To remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. The title that I offer to the great assembly for this meeting is chapter one of the Lotus Sutra.

[01:03]

The chapter begins with a description of a great assembly. The assembly seems to have about a million people in it, a million beings in it. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of humans, so hundreds and hundreds of thousands of other beings. And the Buddha is sitting in the midst of this great assembly. Like each of us right now is sitting in the midst of a great assembly. And the text of the sutra says that each of... came and bowed to Buddha's feet and then withdrew to the side.

[02:33]

Not all million at once, but one by one, each of them went before the Buddha and bowed. Then, this great assembly, after prostrating, made offerings to the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, honored the Buddha, revered the Buddha, and praised the Buddha.

[04:15]

And then the Buddha taught a scripture called the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings. After teaching this sutra, this great vehicle sutra, the Buddha then entered into a samadhi, into a state of undisturbed, collected, open, upright, flexible, harmonious awareness. Again, the samadhi is called the samadhi of the place of innumerable meanings.

[05:28]

And while in this samadhi, flowers fell from the sky over the Buddha and over the whole assembly. The flowers were called mandava flowers, great mandava flowers, mandashaka flowers, great mandashaka flowers. These flowers fell over the Buddha assembly, and the earth shook in six ways, right and left. forward and backward, up and down. The whole assembly was astounded, was awestruck.

[06:52]

And they... with hands joined, with palms joined, with deep appreciation and respect and undistracted presence and awareness. in this assembly, which had 80,000 bodhisattvas, many of them being the bodhisattva mahasattvas like Manjushri and Maitreya and Samantabhadra and Avalokiteshvara, these great bodhisattvas, among them was

[08:15]

Maitreya Bodhisattva. And Maitreya thought, the good people of this assembly probably are wondering what all these auspicious signs are indicating. Whom could I ask for some help in understanding what the Buddha is indicating by entering samadhi after his dharma talk and sitting upright, immovable? Oh, I forgot one of the main omens, one of the main signs.

[09:19]

So the Buddha is sitting in Samadhi, the flowers are raining, the earth is shaking, and then from a white tuft between the Buddha's eyebrows, a beam of light came out. And that beam of light illuminated 18,000 Buddha lands in the East. I imagine that that would be to the Buddha's left, because I imagine the Buddha facing south. Beam went out and the sutra mentions that the beam illuminated 18,000 lands to the east.

[10:28]

But again, I imagine it also illuminated 18,000 lands in other directions, but the sutra mentions to the east. This light illuminated all these lands in which there were Buddha's teaching, bodhisattvas, and innumerable other beings. So on each of these 18,000 lands, there were other assemblies where other Buddhas were teaching. And the people in the assembly with Shakyamuni Buddha could see these lands. The Buddha could see them, but also the millions of people in this assembly with Buddha could see what was going on, could see the practice that was happening in these Buddha lands.

[11:33]

They could see these beings studying with their teacher Bodhisattva way and becoming Buddhas. They could see it. They could see what the Buddha saw And again, Maitreya saw this and he wondered, what is this about? And probably the other people here are wondering what it's about. So who could tell us what's going on here? And then Maitreya, Bodhisattva thought, oh, in this assembly is Manjushri. In this assembly, great wisdom. Bodhisattva. I'll ask him. So she did.

[12:37]

She asked her. Maitreya, excuse me, Manjushri has studied with innumerable Buddhas in the past. So he may have seen this kind of thing before. Maitreya then does ask Manjushri, can you tell us what this is about? And when I say he asked him, I mean he really asked him. He asked him in such a wonderful way. He asked him in prose. He asked him in amazingly lovely verses. For pages, he makes his request. How wonderful to be able to ask questions like that, to make requests of the bodhisattva of wisdom, to help us understand what this light is about, what these flowers, what this samadhi is about.

[13:54]

And Manjushri hears Maitreya's request, And Manjushri says, in my view, it seems to me that the world honored one, Shakyamuni, is now going to teach the great Dharma, is going to blow the conch of the great is going to beat the drum of the great Dharma, is going to rain down the Dharma rain, the great Dharma rain, is going to teach and elucidate the great Dharma for us.

[15:06]

I've seen this happen before, such signs. And in those cases, the Buddhas in those assemblies followed and this light with great teaching of great Dharma, great Dharma reign. I don't know if there's anybody in this assembly who is sending out a beam from between their eyebrows right now. One person goes... So I don't know, maybe you don't know, if anybody in this assembly is sending out this beam illuminating the lens.

[16:21]

But even though maybe nobody is, maybe everybody is. Maybe this great assembly is a light. And this great assembly is illuminating and one, Buddha lands in the East and showing us what it is to practice the bodhisattva way. Manjushri says, I've seen this before. So I think that Shakyamuni is going to teach the great Dharma, going to rain down the great Dharma. And he says, a long time ago, innumerable, unlimited, inconceivable, eons ago,

[17:32]

And we're talking about, I think, medium-sized eons here. There was a Buddha named Sun and Moonlight Tathagata. And then Manjushri mentions the titles of this Buddha, like other Buddhas, 10 titles. well-gone one, teacher of gods and people, and so on. Ten epithets of the Buddha. It was a great Buddha named Sun and Moon Light Buddha, a really long time ago. Manjushri, I mean, might, yeah, Manjushri was there at that time and saw this Buddha teach.

