All the beings turn this life on, the countless lives. ...to hear the true rhyme of the battle cry, to be in the end of the dark. Sooner, sooner, we'll be like infinity. Battle cry, and here you get a huge shout. Now, sorry, we're parents that maintain the rule of the dark. And by doing so, we're bigger. Now, putting things together will change the rule of the world. May all Buddhas and Ancestors that retain the Way be compassionate to us and free us from our imperfects, allowing us to practice the Way without union. For nuts that are in fashion, with shells that are with shade of rose, with the virtue of bearing my deep and dirty genes, through his ancestors, it's all of rose to me.

[01:11]

In the future, shall we produce an ancestor? Hearing produce an ancestor is the inner wonder of an ancestor. We are one Lord and I because they have set their passion to us freely and without limit. We are able to attain the good and let go of the attainment. Therefore, I serve the Lord and I will be with you. I've saved the body and the spirit of my life. The poor, [...] I, Buddha, confessing and repenting in this way, and when I fail to receive profound help from all Buddhists, I insist upon reviewing and disclosing my lack of faith and practice before the Buddha.

[02:14]

We melt away the root of transgressions by our confession and repentance. This is the very simple power of true practice, of the true mind, the faith, of the true body of faith. He just chanted that... You recited this chant which said, We vow with all beings from this life on through our country to hear the true Dharma, that upon hearing it, more doubt will arise in us, and all will be lack in faith, that upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the true Dharma. So, what do you think the worldly affairs are that you can renounce, that is talking about renouncing?

[03:27]

Anything that causes you to renounce. Renounce anything that causes you to like the past. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes? Does it mean renounce clinging to worldly affairs, because most of us are householders anyway? Well, I think that's that way, that renounce clinging to worldly affairs. But actually, I think it's sort of redundant. Clinging to worldly affairs I would think would be clinging to clinging. So, in a sense, you know, the Buddha went shopping. The way the Buddha went shopping was that he would go to town with his bowl, and people would come and fill his bowl.

[04:39]

that he did go ask for his lunch. But that wasn't a worldly affair unless he was clinging to getting something. So worldly affairs would be that when you go look for your food for yourself and your family, like the Buddha did, part of the Buddhist practice was to go and beg for food for himself and his family. And he, you know, got to the Buddha, usually. Got more than he needed, usually, to share it with his students. But as the Buddha, of course, he was not seeking anything when he went to get his food. So what other kind of worldly affairs do you think that the ancestors are talking about?

[05:51]

Yes? Separation of subject and object. Yeah, that would be another worldly affair. It's a worldly affair to believe in illusions. Illusions aren't exactly worldly affairs. Illusions are more like shopping. There seems to be shouting going on, there seems to be begging going on, just something seems to be appearing. And what appears is, the illusion that's appearing is that the food's out there separate from you, or the people who are giving you the food are out there separate from you. That's the way that the illusion... That's the way the world looks to us often, Things we know are out there separate from us. But to believe that is real. That's a worldly affair. People who transcend the world do not believe that.

[06:57]

So that would be renounced. You wouldn't necessarily renounce the illusion because that would be renounced in your nervous system. But your nervous system creates illusions, and to believe them as real It's a worldly way, which is, again, that worldly way may be there. There's something there to renounce, actually. You do believe these illusions, so there's something to renounce. And renouncing it starts the process of becoming free of worldly affairs, free of believing things to be true which are not true. Yes. Perhaps fame for the sake of ego gratification? Yes. Reinforcing of ego through questing for being famous? Yes. Seeking. So, I don't know what... Playing an instrument really well and getting fame is okay, but to play the instrument so that it will become famous, that's seeking.

[08:06]

So it's not necessarily... a worldly affair to play an instrument or to sing a song or to do a dance. But to do those things, seeking something, like fame, profit, if you're seeking something, then that's a worldly affair. And, again, it doesn't mean that in this practice you can't have any worldly affairs and still be doing the practice, because obviously, not obviously, but to me it's obvious, that he wouldn't have written that if it wasn't something that he and his friends had to renounce. There are worldly affairs to renounce. Monks do sometimes, even monks, do sometimes go shopping or go to get something. Rather than just go begging to go begging and just to perform that service to people and to themselves and to the community, they're actually going to be seeking something.

