you may have heard the proposal before that all Buddhas and all ancestors who maintain the true Dharma have made it the true path of enlightenment to sit upright practicing in the midst of self receiving and self-employing awareness. And that this was done so because teachers and disciples mutually transmitted this as the essence of the teaching.

[01:04]

The essence of the teaching is sitting upright in the midst of a certain kind of an awareness, which is called self-fulfilling awareness, self-receiving and employing awareness, So it's practicing, sitting upright and practicing in the midst of this awareness. This is the essence of the teaching. And I would also say that we could also rephrase this by saying that the true path of enlightenment is to sit upright and practice in the midst of dropping off body and mind, or to practice in the midst of mind and body dropping away.

[02:17]

That's the context of the practice. And practicing this way is the essence of the transmission Also, I mentioned that there's another proposal is that the essence of the transmission of the Dharma is reverent veneration of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. what is transmitted by the Buddhas and ancestors is reverence for Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. That's the essence of the transmission, reverence, veneration.

[03:32]

And you've also perhaps heard that the teaching of suchness, the dharma of suchness, has been intimately transmitted between Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it, so please take care of it. This teaching of suchness is the essence of the transmission. And this teaching of suchness, this veneration, this dropping off body and mind, this self-fulfilling samadhi, is the same practice and the same enlightenment as all beings. And this is what is transmitted.

[04:37]

So, reverence for the Buddhas, reverence for the Dharma, reverence for the Sangha, and venerating that is dropping off body and mind, is sitting upright in the midst of the self-fulfilling awareness. These are different words for the same essential thing that's transmitted The essence of correct transmission is wholeheartedness. Wholeheartedness is dropping off body and mind, is the self-fulfilling awareness, is veneration. When you venerate the Buddhas,

[05:54]

This is wholeheartedness. Those who make offerings to Buddhas become Buddhas. All those who became Buddhas became Buddhas. by making offerings to Buddhas. The essence of the transmission is making offerings to Buddhas. Making offerings to Buddhas is wholeheartedness. So these are different ways to help us understand what it means, what the essence of the transmission is. And all these things are just referring to the way things already are because it's the teaching of suchness.

[06:59]

This is the teaching of the way things are. The way things are, actually, is that we are always making offerings to Buddhas. We are always offering our life to Buddha. our life is always given away every moment. Every moment we receive our life. And we do so reverently. We do. We are wholehearted. And as Andrew I mentioned yesterday, we're always wholehearted, right? No matter what we do. Yes, we are always actually wholehearted. But if we do not practice being wholehearted, we may miss that.

[08:13]

And when we practice wholeheartedly, we will realize that we are wholehearted. When we practice reverently venerating all Buddhas, we will realize that is our actual life. Our life is a veneration of the Buddhas. Our life is in truth a veneration of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. We are actually living that way. But if we don't practice that way, we might miss it. In fact, when I say that we are constantly making offerings to Buddha, some people say, really? I didn't know I was. I didn't think... Well, occasionally I make offerings to Buddha, but... I didn't think I was always offering to Buddha.

[09:20]

Yeah. But even if you did think you're always offering to Buddha, that's not the same as realizing that you're always offering to Buddha. That's just what you think. And everything you think is an offering to Buddha, actually. We are always dancing together. But if we don't practice dancing, we may miss that. Put it positively, we are always dancing and we must dance to prove it. And if we do dance, we will prove it.

[10:30]

We are always offering to Buddha, we are always venerating Buddha, and if we venerate Buddha and offer to Buddha, we will realize the essence of the transmission. the essence of the Dharma transmission is that we are always dancing with Buddha, making offerings to Buddha, venerating Buddha. We are always wholehearted. We have time in our schedule for Buddha. We're not too busy for Dharma and Sangha, actually. And when we are wholehearted, as we become more and more wholehearted, we stop denying our vulnerability. As we become more wholehearted, we open to our vulnerability.

[11:33]

If we say, if I say, well, we're all wholehearted anyway, so why try to practice wholeheartedly? if we give ourselves to practicing wholeheartedly, we will start to open to our vulnerability. If you start doing a dance and you're half-hearted about it, you won't realize that you're always dancing. If you start dancing with someone and you're half-hearted you may not notice you may be in your half-heartedness you may be able to overlook your vulnerability to your partner and their vulnerability to you. If you're half-hearted in the part of your heart that's not being devoted to the dance

[12:42]

you can deny your vulnerability. And we have a habit, most of us, for not being aware of our vulnerability because being aware of vulnerability is somewhat uncomfortable or really uncomfortable. It's hard to open to it because we then may become afraid and so on. But in wholeheartedness, we open to our vulnerability. And if there's any fear about it, we open to the fear. Again, if you start to dance and you do it half-heartedly, say, no problem, I don't care if I do it well or not well. But if you really do it wholeheartedly, you start caring more fully.

[13:46]

And you start to notice if you're caring not enough or too much. But opening to your vulnerability, which is normal to be vulnerable, but it's unusual to open to it. Opening to it in wholeheartedness, you also open to the essence of the correct transmission. If we're closed to one thing, we're closed to another thing. And if we're closed to one thing, we cannot realize everything. If you're closed to one thing, you may be able to realize another thing. But if you're closed to one thing, you can't realize everything. So we need to do the dance to prove that the dance is always going on, to verify the transmission. We must wholeheartedly embrace forms of Buddha's practice which do not reach the heart of Buddha's practice.

[15:07]

in order to realize Buddha's practice. Someone might say, well, if you could show me a form of practice that reaches the heart of Buddhist practice, I'd be willing to do that one. But I can't give you a form like that. I can give you forms which do not reach the heart of Buddhist practice, forms of practice which do not reach Buddhist practice, but which are done in order to realize Buddhist practice. And they must be done wholeheartedly. in order to realize that which they do not reach.