[18:34]

And then Manjushri says, and then there was another Buddha after this Buddha. And the next Buddha's name was Sun and Moonlight Buddha. And then there was another Buddha with the same name. And then there was another. There were 20,000 generations of these Buddhas with the same name. And the 20,000, the last Buddha in this lineage of sun and moon face, sun and moon light Buddhas, the last one, was in a great assembly. And in the great assembly, that Buddha entered Samadhi.

[19:48]

And the flowers, the same kind of flowers fell. The earth shook and and that, from that Buddha, a light illuminated 18,000 lands in the East. And the Great Assembly got to see what the Buddha saw, what the Buddha sees. And in that land, there was a bodhisattva with the name Wonderful Light. And there was another bodhisattva who was concerned with becoming a very famous bodhisattva.

[20:55]

There was another bodhisattva who was greedy in that great assembly. named Fame Seeker. And Manjushri said, was that Bodhisattva in that assembly named Beautiful Light Bodhisattva? Was that Bodhisattva someone else? No, it wasn't. It was me. And was Fame Seeker someone else. No, it was you, Maitreya. Maitreya was in that assembly too in the form of a greedy bodhisattva, of a fame-seeking bodhisattva. And Manjushri tells Maitreya that he

[21:59]

And also he tells Maitreya that Maitreya will become Buddha. Manjushri can see the past and future of Maitreya, Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, and Theravada. He can see Maitreya in the present and he can see past and he can see Maitreya in the future. He can see that Maitreya has a present identity and a past identity and a future identity and the past and the future seem different. They're here right now.

[23:04]

in the eyes of wisdom. And one might think the past is the future. And yet, they're both who Maitreya Bodhisattva is. They're both what he are. He is an ordinary person, deluded in the past. And he is a fully realized Buddha in the future. And he's right now in the present between past and future in the Great Assembly. Invited Manjushri to tell us

[24:05]

what these great signs are about. This introductory chapter, the great scholars over the last 2000 years have told us was perhaps not part of the original Lotus introduction may have been added. This chapter is available to us to read and to Some of you are reading the Lotus Sutra to each other to remember this chapter, to write this chapter, and to contemplate it.

[25:18]

To see a kind of question that we could learn to ask. in the midst of the great assembly for the welfare Now we are together here and how we might proceed.

[26:24]

The sutra as we have it after chapter one has chapter two. So we could go on now to or we could pause for a moment and see what kind of offerings the Great Assembly might give after hearing about chapter one. So that we don't, what the word? I'll put it positively. So we do justice to this great chapter. And then we'll go on to chapter two today, but maybe it's good to pause now and see if there's some offerings from the assembly in response to the universe, in response to

[27:48]

My Little Story, Chapter One. We have an offering from Wendy R. Wendy R. Hello, Reb. Hello. Good to see you and the Great Assembly. Yes. Thank you. The first day, someone was speaking about multiple dimensions, and I think she had a question about maybe where the Great Assembly, our Great Assembly, and I've been thinking a lot about that question because to a certain extent, I feel like You, Rev, and the rest of the Great Assembly are all right here inside my computer.

[28:54]

It's really nice. But I feel like I'm in real life, and all the rest of you have kind of stopped and come to my home, which is very nice of you. But I think other people feel like they're in real life, and I'm on their computer. And then I thought a little bit more about it, and I thought, I think our Great Assembly in some sense is probably kind of in a server farm in California being hosted. sort of where we are in a literal sense. And then I thought a little bit more about the way we're all being represented electronically. And electrons in physics are often viewed as being dimensionless. In most physics, they're dimensionless. So I have a conclusion that I honestly think our Great Assembly is literally dimensionless. So I offer that as my answer to a question that might have been asked on the first day. And then I also just wanted to say that the more I've thought about this great assembly, this wonderful well is up in me.

[30:02]

So I just wanted to thank you for calling forth this great assembly where we can all assemble across all these time zones in the United States and other countries. So I feel tremendous gratitude. I hear you offering the possibility that this assembly is beyond dimensions. Yes. So, immeasurable, undimensionable, inconceivable, unlimited, that's That's the kind of assembly this is. And another aspect of this assembly, too, I think, is that each of us includes the whole assembly.

[31:07]

Yes. And it's hard to put a dimension on mutual inclusion. There's no way that this assembly isn't This assembly is throughout the universe and the whole universe is in this assembly. This is one of the deep meanings of the lotus. So maybe the light is illuminating us when we can see, in a sense, get an inkling of this mutual inclusion. of our life and all lives. Another offering, please.

[32:10]

There's an offering from Bernd. Bernd? Thank you, first of all, to you, Tenshin Roshi, and the Great Assembly for all the teachings already. I really find it very inspiring. I want to start by saying, maybe five minutes before we started, of course, it's evening here in Berlin and it's winter. And I never remember a thunderstorm in winter. We just had a thunderstorm, lightning and thunder. And I felt, of course, I'm making this up, but the whole city of Berlin, quite a few people, is echoing the first chapter, the earth thundering.

