one of the typical Zen rhetorical devices is to mention what we're not going to say. So, I'm not going to say ladies and gentlemen. Probably because I'm I once said, ladies and gentlemen, and a woman came up to me and she said she really felt insulted. She said, that's like, that's like, anyway, she said some disparaging thing about who talks like that. She said, when I come to a Zen temple, I don't want to be called a lady. How about women and men? Is that okay?

[01:02]

Welcome women and men to this meditation hall. This temple is called Green Dragon Zen Temple, but We haven't named this, we haven't given this meditation hall a name. So I'm not going to give it a name. But it could be called the Hall of Perfect Wisdom. The hall of the liberation of all living beings. The hall of great peace.

[02:29]

and freedom. In this room we practice sitting meditation. And sometimes we call the practice that we're doing, sometimes we call it just sitting. But

[03:33]

it may be rather difficult to understand what just sitting is. And I can say something about it, but still it may be rather difficult to understand deeply what just sitting is. So we sit here and we hear that the sitting we're doing is just sitting. Part of the meaning of part of realizing the meaning of the practice of just sitting is our idea of just sitting. But the practice is not just our idea. The practice is far beyond our idea. Not even far beyond.

[04:36]

The practice is free of our idea. And it's free of being beyond our idea, too. The practice of just sitting is the liberation of all beings. That's our practice. I have some idea of what just sitting is, but no one knows what just sitting is. But we all can realize it. By realizing that just sitting provides no basis by which it can be apprehended. just sitting, the practice of liberation of all beings, lacks any basis to apprehend just sitting.

[05:40]

Our meditation practice lacks any basis for being apprehended. And that is, that lack of any way to be grasped is perfect wisdom. And that is the liberation of all beings. We don't have to move or push or pull our idea of just sitting. We just need to enter the fact that just sitting cannot be grasped. The practice of freedom cannot be grasped but it can be entered and lived. Our practice is compassion and we have ideas of compassion and the compassion which we have ideas about and our ideas about compassion

[06:53]

I don't know if our ideas about compassion are compassion, but the compassion that we have ideas about is compassion. However, the compassion which we have ideas about is not the compassion which liberates all beings. The compassion which liberates all beings has no basis to be apprehended. and the lack of a basis to apprehend compassion, that is perfect wisdom. How do we practice perfect wisdom? By taking a stand in it by way of not taking any stand. We are devoted to practicing compassion.

[07:58]

We are devoted to a way of practice. Hopefully, totally devoted to a way of practice, to a way of living that cannot be apprehended. We can also be quite devoted to a way that can be apprehended. But a way that can be apprehended is not a way that liberates all beings. Once we have a way that can be apprehended, which doesn't liberate all beings, then we can practice that way and find out how that way which we're apprehending cannot be apprehended. And then we enter the practice which liberates beings. If one wishes to realize the liberating enlightenment of the Buddhas, we are encouraged to think.

[09:10]

I wish to liberate all beings, to carry all beings to peace and freedom, to complete peace and freedom. I vow to do that. And when all beings have been taken to freedom, no beings have been taken to freedom. We commit to taking all beings to freedom, but we also practice the teaching that there's no beings that are taken. In the compassion of the Buddha, there's nobody out there separate from the compassion. But we start with a compassion where there's a compassionate one, there's the one who is receiving the compassion, there's the suffering that's receiving the compassion, and there's the compassion.

[10:15]

That's how we start. This is human sentiment. But there's an opportunity for enlightenment right there. I often hear people honestly telling me that they're troubled because they feel disrespected. They feel that other living beings are not being respectful of them or that they're not being respectful of someone else. That's quite a common thing I hear from people who are trying, to devote their life to liberate beings. They're trying to help beings but they're also afflicted by feeling that some people don't respect them.

[11:16]

And the human animal is very sensitive to being disrespected, to being dissed. The people on the street, when they get dissed, they often you know, become totally enraged and violent. We're very sensitive to being dissed. And even in a Zen temple, people sometimes feel dissed by other people in the Zen temple. And of course, I don't know, of course, anyway, and they're troubled by this They usually don't come to me and say, I'm so happy I feel disrespected. That's not so common. But there could be that story.

[12:23]

I'm so happy. I feel disrespected. And I see there's no basis for apprehending that disrespect. I'm finally free. And disrespect was my vehicle. It was through disrespect that I realized perfection of wisdom. I saw that there's no basis to grasp it. There is a basis to dream that it can be grasped. And once grasped, that is a condition for suffering and violence. It's rare but not impossible that when disrespected we will look at the disrespect with as much compassion as we can bring and we will see there's no basis to apprehend it.