[09:14]

So that's a worldly affair that may occur to a... But still, although it occurs to them, they don't just look complacent about that. They wish to let that go. They vow to let it go. They don't say, we will, for sure. But we want to evolve to do this. We want to do this. That's our intention. That's our hope to achieve the pure and simple color of true practice. So Buddhas want certain things. Buddhas do desire. They have desire. They want people to be happy. They want peace and harmony in the world. But they don't seek anything. So it's kind of difficult to understand the difference between wanting something and seeking something.

[10:19]

But I, and those words are sometimes used interchangeably, and yet I, you know, seeking worldly wanting is not necessarily worldly. Wanting something for yourself ahead of other people, wanting, I don't know what wanting is, Unilateral wanting is a wanting based on the illusion of unilateral possibility, that unilateral is impossible. The unilateral desire is seeking. That's what it is. Bilateral desire, desires arising from bilateral happiness, It's not necessarily worldly. But you could turn that into a seeking. That's another way to talk about a worldly affair. The outflow. Yeah, give up outflows.

[11:22]

Give up... ways of relating to things which create these outflows, these seeds of suffering, which we call outflows. That's another way of talking about worldly affairs, to renounce. Gain and loss. To renounce being concerned with gain and loss, being attached to gain and loss. I have one I'm praying to. I can't characterize it for you. I don't know how to characterize it. But this morning we failed to confess and... Because having started service without you here... I'm surprised I came in here and I thought, Boy, that was fast. I heard the heart surgery started. It's amazing it got done so quickly. It got done so quickly you didn't even notice it. I noticed it doing so soon. So, having noticed it, I wanted to confess it.

[12:26]

And as we were talking about renunciation, I wanted to renounce it, and it seemed like I couldn't renounce it without confessing. Renounce what? That clinging to this error. Oh, I see. Which affected everyone, because they didn't get to confess and take refuge with me. Yes. In terms of worldly affairs, uh... some of the crises going on in the world right now uh... in terms of violence and terrorism and take this is where i find this uh... truth somewhat confusing i thought or apply it for example if i in the end you want peace and harmony for the world but

[13:37]

To do that, you have to... Actually, we won in the beginning, too. Did I say in the end? You said in the end. Well, I just thought... You'd also like peace and harmony in the beginning. And in the middle. I forget that. Every minute. But to get to that, it seems that you... I see the need to take sides, like to vote in a new president or something like that. So that's taking... Please do. That's taking sides. Please vote in a new president. I'm for a new president. I get that feeling. It's really good to have a new president. But that's not... That's aggression, in a way. Not necessarily. Well, was I being aggressive when I said that?

[14:45]

When you sat down? When I said, it's time for a new president, was that aggressive? I was shocked. Was it aggressive, do you think? I think you may have some work to do. And what would that mean? I don't know. I thought you were going to answer the question. You just said, I don't know. You mean if I make it more complicated? Do you think people that are not aggressive don't have work to do? Yes, they do. Yeah. So I would disagree with that. I would disagree that people who are not aggressive don't have work to do. I thought you said are aggressive. Well, people who are aggressive have work to do, too.

[15:48]

Everybody has work to do. Aggressive people have work to do. Non-aggressive people have work to do. Unenlightened people have work to do. Enlightened people have work to do. It's just that enlightened people have different capabilities than unenlightened. Unenlightened people can't really fully do the work of being enlightened yet. But a lot of people do have work to do, so I don't mind if you tell me that I have work to do. It's fine. I think I do. One of the things I had to do, I think, is to vote for the new president. Some people would like me to do a lot more than just vote for a president. You know? They'd like me probably to go to Washington and, like, do something to George Bush. Or, you know, You know what? Some people want me to more than just vote in my mic, but, like, for example, if you can even be president, I'm willing to say that. But I don't really feel like I'm taking sides. If you have, like, two children, you know, and you choose one, you know, to do something and not the other one, you don't, you may not feel like you're taking sides.

