Last Sunday we started a three-week meditative meditation intensive and I introduced the topic for this meditation topic for this intensive something like the pivotal activity of all Buddhas face to face, meeting face to face, transmitting the teaching, liberating all beings. And I think I mentioned last Sunday also that I imagine that all Buddhas are sitting upright in the center of all living beings.

[01:18]

and sins are suffering, they're sitting in the center of all suffering. They're sitting upright at peace, in bliss, at the center of all suffering. they're sitting in stillness in the center of all suffering transmitting face-to-face peace and ease to all suffering beings. And among the living beings that the Buddha is in love, some are ready and open to receive this communion.

[02:48]

And some do not feel ready. And the Buddha continues to sit there, continues to commit, helping beings get more and more ready and open to the transmission of this peace and this ease. Transmission and part of the teaching is to say in this world from the center of this world to say that all living beings, every living being is also sitting at the center of all living beings. Buddha tells me that Buddha is sitting at the center and Buddha tells me that I'm sitting at the center and Buddha is sitting at the center right now.

[04:02]

Buddha is encouraging me to remember that. Remember that I'm sitting still right now. ...beings. Buddha's practice is to sit at the center of all life and observe all living beings. Buddha's practice is to sit upright in the center of all beings and observe all, each and every, all living beings to observe them with eyes of compassion. sitting and observing all living beings with eyes of compassion.

[05:20]

Sitting at the center of all beings, listening to the cries of all living beings with ears of compassion. I understand, I seem to hear Buddha telling me that I'm at the center of all life and I feel encouraged to sit here and listen to the cries of the world. to compassionately witness the cries of the world.

[06:34]

To observe all living beings with eyes of compassion. I feel invited and encouraged by the Buddhas to practice that way. In other words, I feel invited by the Buddhas to practice like a Buddha. The Buddha's practice, I imagine, is very consistent. Like every moment they observe all beings and listen. They really listen, like really let the cries in with no argument or resistance. I feel invited to listen in that way. I may have difficulty being consistent.

[07:43]

I'm invited by those who have become consistent to learn to be steadily mindful, steadily remember to sit in stillness and listen to the words of the world. Remembering this place And this time, remembering stillness, I feel, helps me listen to the cries. Remembering stillness helps me listen to the cries. Remembering stillness helps me remember to observe all living beings as fundamental There's a fundamental dimension of Buddhist practice.

[08:46]

This right over here is where I usually sit during meditation. I sit there and I observe the people in the room. I intend to sit here and observe the people in the room with eyes of compassion. And for me, when I give myself to that practice, I'm deeply moved by that practice and I don't always cry. when I observe beings with eyes of compassion. But my eyes are on the verge of crying. It's a very tender way of meditating. I enjoy it. Also last

[09:59]

giving up trying to control living beings. Buddhas observe living beings but do not try to control them. Buddhas are not in control of us. They observe us and they give up trying to control us. They're trying to transmit the teaching to us so that we can use it. They're not trying to control us. Practicing in this way, practicing in this way, practicing like Buddhas, it dawns on the practice that

[11:38]

that we are observing with eyes of compassion, they are also centers of all life. At the center of all life, I intend, I wish, I vow to sit in my place, and my place is the center. And by really settling here, I observe all living beings. Observing all living beings, I really settle here. By observing, for example, myself and all my difficulties, to observe my own fragility with eyes of tenderness, I settle into my position here in stillness.

[12:45]

Settling into my position here in stillness helps me observe all living beings. In this way, settling more of observing all beings, the Buddhist practice dawns here. The Buddha's vision dawns here, dawns in my eyes. In practice, one sees that each living being is also the center, a center. Each living being, in whatever their experience is, is the center of all life. And each living being which is the center includes me and my practice.