[13:29]

And not only do we not apprehend the respect because we can't but we are liberated because we realize that everything Everything. Every respect and disrespect. Lack of basis to be apprehended. All things are that way. That fact is the perfection of wisdom which liberates beings. If somebody tells me they feel disrespect, I don't argue with them. I don't say, oh, you're respected. If they tell me they're respected, I don't say, no, you're not. If they wish, I will ask them to look at it and see. I will ask them to listen to the teaching that perfect wisdom is there in the disrespect's inability to be grasped.

[14:39]

I don't tell them to stop trying to justify and prove that they really were disrespected. Not only do they feel disrespected, but there's a tendency for them to try to prove that it's true. The person even agreed. They told me, I said, are you feeling disrespectful towards me? And the person said, yes. So it really was true and I can grasp it and I'm miserable. We need to give up trying to prove that the disrespect we're feeling is true. That other people are really being disrespectful or even that we ourselves are really truly being disrespectful. It's not to deny that. it's to respect it respect the disrespect until we realize there's no actually no way to no basis to grasp it there is a way to grasp it just dream it we know how to do that just tell a story but there's no basis for the story there's only a basis for dreaming the story and the basis for dreaming the story

[16:06]

is that we've been dreaming a long time. And the consequences of our dreams make it possible for us to make new dreams, which look like they're graspable. human beings are very sensitive to the appearance of disrespect and there's various theories about how that relates to our biological evolution as social animals. Another one is, somebody says, I don't know if I fit in here in this Buddhist community. Or I think maybe I don't fit in. Or I think maybe other people think I don't fit in. Or I think the people here don't fit in.

[17:13]

Again, I would not try to talk to a person and say, oh, you really do fit in. No. Except in the sense, I would say, it seems that you fit into the human species because human species are very sensitive to whether they fit in or not. Not everybody, and when people have no sensitivity to it, they are sometimes given nasty names like psychopath or sociopath because they don't seem to care about whether they fit in or not. They have other problems. But a lot of people, a lot of humans are concerned about whether they fit in to some group. Maybe people think, I should go to find a group, I should find a society where I fit in. Wouldn't that be something? And maybe they would find it and say, I fit in.

[18:26]

And then, if they would tell me, I would say, look at that. There's no basis for apprehending fitting in. But people don't usually come to me and say, I fit in. They're more concerned with, I don't, I'm not sure I do. Well, that's fine to be not sure. This is an opportunity to be kind to not being sure if you fit in. Do you fit in to this group of people here today? And if what Actually, I'm not asking you to look at that. But if you feel like you do or you don't, I would say that the liberation of all beings depends on seeing that there's no basis for apprehending fitting in or not fitting in in this group. The mind raises, do I fit in?

[19:32]

I think maybe I don't. It raises that. And if I think that it's true, that there's some basis for me apprehending I do fit in or I don't, then I'm trapped, and my trappedness is not liberating all beings. But if I look at, oh, I fit into the Zen community, oh, I don't fit into the Zen community. Like, for example, I could also think, I don't fit in to the community of young people. Or I do fit into the community of young people. I could think either one of those things. If I see that those cannot be grasped, perfect wisdom. I shouldn't say if I see, if I realize that they cannot be grasped. If I enter the ungraspability of those two scenarios, that is liberating all beings.

[20:32]

That is perfect wisdom. I have to renounce concern for my human sentimentality, which creates I do fit in and I don't fit in. And those are true. But renounce doesn't mean disregard. It means be so kind to those appearances of fitting in and not fitting in that you realize there's no way to stand in them. and realize freedom. I can't do this practice, however, unless I'm paying attention to myself and noticing that I'm apprehending. If I just say, oh, I don't fit in, or I wonder if I fit in, I have to then also look at, well, I'm thinking that. This is my thought. And there's some reason, some apprehendable reason why I'm concerned about this.

[21:40]

And those are other things to do the same thing with. Then there's the word justice. And many people are very concerned that there be justice. And I would say, I offer to you that if we realize that there's no basis for apprehending justice, justice will be realized. If we realize there's no basis for apprehending injustice, justice will be realized.

