We are already Buddha. In other words, if a Buddha looks at us, a Buddha would see each one of these people is already Buddha. Because a Buddha would see each one of these people is completely the same as a Buddha. There's no difference between a Buddha and a Buddha. That's what a Buddha sees. So this message that we are already Buddha is the way it looks to a Buddha. But the Buddha can also see people who are already Buddhas also have attachments and some kind of like faulty understanding. Therefore they don't understand that they're Buddha. So, again, from the Buddha's point of view, we are all one mind.

[01:16]

And there's no difference between Buddhas and sentient beings who don't think they're Buddhas. Or sentient beings who do think they're Buddhas. Buddhas don't think they're Buddhas. Buddhas see they're Buddhas. And they see everybody else as no matter what kind of lighting there is. But sentient beings have these various opinions and they hold to them. However, there's really no distinction between sentient beings and Buddhas. So what's actually going on, there's no difference. So, in a sense, the intention to realize Buddhahood is the intention to actually understand that all beings

[02:22]

are just one, all beings and all Buddhas are just one mind. To actually understand that, you know, as the way you really feel it is, more so than you feel like that you're separate from the person that's next to you. Okay? Yes? Attachments? Well, like, you know, you might be attached to your shirt. You might be attached to your body or to your health or to your car or to your opinions or to your state of mind. In other words, you feel a certain way and you kind of would like Or you feel a certain way and you'd like it to go away.

[03:24]

In other words, you're attached to the idea of some other state would be better. And you don't just think, oh, some other state would be better. You actually kind of are kind of holding to that. Or you're having a conversation with somebody and you think you're right and you think they're wrong. and now you think that you're right and you think they're wrong but you think it's right that you think you're right and that you are right and you can't help it because you're right that's just the way it is you're right and they're wrong and you see no other way that's close to your view does that ever happen to any of you? or I guess one person never happened to so she's not attached to her views but maybe she's attached to her leg You can have legs and be attached to them, or you can have legs and not be attached to them.

[04:25]

Buddhas are not attached to anything. They're not separate from anything, and they're not attached from anything, the way they are. Any other questions about what I brought up so far? So the, yes? Is it not necessary to be attached to your body in order to attain liberation? Well, it would make sense if you weren't already attached, would it? So, liberation would only make sense in the context of attachment.

[05:32]

And basically, if you can overcome your attachments, you're liberated. The reason why, actually, you can see that liberation and attachments are not separate. So liberated beings and attached beings are inseparable. They're not really, they're not separate at all. Enlightened beings are inseparable, because enlightenment means waking up from delusion, or waking up about delusion, seeing delusion for what it is. There's no delusion in this. Awakening doesn't mean anything. Okay, so on the one side, on the path to liberation from suffering, you start with training yourself, you know, in virtue, or you train yourself in moral training.

[06:40]

And then, based on that, you train yourself in, you train your consciousness to be stable and concentrated and flexible and alive. And based on that, you start to see what's going on. When you see what's going on, you're liberated from not seeing what's going on. You're liberated from ignoring what's going on. Turns out we have various problems, like we walk into walls, we attach to things, we get in fights. We suffer. When we ignore what's going on, we suffer. So when we stop ignoring what's going on and see what's going on, we're liberated from suffering.

[07:47]

So one course is personal virtue, training in personal virtue, training in consciousness, and training in what's happening. Okay? All right? It's a short course. Right there, come. from where you are now to personal liberation. Yes? Where in the sequence do you get away from the way things are? You want to guess? Huh? The choices are various places in the sequence. Right? So where would you like to choose? Pardon? Well, there you go.

[08:49]

What do you got left? This man has a Buddha t-shirt on. Being aware of how things are, that would go with what? With What was your original thing? Oh, I see. You might still want to change it. Yeah. So this would be aware of the way things actually are. Now, and you think that if you're aware of the way things actually are, you still might want to manipulate them. Okay? Okay. It seems reasonable. Part of the reason why it seems reasonable is that's where most people already are. They think they already see the way things are, and they want to manipulate them. So if they think, well, if I saw even more how they were, wouldn't I still want to manipulate them?

[09:54]

Well, the answer is, it depends on how much more. If you see completely where they are, you won't want to manipulate them. Why won't you want to manipulate them? If you see how things actually are, why wouldn't you want to manipulate the way things actually are? What? You realize you cannot. That's why. And how come you can't? Because the way things actually are is that you are not separate from them. So you can't manipulate them. Yes. Becoming aware of suffering. Let me just say something before you go into your next thing you say. The basic thing that we're ignoring, the basic thing that we look away from and don't face is the reason why the basic thing we're ignoring, when you see it, you realize that you can't manipulate anything.