[13:56]

And also I am now given the vision that my practice includes them. They include my practice. They include my experience. Each one includes my experience and experience of each one. And each one includes everybody's experience. This is a pivotal activity. The Buddhas are pivoting between their experience and our experience. They have experience, and their experience is that their experience is our experience, and our experience is their experience. Being ourselves right here,

[15:05]

and opening to listen and observe all beings, we also realize our experience is other people's experience, other people's experience is our experience. We realize the pivotal activity of Buddhas. And in this process of sitting still and listening to all beings, in this process of observing all beings and remembering to observe each and every being in stillness, in that practice, our body and mind drop away. We no longer hold on to our body. It doesn't disappear. It's just that we give up trying. we are relieved of trying to control our body, and we're relieved of trying to control other people's bodies.

[16:09]

This morning I asked a person, a human, who serves me as an attendant, I asked him to wait until the robe chant. When we put our robes on in the morning we do a robe chant. We recite it three times and then we put our robe on. I asked him that he wait until we finished the robe chant before he put his robe on. And when I asked him I got to look to see Was I trying to control him into waiting to put the robe on until we recited the robe chant three times? I don't think I was trying to control him. I just asked him to do it. I just requested him to do it. And actually I want him to do it. And I'll be observing tomorrow morning

[17:19]

does. And he didn't say he would do what I requested. He just said, I receive your request. Which is fine with me. I do not receive your request. And if I really gave that from this place of stillness, if that's where this request came from, this stillness where body and mind drops away, body and mind drops away, the dropped away body and mind says, I have a request. Drop-dropped bodies and minds can talk and they can also be quiet and they can dance and they can sit. But Buddhas have activity.

[18:23]

And the activity comes from being mindful of our position in the universe, which is at the center, everybody. So everybody I'm talking to is myself. And of course, otherwise. Everyone that's other than myself is included in myself, and I'm included in everyone that is other than me. What I really am is myself and otherwise. The Buddha activity is pivoting between self and other. That's what the Buddhas are. That's peace, and that's ease, is pivoting with everybody. because that's being true to who we really are. We are a self and we are otherwise. We observe our self because our self is one sentient being.

[19:33]

And we observe all other sentient beings. In this way we enter into face-to-face transmission between self and otherwise. we enter into Buddha's pivotal activity of face-to-face communion. And from this place and from this action, from this practice, the appropriate actions arise, which might be to sit quietly for another moment in a meditation hall. But when a bell rings, it might be to get up, and walk with the group. Or it might mean to go to the restroom. Or it might be to sing a song. The appropriate action arises from accepting the responsibility of being the center of the universe.

[20:39]

accepting the responsibility of being the center or a center of the universe is necessary in order to respond appropriately to all beings. It means to apropos, to the point. What point? The point of responding like Buddhas respond. appropriate to responding compassionately and wisely. Now it seems quite simple to me that if I practice, if I learn to practice observing sentient beings with eyes of compassion, observing sentient beings with eyes of compassion, I accept my position at the center. I accept stillness.

[21:46]

And from such a practice, the compassionate response will spontaneously arise. I don't have to do anything because beings will touch me. they will touch my eyes, they will touch my ears, they will touch my skin, they will touch my mind. And if I'm accepting the responsibility of being here, and I have the responsibility to observe all beings, when they touch me, the appropriate response will come up. Some people say, almost like magic, It's spontaneous. It's not without causes. It's just that it rises out of the interaction, not outside it. I have nothing to say before I meet your face.

[22:50]

But when I meet your face, suddenly I have something to say. And if I'm doing, accepting the responsibility of being here, in other words, the responsibility of being here means the responsibility of being still. Then I, because the appropriate response will be allowed to arise. the including of you will be allowed. The being included in you will be allowed. When I talk like this, whenever I talk, when I talk like this, I channel all of you. But no matter what I'm talking about, I channel all of you.

[23:56]

I'm always channeling, you're always being . I am the channeling of all of you. That's what I am. So in this consciousness various thoughts arise, but really all of you are included in the arising of this thought. And so that as sort of a background to the thought arose a few seconds ago which, yeah, which I think a lot of other people think too, and that is that some people are not included in me. Our current events in the United States are, you know, somebody's talking about practicing like a Buddha and then people are saying, well, but there are exceptions. to who's included and who I'm included in.

