I want to express lots of gratitude and acknowledgement of great efforts. This morning I was witnessing the servers breakfast, wholeheartedly practicing. And of course there's a subtlety to wholeheartedness which is which is to realize but there has been a great deal of effort to be wholehearted and perhaps there's been some dropping off of body and mind. Many people have served And the head servers have trained them well.

[01:09]

The serving has been elegant, energetic, careful. This is an opinion. The kitchen workers will be formally acknowledged and thanked this evening after the evening meal. They provided us food so that we could have enough energy to make our efforts. the head of the meditation hall, the organizer, who we call the Eno, comes from a Sanskrit word, karma dana, which means the giver of tasks, has given many tasks to all of us.

[02:35]

She organized the different opportunities to serve. so many things, the serving crews and all the bells and drums and altar arrangements and room arrangements. She organized them all before the intensive and she continued to work on organizing while she was sick and continued to get the intensive rolling before she finally started taking various antibiotics. She recovered somewhat and then got sick again, took another set of antibiotics and started to take the second set, feeling, and she said, excellent.

[03:43]

She said, I feel like going running. So thank you so much for organizing all this. It went so smoothly. Thank you for accepting the tasks which she gave you. People have come from all over the world to this retreat. from Japan, from Europe, from all over the United States. It's amazing. The effort that people have made to come here and then follow through right up to this moment. I don't know how you feel, but I could imagine that you might feel having made the effort that you've made, having given yourself so wholeheartedly.

[04:47]

I want to thank my ceremonial attendant, Reverend Blanc, for the interviews and helping me do all the ceremonies, even though he was also sick. He didn't ask to rest yesterday. but I said, do you think it would be helpful? And he said, yes, and rested for a little while. And then today again, I asked him if he thought it would be good. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, maybe. And to the rest of the day, and then tomorrow morning we have some more, and then the next day, there's no Zazen in the morning. So you don't have to come and get me. Thank you very much for helping. And of course, Reverend Anna Thorne, who received all your applications and organized and made all the communications with you so that you could come and participate.

[06:08]

She worked for many months on this, and again things went very smoothly. Thank you so much. Tonto, Reverend Levy, had to go away for a little while because of a death in the family, but aside from that departure to care for his family, he has been steady, strong, supportive presence in Zendo. Even though he still had to take care of, he was the only parent for a while because his wife was away. So there too, great effort. And then I see the new priests who ordained recently, they have patiently struggled with many yards of black cloth, and they're still here.

[07:14]

May they continue until they forget that they have the robes on. The director of Mingauch, Reverend Cummings, is in transition to become, to go to the city center and become the secretary of the center. And she sent me a number of messages saying that she had to step out, to do work, to become the secretary. And yet, even though she said that, here she is. Somehow, she didn't really leave ever. Thank you for your great devotion to the weightless, useless practice of Zazen.

[08:22]

And also we have a new president of Zen Center who managed to participate wholeheartedly, even though she also had various meetings to attend, and still managed to be here and participate fully. Thank you. And my Irish attendant, Erin, in addition to being a full-time kitchen worker, she served to make me tea every morning. She thought it would be too much, but then she just kept doing it. And she said it wasn't too much. So I say often, I don't understand how people can be so generous and energetic, but it's wonderful that that's an opinion.

[09:45]

I received a note. an anonymous note saying, please do not talk about the vow. I read the note out loud. Ana was standing next to me. She said, you're kidding. Please do not talk about the Bodhisattva vow tomorrow. Talk about something more interesting. And she said, you're kidding. I said, read it. The person who said, don't talk about tomorrow, he didn't say, don't talk about ever. or whoever, he or she did not say, don't talk about it ever. Just not today. And I didn't talk about it.

[10:56]

And I'm not going to. Except to say, that if you'd like to see the ceremony, part of the ceremony that involves the things that the aspirant would say, you can contact a Reb Assistant at sfcc.org and we'll send you the script of what's said. And at No Abode maybe I'll talk about this ceremony and maybe we'll do the ceremony at No Abode. Maybe here too, but one of the nice things about No Abode is pretty much whatever I suggest people say okay to. Why? So I can do some amazing, adventurous things over there.

