No Abode Dharma Talk - December 28th, 2024

00:00
00:00
Audio loading...

Welcome! You can log in or create an account to save favorites, edit keywords, transcripts, and more.

AI Suggested Keywords:

AI Summary: 

The talk emphasizes the significance of acknowledging and respecting the impermanence of life and the cyclic nature of birth and death, highlighting the connection between finite suffering and the infinite universe. It suggests that mindful compassion towards every momentary suffering is crucial, as it includes caring for the entire universe. The discussion also touches on the practice of 'taking one's seat' as being present in the moment, and addresses the challenge of distraction, framing repentance and forgiveness as a path to mindfulness.

Referenced Works:

  • The Great Flower Adornment Scripture (Avatamsaka Sutra): This text is pivotal as it discusses the notion that every finite expression encompasses the infinity of the universe, advancing the teaching that no phenomena have existence in their own being, which leads to the realization of Vairocana, the Dharmakaya Buddha.

AI Suggested Title: Embracing Impermanence, Embracing Infinity

Is This AI Summary Helpful?
Your vote will be used to help train our summarizer!
Transcript: 

Well, this again is a great assembly. And as many of you know, in Zen temples, particularly Zen monasteries, we have wooden boards, thick wooden boards, which we strike with a mallet. to announce to the Great Assembly various events like sitting meditation and funeral ceremonies and other things like that. Various meetings of the Great Assembly are often announced by striking the wooden board. Now we have also welcomed Linda Hess And welcome, I think, Kelly.

[01:07]

Welcome, Kelly. And welcome, Shokuchi. Any other new arrivals? Okay, so I'm welcoming the Great Assembly. And again, in Zen temples, we have these bores, which are for announcements to the Great Assembly. And on the board, it's often inscribed at the top, instructing or informing the Great Assembly. That's what it says at the top. Sometimes they translate it as Attention Great Assembly. And then it says, in different English translations it says, great is the matter of birth and death.

[02:13]

Birth and death is a great matter. Impermanence is swift. Everyone, be mindful of this. Be careful not to waste time. Waste time. Waste time perhaps not being mindful of the great matter of birth and death. Take care not to waste time not being attentive to the great matter of birth and death.

[03:27]

Oh, welcome to Steven. Welcome to Mark. So, birth and death is two characters. And sometimes they're understood as birth and death is understood as samsara. Cyclic existence of birth and death and birth and death. We're being, we're honoring in a way the miseries of birth and death. We're paying attention to them. We're giving this realm of particular births and particular deaths. We're attending to them with great attention and compassion.

[04:39]

We're being encouraged to be compassionately aware of birth and death, to be attentive to the minute, the small, the finite, Every finite, every small phenomenal presentation? I think so. And so we are paying attention to suffering, particular finite suffering. And we're also being told, I would say, to fill out the picture of the teaching, but also to encourage us to be respectful.

[05:57]

Utmost respect for the finite sufferings of finite beings. Okay, welcome Betsy. Welcome Kokyo. So Kokyo and Betsy, especially Kokyo just joined, so I just quoted the an English translation of what's written on the back of a Han. We're being encouraged to be mindful of impermanence and to take care not to waste time. So all day long we are presented with impermanence. However, we may sometimes not pay attention.

[07:05]

And forgetting to pay attention to the great matter of birth and death is another thing, another finite thing, a finite forgetting of attending to suffering. And that finite forgetting is also impermanent and is also calling for our compassionate attention. Creatively compassionately, mindfully attending to our forgetfulness is the path of the bodhisattva. We have in the past been distracted from attending to the impermanence of birth and death. Being aware of our forgetfulness is part of the Buddha way.

[08:13]

It's right at the heart. It is the pure and simple color of true practice to be aware of our forgetfulness and to confess our forgetfulness and say we're sorry for forgetting to attend to any finite being's suffering. And again, to encourage us in this mindfulness, we are told, we have been taught, most extensively perhaps, in the Great Flower Adornment Scripture, we are taught that every finite, phenomenal expression includes the infinity of the universe. Every person we meet, every living being we meet, in its finiteness is able to include the entire universe.

