It looks like I repeat myself over and over, and here's another example of that. The teachings of the Buddhas are primarily concerned with living beings. Matter of fact, one of the teachings is that Buddhas are nothing in addition to living beings. So within living beings there is a concern for their welfare. There is a concern for their suffering. There is compassion for living beings and that's the main business of the Buddha's teaching is to help living beings to address and bring compassion to their suffering.

[01:09]

And it is part of the teaching that comes through this compassion is that the suffering is dependent on living beings who are involved in grasping grasping their life experience, grasping their ideas, their feeling tone, their bodily experiences, and so on. All the different realms of experience, when they're grasped, they are suffering. They become stressful and distressful and unsatisfactory. Life, when you really accept life, you realize it cannot be grasped. When you grasp life, you kind of insult it and stress it, and this is suffering. And the teaching is for living beings who have this tendency, and this tendency is supported by past actions based on this tendency of grasping.

[02:26]

And the grasping comes because of misconception of life. We are innately inclined to see life as something that could be grasped. We see life as a substantial thing. that could be grasped. We see ourselves as substantial and others as substantial. We see things as permanent so that you could reach for something and it would still be there by the time you touched it. So the early teachings of Buddha were to teach beings that all the phenomena which beings tend to grasp are really impermanent and unsubstantial, insubstantial and And if you try to grasp them, they are suffering. And the later teaching of the Great Vehicle is that all phenomena are just, all the things we're experiencing are just cognitive constructions.

[03:34]

They're just ideas. And of course we can grasp ideas, and then that grasping life as the ideas we have of it is another way to speak of the cause of suffering. So the teaching that all that we're dealing with is our idea of our life, that teaching, when we understand it, When we understand that teaching, we enter into the reality of our life. And the reality of our life is that it is insubstantial, it is ungraspable, and it is infinite. So that's an example of a message which now has been converted into ideas right now, that we now have an idea of the teaching that what we're dealing with is our idea of our life.

[04:52]

And so the teaching also appears to us in the form of a word image or linguistic imagery, which we are inclined to convert all of our experience into linguistic imagery. And even the messages from the Buddhas, we also do that with. Even the message of the teaching, even the messages about the practice, we convert into something which fits with our usual karmic life. So our karmic life can receive these teachings and practice these teachings, but we receive these teachings and then we convert them into stuff that our karma can work on. and bodhisattvas receive the teaching that way as their ideas of the teachings.

[05:59]

Now, one might say, well, the teachings aren't our idea of them. But it's not like the teachings are some other substantial thing that's not our idea of them. They're not something that's substantially not our ideas of them. They're neither our ideas of them nor are they not our ideas of them, really. because saying they're not our idea of them puts them in the category of not our idea of them. So they're beyond our ideas and they're beyond being our ideas or not being our ideas. And all these teachings are really just to help us realize that the way we already are actually is exactly what we all want.

[07:10]

the way we already are, is exactly already that we're helping each other. But that's hard to understand because we imagine sometimes that we're not helping each other. It looks like that in the world of thought construction. Like it looks like some people don't like the President of the United States and some people do. And it looks like horrible things are happening all over the planet. But it isn't that we deny that horrible things are appearing. It's that we listen to the horrible things and look at the horrible things that we're already listening to and looking at. And we listen to teachings about how to take care of these horrible appearances or nice appearances.

[08:18]

And if we listen to these teachings and listen to these teachings, there is a teaching that after we listen to these teachings enough, we will actually be transformed to a place. Our listening to the teaching will transform us into a way of being that enters into reality. If we listen to these teachings, and listen to these teachings, we will start practicing compassion according to what we have listened to. And we have listened to our version of what is being told to us. We are being told how to practice. We convert what we are being told or shown into our idea of it. And then we practice according to our idea. And if we continue this practice, we become transformed to a point where we enter into the reality of our relationships.

[09:21]

So one of the things that seems to be necessary is a great deal of listening to the teaching. Those who enter into reality are supported by the permeations or the perfumings of our body and mind that occur when we listen to the teachings over and over. When we think of the teachings which we have heard and read, we think of them, we listen to them, we look at them, and we spend our time permeating our life with the teachings. And these teachings, these teachings become seeds which become merged with correct study of these teachings.

[10:33]

These seeds which are the effects of our listening enter and are merged with correct reflection on these teachings. And these teachings appear as, so one way to say it is as doctrines and their meaning, or texts, scriptures, words of teachers, words of the Buddhas, and treatises which help us understand them, treatises which help us meditate on them. That's how the teachings appear to us. So that's what's been happening today, is you've been listening to texts and treatises. You've been listening to doctrines and suggestions about their meaning.

[11:37]

And this has transformed our minds as we've listened to these things. And then we come to actually have insight into these teachings. But again, even as we have insight, we have insight about how these teachings appear in a way that we can find them to have insight about. Still, even though we're still apprehending the teachings which we're having insights about, we still can enter reality while we're still apprehending. And then once we enter, we continue to practice and we stop apprehending the images which we used to enter. And then we continue the practices of compassion and the practices of listening to the teachings and the practices of contemplating the practices and the teachings.