[12:10]

Like at Nau Boat, sometimes we chat during Zazen. Chat, you know, we sit around, we talk to each other during Zazen. We have Zazen parties. The note also said, how come you haven't had people coming up to give feedback? I don't know. Do you have the microphone? Is it workable? Can you pull the mat out? Can you pull that out? Yeah. If there's anything you want to express, any feedback you care to offer, you are welcome to come and do so.

[13:30]

It's kind of informal, whatever you'd like to do. You can do a hundred prostrations or... Simone, would you like to use a microphone? Would that be more appropriate? If you use it, everybody can hear you probably really well. Well, I just wanted to thank Tension Reb, Roshi, and everyone here at Green Gulch for holding the space. This is about the end of my third month here. I really want to express my gratitude for the teachings and especially the teachings around Zazen. I guess they all are.

[15:12]

But just that it's been very life-changing for me and the most empowering tool I've ever learned or skill. And I've been waiting for it my whole life. So I'm really thankful for helping me calm down a little bit. Is that all? That's all. Well, that's really wonderful. We're so happy to hear that. And we We all wish you well on your yoga path. May you realize true Yes, you may.

[16:32]

I would also like to thank everybody and you for this beautiful space for practice for all of us. You're so welcome. And I'd like to ask if you could tell us some stories about Dogen today. Stories about Dogen today? Okay. The first one that comes to mind is that when he was... He left Eheiji to go receive medical treatment, Kyoto. And when he was in Kyoto, he... it became clear that he was not going to make it back to his monastery. So in Kyoto he died and as he was dying he walked around a pillar and on the pillar was written part of the Lotus Sutra.

[17:56]

And it's It's the part of the Lotus Sutra that says, the place where you recite the Lotus Sutra, at that place, Shakyamuni Buddha is born. Shakyamuni Buddha leaves home. Shakyamuni Buddha attains the way. Shakyamuni Buddha teaches the Dharma. to all living beings and Shakyamuni Buddha enters pari-nirvana. So he recited the Lotus Sutra which says where you recite the Lotus Sutra, he did this walking around that and he's chanting the Lotus Sutra as he was dying. And they call the place the room he was in I think they call it chanting the Lotus Sutra Hall.

[18:59]

This is what the great teacher did as she was dying. Amen. Would you like to use this?

[20:25]

May I? Yes. I'll hold it for you, if you like, if you're going to read something. Oh, I might need a two-handed fragment. Thank you. I would like to also, like Simone Express. Can you hear her in the back? No. Hold it a little closer to your... No, that's fine. You just need to hold it like this. Usually I'm told to be quiet. There you go, there you go. Okay. This is the first I've ever been told, right? When do they tell me to talk louder? And this is it. Here I am. I am unbelievably grateful and am experiencing an opportunity to really have patience and kindness with myself because I'm kind of having a, like, duh moment, you know? That was where you go, like, oh, that's what we're doing. Duh, you know? In that conceptual clinging, how much pain I've caused myself.

[21:26]

And hopefully not others to the point where it's not forgivable, but to be able to move forward with... It's forgivable. Good. I'm glad you say so. And just the optimism in what we're doing. And I thank you for that. And I thank everyone, yeah, for their effort. I was quite emotional yesterday just realizing how... how vehemently and beautifully people are committed to it. And my lovely teacher, Phu, yesterday in practice discussion, it was actually really nice to hear her say, like, you know, it's not easy what we're doing, because sometimes it just seems like we're just sitting, but it's actually quite a challenge. And so I appreciate the effort. And on the note of the serving... For one who has been conditioned to move at 9 million miles an hour, to slow down to 9 has been a great effort for me.