[33:15]

So it's happening here. And of course, imagination. But I felt like mentioning this. So I do have a question, Tenshin Roshi, but it's not really clear. But I'm trying. So in my study over the last weeks of the Lotus Sutra, it's been asking me, what's the relationship of what I'm reading to, let's say, my daily life? And of course, I could say, especially with the first chapter, which is so maybe in English you would say far out, so cosmic in dimension, it's maybe difficult to see. But I actually feel it's a teaching about, for me, to look very clearly at the

[34:19]

at what's right under my feet, so to speak. So to put it differently, I feel the light the Buddha shines on the world is something like he seems to illuminate the inconceivable. in the sense of what's always there, but due to my limits of being a human being, I just can't see it. And if I may briefly add something, I also feel there's a very beautiful echo in Dogen's Genjo Koan. Like when Dogen talks about the ocean sailing out on the sea, and the ocean appears round, and he says it cannot be any other way.

[35:25]

Maybe he means for us human beings. But then he says that, of course, it's infinite in variety. It's neither round nor square. It's infinite variety. So I feel This is what's being shown in the introductory chapter. Dogen just uses a very different kind of rhetoric. And now a kind of question, like, I do want to study the inconceivable, and I do want to talk about it, or I do want to study and talk about that life is infinite in variety because I have deep, deep faith in it. And my present understanding is I shouldn't see the inconceivable or the infinite variety of all phenomena or of myself, but see how limited we are.

[36:36]

And in really acknowledging, opening up to these limitations, like I think we are touched by the inconceivable of the infinite variety of all phenomena. That's kind of what I think right now, what I wanted to express. And maybe my question is, Would you help me to go beyond that? Thank you. Thank you. While you were talking, two came up to my consciousness.

[37:47]

Two tomorrow. And the part that came up, there's a lot in chapter two, but the little part, which is the whole universe, that came up was that at the beginning of the chapter, it basically says that nobody, nobody, no one can understand this inconceivable, unlimited, immeasurable. And then it says, only Buddha, only Buddha understands it. But then it goes on to say, and as many of you know, this is at the heart of my life and station.

[39:01]

It says, only a Buddha together with a Buddha fully understands reality. Using your image of circles of water in the ocean, all beings are living in circles of water in the ocean. And if we can fully engage our circle of water with other beings who are fully engaging their circle of water and then meet them and converse with them in this of fully

[40:05]

embraced circle of water with fully embraced circle of water. In that relationship, the Dharma is realized fully. And so when we get to chapter two, we will go into more detail about Circles of water, fully realized, and fully limited circles of water, fully realized as limited circles of water, not including the whole ocean, in the whole ocean is realized. And in order to fully realize our circle of water, we need to use our whole body and mind. But even though we use our whole body and mind, use it not to go beyond our circle, our limits, but to fully embrace them.

[41:08]

So yesterday I was walking in the mountains here in this valley. My imagination was imagining this great assembly. My imagination of this great assembly in conjunction with all of you in my imagination and my body and mind was uplifting, illuminating, and comes flowing for our relationship, just like you said. So the Lotus Sutra is an imaginative teaching of how to use our imagination to fully inhabit our so that we can have intense, intimate conversations with other limited beings who are doing the same bodhisattva practice.

[42:11]

And together, we will realize what is inaccessible And we will realize that the inaccessible ocean is totally included in our circle of water. And yet, our circle of water is so limited. We include the whole ocean. And of course, the whole ocean includes us. Our conversation will help you. Not me. I'm not going to help you. But me being me will help you. My job is completely, and I can't do it without you. When I meet completely, then me completely, Buddha, meets you, hopefully, fully being yourself, Buddha.

[43:14]

In that conversation, the reality of all things is Thank you for your offering. Thank you very much. Thanks, everyone. Our next offering is from. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everyone here, for your teaching. I'm going to talk a little bit about my concrete experiences in my circle of water. When I started to reread the sutra about a week ago,

[44:19]

wait a minute, who's speaking and who's asking the question and who's answering? So I thought the very least I can do is make sure I know who is speaking. And then of course, as I kept reading, I remembered that they were saying, but of these speakers are all Sun, Moon, Buddha, and who isn't Sun, Moon, Buddha? And so then Reb started teaching, and it seemed to me that he was really emphasizing that aspect of the immediacy of our experience containing everyone, and that would include Ananda and Manjushri and Maitreya and then as he kept speaking it also began to include Hakuen and of course it includes you all started speaking and of course it includes everyone so I was kind of like maybe I shouldn't spend so much energy on trying to make my cast of characters clear here then

[45:35]

on that first day when Reb, I'm not going to say recited, that's the wrong word, when he thoroughly invested strength and presence in every one of our after the other. I felt strengthened by that and inspired too. So this idea of really being taught by the whole Great Assembly, I thought, that's what I need to think. That's my main point of practice during this. However, when people would offer something, I'd get the impulse and I wanted to respond to them. So I was really glad for that announcement today to wait that we're going to have a little time to respond to each other.

[46:40]

Now I can absolutely put my attention on to whoever is speaking because I think that's really what I want to practice during this. But at the same time, I think I want to give full credence to the sutra because it is a sutra. who these personages are and what their questions were and how the answers came. So that's really what I wanted to share. Thank you for your question. And may I make a comment? Please. Taking care of each person before you, before me, listening to each person is taking care of the Lotus Sutra.

[47:43]

The Lotus Sutra is saying take care of each person completely without thinking of the next person or without thinking of what comment you're going to make before Or if you do think of your comment, then take care of your thoughts about your comment. And taking care of your thoughts about your comments is taking care of the Lotus Sutra. If we don't take care of the impulses, we're missing the Lotus Sutra. If we don't take care of our own imagination, if we're not present for our own imaginings and fantasies, We're not present for the Lotus Sutra. But let's not get into that. Let's be present with our fantasies. Confidence that the Lotus Sutra is encouraging this and the Lotus Sutra is doing this.