[12:55]

We continue to do it without apprehending the images that we used to apprehend. We do the practice from simply being immersed in the reality which is the practice. And then someone raises a flower and winks and we smile. And someone says something about us and we listen to them and we practice according to what they said. in the same way that we practiced according to what we heard before. Any questions?

[14:01]

Yes? I need help. For me, I cannot hold on to it, I cannot grasp it. That's very clear to me. What I am holding and grasping is the images, is the fear, is all of my... all the stuff that I'm grasping. That's right. You're not actually grasping the fear, you're grasping an image of the fear. Yeah, so that's right. You're grasping images of your life. And even though you're grasping images of your life, it still causes problems. You're actually fortunate that you can't get a hold of your life, so your life's actually okay. But if you grasp the images of your life, your life's okay. But the grasper is stressed. The grasping being is stressed. The life is actually untouched.

[15:02]

But the grasping is stressed. It's a stress factor. It is a stress being. Oh, good. So now bring compassion to that. bring compassion to that stress area where there's grasping. Any further questions? Yes, so let's bring compassion to that tightening. Shall we? Are you ready to let compassion come to that tightening? I want to say I'm ready, but

[16:12]

Well, let's start there. You want to say you're ready. Okay? That's a start. Now, if you see someone who's tense and tight, what do you want to do for them? Yeah, you want to let them be. So, now do you want to let your tightness be? Well, I don't mind that it's easy. Yeah, so it's okay that it's easy. I don't mind. If it's hard, I don't mind that either. The thing is, you want to let it be. That's what you do with other people's tightness, right? You let it be. Now, do it with your own tightness. Let it be. That's an act of kindness. That's an act of generosity. And what comes to my mind is I don't want to just let it be, but I also like... Wait a second.

[17:23]

That next thing, I don't want to let it be? If someone else doesn't want to let something be, what do you want to do with that person? From the being of it, I like to have the understanding of it. Ah, you will get the understanding if you keep letting it be. You have to keep letting... You can't find out what things are unless you let them be. So you start by letting them be, and then you just keep your heart pulsing with, let it be, let it be, let it be. That's not the whole story, but you just keep that the whole time as you're trying to understand what this tightness is. Let it be, let it be, let it be, okay? And now we move on to be careful of this tightness. Be careful not to try to get rid of it. Because we're letting it be, right? Don't try to kill it. Don't try to kill this tension. Because you want to understand it, right? So if you kill it before you understand it, you're not going to get to understand it.

[18:24]

Also, we don't say bad things about the tightness. And we don't say that the untight people are better than the tight people. And we're not possessive of the tightness. If somebody says, could you loan me your tightness? We say, fine. If you're trying to understand tightness, you might say, well, if I give you my tightness, I won't be able to understand it. No, no. If you've got tightness and somebody needs it and you give it away, that will help you understand it. Don't lie and also be honest about the tightness. Somebody says, got some tightness there? You say, yep, I got it. Would you give it to me? Fine. Would you hate it? No, thank you. Would you be possessive? No. Do you disparage it in any way? No. and so on, you practice being careful and gentle and kind to this tightness which you're fundamentally letting it be, but then you're getting into intimately letting it be, carefully letting it be. Now, then you move on to be patient with this tightness.

[19:30]

In other words, you're not trying to get rid of it, and you're being totally present with it. So this is all moving towards eventually understanding this thing. And then next, you need to go back now and check on your aspiration to understand and help all beings become free of whatever problems they have. And then realize that it would really be good if you could continue to do the practices of kindness towards this tension, towards this tightness, and now also if you could be really calm and alert and open to it, and that you really would like to be really calm with it, so now with all these practices you can really see it clearly, because you're really calm and not messing with it.

[20:32]

And then you're ready to see it and enter into understanding. Yeah, so I'm saying that we need to realize that there's a state of concentration which is both calm, not both, it's calm, it's focused, it's alert, it's open, it's flexible, it's bright and it's joyful. We need all this energy, all this kind of, we need this kind of a state to be with, for example, tightness, painful tightness. We need all this to be present with that in order to now enter it in its reality. And if you don't know how to do the concentration in all those aspects, then you practice letting that be, letting your concentration, which isn't fully developed, be that way. And then be careful of any flaw in your concentration.