[16:57]

You may love both. You choose one to do, you know, only one of them can drive the car. And you might choose the one that has the driver's license. And the other one might say, Daddy, you're shaking sides. And you might say, I don't see it that way. It's more appropriate for him to do that. And actually, I'm on your side, because I wouldn't want you to drive the car, because you would get hurt if you drove it. That's what I feel. I'm trying to protect you. You haven't. Don't you have a driver's license? You haven't had a drive yet. And not only that, but you're drunk. I care for you just as much as your big brother, but I feel like he's the one to drive now. And in a lot of ways, there's a lot of things you're better at than your big brother, but not driving. And he may feel like you're taking sides. But anyway, part of what I was going to mention to you was, I was going to tell you the gospel.

[18:08]

Do you know what gospel means? Good news? Huh? Good news? It means good news. Good speak. Good style, good speak. Another way to translate it is good tidings. Here's the gospel, here's the good news. The good news is we are born on earth and encounter the enlightened Buddha Dharma. The body has no hindrance. The Dharma has an affinity. for us. The only regrettable thing is we don't practice. And so we have no verification or proof of the Dharma in realization. So in a world where there is violence and hatred and fear

[19:12]

in illness, in old age, in death, in selfishness, in non-virtue. In such a world, we have such a world, in such a world there is actually also some good news. The good news is that there's a teaching. And there's a body that's not hindered to realize this teaching of freedom and enlightenment. This world today, and this expression has been made prior to all these centuries, people have been giving us good news. And the sad thing, the regrettable side is that people are practicing to realize it. But it doesn't mean that when you realize it, everybody else realizes it, unless they're practicing. So the Buddha realized something, this guy named Gautama realized something a long time ago.

[20:15]

He was a happy camper at that time. He was on good terms with all beings, but they didn't necessarily get that because they weren't necessarily practicing. In other words, they were involved in worldly affairs. So if we're involved in worldly affairs, we will not be able to verify the Buddhadharma. Here's some more good tidings. All Buddhas are practicing together with every sentient being. I think that's good news. All the Buddhas, all the enlightened people are practicing together with each of you. You are living in a world where it's full of... And the Buddhas are in that same world with you. All the Buddhas are with you when you're in this world of suffering, and they are with you, and they're also with all the other people, all the other people. They're with the terrorists, too. And they're with the people who are terrorizing the terrorists.

[21:22]

All the Buddhas are with every single living being. They're with the bugs that are getting squashed by the terrorists, and the bugs that are getting squashed by the people running after the terrorists. They're with the people who are being kind to you or the security check. All the Buddhas are with every person, non-stop. However, if I or you are involved in worldly affairs, we don't get that. And so the Buddhas are with all the beings who don't get it, who are, because they don't understand that, are doing various kinds of less-than-optimal lifestyles at a given moment. When people don't realize the Dharma, they're more or less off, and being off-kilter and having weapons, they harm themselves and others.

[22:27]

But Buddhas keep practicing with them, keep practicing with them, until they give up worldly affairs, and then they wake up to this good news. The whole universe, the entire universe, this whole world of suffering that you see, and all the galaxies throughout space and time that surround us, they're all really your true body. Everything that's going on is truly what you are. and to realize that you have peace and ease and you can be optimally beneficial in this world when you realize that. But if you don't give up worldly affairs, you're not going to be able to, and I'm not going to be able to verify and demonstrate this good news. And giving up worldly affairs is price of admission to the good news, to verifying the good news.

[23:31]

And you can vote for one person or you can not vote at all. It's possible to vote or not vote. Of course, your Buddha is not a U.S. citizen. And as you live in the United States, Buddha can't vote in the elections, so Buddha can't vote for president. Maybe he's an American citizen, but she's not an American citizen. But maybe they can do something else, like they can go to the president and say, we should please do X to pull out of Iraq. Now, a politician can't say that because they won't get elected if they say that. So the next year, the president... You can see how the late president said that, but he didn't get elected. But, you know, a Buddhist could say that. An enlightened person could say something that wouldn't be politically popular, but still say that.