[16:17]

In the process of doing them wholeheartedly we open to what they do not reach. We must wholeheartedly perform. An acting coach might say that, right? We must wholeheartedly perform tonight. We must embrace and sustain and be embraced and sustained by the performance of the Buddha way. And the performance of the Buddha way does not reach the heart of the Buddha's way. but we must wholeheartedly perform a form which does not reach it in order to realize it. Our performance of the Buddha way, our performance of Buddha's practice does not reach its heart and being steadily aware of this realizes its heart.

[17:36]

I should say being aware that what we're doing does not reach the heart of Buddhist practice and then continuing to wholeheartedly do that which doesn't reach it realizes it. To do a practice to do any kind of practice, to dance, and be aware that the dance you're doing does not reach the heart of dance. It's part of the wholehearted dance. But it's not the whole part of the wholehearted dance. The other part of the wholehearted dance, along with the awareness that what you're doing doesn't reach it, is the dance.

[18:39]

So for us to do our forms here and be aware, these forms do not reach the source, the heart of Buddha. That's good. And then to go ahead and do them as fully as possible. That's what's necessary in order to realize the Buddha way. That's what's necessary in order to realize anything. is to realize something means that you understand that what you're doing does not realize it. What you're doing is just your little story about what you're doing, your activity, and that which you want to realize. So again, two ways to say it. One would be in our performance of Buddha's way or Buddha's practice which does not reach its heart. Being aware of this is part of wholeheartedness and the other part is to continue the practice.

[19:55]

Or to be aware of the limitation of what we're doing and then continue it is wholeheartedness. to do a practice to perform a practice of the buddha way to make the buddha way our current performance our current performance our current performance to make what you're doing right now the buddha way and be aware that what you're doing does not reach its heart is dropping off body and mind. He's practicing in the midst of dropping off body and mind. To practice this way is practicing in the midst of self-fulfilling awareness. This is the essence of the teaching. To practice wholeheartedly means to practice knowing that what you're doing doesn't reach

[21:04]

wholeheartedness, and then to continue. This is also the essence of the teaching. This is also, practicing this way is making offerings to all Buddhas. Practicing this way is practicing the teaching of suchness. Practicing this way is venerating the Triple Treasure. What's that sound?

[22:21]

Sounds like the ocean. Do you hear it kind of clunk, clunk? Now, what time is it? How did you know that? One more thing about this, to connect one more dot, is the true path of enlightenment is to sit upright, practicing in the midst of the state of giving.

[23:29]

To sit upright practicing in giving. To sit upright practicing in body and mind dropping away. To sit upright practicing in the midst of self receiving and employing Samadhi. there's also the statement, from the first time you meet a master, just wholeheartedly sit and thus drop away body and mind. From the first time you meet a master, just sit, thus dropping away body and mind. from the first time you meet a master, just be wholehearted. And various translations say pretty much the same thing.

[24:45]

From the first time you meet a master, after initial meeting with the teacher, from the first time you meet a master, from the time you begin practicing with a teacher. What? Just wholeheartedly sit. And again, wholeheartedness means you know, you're aware that this sitting does not reach the heart of sitting. that this sitting like a Buddha does not reach the heart of seated Buddha. And sitting that way is sitting in the midst of giving. You give your performance of sitting without trying to get the heart, knowing that you cannot get the heart but allowing yourself to receive the heart.

[25:54]

And this is done after meeting with a master. So this is a big thing which I don't want to make too much of. This is a mountain which I do not want to blow up any bigger than that. But this practice has something to do with meeting a master. Now some teachers in the Soto Zen lineage, partly based on this statement, say that you should not even try to practice sitting wholeheartedly and dropping off body and mind unless you have a teacher. Some even say it's better not to try to practice this kind of just sitting unless you have a teacher, that it might cause trouble to give yourself to such a practice without a teacher.

[27:04]

So then someone might wonder, well, do I have a teacher? And some people also, although it doesn't say true in this text, some people add in parentheses true teacher. One Zen priest in the Soto Zen lineage says, if you don't have a teacher, better not to try to practice this kind of Zazen. Better just to wholeheartedly do your work and wholeheartedly take care of your family. But then that's kind of interesting because it gives the same instructions that the teacher would give to the student. But maybe the... I think now what's the caution here? The caution might be that if you would think, I'm going to practice Zazen now, wholeheartedly, but I don't have a teacher, you might slip into thinking, this Zazen I'm doing is actually reaching the heart of Zazen.

[28:49]

This sitting I'm doing is reaching the heart of sitting. You might slip into that and not notice it. Even if you heard that warning that the form of sitting doesn't reach the heart of sitting, you might... that might be worse than not sitting at all, than to think the sitting you're doing reaches the Buddha. That identification of your form of sitting with the actual heart of the Buddha sitting, that might be really not good for your health. So we need a teacher who can help us not fall into that pit. Because people who, yeah, people who don't try to do this, they don't think what they're doing is reaching the heart of Buddha, and they're right. But other people who try the practice, it's the same. It's just that they're likely to think that their practice does reach the heart, that they really finally got the practice.

[29:55]

So they need a teacher. But there's another sense in which we need to have a teacher, and that is that sitting upright in the midst of dropping off body and mind is reverence to the teacher. It is venerating the Buddha. So if we think that we're practicing without venerating Buddha, then we cannot practice dropping off body and mind. So then you could think, well, couldn't I just practice with all the Buddhas?

[31:00]

Why do I need a human person? And yes, you can practice with all Buddhas. And do we need a human person? But this is not the form. You're not following the form. Part of the wholeheartedness is for a human to find a human teacher. Buddhas who have gone through, who have participated in human evolution, have had relationships with human Buddhas.

