I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. I started to contemplate chapter two, which is called expedient means or skillful means or provisional teachings. And today I'd like to continue looking to two. Chapter 2, by saying that the Buddha calmly arose from samadhi, the samadhi called the place of innumerable meanings.

[01:16]

arising from the Samadhi, the Buddha addresses his wonderful disciple, Shariputra. And the Buddha starts by praising Buddha's wisdom and saying that it is difficult to understand and and that wonderful disciples like Shariputra are not able to comprehend it. Even great wise disciples are not able to comprehend it.

[02:32]

No one is able to comprehend it. No, no person. And the Buddha goes on then to praise the skillful means of the Buddhas. Those who have Buddha's wisdom also have great skill to teach people, to free them from attachment and suffering so they can enter nirvana. Buddha's wisdom makes appropriate to help beings Wonderful, skillful means, appropriately applied for the welfare.

[03:39]

And then the Buddha says, enough, enough, Shariputra, no more needs to be said. And after saying enough and no more needs to be said, the Buddha so wonderfully goes on to talk quite a bit more. No more needs to be said, and here we go. I'm going to talk some more. I can't see all your faces, but maybe some of you laughed out loud. And those of you who didn't, some of you are now. The Buddha is kind of funny sometimes. Enough, no more need.

[04:40]

Okay. Ready? Only a Buddha, together with a Buddha, thoroughly and exhaustively understands the true nature of reality. And we talked... somewhat about that yesterday. That the conversation between Buddhas, the conversation of Buddhas together with Buddha, the conversation of Buddha together with Buddha, the conversation between each of us being wholeheartedly meeting the other, that conversation is where and how the inconceivable Dharma is realized.

[05:41]

And that conversation is the real Buddha. That conversation is the wondrous, inconceivable, innumerable, ungraspable Buddha Dharma. After making this fairly short statement, the Buddha then enumerates 10 aspects of the real nature of all things, which are understood in the conversation, in the genuine conversation with others. The genuine conversation of self and other. In that conversation, the 10 aspects of the true reality of things is comprehended. Then the Buddha says in verse, saying again, no one understands Buddhist wisdom.

[06:52]

Nobody by herself understands the beautifully, poetically, creatively, imaginatively describing the situation. Then, after that, although he was just told, enough has been said, and then the Buddha kept talking, it's his fault, now Shariputra has a question. he's in a group with lots of other wise disciples of the Buddha. And he's wondering, what's he intending here? What's he talking about? Why is he praising this Buddha's wisdom? Why is he praising skill and means?

[07:58]

Telling us that this Buddha's wisdom is hard to believe, hard to understand, and hard to enter. And that even people like us, wise disciples, cannot comprehend it. And then, also telling us that there's only one principle of liberation, and that we, who cannot understand this Buddha's wisdom, that we will be recipients of this liberation and enter nirvana. Why do you pray skill and means? Why do you say that the Dharma is so profound and that we can't attain it and then also tell us that we will receive the one liberating principle and enter nirvana? And then the Buddha says, enough, enough.

[09:10]

Enough, Sariputra. Let's stop now. If I were to tell the great about the situation, they would be perplexed and confused and discouraged. So better not say anything. And then he says, better not to say anything. And then Shariputra asks him again, very wondrously, him again.

[10:21]

And then after he makes this wonderful request, the Buddha says, enough, Shariputra. if I were to explain what you're asking me, if I were to tell you why so earnestly assert and praise the Buddha's wisdom, it would confuse and perplex the great assembly. I don't want to do that. And then again, Sariputra, earnestly, poetically requests the Buddha to teach. A third time he asks, and then the Buddha says, after he finishes the request, the Buddha said, now that you so earnestly request, how can I refuse?

[11:23]

And then a great assembly event occurs. 5,000 monks, nuns, lay women, and lay men get up and leave, or get up, bow to the Buddha, bow to the Buddha, leave. And the Buddha does not try to stop them. The Buddha lets them go. After they leave, Buddha says, it's okay that they left. Those people who left were arrogant. They thought that they knew enough about what I had to teach. They didn't want to hear about this new turn of events.

[12:37]

So in their arrogance, they probably would have been disturbed. And maybe they even might have rejected what was offered. That would not be good. So it's good that they left. And now we have still a great assembly. I will tell you a little bit. And what does he tell them? Again, he tells them basically, I just have, I just teach for one reason. and not just me, but all Buddhas come into the world and teach living beings. All Buddhas appear in the world to teach living beings.

[13:39]

For one reason they appear. They appear for one reason only, and that is to do the work of opening beings up They appear because of the will to open beings to Buddha's wisdom. They appear because they want to demonstrate for living beings Buddha's wisdom. They appear in the world because they want to awaken beings to Buddha's wisdom. They appear in the world because they want to help beings enter Buddha's wisdom. And they only teach the one Buddha vehicle. And in the process of teaching only one Buddha vehicle, they use skillful means.

[14:57]

In the process of teaching the one Buddha vehicle, which is beyond and free of all distinctions, they make distinctions. I didn't hear the Buddha say, in the process of teaching only one vehicle, Buddha vehicle, I'm embarrassed to say that I make distinctions. I didn't hear that Buddha say that in the Lotus Sutra. However, I did hear Suzuki Roshi say that. I've often told the story of one time at Tassajara, he was talking about his disciples in a Dharma talk. And when he said, my disciples, I thought, I wonder who his disciples are. So I think that was an evening talk.

