About three and a half months ago, the femur in my right leg was broken. And there was an operation performed. And after the operation, I asked the doctor if I'd be able to walk again. And he said, yes, you probably can. And I asked if I would be able to sit cross-legged. And he said, I don't know if you'll be able to. So I'm going to call him on the telephone. He lives in Texas and tell him that he did a good job. Someone came and told me recently that he was reading a book

[01:10]

And in the book there was a scene of the Buddha Shakyamuni, who lived in India, we say, about 2500 years ago. together with his disciples. And what impressed this person about the scene was that all the disciples 100 percent 100 percent devoted to the practice of the Buddhist teachings.

[02:15]

And they seem to be And I thought and I said that sometimes it may be the case that when we're face to face we ourselves feel very awake when we When we are face to face with an awakened one, or the awakened one, we feel awake and we feel devoted to the practice that is being demonstrated, the practice of awakened presence, of being awake, moment by moment, being awake with each thing,

[03:42]

I remember when the founder of Zen Center was alive, if I saw him by himself, to me anyway, he looked like a small Japanese man with a shaved head and priest robes on. when he had priest robes on. And of course, as I knew him more, not of course, but anyway, as I knew him more, for me anyway, he became more and more lovely. You know, when I first saw him, I didn't particularly think he was that neat, particularly. Well, I did actually. Because the first thing I met about him was his feet.

[05:19]

I saw his feet. I was sitting looking at the floor in the meditation hall and I saw his feet go by. And I thought, you know, those feet can teach me something. And then when I met him face to face, I didn't think so much about anything about him, but more about the nature of the interaction. And looking back on it, it was a very lively, awake interaction. I was somehow drawn to pay lots of attention to what was going on. And paying so much attention that I really... I was not grasping and did not know what happened. And afterwards, although I felt a little... a little awkward not knowing what happened, not being able to keep up the meeting in terms of, well, that was a good meeting or not, or I did okay, or he did okay, or we both did okay, or I didn't do okay.

[06:31]

I didn't really know what happened. And then I thought, well, good. It's nice to be able to meet someone and not sort of like put it in a basket of a good or bad meeting. and just face that you met somebody and you don't know what happened, or who he was, or who you were, or how you did, or how he did. But anyway, I didn't think, oh, this is a great Zen master, exactly. I just thought he had good feet. But somehow, as I watched the students, it encouraged me because around him there was this awakeness. When we were around him, when we were closely around him, we were often awake.

[07:35]

And somehow I could see Not so much what a good teacher he was, but somehow the dharma of awakeness was enacted around him. So seeing Buddha, we sometimes are able to, if we can actually look at Buddha, it's actually kind of... If we actually see Buddha, we feel awake, maybe. But if we can't see Buddha, maybe we get... I don't know what happens to us when we can't see Buddha. What happens to us when we can't see Buddha? always suffer, I think.

[08:45]

And then we want to get away from it. So if we can't see Buddha, if we think Buddha's gone, it is sometimes taught that if we are upright and gentle, and harmonious and flexible and honest, if we are that way, then we'll see Buddha right now. And then of course as we see Buddha then we feel upright, flexible, harmonious, and it's a reinforcing cycle of meeting So Buddha doesn't mind appearing in the world so he can meet Buddha face to face, but Buddha also wants all beings to be able to see Buddha inwardly too, so that you don't need some special person out externally to wake, to remind you to be awake, so that you can always see

[10:18]

the Buddha. So even while the Buddha was alive and everybody was, not everybody, but most of the disciples were pretty happy being with the Buddha, the Buddha gave teachings so that each person could inwardly realize the way things really are. And so if we can be awake moment by moment, there is a proposal that we have a chance in that wakefulness to understand what we're looking at, what we're tasting, what we're smelling, what we're touching, what we're thinking, what we're feeling.