[32:06]

They have been humans who have related to humans. I have this, you know, this paper which has many translations of Bendo Wa and the section on Jujuyuzanmai, self-fulfilling samadhi. It's too small for me to read, and I didn't bring reading glasses. But in our translation it says something like, this was done so because teachers and disciples mutually transmitted this as the essence of the teaching.

[33:21]

Is that what it says? I really don't want them, actually. Thank you, though. Is that what it says? This was done so because teachers and disciples personally transmitted this? Well, personally transmitted this. Yeah. because teacher and disciple personally transmit this as the essence of the teaching. But some of the other translations say this was done so because students and teachers together mutually transmitted and the disciples receive and maintain this. So personally transmitted is nice but another dimension in this is that this was done so because students and teachers together maintain this as the essence of the teaching. The teacher is not the only one who says this practicing wholeheartedly in the midst of this awareness is the essence of the teaching. The students receive that and they take care of this also because the students received it and took care of it.

[34:29]

it has been maintained as the essence of the teaching. It isn't just the teachers that are saying it. The students together with the teachers take care of this as the essence of the teaching. And therefore it has been maintained as the essence of the teaching and still the essence of the teaching. We don't have another essence of the teaching. And we also have the essence of the teaching. because of this relationship. The teachers can't do it by themselves and the students can't do it by themselves. They do it together. Sangha is difficult and part of the Sangha is student-teacher relationship. between Sangha members. One playing the role of student and one playing the role of teacher.

[35:36]

Or one playing the role of Buddha and one playing the role of disciple of Buddha. Performing the ritual of enacting the Buddha way. With the understanding that the actual face of Buddha is light. Light is the face of Buddha. So when I think of Buddha, I think of light rather than a human face. But you can think of a human face too. Because whether you think of light or human face, that performance doesn't reach the essence of the relationship between Buddha and sentient beings. But again, I'm saying we have to perform this.

[36:38]

We have to perform this which does not reach it. We have to perform the sitting which does not reach the sitting. We have to perform the relationship which does not reach the relationship. aware while we're performing it of its limitation. And the wholehearted performance together with the awareness of the limitation again is the essence of the teaching by which the Dharma is realized. And also a relationship with a human is a good way to test wholeheartedness because we are very vulnerable to each other. There's a lot of vulnerability in our relationships. So it's a good way to test whether we're opening to the world, opening to beings by having relationships with beings.

[37:49]

Is the teacher's role then basically just to make sure that the student doesn't believe anything that they think? Is the teacher's role to make sure the student doesn't believe anything the student thinks or anything the teacher thinks? Either, but particularly either, either. Not the student not to believe what the student thinks and the student not to believe what the student thinks the teacher thinks. Yeah, particularly both. That is a tiny part of it, but that is part of it. But also another part of it is for the teacher to make sure that the student does believe what the student thinks. That's another part of the teacher. How so? Huh? How so? What should they believe? Well, for example, the teacher's role is, I just want to make sure now, is it really true that you believe what you think?

[39:28]

Oh, okay. I often get in that position. Do you actually believe what you just said? But that's to ensure, to point out to the person the problem, believing what they think. Well, it's partly also to help me actually get them to confirm that they actually do believe what they think. But sometimes I'm pretty sure that they believe what they think, but they don't notice that they believe what they think. So then I say, do you believe what you were just thinking? And they sometimes say, actually, I do believe that. So when I ask them, sometimes they've realized that they actually believe what they think is what's going on. Do you believe that? Do I believe that? On some level, maybe, yeah. So it's both exercising by helping people, by assisting people in realizing that they believe what they think that is conducive to helping them not believe what they think.

[40:29]

But if we don't admit honestly that we do believe what we think when we do, then it will be hard for us to get over it. So the teacher helps himself and the student learn when they do believe, and that helps them not believe that what they think is what's going on. That's part of it. So anyone who could play that role could be a teacher? Anyone who plays that role could be a teacher. Right. And what more is there than that? What more? Yeah. Well, there's also the student helping the teacher not believe what the teachers think. And the teacher's role is to help the student learn how to help other people find out if they believe what they're thinking and help them not believe what they're thinking. The teacher's role is to help the student become a teacher.

[41:30]

It all seems like different aspects of the same practice. Yeah, but the aspects... are, I just wanted to point out, aspects are unlimited. And that's, so it's like, it's an ocean. And we're like, now we're performing a little drama, a little performance in the middle of the ocean of the relationship. Which we don't believe reaches Yeah, which we're aware doesn't really reach it. And that helps us be kind of generous about this conversation and not worry about its low quality. And it's not going anywhere. Yeah, and not, you know, and not sort of trying to get it to be something else, but, you know, actually practicing generosity towards what's going on now. And so the teacher also has an opportunity to teach and perform or perform teaching generosity and patience.

[42:38]

Whatever quality this conversation is, I've enjoyed it. See that dance? So I think you said that to wholeheartedly enact or enact a form doesn't reach the heart of Buddhist practice but realizes Buddhist practice. Yeah. Okay. So then I wondered whether that form that one wholeheartedly enacts might be a Christian form, a Sufi form, literature, cooking, dancing, any form of activity that is wholeheartedly practiced.

[44:00]

Yes. And would that activity, wholeheartedly practice, reach the heart of Buddha and realize Buddha? I mean, not reach the heart of Buddha but realize Buddha? Or not reach the heart of cooking but realize cooking? Or both? We have this dance of the kitchen. They're going to realize some Buddha. The kitchen's dancing out of the room now. Goodbye. So you said quite a bit.