[16:10]

I think the next morning I said to him, Roshi, you referred to your disciples in your talk last night. Who are your disciples? And he said something like, in my mind, I make distinctions. Or he said, I'm kind of embarrassed, but in my mind, there are distinctions being made. I'm sorry to say it, but I'm embarrassed to say it, but instinctions are going on about the students at Tassajara. My mind distinguishes between those who are here for themselves and those who are here for others.

[17:18]

Those who are here for others are my disciples. He didn't say those who are here for themselves are not my disciples. He didn't say that part, I don't think. And yeah, so I wondered, which am I? And I still keep remembering, which am I? Am I his disciple? Am I here for others? In this chapter, the Buddha is saying, Buddha, only Buddhas together with Buddhas. In this chapter, we begin to learn that being here for others, being here for us, teaching others and being taught by others

[18:24]

is how we learn about ourselves. We awaken to ourselves by teaching and assisting others and being taught and being assisted by others. In this face-to-face transmission of only a Buddha together with a Buddha, or only Buddha together with Buddha, in that meeting is where we are disciples, where we are children of the Buddha. This one Buddha vehicle I see in the teaching of Dogen Zenji. He talks to his disciples 800 years ago about grandmother mind.

[19:30]

In the one Buddha vehicle, While teaching the one Buddha vehicle, the Buddhas offer skillful means. In teaching what is beyond distinction, they make distinctions, and using these distinctions, they offer expedient teachings for each person, just perfectly set for that person. I remember a story about the sixth ancestor. Right after he became the sixth ancestor, he was chased by someone and the person caught up with him. And the person said, please teach me. And he said, don't think good, don't think good.

[20:40]

What is your face before your parents were born? This was his skillful device for that person at that time. Making distinctions. Making the distinction of don't think good, don't think bad. Making a distinction. Let's look at your face before your parents were born. And then someone writing a verse about this gift from the sixth ancestor said, he's like a mother, a grandmother, peels the lychee seeds, who takes the peels off the lychee seeds to give to her grandchild. And that echoes with when I, My future mother-in-law, who I mentioned to you a few days ago, passed away on January 6th.

[21:53]

When I first met her at a Chinese restaurant and we were sitting at a table, It was Hunanese food. The name of the restaurant was Hunan. And she wanted to make sure that I was getting the tea. There was tea at the table and she wanted to make sure I got some tea. And the earnestness effort for me to get that tea really struck me. It looked like her life depended on me getting the tea. This is like the Buddha who teaches us one thing in infinite skillful ways and each skillfulness is

[23:10]

totally what the Buddha is offering at that time. And by receiving this skillful wholeheartedly, the wondrous Dharma, which nobody can understand, will be revealed. In this chapter, the story of the one Buddha vehicle, which was not seen in Buddhism before this. It was an amazing revolution to say that Buddha only teaches one thing. People had been seeing for hundreds of years, Buddha teach many things. They were remembering the many skillful means of the Buddha. Now, the revelation is, all those skillful means, in doing all those skillful means, the Buddha was always teaching Buddhist wisdom, which has... So the grandmother mind is, whatever you're doing for your grandchildren, really what you're doing is giving them Buddhist wisdom.

[24:34]

When the mother or the father has a child, various skillful means, like how to brush teeth, how to put clothes on, how to eat, all these skillful devices for the grandmother mind, they're all of teaching the same one Buddha vehicle. No matter what we're doing, no matter what skillful means we offer to others, and also no matter what others are offering to us, the grandmother mind knows the supreme Buddha wisdom in the form of this skillful means. It's always the same practice being offered in different forms.

[25:48]

Our readiness to receive the one Buddha vehicle is our readiness to completely embrace and sustain each skillful means. I encourage you now to read chapter two, where the Buddha talks in verse extensively about what he went through, what she went through in the process of finding a way to offer skillful means.

[27:25]

The Buddha realized the one Buddha vehicle, but the Buddha felt that she couldn't teach it to people because they would be disturbed and might reject it. So the infinite Buddhas came to Buddha and said, hail Shakyamuni. We had the same problem. We thought people couldn't deal with this one Buddha vehicle. Soulful means. And Buddha said, oh, well, if you did it, I will too. He sensed that he could not give this one Buddha vehicle. That it would be rejected. And that would not be good. So, he thought basically, no point to teach at all.

[28:29]

I should just enter Nirvana. But again, when he thought of the Buddhas in the past, he realized, well, they had the same, enter Nirvana. They offered skillful means. And they didn't, but they didn't tell people necessarily right away, that what they're always offering is the one Buddha vehicle. However, they were empowered by Buddha's wisdom, which is the one Buddha vehicle, so they could really well offer these teachings. They knew that these teachings were good, but they knew that they were than how they appeared. that they were offering the inconceivable, invisible Buddha wisdom in the envelope of a visible, conceivable, provisional teaching.

[29:42]

And they could offer sometimes a teaching which was not too, maybe not that interesting, maybe not that I don't know what. Astounding. Like, you know, San Francisco Zen Center, which has been going on for more than 60 years, from the early days when Suzuki Roshi was alive, one of the main skillful devices that was offered was arranging the shoes outside the meditation hall neatly. So many of you have been to Zen Center and you notice that sometimes outside the meditation hall, the shoes are arranged neatly. But sometimes they're not. And then we have to provide the wondrous skillful means of arranging the shoes neatly.

[30:46]

And some people don't think that that's such a great teaching. And I'm not saying it is great or isn't. I'm just saying that we are practicing the one vehicle. We are filled with joy to find a container for it. And adjusting shoes is a very good container for expressing the one Buddha vehicle. Also, Zen was founded before the hippie time. And in the early days of Zen Center before like 1966 and 67, when the hippie revolution occurred, most of the people shoes on or Zoris. But during the hippie time, people started to come to Zen Center walking off the street barefooted.