[11:28]

In the hopes of promoting understanding We are in a training period now here and the topic of study is called Samadhi. And this study is offered in the hopes of realization of this awakeness in every situation. The study of in hopes of promoting that finally we would be able to live in such a way that everything we said, everything we thought, everything that we make would realize the

[13:04]

the practices of the Buddha. Every word we spoke would realize generosity and careful attention and patience and enthusiasm, joy, samadhi, and wisdom. through developing samadhi, have a chance to see and understand. In other words, have wisdom. And then with that wisdom, we understand in each situation how to behave in a beneficial way.

[14:17]

Samadhi is the way to bring the wisdom of the Buddha into our every behavior. Samadhi is a Sanskrit word and translated into English as joining or union. And it also could be translated as concentration. And this type of concentration has the... Its basic definition is the one-pointedness of awareness, or the one-pointedness of thought. So part of the is that in every moment of awareness there is one-pointedness in awareness.

[15:31]

Or you can even say that every moment of non-duality So it's proposed as a fact that in all experiences, when there's awareness of something, that awareness and that something are one point. Even though almost all the time human beings think that what they're aware of is separate from their awareness. I see someone looking at the ceiling, trying to understand about that. But maybe just stop there, if that's difficult. And I'll say it again, that most humans, most of the time, have awareness, some awareness.

[16:48]

And their awareness is of some object. Awarenesses, consciousnesses, minds are subjects which have objects. However, there is a teaching that all those minds also have the quality or concentration. Namely, that the awareness and what we're aware of are actually united, not two. They're not the same because, for example, a rock is not a subject.

[17:50]

It itself is not aware of things. But human beings, or can have awareness. And the awareness and the rock, in our awareness of a rock, there is no separation between the knowing and what is known. They're non-dual. the non-duality of each one of our experiences is indestructible, always available, and it's a hint or it's our in-house version of ultimate reality. Because in ultimate reality, everything is non-dual. But even in conventional life, when we see all these different things,

[18:58]

that they're separate, each one we look at, as we look at it, there's a quality of non-duality in that awareness. But usually, funny thing is, it's not so funny, it's actually painful, usually people feel that there's a sense, there's an idea, there's a concept along with this awareness. So our awareness has the quality of non-duality but it is often accompanied by the concept of duality. The idea that the object of awareness comes from the awareness. This is quite common. And that was the part where some eyes started rolling. But do you see that? Have you ever seen that there was a sense, or that there is a sense now, that the awareness of, for example, the sound of my voice is separate from the sound of my voice.

[20:02]

And that separation is what people are mostly actually sense and believe in. Can you sense that? The separation between your awareness of the people in this room and the people in this room, does it feel like your awareness of the people in the room is not the same as... I shouldn't say not the same, but is not completely united with the people in this room. Samadhi is the fact that your awareness of the people in the room and see as the people in the room

[21:22]

your awareness of what you see as the people in the room and what you see as people in the room, that is nondual, that is united, that is concentrated. So how can we realize this concentration? And there's many... I just mentioned five ways earlier to realize this constant one-pointedness of every one of your experiences.

[22:44]

And that is by practicing giving, by practicing ethical mindfulness, by practicing enthusiasm for the practices, by practicing patience with whatever is happening, and by practicing concentration. These five, which I just mentioned, are practices of compassion. They are practices to and they are expressions of compassion. And also, they are expressions of non-duality when they're fully realized.

[23:54]

If you practice these practices, you realize non-duality. When you understand non-duality, you practice these practices. When you realize non-duality, you naturally practice giving in every action. And also, when you realize non-duality and you practice giving in every action, it's no longer seen as your personal behavior. Because the giving you do, you actually see everyone else is assisting you in the giving that is your activity. And the patience you practice you no longer see as your own personal power.

[24:59]

And you can be patient when you understand the non-duality of self and other, when you understand the non-duality of the feet, the awareness, the being. One way to achieve compassion is to try to practice these practices, and to try to practice them in every possible situation.

[26:17]

And that may seem rather complicated, when speaking, when speaking or when thinking, to think a thought and then to think a thought as practicing the precepts of non-harming and benefiting beings, to practice patience with every experience, which basically means to not try to get away from it, to not try to eliminate it or improve it, and to practice enthusiasm with every word, with every thought, and to practice non-duality.