[48:46]

When we were speaking, I thought of an important moment for me with Suzuki Roshi was towards the end of his life, Zen Center started growing quite fast, quite rapidly expanding. Time that after he died, Zen Center would expand more and it did. But while he was alive, he said, now Zen Center is getting rather large And people have to make appointments to talk to me. In the early days of Zen Center, when it was small, you could just walk over to Sokoji Temple in Japantown, if it was open, knock on the door and go into the temple and visit the teacher, Reverend Suzuki. And he was generally there someplace and you could just go see him.

[50:06]

And we didn't, you know, he didn't have any security guards or anything. He said, now people have to make appointments. There's so many people want to talk to me. They have to make appointments. And so I'm seeing one person and then I'm seeing another. People are waiting to see me. And he said, but you should know. He's talking to the assembly. He said, you should know that when I'm talking to one person, I'm talking to them for you. Not like, well, when's it going to be done with this person so I can have my appointment? He's talking to them for me. It's the Lotus Sutra. It's for me.

[51:16]

This is for me. And I have the ability to accept this kindness and use my imagination to remember that this is the Lotus Sutra. Like Manjushri said, was that person somebody else? Was Maitreya somebody else? Fame seeker somebody else from me? No. Was the great Bodhisattva wonderful voice, wonderful light, somebody other than me? No. Thank you, Kido. Thank you, Kido. We have an offering from Shindo. Thank you so much for allowing questions and being there with each question.

[52:27]

I really appreciate and deep gratitude. I was firstly, I just, when Berent was talking, I remembered the earth tremor, the first day we went into the Zendo after the interim, before the Lotus Sutra started. My question was, what is being time, being bound by time or time bound? The difference between being time and being time bound and what are the effects that it has on the mind or the psyche, which in turn affects the quality of awareness. I agree with what you said, that time affects quality of awareness.

[53:36]

And also, I don't know if you said it, the quality of awareness is time. And time has to do with bound awareness, limited awareness. So time and limited awareness are close friends. And time and limited awareness are opportunities for the Buddha way. They are circles of water. But to get out of the circle of water, if we're afraid of the limited time of our mind now, We're not ready to meet all the other earnestness and realize the Buddha Dharma.

[54:44]

We're postponing the realization of only a Buddha together with Buddha. But it's hard to fully embrace the limitation. It's a challenge for living beings. But it's being called to do so by the sutra. My limit is not going to understand the Dharma. How sad. But me fully embracing my limited consciousness and my limited time Fully now with you, we together in this great assembly are realizing this if we fully accept our limited sentient life.

[55:52]

And it is hard to do this, so hard to accept the reality of our life. Difficulty of accepting being limited is the price of admission to accepting something that's even more difficult, the reality. Limited life, we become able to accept our unlimited life. And then we become able to accept that our unlimited and our limited are not true. Thank you. For bringing your time to us. The next offering is from so on Jim hair. Good morning.

[57:02]

Thank you for creating this opportunity to... Thank you for creating this opportunity. This encouragement to make a close reading of this sutra, which I've always found hard to read or approach. Although I have, but now a little more a little more concentration. So I'm reading the... Can I say something? Yes. I certainly want to encourage us to make a close reading of this sutra, but equally important is to make a close reading of our life. I agree. I thank you. And so part of my life right now is reading this first chapter.

[58:11]

And I'm reading the Reeves translation. And there's a there's a point. One of the verses where Shakyamuni Buddha passes on, he dies. And so it's pretty reminiscent of the sort of traditional story that we hear about that event. And then you come to this verse. It says, that night the Buddha passed away. As a fire goes out, when the firewood is completely consumed, his remains were distributed. was put up for them. So I just thought, oh my gosh, that must be where Dogen got the analogy that for his disquisition on birth and death, continuity and discontinuity,

[59:29]

that's in the Genjo koan. It's the metaphor of the firewood completely consumed. Is that the scholarly understanding that he would have been referencing the Lotus Sutra, this passage there? You said the scholarly understanding? I would say that's a scholarly understanding, which has erupted from your scholarship. You read the Lotus Sutra, you read Genjo Koan, and your scholarship has given rise to this thought. It is a fruit of... Now, do all the scholars agree with you? I doubt it. because they have their own job to do. But your scholarship is wonderful.

[60:32]

And I hope you continue your scholarship. And of course, I hope you don't to any of the fruits of your scholarship and just offer them to the great assembly like you just did. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. There's Barbara. Thank you, everybody. It's such a pleasure to be assembly. I would like to share with you writing them right now my heart is bumping like I'm calling for courage because the courage is needed.

[61:45]

It's my first reading of the Lotus Sutra and I would like to share with you the experience which I have by going through it. Approaching the introduction and those pages, there is... It's a feeling of a box, living in a box. But as soon as the living started, there was no box anymore. There was opening. There was not reading, but there was living.

[62:52]

It was life going through. It was alive. It was those hills. It was not seeing those hills. It was being there. And when the flowers came down, it was so beautiful. It's so beautiful. They were just here running down the face. Not just down the face, it was running down into the earth, breathing or living, being, being that dimension. I don't know how to express. Yes, it is so special.