[31:51]

So their feet were filthy walking around San Francisco barefoot. offered this teaching, which they didn't think was that interesting, called, Wash Your Feet Before You Come into Zendo. I didn't think Zen was like washing your feet. But because he was teaching the one Buddha vehicle, tremendous compassion and wisdom. There was compassion. great Buddha's wisdom in wash your feet before you enter the Zendo. But again, he didn't say this is the one Buddha vehicle. Wash your feet. And some people left Zen Center when he offered that teaching. But that wasn't the one Buddha vehicle that was a skillful means to help people awaken to it. And we're still practicing that skillful means.

[32:58]

San Francisco Zen Center, we're doing it all over the world. Like I just had this vision of a retreat in Sweden at a place called Zen Garden. And outside that meditation hall, there's a place for people to take their shoes off. Ongoing practice of meditation. tidying up those shoes. And it is a skillful means. It is an opportunity to express the profound, inconceivable Buddha wisdom. We have so many opportunities. Everything we do all day.

[33:59]

What do you do? Like somebody just rubbed his nose. Klaus just rubbed his nose. Jill is just drinking some tea. Now she stopped. Now she's lifting her tea. Everything we do. Reaching for a glass of water. in the daytime, raising it to the lifts and drinking. It's a skillful means. Suzuki Roshi used the skillful means of drinking a cup or a glass of water or drinking a cup of tea. He used that skillful means to teach the one Buddha vehicle. And we had some sense of that's what he was doing. Even though we didn't have a Buddha vehicle, we had a sense that there was great compassion in the way, in the offering of drinking tea.

[35:11]

I see a sincere student taking notes. And this note taking is a way, is an opportunity. It's a temporary provisional means to realize to express, to express, to express, to display Buddha's wisdom. So again, the Buddha says, I'm here. All Buddhas appear in the world to open beings with our sitting, with our light beams, to open beings with our great compassion. and then to demonstrate, to demonstrate with the Buddha's wisdom so they can wake up to it, so they can observe the demonstration, the demonstration, the demonstration, observe [...] the skill and means wholeheartedly over the Buddha's wisdom.

[36:42]

Wake up to the Buddha's wisdom in every offering. Wake up to the true nature of Dharma by deeply respecting every Dharma as skill and means. And then enter. And when we open, when we see the demonstration, when we awaken, Buddhas are there with us. Buddhas are practicing with us. The practice of the Buddhas is to practice with each of us each moment. That's the practice of Buddhas. We have the opportunity to welcome the Buddhas with us. to learn the Samadhi, the Buddha Samadhi, to be undistracted from the Buddha Samadhi, in the Buddha Samadhi, by the Buddha Samadhi, in which each moment of our effort, our

[38:16]

effort to be upright with whatever happens, to receive whatever happens as the revelation, as an opportunity for the revelation of the one Buddha vehicle. Our effort, our personal effort is the practice of all beings. and the same as the awakening of all beings. But for starters, we make the effort. We make our effort. And we hear the teaching that this effort is accompanied by all Buddhas, and is the same practice as all Buddhas, and the same practice as all ordinary, human, non-human.

[39:23]

All their practices is the same practice as our personal practice. And we teach them, and that is our practice. And they teach us, and that is our practice. This is the one Buddha vehicle. Nobody owns the one Buddha vehicle. Nobody's in possession of Buddha's wisdom. It's all pervading and nobody possesses it. It is us all day long and nobody possesses it.

[40:24]

The Buddha doesn't possess Buddha's wisdom. We don't either. And it's always with us. However, at this point, we need to know that our practice is a tuning fork. is the lightning rod for this all-pervading universal vehicle, universal one Buddha vehicle. We are the container for the grandmother mind. The Buddha way, the one Buddha vehicle, cannot be anything other than what we're doing right now.

[41:41]

It cannot be anything other than what each one of us is doing right now. And we do not know what it is. And that means we do not know what we're doing. What we're doing is the great Buddha vehicle. And no person knows it. But the conversation between Buddhas knows is the knowing that we are becoming Buddhas. We are and will become Buddhas. And the Buddha we are going to be is looking at us and practicing with us right now.

[42:43]

Our future Buddhahood is inseparable from us right now. And it knows that we were its past. And it's grateful to us right now for the way we are right now. Those who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened. Before Buddhas were awakened, they were just like us. Before our Buddhahood was awakened, it was us right now. And we shall be the Buddha who is with us right now.

[43:53]

We shall be our future. The Great Assembly is invited to make offerings. The Great Assembly is invited to have conversation, to enact only a Buddha together with a Buddha. The Great Assembly is invited to enact having a face, a face, and receiving a face, having a face. We do have a face, but fully inhabit that face and offer it, and then receive a face. In this giving and receiving faces,

[44:58]

find the Buddha wisdom. There is no other Buddha way beyond giving your face There is no Buddha vehicle beyond me giving my face to you and receiving your face and you giving your face to me and receiving your face. There's no more Buddha vehicle. The same applies with trees who are giving their wonderful surface And we give our wonderful surface and the grasses and the flowers and the mountains.

[46:11]

Everything is involved. But understand, it's so profound. It's difficult to enter. So we have to practice. Once again, I invite the great assembly to offer your face to be met in Buddha's wisdom. Betsy. Hello, Rob. Hello, Betsy.

[47:12]

It makes me nervous to speak in front of hundreds of people. I've been rereading your book on the Paramitas. And I've decided, you know, I want those. You know, I want to practice those and realize that's supposed to make you a bodhisattva, right? So I want those. So this month, I'm focusing on generosity. And I confess that I realize generosity does not come naturally to me. But I've been focusing on it. So I think about it. And when I was meditating this morning, I was thinking of generosity and of giving my whole being to the moment. Just giving everything I have to the moment. And different, I realized that I think every time I meditate, I'm trying to get something.