[22:29]

And when I'm serving, I'm on, and I love it. You know, it's like, you know, the pot's there, and the person's there, and I'm not spilling, and I'm very careful so I don't make a mess. Even though I spilled banana smoothie on your bowl, sorry. Sorry. But I cleaned it up. I didn't have a little cloth or anything. And I'm noticing that perhaps if I can treat my life that way, if I can wake up in the morning and think that I'm serving in everything that I'm doing, to have that attention. What a gift. So thank you for that. And if you see me moving quickly, you can give me feedback about how I might spill something on myself or someone else. From Hank Williams. And I wanted to sing it to you. Is that okay? Yes. Great. All right, ready?

[23:30]

Everybody ready? It's going to be good. You're going to enjoy it. Pay attention. There's a little shout-out to you this time. Oh, don't feed me. Do I stand up too? No, flashy. I'll sit. Sorry, Carolyn. I got a little overwhelmed. I got excited. All right. Hey, Tangent Roshi. I see your Ryoki. Serving something up with me. You got three little bowls and some clean white cloths. And I'll pour you soup until you say it's enough. I'll try to fit the salad in the last little bowl. But if you're like a lovely Eno, then it might overflow. I said, hey. I see your ryoki. How about serving something up with me? Thank you.

[24:37]

I'd like to thank Sarah for that wonderful song as well as the inspiration for this question. And without getting into too much detail, I too want to express my sincere gratitude. And thank you so much for your patience and kindness yesterday. And thank you to everyone who helped me out yesterday. I really, really, really appreciate it. My question in that I have a question about integration. Vicky once referred to, Vicky is my root teacher for those of you who don't know. She once referred to intensive meditation practice as a hot house environment. grow like a tomato growing type of environment.

[26:45]

And that it's, you know, relatively easy in some respects to flourish in meditation practice and in mindfulness here. come up in life and we receive gifts that are really difficult and I think all we can do is be with the difficulty but I feel that this has been a really important five days and so I would like to integrate what I've learned here with my life outside of Green Gulch and so As far as I can tell, paying attention is probably the only way that I can see immediately being very careful about And just practicing the six perfections as best as I'm able.

[27:47]

And so I'm just wondering if you have any words of wisdom for those of us who live outside of Green Gulch, how we may, um, receive your generosity and, and out of this training period and bring it out to the right with others. Your words were words of wisdom. And, uh, Take care of them, but don't hold on to them. Take care of them, take care of them, moment by moment. Practice the six perfections, but don't grasp them. That is antithetical. Receive them and practice them. Let go of them. Receive them, practice, let go of them. Be careful when you leave. Pay attention. Remember the teachings.

[28:48]

See how far you can... See if you can make it to your car. Did you bring a car? Yes, I did. See if you can make it to your car. And then when you get in your car, sit down. Start it for a while. Just sit there. And then see if you can remember what you just said. What did I say I was going to do? Oh yeah, I'm going to leave Green College and practice the six perfections. And here I am. I have a little car and I'm remembering that. And then in your car before you start it, practice as many as you can. You might not be able to practice the perfection of wisdom, but you can practice generosity and you can be careful and practice the precepts. And you can calm down in your car before you drive out of here. And then you can drive out in that way and watch the road carefully for the light of Buddha's wisdom.

[29:57]

If you forget and you notice See how you feel. And you might feel regret if you forget to practice what you understand would be good and want to practice. Is that right? It will bring you back to what you wish to practice. In this way, the Bodhisattva precepts will go on forever. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for noticing my giddy excitement with the training environment here. I think hold it closer to your mouth.

[32:09]

It's on now. Turn it off. It's on now. There you go. Can you hear her now? I can hear you now. That's Anuttara Samyaksambodhi. There's been a lot of gratitude expressed here. And so I've been considering my gratitude to all the people who've been sick. and showing up, and even all the coughing and sniffling and sneezing. And I was thinking, here is the place, here is the place. And I'm not sure of the right character, but I was thinking of Hakuen. I think he was quite sick and traveled. And then at some point, he had some, I think I read this, had some great cough where something came out and stuck to the wall.