[64:00]

It's great. So now it's the third day in the first two days. Actually, yesterday evening, when we finished, I'm from Slovenia, and when we finish it now and not, I just said, I remained sitting. And there is a kind of urge. It was a kind of urge to write some lines. And I would like to offer now to us, to the assembly, that great assembly that we are. It goes by, may I do that? May I read? Thank you. I see many people nodding, yes. Make this off.

[65:03]

We're in the assembly. You're making an offering. Yeah. You're enacting the legacy. Yeah. The founding. The founding. Thinking makes mind silent and the mind sinks down to the heart. Seeing, hearing, feeling all the teaching of our great assembly. Big, round tears are running down the face, watering the heart, watering the mind. Oh, what if I die in those intensive days? Hey, turn the wheel.

[66:05]

Turn the wheel and die so that you don't die without grasping, without attaching. Dwell right here, right now. There are no birth, no death. No coming and no going. Thank you. Thank you, Barbara. Another offering, please. There is an offering from Rosemary Penhallow. Hello, Rev and everyone.

[67:11]

Hello, Rosemary. Oh, Rosie's good. Rosie. I wrote a little sutra a couple of months ago at the beginning of this idea that we read this. And it was as I was going through the first chapter and then some, I thought, this is not for me. it's too difficult and too foreign. And I thought, well, maybe if I do recite it out loud or if I do copy it, that would be a good way to start. And I felt that it was too alone, too lonely. So I joined a reading group in this assembly. And with my beginning reading, intention or desire to continue on the path from silence to compassion, knowing that this book, the sutra, is about bodhisattva, calling upon bodhisattvas.

[68:33]

And I was, as we were reading, anyway, in this group, I feel quite, it has been only tiny little glimpses of the rare gems that I, in my mind, am looking for. But as we go through the week, we meet once a week and We take turns reading. It's just precious. I'm not always paying attention, I have to admit. But it's just, it's a lovely circle of each of us reciting the text and in each one's own voice. You know, reading and interpreting the sounds and It feels that there's a soothing quality and a loving quality and a kindness quality and an inclusiveness quality that feels spacious and lovely and that in itself has a glimpse of compassion.

[69:49]

And so... I just wanted to share the beauty of that sweetness that is going on. Thank you for the good news. That's the way to read the Lotus Sutra, with that sweetness and light. And also, when I read the Lotus Sutra, the encounter with it was also, this is not for me. But I came back. And so did you. Wonderful. Please take care of the Great Assembly, Rosie. Thank you. May we have another offering, please? Yes, the next offering is from Karim's group in Wiesbaden. Is that correct?

[70:51]

It was in Wiesbaden? Yes, I'm calling. Good evening, everybody. When you were talking about the first chapter and this great assembly, and you kind of asked if there were any responses, and for me, this... These lengthy parts aren't the difficult ones, actually, because later on in the text, there's a chapter where it's even bigger, like both in the northeast and the west and southwest and south, and it just goes on and on. And somehow I got this picture of a mandala where it's like,

[71:59]

hear these texts it's like I actually see these Tibetan monks making this sand mandala and with you just have to take care of like every grain of sand and yeah to listen to that it's more like like a mantra meditation or like a mandala creating this mandala of this visual palace, basically. So that usually is, I kind of, it also gives me an opportunity to be aware of, okay, can I just listen to that without, well, where's this going? Where's it going? You know, finally, just to be, And then there's another repetition and another repetition and another repetition.

[73:05]

And in a way that's helpful. Please. Yes. The thought, where is this going? That thought that contemplating this world of Dharma, that thought is in the mandala. There's a place for where this is going in the mandala. That's part of the mandala? That's in there already. So don't push the where is this going outside the mandala. The mandala includes all the people wondering, where is this going? What's going on? All those thoughts are in the mandala. Okay. It's so nice. And it's difficult to include all thoughts.

[74:11]

We have so many really difficult thoughts these days, but we need to include this to make the mandala really alive, fully alive. No beings, no thoughts are excluded from the Great Assembly where the Buddha sits. Thank you. Thank you for the offering. We have an offering from Reverend Rayron. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Rehren. It's amazing. So I forgot what I wanted to talk about.

[75:12]

But I was wondering, I love the Lotus Sutra. I think that many years, I was in Linda Ruth's practice period when we really used the sutra in so many ways, and it was really beautiful. So we also learned things by heart and dramatized it and made little things. It was very beautiful. And I had always been wondering, why does the Buddha need another Buddha? And now I understand it. That's all. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for your offering. May we have another offering, please?

[76:18]

We have another offering. T, are you there? Yeah. Thank you. Rep. Sensei, the last year I told you that I read the Lotus Sutra. You asked me if I want to attend Buddha Hall and I found that questions troubling. I still find it troubling because I feel like I think a seed of gaining mind my mind yes um so um Actually, the first time I read the Buddha Sutra was many years ago.

[77:19]

There was nothing to do with Buddhism or with Buddha's teaching. It was because I was studying the Dunhuang, Mogao cave, all those Buddha's paintings and statues. And I was told by... I could learn a lot from... from all those art, from reading the Lotus Sutra. So that was the reason I read the books, the sutra. And I read it last year. I read it together. Maha, Mahaparin, Nivala. I think I told you about that too, but I wasn't quite clear why I read it together. I just feel it was important for me to read the Lotus Sutra and the Mahapanibbara together. But now I understand it now why I read it together.

