience in a way. But that's a part of what I saw there. I feel a little confused. Yeah. What you're saying, I can't quite catch that. I can see that that would... So what I'm saying is that you actually were listening and you were saying that you weren't going to.

[79:51]

But I was noticing I was having trouble listening. Like I said, I didn't want to listen. But then there's another intention that I actually do want to listen to. So you can also say, I'm having trouble listening, and that also is a thought construction. Somebody else could say, you're doing really well. That's their thought construction. Under the circumstances, you're doing really well, they might say. That's theirs. And you might say, oh, okay, and then you're doing pretty well. So these are thought constructions accompanying the process of, for example, hearing. But I believe it, you know, because I really felt like I wasn't listening. And then you're also noticing that you believe your thought constructions. That you believe. I'm, you know, I'm having fun studying Zen today. Or I'm not having fun studying Zen today. I'm having trouble listening. This is a good class. This is a bad class. Okay? Huh?

[80:53]

All of these are stories. They're all stories, yeah. They're all karma. Those are intentions. Like, it could be, the story could be, I'm having a hard time listening and I want to listen. That's another story. I'm having a hard time, I'd like to switch to, I'd like to transfer to a different class. I'd like to take, you know, Buddhism, you know, this class, I want to take the last class. So these are intentions. They may not be clear that there's an intention there, but it's Intention is really, in some sense, an implication, too, of the way you see things, which is another word that just came to my mind that may help you see that a pattern of relationship, there's an implication of an intention in it. But again, if you see yourself as being somebody's mother, someone would say, well, then there's an implication of an intention there. But what the implication is, it could be quite varied.

[81:57]

Therefore, even though several people would see themselves as a mother, they might have a wide variety of intentions because they see different relationships of mother and child. And that may not be clear in a way with the story, but later you may see actually what the intention is. It is definitely the case that we often can't see what our intention is. We often can't see our story. We can't see the implications. We don't notice that when we draw a picture, there's an intention in it. But the intention can be unclear. There can be unclear intentions. The mind can create an intention which is very foggy and ambivalent. like Dogen's mind is actually oftentimes quite unclear about what he's actually up to. A lot of people have trouble actually up to.

[83:01]

But he's saying that he recommends for himself and others to pay close attention to these patterns of consciousness which are happening every moment. And you were doing that. And you were doing your research. The Abhidharma Kosha also I want to mention in the chapter starting at, the chapter on karma starts by, follows the chapter on worlds. Chapter three is about worlds, chapter four is about karma. The beginning of chapter four says, and where do all these worlds, the variety of worlds come from? How are they born? And the answer is, they're born from the karma of living beings. So that's another place where it talks about the formation of worlds right after the description of the worlds. At the beginning of the Abhidharma Kosha, Vasubandhu says, well, what is Abhidharma?

[84:06]

Well, Abhidharma means literally highest dharma. Abhi means highest and also means approach to. So it means the approach to the highest dharma. ... And so what is Abhidharma? It is wisdom. And what is wisdom? It is discernment of dharmas. But dharmas in this case means it's discernment of phenomena. That's what wisdom is. It's discernment, and he doesn't say this right away, but it's a discernment of phenomena that comes through studying phenomena. But all phenomena occur within cognition and all cognitions come with a pattern of all the phenomena that are happening at that moment, which is called intention, volition, or thinking, or the story of what's happening at the moment.

[85:16]

So by investigating this field of phenomena, we come to discern phenomena, and we come to have wisdom, clear vision. And then even these patterns of phenomena which are resulting from past patterns of phenomena, and past patterns of phenomena that are driven by desire and longing and fear and so on, still if we study these patterns, discernment will come. But, and, [...] are being supplied every moment. We don't have any moments when we don't have a field of phenomena to be aware of. Every moment is a chance. So, you can take a big break now for a long time because, you know, after you come back to work, there'll be plenty.

