The first line there, it says, So this is a great teacher from 17th century Japan, 18th century Japan. And he says, when I, as a student of Dharma, look at the real form of the universe. So, by his training as a Zen monk, practicing compassion to the relative world, practicing compassion towards the world of perceptions, means you're practicing compassion not towards the real form of the universe.

[01:06]

You practice compassion towards the unreal form of the universe. The unreal form of the universe is my perceptions of the universe. And I have perceptions of it, but those perceptions are unreal forms. For example, the unreal form that some things are manifestations of the truth and other things are not. But he practiced compassion to the world where some things were the truth and some things weren't. Then he could actually look at the real form. So this being able to look at the real form is the results of thorough And the training is practicing compassion towards the unreal form. By practicing compassion to the unreal form for a long time, now I can look at the real form.

[02:21]

And when I look at the real form, all is a never-ending manifestation of the mysterious truth of the Tathagata. When you see the real form, everything is teaching you the Buddha's teaching. But in order to see that everything is teaching the Buddha's teaching, we have to look at our own delusion, which is covering the Buddha's teaching. And not separate from it, it's right there with it. So if you're kind to your own delusion, the Buddha's teaching will be revealed. And if you're not kind to your own delusion, the Buddha's teaching is right there. In both cases, Buddha's teaching is always right there with whatever you see. However, if you're not kind to what you see, then what you see is just delusion. If you're kind to your delusion, you will see that everything is the Buddha teaching you.

[03:27]

Any event, any moment, any place, none other than the marvelous revelation of the golden, glorious light. So we practice compassion, we have the opportunity anyway, to practice compassion to the dark. We practice compassion towards the dark discriminations And then we'll see that everything is a manifestation of the glorious light. That's a slight amplification of what our teacher, Thore, the Zen Master Thore, transmitted to us. tough Zen practice he went through to learn compassion to all beings, even those who are mean to us, even those we have been kind to and betray us and abandon us.

[05:03]

In other words, who appear that way to our perceptions, but really they don't do that But in order to see that they don't, you have to be really kind to the appearance that they do. And not punish them for what we think they're up to. And not punish ourselves for thinking that they're up to that. I'm sorry I thought you were not a guru. I'm so sorry I thought that. But I'm even more sorry. I would be even more sorry if I believed that thought. But I didn't, fortunately. I thought you weren't a Bodhisattva, but I didn't fall for it. I'm so happy I didn't fall for it. So now all I've got to do is start thinking you weren't. But I have good news for you. I don't believe that.

[06:04]

I don't believe that you're not great bodhisattvas. In other words, I don't believe, quote, you're not bodhisattvas. Which is a big relief. Can you imagine going around thinking that people weren't great bodhisattvas and believing that? I guess you can't. Because you probably did that once, right? Then you got over it. I was going to congratulate you on something, but I forgot what it was. Yes? Can I ask a question? Sure. I've heard it said from a few scholars that the best translation of karana that we translate as compassion might be caring and concerned, for a number of reasons.

[07:08]

But I remember in the past, I asked you what you trusted, and you said, the welcoming. And I thought that sort of stuck with me as a way to understand what it feels like. And I guess I wonder, Does being compassionate to our delusion entail a certain affective state or a certain emotion? Because sometimes it feels like we're being asked to manufacture an emotion that's sincere. No, no. You're not being asked to manufacture something that doesn't feel sincere. You're being asked to manufacture something that seems sincere, but when you first try it, you may notice it's not sincere. When I first try it. You're not being asked to manufacture an insincere welcoming, but you might do it anyway, even though you weren't asked.

[08:09]

Because it's a free country. That's why I like the welcoming. Well, same with welcoming. Creating space as opposed to producing. Same with welcoming. It's possible. Believe me. People can do it. They can say, welcome, and they don't mean it. And you're not being asked or encouraged to insincerely welcome people. However, you are being told will save the world. Welcoming will save the world. If you want to try it, fine. If it's insincere, I would welcome that. If you're welcoming your insincere welcoming sincerely, now you're on board. Generally speaking, quite frequently, I don't know how many times, I don't count, but I say, in my own mind, welcome to people.