[78:24]

It was because it's a way to study the relative and absolute truth. That's my text on that. I'm still not quite sure I totally get it. But I think that the takeaway is that now I have the unwavering devotion for the Buddha Dharma. Thank you. Thank you for your offering. We have an offering from Reverend Linda Cutts. Good morning.

[79:29]

I just wanted to share something. In Suzuki, she did a lot of sutra teachings. Can everybody hear? Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. And in those lectures, somebody brings up, in the same way as people have been bringing up the difficulties with the sutra, they had this period, or whatever it was, it was a tasar, I think, had difficulties, and someone said, it's too fancy. It's just too fancy. And Suzuki Roshi, the answer he said back, which was so helpful for me, was it's not fancy enough. And that just like, oh, this just barely even touches the inconceivability of our life together and the billions of gazillions of

[80:35]

I somehow him saying it's not fancy enough, really great. It just turned me. It's like, okay, just drop this problem here and open to it. So I just wanted to share that. Thank you. Thank you. We have an offering from Linda Harris. Thank you. Reb, at the beginning we said an unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect Dharma is rarely met with. And then you told us about the presence of the Buddha and 18,000 Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas and the countless presence of all of them, and I thought, if they're all here, why is it so rarely met with?

[81:42]

And then I, my question is about when Maitreya is told that she was fame seeker, was fame seeker, I don't know why I'm hesitating so much. Anyway, I know what I want to say. So, I wondered if Fame Seeker Maitreya was sort of cut off from seeing Bodhisattva at that time of being Fame Seeker. And I I want to say that I don't know how to fully realize myself as fame seeker. Can you help? Well, for me, just a little glimmer of my fame seeker is great.

[82:47]

If I can just see a little bit of how I'm seeking fame, that's a lovely little thing to take care of. If I get another glimpse of fame seeker, or if I have another moment to embrace, that's my job. That's what I'm being asked to do. If there's any fame seeker around here, please embrace it. And also don't try to get a bigger one, a bigger glimpse. Just this little one's enough. And if I get a big one, okay. Big dose of fame seeker, okay. And that will continue to be part of who Maitreya is. And again, remember, Maitreya means basically loving-kindness, right? So now, Maitreya is being told, you have practice loving-kindness with, and you're also the next Buddha. Yeah. You're doing both, but you don't skip over taking care of FameSeeker.

[83:58]

FameSeeker comes. It's a great opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. We have an offering from Manfred Krauter. Good evening. We can't hear you. You're going to be unmuted, but your sound, your audio isn't present. I'm going to see if I can give you time to work on that while we hear another offering. Thank you. We have an offering from Nicola. Nicola, in COVID you get a new type of haircut, huh?

[85:18]

Nicola, we can't hear you either. Can't hear you. I'm going to give you a moment to work on that while we hear from another participant. Sorry. You look great. Oh, okay. I resolved the problem. Do you hear me? Yes. Now I can hear you. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Hello, everybody. I don't hear you. Can you say something? Hello. Hello. Okay, I hear you. Okay, thank you. I'm sorry for the confusion. I raised my hand because when Reverend Ray Wren was talking, I was very moved by it.

[86:28]

Me too. And I had to... Hurt too. and the tears were running, and I was thinking of that I had exactly the same question in the last days. I wondered also why a Buddha, only a Buddha with a Buddha, and thinking things like, I mean when you practice with some being that is in yourself like what you just mentioned about pain seeker or something else that is not another person but is just the character in your own personality and then

[87:31]

I was thinking, is that the other Buddha too? Is that personality in your own, that character in your own personality, is that, could that be also referred to as the other Buddha? Is it really literally, does it more mean two people? We do have the situation of two people. But when we have two people, neither one of those people understands the Buddha Dharma. It's these people being Buddhas with each other.

[88:39]

It's these two people being fully, genuinely who they are. Buddhist. And that we don't exclude our personality and we don't exclude our views of other people's personalities. We fully embrace our own personality. We fully embrace our own idea of who others are. And this is who we are and we fully become that. We're fully present with that. That's what meets another person who's doing that same practice. We uphold the practice and then we serve the function of a Buddha, including all this personality offerings. all these wonderful personality offerings in our own personality and other people's personality appearing in our body and mind.

[89:49]

It's our job to take care of our personality and other personalities fully. And we're sitting at our Dharma position. And we need to work with others so they can sit in their dharma position. And then in that meeting, that's where the turning of the dharma wheel lives. So we don't exclude anything, any personality business. We fully embrace and sustain it. It's a living being. Thank you. And I have a question. Because you talked about the turning of the Dharma wheel, and I was wondering, normally I heard that Buddhas are turning the Dharma wheel, and then in the Lotus Sutra it's mentioned that the

[91:03]

The dharma wheel turning kings or something like that? They are part of the assembly. The dharma wheel turners or something. Little and big or something. Yes, I think little and big dharma wheel turner kings. So what's the difference between a Buddha turning a dharma wheel and a wheel turning king? Why is the one in the assembly in the Buddha? I think that, I guess, I didn't hear, I heard about the wheel rolling king, like a god practically, turning a wheel of the wheel turning king. But I, the wheel turning king's practice with another wheel turning king. It's just the wheel-turning king turning the wheel.