[48:26]

I saw that, you know, that I'm trying to realize non-duality or I'm trying to clear my mind. Anyway, I wasn't trying to get anything this morning. And I wondered, because I've always had trouble with that, a Buddha together with a Buddha. What does that really mean? Like, do I have to be with you all the time? Because that's not possible. But is it being with people? My completely generous self, this moment, exactly as it's arising, it's generous self. And is that the one vehicle? I would say no. I would say that's a skillful means to awaken a vehicle that's there already, even before you did that practice. But if you don't practice like that, then you're not dealing with what's being offered to you in which the one Buddha vehicle, the great Buddha wisdom.

[49:39]

So you practicing generosity is a skillful means. The generosity you practice wasn't there 10 minutes before. And then the next moment, it's another moment of generosity. That generosity is a temporary, provisional practice. And if you give yourself to it completely, you realize that it's giving itself to you completely. But if you give yourself to generosity completely, it may sometimes appear that generosity is being given to you half-heartedly, which is not so. And it's also not so that you are partially being generous. You really are generous. But if you don't notice that sometimes it seems like you're not, and if you don't notice that it seems like you're not,

[50:51]

then you don't have an opportunity to be generous with the appearance of stinginess. To give yourself to this appearance of stinginess. But if we give ourselves wholeheartedly to the appearance of stinginess, we'll realize the stinginess is coming to meet us wholeheartedly and generously. So these are the skills which we can use for others and ourselves to realize what we're always doing is that we're always being generous like this with ourselves and others. We're always in this completely generous conversation. But learning that, you said, doesn't come naturally. In other words, it doesn't come without practice. But it isn't like the practice, you'll realize that it isn't that you do the practice and then it comes.

[51:56]

It's the practice is the generosity. You will understand that. The practice is the generosity. It isn't that generosity brings the practice of this. It is. Because the one Buddha vehicle makes no distinction between all the different types of practices that we're doing. offers many different types of practices and doing one practice completely is realizing the one buddha vehicle completely so it could be any practice that you do wholeheartedly but this is a pretty good one it's it's yeah and it gets the position of being number one on the list Number one of the six. But you will realize when you are practicing generosity wholeheartedly, you will realize that the whole world is practicing generosity at the same moment.

[53:03]

And that's kind of what I was saying. I felt like as I was giving everything, I was also seeing that everything was being given to me. Exactly, yeah. And although that's number one practice, then you see that actually that's Buddha's wisdom. Buddha's wisdom is giving itself completely to everything, and everything giving itself completely to you. That you give your unique temporary being, you give your unique temporary generosity practice to the whole world. Or you even give your unique temporary practice, you give it as a gift to the whole world. And the whole world says thank you and gives back to you. There's the Buddha's one vehicle. And then the next moment. And the next skillful means. Yeah, congratulations. Thank you.

[54:04]

It's a great day. I just want to say my friend Johanna von Fischer very much wanted me to say hello to you from England. Thank you. Please give her my best. I will. Does she still live in England? In London. Okay, great. Thank you. We have an offering from Deirdre. Are you in Ireland? I am. It's a dark and stormy night here in Northern Ireland. It's lovely to speak with you again, Genshin Roshi. And it's wonderful. Actually, I'm seeing a smile from a Dharma friend who I shared my room with in Cloud Hall.

[55:09]

She knows who this is in the last January intensive. And it's actually really helping this slightly nervous Irish Bodhisattva speak. So thank you to both of you. The support shows up when you need us. I think I have a question. Yeah. Probably your thing is I keep hearing these words. I don't know if they're said by everyone or I'm hearing them, but it's something about how wonderful this is, this teaching, this experience, this conversation. This word wonderful is said in a way in these settings that I don't hear anywhere else. And I'd like to bring it into my other spaces.

[56:13]

Yeah. And I'm asking myself what that is. It's like, I don't know, a depth of sincerity. Yeah. And the wonder piece, I mean, we hear it in the wondrous dharma and dharma flower sutra. And I know there's a real response in me to that word. And I'm really, I feel like in engaging and giving my face to the sutra, the words in the book. It includes the words in the book, but it's almost the book itself as it sits here in this space. But that between me and the book, I'm learning something about wonder and I am loving all of it.

[57:21]

It really speaks to me. I'm really loving meeting and being met by by the imagery in the book. And I've noticed this sort of almost fight come up in me, like advocacy, when I sort of hear a distinction between objective reality and this wondrous imagery. Yeah, it's like, it feels as real, you know, it's a different kind of perception, but this, so the images scale and the numbers are really helping me live in contact with an experience of, I don't know, the infinite, which is so, it reaches somewhere in me that feels like it eases that in me that might try and grasp in this world because it's so vast that the whole grasping um habit just seems ridiculous you know it's like it offers a scale um

[58:39]

And when I hear you teach about the deepest awakening, being one of giving our face to each other or one that arises in the exchange, the teaching and being taught. And I love doing that with people, but also as a kind of an interior being who has a very rich imaginal life. I'm asking, is that also possible between me and the sutra in my mind's eye? I hope so. And I see you nod. All your so-called internal dharmas are sentient beings. for you to meet wholeheartedly and realize that they're meeting you wholeheartedly. It feels like they are.

