I wish to continue in this year also to encourage myself and others to devotedly attend to karmic consciousness, to our own karmic consciousness. In the famous case of the Book of Serenity, case number 37, the ancient master Guishan asked his great disciple Yangshan, or says to his great disciple Yangshan, all sentient beings just have karmic consciousness, boundless and unclear. with no fundamental to rely on.

[01:02]

How would you test that in practice? Yangshan says, if someone comes, I say, Hey you!" If she turns her head, I say, What is it? If she hesitates, I say, All sentient beings just have karmic consciousness, boundless and unclear, with no fundamental to rely on. And Guishan said, Good. This statement is not intended as an insult to sentient beings.

[02:17]

We're just hearing from the ancestors that living beings, all they've got is karmic consciousness. That's pretty much the sum total of their problems. And these problems, these karmic consciousness problems, are basically all that they have to work with. All they've got to work with is their problems. However, paying attention to these problems and testing these problems and probing these problems is the path to Buddhahood. And studying this karmic consciousness and understanding it, studying it properly and understanding it, is the work of the Buddhas. This is what I propose to you. It has been proposed to me by the ancestors.

[03:24]

But ascension beings who only have karmic consciousness would rather pay attention to something besides their problems. I got enough problems. I don't need to pay attention to my problems. I want to go do something that's not a problem. It's understandable. That's a characteristic behavior of ascension being. Karmic consciousness does not, generally speaking, want to study karmic consciousness. Karmic consciousness does not want to look at the problems of karmic consciousness. It needs a lot of encouragement to do that. But karmic consciousness can study karmic consciousness. It's possible. But it's not easy. So we have a sangha. We have ancestors who have sent this message to us that this is what we've got to work with. And if we work with it, it will really be a big help to everybody.

[04:34]

Matter of fact, we will become Buddhas by such work. And all Buddhas have done this work. So this year, I don't know if I'm going to be able to follow through the whole year, but at least I'm inspired to vow to start this year by studying karmic consciousness. Or another way to put it is I vow to start this year and to continue throughout the year to be a sentient being. I vow to be a sentient being. I also vow to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of the world. But in order to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of the world, this year, I'm going to vow to be a sentient being.

[05:41]

In other words, I'm going to vow to be a person who's only got karmic consciousness. Boundless, unclear, here all day long. All day long I've got Karmic Consciousness to take care of because I'm a sentient being. But I'm not just a sentient being. I'm a sentient being who vows to be a sentient being. Not all sentient beings vow to be sentient beings. I do. And I want you to evolve to be a sentient being too, if you happen to be one. And I have a feeling you are. But I'm not going to be like, you know, pressuring you to be a sentient being.

[06:45]

I'm just telling you, as a sentient being, I want you to be what you are. And I will try to be myself, which is a sentient being. Earlier this last fall, the fall of 2009, I offered a course at the yoga room and somebody called it a course on Zen meditation and the title I gave was I think something like Delusion and Enlightenment or perhaps Enlightenment and Delusion. One of those two was the title and the subtext said, we will study the dance of enlightenment and delusion. And we did. And I remembered and brought forth a text which I was inspired by in the middle 80s.

[08:00]

And the name of the text is the inactivity of all dharmas, of all phenomena. And one of the teachings in this scripture is the teaching that for ascension being to be ascension being is precisely what we call enlightenment. The condition of ascension being, the nature of ascension being, is itself immediately enlightenment. And the sutra goes on further to say something like, or I would render the sutra to say such that when a sentient being is a sentient being, they realize enlightenment.

[09:18]

Another way to put it is when a sentient being is a sentient being, they are not moving. You don't have to move to be ascension being. Again, we do not have to move to be ascension being. So for ascension being to not move is for ascension being to be ascension being. And for ascension being not to move is itself enlightenment. Enlightenment. The year 2010 then will be a year of not moving. A year for sentient beings, vibrant sentient beings, to not move, moment by moment. Not move.