[11:05]

So when we ignore the way things are, how things look, one of the ways things look are that we're separate from things. Our basic ignorance, our basic delusion is that we're separate from things. We think we're separate from things. In other words, we have an inseparable relationship with things. We ignore that and we turn towards a delusion that we're separate. Once we feel separate, not only do we think we can manipulate things, We can't resist manipulating them. Not only do we think we can't stop grasping them, we attach. Because we're deluded, we attach. We can't stop. When you start to see that we aren't separate from things, you can't attach anymore. You don't know how. Okay, I won't anymore. You don't know how because you don't see anything out there to attach to. The situation which you used to manipulate, you can't manipulate anymore because it's not out there.

[12:11]

You lose your ability to manipulate. Now do you want to... Now do you see the... I don't think it's there. Do you see one? No, go ahead. First noble truth is the truth of suffering. Well, it's really the truth of the origin of suffering. Yes, uh-huh. Yes, uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay, so... Uh... Okay. You can put the emphasis on, I wish things were different, if you want to.

[13:31]

Or you can just say, I wish suffering people would be free of suffering. You can say, okay, you're wishing for a different... If you want to say that, you can say that. So you want to say that? Go ahead. But if you actually think that way, that you actually want things to be different... That is antithetical to accomplishing the goal of people. So you have to be careful of that. Because suffering people are people who want things to be different, or they want certain things to not be different. Which is, in other words, they want them to stay the same, which means they want them to stay different from changing, which they will do. or they want to change from the way they are to something else. This is basically the orientation of delusion and suffering.

[14:34]

The Buddha wants us to be free of suffering, but doesn't want us to be different. The Buddha wants us to wake up from the delusion of difference. The Buddha doesn't think that way. And the Buddha would like us to stop, too. As long as you think in terms of, I want something different, you are suffering. Buddhas don't want anything different. And it's not because they're restraining themselves and saying, I like the way things are. They just don't think of anything being different. They appreciate the way things are. And they wish other people would too, but they don't see the people who haven't awakened yet to how they should appreciate what's happening, they don't see them as different.

[15:38]

They don't see themselves as different. They've dropped the human equipment of making difference. But they also can see human beings are attached to the equipment of making things different. They're attached to making difference. If you want to become a Buddha, you have to give up making differences. The Eightfold Path is not about how to be different. It's about how to give up being different different from other people different from buddhas it's not how to be different from yourself and become a buddha it's to give up the difference between yourself and buddha even though you're wearing a buddha t-shirt but sentient beings have trouble with this teaching because

[16:51]

They feel like, because they like to attach to things, because that's their thing. So it's hard for them to, you know, contemplate and move towards non-attachment. Eightfold Path is an instruction to help us move towards non-attachment. Again, Buddhas can't manipulate anything because it's not like there's Buddha and something. That's not Buddha's world, that there's a Buddha, a Buddha and something. That's a sentient being's world. Sentient beings are sentient beings and something else. Buddhas are not Buddhas and something else. Buddhas are from all beings. That's exactly what Buddha is. So they can't manipulate. But they feel compassion. for all beings that don't understand that.

[17:52]

But feeling compassion is not a manipulation. It's just something you feel. Did someone else have their hand raised? Yes? Pardon? How do they do that? Well, they just are near to them. They're just nearby. They sit next to the person and when the person's... They kind of know what the person is feeling. How do they do that if they're not deluded? How can they suffer? well you have to sort of you have to exactly feel this sort of understand how they like if you don't if you don't feel any pain it'll be hard for you to understand how somebody else felt pain right so but if you do feel pain then you maybe could have empathy for somebody else and if you have empathy then you could like have compassion right so you're wondering the buddha

[19:21]

Pardon? Buddha doesn't feel the difference, but that's why your pain is Buddha's pain. Buddha is not separate from your pain. Your pain... Pardon? He's not... Buddha is not... She is not separate from your feeling... Buddha is not separate from your pain of feeling separate. Buddha is not separate from your pain of feeling separate. Buddha does not feel separate from you who feels pain from feeling separate from her. In fact, Buddha is not separate from you who feel separate from her. That's what Buddha is, is what's not separate Ever. And it's also, Buddha is, you're not in separation from everybody else.