[09:12]

And if I sense that it wasn't sincere, I say it again and again, and again and again, and then when it feels like, hey, I think I feel it coming, I feel the actual welcoming, then I say, welcome. Sometimes it's sincere right off the bat, but if I feel it coming and I think, hmm, I say it quite a few times until I actually feel like, yeah, this is it. I don't ask myself to insincerely welcome people, but I sometimes try out the welcoming just to see if it is sincere before I publicize it. Because if you publicize insincere welcoming by saying welcome, it kind of confuses people. They kind of go, you said welcoming, but you don't look like it. But usually when I say it, people kind of feel like, yeah, thanks. Because I usually tell them when I actually feel like I'm on board. But there are moments when I can think the word welcome, and it doesn't, like, fill my body.

[10:18]

And we're not... We're not... We're not encouraged to be insincere, but if you are sincere, we're being encouraged to be compassionate to your insincerity. I'm not encouraging you to be cruel, but if you are cruel, I encourage you to welcome it. And if you're being cruel and you try to welcome your cruelty but you don't really mean it, I'm not encouraging you to not mean it. I'm encouraging you to learn how to really welcome your cruelty. And then you can be free of it. You can be saved from cruelty. You okay now? Everything fine? It's always the radiators. Okay, who's next? Maybe you're next? Okay, go ahead. Well, I might be confusing something that I... in the past, but I think in the past, you say that human consciousness is limited, and that's why we can't really see how it all works.

[11:30]

It's not really limited. It's limiting. Limiting. It's not limited. Nothing's really limited. Nothing's really limited but something. trying to limit. And human consciousness is actually attempting to limit the universe into a form that it can get a hold of. And so it's got a whole universe in there that's a limited version of the universe. And there's a lot of power in this limitation thing. But it's not limited. It just thinks that things are limited. It thinks in terms of limits. But it's not actually limited. So are you saying it's possible for us to have this vision that Dori Sanji is talking about? Not from consciousness, no. However, consciousness can be illuminated, is illuminated by this vision, which is not confined by consciousness.

[12:33]

If you're kind to the consciousness which is limiting things, free of that limitation, and see and not be caught by it, and open to what is not reached by that consciousness. There's no trace of consciousness, put it this way, there's no traces of consciousness in the illumination. But the illumination can enlighten consciousness. It's opening to what's essentially a mystery. It's opening to the mystery. It's opening to the mystery. And you open to the mystery by being kind to the not-mystery. Consciousness is the not-mystery. Consciousness is reducing things. You think you know what the mysteries are. But consciousness impoverishes things so that they can be enclosed and manipulated.

[13:34]

And there's a lot of merit in that. This is a very powerful, biological attainment. And it should be treated with respect and kindness. And then it can't reach this vision that sees, to the elimination of that vision. Oma? To be free from limiting, does one have to be limited first? Does that mean to be free from it? Yep. Well, I don't know first. I don't know about first. Because free of limits and limiting come up together. They live together. So you can't have freedom from limits without limits. But you don't have to put freedom first and limit in second, or limit in first and freedom in second.

[14:40]

Anyway, limits normally come up with conscious life, and by being compassionate to limits, we'll be free of limits, without getting rid of limits. So, freedom and trapment is happening finally. Say again? Freedom and trapment Freedom and entrapment live together. There's no freedom without entrapment. And even if there is, it's more or less irrelevant, because what we're concerned about is the trapped beings. If there's not entraps in place, well, I'd say, fine, good luck, congratulations. But we have innumerable beings who are trapped, And they're calling for compassion, and with compassion, freedom from entrapment will be realized without getting rid of the entrapment. So can the delusion be that what the delusion is?

[15:45]

That there is something as fear and something as entrapment? That's one of the main delusions now, is that there's freedom which is separate from entrapment. That's a delusion. That's a misconception. And if you attach to that, now you're deluded. If you just think about it without believing it, it's just an interesting thought. A lot of people actually believe that freedom is in one universe and entrapment is in another one, rather than those friends. Yes? Did you have something? I did. Go ahead. I was thinking about what you said about consciousness impoverishes things. It doesn't impoverish them. It's an impoverished version of them. The things are completely not wealthy.