[10:21]

Not move. Not move from being a sentient being. And not moving from being a sentient being is precisely enlightenment. And it occurs to me as I practice this way, I started before today to try to practice this way, when I practice this way it does occur to me this is the most boring possible kind of life. It's the most boring, it's the most uninteresting, the most unentertaining, the most unfun, That's not true, what I just said. Those are just things that occur to me when I'm being myself. When I'm being myself, it's kind of like, well, this isn't very entertaining. Other people are doing all this entertaining stuff, but me, I'm just being myself.

[11:27]

Nobody's going to find that much fun. And in fact, a lot of people agree with that. and they walk away from me and go to be with somebody who is more fun. I don't know what their practice is, but I have a feeling they're not being themselves. I have a feeling they're doing something which is a little bit easier, but much more fun than being themselves. It's not that easy for me to be me. It's not that easy to be green, right? And it's not that hard either, but it's not very entertaining or fun. I don't feel like I'm making a big contribution to the fun in the world. So my grandson doesn't find me very interesting. So I accept.

[12:32]

not very interesting granddaddy he's just he's just himself but so what he's just him yeah that's him so what yeah right but these feelings of like this is boring and not very interesting or not very entertaining and not very scintillating those thoughts are just more karmic consciousness They're not true. They're just more karmic consciousness commenting on somebody who's trying to just be himself. Once again, this will be, for me, a year of stillness. A year of stillness. A year of silence. Even though I'm talking, I'm silent because I'm just being the person who's talking. Silence, stillness, being a sentient being. Another way to put it is this will be a year of delusion.

[13:37]

I am just going to be a deluded person this year. I've said this before, I'll say it again if you'll excuse me. The point of Zen is enlightenment. Maybe it's too perverse to say the point of Zen is delusion. So I won't say that.

[14:44]

Talking that way is a typical Zen way of talking. I'm telling you what I'm not going to say. That's called apophatic speech. I'm not going to say that the point of Zen is delusion. However, it kind of is because the point of Zen is to be enlightened or is enlightenment and for a deluded person to be a deluded person is enlightenment, then kind of the point of Zen is for a deluded person to be a deluded person. I'm not saying for an enlightened person to be a deluded person. I'm not saying that. I'm saying for deluded people to be deluded people. For a deluded person to just be a deluded person. That's the point of Zen. The point of Zen is to not move from being what we are and to not talk about it.

[15:51]

Just be a person with no comment. And part of the reason why I feel good about such a practice is because I think I feel like this is good medicine for the Zen tradition. There's some, I would say, historical record of culpability in the Zen school of over-emphasizing enlightenment. Like mentioning enlightenment, but forgetting to point out that enlightenment is totally intimate with delusion. Or somebody says, yeah, enlightenment and delusion are totally intimate, and then forget to mention that for a long time and just say enlightenment, enlightenment, enlightenment. So I don't want to overemphasize delusion, and I don't think it has yet been overemphasized.

[16:52]

I don't know if one could ever overemphasize it. Thank you. I will be looking for ways and I will invite you throughout this year to help in authentically living our delusion, authentically living our limited nature.

[18:11]

Not to try to get rid of our limits. Not to eliminate our limits, but live them wholeheartedly, authentically. How can we be authentically deluded people? How can we be authentically sentient beings. That will be ongoing wonder. we have this famous statement from the Genjo Koan which says when the Dharma does not fill your body and mind you think it's already sufficient when the truth does not yet fill your body and mind you think it's sufficient like for example you think

[19:32]

I understand the truth fairly well. I understand the truth sufficiently well. I have a sufficient grasp of reality. People sometimes think that and that is a characteristic of when the truth does not fill you, you think you understand it enough. When it does fill you, you realize there's something lacking in your understanding. The more we grow in Dharma, the more we grow in enlightenment, the more we clearly discern our frailties and limitations and delusions. Seeing more about our delusion is a growth in enlightenment. So I hope we can expand our horizons from our personal to the social, to the cosmic, and find that we are, realize that we are intimately interrelated with all beings.