[20:27]

Okay? You get that? You got a suffering person here from other beings and because she thinks she's suffering because she feels separate from other beings. That's why we suffer. That's the reason for our suffering is we think we're separate from other beings. We also think we're separate from our legs and our arms and our feelings. So we're grasping everything all the time. We're grasping things that aren't out there as out there. So that's why we're suffering. Buddhas aren't into that, but they're with us in feeling our suffering. And no separation from our suffering. They are not the slightest bit separate from our suffering. They're like totally, you know, They're totally nothing but our suffering. Did you say if you're in delusion, you feel other people...

[21:39]

I know, I'm just going to repeat what you said, just get on the tape, okay? So you're saying, sometimes I'll repeat what you say, not because I don't hear you, but because I'm repeating it so it goes on the tape, and so everybody else makes sure to get it. Now, did I get this right? You're feeling separate from somebody else. The other person isn't feeling separate from you, is not feeling separate from you, okay? Got that. What's next? right yeah well deluded people feel that enlightened people are separate from them and deluded people are separate from them right Deluded people think that everything's separate from them, including their pain. Well, their pain's separate, too.

[22:41]

There's me and my pain. Therefore, you can grasp your pain. That's a regular situation, right? And Buddhists are not someplace else from that regular situation of human suffering. They're right there. They don't feel separate. They don't see separate. They don't understand separate. But they also understand... everybody. And they understand the way each person is deluded. But they do that without feeling separate. And I think human beings can, prior to being Buddha, can almost understand that sometimes that you see they're miserable and their suffering completely penetrates you and you don't feel separate from them. You somehow understand that. Like you know, a mother and a baby, maybe, they kind of... this person's not separate. It's almost like they're not separate.

[23:44]

Especially, it's like that if they don't grasp this being that they don't feel separate from. And when a mother is that way with the child, of feeling not separate, and so... and grasp them, it's very much like Buddha. and they see the suffering, and they care about it, and they almost have no sense of separation, it's possible that can happen. Yes. What's your name again? Robert. Robert. Yes. It's almost like you see through it and you see that there's no, you know, you often happen to really think you want, you want to try, you want to, you want to feel, you know, you want to feel all those things and you always, you know, you can't help it.

[24:58]

You can't help it. Or, you know, you can't help it. Except that Wait a second. You slipped there. So, the Buddha can't have those wonderful experiences that you feel sorry for. Okay? That's right. Buddha doesn't have any experiences. Poor Buddha. We feel sorry for Buddha. He's missing out, right? But Buddha's not separate from those experiences which Buddha can't have. People who can have experiences are separated from the experiences that they have. Deluded beings, we can have experiences, but the only way we can have an experience is to be separate from it. So that's our deal. We get to have experiences, but the only way you can have them is to separate from them. Buddha doesn't get to have them, but Buddha is a separator from them. The entire ocean of beings, all the fantastic stories and dramas of this universe, all of them, past, present and future, the Buddha doesn't have any of them.

[26:13]

And the Buddha is not separate from any of them. The Buddha is nothing but stories. That's all it is. There's nothing more to Buddha than that. And one of the stories among the ocean of suffering is a story of infinite compassion, which the Buddhist also doesn't have. Buddha doesn't have infinite compassion, because you don't have a Buddha who has compassion. Buddha is nothing but the ocean of suffering, which is totally radiated in every case by compassion. And also not just compassion like one Buddha to one suffering person, but infinite Buddhas to one suffering person. Not only is a particular Buddha not separate from any of our suffering, and therefore doesn't have our suffering, but is nothing but all of our suffering, but there is this great love that arises in relationship to each one of our sufferings.

[27:23]

And there's infinite number of Buddhas who feel this for each one of us. But it's true, they don't get to be a sentient being. In other words, they don't get to, you know, separate from us. That's a drawback. When you're a Buddha, you don't get to be a deluded person. However, you get to be totally nothing but them. In other words, your life is just all suffering beings and also the rest of the Buddhas. So poor Buddhas, they don't get to be just one of us, you know, one little trip going. They don't get to do that thing. They just get to be infinite compassion, infinite love, infinite wisdom for everybody simultaneously. That's their trip. That's their Buddhahood. And now that, but each one of us is totally inundated Buddha is all around us all the time. And also inside, you know, of each one of ourselves, there's millions of Buddhas who are inside of each one of ourselves, not feeling separate from us and wishing us well without holding on to any sense of difference.