[33:19]

At least that's what it's in the book. And on that he awoke. What was it? We think maybe he had TB. I don't know. But anyway. And he awoke. And so as my mind was arising on sounds and sights, I was thinking, is this awakening? Is this it? Is this it? You know, so I felt... not all the time, but appreciative of all our experience aging and sickness and continuing to bring us to here. So thank you to all the coffers and snufflers. And I've been Two things have been thinking about this dropped off body and mind.

[34:27]

And I wonder if that's like saying no self-concern. A moment of no self-concern. Is that one? Yeah. So the mind is a great machine. Think, think, think. And the question is how to get a crack in there. you know, so that you drop out of thinking. I don't know where you drop to. For a lot for me to think about, so I don't know how to, I wonder about how to make that shift from the thinking machine. Think wholeheartedly. That seems like feeding the machine. No. machines fed by past karma. So you're already thinking. Definitely.

[35:29]

It's the wholeheartedness of the thinking where the dropping off happens. Usually we think half-heartedly. Well, when I think, I think... I identify with my thoughts, but that's wholehearted. That's not wholehearted. That's not wholehearted. What is that? Thinking is not wholehearted. Thinking is just a phenomena which you can fully... And learning to fully express your thinking, your posture, your voice, at the wholeheartedness, body and mind drops away. But usually we're half-hearted. And in half-heartedness, things look, you know, split and substantial. It seems like if there's a split, then something else... There isn't really a split.

[36:31]

A split is just an artifact of half-heartedness. Split is an illusion. What would wholehearted thinking look like? What does it look like? It looks like thinking generously, thinking carefully, thinking patiently, thinking enthusiastically, thinking calmly, flexibly, buoyantly, and thinking with no attachment to thinking. I don't think that list you gave is my problem thinking. Get another list over here. That's just what it looks like. Yeah. You said what it looked like. That's what it looks like. If you want, just come and see me sometime. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. If there's a half heart and a whole heart, is there a broken heart?

[38:08]

Is there a broken heart? I'm not really saying that there is a half heart or that there isn't a broken heart. But if there's a broken heart, we can take care of it. And if we take care of it, body and mind will drop away and the original face of the broken heart will manifest. And the light of Buddha's wisdom will shine on that broken heart. Should I apologize for thinking I don't know if it would be appropriate for you to apologize for thinking that you have a broken heart.

[39:13]

If you wish to, for example, practice bodhisattva, then if you think you have a broken heart, it would be appropriate to apologize if you weren't kind to the thought that you have a broken heart. But if you're kind to the thought that you have a broken heart, you will find the light in that thought that you have a broken heart. You will enter the treasure store of that thought that you have a broken heart. that thought is calling for kindness? I ask this question because I thought it would help.

[40:28]

You thought it would help? And then if you're kind to the thought that it would help, that too will be a Dharma gate. The bodhisattva does not try to get rid of broken hearts. The bodhisattva practices kindness towards broken hearts or towards the idea of a broken How does Bodhisattva try not to burst out in tears? Bodhisattva's don't try not to burst out. How do they get back to their seat? I don't mean to sit here.

[41:33]

I just don't want to turn around. You don't have to turn around. You can back into your seat. You've heard of the backward step? Yeah, it's also the tractor step. When the tractor is mired, you're supposed to back out slowly. So you can do the tractor step. Back to your seat. I'm going to do that now. Thank you. The tractor step. Now they have, now on modern tractors, they go beep, beep, beep, beep when they're backing. I thought as somebody who's been crying for the last two days, I would just, you know,

[42:39]

Some of that happens around here, I think. And I also wanted to say that showing kindness to that is something that I've learned here. In fact... You've learned what? Practicing kindness toward that. Toward? Crying, toward anger, toward anything that arises. You've learned kindness towards anything that arises? Here. That's where I learned it. I didn't learn it on my own. I couldn't figure that out. That's what Buddhas are for. Yeah. And the community. People have been really kind and generous and have received my apologies well and have been very supportive while I've gone through an intensive, which is intense. It's probably why it's called that. And, you know, as a sign of progress, I would say that I asked for some instruction from someone here about caring for the form of kin-hin.