[22:46]

If I see injustice and I feel that injustice is harmful, which it is, injustice depends on a lack of perfect wisdom. When there's perfect wisdom there is no injustice. Or rather, when there's perfect wisdom there is freedom from injustice. And beings are protected from the harm of injustice by perfect wisdom. And perfect wisdom depends on great compassion towards injustice. And a full range of compassion towards injustice sets up the wisdom which realizes that injustice cannot be grasped and therefore we have freedom from injustice and beings are protected from injustice by that freedom.

[24:06]

But the way to protect beings from injustice, I propose, is for me to look at myself and to look at I'm seeing injustice or I'm seeing justice. If I see justice, if I see justice and I don't look at myself to see I see justice, If I don't look at myself and say, I see justice when I see justice, then I will not see that there's no basis to apprehend that justice. And when I see justice and I do not understand there's no basis for apprehending it, then I apprehend it. And when I apprehend it, that is injustice. We have situations where some people think it was justice and other people don't, and people are harmed. The way to realize justice is to look at ourselves.

[25:14]

The way to protect people from injustice is to look at ourselves and see that when we see justice and injustice, either There's no basis for apprehending. When we realize that, justice is realized. And when we don't see it, it's more or less injustice. You may see it as justice, but other people are harmed by you seeing it as justice. They feel it's injustice. And you can't help them because for you, it's justice and you've got it. you can't understand them, you can't help them because you are apprehending justice or injustice. It's very difficult for human beings to trust that the way to protect beings from harm is by studying our own shortcomings.

[26:23]

Our own clinging to justice and clinging to injustice. Clinging is our main shortcoming. It's the main human form of sentimentality. It's the main cause of suffering and distress. Realizing there's no basis liberates suffering and distress. But it's hard to turn away from injustice and look at the self and trust that looking at the self is what protects beings from this specter of injustice which can be so harmful. Very difficult to not get turned towards it and think it's out there and lose track of the fact that the appearance of out there is my mind. You are not out there except by me imagining that you are.

[27:30]

You are not in here except by me imagining you are. We are free of out there and in here. There's no basis for grasping out there or in here either. And that lack of basis is perfect wisdom. I see a variety of facial expressions. Some frowning, some smiling, some which appear as though they're trying to grasp something. Some appear as though they've given up grasping. How can I turn towards the ungraspability of all these expressions?

[28:38]

How can I open to perfect wisdom? That's my question to myself. In an often quoted statement, which is very early in the early recording of Buddha's teaching, he said something like, Something like, they harmed me. They hurt me. They insulted me. But after each one of those lines, there's an explanation mark in some translations. In other words, they harmed me. In other words, they really did harm me. And that harm can be apprehended. If you go that way, the Buddha says, you're going to be unhappy. And then he says the same thing again. He says, if you don't go that way, you'll be free and at peace. If we don't go the way of believing what we're thinking, of thinking that actually what it's thinking about can be apprehended, if we don't go that way, we'll be happy.

[29:50]

But we are deeply conditioned to go that way. And when we go that way, even when we go that way, there's still the opportunity to realize that going that way, going the way of unhappiness, there's no way, there's no basis for apprehending the way of unhappiness. And there are many stories, which cannot be apprehended, of people who were going the way of unhappiness, and right while they were going the way of unhappiness, they saw there was no way to apprehend the way of unhappiness. And they were, together with all beings, liberated. Like Shren Sha, the Chinese monk. He left his teacher. Bye-bye, teacher. I'm going off now. And he's walking down a hill, and he stubbed his toe. Pretty hard, apparently. And his toe really hurt.

[30:54]

And right in the middle of the pain of his toe, he cried out. How can there be this pain when there's no basis for this pain? He woke up in the middle of that pain, realizing that there was no way to grasp it, even though there was. Hello. Hello. and there's no way to grasp it. But usually, when the pain comes, we go up to the pain and say, this pain can be grasped, and I grasp it, it grasps me, that's it. Or, you know, and I wish I was free of it, rather than the way it really is, the way pain really is, The way pain really is, the way pain really is, is perfect wisdom.

[31:58]

The way pleasure really is, is perfect wisdom. The way justice really is, is perfect wisdom. And the way injustice really is, is perfect wisdom. But we have to accept that our toe hurts when it hits the rock. You can't skip over that. You've got to realize it in the pain. And when you see justice, when the conditions for the picture of justice appears, when the conditions for somebody snarling at us or looking down on us, when that causes and conditions for that arise for various reasons, somehow we have to train ourselves turn back and remember the teaching. Oh, what is this again? Oh, this is an opportunity to realize perfect wisdom. It isn't like, first of all, let's take care of this person who's been disrespectful.