[09:32]

Taking care of every moment of suffering, each person we meet takes care of infinite suffering. We take care of each infinite, each finite suffering with the vow and the wish to take care of all suffering. And the way we take care of all suffering is exactly the way we take care of this particular suffering. If we do not take good care of this particular suffering, in that way we do not take care of the suffering all around the world, all around the neighborhood, all around the universe. So in one sense we are being encouraged to pay attention to each finite suffering of birth and death, but also with the good news, I would say, that if we do this, if we take care of this impermanence of this and this and this, we're also taking care of all the impermanence, all the suffering beings.

[10:58]

And if you want to take care of all suffering beings, which I think many of you do want to take care of all suffering beings. Take care of the one who is right here now, yourself and the precious being who is calling to you, in your face. Caring for the finite turns on and in caring for the infinite. Caring for the infinite turns on caring for the finite. Welcome, Rosie. And again, it's

[12:02]

Sometimes we do get distracted from caring for this living being, this birth, this old age, this sickness, this death. We sometimes get distracted. If I do become distracted, I pray that I notice it or that somebody gently and compassionately, if possible, reminds me that I might have just got distracted from caring for this moment of finite, even excruciating, even a little bit, suffering. And if I'm helped to see that, or if I remember it, then I wish to confess it to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all beings. I wish to confess it. And say I'm sorry.

[13:05]

And feel sorry. I pray for that. And I have confidence in that practice. That it is the pure and simple color of true practice to pay attention to every finite thing and including the finite forgetfulness. And say we're sorry. This is the pure and simple color of true practice. It is the true body of faith the true mind of faith. The body and mind of faith notices when we are not being mindful of compassion, notices when we're not being mindful of compassion for the finite, and notices when we're not being mindful of the infinite, because the infinite is also right here. So we are being called to remember both turning on each other all day long for our whole life.

[14:13]

When we were young, we perhaps weren't ready for this meditation. Can I welcome you, Jeremy? Good. Any other new arrivals that I have not welcomed? Good. So that is a year-end message to this great assembly of this basic teaching of, in a sense, really respecting, really be generous, really be careful, really being patient and enthusiastic and calm with every finite being, every finite pleasure, every finite pain, every finite fear, every finite cruelty, every finite forgetfulness.

[15:23]

All these finite things we are being called to give our full attention. And it is difficult to be really continuous. As we say, if you can achieve continuity in this mindfulness, this is the teacher within the teacher. This is the master or the mistress within the mistress to be able to do this continuously. And it also says that this practice of being mindful of impermanence and mindful of the infinite in the impermanent is a practice to do inwardly, secretly, like a fool, like an idiot, to waste our life being mindful of suffering and all finite phenomena, and thereby realize that all these phenomena

[16:51]

are without any existence in their own being. And understanding that all these births and deaths, all these forgetfulnesses, all these pains, have no existence in their own being. And understanding this is to see the great radiant Vairocana, Dharmakaya, Buddha, of the Flower Adornment scripture. And seeing this great Buddha in the impermanence and in its lack of any existence on its own being liberates the world for the moment until we are offered another moment to care for in the same way. Once again, this is a year-end message from our tradition offered to this great assembly for your consideration, for your mindfulness.

[18:08]

And once again, I imagine you're all willing to and want to be mindful of all impermanent phenomena for the realization of all beings and that many of you understand that this is not easy to be consistently mindful. But if you're mindful one moment, I think that's great. Perhaps you've been mindful, perhaps I've been mindful one moment this morning. The Great Assembly is welcome to make offerings to the Great Assembly, as you wish.

[19:16]

I just saw, now I'm seeing a little indication that says, Reb Anderson is talking. Now you're talking. Welcome, Rana. Thank you. My emotion runs faster than my words. It's very good to see you, Rob. Before coming here today, again, I remember what you taught about 25, maybe 30 years ago in a yoga room.

[20:25]

in Berkeley. I remember I shared something about the torture was happening in Iran, and I was smiling. And you told me, well, it's good, you're smiling, but be real. You repeat that three times. And in 30 years, this teaching still is with me. Such a precious teaching. I bow to you. Thank you. Thank you for taking care of the teaching. Good morning, Rob.

[21:34]

Good morning, Yuki. What your talk reminded me of, when I was very young, my mother, my adoptive mother, seemed quite strange to me. And one of the ways in which she was strange was that every Christmas, when everybody was getting all excited about Christmas, on Christmas Eve she would cry. And I asked her why she was crying, and she said, because this child that was born was going to have to die so painfully. And that made her really sad. And... I didn't appreciate that story very much when I was a little girl. And it just occurred to me a few days ago that without knowing it, she was teaching me the Dharma, you know? And I guess I want to express some appreciation for that because I can't express that to her.