[25:02]

In other words, I don't really accept this teaching. I'm resisting that I'm included in that person. Now, it is possible to feel like I do not include that person. That person is not included in me. In other words, I don't... I never act like that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's maybe really true, that you will never act like that. You will never act like that. But you are you for that. You will never act like that, but the way you'll never act is you.

[26:09]

The things you'll never do. You're included in all the things you'll never do. And all the things you'll never do are included in you because you are the center of all the things you'll never do. And all the things you'll never do are also the center of you. This is Buddha's vision. And we have a chance to imagine seeing like a Buddha. Of course, the Buddha never does the slightest unkindness. Of course. The Buddhas are totally tender to all beings, including the people who are not tender.

[27:15]

Buddhas are tender to the most cruel people and also to the slightly cruel people. and also to the people who are almost always tender. Buddhas observe everybody with eyes of compassion. And they see, the person who's doing something which I will never do, this person is me. They're just like me, doing what I'll never do. This is Buddha's peace and bliss, which the Buddha is trying to transmit to everybody who's doing the things that Buddha will never do. Buddha is trying to transmit this practice to the people who are doing things which Buddha will never do, and which Buddha wishes nobody would ever do, and which almost everybody wishes nobody would ever do.

[28:19]

But Buddha is also seeing that they're included in that person who's doing this impossibly inappropriate thing. And that person is included in Buddha. And from there is where the response that's appropriate to helping this person comes. The teaching which helps this person learn compassion. While they're doing something, that Buddha would never do. Well, I think that this Dharma talk wasn't too short, was it?

[29:29]

Was it long enough? Yeah. I was a little worried that it was going to be too short and some of you would be disappointed how short it was. But it's not too short. Okay? Ready? One, two, three, it's over. There's a question and answer, though, about the whole universe, which you can come to. May our intention fully extend to every being and place. Martin Luther King listened to the cries of the world that he observed

[30:53]

living beings and that he found stillness in the midst of his observation of living beings and he discovered in this place of stillness and listening to all beings non-violence as an appropriate response to injustice. So we celebrate his life tomorrow in this country. And is there anything you'd like to discuss? Yes.

[32:19]

What is compassion? Compassion is being tender to living beings. Living beings are fragile and unstable. And being tender with them is compassion. Also, being generous towards living beings is compassion. Letting living beings be the way they are is the first practice of compassion. welcoming living beings into your life is generosity and is compassion. Making your actions gifts to beings, not trying to control them with your actions, except maybe your husband, but

[33:39]

giving all your actions as gifts is compassion and then ethical discipline is compassion being careful of what you say to beings and be careful of being really careful and learning how to be careful but not too careful be careful in a relaxed, be careful in a tender way. And also, if you're not careful, if you're not being careful the way you want to be careful, then being aware that you're not being careful is part of compassion. And confessing that you're that you weren't careful and feeling sorry that you weren't careful.

[34:45]

Or another, go back to the word, the issue of control. I feel like trying to control living beings is disrespectful of them. If I notice I'm being disrespectful of living beings, that's not being careful. I'm being careful not to be disrespectful And if I feel like I was disrespectful and tried to control somebody rather than listen to them, instead of doing that, to move and try to control, if I do that, I'm sorry. And confessing that and being sorry is also compassion. And being patient with... with difficulty and pain and insult is also compassion.

[35:47]

And being patient means like being willing to be in the center of it, having the ability to live in the center of suffering. That ability is compassion. And being thorough and diligent and enthusiastic is part of compassion. and being calm and relaxed and playful is part of compassion. So these are five practices which sort of unfold compassion. And these practices then lead to these practices set up the illumination. They set up being able to see what Buddhas see, namely that everybody is the center of everything and we are included in them and we are the center and they're included in us.