[43:55]

So I said, you know, I really, I want to care for this form and I'm not sure how to alter. So, you know, does it go like this? You know, this way and then this way and then this way. And he kind of smiled at me and then said, well, you could round the corners a little. We're pretty gentle around here. And I thought there's still so much room to grow. And maybe the practice of rounding the corners is my lifelong practice here. And the same person, coincidentally, who's very, very careful with her words, I heard him saying this time, giving instruction for the sashin, follow the schedule completely. That was all I heard.

[45:04]

And then I was thinking about this question about people converting and the people who are stressed. And what I realized is that we have a better audience because there's someone here. I just had this thought that the Christians are all waiting in their churches for Christ to return. And I am fairly convinced that based on pictures I've seen that he's been here practicing with us and that he's back. He's converted to Buddhism. He's right here in the hall. It's just that he's not going by Jesus. He's going by Charlie. And if we just let the Christians know, I'm convinced that that would be a faster mass conversion. Jesus Charlie.

[46:10]

So, yes. So, anyway, just... Don't wear Birkenstocks. And then there's just one other thing I wanted to say about this practice. It's really... Just one other thing besides the fact that Jesus has... Sure, why not? So... Maybe not. So when I come to this retreat and I tell people I'm going to come here, you know, they will often say this like sort of, oh, that sounds so wonderful. And oh, like they think it's a spa meditation retreat, you know what I mean?

[47:17]

And so I want to sort of set them free. I don't really get too animated about it, but I sort of say, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's difficult. Oh, well, well, what's difficult. I said, well, when you sit and face yourself for hours on end and you can't run away from your thinking and there's nowhere to hide from the community. So when you're crying, it's out loud. And when you're angry, it's, I mean, this is, this is, it's a challenging practice, you know? And, uh, And yet it's just a phenomenal training course. And you're a wonderful teacher. And I'm grateful that our paths have crossed. And the people here that I practice with, and this is my third intensive each year. My love for the people here has grown deeper, and my respect and admiration for their heartfelt commitment is deeper. And the feeling of support I get when I'm here, struggling, virtually struggling through this, is so profound that I'm able to get to right now, none of which could manifest by myself on my own.

[48:35]

So the difficulty of the course is worth it. In that word course, it has a double meaning, right? So it has this meaning of a training or a teaching. It also can mean a direction, a course. And so as an opportunity to the Sangha, I wanted to share a poem. It's very brief. And I think that there's a word you in it, which when I think of this poem, I'm thinking about the people here. I'm thinking about you. But I'm also thinking about all ancestors and myriad beings and so forth. So maybe you can listen to the word you in the way that you would like. This is a short poem by one of my favorite poets, Olaf Haug. He's a Norwegian poet. And the poem is called The Wind.

[49:41]

I am a sailboat on the sea. You are the wind. Was this the I was to take who cares about the course with such a wind thank you very much Good morning.

[50:51]

Good morning. So you've been using the word wholehearted a lot this morning. I feel like I've been playing with wholehearted during the intensive. Because while the song has been sitting intensely, I've been coming in and sitting here and there, but I've been working. And there was an invitation by the giver of tasks. to eat Oreo key on days that I work. And I heard that and I looked at myself and I said, I'm not up for that. And I think when I first came to Green Gulch, I forced myself everything because I wanted to do it right. And, yeah, I didn't feel really any guilt or anger or like, you know, I needed a cause to be able to say I'm not up for it at one point, I feel like, and I just, I don't know that I'm up for it.

[51:56]

And so, I guess my, this is, I am looking at, you know, I'm going to, I've kind of worked through a couple practice periods and been with practice periods, but Now I'm going to participate in a practice period. I'm trying to ask myself, what is wholehearted? And I think about Dogen's inscription on the Han, and sometimes I think, that's wholehearted. I will show up for everything, and I will follow the schedule until I drop, or maybe I'll follow the schedule until I can't, and I'm not up for it. I'm just wondering, what is wholehearted? And I hear... Do it perfect. That's wholehearted. And I'm assuming that's probably not what you mean. Wholehearted is the six perfections. So, whatever is happening, be generous with it.