[28:43]

And part of the problem with sentient beings is we are a little bit worried about being a Buddha because we're going to then lose our attachment to some particular stories like one story like the Robert story or maybe the Robert and his you know we're not going to be able to hold on to this one little story anymore it'll still be there but it won't be like this one that's one person's taken care of anymore unless you can get somebody else to substitute for you you know okay I'll do mine and yours You can go away and do the... If you don't mind, come back. I'll hold it for you. Personal liberation means liberation from this wonderful human thing of feeling separate. But if a human being thinks about that happening to another human being, the human being would feel a little sorry for that human being, maybe.

[29:54]

Because you'd see that they would be losing something. They would be losing the person they used to be, who used to be worried about themselves. So it's kind of... If you have any attachment to the way that person used to be, or to yourself that used to be that way, if any attachment to that, as you contemplate it going away, you say, oh, that's kind of sad. I sometimes refer to my 4,000-pound teddy bear. You know what I mean? People carry this 4,000-pound teddy bear on their back. It's their teddy bear. It's crushing them, but it's their teddy bear. Oh, my baby, my baby. Oh, what, they take that away? Oh. You lose this teddy bear, but also you wouldn't be crushed. And a lot of us would rather be crushed than give up that teddy bear. Because it's such a sweetie. It's huge and suffocating us.

[30:55]

And, you know, we're all the time barely able to breathe because of it. On the verge of death by torment. But at least we have our teddy bear. And it's our teddy bear. We know which one it is. We know. And, you know, we'll accept no substitutes. So we hear about, you know, just setting, you don't have to kill it, just wait a second and see what it would be like without it. Oh my God, you know. Wow. It's like flying, kind of. It's like fearlessness. It's like I'm not scared anymore for the next breath. But poor little teddy bear. It's okay. It's not getting go any place, you just let go. That's all. It's not killing it, just let go. But, you know, it's hard to warm up to that. So that's what we're here for, is to warm up to letting go of this attachment to the thing that's separate from the rest of the universe.

[32:02]

You know that thing that's separate from the rest of the universe? Everybody's got one. That thing that's added on to the rest of the universe. We've all got it. Isn't it funny? That's all you got to do is let go of that little extra thing. that we're holding up on top of the universe or under the universe or next to the universe. One little thing, just loosen it up, loosen up the grip for a second. It won't fall off the universe. It's not really separate. Anyway, ready for the next installment? The main difference between the two approaches the approach of personal liberation, or the approach that liberation would be the highest, and the approach to Buddha, the main difference is implicated by what I was just saying, is that in the early phases, anyway, of the path to personal liberation, you do. It's more like a path that you do.

[33:04]

It's a path of personal practice. Whereas the Bodhisattva practice, from early on is not exactly a practice you do by yourself. It's a practice you do with everybody. You do with all the Buddhas. So, although you may not completely understand that at the beginning, there is an implication that you're not doing this practice by yourself from the early part of the path to Buddhahood, that you're doing it with everybody. and all the Buddhas are helping you. And also, you're helping the Buddhas. You're the Buddha's job. So, on the path to Buddhahood, the root, you know,

[34:05]

of Buddhahood is love, and the fruit of Buddhahood is love. Buddhahood is the most profound understanding of selflessness. Personal liberation is a profound understanding of selflessness, but not the most profound. In order to have the most profound understanding of selflessness, we need to love surrounding it. In order to face our ignorance, and all the implications of it, we need to feel great love and we need to feel loved.

[35:09]

We can't, most of us, can't just turn suddenly from ignoring the truth to facing the truth. Part of the reason why we can't do that is because we already think we're looking at the truth. In other words, we think it's true that we're not. You know, we've heard that we're not. I told you, you know, the Buddha said you're not. But really, most of us don't believe that, really. We believe we're separate. So, to turn from that to seeing how we're not separate is not something that usually happens. It's an effort. Most of us have to face the way we are now first. It's actually by facing the way you are now fully that you open your eyes to... But it's hard to face the way we are now because the way we are now is that we're deluded and we're suffering because of that.

[36:30]

So we need to feel a lot of support in order to do that work. Yes? Pardon? Is delusion all about feeling separate? You mean, is there any other kind of delusion besides feeling separate? Hmm, well, it's kind of like that's pretty much it, yeah. Another way to put it is we feel that there's actually something out there that actually exists by itself. That's another way to put it. That we think bells and trees and frogs and other people are actually existing over there on their own.