[22:38]

Go ahead, express it to her. Okay. Go ahead. Well, I regret that I didn't appreciate. You regret that it took you so long to get to that point. Yeah. That was hard for her, too. Yeah. We had a difficult dynamic. It took you a long time to grow up. Yeah. 80 years. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for that confession and repentance. And I'm glad that now you can appreciate that Christmas Eve love from your mother. Thank you for letting me express that. You're welcome. Thank you for the expression. And by the way, today is the day that we traditionally say my mother was born.

[23:42]

So this is my mother's birthday. Happy birthday, mother. She's now like 110. Dear mama. Dear Michael. Dear Reb, I have a follow-up question from your last talk, from our last interaction that kept spinning around in my mind. And in my memory, our last, my last question was about taking our seat. And

[24:43]

I had a kind of like this idea of that taking a seat is somehow, sometimes sounds contradictory to taking good care of myself in the sense of staying in an unhealthy situation. And I don't know if I, if I expressed myself fully last time. So I still, I'm still busy with, you know, taking my seats in a difficult situation and And how to practice that. How do I say that?

[25:52]

There's an idea in my mind that, you know, I have these words of, you know, just be where you are, don't go away, stay where you are, surrender to what is all these words as instructions for practice. Yes, please. It doesn't say stay. take your seat it doesn't say take your seat and stay there because your seat is not your seat is flowing don't you have to stay take the seat not stay in the seat yeah that's I mean that's my I found like contemplating this question that's the point that I always that I very frequently mix it up with You know, you have to stay here. And, yeah. You don't have to stay here. As a matter of fact, you can't. You can't stay here.

[26:56]

I can't stay here. I can't stay here. I'm being asked to leave. And I will go. Yeah. We're being told. to find your place right where you are in a difficult situation, the practice will occur and you will realize the fundamental point. Where you are is the launching pad for your practice, which walks the Buddha way. But it's hard to take our seat right where you are. And taking my seat can also be... I have to go. Yep. Or I have to go could be an expression of the practice which occurs when you take your seat right where you are. So you take your seat right where you are and you say, and maybe actually you stop saying I have to go and you say I want to go. Or you can say I'm going to give you a gift, I'm going to go.

[28:00]

Yeah. and it's going to be practice, because the seat was taken, so now this is the practice which I give to all beings. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. So, the last time we talked was online, right? Right. And then, I guess, after that, Someone came to see me in person, at no abode, and she was performing various services to assist the Sangha in the one-day sitting. And she came and said, she said, I apologize. I didn't take my seat. I apologize for not taking my seat. I was just doing my job, you know. doing my job, but not taking my seat.

[29:00]

And I apologize for that. So, yeah. We can be even doing good things, we can still forget to take our seat. And that is, well, that's a temporary tragedy that we missed making our activity an expression of finding our place right where we are, and then our expression is the practice. But even if we do the same thing, but not from our seat, we miss it. And then we don't take care of ourselves or other people as well as we could. Yeah. So this is a very important point in our practice. As Suzuki Rishi said, this is the most important point. And there's infinite other most important points. Thank you so much, Mikael. I didn't do anything.

[30:07]

What did I do? Thank you, Rev. And thank you, Assembly. I would like to express my tears of sadness Thank you. Simply for my, not my even, for the lack of attention to the Togedal's teaching, Togedal's words. For that lack of which does not see the truth.

[31:10]

For that lack, I cry for not seeing. And every time I see, I smile. When I don't see, I cry. When I see, I smile. You're new year and the last year message of continuous care, unbroken continuous care is what makes the difference. And when you say to take care of every moment or every incident or every being who's in front of you, every time I give my hundred percent, it's whole and complete. And like you said, that completion, gone.

[32:15]

Then the next moment. So I'm questioning, questioning and asking as I'm questioning, I'm asking for that mind, that way of seeing that sees infinite opportunities and not be tired of more opportunities. So there is this exhaustion that I wish to be free from. So that's my wish for the end of this year so I can start the new year with a new energy, new, just new, new.

[33:25]

Yeah, and then when we're exhausted, we're encouraged to rest. And then we can start again with the great work. Thank you. Thank you. Rev? Yes. It's thankful. Welcome, thank you. Thank you. Yes, thank you. I couldn't find how to raise hand, so I just unmuted myself.