[36:55]

That wisdom comes when we're kind to everyone. Anything else you want to discuss? Yes? If one was struggling to be kind, to feel authentically, deeply kind toward others or oneself, do you recommend just trying to behave that way until you feel it? I practice saying to myself, and I also say it out loud, but I often say it to myself even when I don't say it out loud, I say, welcome.

[37:58]

So sometimes I say welcome to myself and then I say welcome out loud to somebody. And sometimes I say welcome to myself, but I feel like that wasn't quite right. And I try it a few times before, and I finally feel like, well, that one was really welcome. And then I feel like then I can say it out loud. And so I do say welcome. When I first start talking to somebody, I often say welcome. And I watched to see, do I feel like wholehearted about that? I don't. I just keep... I don't necessarily say it over and over to that person. But I keep looking for a way to really mean it. To really feel like, okay, you know, I really totally am open to you being here. But sometimes I don't feel that way. So I... And...

[39:05]

I often use the example of, for me, you know, one time somebody, I saw somebody give somebody a really nice automatic pencil, and I said to him, and he had another one and gave it to me. And then I, when I got home, I said to my wife, look at this nice pencil somebody gave to me. And she said, can I have it? A story that's already in the public domain, so I can say it. There's a whole bunch of other ones that I'm not allowed to tell. Too bad for you. Anyway, she said, can I have it? And I said, no. And I was embarrassed to be stingy and attached to my new automatic pencil.

[40:08]

But I didn't want to give it to her and I don't want to give it to her if I don't want to give it to her. And she might say, it's okay if you don't want to. She didn't say that, but she could have. She just accepted that her husband was at least momentarily stingy. And I was feeling I was feeling all that good. I was feeling kind of embarrassed, but no was really where I was at. And if I had given it to her before I really felt like yes, it wouldn't have been a gift. It would have been highway robbery. I'm not going to make her a robber. The next morning, I had had the automatic pencil long enough.

[41:12]

I enjoyed it for like 18 hours. It was great. It was wonderful. And, yeah. Hey, here's a pencil. And I was ready to give it, and there was no problem. It was time. And, you know, In fact, we're going to give away everything that we've got. We are going to. So we can practice getting ready for that. But again, do it when you really want to give, I would say. I would say, well, what about if somebody... and you didn't feel ready for it, and they're going to die if you don't, if you didn't give it to them. Then I might say, okay, for their sake, I'll do an insincere gift. But I won't see it as a gift. I don't see it that way.

[42:16]

But actually, Buddha's watching me. It was a gift. You just don't get it. You think your resistance is interfering, but I like to actually... give my resistance some respect and maybe in some cases wait until it drops away. All the other practices, you can try them even though you're not yet able to understand how to do them wholeheartedly. You can try and say, well, that wasn't really wholehearted and I'm sorry. And then To make it wholehearted, which I'm kind of embarrassed, but a story just came. Should I tell it? Yes. Okay.

[43:18]

This story is by a wonderful person named Gregory Bateson, and it's a story about Samuel Johnson. Do you know Samuel Johnson? He's like the great English intellectual. He's the one who Mr. Boswell wrote a biography of. It's one of the best biographies in English about this guy named Samuel Johnson. So that's something to look forward to reading someday. It's a great biography. Samuel Johnson was, he practiced, he lived alone, and he practiced a monastic schedule. He wasn't a monk, but he practiced a Christian monastic day, which had certain observances throughout the days where he would pray. And I think at night, maybe around midnight, there's a thing called matins.