[20:59]

All who have only karmic consciousness we are related intimately with, and we are one of them. So I bring up my name again, which was given to me by Reverend Suzuki Hiroshi. And the first part is Tenshin, which means, in colloquial Chinese, it means naive.

[22:12]

Kind of like a child, but kind of like childlike. But it also means in Buddhist, in Buddhism, it also, in Buddhist, as a Buddhist term, it means ultimate reality. Naive, childless, childish, childlike. and ultimate reality. And when Siddhartha Maharishi gave it to me, on the day he gave it to me, he said, Tenshin means Reb is Reb. Tenshin means Mark is Mark and Jimmy is Jimmy and Patty is Patty. Tenshin means Carlos being Carlos. Tenshin means a sentient being being a sentient being.

[23:18]

Like a child is being a child, including that a child is dreaming that the child is a neurosurgeon or a mommy or a grandfather. But the child knows they're pretending to be a neurosurgeon. They know they're pretending to be a dragon. And they're being a deluded little burst person. And them being them, them exerting their childlike naivete, that's tension. And for adults to be more clever and to think that they're I don't know what, a lawyer? A priest? An artist? A grandfather?

[24:23]

A retired government official? If you completely be that way, that's tension. And that's also ultimate truth. But the second part of my name is Zenki, which means the whole works, which means that the whole universe is working through you being you. It also means that you are the whole universe is based on you. But if you're not home to be yourself, then you miss the universe that's based on you. And you miss the you that's based on the whole universe. And this is called, that's a problem. So the name Tenchen Zenki means that when Reb is Reb, that's the whole works.

[25:34]

or that's the whole, that's the working of the whole. When Karen's Karen, that's also the whole works. When Michael's Michael, that's also the whole works. When a sentient being is a sentient being, when a human being is being herself, that is the whole works. And human beings are deluded. The way they perceive is not the way things are. And they can have valid and invalid perceptions, both of which are not the way things are. I think it's a valid perception I think there was a valid perception that for a sentient being to be a sentient being is precisely enlightenment.

[26:43]

That's a valid perception. But that thought is a delusion. So the statement that for a deluded being to be a deluded being is enlightenment is another delusion. And to be the person with that delusion is enlightenment. whereas deluded people often think, okay, now I've got like a valid perception of Buddhist teaching, so when I think of that, then I'm not enlightened anymore. Well, that's another example of a sentient being. And to notice if you're trying to get away from that, that's another example of a sentient being. And to be willing to be a person who's trying to get away from being a person To be willing to be a person who's not willing to be a person, that's enlightenment. And most persons are not willing to be persons.

[27:44]

Or even if they say, I'm willing to, they're sometimes too busy to actually practice that. Another name which I was not given is Ten Shin Ko Myo. And Ko Myo can often be translated as light. Ko is the word for light and Myo means like wondrous. So Ko Myo could also be translated as wondrous light or spiritual light. or sacred light. And if you look at the Buddha statue on the altar, it has an aura around it that's a little bit shaped like flames. The flames that are around Buddha statues, like the Buddha statues that have auras,

[28:53]

Like over there, there's more Buddha statues that have Buddha pictures. They have auras. And around the auras, they often have flames. Those flames are called komyo. So that light around the Buddha is called komyo. Tenshin komyo. I'm not komyo. I'm not spiritual light. But me being me is spiritual light. You being you is spiritual radiance. That cell phone being itself, buzzing, exerting its diluted function, that is spiritual light. The feeling you have about that sound, being itself, is tension, is spiritual light.

[30:03]

The working of the universe is spiritual light. Everybody in being themselves is the working of the universe, is spiritual light. And to devote yourself to being a human being means to devote yourself to being karmic consciousness, which means to be the whole works, which means to be spiritual radiance, and to show other people that it's okay to be boring. But it is oftentimes not that interesting. That's kind of my spiritual, or I should say that's my New Year's spiritual commitment.