[24:37]

But they might say something else. They might say... They might say, I'd like you to not run for president. I'd like you to please give the presidency over to the other side. But then try for a while. I don't think you've done a very good job. I'd like your big brother to try. I got a chance. You didn't ask me in the first place. But somehow you got elected, you got in the office, and I didn't think it was a good idea in the first place. And you've shown me that actually it was not good. You're not ready for the job, so I'd like you to stop. And it's possible that with enough enlightenment, enough love, I'd go up to the president, and the president would say, Yes, sir. The Pope tried. Pardon? The Pope tried and it didn't work. Yeah, but the Pope, you know, he tried.

[25:39]

But, you know, that wouldn't be clicking sides again. I love you, George, and I love Mr. Carey, and I'd like Mr. Carey to do it now. I'd like your brother John to do it. I just think this would be better for me. I'm not asking all the Republicans in Congress, however, to give their positions to the Democrats. Maybe I won't go that far, but maybe I do that too. I'd like all the Republicans to ask people to vote for the Democrats next time. I'd like all the campaign money to go over here to these poor people. So I'd like, and I'd like, by the way, George, I'd like you also to apologize for all the stuff that's happening, that you, you know, I know you're not in control of this government, but you're set to take responsibility. You don't have to be in control to be responsible. I'd like you to apologize to the whole world for this, this, this, and this.

[26:49]

Please do this, George. Yes, sir. I'd be happy to do that. Because I know you love me, and I know you're wise, and I trust you, and actually tell me that I see you're right. And so a Buddha has a potential to let go up to somebody, a king or a president, and just inundate them with love, a love they've never felt before, even from their daddy and mommy. And they finally feel like, oh, finally, I felt loved in this lifetime. And the person who's loving me is giving me some instruction, and I'm going to listen. It doesn't mean you always do what the person who loves you tells you. But you very well might listen. And sometimes you say, yeah, I think you're right. I'm going to do it. And then if you apologize and said all this stuff, and people say, let's elect you. But maybe it would be okay to let him, because then we'd have this Buddha instructing him about how to behave.

[27:52]

And then he'd continue to apologize. And he might ask the Buddha, what do you think about this? And the Buddha might say, no, that's not a good idea. And he might listen. As it is now, people say, did you talk to your dad before you went to Iraq? He'd say, no, I didn't talk to my dad. My dad's not really into power. This is a power thing. I talk to the big power. So he'd actually think Jesus or somebody told him to go to war. So we need somebody who loves him as much as we do to tell him, you know, that, actually, we don't want you to do that, George. Please don't do that anymore. Unless you consult with us first. You don't have to play into the illusion of science. You don't have to believe in science. Believing in science is a worldly affair. So this is saying, renounce the thing about taking sides, and speak to everyone without getting caught by that illusion that you're looking at two sides when you're looking at two people, or that you're looking at two sides when you're looking at two people, that they're over there and you're over here.

[29:02]

The worldly affair is to believe that appearance of sides. and you give it up, then you get to see, oh, the entire universe, in other words, everybody I meet, is my true body. What's another way of talking about it? What's another way of everything announced? Well, believing that everything is in perfect the way it is, that things aren't But everything isn't perfect. There's something to do. Mm-hmm. It's a worldly affair to think there's something to do. To believe that. In other words, to believe that thought as a reality. Yes? Maybe only people like your children or your co-workers. Yeah, right. That's a worldly affair.

[30:04]

Trying to control people is a worldly affair. Well, I'll give you one more chance to say what I want you to say. That's another worldly affair to give up. We talked about it yesterday. What's a worldly affair to give up? What? Behaving unilaterally. Yeah, that's right. But what's the general term for that? What? Congression. It is congressional. Well, anyway, it's not being intimate. Because I didn't talk about that, that not being intimate is the main worldly affair. When you behave unilaterally, you're acting not in intimacy. When you're trying to control people, you're not acting intimately. When you're... Unfortunately, you don't get to control them. That's one of the big drawbacks of being intimate.

[31:10]

So even if you were like a super-developed enlightened being who truly loved all beings, including the present, and Donald Rumsfeld, you love Donald Rumsfeld, right? Imagine being that enlightened. You might say, you mean that's stupid, don't you? No, that enlightenment that you would love with your whole heart, And you go up to them, and you give them your advice, but you're not trying to control them. You're not trying to control them into doing this and that. You're actually trying to be intimate with them. That's the way intimacy works. And sometimes the way intimacy works is they make another mistake. So there it goes sometimes. Even the Buddha, the Buddha was sent out by his people to stop a charging army one time.