[44:25]

Is that right? Matins? Not too many Christian monks here. I think the midnight service is called matins. And so he would get up in the middle of the night on a regular basis and pray and then go back to bed like Christian monks did. And one night he got up and in the process of his service he basically probably had a stroke and he that something was really some, you know, burning up in his nervous system. And so then he made a prayer, and he did prayers in Latin. So then he made a prayer in Latin. And the prayer in English, English translation is what is, you know, Lord God of the universe,

[45:28]

Do whatever you want with my body, but please don't destroy my mind. And then he concluded his prayer and got back in bed. And then he thought about the verse and thought, you know, it wasn't a very good verse. So he got up and started praying again. And he said, Dear Lord, That wasn't a very good verse. This isn't it. But thank you for preserving my critical qualities. So we can learn by noticing that wasn't quite on the mark. It was too much or too little. It kind of wasn't really respectful.

[46:31]

It wasn't really careful. It was too careful. They used to have these things called care bearers. Are Care Bears like little dolls? Yeah. Yeah, so they had these things called Care Bears, and the Care Bears lived in a place called Care-A-Lot. And so I would say, again, compassion is to care a lot, but not too much. and not too little. So we learn to care by trial and error. So let's try even though we don't necessarily know perfectly how to do it. Yes?

[47:34]

Well, for example, I don't know is caring for the child and the child needs a certain amount of attention and a certain amount of kindness, or maybe even a certain amount of food, is concerned about what the neighbors will think of them. So they make the child eat more than the child should eat so that they can't be criticized for not feeding the child enough. to be doing it to protect yourself, criticism would be overdoing it. So if you're trying to be kind, you shouldn't be so kind that no one would ever dare say you weren't kind. If you're really kind in the right way, people are invited to question you.

[48:42]

But some people are so afraid, particularly of taking care of children, they're so afraid that someone would say, you're not a good mother, that you don't care enough for your child, that they treat their child in such a way that no one... because they don't want that to happen to them. So they subject the child to too much, for example, control or too much care more than is appropriate. They don't respect the child and give the child enough space because they're afraid that someone might say, you gave the child too much space. And I know a lot of, particularly women have told me this, that they grew up with their mother and they spent a lot of time taking care of their mother and making sure their mother thought that they loved their mother and they were angry at their mother because of how much they cared about their mother.

[50:04]

They felt coerced by their mother to act in certain caring ways. And finally, as they grew up, they found actually a way of caring for their mother that they really felt good about. It's caring, but not too much. And then their mother says, don't you care about me anymore? Because they're used to this overdoing it that the daughter feels really bad about. and is angry at the mother because they're caring that much. And then they find a way to care for the mother where they're not angry at the mother anymore and they feel really wholehearted about it. But the mother thinks because it's less that she doesn't care anymore. So there's an adjustment from too much to the right amount that sometimes is quite difficult. Even though it's going from too much to the right amount. Yes?

[51:08]

Could you talk about appreciation without attachment? How those can go simultaneously, full appreciation? Well, in the case of the automatic pencil, I got the pencil and I appreciated it, but I hadn't appreciated it enough to give it away. And finally I appreciated it enough, so I was done with it. And I was ready to give it away. Actually, all wealth we have, it's good to enjoy it so that you can give it away. Like I have some books and I have to like look at them a little bit and enjoy them a little bit to say, okay, bye-bye book.

[52:14]

It's time for me to give you to someone else. I've been with you long enough. And now I move on to children. You know, I've been here, you've lived with me long enough. I'm ready to let you go. It's been wonderful being your parent. I'm ready to let you go. I don't need to have you live with me anymore. And I think it's time for me to give you away. And it seems like it's time for you also to be given away. Yeah, so enjoying something and appreciating it wholeheartedly is to not attach to it. If we don't enjoy it fully, it's like, come on, enjoy it fully and don't give it away until you do.

[53:26]

But when you reach the fullness of the enjoyment, it naturally drops away. And you're ready to give. And it's naturally given. Spontaneously, the attachment drops away. It becomes a gift. And it was a gift in the first place. And it was given to me to be wholehearted about. And when I'm wholehearted about the gifts that come to me, they're gifts that go for me. You talk about an elderly parent and coming back again because they now need you. Say again, I'm talking about? An elderly parent and coming back. You mean you have an elderly parent and a child comes home again to take care of the older parent.