[45:15]

I don't know what part to pick it up, but when we do anything, it can be understood as an offering to Buddha. You can go to a, you know, a mosque and pay respects to the beings there as an offering to Buddha. And also knowing that the form of what you're doing doesn't reach the heart of Buddha's practice or even the heart of anything. Being that way with what you're doing realizes the heart of everything. And that would be so even for someone who is consciously practicing the practices of another religion and not using the language of Buddha, or practicing the practices of an art and not using the language of Buddha.

[46:30]

If a person who was a member of some religion, and I was just thinking yesterday to have little cards made up little like cult of Buddha membership cards or cult of the Lotus Sutra membership cards or cult of just sitting membership cards. Anyway, someone who felt they were a member of a certain religious community. And if they performed some form knowing that this form doesn't reach the heart of something, of anything, doesn't reach the suchness of things. And yet they, as much as they could, they gave themselves to this performance knowing that limitation, they would realize the teaching of suchness. They would be practicing dropping off body and mind. Even though they never heard the term, they would be actually functioning in the universe in accord with reality.

[47:38]

So, like Suzuki Roshi said, Buddhism is not one of those religions like Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. It's when Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism go beyond themselves. In other words, it's when they use the form aware that the form doesn't reach what the form's about that they realize the heart from which this form has emerged. So any person who practices this way in any form, anybody who works with their experience in this way will open to realizing the true Dharma and will be on the true path of enlightenment. So a Sufi, a Christian, a Jew, I say Sufi, that's a Muslim, an atheist, Anybody who wholeheartedly gives themselves to a form and performs it, knowing that this form doesn't reach the heart of life, of the matter, of reality, they're correct.

[48:52]

But most people then don't want to make the effort. They don't want to be small, wholeheartedly small. So then they don't open to the big. and let it in. So this practice could be done in any venue. And Zen has some reputation for stressing that point and getting the practitioners out there in other venues. So somebody gave me an article about these Buddhist monks in Japan going into bars to reach young people. And one Buddhist monk even owns, a Buddhist priest even owns a bar And they're doing that because they feel like they're losing the young people. So they're going into the bars to get them. It's pretty far out. So I think you just answered the rest of my question, but just to make sure. Can you hear her when she's croaking like that?

[49:56]

Sorry. Could you hear her in the back? Sorry. The rest of the question then would be for a person practicing another form besides the religious form, the liturgical form, but could their teacher be the teacher, like the Zen teacher, or would their teacher have to be the teacher of the form itself, their teacher They might have a piano teacher, but that piano teacher might not be teaching them this understanding. They could have a Buddhist teacher with whom they're studying this understanding. Yeah, not all piano teachers realize that what they're practicing, what they're teaching, the way they're doing it does not reach the heart of their music.

[51:00]

Not all of them realize that, but some do. And so those piano teachers would, a relationship with such a person, would take the practitioner to the teaching of suchness. And if they did their music that way, there would be nothing in their mind which would be opposed to making offerings to all Buddhas. Matter of fact, that would make perfect sense to them in that realization. Thank you. You're welcome. I would like to say something about Al's question and I would like to ask something else. Back in the seventies, I went to a class and the teacher was talking about beliefs, real beliefs.

[52:05]

And we use this word believing very loosely. So he brought up an example. He pulled a person out of the audience and asked him, do you believe in God? And the man said, yeah, I believe in God. So he said, what would you do if you would meet a grizzly bear in a forest? And the man said, well, I would run like hell. And the teacher said, yes, because you believe in a grizzly bear and not in a God. If you would believe in God, then you wouldn't be afraid of a grizzly bear. So we actually do what we believe, I think. What we think we believe is one thing, and what we're actually doing is that's what we believe. Yeah. I'm just doing what I believe. And nothing else. And I'm saying I'm believing this and that, but I'm just doing what I believe. And nothing else. I can't do anything else. Nobody can.

[53:07]

The question I have is in one of the Dharma, one of the sutra meeting, we're talking about actually seeing a table. And we see what's physically possible to see, but we don't see the essence of the table. We know something is there, but we don't know what it is. Is that what you mean by reaching the Buddha's heart to seeing actually the essence of the table, not just the physical form of it? Reaching the Buddha's heart is sometimes promoted by seeing the way things ultimately are.

[54:12]

But in the way things ultimately are, there's no seeing. Right. So seeing is a bad word, actually. So how about realizing? But realizing that is still not reaching the Buddha's heart. Reaching the Buddha's heart is realized sort of in conjunction with this realization of the way things are. I have to think about that too. Thank you very much. You're welcome. And I want to also say that

[55:34]

The form which you offered, which I heard a form, the form was we do what we believe, our actions based on our beliefs. I agree with that. And when I think that way, In other words, when I think that way about my karma, that my karma is based on how I believe the world, how I believe the world is, how I construct the world, that's my action. That's what I do. My action is basically how I see myself in the world. That is my action. I have no other action at that moment. That's karma. So I feel he made a statement about karma just there, that that's what action is.

[56:39]

Action is what we believe is going on, how we see ourself in relationship to world. That is action. But that action or that story about our relationship does not reach our relationship. Our relationship is not just what we believe it. Our relationship with beings in the world is not just what we believe it to be. But what we believe it to be is our action. That's what we're doing. And then our speech and postures will be in accord with how we think about our relationship in the world. but this belief does not reach the actuality of our relationship. And we have another life there, another kind of activity there, which is not karma. So I may believe you're my friend, and my believing that you're my friend is my action, called thinking that you're my friend.