[31:18]

And I laugh because I thought of what somebody said one time, what the definition of a Zen priest is. It's somebody who, when you ask them a question, they give you a half an hour answer. So when you ask me what my New Year's resolution is, I talk for 40 minutes. But really, that is it. That's my New Year's commitment. And I wish to do it not just for the rest of the year, but for the rest of my life. And I hope you do too. I hope you have a year of stillness and silence every moment. I hope you have a year of being yourself for the welfare of all beings, who need encouragement to be themselves for the welfare of all beings.

[32:28]

As Smokey the Bear says, only you can be yourself. Only you can be you. Nobody else can do that for you. Nobody else can do that for you. And you cannot do it by yourself. I cannot be myself by myself. I can only do it with your support and I'm so happy that you support me to be myself including that you keep telling me how boring I am or how I should be more boring. So as usual I welcome your I welcome your opposition or I vow to welcome your feedback. I vow to welcome your opposition. I vow to welcome your disagreement and your happiness and unhappiness about me.

[33:35]

How can one not be oneself? By dreaming that you're something else. And not noticing that that's you dreaming of being someone else. So, basically by, you know, inattention and lack of mindfulness, you cannot notice what you're up to. Yes? So can I be myself and have aspirations to be slightly different? Yeah. And you can notice if you're a person who has an aspiration to be slightly or greatly different. Like you could aspire to be a supremely omniscient Buddha. You could aspire to that and you could think that that's somewhat different from the way you are. And then you could realize, oh, here I am aspiring to be that and I'm willing to be this person. And by the way, I'm kind of garden variety. Ascension being variety deluded while I make this aspiration.

[35:02]

But I'm not just making this aspiration and forgetting that that was karmic consciousness, that that was a delusion. I honor that. I recognize that. I accept that. I'm limited by this kind of process and i and i say thank you to this process i welcome this process of me being somebody who wants to be something other than what she is even though i know that's not enlightenment yes what do you mean by boring Actually, I don't get it. I usually don't go any further than that. I stop right there. I kind of know what boring is in the sense of I know what the comment is. The comment is to distract me from my work. I don't like to have a dialogue with... I usually don't have a dialogue about whether I really am boring or not, or the positive sides of being boring.

[36:06]

I usually don't do that. I'm not criticizing that. But I just say, oh, there's this resistance to me being me in the form of boring, Resistance in yourself? Yeah, resistance in myself. There's some part of me that resists being me and it manifests as boring or enough of that or oh, not that again. You know, it's the most uninteresting thing to study from the point of view of the, you know, established resistance to enlightenment is the self. But to put it more simply, the resistance to enlightenment is the same as the resistance to studying the self. So if you're studying the self, resistance comes up to try to stop you and want you to flip around and go back towards not studying yourself. Study other people. Study other problems. Don't pay attention to yourself. That's the usual program. That's the momentum of sentient beings.

[37:09]

if you turn around and start studying yourself, the momentum says, boring, boring, uninteresting. You're not going to get invited to the prom if you go around being yourself. And in fact, you could say, yeah, a lot of people who do that do not get invited to the prom. They say, look at that weirdo. She said, just sitting there, being herself. It's, you know, a lot of people will not want to hang out with you. So there's some justification to it. But people who are trying to be somebody else, some people don't want to be around them, too. It's hard to say who is the most boring from other people's point of view. But for me, when I'm being myself and I think, well, this wouldn't be very interesting to people, that's me trying to dislodge myself from my job. That's me trying to get myself to move off my seat. So I don't actually get into, am I really boring?

[38:11]

I don't say, do you think I'm boring? I usually don't do that. And people will often say, yes, if I ask, I'll pump that out. So it's a demon. I appreciate homage to, what's his name? Baudelaire. Charles Baudelaire. At the beginning of his Flowers of Evil, He points out that, you know, when people get over like greed, hate, and delusion, and they start like just being themselves, then the big guy comes on we. The big demon is boredom. That's the one that comes when you're like getting close to the reality. What's reality? You're a sentient being. When you get close to being just an ordinary person like you are, Then the big demon comes and says, this is not really going to be very attractive. People won't like you if you're just like everybody else.