[16:45]

Everything is inconceivably wealthy. Everything is the whole universe in that way. And everything is supporting the whole universe by being itself. That's like super rich. Inconceivable. However, we can't get a hold of that, so we make an impoverished version of it that the mind can grasp and use for various kinds of biological survival purposes. I'm going to leave it at that. Thank you. Can you say more about how Buddha used devices to emancipate us from sinful karma? Buddha uses devices to emancipate us from sinful karma? Well, one of the devices is Buddha teaches us compassion practice. In other words, Buddha doesn't necessarily teach us things that aren't devices.

[17:49]

It doesn't necessarily show us the real form, because the Buddha's already shown us the real form, and then we slap perceptions on top of it. So Buddha can't really show us the real form, because we're denying it all the time. So what Buddha shows us is expedient devices, which are ways of being compassionate to the unreal form. Buddha shows us all these compassion practices which are tailored to each kind of suffering. Each suffering gets its own little device. And each suffering, which appears to be not all the other sufferings, gets its own special medicine. It really is the same as all the suffering, because it's all inseparable from everything else. But then Buddha gives special little devices for special little problems, so that we can become free of the sin of projecting something on the world that is not so, and believing it, and telling other people that they should believe it too, or else.

[19:06]

It seems kind of strong sometimes, like, if by any chance such a person should turn against us, become a foreign enemy and abuse us. Yes. It seems like a pretty harsh message. What's a harsh message? Well, if someone were to turn against us and become a foreign enemy and abuse us. Yes, we should account for them. Yeah, but that's the device that the Buddha uses. Oh, I don't think it's necessarily making people be mean to us. No. I don't think the Buddha is operating all the mean people. The Buddha is giving us practices to do with all the mean things that people do to us. People are mean to us in many ways. I think we're being mean to them in many ways. The Buddha is not operating the show. The Buddha is pointing out that basically the show is dependent on arising, but that's a very complex process, so complex and basically inconceivable to ordinary humans.

[20:17]

So the Buddha doesn't really try to see that, because if we saw it, we'd just pass out. So what the Buddha teaches us is all these devices to apply to the many kinds of attacks we get. Even these terrible ones where somebody we've been kind to turns on us and betrays us. Of course, somebody who's been kind to us that we betray. So I often think of that novel, The Kite Runner. Did you ever read it? The Kite Runner, it's about this These two boys, basically, these two main characters, they didn't know it, but they were brothers and the same father. And they were pretty nice to each other, but one boy was super kind to the other boy. I mean, one boy would fearlessly give his life to protect the other boy.

[21:19]

And one time the fearless protector was being raped by a gang of boys, and the other boys saw it and ran away. And when I read that, I thought, that's like the worst thing I've ever heard of. In other words, if I did that, that would be like what I would do to anybody, is abandon your best friend because you're afraid of what would happen to you if you tried to help him. So Buddha is saying, if you are that cruel and that monstrous, be compassionate to that cruel person that you are. Not to mention if somebody abandoned you, who you've been trying to. That's the example there. So either you do something incredibly evil, or somebody else does something incredibly evil to you, Buddha is saying, learn to be compassionate to that, and you will you will receive the Buddhist teaching, and then you'll be able to help other people receive the Buddhist teaching.

[22:26]

But of course, he used an extremely difficult example. And when I read that story, I must admit, I didn't immediately think, now how can I be compassionate to this thing? It was so horrible. In a book, That's what we're trying to train you to do, is not getting knocked off your compassion seat when something incredibly cruel happens. I mean, to be cruel to people who are mean, but to be cruel to people who are kind to you, that's another. And so he's saying, even in that case, So we're trying to learn how to do that, right? And it's really hard. would be like finding the freedom in the situations you are, and then being liberated from that.