[59:50]

Thank you. You're welcome. We have an offering from Reverend Kokyo Henkel. Yesterday, I heard a Buddha say something about if one person has a personal practice and another person has a personal practice that they're doing, if people have a wholehearted, intimate relationship, then that realizes the Buddha Dharma, the Supreme Dharma. Does it matter what the personal practices are?

[61:02]

For example, if someone has a personal practice of Islam and another personal practice of Judaism, where one has a personal shravaka practice and another has a personal bodhisattva. It doesn't matter if they disagree as long as their relationship is wholehearted and intimate. It isn't necessary to feel now to practice the one vehicle, but I do feel a certain way right now. And when you said, when you described the possibility of the person who has a personal practice of Islam and another person practice of Judaism,

[62:03]

And when you spoke of the possibility of both of them being wholehearted about their personal practice and having a genuine conversation, a genuine meeting, for me, that was such a thrilling imagination. My, what do you call it? Chills ran through my body at the prospect of these different people being wholeheartedly who they are, and yet being in a genuine conversation. That conversation is as good as a conversation between two Zen masters who are also hopefully wholeheartedly being this Zen master and this Zen master. So you said, does it matter? Somebody said that yesterday. I wouldn't say that it matters.

[63:06]

I would say that this opportunity of this practice, whatever it is, that's the opportunity. No matter what the personal practice is, it is the one we have now. It cannot be another one. The Lotus Sutra is saying it can't be another one. You don't have to switch to being a different kind of a Jew or to be a Buddhist. What we are is our offering and how great it would be and how great it is. A Jew who is really practicing Judaism meets a Muslim who is fully practicing and they are totally devoted to each other. And they And their practice is to teach that other person and be taught by that other person. And the other person is the same. In that meeting is the one Buddha vehicle.

[64:07]

That's the Buddha's wisdom. So would you say that would right view not apply to any particular personal practice? It's not a matter of one has a right view. I would say right view is not possessed by even the Buddha. Right view is not possessed by the Buddha. However, when there was a Buddha, or when there is a Buddha, the Buddha meets beings where they're at. He meets them. She meets them. And in that meeting, there's where the right view is born. And that's why we need Buddhas to meet so we can have right view. I cannot make right view by myself, but even Buddha does not do it by herself. She does it when she meets you and me. And that's one of the, I don't know what to call it, one of the wonders of the Lotus Sutra is it's saying Buddha is available.

[65:11]

The historical Buddha died But we have a successor to this historical Buddha who practices the historical Buddha. And we can meet now the successors of Shakyamuni face to face. And it explains to us how to meet them. We will get to it, chapter 16. It tells us how to meet Buddha right now. And we need... But in the meantime, before we get to chapter 16, we have each other to meet. And it's hard for me to really offer you my full face, but that's my job. And when I do, and you do, the meeting is right view. It is right view. And I don't own it, and you don't own it, but we share it. We share something we don't own, and we share something which we create together.

[66:13]

We create right view together. We're doing that right now. And neither one of us is in charge of the creation. Susan. I want to thank the great assembly who's here and that I feel safe here. And at the same time, I'm nervous and I don't want to take up too much time. Psychological issue, which we can just put aside. Wait, wait, wait. Oh, oops. Be kind to that. Don't put it aside. Be kind to it. Need it. It's another sentient being. And it takes great courage to create a great assembly.

[67:21]

This great assembly is an opportunity. Part of the wonder of this great assembly is it gives each of us a chance to be courageous. Creatively courageous. Courageous. It gives each of us a chance to courageously create a great assembly and make our humble offering. Thank you. Thank you. So I have a question, which I think is clear. And I think in so much of what you've already said, you've answered it, but I want your So I want to start with the question, but then tell a little bit of a story, which is about the process, the steps, the means, mainly expedient means, that from where my

[68:25]

question arises. So the question is, when two beings meet face to face, earnestly, wholeheartedly, where do the words come from? Where does the receiving and safety come from? Since I started this with that I feel safe. And also I'm very aware of the importance of not saying what you want to say. But my question's prepared. And that was my question. So now I want to say, oh, yes. Before you move on to next, can I say something? Yes. You said, where do the words come from? Yes. I do not understand where these words are coming from. I don't either.

[69:27]

We won't either. You don't understand where my words are coming from. I don't understand where your words are coming from. However, the words are coming. And in this conversation between us, understands where the words are coming from. Our conversation comprehends where the words are coming from. And I could say they're coming from the one Buddha vehicle. Right. This person does not possess the understanding of where they're coming from. But they are coming. And yours are coming. Yours are coming to me. Mine are coming to me. And you, where they're coming from, I do not know. But our conversation is the knowing. Our is the understanding of how they're coming, where they're coming, and where they're going. Our conversation doesn't even own where they're coming from.

[70:34]

And we certainly don't. But they're coming, and they're coming from and understood by our conversation. This meeting comprehends where this meeting comes from and where this meeting goes. I think that concludes my question. I don't have to give the background. I feel that you, or the conversation, completely understood. The conversation. And I thank you. I thank you. You're welcome. A wondrous conversation. The wondrous Buddha Dharma. We have an offering from Paula. Paula. Hello, Rhett.

[71:37]

Hello, Paula. Assembly. Thank you for the support. As other people have mentioned, a lot of what has been banging around in my head, I think you've addressed today. But here is what I want to bring forth. This process of awakening in relationship to all beings is happening whether we realize it or not. So part of what's in the mix for me is the role that vow plays. A vow helps us magnify this process and stay aware of it. But it could also act as a hindrance to wholehearted engagement. We take a vow to present a face to those around us.