[57:42]

And I may talk like you're my friend in relationship with that, and walk like that in relationship with that. This is karma. But simultaneously, you and I have a much more extensive relationship, which completely is much bigger and inclusive of many other things and many other stories. So when we look at our karma that way, we have to also practice with it. realizing that it's just a story about our life and we need to perform it, realizing that it doesn't reach the heart of our life. And practicing that way with our stories opens us to our life beyond beliefs and disbeliefs. Okay? Yes?

[58:45]

I've been feeling very badly about this dragon man. And so now I'm wondering, it seems like maybe one of the big difficulties was that he thought that his relationship with the dragons was really reaching the heart of the matter and that he didn't evidently have a relationship with a teacher who could hit him in some way. Yeah, it might have been nice if one of his friends... I mean, is that the point of the... That's one point, yeah, that it would have been nice if one of his friends could have come up to him and said, you really love carved dragons, don't you? And... And do you want to actually meet a real dragon?

[59:50]

And he might have said, actually, no, I don't. I wouldn't want to. Or he might have thought that they were the real dragon. Or his friends could have said, do you think that's like the real dragon? Do you think that this is the extent of dragon-ness in the world? It seems, I mean, one way of reading it, I think, would be that he thought that he had the real dragon. Yeah, and it would have been nice if some friend could have come up to him and said, do you think that? And then he could have said yes, and that person could have helped him become aware that that's what he believed, and then help him exercise that. And if he exercised that fully, he would have started to open to the real dragon. And then the real dragon would have come, and they could have had a more, you know, extended relationship. But the real dragon did come. The real dragon did come, but he wasn't able to handle it. He hadn't been prepared himself. Usually the real dragon doesn't come to such people. Yeah, so why did the real dragon... But maybe the real dragon was always there.

[60:54]

I think part of the reason why in the story you might say the real dragon came is although he didn't... This is a nice interpretation, I think. He was wholehearted about his devotion to dragons in the carved form, but he didn't have a sangha, didn't have a teacher to help him. So the wholeheartedness is what brought the dragon here. But it wasn't really quite wholehearted, but his energy towards this phenomenon brought the dragon. But he wasn't practicing in community, so he wasn't ready for the gift in response to his devotion to dragons. So your interpretation is that, because my problem with the story is that it doesn't show what his error was, it just shows, it's sort of like he's condemned to hell. but it doesn't show what the problem was. So now you're saying, well, he wasn't practicing in sangha.

[61:56]

If he had been practicing in sangha, then he would have really been prepared for the real dragon. And you say the story doesn't show that he had a limited idea of what dragons are. It doesn't show that. But I think it does show it, because when the dragon shocked him, it showed that his idea of dragons wasn't big enough. Right, it showed the problem, but it didn't show how he should have been practicing. Yeah, I think it doesn't show that right, that he should have been practicing knowing that his dragon love was offerings to the real dragon. That that's what he was doing. He was making offerings to real dragons, but he didn't realize it. So when a real dragon came, he wasn't ready. Because I understood that the teaching that you had been giving was that you were saying that that was how we have to practice, that we... that is the way we do have... carved dragon practice and that that carved dragon practice is the way that we have relationship with the real dragon.

[63:06]

Right. But then the story, it didn't happen. Yeah, but I'm also saying that the carved dragon practice is to offer the carved dragons knowing that the carved dragons do not reach the heart of the dragon. Yeah, so that was what was missing. That's what he did. He didn't offer it. He didn't have that part. So we need to... And we have some Zen students like that that are quite wholeheartedly offering their carved dragons, but they forget that what they're offering itself doesn't reach what they're offering it to. So then if... And then when the carved dragon responds to what they're offering, they're shocked. When the real dragon comes, they're shocked. And wouldn't you also say that the real dragon is actually always there? The real dragon is always there, yeah. And by making offerings, you start to open to the real dragon. And then if you make offerings without being aware that your offerings are not reaching the real dragon, the real dragon will shock you.

[64:11]

Now if you, which is fine, then you sort of go back to the drawing table and hopefully continue to make offerings, but this time together with, I'm making offerings, but to something that this isn't reaching. So the next time it comes, it's kind of like, okay, I'm more ready for it. So the best way, and actually more wholehearted, is to make the offerings as energetically as before, but now in addition to that, be aware that these don't make it. They don't reach it. And that's even more openness to the arrival of the heart of what we're offering to. So the next chapter of that story might be that he got up off the floor and thought about, you know, I'm not going to make offerings anymore. But then he says, but I want to. But this time I'm going to be offering and also be ready for the visitation. Because this offering didn't really include that. The heart. And then the dragon will come again.

[65:15]

Maybe he becomes a dragon. Maybe he becomes a dragon. That's the point, to become the dragon. In the Genjo koan it says, when the Dharma fills your body and mind, you know that something is missing. And I always had a strange feeling about that. I thought maybe it was a bad translation because nothing is really missing, right? But I think I understand it now in this light that we realize that we cannot reach it. Is that the missing part? Yeah, we realize we can't reach it or realize that we're small.

[66:15]

We're kind of small. But our smallness really does include the whole universe. Our smallness, the whole universe is based on our smallness. My littleness is made by the universe. The universe is what makes me little. If it wasn't for the universe, I would be big. Believe me. Because I'm a human being, I can think I'm big, right? Little children can think they're big. They can think they're the whole universe. But the universe gradually teaches them. And they gradually learn, oh, I'm little. And then if you accept that, really, then you realize you include the whole universe. So by being willing to be small, by receiving the teaching and receiving the teaching and letting it fill you, you start to learn and accept how little you are. And then you're ready to receive the big.