[39:11]

If you're not a little bit snazzier than them. Well, high demon, high boredom. I mean, high accusations of boredom. It's just not that much fun. Be yourself. It's hard. But it is the path to truth. I know what you mean when you say it's hard and there's resistance, but since... We are sentient beings anyway, and we're wholeheartedly sentient beings whether we're half-hearted about it or not. In a way, it's just letting it fill you up, right?

[40:15]

Yeah, but you have to practise letting it fill you up. so sentient beings who try to be half-hearted are wholeheartedly ascension being who's trying to be half-hearted you cannot get away from it you know and that's right you cannot get away from it even if you try the harder you try to not be ascension being the more you're sent the more completely you're not the more it's not more if you if you If you try to be wholehearted, you're a sentient being. If you try to be half-hearted, you're a sentient being. If you try to be a sentient being, you're a sentient being. If you try to avoid being a sentient being, you're a sentient being. No matter what you do, you're a sentient being if you're a sentient being. So you can't get away from it. However, if you don't practice that, you can miss it a little. And if you miss it a little, that's sufficient to basically missing it entirely. People who miss it little can suffer extreme misery and cause tremendous problems.

[41:16]

People who miss it a lot can suffer extreme and cause a lot of problems. No matter how much you miss it, miss it a little bit or a lot, no matter how much you don't practice it, you can miss it in a major way. So we're at practice. That's all. So this is a practice of being a sentient being. This is the practice of studying delusion, of analyzing, of getting to know it, of becoming intimate with it. And when you become intimate with enlightenment, excuse me, when you become intimate with delusion, you are becoming what the other thing that's intimate with delusion is. Enlightenment is intimate with delusion. So if you're intimate with delusion, your intimacy with delusion is the practice of enlightenment. That's what enlightenment does. It hangs out with delusion all day long. It sits in the treetop all day long, hopping and bopping and singing its song.

[42:18]

All the little birds on Jaybird Street love to hear enlightenment go tweet, tweet, tweet. Enlightenment is always intimate with delusion. If you're intimate with delusion, then the sentient being is intimate with enlightenment. But if you're not intimate with delusion, if you're intimate with enlightenment, then you're delusion. Then you say, oh, I'm enlightened, whatever. That's a pretty good idea. I'm not so bad. It's okay to be a little bit more interesting than me. Okay. If you don't want to be intimate, then you're delusion. If you want to be intimate with delusion, then you're enlightenment. If you don't practice it, you miss it. You've got to practice it. Enlightenment is, in that sense, practice. It's not just the theory that enlightenment is intimate with delusion. It's the practice of being intimate with delusion. And it turns out we have delusion to be intimate with right now.

[43:22]

And I want to take care of it graciously, mindfully, gently, energetically, heroically, honestly. Yes? I have a question. What I think is that delusion changes. And that's because I cannot change with the delusion as much, so I get into this trap. And I'm wondering... Well, you say you can't change with the delusion, but you do change with the delusion. But there is a skill in learning to be abreast and be close and sort of to let go of the delusion you have now and now be ready for the next one. So again... You think now, I think I'm with this delusion, but then this one changes and I'm not ready for the next one because I'm still holding on to the last one.

[44:27]

So we can get better at being with the rhythm, you know, of being with the rhythm of the dance of the changing delusion enlightenment dance. But you do, when you change, your delusions change. When your delusions change, you change. You are actually with it, but you have to get with that rhythm, and that's how we get better at practice, is by going with the change and also not missing too many moments of delusion that's changing all the time. Yeah, but? Yes, yeah, but? I'm more like I want to get it all. you want to get it all and that's that's that's a delusion are you with are you intimate with that as a delusion I want to get it all that's not getting it all no no getting it all there's no such thing as getting it all but however there is the delusion of getting it all delusions are not real getting it all is not real that's not real that's a delusion and not getting it all is also not real

[45:40]

Yes, sense of. That's another delusion. Now you have getting it all, plus you have what it gives you, what you have what this delusion gives you. And that's right, it does give you, but those are delusions. We're talking about karmic consciousness here. We're not talking about reality. There's something about the way you say that that supports me to have a delusion that you think that that's real. Yeah, the realness. Yeah, and you think that that's not, and you don't notice that that's karmic consciousness you just told me about. No, not only I notice it, I don't even want to notice it. It's interesting, I don't even want to notice that as a karmic, I want to notice it as it is, not a karmic consciousness, I want to notice it as it is. Yeah, I want to notice it as it is, I want to notice it as it is. That's an example of karmic consciousness, which is calling for some intimacy with somebody.