[37:34]

Therefore, in other words, separate from us. Or that we exist inherently on our own, separate from other beings. That's the basic delusion, yeah. And that's pretty much, that's the root one. Many varieties can grow from that. Like people can think they're Napoleon and stuff, right? But that's sort of based on this thing of you're not, rather than everybody's Napoleon. And there's no difference between all the different types of Napoleons and all the Buddhas. So most, almost, I think, no, almost all other delusions are derivatives from that basic one, which is to think that something in the universe can exist by itself. And the first one I think of is me. Funny. And I think we're built to think of ourself first. That's why we say number one, right?

[38:39]

Good old number one. So most people walking around, even though they love other people, they love some other people anyway, Still, number one is the one who loves the people. They come into the room, but before they come into the room, right? So there's number one. That's the basic delusion. It's the number one delusion. That's basically it. Yes? Kevin? Kevin? Kevin? Can you? Can you still have the things that you're currently attached to after you stop being attached to them? You can until they're taken away from you. No. Matter of fact, if you really weren't attached, you wouldn't know how. But other people might know how.

[39:42]

So if people found out that you weren't attached, maybe everybody would come over and take your stuff. Kevin's not attached anymore. Let's go for it. I heard he's not attached. Take his car. But, you know, whether you're attached or not, you're going to get taken from you. Right? Whatever you've got now is going to be taken from you, or you're going to be taken from it. Either you're going to be dragged away from this stuff, or this stuff's going to be dragged away from you. Right? That's going to happen. But most people think they'd like to sort of have some negotiation about when that happens, right? Yeah, I know, I know it's all going to go, but I want to decide when and where. So I want my car to go to my uncle and my jewels to go to my daughter, you know. Because you know it's going to all go, right? And when it gets really close to letting go of your arms and legs, you start to try to make some arrangements to let go of it in a coherent way.

[40:46]

But you're still attached. Still. Still. But still, if you really did drop attachments, when you drop attachments, not one person moves. That's a very important part about Buddhist practice at its source, at its essence, is that when you become Buddha, nothing changes. You don't have to, like, put on an eyelash or, you know, brush your teeth slightly differently. The utmost right and perfect enlightenment does not depend on anything. Nothing. So what, doesn't the attachment drop away? Yes, but it's not a change.

[41:47]

Now you understand that. When attachment comes back, then you think there's a change. Because in attachment, you're in change. So in the world of delusion, things will be taken from us, one way or another. In the world of enlightenment, things are not taken from you. And they're not given to you. And that's part of the reason why I feel sad, is we're not going to be into the give and take anymore. But from the point of view of people who are into gain and loss, if they saw you in their historical perspective at the realization of Buddhahood, they wouldn't see any of your possessions moving around unless it just happened to coincide with some time when somebody came and took your car, which would have happened anyway in their historical perspective.

[42:54]

So it's not to deny that perspective, it's just that enlightenment doesn't come into the world where we're born and die and stop the birth and death. It doesn't come into the place where we gain enlightenment. it sets us free in the midst of the world of gain and loss. So, right in that world, we can be free because we're not attached. But the comings and goings of various kinds of possessions continues in some way. You say, well, doesn't the person act differently afterwards, after they're enlightened? Again, from the human perspective, you say they would act differently. but they are not any longer into feeling different from anything.

[43:56]

So, those people who don't feel different from anybody, in fact, they act differently. They act like Buddhas. Right? That's the difference. The sentient beings say, this person is enlightened now, and they're much kinder than they used to be, and they're not scared anymore, and they're totally devoted to everybody. It's such a difference. But the person who is acting that way... And if people tell them that they're different, they say, I understand that you see it that way. Makes sense. And they don't lose their memory of, you know, when they used to see things that way. They just don't see it that way anymore. Just like, you know, have you ever changed your mind about something? You can remember that you used to feel differently. And people can tell you that you're different now. You know that. But if what you change your mind about is this fundamental thing, it's the biggest change in a way. It's the change from not being able to share anymore.

[45:01]

But it's not, although you don't have anything, everything is you. The entire world is your life. So you don't lose anything and you don't gain anything. So, even in this context of practicing together with everybody, we can still study the Eightfold Path, which can be practiced also from the point of view of, I'm not together with everybody, I'm separate, I'm a separate person, I'm an isolated person, I'm not connected to everybody and I do my own actions and I'm going to practice the Eightfold Path. But also we can study the Eightfold Path from the point of view of we're practicing together with all the Buddhas on the Eightfold Path.

