This morning I offered some theoretical remarks about consciousness. These remarks are actually the reporting of some discoveries that have been made by diligent researchers of consciousness. So we have this story that in India a long time ago there was a diligent researcher, well there were actually a lot of diligent researchers of consciousness 2,500 years ago in India, and one of them discovered an understanding of consciousness. He discovered that consciousness had an other dependent character. It had the character of the pinnacle arising.

[01:04]

This was a discovery which was the result of diligent research in a very calm state. And he was in that calm state because he was able to practice compassion towards the appearances of consciousness. The way consciousness appeared to him was often very challenging. He saw great suffering beings. He saw great personal hardship. He also saw the delights of living in a palace. He saw all these things and he was able to research them and understand how they were consciousness and realize how they dependently co-arose. And so he saw the truth in that context. And he realized Buddha in that context. his successors continued to listen to the reports of his discoveries and made an attempt to continue to study consciousness to see if they could rediscover what he had already discovered.

[02:17]

or not rediscover but verify that consciousness had this dependently co-arisen nature and also that it had a selfless nature and that we also understand that it has a deceptive nature which is the way it appears to sentient beings. This morning I reported the results of the research which says the appearance of worlds is consciousness. Consciousness is the appearance of worlds. In worlds there are, for example, humans. And humans appear to have bodies. And the Buddha, I think, enlightened people would say, yes, humans do have bodies. But the appearance of their bodies is not their bodies. That is a projection, that is a conscious construction. Sentient beings, humans among them, can see the appearance of their body.

[03:21]

They can see the conscious construction of their body based on their body representing their body. discovery reports, this research discovery report is in the Buddhist tradition. And now, fortunately, mind science researchers are making very similar discoveries. So now we can talk about Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddha Dharma in a way, just don't mention Buddha, and we can talk about consciousness in a way that researchers who are not Buddhist can understand us and say, yeah, I can accept that. I can research that. As a matter of fact, we're coming to the same discoveries. How nice. And we do not say that we're better than you because we knew about it before you did. So part of the theory is sentient beings are dealing with a world

[04:24]

appearance. They're dealing with appearances of world, appearances of bodies, and again the theory says when bodies appear and there's a sense of ownership of the body, which many people are familiar with. For example, you can own a body which you say is yours, you know, and you can also own a body which you say is somebody else's. Like you can think you own your baby's bodies, or the babies can think they own the parents' bodies. So when there's an appearance of a body and other things, but we'll start with just say body, when there's an appearance of a body and there's a sense of ownership, the bodies of my students when I think I own the bodies of my students, that is the birth of a selfhood. And that is suffering.

[05:27]

And this me that goes with my body, this me that goes with mine, we study that me. But before we can study it in a profound way, we must be compassionate to this me that possesses appearances. We have to be very compassionate to me and to the misery and stress around the me that owns bodies, one or more. You know, some people actually think they own many people's bodies. Can you believe that? It's a big deal. and they actually buy and sell other people's bodies which they think they own. Have you heard about that? Can you imagine how horrible that would be? So how can we be compassionate in such a situation where we think we don't just own one body but many bodies? How can we bring compassion there so that we can see, oh, this is how the self

[06:40]

When there's this, when this is produced, you have this. When there's possession of an appearance, you have the arising of a self. If we can study that, we can become free of it. But we have to be kind to this really stressful situation in order to really understand this theory. So, I gave one story this morning about how Fa Yan, which means Dharma I, the Zen master Dharma I, how he worked with the superintendent of his monastery to look at how the superintendent was working with the appearances. For example, the appearance of his own enlightenment and the appearance of the explanation of his own enlightenment, how he possessed his enlightenment which appeared to him. and how Fa Yin helped him see that he thought he owned that enlightenment, or as Kim was saying, helped him see that he wasn't very humble about his enlightenment.

[07:55]

He was somewhat humble, maybe, about his body. He was kind of wondering what his body was and maybe thought he possessed it, but he was humble about inquiring. But after he was enlightened, he seemed to stop inquiring. So Fa Yan helped him start inquiring again. And the second time around, he was able maybe to have the same kind of awakening he had the first time, but without turning that into another possession, without making a self out of his enlightenment. So here's another story about Fa Yan. This time Fa Yan's working with his Dharma brother, a co-disciple of the Zen teacher Ditsong, which in Japanese is Jizo, earth store. So here's a Zen teacher who is named after a great bodhisattva. I'm not sure, but probably because his temple was called Ditsong Temple.

[08:58]

But maybe not. Maybe just because his teacher gave him the name Bodhisattva as his name. So, disciple Fa Yen, Master Fa Yen is talking to Master Shushan, which sounds, as you know, like shoeshine. But it's not. It's Shushan. It's Shoo Mountain. So he says to his Dharma brother, A hair's breadth deviation is like the distance between heaven and earth. How do you understand it? And his Dharma brother says, A hair's breadth deviation is like the distance between heaven and earth. And then Fa Yen says, How can you get it that way? And Xu Shan says, I'm just thus.