[46:52]

The usual way is I want to be whatever. I want to be whatever. The usual way is to go with that rather than turning around and looking at yourself who is thinking that. I want to take a walk. Okay, fine. I want to get it all. Fine. Are you watching the person who is thinking that? Are you noticing that you're thinking that? Or are you just thinking it? Yeah, so I'm saying, now turn around and notice that you're thinking that. Next one. Don't lose track of studying yourself while you're thinking. You are thinking. Human beings think all day long, hopping and a-bopping, singing their song. They're doing that. They do. But they don't very often turn around and look at themselves doing it. They are hopping and a-bopping. That's fine. We can't not do that.

[47:55]

And you have a certain style of hopping and bopping, like, I want to be intimate with this, I want to get it all, blah, blah, blah, I want to be grounded. That's your song. Okay? Now, what I'm talking about is, turn around and watch Homa sing her song. I'm watching you sing your song, but that's easy for me to watch you sing your song. What's hard is for me to watch me sing my song, And what's hard for you is to watch you sing your song. But I'm here to say, Homa, watch Homa sing up in the treetop, hoppin' and a boppin' watcher. I love the way you hop and bop. And I would like you to watch Homa hop and bop. If I watch, I don't exist, but I want to. Ah, yeah. If you watch, you don't exist. That's part of the reason why we don't want to watch. It's because when you watch, you lose track of holding on to your existence. I know, so watch yourself when you say you want to exist and that you want to exist.

[49:02]

But then you can recover and say, okay, now I take it back. I want to exist and also I don't want to look at myself exist because if I look at myself exist, then I won't. If I look at my desire to exist, I'll lose track of my existence. I won't be able to grasp it. Yes. That's why it's so hard. When you're studying yourself, you can't grasp yourself. When you first start, maybe you can, but when you really get into it, you lose stress. So then you think, it's boring. Boring. Stop this. Call it off. Don't do this. This is not good for you. Go back and just sing your song. I want to be a good person and help all beings. That's better. But there's nothing wrong with that song. It's a wonderful song. I'm just talking about, please study the person who's singing that song. If you sing the song without studying the singer, you miss the path to reality, which will realize what you're singing about.

[50:07]

If you're singing the song of the welfare of all beings, that's a good song. But if you want to realize the welfare of all beings, you have to watch the singer. If you're vowing to save all sentient beings, great, now study that person. Avalokiteshvara wants to study all, save all beings. They've got this really consistent song. Every moment, save all sentient beings, listen to the suffering of the world. Every moment, totally tuned in and studying yourself. Not just studying, oh, I love you all, I want to help you all. But studying the person who wants to help everybody. Study the caregiver. Study the caregiver. If you don't study the caregiver... You undermine the caregiver's practice. And it's hard to study the caregiver. Because when you start studying, you lose her. And then you lose her.

[51:08]

Boring. Stop this. Just be a good caregiver. Okay, yeah, it's much better. Unstudied, unexamined good person. That's easy. Just be a good person. Don't look to see what that is. And I'm not talking about looking to see if you really are a good person, because that can distract you too. Just study the person who is looking to see if she is a good person. Study the person who is trying to verify that she's actually helpful. It's okay to verify, you know, was that helpful? Did that help you? That's okay. But when you ask, study yourself. Study the deluded person who's trying to find out if she's helpful. Study the deluded person who thinks she's not. Study the deluded person who thinks she is helpful. Study the deluded person who doesn't know if he's helpful. Whatever, but study the one that's happening now.