[92:09]

There's nothing about the wheel-turning king being turned by the wheel. But in the case of Buddhism, which is an ordinary living being, gets affected and gets changed by the turning of the wheel. We have all, as living beings, been changed and turned by the Buddha Dharma. So does that mean that the wheel-turning king knows that he is also turned by the wheel? He just knows about his own turning of the wheel? The wheel-turning king is another sentient being who could hear about the Buddha's teaching. And then they would realize that they're turned also. They're not just turned. They have a chance to wake up too. But they don't seem to know. And Now, we have a teaching for everybody who doesn't know that the turning of the Dharma wheel is completely included in us being turned by the Dharma wheel.

[93:17]

We do know about the... Yeah, that was another question. Someone said they were moved by what Reverend Rayburn said. They were turned by her turning. She was turned by the sutra. And then she turned it for us. And we were turned by her. Turning was included in our being turned. And that's really what's going on all the time. But the wheel turning king maybe doesn't understand that teaching yet. So they'd rather be a king or a queen than just be involved in Lotus Sutra. where turning and being turned are never separate. Where being sentient being and Buddha are never separate. There's no Buddha separate from the turning. There's no sentient being separate from the turning. There's no sentient being separate from Buddha and from sentient being.

[94:21]

And the people who think and that they're a king at turning it or a queen at turning it, they include turning the Dharma wheel, they just maybe have not yet understood that teaching, stuck in being a king or a queen, which is a pretty nice place to be stuck. If I may say another thing, the other day I heard you also say, it's the same topic, actually, I heard you say, we are included in others. We are included in others and they are included in us. And, um, yeah. And I, um, my, is that I realized that others are included in me because like when Reverend Reverend, um, speaks and, and her tears are falling and then my tears are falling too.

[95:33]

And, I just feel her to be me or inside of me. This computer with all those faces is just a part of myself. But I have no idea about how I am included in others. That's perhaps the contrary of the wheel-turning thing. I just feel how I am turned by everything, but I'm not feeling how I am in everything. The way that you are included in others is not your feeling of the way you're included in others. It's not that feeling. It's everything that I don't know. Feeling that you are included, you could have that feeling, which is a wonderful feeling. Maybe if it's a wonderful person, you're glad to be included. You might feel great. But you are included.

[96:34]

whether you feel it or not. However, your feeling is inclusion. But your feelings are included. And when you feel that she's included in you, that's a wonderful feeling. That's very moving. But your feeling is not the inclusion. The inclusion is more but it's a wonderful feeling. But sometimes the feeling is not wonderful. If a monster is included in you, it might not feel so good. However, your feeling of this monster in you that you include, that feeling is not the inclusion. It's just a real difficult. And your feeling of how difficult it is to include monsters is included in the monsters. The inclusion is beyond feeling. And discrimination. Even though all the feelings and discriminations are included.

[97:37]

So it's more a matter of not trying. But allowing it. You didn't try to. Have reverend. Be included in you. You just kind of awoken to it. And had a feeling of it. And you can try. But it's already there. It's more like allow it. Allow all. Allow them. And allow yourself to be included. Just allow it. And if feelings come, fine, allow them too. But the feeling is optional, even though it's wonderful. And also the feeling is optional, even though sometimes it's really scary. So scary that I might include a really arrogant, self-righteous, selfish, cruel person. How can I allow that person to be included in me? Let's allow the possibility that I could be that way.

[98:38]

That's difficult. I'm allowing the Dharma when I allow that. Thank you very much. Another offering, please. Manfred can your offering. Manfred. I hope you can hear me now. I do. I hear you. Great. Well, and I can hear you. The thing that is going on in the Lotus Sutra seems to me something that, independently of time and space, And when you addressed us as an assembly, I had a feeling, yeah, it's like, it's going on until today that there are bodhisattvas and Buddhas doing their job. And says in the Lotus Sutra is that the reason to come, to come back and come back is to bring all the sentient beings to Buddhahood.

[99:50]

And I was wondering today, well, if they succeed, they seem to work for quite a long time. But what happens if they one day would have done their job, if the Buddhas would have succeeded and all beings would be in Buddhahood? What kind of state would that be? strange connection to nature law, which in science it's called the second sentence of thermodynamic, which also happens in time. Actually, it's one of the few formula that has a time dimension in physics. And I had the impression that, well, let's forget about this terrible name. We could also call it a nature law where Buddha nature is imprinted in nature or vice versa.

[100:58]

Nature is imprinted. If we think about what will happen ultimately in this Kalapa is that we call the death of entropy that at the end there are no entities, there are no activities. It's kind of, we call it kind of that entropy is just dispersing everything and no interaction, not even interaction couldn't happen. which it's not really a nice outlook, but this is probably how things end. And usually we speak about dependent co-arising. And of course, I think there was dependent co-arising and probably it's still happening on today, but isn't there also a dependent disappearance? And is this our fate? And is this something that will maybe happen one day then the Buddhas have

[101:59]

And not all, not even all sentient beings, but all things in the universe, all entities are rescued that we just disappear in such a way. And maybe one day it starts again in the next Kalpa and Buddhas will come again and teach and teach and teach until every sentient beings is on the Buddha path. But what strikes me is that this law seems to have something very close to what Buddhas wants to do, working for them. And I was wondering if this is a kind of absurd connection or what you would think about that? I don't quite get the absurdity. I see an opportunity to face an awesome question. And maybe so.