[10:08]

How about you, brother? And Fa Yan says, a hair's breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. In this case, Xu Shan bowed. He was more mature. This wasn't a big enlightenment for him. This was more like, thanks for the conversation. I like practicing perfect wisdom with you. The slightest difference is like the difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. Sometimes we think heaven and earth are far apart. You know, way far apart. Sometimes we think they're just the height of a person apart.

[11:12]

A hair's breadth difference is the distance between heaven and earth. So the distance between heaven and earth could be the hair's breadth difference. It could just be a very thin difference between heaven and earth, just a hair's breadth. But it could also be like a long distance. But let's look at that little difference. Let's look at where heaven and earth meet. And where they meet, if there's a difference, then that's the distance between heaven and earth. If there's no difference, there's no distance. A hair's breadth difference between heaven and earth is like the distance between heaven and earth.

[12:27]

A hair's breadth difference in anything is like the distance between heaven and earth. How do you understand it? A hair's breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. How can you get it like that? I'm thus, how about you? A hair's breadth difference is like the distance between heaven and earth. Thank you very much. Can we be kind enough so we can live at the place where heaven and earth meet? If there's a difference, there's a distance. If there's no difference, there's no distance. And it looks like in order to find out no distance, no difference, it looks like the Zen people talk.

[13:39]

They talk. and they talk from earth, earth to heaven, but they talk from earth to heaven without there being any difference between talk and heaven and also without there being any separation. In order to be right there, at where heaven and earth meet and where they meet there's no distance and there's no meeting even. They are totally the same and they're both just words. In order to be there and live there we have to be really

[14:43]

enthusiastic about being there at the place where emptiness meets form. Where form is not different from emptiness and emptiness is not different from form. And in order to be there and be enthusiastic about living there, we have to be enthusiastic about the words heaven and earth and about any sense of separation. Enthusiastic about being compassionate to any sense of separation between heaven and earth, nirvana and samsara form an emptiness. And here we have these Dharma sisters talking to each other about it, practicing A hair's breadth difference, a hair's breadth difference is as the distance between heaven and earth.

[16:03]

They are practicing being on earth so completely that they meet heaven. They are being talkers so thoroughly that that's all they're doing is talking. And their talking is not about anything. It is about talk. And they're not distracted. So they keep talking until the bow. So, we do talk. But do we talk all the way to the tip of our talk? Because the tip of our talk is the tip of the world, is the tip of the earth, where the earth meets the sky, where form meets emptiness, and there's no gap.

[17:11]

Yes? To say there is, I'm just... us, there's a gap, right? I mean, to say this is like already the paradox, right? And he says this because there's an intimacy. You say there's a gap? You say there's a gap? Can you say that thoroughly enough so there's no gap? Can you overcome the gap by the way you say there's a gap? To say something is to make a meaning, to make a difference. To say something could be to make a meaning, because not everything we say is meaningful. It depends on how you say it. Right now, this is pretty meaningful to me. How about you? Sure. Sure. And is it, are you all the way on that? Yes.

[18:16]

Yeah. Yeah, right. So shall we continue? Please. Please, yeah, you're welcome. We cannot enter the wordless sky of ultimate truth without relying on the wordy earth. And to rely on it exhaustively and you listen to the teachings which say, say that word so thoroughly that you reach the end of it. Because the end of the word, at the end of the word, it's exactly the same as the end of no speech. The limit of samsara is the limit of nirvana. The limit of the earth is the limit of the heavens, the limit of the sky.

[19:26]

The sky, up in the sky, the sky is like all over the place, unlimited, have you noticed? It's like, hey man, there's no end to the sky. No matter how far the bird swims, no matter how far the bird swims, there's no end to the sky. No matter how far the fish flies, there's no end to the sky. Have you noticed? No end. But there is an end to the sky. Where is the end of the sky? Where is it? Tell me. It's where it meets... It's not where it meets the earth. It's the earth. The earth is the end of the sky. Our words are the end... of ultimate truth. Ultimate truth ends here. Do you hear that? Here. That's the end of ultimate truth. It's right there at the tip of the word. There's no gap unless you hold back on here and self and pain and illness and death.

[20:39]

At the end of the word death is at the limit of the word death is the limit of the word Nirvana But we have other things to do besides be right there What I Know I know you do but I heard you I heard you about a week ago say that you want to be free of that And I heard that She wants this place, this is where we want to be. This is where the Buddhas are born. We want to be where the Buddhas are born, right? But she realized about a week ago that she has to give that up. If you want to be where the Buddhas are born, you have to give up wanting to be where the Buddhas are born. If you want to be there, you have to give it up. If you give it up, you'll be there. Now you're back to earth again, which is great. You're back to earth. Now exert that fully and you'll again realize you want to let go of what you most want because what you most want happens to be something really good.