[53:02]

You know, whatever. then be careful of it. Be careful of it means be careful of your actions in response to it. Look at the precepts. Be careful. Look at the ethical precepts of the ten major bodhisattva precepts, for example. And be patient with it. And then check into your aspiration, like your aspiration, for example, to be wholehearted. Think about that not only do I have an aspiration to be wholehearted in this practice period, but I feel real energetic about it because it's really a great idea. And then also practice, then enter into tranquility, calm down, be focused and relaxed. and then listen to the teachings about how to relate to things again.

[54:09]

Those practices will help you find wholeheartedness. Wholeheartedness is not caring too much. It's not trying too hard. or not trying hard enough. And we're searching for that place, and if we may feel, our opinion may arise, that was too hard, that was too easy, I pushed myself too much, too much leeway that wasn't necessary. I want to try a different way. So in this way, you learn how to practice wholeheartedness. And when you reach there, then you enter wisdom. If there's any harsh statements made, you know, like you have to do this, you have to be perfect, if that kind of language arises, that kind of opinion, then you practice wholeheartedness with that opinion.

[55:17]

In other words, you're generous towards that opinion. You welcome the harsh statement. you let it be. And then you're careful of it. Because harsh statements can be painful. But if you push away harsh statements, you're not going to be wholehearted with it. The opportunity to discover wholeheartedness with the harshness and you'll miss the opportunity to enter the light of the harshness. Harshness has light. Gentleness has light. Forgetfulness has light. Mindfulness has light. All dharmas have light. If we care for them and are wholehearted with them, we enter their light and liberate them, and they liberate us. But this is a very great training opportunity. It takes a while to learn this.

[56:19]

The question is, do you want to? And if you do, then think about that until you feel like, not only do I want to, I really want to. And now I take this energy and do these practices with everything. I want to. When I'm looking towards the practice period, I get scared. Scared. Okay? Welcome it. Be wholeheartedly scared. To be wholeheartedly scared, you have to be generously scared. You have to be carefully scared. You have to be patient. You have to be enthusiastically scared. Enthusiastically scared doesn't mean I want to be scared. It means I want to practice wholeheartedly when I'm scared. And I want to be calm with my scared. You can be calm with your scared. And then you can discover that being frightened also has a . You can enter the radiance of fear.

[57:24]

The good news is you know you're afraid. The good news is you know that you have these thoughts. You're aware of your thoughts. So you can take care of them. And if you take care of them wholeheartedly, they're doors to the truth and liberation. Very simple, very difficult to welcome fear. Many people have trouble even discovering that they're afraid. As soon as fear, they jump into resentment or anger, etc. The fact that you notice it, if you can bring compassion to it immediately, it can turn into a door to the truth. So it's good that you notice this. You have something to take care of. And if you take care of it fully, that's wholeheartedness. Your fear is like a little baby crying for skillful, loving attention.

[58:33]

And I think you want to take care of it. Maybe some other things you'd rather take care of, but this is the baby that's calling. Some other babies could call too, like, who knows? Pride? Negative judgments of yourself or others? Those are other things that can rise. They're the same. They're crying for love. Not like compassion. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. There's Zophos down there?

[59:51]

You feel like a Zophos? You're cool? I'm cool. Okay. Thank you. First, I'd like to... I think we've missed a bet in not acknowledging Hank Williams for something that relates to us. He wrote a very famous song celebrating the inspiration and motivation of the people who take care of our altars. It's called Your Cheating Heart. Where's Haley? Huh? Where's Haley? Oh, there she is. Haley, did you hear that? Hank wrote, Hank Williams wrote a song called Your Cheating Heart. Thank you.

[60:52]

I also wanted to ask, a while back we talked about how that can cause difficulties. And we also talked about how to be kind and caring regarding the dinner menu in the dining room, for instance. And I was wondering how how I can be about when is it good to take care and use kindness, and at what point am I encouraging somebody to believe their imputations and therefore suffer? I didn't follow the connection between being kind, encouraging, imputation. Well, we talked about using a certain language that wouldn't offend people or make something difficult for somebody, recognizing that they were still imputations.