[34:29]

I have a couple of things. One has to do with the issue of staying awake and paying attention. And I think of the word attention as being at tension with something. And it is that focus that helps us to pay, to stay at tension with something in order to serve it. So there's that aspect, the, The question I have is related to what someone brought up about taking their seat. And are we taking our seats literally or are we taking our seats when we pay and stay at tension with something that needs our aid?

[35:41]

So is our seat only when we're sitting or is it when we're taking action that is needed where we are attention to something? If it's a literal seat, then we receive a literal seat. If it's a metaphorical seat, we receive a metaphorical seat. If we're standing, we receive standing. We are given, actually, stillness all day long. No matter what activities are going on, we are also given stillness at the same time. And I pray that we receive this stillness. We also receive silence. So receiving stillness is also another way to say, take your seat.

[36:49]

And you can take your seat when you're running. I saw a video of the face of an African distance runner who was setting a world record in a distance running. And that showed his face, and his face looked calm and quiet. But his legs and arms and his torso and feet and hands were setting a record in the distance running. Wow. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Happy New Year, Reb.

[38:02]

Happy New Year, Steve. I tend to get theoretical. I, uh, I, I actually think noticing it is not theoretical. I actually think, uh, it's, I mean, I'm amazed at how, at how far I'm unimaginably far. I mean, you might not like the metaphor, but I've gotten in this practice and, um, far beyond my wildest dreams, but, um, So I, it seems to me that it may, I wonder what you'd think about this as theory, which I'm that the reincarnation that, you know, the past lives, um, of the Buddha are of all of us are simply just all the lives of all beings. And so there's not a limited set of past lives.

[39:04]

The set of past lives is all lives. And, um, And that's maintaining continuity with, I think that's Hongzhi maintains continuity. The others die from being too busy, but Hongzhi maintains continuity. And so you have this being which... is all beings, and that's the Buddha being. And just then by the side, then why are the Tibetans putting, if that's true, why do the Tibetans put so much, I mean, that's just sort of by the way, why do the Tibetans put so much emphasis on reincarnation? And if they don't put so much emphasis on reincarnation, why don't they? Well, it seems to me they do, though.

[40:06]

So they don't. It's not that they don't. It seems to me that they do. But I'm missing something. Yeah, you're missing that sometimes they don't. They don't. They also don't. They don't emphasize it at all sometimes. Yeah. Okay. All right. I'm there. Yeah. Sometimes they just sit where they are. And they're not emphasizing past lives or future lives. They're just sitting where they are. However, they also come to you and emphasize it to you. And you respect that, right? You wonder about that. You question that. Yeah, I... I'm circumambulated by the Dalai Lama or by Maitsumi Roshi.

[41:14]

And the way that the circumambulation is effectuated is, you know, there's an exchange of... Is this circumambulation right now? Yeah, sure. It has to be. All right. Good. And then this jealous, which I've had some issues with, this jealous irrigation of the right to publicly circumambulate. So we have this this formal teacher and he, and our, she, um, is the circumambulator. And once in a while they actually pull it off. You know, you are actually, uh, you, you can actually in some ways exchange, you know, I identities because when you get to that, uh, that, that, uh, plasmic state, you know, the, the Steve's,

[42:29]

spirit is really not distinguishable from the Dalai Lama spirit. And then, so why aren't I the Dalai Lama? I mean, I guess I am in some sense. The Dalai Lama is another life of my own, but it does interest me that no one's invited me to take that dragon seat. And so then you get this sort of wrestling over the official occupant of this or that. Yeah, that's an issue for me too. You might have a thought on that. Well, that wrestling is calling for compassion. Thank you, Reb.

[43:47]

Hello. Hello. I was interested in what you were saying toward the end of your talk just now about the continuous practice. And I think you said something like, when you do this continuously, the teacher within the practice you realize the teacher within the practice or something like that. And then I think I heard you say something. It's not that you realize it. It is realized, not by you. It's realized by the continuous practice. Okay. Yeah, so I was going to ask if you could explain or say more about that and I know you mentioned something like what is realized is each of these phenomenon that we're practicing with each moment, part of the realization is that we see it doesn't, each of these things doesn't have its own existence.