[103:05]

Maybe what you're saying will be so, and maybe it'll all start over again. Just like it did, supposedly, there was a start of the universe, right? Yeah. Supposedly. Was there really a start? We're struggling with that, aren't we? And if it ends, will there be another start? This is part of our opportunity. Will there be another universe after this one disappears? Let's see, shall we? Keep our eyes peeled. I think it's wonderful to dependently arise and also to independently disappear. Oh, wonderful. Thank you for your offering. Thank you. This offering is from Robert Hall. Robert, welcome.

[104:14]

Can you hear me, Rob? I hope a great assembly. As usual, I'm struggling with a pounding heart. but I will try to get this out in not too fragmentary a way. I have to make a confession that when I signed up for the intensive, I had some sort of idea in my head that I would read everything, I'd get prepared. Doesn't this sound academic? I would. get prepared, I'd have all the exercises done, and then I would listen to your lectures. And I have to say that I was quite moved by the Lotus Sutra and the timelessness of it and the enormity of the Great Assembly and all the Great Assemblies and the light that went throughout.

[105:19]

In spite of ambivalences I had that I talked about last Sunday, I still was really impressed with that. And then I came to the Great Assembly, and all of a sudden I was in complete turmoil. Because I'm an intense introvert, actually. And on Zoom, it's particularly difficult because everybody can see me. I can see everybody. I'm not just staring at a wall. And I was a little bit skeptical about what I would learn from this. And I just want to acknowledge the Great Assembly. I've learned so much in just a few days listening to the Assembly talk.

[106:22]

And in saying this morning that a couple people in particular moved me, that's not in any way to suggest that other people did not, but I thought it was important to say that The comment that Linda Cutts made about not being extravagant. I don't think she used the word extravagant. Not being extravagant enough. Not having enough of that. Because that's one of the things that really moved me in reading the Lotus Sutra. I also want to acknowledge Ray Brim. raven's comment and linda has his comment they they they all had a particular meaning for me and in particular um you know particularly address things that are raging and in turmoil in me and and of course i want to acknowledge the things you said this morning when you talked about the um

[107:28]

making comments and not seeing what's going on and the impulses and all the things that are going on. And that, you know, and not thinking so much, maybe you didn't say this exactly, but not thinking so much in advance, but just letting the comment be the comment. And so I thank the Great Assembly and I thank you. Thank you for your offering. It's 10.55 and our last offering today will be from Xiaoying. Thank you. Hi, Rand, and hi, everybody. Hello. I was surprised to be cold because I was just thinking I probably won't be cold because there are so many people on the line to talk.

[108:41]

So I was just thinking maybe I just express myself by raising hand. And even if I don't get cold, that's why at least I'm expressing my desire to be part of this. And to express that, like what Robert was saying, a lot of the offerings in the past couple of days have been really moving for me. And, and in particular, what I want to is that Some of the comments today and some of the things that you said in response to the comments were about being the whole person that you are. And that is how you, my interpretation of that is that's how you take the responsibility of you being the Buddha in the midst of other Buddha.

[109:48]

And that's how you how you show up. And I intellectually understood it. And then I was noticing myself, right? Like being my whole self. And maybe there's something, some part of me that's going to the front because it's safer and that's harmful. Maybe the fancy king person in me goes to the back and I still hold it. And it's fine. It's like in the back, not showing so much or. For me, okay, let's put it there. I'm still having it there. I still fool me, but I'm just not showing it. And then somehow when, when Nicola was asking about topics about inclusion and Repu said that it's not the feeling included or not included. It's not inclusion itself. It's just a feeling. And regardless of you feel included or not included, you are included already.

[110:55]

And somehow that helped me have that clicking moment of all these parts of me, whether I like it or not, they are already included. And whether they are in the back burner or not, they are already included. And who goes to the front, who goes to the back, that's also there. And somehow I'm kind of like getting to a point of being like excited about the rawness and the vulnerability. There's still ways to go. So I wonder if you will have to help me to go beyond this. The first thing that comes is include not going beyond. Include wanting to go beyond.

[112:00]

And so you're talking about how to allow all, to include all of yourself, but then also we need to meet somebody else. So this is all your work. Now you bring your work. Now you have a face. Now you can meet someone. Did you use the word show up? Yeah. So you show up, but then someone shows you, you know, someone says to you, Chia Ying, thank you for showing up. You know, thank you so much for showing up completely. And then when they say that to you, you realize you want them to show up. Or you realize, oh, I didn't, I was still hiding part of myself. And then you can say, thank you for that, your kindness, but you know, I was hiding something from you. I want to show you now. So again, we need to be completely who ourselves in order to meet another yes, but we need somebody else to help us be completely ourself.

[113:06]

So everything you said is right and we need to meet. Because other people will show us that we're not doing what we said we wanted to do. You're not really being yourself. They might say, you're so completely yourself. And when they say that, we realize, oh, I'm not. Thank you so much for kindly showing me that I wasn't allowing part of myself. And now I also see I wasn't allowing part of you. I'm so sorry. But that's how we meet, and that's where we realize the Lotus Sutra. I think we got to 11 o'clock again. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way.

[114:14]

Beings are numberless. I vow them. Afflictions are inexhaustible. I vow to cut through. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[114:42]

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