[67:19]

And can you say more about veneration? What that actually, how it shows, how you do it? Well, there's many ways, but one is for every action, a body, speech and mind, for every action of thinking, and speaking and posture, every one of those actions all through the day, each one of them, whatever they are, make them an offering to Buddha. Thank you. And you can also, you know, make offerings in the form of making offerings, but every moment of sitting, give that to all Buddhas. Every moment of walking, every moment of thinking. That's one way. The teacher, venerating the teacher, is that the same? You could also do that when you're sitting. You could make your sitting a gift to your teacher. You could do that. But you can also make every action a gift to your teacher.

[68:26]

That'd be fine. Make all your actions a gift to your teacher. No problem. That'd be good. And also include all the Buddhas while you're at it. Infinite Buddhas. Don't exclude them. But making offerings to sentient beings is fine because Buddhas totally include all the sentient beings anyway. So if you want to make any offerings to any individual sentient beings, there's no problem, don't worry. Just don't forget the Buddhas. May I? Yes, you may. Thank you. Is this all right? Do you hear me? Okay. Thank you. I have two questions. The first one I've struggled with for a long time, and that is perhaps what you brought up earlier about veneration.

[69:27]

And I never can make up my mind whether I want to kneel on the Zabuton in front of you, because perhaps that's veneration, but it also makes me feel very vulnerable to do that. So... Can I say something about that? Okay. you said it makes you feel vulnerable. That's okay. But another way to put it is it opens you to your vulnerability. We already are vulnerable and there are certain postures which make us feel more aware of it. And those postures are kind of good postures to receive the truth in. The postures in which you feel vulnerable are good postures to receive the truth. Because when you don't feel vulnerable, if you're in a posture and you don't feel vulnerable, then not feeling vulnerable is not feeling reality. Because reality is, you know, partly includes that we're vulnerable.

[70:30]

So you said it makes you feel vulnerable, but I really think it uncovers your vulnerability And your devotion to the posture, your generosity towards taking that posture also opens you to something that's always there. Thank you. Well, I've been stuck on a question in my mind that I've had since yesterday, and I can't get any further, and I'm barely listening to what anybody else says. And my question, I guess, was brought to me by the ceremony we had for Martin Luther King the other day. And people like him and Gandhi, you know, other people who are heroes, are they bodhisattvas? You know, someone like Martin Luther King was really, I think, from what I've read, really devoted to what he was doing. But he may not have realized, or he realized perhaps that he was helping people of color... Oh, I'm nervous today.

[71:36]

Do you understand what I mean about, are they kind of bodhisattvas? You can say they're kind of bodhisattvas, or you can say that if you look at their life, you sort of see something about bodhisattvic activity in the way they lived. What would have made them a full bodhisattva? I think they're a full bodhisattva when they really understand selflessness. So it's possible that a person could be acting in such a way that other people could see the bodhisattva message in their behavior, but the person themselves might be, for example, identifying with this activity. they might think that this activity, which is really lovely, a lovely performance, they might think that this activity reached the heart of the bodhisattva.

[72:46]

And the other people who are seeing this skillful and compassionate activity, who are seeing it, they also are actually seeing the performance of this compassion. But they also may think that, may not realize that this doesn't reach the heart of the Buddha. They may not realize that. And the person who's performing it may not realize it. The bodhisattva actually understands that what they're doing is empty, which makes them more able to continue the practice of compassion. But I don't know them or their story well enough to be able to tell at what points the bodhisattva was actually there, you know, that they as a person had, you know, fully realized that. In a sense personified the bodhisattva?

[73:52]

No, I think they did personify it, but whether they personally, you know, were totally with the program of selflessness and realized the emptiness of the form that they were using, that I don't know them all enough. And that would be something when we talk about, like, that if I could watch their performance, that would be a way for me to understand that they're proving that they realize this Buddha way. In other words, that the practice they're doing is not their personal practice, but it's practice of all beings has been realized in this person. Do you think that Martin Luther King, for instance, was totally devoted or wholehearted because he put himself in a position where he could be assassinated? Where does that line up? I mean, if you're willing to put yourself in that position of being assassinated, do you not fully believe

[74:58]

Again, my feeling about him is that the spirit of nonviolence, the spirit of the Bodhisattva's nonviolence and fearlessness was more and more taking over his life. I feel that about him. But whether or not he understood what was taking over his life properly, I don't know. But I feel that just the forces of his life were such that he was being lifted up by the bodhisattva spirit, by the spirit of nonviolence and fearlessness. And that allowed him to keep receiving it and keep receiving it and keep receiving it. But his understanding of it, his realization, I don't know how much, how well he understood what was happening to him. Is he worthy of veneration, then, from us?

[76:03]

Yes. He is. Thank you. This is really hot and sweaty, so I'll put it right here. Thank you very much. And one other thing I wanted to say, please sit down, is that another reason for having a human teacher is to have somebody to help you when you're in vulnerable postures. Don't go into vulnerable postures all by yourself.

[77:06]

Yes. If you don't want to, you don't have to. If I heard you correctly when answering Andrew's question, he said our karma or our actions are based on our belief of how the world is, how it works. That's close, except what I was emphasizing, he said that our actions are based on what we believe. And that's right, but there's a little bit of duality there. Our actions are what we believe. To believe something, like for me to believe that you're my friend, is a mental construction going on in my mind right now. That my mental activity, the karma of my mind is, I think that Glenn is my friend. You know, I think she's a woman. I think she's a member of this community. This is my mental construction.

[78:11]

Somebody else could have another story about you, like, blends my sister or blends my daughter. But I don't think you're my sister. But I could, you know. I could say, well, she's kind of my sister. That would be a different karma. So what my action, believing is an action. what I think is going on is an action. It's the basic type of mental action. And then I speak from that action and I posture from that action. So it's actually the same. Belief is action. So to say that we do what we believe, what we believe is what we're doing. But what we're doing is not really what we believe. That's just what our action Our karma is not actually what's going on, it's just our version of it. But our version of what's going on is called our karma. And each of us has our version of what's going on in our life, and that's our karma.