[27:30]

with every word and every thought. That may seem rather complicated. How could I do that moment by moment? Does it seem complicated? Do I, would I like every word I say to be compassion? If so, let it be so.

[28:34]

And if it doesn't seem to be so, that's not what I want. That doesn't seem to be compassion. But noticing that, I feel compassion for that behavior which doesn't seem compassion. I want to be compassionate towards beings who appear to be not compassionate, including myself when I appear to be not compassionate. This way of treating non-compassion develops samadhi. This way of dealing with non-compassion develops nonduality. Or it can develop nonduality.

[29:44]

It can allow nonduality to be realized. I remember an observation made by a Buddhist scholar.

[30:46]

He said that Vajrayana, that's a form of Buddhism, sit in meditation and chant Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. And that is a mantra of the enlightening being of infinite compassion. And part of the motivation for sitting or standing or reclining, and reciting this mantra over and over, part of what it's about is that the infinite compassion of enlightening beings here will come to this place where this practice is happening.

[32:06]

Or it is already here, but by this recitation it will be more and more fully realized so that this body and this voice and these thoughts that happen in this life space, that they will become infinite compassion. This phrase, om mani padme um, is used to kind of, in a sense, condense those five practices of compassion into that phrase, inviting these practices of compassion, of giving, of joyful, ethical conduct, of great patience with all difficulty, of tremendous enthusiasm for doing good, of great imperturbable concentration and non-duality, that all these compassions would come and be realized here.

[33:25]

That this body, mind, and speech would become great compassion, infinite compassion, compassion which has no limit and is greatly skillful. The meditator hopes that this will happen, that this body and mind will be used for the purposes of great compassion. This body and mind will be useful, will help all beings, Om Mani Padme Hum, sitting, hoping for this. This is what the scholar thought the Vajrayana yogis... Maybe he was right. Sounds fine to me. And then he said, in Soto Zen, it's a kind of Zen that's associated with this temple, he said, there the yogis, or the monks,

[34:39]

but they don't say anything. They sit in silence, and they have the same hope. They sit. That infinite compassion will come to this place of this sitting, of this practice. and completely blossom, completely take over all the functions of this life, of this form of life, of this form of life which is hoping that this form of life will be nothing but compassion. It's a hope that this person would be completely donated to the Compassion Project, become completely useful to benefiting all beings.

[36:04]

Knowing, by the way, that this person, that part of what would happen at this place part of the compassion that would take over this person's life would be extreme joy. Extreme joy in doing the practice of being nothing but compassion for all beings. That's part of the practice of compassion, is that those beings are very happy about being compassionate. They love it. They're very joyful about it. They like hanging out with suffering people and being totally devoted to them and having their life be nothing but for their benefit. They love it. They're happy. But their happiness is not happiness that they're happy. Their happiness is the happiness of benefiting all beings.

[37:10]

Of course, they're a little bit happy that they're happy. But their great happiness is that their happiness is not just for their own happiness, but for their usefulness and their availability to all beings. All this compassion which is allowed in to take over is also wisdom. which then understands thoroughly the non-duality of all beings and all things. We must have this kind of compassion in order to meet each thing that we can dare to see how things really are. And once we see how they really are, then this compassion is even more fully released and enabled.

[38:19]

So, not to say that sitting in silence is better than chanting a mantra, not to say that, but just to say that this sitting in silence Silence is kind of a hint about the way to be compassionate. The silence is a hint about the way to talk such that it's And that way, that hint is that when speaking, when thinking, when talking, we are with that thinking. We are with those thoughts.

[39:29]

We are with those feelings. We are with those postures. We're there with them. We're sitting there with them in silence. What are we doing? We are not doing anything. They're with each thing in non-duality. We're actually, the silence is a hint that we're practicing non-duality with everything that happens. Great compassion allows us in non-duality. We dare to do this, I don't know, do this, we dare to allow this way of being with each person where we let go of all distinctions between us.