[46:13]

So you can have either perspective. These perspectives can vibrate with each other and I thought I just might offer you both. Okay? So here's the Eightfold Path. It's got eight folds. And sometimes it sounds like these, you know, are steps that the human mind works, that that we sometimes see things that are not really steps and stages as steps and stages. We sometimes see eight things that support each other as going in a sequential order. So usually the Eightfold Path is taught in some order, and sometimes they call it the first, second, and third, and so on. So usually the Eightfold Path is taught in some order, and sometimes they call it the first, second, and third, and so on.

[47:32]

But I caution you beforehand about the sequential attitude, that it's just a perspective, the sequential perspective. right view. You should do the first one. The next one, right view, it could be called right view or right understanding. The second one is called right intention or right thinking. right speech. The fourth one's called right action. The fifth, right livelihood.

[48:37]

The sixth, right effort. The seventh, right mindfulness. And the eighth, right concentration. And one of the symbols for Buddhism, as you sometimes see, is a wheel with eight spokes. You know that one? And those eight spokes are these eight factors of the path. So you can make your own little like that you've got the it will have some perfect view you know

[49:48]

Speech. And action. And livelihood. That is like an effort. Mindfulness. Comprehensive view, comprehensive understanding, comprehensive intention, comprehensive thinking, comprehensive speech, comprehensive livelihood, all-inclusive

[51:03]

view, and so on. Okay, those are the eight. So, the first one that's usually discussed is right view. Now, right view, to some extent, is what I'm doing right now. To tell you about the Eightfold Path is kind of part of right view. I'm giving you a view of the path is part of right view. One kind of right view is a right view that is good, it brings benefit to the one who possesses it, but it's tainted. there's still the person who has this right view, this type of right view, still doesn't understand completely.

[52:14]

There's another kind of right view, which is not a right view that someone has, and it's not tainted. So the first kind of right view is the right view which you start the path with, give you your initial guidance on the path. but you still believe that you're separate. You still think that you can make effort by yourself. So it's called sometimes mundane right view. And one of the key ingredients called mundane right view is I would say, although I usually don't mention this, one of the key ingredients of mundane right view would be to start to notice that you think you're separate from other beings.

[53:19]

That you think you can do something by yourself. That usually isn't mentioned. This is kind of a new thing for tonight. Well, what I usually feel is a key ingredient of Right View is what we call karma, or action, has consequence, or efficacy. That's maybe the most important aspect of Right View. That what you do has efficacy. That what you do has efficacy. which I could, you know, slightly change to what you think you do has efficacy, has results, has consequences. From other beings, has consequences.

[54:24]

And then action, based on that kind of attitude, has consequences. Never doesn't. If you think a certain way and you do things based on that delusion, that has consequences. It's not inconsequential. The basic attitude or the basic delusion is consequential because the actions you do are influenced by that attitude. And then the actions themselves also have consequence. But even before you do something, your view or your attitude, your conceptual way of seeing the world

[55:25]

is very, very influential. And really it drives your actions. And then your actions, but that's not strictly speaking what I just said. They usually don't mention that. The thing I just said about that your views are very consequential, the right view is emphasizing that the actions you take, they are consequential. Now, it looks to me, I can't tell how you are right now. Are you getting tired? Some of you are getting tired? So, maybe it would be good to do some walking meditation. I just delivered to you one of the most important teachings that has ever occurred in the universe.

[56:32]

It was simple, and you got it. things you do, in other words, the things you intended to do, have consequence. This is the key ingredient to Right View. Okay? So now, we can do some walking meditation, and I arranged these cushions so that we can do walking meditation in concentric circles. So that would be a concentric circle could be the people who are sitting in this circle can do a walk in this circle inside here. People in the next circle can walk in the space between the cushions and around here. And the next one and so on. So we could have three or four concentric circles. And please walk clockwise. We'll do some walking meditation now. So let's see what you want me to do.

[58:01]

Since Right View is pointing out that action is consequential, it follows that being aware of action and studying action is appropriate. So I'd like to say a little bit about action. First of all, what is meant by karma is not all action or all activity. So for most people, respiration is not really, most of the time anyway, it's not really karma, or it could be.

[59:32]

Heart beating, beating of your heart is not karma. Certain kinds of reflexes. like salivation, are not karma. Or, you know, when the doctor taps your knee with a little rubber hammer and then you put the shin and foot jump up, that's not karma, right? You don't intend to do that. usually, right? You just have your leg there and Dr. taps and the leg goes up. That wasn't an intentional action. The things you intend to do, things that you think that you intend to do or you would like to do, that you feel those are karma. And karma can be mental, physical and sense of bodily posture, of gesture, and vocal.