[79:15]

But somebody else has another version of what we're doing, and that's their karma. And what we're actually doing, what's actually going on, is not our stories, but includes all our stories. and is beyond all our stories. It includes them all and more. It includes many things that aren't stories are all part of what contributes to our being storytellers. So you have a belief? I have a belief, let's say, yeah. And there's You can observe that your action is not a mental action, but other actions that come out of that belief. Right. So those you can observe, but you're not quite aware what the belief, the mental belief is that drives those. So how do you not ponder?

[80:17]

You might not be aware. You might be saying things, but not be aware of what mental construction is the background of what you're saying. Saying or doing it. Saying or posturing it. so how that belief may not be conscious. So how do you make it conscious? By studying your beliefs. The ones you can notice, study those. The more you study your beliefs, like if you can notice, for example... That you notice the actions. You notice... You can notice the actions, but also you can notice that you think you're somebody's friend. You can notice that, probably. Can you sometimes notice that? I think I'm so-and-so. I think I'm a friend to this person. I think they're a friend to me. I think I want to help them. I think they want to help me. You could have a story like that in your mind and you could notice it. Have you ever had a story like that and noticed it? Yeah. So watching that kind of story will increase your ability to watch the stories you've got.

[81:20]

And the more you watch the stories, the more conscious you will become of your stories and then the more you'll be aware of how your speech is coming from those stories and how your postures are coming from those stories you start to notice, oh I'm afraid of this person and that's why I'm talking this way or I'm afraid of this person that's why I'm angry and I'm afraid of this person because of a story in my mind about my relationship with this person My story is that they've been mean to me in the past and they might hurt me again now. Or that they've got such and such an idea about themselves and if I don't go along with that, that might frighten them and they might attack me. That's my story about them. So I watch that story and I watch how that makes me, that has something to do with what I say to them. And the more I watch my stories, also, my stories will generally evolve positively.

[82:31]

So if I have a lot of stories about how people aren't my friends, and if I'm aware that I have stories that people are my enemies, if I keep watching those stories, those stories will evolve positively. I will start to see people more as my friends, as my brothers and sisters, as my dear, beloved family, the more I study. The more I study the karma, the more the karma approaches reality. But finally, the virtue of this study is that there's an opening in the story land like the story of everybody being my friend opens up and I open to my friendship beyond my story of friendship. Friendship is reality. Compassion is reality. And studying stories of non-compassion tends to cause evolution towards stories of compassion.

[83:42]

in stories of compassion which are studied graciously, open to stories opening, open to stories opening and revealing the compassion which is not a story of compassion but which is the heart of the Buddha. Where there's no story, there's just compassion in the emptiness of the stories. But we have to study the stories a great deal before they evolve to a point where they allow themselves to be dropped and opened unto the unstoried ultimate truth of Buddha's compassion. And also part of the study of stories would be I would study a story and then I would watch how the story seemed to translate into speech and posture, but I couldn't quite see how that worked.

[84:46]

Doesn't make sense to me. Like I have a story, you're my friend, I have the story that you're my friend, And then I say something unkind to you. I say, how could I have a story that she's my friend? I do have the story she's my friend. I've had that story for months. And now I'm saying unkind things to her. How could I do that? So then I look. So when it doesn't make sense, when my story of our relationship doesn't go with what I'm saying to you, that sometimes makes me look more carefully. And then I say, oh... Now I see, I had the story that she was my friend, but then she did this thing which I don't think a friend would do, and that hurt me because it contradicted with my story. It made a painful story. The story is, I'm her friend and she's not acting in accord with that. That hurts. Therefore, in my hurt, I also don't have the story that I should be patient with the hurt. So I'm impatient with the hurt, and then I was unkind to her. So that, when the story...

[85:49]

of my relationship with you contradicts my speech to you, that sometimes could encourage me to look more deeply into my story. And then I find, oh yeah, that's why I said that. You just started from the story, and then you wrote the actions of body and speech that came from that. I'm asking the other way around. You notice the actions of body and speech, but you don't quite know what the story is. Right. So then look, the story that was there is gone, but look at what story you have now. So right now I'm talking to you, and if it didn't make sense to me why I was talking to you this way, I could look to see what story do I have about my relationship with her. And if what you're saying, well, is what you're saying to me something that doesn't make sense to you right now? or does what you're saying to me make sense to you in terms of your story of our relationship?

[86:54]

Does what you're saying to me, is the way you're talking to me in accord with your story of our relationship right now? You think it is, right? Yeah. So if ever you speak to me or look at me or posture towards me and it doesn't make sense and I would say, well look to see, I'm thinking in terms of things we do habitually. Yeah, so start looking at what your story is and then also when you notice you're doing things, try to see what story is behind them. There is a story behind them. Want to give an example of something you do habitually? You don't want to? Okay. Was that habitual? was you're not wanting to give an example of habitual behavior and habitual behavior.

[88:05]

You don't know, right? So I would think it would be good for you to find out about that. To find out whether you have a habit of not revealing what your habitual behaviors are to yourself and others. that would generally be helpful to people is to notice what our habitual stories are and our habitual speech and postures are. The more we notice the habitual ones, the more we notice that they're changing. Studying habitual patterns relieves us of the habit formation. Otherwise, unstudied habitual behaviors seem to get more and more stuck and more and more rigid and more and more dead. Studied habitual behaviors open the curtain of habit to reveal a world of freedom.