[40:41]

It isn't that the distinctions are gone, it's that we don't grasp them. We still see the distinction of the other person, but we don't grasp it. It doesn't interfere anymore. The compassion enables the realization of non-duality, and the realization of non-duality purifies the compassion. But we must have quite a bit of compassion before we can actually enter the samadhi. fully realize the samadhi of non-duality. The practices actually are perfectly in accord with non-duality because they're all about helping others. So the implication there is that we really care about others almost more than ourself. Others are really more who we are than who we usually think we are.

[41:44]

All the people in this room are really closer to who you are than who you think you are. Who you think you are is not what you are, or who you are, or where you are, or why you are. Everybody is who you are. Now, some of the Buddhas and some of the Buddhists say that. They say the whole universe is your true body. To realize that, to realize that teaching, to understand that teaching, I have to... hand myself over to great compassion. And then with great compassion there is a realization of this truth, of this teaching, that each one of you and the whole universe is who I really am.

[43:00]

And again, realizing that, I can live the life of the Buddha, live the practice of the Buddha. Moment by moment do I remember, am I mindful of inviting great compassion to visit me so that moment by moment I allow what's already true to manifest. The non-duality of mind, the non-duality of all things. and the freedom and peace and perfect compassion that can be realized through this samadhi of non-duality. The samadhi which brings our non-duality into manifestation in this world of apparent duality.

[44:15]

so that we really can love each other in a fearless and pure way. Love each other free of any gain or loss, beginning or end. Great compassion to take over my life. as soon as possible. I invite great compassion to take over my life and aid in my life being taken over by it. I invite great compassion to use me for great compassion. compassion to awaken in me, wake up in me, so that I dare to contemplate non-duality of myself and others all the time.

[45:43]

And let that meditation on non-duality blossom. I also invite to visit and enter each of you without asking your permission. Now I ask your permission. May I invite great compassion to enter you, to use you to realize great Perfect love. May I invite that? Can you invite it? That's great. Now I think great compassion feels nicely invited.

[46:46]

But I think we have to keep doing it moment by moment, because we can always withdraw the invitation. And great compassion, being very polite, I don't want to bother you. But I'm here. If you want, give me a call. I'll drop in. And one of the ways of giving a call, the Zen style of giving a call, stop. Be still. Shut up. And that's a signal. to great compassion. This person wants a visit. They stopped everything. They put aside all their busyness, and they're just sitting there waiting for us to come. So all the infinite forms of great compassion gently... What is it called?

[47:49]

We have this great close encounter happens. The great thing settles. at the smallest part of the universe. Yes, yes, and yes. I'm behind you, Chris. Well, I hope you would get more than five. I think he said that if we were, if we could change somehow, or we were forced to slow down, so that, so that, I don't know what the question is.

[49:26]

I mean, I have to ask you this. Look, everything depends. You expect that, you know, that we would be able to, you know, especially, you know, Yes. I recently had been forced to slow down. Did you notice? Hmm? Did you notice? Huh? When I walk, you notice I move more slowly? Also, I sit down more slowly and get up more slowly. And as I move more slowly, I still have to pay... While I'm moving slowly, I'm still paying quite a bit of attention to not falling down, you know, and to... I have to put quite a bit of attention into my walking.

[50:36]

And that... My walking speed is slower, even though... I'm actually, in some sense, putting a lot of attention very quickly, moment by moment, into the little changes in my body. So the silence, the slowness, is sort of connected with being very attentive to my body. and noticing lots of things. So you translated, you started talking about silence and then you changed it to slowing down. Silence and stillness have some relationship. So when things happen, being quiet with them and being still with them often helps. what it is.

[51:43]

So there is a practice called, which can be translated as, stopping and seeing. And stopping means stop moving, but also stop talking. Even while you're talking. Now, I am talking, but also there's someone who's silent, who's with each word. There's a presence that's being appreciated with the talk. And when we first start to appreciate the presence or of the talk. We may seem to slow down.

[52:46]

However, one can then speed up and still stay present. Also, you can be still when sitting still. Stillness. Or you can be wiggling and commenting on the stillness. but also you can be still with movement. So, as you may have seen, when people learn certain martial arts, tai chi, for example, they're moving slowly. And in a sense, it feels sometimes like there's stillness with each movement. And in yoga postures, in hatha yoga, There can be a stillness in posture, even a stillness as you move from one posture to the next, so that there can be stillness or stopping when you're walking.