[72:46]

And when conditions arise, if we wanted to wholeheartedly engage in the conditions that are arising, whispering in our ear, you can't say that. You can't act like that. You have a vow. You have to have this faith. Okay. I didn't understand that the vow was to make comments like that. Okay. What's the vow? The vow is to meet wholeheartedly, right? The statement you made just seems like part of what the vow is applied to. That's not the vow. When you're practicing your vow, all sentient beings are around you making various comments and wisecracks. For sure. Yeah. Opportunities to apply your vow, they're not the vow. They're what the vow is for, is to meet all these wisecracks.

[73:48]

But the wisecracks will come. Like, I thought you made a vow to practice the Bodhisattva precepts, and look what you're doing. That's not an obstacle for the vow. Oh, welcome, wisecrack. Oh, welcome, critique. Oh, welcome, questioning. Okay. I vow to question, but the question isn't the vow. And I was thinking it's, it's sort of like the example with generosity. And you reply, like, even if you're feeling stingy, then you apply yourself wholeheartedly to the stinginess. And that is what the vow encompasses. It does. Yeah. Okay. And applying yourself this way to the stinginess liberates us from stinginess and our, our, our, Our generosity grows on stinginess. Of course, it also grows on fear and confusion.

[74:51]

It grows on anything that we're generous with. And one of the things to be generous with is stinginess. If we think we're not doing a good job with that, then we always have the repentance verse to kind of reset. But also... When we think we're not doing a good job, even before we start repentance, if possible, be generous with the thought, I'm not doing a good job. I'm not doing good. So now I'm not doing a good job, so this is a job for confession and repentance. But before I even do the confession and repentance, I say, welcome thought that I'm not doing a good job. I'm going to be kind to you even before I do the repentance, which I'm going to do. I wasn't doing a very good job there. But I'm glad I had this opportunity to practice compassion to this thought, I'm not doing a good job. And then to do another compassion practice, which is to specifically mention in what way I didn't and say I'm sorry.

[76:00]

That's compassion too. I'm so happy that I got something. Because confession and repentance is the pure and simple color of true practice. It's the true mind of faith, the true body of faith. And now I've got an opportunity to exercise this. I'm so fortunate. Practice. And I vow to continue this practice. So there's one other aspect to this, but I feel you've already answered it. But I want to just bring this up for the assembly. Practicing with disappointment on every level in the world. intimate relationships in our Sangha and remaining engaged without cynicism. When you said that, what came to mind was this great teacher, Hakuen Zen, right? After he has final enlightenment, he's the most influential Rinzai priest in Japan.

[77:04]

He's still disappointed. A lot of arrangements being made for his lectures on the Lotus Sutra. Right while getting ready to talk about the Lotus Sutra, he's feeling disappointed. I feel disappointed sometimes too. Like I prepared, I traveled many miles to give talks on the Lotus Sutra and nobody showed up. I'm so disappointed. It can happen. And I vow to meet my disappointments. with my whole body in mind. I vow to feel the disappointment with my whole body in mind. And then I, that's my face. I can offer that. And I can say to people, hey, guess what? I am disappointed. And I can even write it in a letter. And Rabbi Anderson can read that letter 300 years later and be shocked and surprised of how human the great Bodhisattva is. And he, his practice continued

[78:08]

He confessed his disappointment. He wasn't cynical. He was disappointed wholeheartedly. And so he could teach me 300 years away and teach the Great Assembly. And by the way, you said without cynicism. But again, if cynicism comes, do it that. Practice with cynicism wholeheartedly and bring our whole self to it. I don't like saying that even, but I understand it's true. I don't like saying it. You could tell. I don't like being cynical. And so there's being cynical, and then there's another dharma called not liking being cynical. Some people are professional cynics.

[79:11]

They really like it. There was a school called the cynics. People like being, you don't, okay? So now you have cynicism and not liking it. Both these dharmas, you will understand their true nature when you fully engage with them in conversation. So you can go continue not liking cynicism, that's fine. Thank you so much. You're so welcome. We have an offering from Gall. Thank you, Rob. And thank you, Great Assembly. I'm really in awe of the acts of, I guess, creativeness, as you said, by everybody.

[80:14]

It's really an honor and incomparable part of this assembly or whatever this is that we're sharing. I want to recount, and maybe in process offer a confession, a recent experience that I had participating in a recent Great assembly. This one, maybe some of you were there. It was co-led by Norman and Christopher. And we read the Lotus Sutra. And at the end, we had a practice everybody offering a question, which was then answered by the Chousseau in quick succession. And my question was one which I think has been brought up here many times, which is, What is this? And the confession is that even as the answer was given, my mind was filled with potential answers.

[81:22]

I think it went in the direction of dialectics like innumerable dimensions or no dimensions or entropy in turning on stillness. But the answer was something... this is you and me in conversation with one another, or maybe us bowing to one another. And I don't remember exactly what was said. And that in itself is something that I'm trying to turn here is I think I'm offering for the opportunity to learn how to better listen to everyone else. And, you know, thank you. It's something I'd like to work on. I join your, I think I heard a vow to learn to everyone, to everyone and to everything each person offers.

[82:28]

to learn to listen more fully and wholeheartedly. Do you have that, Val? Yes. Thank you. We have an offering from Karen Umazawa. Morning, Rep. Good morning, Great Assembly. Welcome, Karen. Welcome. I want to present my face. But I feel the fear, and I feel the anxiety, and I feel my heart pounding. Thank you. And part of that fear is not being able to express myself completely.

[83:35]

And that's very painful. And so sometimes I get around that by thinking, well, we're always in conversation with each other, whether we're quiet or we're speaking. We always are, all of us. And I think, well, that's good enough. That's fine. And so I don't say anything. And last night we were reading a group of Dharma friends and I were reading this book called Entering the Mind of Buddha. And we're on chapter four called Joyful Effort. And we came to this story of, what's his name? Bashok? And he's fanning himself, and a monk walks up to him and says, the nature of wind is permanent.