[54:30]

Yes, right. That is a wonderful thing. And people who do that, yeah, it's wonderful to see adult children come back to take care of their elderly parents. In many societies, people are really nice to the children so that the children will come back and take care of them. When I was in Japan, the first few times I went there, I stayed with a Japanese family, and I was so touched by how kind they were to their children. And I thought, if children grow up in a family like this, they're really going to want to take care of their children however they can for their parents, because their parents are so kind to them. It's a pretty nice situation. Yes.

[55:31]

Thank you very much. Last week, you said something about taking care of each moment. So as a mother of three boys, worrying that they're leaving, worrying that we're losing the moment. I was missing the moment, and I thought, take care of each moment. And more, I said that to myself all week long. I feel like I'm losing everything. Yeah. But to be mindful in that way, to deal with this change. My grandson just turned 18. And the next day I got a call from his mother saying, I just got my baby. My baby is a man. Where'd my baby go? It's really hard. My baby.

[56:33]

But that's a precious moment. Now to be the mother of a man. But even years ago, when he became like a toddler, she lost the tiny infant. Lose all these, but rather than lose, give away, give away, give away, and accept the new big guy or whatever. These big guys, where did they come from? Yes. You talk about non-violence. And I understand that non-violent action is to reveal tension and to allow tension that's already there to be seen by more people.

[57:37]

And I was thinking about what we find about control. That's a good example of not trying to control violence but giving an action that reveals attention, that clarity there, in order to dispel denial. Yeah. Well, that sounds like nonviolence in the form of generosity and honesty. that you give a gift of yourself feeling some tension and you feel like, I'd like to give the gift of me feeling some tension. I feel the situation looks unjust and I feel uncomfortable about it. but I can respond to that by feeling it, and now I have a gift to give. And I'm not trying to control people by this gift. I don't know how they're going to respond to it, but I do feel like... I mean, I think I'm a good gift, and that's what I am.

[58:44]

This is who I am. Here I am. I'm feeling an injustice. I'm not blaming anybody, including myself. I am actually the whole universe as somebody who feels injustice. And I want to give this to the whole universe. I think that's non-violence. And it's courageous, it's honest, and it's generous. It's also patient, maybe patient, that you're actually able to be in the center of the pain of the injustice. You're not diminishing the sense of injustice. You're feeling it fully. And you're offering some words about it. I was in New York about nine months ago and I was giving a Dharma talk and somebody started asking some questions.

[59:58]

And before he finished everything he was saying, I started talking and someone said, you know, I feel like you didn't really give him a chance to finish what he was saying. So then I stopped talking and let him finish what he was saying. Yeah, I thought, I have something to say about what he's saying. But somebody else felt like, no, it's probably better to let him finish. And so I did. But it seemed like I needed that prompt in order for me to stop talking and let him finish. But I feel good that the person could say that to me, that I can allow being called into question, that I'm not talking in a way that people can't say, you know, I question what you're saying or I question even that you're talking right now. I'm not sure it's the right time for you to talk.

[60:59]

Yes. I recently gave away a sweater that my mother had knit for me. Yeah. Many years ago. And I wore it many years ago. She passed away. I think it's over 15 years now. And the sweater has remained in my drawer. It's very bulky. I never wear it. But it has a little label. Made especially for you by Mary Cuts. And I have not made it. even though I'm trying to divest or downsize. And here's this big bulky sweater. So finally, I took it out. It's time somebody else can wear it. I never wear it. What I did was snip out the little label. Once the label was out, it was just kind of like... It had shifted from being her, you know, like one of the last... I was just, what I was imputing to the sweat, I just wanted to, because it was so strong, and for so many years I was wondering your comments on that.

[62:22]

What's going on? Well, it seems like a lot could be going on. Loyalty to your mom, that's part of it. Another thing I think is might take care of it. That's an issue. However, when giving, part of giving is like, I'm willing to give this even though I don't know who can take care of it. So now, as you know, I have Buddhist robes, and I'm probably going to give my Buddhist robes to Buddhist priests. However, even though I give it to Buddhist priests, when I do, I want to not try to control what they're going to do with it.