[53:49]

And in fact, there is presence. There is a presence with each phase of each leg. But to appreciate that presence, it may seem like you slow down at first. So part of the training to discover the presence which is already there, the Buddha mind which is already there, never goes away and never comes, but is simply the actual presence of the moment. To tune into that, sometimes it helps to stop moving. And to hear the silence which is always there, sometimes it helps to stop talking. It's hard for some people to hear the silence when they're talking. And then when they stop talking, they hear the chatter that happens when they stop talking. Right?

[54:53]

When you hear, when that chatter, when you hear the silence that's there with the chatter, then you can start chattering and you can still hear the silence, or feel the silence. So these are somehow, we need these remedial or training wheels to get the actuality of some activity which has this presence, this unmoving presence and great silence. So practicing silence and stillness sometimes helps us discover the silence and stillness of the Buddha. The Shakyamuni was called Shakyamuni, which means the Muni, which means the silent one, of the Shakya clan. But Shakyamuni was very talkative in the conventional world.

[56:00]

but he was always silent, sort of in his heart. Ultimately, he was intimate with the realm of ultimate reality, which is inexpressible. It's quiet, it's serene, it's non-dual, and all activity is included in it without disturbing it, without disturbing its tranquility. And did you have something to say? Yes? I wanted to ask, what does that mean in terms of how does that thing sound to you in your life?

[57:05]

Well, it depends on what your life was like before. But let's say before you realized non-duality. In other words, when you hadn't realized, you believed only in duality, you probably are afraid or anxious all the time. So you become free of anxiety. That would be one difference. And being free of anxiety... to go into situations if it was beneficial to people. You wouldn't be afraid of what would happen to you. You know that perhaps there's some danger, but if it was beneficial to go there, you could heroically enter, even if it was just somewhat distasteful and wouldn't promote your fame or profit. you still, nonduality would make it possible for you to fulfill any vow you have to benefit beings.

[58:15]

But if you want to help people, before realizing nonduality was a life where you didn't want to help people, you would be somewhat hindered by the lack of realization of nonduality. So people can do good things before realizing nonduality, but after realizing it, Some of the good things that used to be available to them but which they passed up on, they would now be able to embrace because they wouldn't be afraid anymore. Some of the people they felt had some allergy to, they could embrace and mature. Nonduality would sustain them in their wood to benefit all beings. The compassion, if a person was working on compassion, their compassion would be... And in fact, people realize they have been working on compassion, so we can, in a sense, understand that when someone realizes non-duality, this is a person who is bringing compassion to the moment for a long time.

[59:38]

has not been fully realized because he had not yet realized the ultimate. Realizing the ultimate, the compassion is finally completely purified of any clinging to a duality. Okay? Yes? Is samadhi the awareness of every moment? I think a lot of people would say no, that samadhi is not really awareness of awareness. Samadhi is an awareness Samadhi is actually the non-duality of awareness.

[60:44]

Yes. Yes, it is. One of the definitions of samadhi. Well, one pointedness of awareness is that the subject and object, or the awareness and the object, are non-dual. And in fact, in reality, in ultimate reality, our mind is non-dual. And like everything, like all things, our mind is non-dual. All phenomena are non-dual, including our mind, even though our mind... this non-dual thing called our mind, has ideas, has concepts or imaginations or fantasies. It has those, too. This non-dual mind has fantasies of duality. But other non-dual things, like a rock, doesn't have a fantasy.

[62:02]

A rock doesn't have a fantasy. A blade of grass doesn't have a fantasy of duality. But human beings, and some other beings too, who are also non-dual, just like Locke, are non-dual phenomena. They have this ability to imagine something which is not really the ultimate perspective of non-duality. In other words, they imagine duality. Even though, in fact, they are non-dual phenomena. They are a non-dual phenomenon which can imagine itself to be separate from other non-dual phenomena. How does that relate to the state of samadhi? How does non-duality relate? Samadhi is the non-duality of the mind.