[84:37]

There's no place that doesn't fanning yourself. And he replies, you may understand that the nature of wind is permanent, but you don't realize, you don't understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere. And that kind of inside of me about the turning. It's been turning in me about you're talking about only a Buddha and a Buddha. I don't know where I'm going, but I did know before I started speaking. Our conversation knows where you're going. You're going. from the observation that this conversation is all pervading and never anywhere else but here, and thinking that if that's the case, then why do you have to fan?

[85:38]

You can be quiet. Right? But in fact, in order to understand that the wind reaches everywhere, you have to fan the conversation. And you did. Today you did. You fanned. And you're fanning, realizing that the conversation, which is always here, reaches this moment of you telling us, you offering to us fear. You're offering us your doubts and your questions, offerings. This is your fanning. And you also told us that sometimes you do not want to fan with your fear. So then you want to just be quiet and not deal with that. However, avoiding that, you don't realize that the wind of the Buddha's house reaches your fear and is talking to your fear.

[86:50]

But you have to offer the face of your fear. And you did. You did. You fanned just now. Do you have any feedback for those of us, and I'm sure there's a lot of us like me, that have that issue, that problem, how we might do that more easily? Well, starting with me, I would say be kind to the wish to do it more easily. that wish that it was going to be easy, be kind to that. So I would say, please come and offer your face, whether it's easy or not. Trying to look for an easy way is going to miss the opportunity of making an offering.

[87:51]

Yeah. unless you have a conversation with trying to make it easy. So I don't want to make it hard or make it easy, but it is difficult to understand Buddha's wisdom, which is the same to say as it's difficult to meet face to face wholeheartedly and genuinely. We can meet wholeheartedly and genuinely. We have realized Buddha's wisdom. But it's hard. It's difficult to do this work, to do this practice. But that's the same as the difficulty of Buddha's wisdom. So it's difficult, hard, difficult, difficult, difficult. And what's most difficult is to believe and understand that the conversation accomplishes the difficult task of Buddha's wisdom.

[88:55]

That taking care of your own fear takes care... And taking care of me takes care of your own fear. And I think actually you may know that side a little bit better. Maybe you know to some extent how taking care of me takes care of your fear. Taking care of me, teaching me and being taught by me, you realize who you are. Realizing who you are is taking care of me and learning from me. So please, if it gets fine, come. If it gets harder, fine, come. Courageously make your offering, whether it's difficult or easy. Thank you, thank you.

[89:57]

Sometimes worried when it wasn't hard. What is something wrong? It's not hard. We have a. Black Here we are again. What a wonderful dream. It's good to see you, old Finn. You look different from over here, but I can still see you. Now, from Buddha to Buddha. I can't see you, though. How come? Is your video on, Buck? I can't add you to the spotlight at the moment. Can I see you, please? Am I here? Can you turn your video on?

[91:02]

Are you able to do that? I'm not able to. Oh, okay. Thank you. All right. So I'm looking at your face in the form of my face. I'll try to do it wholeheartedly. That works. Buddha, here you are again on the lion's seat, listening to the cries of the world. Questioning why you're here. Thank you. Now I'm an old Basset at heart, and I've developed somewhat of a skill for tracking my own scent. So I figured I'd offer this assembly my own three senses, or the Lotus Sutra as it's called. I prefer the Onion Sutra myself on account of all the layers and make a more savory chewing. But the Lotus Sutra is a beautiful visual also. But on a side note, and on to the answer of this unanswerable question, this scent of mine I've been tracking, I'll see if I can get it somewhere.

[92:03]

But first, I want to take three deep breaths to get me on track. Now, it might take me a second to trail the next question, so bear with me. Questions breed questions. No question. If you could have any question answered, what would it be? Well, why do you want the answer to that question? Well, what do you want the answer to be? Well, how do you stop desiring an answer to that? Well, how do you desire not to desire? No question. Okay, but what happens when you do that? Where do the questions die?

[93:07]

Well, who's asking the question? Does that answer your question? But I think I've said enough. But before I go, can I have one last question? Or can I give one last question? When it's time to wrap up this onion, may I have the last question? I don't know. No. Thank you. We have an offering from Landau or Karin. I'm not sure which. Please announce yourself. Landau. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Reb. Hello, everyone.

[94:10]

It's Landau. Yes, it is. Good morning, Reb. Good evening, Landau. Thank you. everyone um thank you for having me it's wonderful to listen to all the different voices and first i wanted to say that i love your stories about suzuki roshi every now and then you surprise us with a lovely anecdote and to me it makes him tangible in our community. And I was years after he died, but I love him a lot and he's very dear to me. So every time I hear a story from you or like last Wednesday, when Reverend Linda cuts,

[95:17]

interjected her story, the Lotus Sutra being not fancy enough, that is a way for me to meet him now through people who have lived with him and practiced with him. And I just wanted to let you know that for those of us, for myself, who have not had a chance to practice with him in three dimensions, so to speak. So thank you very much for that. My offering, please. May I say something? Of course. Your next offering? Of course. If you turn around and look at Karin and Mikael, you can see Mukhi Roshi. Thank you for that.

[96:24]

You're welcome. And you have another offering? Yes, I do. I'm a little nervous about this because I've never done this before. But I poured it into that I wrote yesterday. So I hope everybody understands Dutch. We do. Obviously I wrote it in English. So if I may, I will read the poem. The provisional title is Intimacy. Come whatever may is fully embraced. The end of our days is near. is fully embraced.