[61:52]

If I use a word that offends somebody, it's still empty, but they could be offended. I always do that, then I'm encouraging them, or I could be encouraging them to believe their imputations and therefore suffer. Oh, well, the idea is to speak with kind speech, to teach them how to speak with kind speech, generous towards them and practice kind speech with them so they can learn that. If they can learn that, then they can move on to the other practices, and they can apply those practices to their imputations, which are pretty much everything they're doing. Teach them how to do these practices, and as they learn these practices, they will apply them to their imputations, and when they do, they will abandon their imputations. The imputations aren't the problem.

[62:54]

It's the grasping the imputations that's the problem. The fact that you appear to me, that's not a problem, that's an opportunity for me not to grasp the way you appear, for me to welcome the way you appear. So when someone, whatever they express, whatever the imputation is, whatever the experience is, teach them how to be kind to that, taking them to the path of encouraging compassion and leading them to the wisdom which will release them from their imputation, from their tendency to grasp their ideas of things. You talked about as a way of And so it's the same question. On the one hand, you can encourage somebody through your kindness, create an opening.

[63:55]

On the other hand, you would produce a regret in somebody, but to somehow awaken somebody to a regret that they might have about their speech. You could do that. That could be a gift you would offer somebody. Like somebody could do something. Well, first of all, it would be... Let's say you have somebody who actually you have heard that they wish to practice kind speech. You've heard them say that they aspire to that. And then you hear them talk in a way and you have an opinion. You wonder if they were speaking kind speech. So then you might say, you know, I really had trouble practicing kind speech. And they might give you some, you know, instruction about how to practice kind speech. In the process they might wake up to, hmm, I wonder why he said that.

[64:56]

Here I am giving him instruction on kind speech. which I want to practice, and I think I just wasn't a minute ago. So there's ways to help people notice what they're doing so they notice rather than you grasping your invitation and say, so I have this invitation, so I want to practice towards it, careful of it, and playful with it. So, you know, and then that gets transmitted and then they can wake up to whatever shortcomings they have. By me noticing mine. So the way to teach people to wake up to their shortcomings is how do you work with your own? Or at least talk about how somebody works with their own. Theoretically. Not mine, of course, but... I heard about this guy who had a shortcoming, you know, and here's what he did with it, you know.

[65:58]

And the person said, why did you bring that up? I actually, I don't know. But some people say, you know, would you please give me feedback? And so there are situations where people ask you for feedback. And at that time, again, you want to give it in such a way But they study themselves when they hear it, rather than they think, that's coming from outside. So how can you do that? If you study yourself when you give feedback. Somebody said, would you give me feedback? Then I have to remember, okay, study myself when I give it. So they get the feedback, but they also see somebody studying himself when he gives it. That's the most important thing. Thank you. You're welcome. Hello.

[67:41]

I used to be very scared to come up here and I still am. I remember one day I said, I'm afraid you're going to eat me up. And now I think it might be okay if you eat me up. Is it okay? Will you eat me up? Thank you so much. I have an offering. Here. Warp. Oh, yeah, a lot more. By Jesus, a lot more. I think of Hank Williams, too, you know, and I come from the Southwest, so I thought I'd give it a try. You're welcome to face the big group, if you like, or you like...

[68:48]

I hear a lonesome tender whippoorwill flying in the sky. I wish I could sing better. I hear, I hear the tender whippoorwill A-flying in the sky. The moon has set below the hill. As it sets here, so am I. That's it, yeah. For who do you dress and make yourself beautiful? The cry, the call of the cuckoo to you. Even in distant valleys, she calls very clearly.

[70:07]

Among jagged mountains, she's calling you still. For whom do you dress and make yourself beautiful? I think that Suzuki Roshi has a wonderful capping phrase for that question. And it is, before the rain stops, we can hear the bird. Could I ask you one more question? Could I ask them one more question? One more. One more. One more. Could I try to eat you up right now? Just for a second.

[71:02]

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