[63:06]

And through realizing the non-duality of mind, we are able to realize the non-duality of all things. But a rock, again, doesn't exactly have samadhi. Samadhi is a quality of mind. It's the one-pointedness of mind and object. So that's why samadhi is important, because samadhi, like I said, is our in-house version of ultimate reality. There's something about our mind which is demonstrating ultimate reality. and that's samadhi, about our mind, which are anti-ultimate reality. We have illusions or ideas or conceptions of existing separate from other beings. That's also an aspect of our mind, which we have no problem relating to. We think of that all the time. You know, we're concerned that drives the world of greed, hate, and delusion, that sense of me separate from you. So people seem to be... That seems to be working quite nicely.

[64:10]

However, it would be good, part of realizing samadhi is to admit and become aware of how much we're involved in that delusion. Expressing the delusion of our sense of separateness is part of what helps us. That confession and repentance of the illusion of separateness is part of what helps us enter into a realization of our non-separation or our non-duality. And our mind has that quality already. It is that quality. First of all, it's that quality. Second of all, it is to realize that quality. In other words, to develop it so that you not only hear about it, but you really feel that way and you act that way. In other words, you actually are calmed and you're stabilized by being mindful of and more and more accepting this teaching of samadhi. which you already have the quality, but some people don't appreciate it.

[65:13]

They just don't understand how to calm and concentrate. And oftentimes people think of concentration dualistically, namely they think concentration is them separate from the object of concentration, getting themselves to pay attention to the object of concentration. That kind of concentration is based on the idea of separation of the meditator and the object of meditation. So it's... Did you follow that? Well, I keep feeling like you're introducing new things into the pot. You just added concentration there. Yes, I did. That's another... I was beginning to understand... I was beginning to get it that perhaps samadhi was a part of you that you needed to tap into. Yes, that's right. So, are you suggesting by concentrating that you've tapped into that ultimate reality, is that through meditation, is that the only way samadhi is free?

[66:26]

Let's take a step backward where you said, I had the feeling, I think you said something like, I had the feeling that samadhi was tapping into part of you. You have that feeling? And I would say that's right. Samadhi is tapping into part of you, and the part of you you're tapping into, when you tap into, when you use Samadhi to tap into Samadhi. So we call Samadhi both what you tap into and the process of tapping into. So Samadhi, you already have this thing within you called Samadhi. Your mind already has a quality of Samadhi. So meditation, is to tap into that, or to fall into that. You got that right. Okay? But, part of the complication of the way that the word is used, the samadhi is also used for the practices which promote the tapping into samadhi.

[67:28]

So again, everybody's got this quality, but those who practice samadhi realize samadhi. So... Hmm? Yeah, through these practices of compassion, one of which is concentration, you learn how to tap into it or settle into your natural concentration. So concentration is a quality of your mind all the time. But it's only one of the qualities. It's only one of the qualities, right. But it's one that we particularly want to develop. There's other ones that we want to develop too, like another quality that's always present with mindfulness. We also want to develop mindfulness. And another quality that's always present is intelligence or discrimination. We want to develop that too. That can be developed into wisdom. So we have within us all the time the raw materials for realization of one-pointed awareness.

[68:32]

We have one-pointed awareness, so if we have one-pointed awareness, we can develop more and more. We already have discernment. We already have mindfulness. We can develop mindfulness. All these things that we always have, we can develop them all. And, of course, we always have constant awareness, and the awareness develops as these mental factors develop. So we have all this raw material. It's an example of what's going on in the world that we can develop. We can also develop rocks, but Buddhism's not so much into that. Usually they would become Buddha and then they'd help the rocks. Okay? But the first part you got, the quality of your mind already, and meditation, which is sometimes called samadhi, is to appreciate and celebrate that quality more and more.

[69:32]

And sometimes the practice of celebrating samadhi is also called samadhi. The practice of celebrating samadhi is sometimes called jnana. But the character of jnana is samadhi. So samadhi is used in different ways. And then it's used in other ways, meaning the absorption in the great mind of Buddha, the transcendental samadhis, are also part of what we're going to get into. But the first two meanings, the first meaning is samadhi. The nature of mind is samadhi. Part of the nature of mind is samadhi. And in the practice of celebrating and deepening the sense of samadhi, becoming absorbed in this whole samadhi. So samadhi is used in different ways. The same word is used for many things. Pardon? Yeah, that's right, that's right. You're welcome.