[97:25]

I wish I may is fully embraced. Never again shall I is fully embraced. In the name of the Buddha Dharma is fully embraced. Dear Tenshin Zenki, I surrender. What does this Buddha mean with the phrase fully embraced? I don't know. Disconsolate, I have pondered the ocean of samsara. In a delusion I call my own private hell. Most of what I've done in life has been solely for fleeting honor, for vain human glory.

[98:32]

Blind, deaf, and delusional, I lurch through paradise and make a mess of things. Now, if you let me, I lay before us the burden of a lifetime. for it is as light as a Manjushaka flower. And sitting in silence, will you please join me in the midst of this massive fire? Touching and turning away are both off the mark. What does the Buddha mean, this phrase? I don't know. Seeing you, oh great assembly, a delight. In you I take refuge, time and again.

[99:39]

The importance of the community jewel, I feel, cannot be overstated. It is your embrace, which I fully embrace. You see through me. and you question me so i can lay naked and exposed the palm of buddha's hand she graciously cradles me to grave awakening We have an offering from Jill. Hello, Rev.

[100:50]

Hello, Jill. I'd really like to offer my thanks at the loss of your mother-in-law. Thank you so much. And my gratitude at this great assembly, which I'm very lucky to be able to do from home. And I apologize because it was very much at the last minute that I realized that I could come. But I'm also still working. So coming and going and coming and going. And I really hope that that's okay. It's always so difficult when you...

[101:53]

I have so many questions and I've been listening to the lectures often in the morning here because it's actually seven o'clock in the evening here and it's freezing cold. It's the middle of winter. And so I've been listening to the lectures in the morning from the previous day and I have more and more questions. And then the question changes into another question. And I really wanted to find a question because it seems so important that I have this great opportunity to ask you something. And so a clear question has been very strong, but it keeps changing. And in that... Earlier I was thinking about how intensely critical I am of nearly everything, of people's words, of the way they speak.

[103:05]

In England at the moment, you know, everybody is under tremendous pressure. The systems are falling apart. They don't work. And Criticism of people's incompetence extends to the way that they speak. And I find myself wondering if I am to welcome my own critical thoughts as I speak. Recognise them as I identify them, as I name them as that. That would be practice. I'm right. Great. However, it's impossible because they just come at you like...

[104:12]

It just never stops. It just is so full on, the experience of being alive. These endless thoughts and throwing them back out there and meeting them again. I mean, you know, what should I do? I mean, do people just give up in the end? Because it's, I mean, do you just stop? It's as if, is that when things... Because you just think, I can't do this anymore. Well, even Shakyamuni Buddha said, stop. Enough. But then she went on. So you can say stop if you want. It's okay. You can add that to the mix. It's in the tradition. Enough. And then here we go again. So impossible is one of the things... we are offered to embrace fully.

[105:14]

But certainly it is difficult. His saying over and over, it's difficult, it's difficult, it's difficult. Dealing with all sentient beings inwardly and outwardly, it's difficult. It's impossible. That's welcome. Impossible is welcome. I feel so strongly that it's impossible. It is welcome. We can have a conversation with strong feelings. There are strong feelings in the Great Assembly. And they're allowed. And they're allowed.

[106:17]

They're allowed. Or we're learning to allow them. That's the conversation is learning to allow them and also learning to allow us to not allow them. Thank you very much. We have an offering from Nancy. beloved Tenshin Roshi, beloved Great Assembly.

[107:44]

As has been expressed again and again, my question keeps changing with each meeting, with each offering. with each knowing. I thank you all. I'm so touched. Only a Buddha and a Buddha and this invitation, this generous invitation of you, Tenshin Roshi, for each of us to step forward and to be able to make this offering And to offer what each of us is really exploring and offering this and your compassionate meeting, your skillfulness, your steadfast practice.

[109:03]

when my daughter Olivia was little and lived at Green Gulch. It was her first. That's amazing. She thought you were Buddha. Do you remember? She thought I was Indian. So I wanted to confess and repent and explore. And I wanted to offer my face as well. And the Ehe Kotsugonmon keeps surfacing, this teaching.

[110:16]

And you offered it the other day to Stephen, I believe it's Stephen in Minnesota, as what I saw was the turning of his heart with the and the violence in the Capitol and In that moment, I knew the truth of that in my heart. And you said, this is the pure and simple color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith. Thank you.

[111:38]

Thank you. Thank you all. We are drawing close to lecture time. Please May I say a little bit? Yes. I wanted to remind everybody that Senior Dharma Teacher will offer a talk on Chapter 25 on Sunday through the Normal Zen Center website. You can find it there. And also that I encourage you to read Start opening your heart to chapter by reading as much as you feel comfortable with.

[112:43]

Don't force yourself to read it, but give it a chance and read it as long as you feel joyful about reading it. And then she'll talk about it with you on Sunday. And also, I just wanted to mention, which... if I haven't already, that in Soto Zen monasteries, the verse section of chapter 25 is chanted every morning and morning service. It's part of Zen training is to chant the verse section of this chapter. And when I first realized that, I was really surprised that a Zen monastery would chant this chapter 25, because it really seems so different from my image. But it is right in the center of Zen monastic exercise program.

[113:47]

So Linda will help you get into this exercise on Sunday. And one more assignment for the weekend. Push yourself, but if you have time, please read chapter three of the Lotus Sutra, the parable. And also I mentioned that it was that reading that chapter was where and when Hakuen Zenji had complete awakening. So good luck. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to cut through.

[114:53]

Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Today is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[115:05]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_90.46