[21:38]

Be honest about it. be generous towards it, be honest about it, be careful of it, be honest about the flaws, be gentle with the flaws, study the flaws, be patient with the flaws, and then again try to do the practice in such a way that you become free of the flaws in your concentration. Most of the flaws in the concentration are because of not completing the earlier practices which the full, you know, kind of concentration that really is temporary relief from what? From our ideas about things. It's temporary relief from grasping. So in the concentration you actually get temporary relief from the tightness which you're studying. And then when you're somewhat relieved from this, when you're relieved from the

[22:40]

tightness, which you're trying to understand, that will end your understanding. So, yeah. What? I feel like, for some reason, what comes to me is, I want to have all of this to be transformed to this acuteness and sharpness. Yeah, well, we do need acuteness and sharpness, and we need acuteness and sharpness without pedantry. We need it without being pedantic, which means, what do you call it, overly concerned with being accused. and sharp. You need to be acute and sharp without being overly concerned with the practice of being acute and sharp. In other words, you need to be open to being dull and blunt.

[23:46]

Those samurai swords I've heard, they're made of two kinds of steel, one that's sharp Well, one that's brittle, actually. One that's hard and brittle. And if you use that kind of sword, you hit something with it, it will break. But you need that hard, brittle thing. But you also need the soft, flexible steel. So they combine the hard brittle with the soft, flexible. Concentration in order to cut means those two qualities. It needs to be sharp and acute and pointed and soft and open and relaxed. That kind of mind will give you relief from the ideas that are causing suffering. And then not only do you get temporary relief, but then you actually get to go in and see how they really are.

[24:57]

First of all, get relief from the way they aren't, and then enter into how they really are. get relief from misconception and be relaxed with it, and then from the relieved place of the misconception then enter into reality. Any other questions? Yes? I thought the process was along the lines of the saying is the horse arrives before the donkey leaves. So that you practice with the apprehensions, wisdom arrives in a way of entering reality before you even comprehend what that reality is. I mean, you have that entering, but you're still interpreting within the apprehension, in a sense.

[25:59]

So isn't there an interaction of the reality entering into the apprehension and maybe influencing the evolution of the apprehension? You're describing it like the apprehension evolves to a point where you then enter reality, but... When you say apprehension, you mean like grasping? Or interpretation, even when the reality enters. Interpretation, but also grasping the interpretation. So that's that situation of an interpretation that seems graspable. And now we're talking, that's the donkey, right? So you're talking about the horse coming before the donkey leaves? Right. So horse comes, donkey's there, horse comes, and what happens then? Well... The horse understands the donkey. But the donkey doesn't understand the horse at that stage. Apprehension doesn't understand non-apprehension, no.

[27:01]

So wisdom is actually not apprehending things, including not apprehending apprehension. But wisdom studies apprehension. Wisdom arises from being kind to apprehension. We've got plenty of apprehension. We've got plenty of grasping. Now we need to bring compassion to it. And we need to bring concentration to it. And now when we bring compassion and concentration to the grasping and all the afflictions around the grasping, the afflictions calm down. And in that calming of the afflictions around the apprehension, the apprehension also seems to be temporarily relieved. It's almost like the grasping is reduced to zero. However, the horse still hasn't arrived. But the donkey has not been eliminated.

[28:09]

the horse still has to come and understand the donkey. And the horse can understand the donkey even though the conditions which are supporting the arrival of the wisdom are actually a kind of a calming down of the whole problems with the donkey. The donkey's still there, but there's no problems with it anymore. It's kind of like we're relieved of the suffering of the donkey. But the donkey hasn't been annihilated. It's just been kind of like... What do you call it? Everything's calm around it now. So now we can look at the donkey in a calmer situation. We look at the donkey in an enhanced environment where the donkey's not a problem anymore. So the donkey hasn't really left. It's just... It's just become available for profound understanding, which is the horse.

[29:11]

And also, the horse understands that the donkey is no different from the horse. The donkey doesn't understand that, but the horse does. That's the story there. So I heard it said that philosophy is the love of wisdom, but do you think it might be more accurate to say that philosophy is the love of apprehension? That's more the Buddhist way, yeah. Philosophy is more the love of delusion. Thank you very much for that. Buddhist philosophy is the love of delusion. of ignorance. Because Buddha's philosophy is the love of sentient beings. It's loving sentient beings. It's not liking sentient beings. It's loving them. It's loving them not to death, but to non-duality with Buddha.

[30:15]

We just love all unenlightened beings into a state that they're already in. Because as I said earlier, Buddhas are nothing in addition to all the unenlightened beings. So if you just love all the enlightened beings, you get Buddha. I mean, if you love it all the way. And loving unenlightened beings means loving unenlightenment. It means loving the causes of their suffering. And if you really love it all the way, you have Buddhist wisdom. And Buddhist philosophy is for Buddhist wisdom. And Buddhist philosophy is also partly for Buddhist compassion. So Buddhist philosophy teaches practices so we'll be able to love ignorance. Our practices of loving ignorance so we can love ignorance all the way to wisdom. Well, I thank you again for another what might be called spectacular day of practice.

[31:29]

Spectacular in the sense that it's been a spectacle. And there's a spectator, some spectators, some of you have been spectators probably, but also I propose to you that the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have been watching the show and they really appreciate your effort. Thank you very much. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of all.

[32:15]

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