[23:48]

I couldn't quite hear you, but here's what I thought you said. You're in a job, you feel trapped, and you practice compassion without feeling trapped. And then you're liberated. That's why you're liberated, just to practice compassion. Most people are trapped, they feel so trapped they're trapped into not being able to be compassionate. As soon as you're compassionate, you're already getting pretty free. I also think of this nice story about a man who got put in prison in the Middle East. I don't remember if it was for a crime he didn't do or I don't remember. But anyway, he got put in prison and he was there for a while and then someone gave him a present. Outside, the president gave him a present, and the present they gave him was a prayer rug, because this is a Muslim country. So they gave him a prayer rug.

[24:49]

And he thought, a prayer rug? Why didn't they give me the keys or a saw or something to get out of here? But then after some time, he put the prayer rug down, and then he thought, well, I guess I could pray on it. I could do my prostrations. So he started to pray on the prayer rug. And he prayed, and he prayed, and he prayed. He gradually started to become familiar with the pattern of the prayer rug. What made him more familiar was that he noticed that it kind of had an unusual shape, an unusual pattern for a prayer rug. He looked at it and said, as a matter of fact, it looked like a design for a lock. So he saw in the prayer rug how to get out. So again, when you totally get into your entrapment, you see the way out. But in order to totally get into the entrapment, he couldn't just suddenly put the prayer rug out and bang!

[25:56]

He was not accepting the situation. He wanted to get out. He wanted the keys. He didn't want to pray for months and years and become familiar and accepting of his situation. But he did. And when he started to accept the situation, he started to get insights. He started to get out without leaving. And I don't know if he even left, but anyway, he saw the way out. But we're not going to see the way out if we're not compassionate to ourself and others. We have to be compassionate to ourself and others, and then we will see our original home. And then we'll be able to continue to practice compassion more fully. There'll be no enclosure of our compassion.

[27:04]

We won't even know what it is anymore. It'll be beyond our idea of compassion. Yes? The way you're describing compassion seems to me like an antidote to egoism. It's an antidote. Compassion is an antidote to egoism. It's not an egoism destroyer. Conduction doesn't destroy egoism. It's an antidote to it. Or it's a good friend. It's a liberating friend to egoism. So egoism can continue to do its egoistic things, but in a liberating way. I never thought that my ego could be so helpful. Yes? I feel pretty comfortable being compassionate to the guy in the book, you know, even to Trump.

[28:08]

But as it gets closer to my actual life, the people in my life, I find that much harder, much harder to be compassionate to the perceived wrongs of my brother. And do you have any either advice or observation about why that would be so? The ultimate familiarity is like enmity, is a phrase from Book of Serenity, Case 98. When you get really close, but not yet completely integrated, it gets almost like war. Closeness, at the beginning of that poem, is this closeness.

[29:09]

What closeness? The closeness of bodhisattvas. This closeness is heart-rending if you seek it outside. And as you get closer and closer, if you're seeking outside, it becomes more and more... What does that sign mean? What do you mean, outside? If you're seeking upside, what does that mean? Yeah, I think you think that closeness is something other than this. You think, this is not closeness, I'm going to get closer. And in fact, you even think so-and-so is getting closer to you. Or you think so-and-so is pushing you away. Or so-and-so is threatening you.

[30:10]

And if they're threatening you from a distance, if it's far enough away, it doesn't bother you at all. If it gets a little closer, you get scared. But when it gets really close, you get scared and you might attack. Like with lions and tigers, if you're that example. Lions and tigers are afraid of humans for good reason. They know we're dangerous. They don't want to be near us. But if we're far enough away, they're okay. If you get closer than a certain distance, they'll move away from you. But if you get even closer, they'll go at you. But if you're actually right with them, they won't bother you at all. They won't be afraid of you if you're really intimate with them. But just before you get intimate with them, they'll really get scared, and so do you.

[31:12]

Here we are. Shall we call it a day? Thank you so much for another wonderful day at this wonderful little temple on this wonderful planet. full of suffering and pain, calling us to compassion. Shall we do it? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[31:43]

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