[32:15]

People said, Reverend Sir, Lord Buddha, please go out and stop that army. And he said, okay. He went out and sat in front of the army. The army saw him and stopped and went home. You might say, well, see, he controlled the army. But that don't mean so. I think he was there. This intimacy and love, and they saw it, and they just, like, things changed. They didn't see a big, powerful aggressor, which made them just scared or made them want to fight all the more. They saw a good, normal, not very big guy sitting there in peace, and they told the story. Then they came back. People asked him to go out there again. And he did it again. And they stopped and went home. And then they came a third time. People said, would you please go out there and stop them again? And the Buddha said, this time they won't stop.

[33:15]

He wasn't controlling them in the first two cases either. He just went there and sat there and met them. And that's what happened. And the third time he didn't go sit there because he didn't want to get trampled. It wouldn't do anybody any good. Especially it wouldn't do them any good. You should never trample Buddhas. Big mistake. So he didn't want to do that. And he knew it meant him. So he did go out to sit there. And they did come. And they actually did attack his people. And he probably got damaged. And he couldn't stop them. And also, about 1,500 years later, the Islamic people came into India and just built Buddhist monasteries and killed lots of monks and nuns. And at that time, too, the monks and nuns did not fight back. And they couldn't stop it. But they did their practice.

[34:16]

And Buddhism wasn't disgraced by the way They weren't supposed to fight back. They weren't supposed to defeat the Islamic armies. That wasn't their job. Their job was to be who they were and get killed. And Zen masters sometimes went there. You know, there's some stories where they're threatened, and they sit there and, you know, They talk to the threatening person, and the threatening person kills them. And there's other stories where they get threatened, and they talk to the threatening person, and the threatening person doesn't kill them. The point is that when somebody's being threatening a disciple of Buddha, the disciple of Buddha comes back with compassion and wisdom

[35:19]

and intimacy. And intimacy then gives rise to a story about intimacy for us to contemplate for centuries after intimacy. One great Zen master was, I don't know what they called him exactly, but anyway, I think some people were hiding out in his temple and Either brigands or army officers came and said, you shouldn't be hiding these people or something like that. And I think the teacher said, no, is that so or something? or I thought it was a good idea to protect them. And the soldier said, do you realize that you're talking to someone who can just run you through? The same teacher said, do you realize you're talking to somebody who can be run through? So he ran him through and yelled.

[36:23]

And his yell was heard for a very long distance. And it was said before he died that when he died, there would be a great shout, and there it was. That was his story. But in their story, the Zen master was being threatened by a warrior coming to him and said, Master, teach me about heaven and hell. And the teacher said, I can't teach you about heaven and hell. Well, why can't you, he said, because you're too arrogant and stupid. You can't learn anything about the circus. You're totally uneducated, incorrigible. Get out of here. And the samurai became enraged, whipped out his sword, and was about to chop up the Zen master into pieces.

[37:28]

And the Zen master said, this is hell. And then, going in, he suddenly dropped his sword and with tears of gratitude and joy said, Thank you so much. I understand. And the teacher said, This is heaven. So, this is what, you know, this is the way intimacy can manifest. Sometimes. He didn't control the guy. He just interacted with him, fearlessly, lovingly, playfully. He was relaxed. He's relaxed, playful, and creative. When you're relaxed and playful, you get all kinds of clever ideas to do what you're doing. When you tense up, then your playfulness is squelched, and your creativity is at bay, and you can't think of any good ideas, physically or verbally or whatever.

[38:38]

You're just kind of like being squelched by lack of intimacy. So then when you have no potential squelched because you're involved in the worldly affair of not being intimate and being kind of unilaterally over on your side all scared, well then let's try... If we can't be in love, let's control them. At least that's a little bit fun. Get them lined up there. One, two, three, say you like me. Or whatever. One, two, three, give me your money. One, two, three, be famous. It's only people that are not intimate that want to be famous and rich. Those are compensations for lack of intimacy, fame and wealth and power. Amen.

[39:52]

Okay, so that's the worldly affairs stuff.

[40:06]

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