[86:19]

But you could also not take a break and just enjoy all the moments from now on and have gazillions of opportunities to do what is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. Do you remember what the exact transmission of a verified Buddha is? It's to quietly explore the causes and conditions of the situation that's described here, to explore, to investigate the field of mental phenomena. It's happening. If you pay attention to it, you can explore it. You can explore this field, and exploring this field is the exact transmission of the verified Buddha. You can also not do this, but then you're missing the practice out of the verified Buddhas. This is what they do for a living. Study their living. And even the Buddhas have mental activity up until the time of their complete enlightenment.

[87:31]

They have mental activity and then afterwards they have a different kind of mental activity. which is totally unhinged. So our problem is karma. Our problem is karma. That's our problem. And so the recommendation is give close attention to the problem. This is the problem. The problem is what you're thinking, how you're thinking. Sometimes our thinking is really difficult to look at. Sometimes our karma is really difficult to look at. It's not a happy thing to see. But it's, what do you call it, the place you are is not so important. So Dogen says, when you find your place, right, where you are is not so important as the fact that you find your place there. Sometimes the place we are is really tough, right? And I'm not saying this is really a good place. It's just a good place to find yourself.

[88:36]

Because when you find yourself, then the practice occurs. Studying, investigating the place you found you are. Then the practice occurs. And if this practice occurs, wisdom will arise. You will realize, you will understand the fundamental point. Where we are, there is karma going on. And it's there to be enjoyed. And if it's really painful, it's there to be studied and enjoy the fact that you can study it. You can study painful karmic places. They can be studied. But again, it helps to be calm and relaxed. So if you don't feel calm and relaxed, then maybe it's good to develop quite a bit of that before you try to really investigate this phenomenal situation.

[89:37]

If you try when you're too agitated, you might not be able to investigate anyway. But as I was saying before, once you're calm and you investigate skillfully, the investigation can actually make you calmer. But if you're not fairly calm, again, if you're obsessively trying to maintain things or hysterically trying to change things, then it may be hard to study how you're obsessively trying to maintain things and hysterically trying to change things. But if you're calm, then you can actually watch how you're obsessive and hysterical and say, wow, amazing. This is hysteria. This is repetition compulsion. To hold the world together here, I'm trying to maintain that here.

[90:44]

Wow, it's amazing. And this is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. It's great. Is that enough for today? May our intention equally tend to every being and place, It will be happy and mild when you go this way, and be in your new place. I love you. Just say it then. I love you. Just say it then. I love you. Just say it then. Are you... I don't know, did you?

[92:03]

Well, I didn't because I can't turn this tape recorder off. So I have to say some more. And that is that in some sense there's two worlds. There's the world that we experience conceptually and the world that we experience directly. And karma makes both those worlds. So we arise out of direct experience. have the thought constructions, and then we do karma together, similar type of thought constructions, and then we make a shared world with those who we share karma with. And other beings who live in our world but don't do the same kind of karma, they have other worlds, like fishes. We're in their world, but they do a different kind of karma, so they create different worlds for themselves than we do for ourselves.

[93:07]

but we're also together actually with the fish and they're with us in the world which both us and the fishes make. So we live in the world of direct experience with the fishes. We learn from the fishes in constructed worlds which are constructed by our separate karma. But both the world of direct experience and the world of conceptual experience are influenced by karma. That's why It's, you could say, important or wonderful to study karma because karma study transforms us and makes us free to be kind. It also transforms the worlds we're living in and it transforms the worlds that fish live in. It doesn't just transform the world we live in where the fish live. It transforms the world where fish live, where we live. It transforms the physical world when we practice and study karma. So it's not just about us becoming free to help people. It's also about changing the physical world.

[94:09]

And that includes us trying to drive cars less. But it's more than that. We actually change the actual physicality of whether we study our karma or not. Now that might be the end of the class. I don't know. You can leave if you want.

[94:34]

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