[70:34]

I think Catherine was next, and then Brian. She said we have a sense of separation as a way of protecting ourselves. That may be true, but it's also, I think, I would guess that originally this adaptation, a sense for an idea of separation, was not so much to protect ourselves, but more to promote ourselves. I think in the early... in our history, that the sense of self was more like an advantage rather than to protect ourselves. But it could be also to protect yourself, to promote your interests as an animal. So when you were speaking in the lecture, there would be those who are interconnected with

[71:35]

You are interconnected with what you perceive, but also your awareness and what is perceived, or the perception and what is perceived, are not just interdependent, but also non-dual. They're one-pointed. They're one point. You never have the perception floating by itself without the perceived, or the perceived without a perception. There's no such, you know, independent perceptions or independent perceived phenomena. Yeah, that's the birthplace of anxiety. That's where anxiety is born, is in that sense of separation. That's the source of anxiety. Well, rocks are non-dual.

[72:47]

All phenomena are non-dual. Even opposites are non-dual. All things are non-dual. And what's the definition of non-dual? Non-dual, a definition... One definition of non-dual is they're not two different things. They appear to be two different things, but they really have no existence separate from each other. Can you introduce another word? Sure. Integration. Yeah? Yeah, I think you could say all phenomena are integrated.

[73:47]

When your belief systems are shaken up, it's anxiety-producing. Yeah, often. usually. And part of realizing nonduality is to, like, give up your belief systems, let go of them. And letting go of them is somewhat less disturbing than having them taken away from you. To voluntarily relax with your belief systems, to let go of them is a little less disturbing than having anything from you or shaken out of your hands. So we don't usually... But sometimes people, like, are in a place where they really could handle letting go of their belief systems, but they're not letting go. So sometimes Bodhisattvas knock the belief systems out of their hands because they don't have confidence that they would be able to get along without their belief systems. So sometimes people, before they let go of them, are afraid

[75:11]

of what would happen if they did let go of them. Like, would I be able to survive and have a belief system? Would I be able to eat lunch without a belief system? Would I be able to use the toilet? Would I be able to sweep? Would I be able to shake hands without a belief system? Maybe not. So maybe I shouldn't let go of my belief system, especially my belief system about me, what I am, and what you are. But still, you know, if you practice samadhi, someone might come up to you and, like, knock your belief system out of your hand for just a second. And then you're there, and you're standing there. Your belief system has dropped away, and you say, hey, this isn't bad. I'm okay. Wow. Hi, folks. And it's lunchtime. Fantastic. What's for lunch? This is amazing. I can talk after I've let go of my belief system. Amazing, I can speak English.

[76:13]

But when people haven't let go and they imagine letting go, they get scared sometimes. So if they've got one and they're not calm and it gets knocked out of them, sometimes they have some big realization because they let go. And when you let go of your belief system, you can see things beyond your belief system. And reality, the reality which the Buddhists are beyond all of our belief systems and beyond theirs, too. So some people, when they get the knock out of their hand, stay calm and see reality, you know, and wonderful, wonderful encouragement comes. Other people, when it gets knocked out of their possession, they get shocked and, you know, they really withdraw. So teachers have to be careful not to knock people's views out of their hands unless they're ready. But sometimes it helps to jiggle them a little bit.

[77:16]

But sometimes people don't even need any help. It just happens without their push. But usually you want to push people that are already in samadhi. Because then they won't fall off the edge of the world. And they can stand the shock of living without holding on to their views of self and other. If you think about it beforehand, So like, if you tell people, whatever you meet, you know, meet it with great compassion. Whatever you meet, don't be rude. Don't grasp it. Don't seek something other than it. Say welcome to whatever. In other words, be silent with it and still. And they hear that and they get scared. So what would happen to me if I didn't, like, if I wasn't constantly judging things? If I wasn't, like, you know, commenting and manipulating and controlling, they think they wouldn't survive.