[60:38]

Those are the three types of karma. And the basic, most basic, source type of karma is mental karma. So we're tentatively proposing that the vocal and postural are rooted in mental karma. And some people might think, I think I could talk without intending to say what I'm going to say before I say it. But what we mean by karma is that you have an intention to say something and then you say it. Action which happens without intention is not what we mean by karma.

[61:42]

And those actions, actions which are not intended, which are not coming from an intention, are spiritually not really an issue. because they're not really ethical. I mean, they don't really have an ethical nature. For example, again, if you went to the doctor's office and the doctor tapped your knee and your knee kicked up, that doesn't really have much to do with your spiritual evolution, that knee jerk. Now, if your knee accident, if your knee jerk caused you to kick a lamp and fell over and broke, and the doctor got angry at you, that would seem to be... But until, you know, the fact that you kicked the lamp over doesn't have that much to do with you spiritually.

[62:49]

Now, when the doctor gets angry at you, then that has to do with the doctor's spiritual evolution. If the doctor hits you or screams at you, then how you might be something. But so far in this story, what you did isn't something really you did, and you didn't intend to, and doesn't really count in terms of karma. What counts in terms of karma is what you intend to do. And even before you physically, the thought or the intention to do something, counts spiritually, has consequences. If I think of doing something kind to someone and I really want to do it, really, really clearly want to do it, that has consequences for me. And if I think of doing something harmful to myself or others and I really want to do it, that's really my intention, that has consequences for me, whether I ever do it or not.

[63:52]

you know, there's some kind of mean thing I want to do towards somebody, but I don't have a chance to do it. So I never do it. But the fact that I wanted to transforms me in accord with that intention and has consequences. And thinking of doing harmful things to myself or having bad thoughts towards myself would also have an effect on me. all these things come back to the one who thinks it. Things that you think of doing towards others or towards yourself, they have fruit which comes back to you, the thinker. With speech and do things with your body, those also come back to the one who did it. So one of the names for right View is right view of the owner of action.

[64:59]

One of the names for right view. Right view of the owner of action. So you're actually correctly seeing who owns the action. Yeah. Pardon? Listening to things? Yes? So they're not karma. Unless you... If you wish to listen, like I would like to listen to the music, or I would like to smell the roses, I actually would like to go smell the roses, you see some roses and you say, I would like to... I would like to now smell the roses. I would like to sniff the roses. That intention, before you even do it, that would be karma. And I would, and yeah, that would be karma.

[66:02]

Then when you actually walk over there and lean over and go, that's also karma. But, if you, if you're just sitting here and, you know, by with a rose under your nose, if you smell it, it's not karma, if you didn't intend to. OK? Yes. Yeah? Right. Yes.

[67:04]

Yes. Yes. Right. Right. Right. So, so she says, she's talking about accidents. Get in the car, and I intend to get in the car, I actually say, I would like to get into the car. I think that wishing to get into the car is a karmic, is mental karma. then opening the door to the car and getting in is physical karma, if I intended to do it. If I'm standing next to a car and I fall into the car, that's not karma. But if I intend, if I think of getting in the car and I want to get in the car, and then I actually get in the car, that's mental and physical karma. Now, if I then start to say, I would like to drive the car, and I start to drive the car, And I didn't check to see if the brakes worked.

[68:07]

And the brakes don't work. And I did an accident because I didn't check the brakes. I didn't intend to get an accident. I didn't intend to check the brakes. I intended to drive the car without checking the brakes. That was my intention. And I successfully didn't check the brakes. and she got in trouble. So, that is karma. The accident isn't karma. The accident is the results of getting in the car and not checking the brakes and driving the car. It's a consequence. Yes. Yes.

[69:12]

Yes. That's right. Or not. You can say, now I'm in an accident, now what do I want to do? If you don't want to do anything, you can just sit in the car, unintentionally, It's not karma. But if you say, I'd like to continue to sit in the car and think about what to do next now that I'm in an accident, then your action is to sit in the car and contemplate your next action. But that's an action too. You're just sitting there if you intended to sit there. Say, well, now I think I'll check to see if I'm injured. That's karma too. Maybe check and you find out, oh, I better not move. But if you didn't check, you know, and you got out of the car now without checking, that counts, you know. You just say, I want to get out of the car, but you didn't think now, well, is that going to be a good idea?