[21:51]

If what you want is something really bad, hold on to it and you'll be successful. It's auspicious to misery to hold on to things. It's auspicious to peace and happiness to not. But you don't get to not holding on by holding back on what you're up to. You've got to be really compassionate to fully be a sentient being at this point and to apply these teachings. and to speak language because that is how you exercise conventional truth is with language because that's what conventional truth is. But you have to learn how to do it. We have to learn how to do it together the way these people did. They're using conventional truth, having a meaningful discussion with conventional truth.

[22:54]

and they don't think they're talking about something other than what they're talking about. They don't think there's some like hair's breadth difference out there besides the word hair's breadth difference. I'm honoring them as enlightened bodhisattvas. I could be wrong, but if I am, I vow to be totally wrong. And I believe, I'm betting, that when I'm wrong, I'm totally wrong. At the limit of my totally wrong is nirvana. Samsara is like totally wrong. If you completely reach the end of it, that's exactly the same as the end of nirvana. And the verse is kind of nice.

[24:04]

There's a verse celebrating this. It's kind of nice. And you're kind of Bruce. I don't know exactly what you're talking about. You don't know exactly what I'm talking about. But do you completely know that you don't know exactly? No, I don't even know that. Would you like to? Would you like to completely, thoroughly not know exactly what I'm... You don't have to say it twice. You just say, I don't know exactly what you're talking about. Do you want to do that all the way? I do not know what you are talking about exactly. Good. That was pretty good. That was close. That was close. Was there a Herzberg difference there? I think it was a pretty full... Yeah, it looked pretty good. Let's see if you can do it again. To do it again? How was that? How was that? Okay. There's something I... Wait a second.

[25:05]

You're starting to look like you're talking about something other than your talk. You have to look like there's something out there besides this conversation. That's true. That's true. That's very... I don't know. I'm here to watch you. I'm watching you to see if you're talking to me or if you think you're talking about something other than this conversation. I think you may be ready. I did honestly think that I was talking about something other than this conversation. That's good. He just confessed that. That's good. That's not the way to talk to me, if you want to realize ultimate truth. Right. Right. Do you wish to realize ultimate truth or do you just want to spin around in conventional speech some more? I wish to realize ultimate truth. Okay, I'm here for you. Now I'll be watching to see if either one of us think we're talking about something other than the way we're talking. I'm not talking about anything other than what we're talking about.

[26:07]

Me too. I believe that. I believe right now that I'm not talking about anything other than what I'm talking about with you. Yeah, very good. And we can go on like this, possibly, helping each other, keep checking to see if right now am I talking about something other than this way language works between you and me. I'm watching. I can even feel a slight little difference that's kicking in. Yeah, right, exactly. You can feel that little bit like... Yeah, that's very good. Thanks for playing this with me. So here's the verse, which might be apropos. When a fly sits on the balance, it tilts. It's kind of like what you and me were talking about just now.

[27:08]

Got this balance and there's a little bit of weight on one side, it tilts. If there's a little bit of like, what are we talking about other than this? The balance scale of myriad ages shows up unevenness. The balance scale of myriad eons from the ancient Buddhas, it shows up any unevenness. pounds, ounces, drams, and grams. You see them clearly. But after all, it finally reverts and gives up to the zero point. This is very optimistic. the balanced scale of the Buddhas shows up any unevenness.

[28:14]

Like, I kind of prefer samsara over nirvana or vice versa. I think form emptiness is, I think ultimate truth is a little bit better than conventional truth. It's got, for example, it can't be distorted. Isn't that good? So some people say ultimate truth is superior. I've heard people say that. I've heard them. And I try to hear them all the way to the end of my eardrum. Some people say conventional truth is superior. But anyway, any unevenness shows up in the Buddha's scale. Pounds, ounces, drams and grams is a translation of Chinese weight systems, which I'm not going to mention. and don't know. But after all, it reverts and gives up to the zero point.

[29:18]

After all, we're going to come back to the middle way where we're not different, where nirvana and samsara are not different, We're going to come back there. In the meantime, we're going to wiggle, you know, grams or maybe pounds or maybe tons. The scale might tip and tilt, tip and tilt, tip and tilt. But we practice compassion with this tipping, tilting, and we become more and more balanced. But this even more balanced is still a slight little lack of, a slight little bit of difference between something and something. We have to keep being balanced and keep trying to find the subtle balanced place. So this is like the optimism of the Lotus Sutra. You are going to become Buddha.

[30:27]

We are going to become Buddha. Thank you. Well, we have quite a bit of time left. Five whole minutes. I just wanted to say that I welcome the people who came here for the first time today. And I welcome the people who came here again. And I haven't seen Gordon for a while. It's great to see you, Gordon. Welcome back to your new abode. Would you say your name again? Can you hear that? She's here for the first time. Welcome. Thank you again, Norbert, for cleaning the temple.

[31:30]

I have been waiting for this situation in the front to get cleaned up. It's very cleaned up today, thank you. And thank you all for your diligent dedication to being thoroughly here together. And I hope we can continue to practice until all beings realize Buddhahood. May our intention equally extend to every being and place With the true merit of Buddha's way.

[32:31]

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