[63:33]

So I think we can somehow think about who would be a good person to give a gift to. You really can go, okay, I'm not going to try to control your response to me or what you do with it. Try to find that place. And that's a new radiance. But it takes a while to get there sometimes. And then you find, oh, there it is. That's the right way to give this I found the appropriate person, and also I'm okay with not knowing what they're going to do with it. And that turns this thing, whatever it is, well, this thing is already a treasure, but that makes it a new treasure. Once you give it again, it's a new treasure. It's a refreshed treasure. And if it wasn't a treasure and you found a way to give it, it would become a treasure.

[64:35]

Like if some sweater that you don't care about, who would it be good for? And who can I give it to without really trying to get anything back? Then that thing which you didn't really care about becomes very valuable. But it's a lot of work to tune in to the true spirit of compassion and generosity. And we're busy, you know. But it's a good practice, divesting, emptying the house. But it takes time to look at that thing and, am I ready to give it? No, I am. Here it goes. Here it goes. OK. Okay, it's a little past noon. Is there anything else this morning, this afternoon? Yes. The Karen, back to Karen too much. Yeah. So when I think of listening to the cries of the world, I can't quite understand how you can hear.

[65:58]

I don't know how to not hear fear. Well, maybe you don't, but you can learn. And we can help you. Okay? When you were talking, an example just popped in my head, which you may have heard before. A friend of mine is an eye surgeon. And he said, if my daughter needed surgery, I would recommend myself to perform the operation because I would care too much. When you care too much and you're an eye surgeon, your hand might shake, and you do not want the surgeon's hand to be shaking. So if you were caring too much, we would watch you, and if your hand was shaking, we'd say, let's get somebody else to do this operation. You care too much, your hand's shaking. Now you might actually just sort of suddenly wake up. and find a new way to care that was just right and your hands stop shaking. You know, you just... Or someone might say, Tracy, we knew you... Care less.

[67:02]

And you do, and then you're like totally calm. And you're ready to do the thing without that extra tension. So that's part of what we're doing here in meditation is people are sitting upright, but some people are using some more muscles... to use. And then as they sit longer and longer they find out that they're using their muscles in an inefficient way. They're using more muscles than they need to to sit upright. And the body will teach us how to relax partly by showing us when we're not relaxed. So we're in the process of learning the appropriate a level of care. And part of the way we learn it is people and our body telling us, too much, too little. Mountains at our monastery in the mountains, there's something about that.

[68:05]

Someone told me that the air there is more electric than other places. I don't know if that's true, but anyway, there's something about that place that when I talk too much, my face gets red. So for me it's like when I feel a heat in my face, I say, oh, too much. And usually it is I'm talking too much. But this low altitude, sometimes I talk too much with that and don't notice it. But we're learning the right amount to talk. Like this morning, I felt like maybe I didn't talk too much. But now maybe I'm on the verge of talking too much. But it's trial and error. And if you're working with people trying to be helpful, caring for the world, for the earth, if you are not open to and being called into question,

[69:12]

you're probably caring too much or too little. Like some people care too little and nobody says anything to them because they say they don't care. Some other people are caring too much and nobody says anything to them because they're afraid of what this person would say if they were ever called into question in the form of, you care too much. People are afraid of people like that often because they're There's so much electricity that they're going to get shocked. So if you're being called into question, you're on the path to the appropriate level of care. If you're not being called into question, you are now called into question. Or served notice. Or you're put on notice. So if we're not being called into question, something's off in our ethics practice. And by being called into question, we together with being questioned will find the appropriate.

[70:20]

You care too much, Tracy. You care too little, Tracy. You care too much. You'll find your way with everybody helping you. Okay? Thank you so much. I pray that I didn't talk too much.

[70:42]

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