[70:17]

So maybe you've got a broken leg and you fall down. So that was also a consequence of not checking on your legs this time. So that leads into another thing, is that karma comes in three basic varieties. what is skillful, unskillful, and indeterminate. If you, for example, usually, you know, usually wishing to smell a rose and smelling a rose, I would say is, you know, kind of indeterminate. It's kind of indeterminate. wishing to eat poison is usually unskillful. The definition of unskillful action is action which harms yourself or other living beings, brings damage to you or other living beings, which causes pain to yourself or other living beings.

[71:27]

That's unskillful action. And you may not eat the poison with the intention of hurting yourself, It's like some people don't, what, they drink alcohol and they tend to hurt themselves. As a matter of fact, they may intend that they would feel more comfortable and happy by drinking the alcohol. And maybe they drink a little bit, and maybe they're successful and say, yeah, I had a little alcohol. I feel good. And then they think, well, I think I'll drink a little bit more. And they drink a little bit more. And then they get sick. But their intention was not to make themselves sick. Their intention was to drink the alcohol to make themselves feel good. But it was unskillful. It was not well-informed. They didn't think about it. They didn't think about, well, how many glasses can you drink without... So it turns out that drinking too much, as an example, drinking too much alcohol...

[72:27]

is an example of unskillful action. If you intended to drink and your sickness that you get from over-drinking alcohol, you did intend to drink each drink. You wanted to drink the drinks. If someone would strap you down to a table and intravenously feed you alcohol, That would not be unskillful karma. When someone else does something to you, that's not your karma. It's your karma the way you would lie on the table or not. You might struggle or not struggle. That would be your karma. You might say, well, I think I'll just, I won't fight because they've got a needle in me. If I fight, I might hurt, I might not only, I might, I might get more injuries to lie still. But the interjection of the alcohol would not be your karma. It would be their karma if they intended to do it. So you might get the same poison in you, but it wouldn't be a consequence of your karma directly.

[73:34]

But if you would directly drink it, and you drink too much, it's called karma because it hurts you. To eat good food, food that makes you feel well and nourishes you and makes you feel happy, that's skillful karma. I intend to eat these foods. I want them to make me feel good. And I'm eating them. And you eat them, and you're right. It is good food, and you feel well. When other people eat things, maybe they think it's good for them, like they think, I don't know what, lots of chocolate is good for them, and they eat it. but then they feel not well. This is unskillful. But sometimes you can't tell. It's not clear whether it's skillful or unskillful. And I like to mention the root of the word that they use in Pali and Sanskrit for skillful and unskillful action.

[74:37]

And the root of the word is I'll just tell you the word first. The word is kushala for skillful. And the root of the word kushala, which means skillful, is kusa, which is a type of grass. And this type of grass was recommended by the Buddha to make his meditation seats. It's a thick kind, it's a big broad-leaf kind of grass, large grass, tall grass, and it has a sharp edge like on pampas grass. You can cut your hand when you're collecting. You can cut your hand on it. So the monks would be collecting this grass for their seats. So they wouldn't cut their hands. They would become skillful at collecting the grass. And so the word for skillful was derived from this. But I like to know that word, especially because the grass is dangerous.

[75:38]

And there's many dangerous cars. food, drinks, tools. And these things in themselves are potentially dangerous. A hammer is a dangerous thing. A saw is a dangerous thing. A toothpick is a dangerous thing. You can hurt yourself with a toothpick. What do you call it? A Q-tip is a dangerous thing. You put it in your ear wrong, you could hurt yourself. So many things which are useful tools, if you use them unskillfully, you can hurt yourself. Speech. Speech. You can use it, you can harm people with it, or you can help people with it. You can make people feel happy and encouraged and guided along the path of happiness and courage. Or you can hurt people and discourage people, demoralize people with using speech in an unskillful way.

[76:46]

So an unskillful way of using speech is a way that hurts you or others. A skillful way is a way that helps others. And sometimes the way we speak, we can't tell if it helps or not. We say something like we say maybe, good morning. And maybe we're not clear if that hurts or helps. But if you say, you know, good morning, that maybe hurts. Or good morning, maybe that helps. We're not sure, but... The point is anyway, if it's clearly harmed, then it's unskillful. Now, not to mention, if you want to harm, even if you don't, however... is still harmful to you. So if I want to say something and it doesn't hurt you, well, that's good. I mean, it's good that it didn't.

[77:47]

That makes it less unwholesome.

[77:49]

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