[33:05]

And then later on, we'll go back and practice perfect wisdom. First of all, complain and tell on the person. And then we'll practice perfect wisdom. No. We're walking along. We want to practice perfect wisdom and then get a slap in the face and we forget what we want to do. We're walking along wanting to help all beings and then somebody feels offended by us and then tells us something about ourselves which looks like disrespect and lack of appreciation. It looks like you don't appreciate me. Well, you're right. I don't. Wow, what a great opportunity for me. You are really sick. What another great opportunity. Maybe you don't say that. Maybe you do. But you turn around and you look and you check, do I think there's something here to grasp?

[34:09]

And if you do, you'll notice, I think you can notice, you are able to notice, we are able to notice suffering, stress, somewhat constrained bliss and freedom. But our job as being devoted to liberating all beings is to do this work, is to remember this teaching, and learn to not miss these opportunities which are non-stop. Every experience has this nature that lacks a basis for apprehension and therefore every experience is an opportunity for liberating perfect wisdom. And it's good to be humble.

[35:15]

I'm thinking, just recently I was telling someone something and I just watched their face kind of twist in response to what I was saying. And it looked like the meaning of that statement was, what you told me you were doing was really not very skillful. But it's possible to say, oh, wow, there it is. This is what I was asking for, this opportunity for perfect wisdom. Thank you. And yeah, I could imagine that you have many questions about this and there is a question and answer session available. And I will try to practice perfect wisdom with you and I hope you come and try to practice perfect wisdom with me.

[36:27]

With everything. I often, as many of you know, offer a song towards the latter part of the Dharma talks. And oftentimes I do not know beforehand what song it might be. And that's the case today. So as a result, I often don't know how to sing the song very well. And among the many songs that have arisen in my mind in the last second or two, one of them is called, well, I won't tell you what it's called.

[37:30]

I'll just sing it. But I remember the first time I heard it was in a movie. And the name of the movie was Blackboard Jungle. And Blackboard Jungle refers to a, it was about a high school, I think in New York City. So the school blackboard, it was the jungle of the classroom. Jungle. But I also thought, you know, blackboard jungle. The blackboard. The jungle of the blackboard. Okay? That's our life. We have this blackboard. And lessons are being put up on it all the time. Lessons are being written on it. Jungle lessons. Can you see the lesson on the blackboard? can you remember that whatever is written on the blackboard, including nothing, just the blackboard itself, there's no basis for apprehension.

[38:31]

And one of the things about this movie that was a good lesson for me was that I saw the movie when I was 12, and then I saw it when I was 50 or 60. And when I first saw the movie, I identified with Sidney Poitier. who was a young man in the class, who was trying, actually, to liberate his friends from suffering. And then the teacher was Glenn Ford, who I didn't identify with. When I saw it later, I identified with Glenn Ford. And I still thought Sidney Poitier was an excellent young man, but I saw him more like my son. There's no basis for apprehending any position. That's the key of freedom. You can identify with Sidney Poitier or Glenn Ford.

[39:47]

It's fine to identify and then just realize there's no basis for apprehending the identity. So the song is, it starts out, you know, 1, 2, 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock rock, 5, 6, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock rock, 9, 10, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock rock, we're going to rock around the clock tonight. That's the song. And then that's the chorus. And then they go through the night. All the way till like noon the next day. They go all around the clock and they just keep rocking. Rocking all night long. All day till broad daylight. We're going to rock, we're going to rock till broad daylight. We're going to rock, we're going to rock till perfect wisdom. As we get spun around by the music, we're not going to forget

[40:51]

the teaching that all phenomena lack a basis for grasping. All phenomena offer a chance for perfect wisdom and release from all suffering and distress. We're going to do that all day, all night. That's the song. And there's another song which I forgot to rock all night. I said I was, but I forgot, and I'm sorry. I got distracted. I forgot my job was to rock. I stiffened up and didn't rock. I'm really sorry, and now I want to try again. 1, 2, 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, rock. 5, 6, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock, rock. 9, 10, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, rock. We're going to rock around the clock tonight. We're going to bong, [...] bong. We're going to bong, [...] bong.

[41:53]

We're going to bong around the clock tonight. We're going to rock, rock, rock till the broad daylight. We're going to rock. They are intentionally equally.

[42:11]

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