[52:12]

That's the one to study. And that's the hardest one to study. It's easier to study the one yesterday. Studying the one yesterday is better than nothing. But then, how about today? So people come and tell me about themselves yesterday that they were studying. I say, great. How about now? Whoa, boring. Is there a little too the thought, isn't that a little bit self-centered, is the thing I'm asking you to look at. So when you said that, I was hoping that you would be looking at yourself when you said that. And if you do look at yourself when you say, isn't that a little bit too self-centered, you will not be able to find the person who is too self-centered, the person who isn't too self-centered, the person who is just the right amount of centered. You won't be able to find any of those people. And then you realize it's not possible to be too self-centered.

[53:17]

That's not really a reality. I have this person that I live with, and he tells me that I'm always in my own little world, or always in my glory world. Yeah, right, so... He would like me to come out of my self-centeredness. Yeah, and I would say to him, welcome, thank you. Thank you for talking to me. Welcome him. And while you're welcoming, while you're saying thank you, Study yourself when you say, thank you. Be aware of yourself when you say thank you to this person who is telling you that he wants you to come out. And then you might even say, did that seem like I came out there? And he might say, no. And then say thank you. But when you say thank you, study yourself when you say thank you. When you say thank you or when you say no thank you, that's a sentient being.

[54:22]

What I'm saying is, be that person. And in order to be that person, you kind of have to pay some attention to her. If you're always looking out, you're not fully being yourself. Because you have the capacity of watching yourself when you're doing things. So is it delusion to practice acceptance and sincerity in order to cause enlightenment? Is it deluded to practice sincerity in order to cause enlightenment? Sincerity is enlightenment. Sincerity doesn't cause enlightenment. But it can't be both delusion and enlightenment simultaneously, can it? They are simultaneous. Delusion isn't before or after enlightenment.

[55:24]

They're simultaneous. They live together. And sincerity is enlightenment because enlightenment is sincere. But is enlightenment delusion? Enlightenment is being sincerely deluded. Like, you're sincerely deluded, Rabbi Anderson. And some other Buddhist priests say, see? See, he's deluded, he admitted it. Whereas I'm not. But it's not like when I admit that I'm deluded, then the people who don't admit they're deluded, that they are and I'm not. When I admit I'm not deluded, okay, I'm still deluded. It isn't like, okay, if you admit you're deluded, you're not deluded anymore.

[56:25]

No. It's just that when you admit you're deluded, you're greatly enlightened. But you're nevertheless deluded. If you don't admit you're deluded, you're not greatly enlightened. You're just deluded, half-heartedly. You're missing the show of your life as a living being, as a bodhisattva. And some people do not admit they're deluded, so they missed their enlightenment. Or they think, okay, I'll admit my delusion, and I'll admit it, and I'll admit it, and I'll admit it, and finally I'll admit it so much, I'll be enlightened. and there won't be any more delusions. No. The exertion, the partial and complete exertion of enlightenment, of delusion, does not precede or follow enlightenment. They're simultaneous. But to realize that requires being ourself completely.

[57:27]

And being ourselves completely turns out to admit that we have some problems. You can't really be yourself without admitting that you have at least a little bit of a problem. There aren't any sentient beings like that that have no problems, that have no karmic consciousness, or have such excellent karmic consciousness that it's not the slightest bit of an obscuration. To sincerely be obscured, to sincerely exert Our obscured vision is an essential element of the Buddha way. By the way, Gloria, when you asked that question, you came out.

[58:36]

You're welcome. Come again sometime. Well, we could have a lovely January lunchtime now. We're blessed with... I just got back from New York City where it's a little colder than here. You know, it's wonderful there, but it's wonderful here, too. This is a wonderful, wonderful universe that we live in. And we have this very challenging job of being ourselves to do in order to appreciate God fully. So I really want us to do this, and I don't know what I'm going to do, but I commit to do it. I don't know if I will, but I commit to be myself for the rest of my life. Please join me.

[59:41]

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