[89:14]

It is getting quite late. It's like 10 to 12, right? I think maybe you can come. Yeah. If you don't mind. Yesterday Fred and I were taking a walk on the path and Tracy was ahead of us and she looked quite mesmerized by something. And she pointed at what she was looking at and it was a great blue heron. just very close to us. And I experienced, and it's not the first time, something that I would call like reverence.

[90:38]

And I was wondering, it was a mystery to me why I experienced that and it seems to me that this happens to many people upon watching nature, for example. So I was wondering if it could be that the heron was like an opening into emptiness and was teaching at a wordless level and was still moving to us. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The heron is an opening to emptiness and is teaching. Yes. That's right. The mountains and rivers

[91:46]

and herons of the immediate present are the manifestation of the path of the ancient Buddhas. They are doors to emptiness. If we revere them, we may open to it. Anybody else? Did you want to come up, Tracy? I have a confession and a question and a metaphor. And the confession is that when I have a question about the Dharma, I notice I feel ashamed. When you have a question about the Dharma, you feel ashamed? Yeah, when I was thinking of coming up and I realized I feel ashamed. I have the question because I'm not diligent or because I'm not concentrated.

[92:48]

And then I thought, oh, well, I'm also not practicing patience. But then I realized, so I have these bad stories about myself for having a question. And then I realized I think everyone else has bad feelings about me for having dumb questions. So now I've got a whole story about the whole sangha. And it's kind of funny, but it's serious. Because I'm sitting there thinking everyone thinks I'm a jerk or an idiot for not having... three circles like John, all, you know, with the arrows going in the right direction. And then I think you just must be sick of people. I think you must be sick of people coming up here. You've said this stuff over and over and over, and we still have the questions. And I think you must just be disgusted. Honestly. This is all a true story. No, it's all your story. It's all a story. It's all your story. Right. And what you were saying... This is truly your story. Yeah. Yeah, you know, and help, but we're saying a blend about, okay, get intimate with the story.

[93:54]

Get intimate with those stories, right. And being intimate with them would include being gracious with them. So be gracious with these stories that you just told us. And they're stories of not being gracious. Yes. But isn't it true if I were more diligent, I would have gone to the sutra and studied harder? I wouldn't say that it's not true. I wouldn't say that it is not true what you said. I would just say that you have stories and I see signs of, I don't see you feeling like you're being gracious towards your stories. So, like, when some people come up here, I don't know how you feel, but to me it looks like they're really sincere Zen students to come up and ask these Dharma questions. So other people come up and ask Dharma questions and it looks like they're really diligent in asking the question. But then you can have a story that somebody who's coming out to ask a Dharma question is not diligent because otherwise they wouldn't be asking it.

[95:00]

So that can be a nice story. But either way it's still a story, both ways. But there are many stories of very diligent Dharma students coming and asking questions. But if you have a story that When you ask questions, it's not a sign of diligence. If you have that story, then I would say be gracious with that story. Being gracious with your stories is the first step to becoming intimate with them. So I'm not telling you to get rid of those stories you have. I say those are perfectly good beings, those stories. for you to practice giving with, to be generous towards, and then you'll become intimate with them, and that will realize the Buddha way. Thank you. But first of all, you have to admit they're there in order to be generous with them. So if I have a story of not being generous, then I have to get that story of not being generous out in front, and then be generous with it.

[96:04]

And if somebody else brings me a story of not being generous or a story of being generous, somebody might come say, I wasn't generous. Somebody else might come say, I was totally generous. I need to be generous with both storytellers and both stories in order to be intimate with those stories, in order to be free of those stories. If you're intimate with your stories, then you can teach others how to be intimate with theirs. And then you can teach others and yourself how to be free of your stories. So you have perfectly nice stories to become free of. Okay. So now here's my question. When we talk about no abiding self and dependent co-arising, one time you talked and I, for a second, got it, what it meant when you say there's no Tracy, that all Tracy is is everything but Tracy.

[97:08]

Now, maybe I've misstated it, but anyway, that's how it seemed to me. And it was just very liberating. And I went somewhere and I was talking to a friend and it seemed... I could be really good for them to even contemplate that idea. So I tried to talk about it, but I was a total idiot, and they just looked at me completely blankly. And I realized I hadn't gotten it anywhere near deep enough to be able to communicate it or even to remember. So would you say just what is that again? You know, how can I be everything but me? What is that? First of all, I would say that this type of teaching... Don't take out of the center. It's not usually given until the person is well-grounded in their conventional storytelling. So it's like it's a teaching to be given to those who are meditating

[98:10]

on their karma, meditating on their stories, and meditating on their mental constructions about who they are in the world and what their self is. So we sort of need to be aware. Like you just came and told a story, so you're meditating on these kind of stories. and getting grounded, trying to get grounded and intimate with these stories. That's the first step. The teachings on emptiness usually aren't given until the person's settled in that way. So probably you should wait and try to encourage them to share with them your storytelling activity, share with them your awareness of your storytelling activity. That they can join. And then when that's well established, then we talk about that, you know, what the person in the story is nothing other than the elements of the story and so on.

[99:12]

And then that could be liberating. Did you answer my question? I don't know. I think it was in there, but... Couldn't you just say it one more time about how somebody is everything but themselves? You are the sum total of everything that isn't you. I can do that sentence, but I don't... But you don't what? How does that work? Well, just look at everything... that you're composed of, everything that makes you what you are, and then just see if any of those things are you. Like, is the ring you have on your finger you? Is your history you? Is Paul you?

[100:14]

Is your hair you? Are your children you? And so on. All the things that make you. Is your skin you? Is your eyes you? Is your nose you? All the things that make you. Am I you? Is Zen Center you? All these things that make you, make you. And there's not one thing in addition to all the things that make you that's you.

[100:45]

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