[78:17]

So they need more data before they can let that teaching come in. However, letting that teaching come in is also calming. So it's sometimes a little bit of that teaching calms you and then you become calm, you can do more of the teaching, more of the teaching, you get calm. Pretty soon you can actually meet things that way. and then you start to appreciate the samadhi, and then you can end up letting go or dropping away of your views of body and mind. And then you have vision of reality. And you have to be very compassionate with yourself. That's why you need to practice compassion to be able to meet things in that way that they reveal themselves and also tolerate the revelation. So again, compassion invites revelation and helps us survive it. Non-duality is that the mind is already fused with non-duality.

[79:20]

Duality is that the mind is already fused with non-duality. Duality is that the mind will become fused with non-duality. Okay? So what does it mean to understand non-duality better if the mind is already fused with non-duality? Because that must be what non-duality is. Non-duality cannot be something other than the way the mind already is. So part of non-duality is that enlightenment is not dual with the way we are right now. When we realize that more deeply, you hear that right now, right? That part of the teaching of non-duality is that in the worst, most miserable, seething, confused, overcome, frightened state you've ever been in, that state is non-dual with supreme. Okay?

[80:22]

You heard that now. So now you're saying, well, what if I sort of understand that? And there might be some physical correlate to understanding it. Well, that would be every possible physical correlate. Because it would include all mind states. It would be every possible physical correlate, right. So non-duality does not have a sign. It cannot be grasped. But it can be realized. And it can be realized because it's already so. So when it's realized, does the person change? Yes, they do. Pardon? Well, they become fearless and so on. But their fearlessness is really deep fearlessness because their fearlessness does not depend on any mind state. So they can be totally afraid. You can tune in total fearless person and there would be no clinging to it.

[81:24]

there would be no confusion that this fear was dual with fearlessness, because the fear would occur in a field of understanding the non-duality of fearlessness and fear. You could tie them up in a form of bondage, you know, and they would look at that bondage as non-dual with freedom. So that would be what they would be able to do. They would be able to look at that, and in their bondage, tied up in a ball in every possible way, they would be able to send out freedom to all beings, even though it's saying, this one's this. Look at me. I can tell you about freedom. I'm totally, totally, totally, totally bound up. Whereas if you're free, and you say everything's free, people say, yeah, you're free, but I'm not. But the Bodhisattva can be less free than anybody and teach freedom. Okay, tie me up a little bit more, see if I get scared. And then you say, okay, tie me up more.

[82:28]

I did get scared. But I'm still telling you, you know, I will never, ever, ever stop loving you no matter how cruel you are to me. Of the non-duality of your cruelty and your love. And so what state I'm in, I'm free of. And part of the way I practice is to be in whatever state to demonstrate that. So usually people think, not usually, but some people think, Buddhahood is like get rid of all these bad states. But really, being able to see non-duality of all the bad states is really one of the ways to demonstrate non-duality. Not to be in a really nice state and say everything's non-dual. So it's totally transformed in the person who fully realizes non-duality, but it's transformed in such a way, not that it's in some state, but so that it responds in a beneficial way to whatever state arises.

[83:32]

So you go up and you spit on a non-dual realizer, and the spit comes back You put jewels on them and the jewels come back with compassion. Rather than you spit on them and they hit you, you put jewels on them and they hold them. No matter what you do to this non-dual realizer, you get back Buddha's Dharma in the most skillful and helpful way. That's the point of it. But there's no state that this being depends on. So you can do whatever to them. And they also know that anything can be done to them. So the Zen master says, you know, the warrior says, Hey Zen teacher, don't you know I... I'm a person who can chop your head off with the slightest hesitation. And the Zen master says, don't you know you're talking to somebody who can have his head cut off without the slightest hesitation? I can also not have my head cut off without the slightest hesitation. In other words, don't you know you're talking to somebody who loves you? And the guy says, drops his sword and says, I understand, thank you.

[84:37]

But he's Zen. I don't know.

[84:42]

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