[45:02]

Right. And because it doesn't, it includes the whole universe. Right. So is that realization or that understanding what you mean by the teacher within the practice? Or could you say more about that? Yeah. Yeah, I just said some more. How was that? That was good. I just wanted to hear it more. Did you hear more? I think what I heard you say was one doesn't realize it, but it is realized or something like that. Yeah, the apparent one by the person by herself doesn't realize it.

[46:04]

She's not the continuous practice. But when she's there with the continuous practice, the teacher within the teacher, that is the teacher within a teacher. But she's not doing the practice, and she's not not doing the practice. Her being her is the occurrence of the practice. But she's not doing her being her. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Hello, Reb.

[47:21]

Hello, Assembly. Happy New Year to you all. Thank you. You know, for the first time in my life, I have nothing to say that needs to be said. Nothing really wants to be said except to take care of this moment by expressing gratitude for you being here. And me being here and the rest of you and meeting this way and taking care of all this whole practice that we need to do. It is really, it's precious. Yes. I don't think anything else will come up. Thank you.

[48:28]

On the verge of the Buddha entering Parinirvana, the Buddha said, perhaps there's some in this great assembly who have a question. And then later it was stated, perhaps all the questions are over. And perhaps we've reached that point today. Oh, no, there is one more hand. All right. Sorry, maybe I have to say sorry that I prevented the silence from taking over. But I did think of a question. Yeah, very often I seem to want to get up off my seat, to not take my seat.

[50:11]

something seems very much to want this distraction. Why? What comes is that there are many theories about why we feel a wish to do something other than be here and take care of this. There's theories about that. But if we bring those theories up, it would be good to be careful not to let considering the theories distract us from being here. But taking care of theories is taking care of a phenomena. And sometimes we should... And you're doing it right now. You're taking care of the theory of the things that we can be distracted.

[51:15]

Can you give me an answer without a theory? Yes. I have no theory about that. But that's a theory. Just say a helpful word without going into theory. It's very interesting. Even the highly cultivated beings get turned about by the words of theories. but they have a practice of confession and repentance to recover from distraction. Long road, short road.

[52:29]

Mm-hmm. Okay. Sometimes I raise my eyebrows and blink. Yeah, in the cold barn. Now I can hear you. Now I cannot hear you.

[53:40]

I can hear you, but it's very quiet, very low volume. How about now? Dear teacher and the great assembly, at the end of this year's meeting, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation and deeply respect to all your support. Thank you. It's a joy to practice with you. And so thank you, also. Thank you. So the conversation this morning has been so lovely, but I am not quite clear.

[55:08]

You mentioned that there is a connection with Vairagana and the Avatamsaka Sutra, but I'm not quite clear on the connection between our conversation and those teachings. Well, there's just this, one of the verses in the sutra says that not surprisingly, all phenomena, no, please know that all phenomena have no existence in their own being. Understanding this is seeing Vairochana. So the sutra is presenting Vibharchana and telling us how to see it, how to see this great Buddha. If we do not understand the phenomena, do not have existence on their own, then that lack of understanding kind of challenges our vision of the Buddha.

[56:21]

But that understanding is, according to the sutra, seeing Buddha. Thank you. You're welcome. First of all, I'm very thankful to people who were grateful to you, and I'm absolutely grateful to you for all these years. And I wish you a long, stable life to continue your Bodhisattva's way of teaching. My question is, what makes teaching unforgettable? I know you were talking about forgetful mind, but I wonder what makes teaching unforgettable?

[57:29]

Teaching is already unforgettable. It's already unforgettable. You can't get away from the teaching. However, if you don't practice remembering, it'll seem like you forgot sometimes. But it isn't that what you forgot is forgettable. You're just able to do this magical thing called forgetting. We have that ability. But it's not real. And to make what is unforgettable unforgettable, we have to practice remembering. So remembering is the practice. And forgetting is an opportunity for remembering. Thank you. I love, I'm understanding that

[58:48]

Each moment, each experience contains the whole universe. And also realizing each moment is empty of its own self. So therefore, can we say the whole universe is even empty of its own self? Because each moment is contained of the whole universe. The universe actually... The universe has no existence in its own being. I see that. The universe depends on everything in the universe. And everything not in the universe. Thank you. I really need to sit with the not universe. I sit a lot with the universe. The not universe is...

[59:52]

Somehow, I don't know. I don't know. Somehow, I see there may be what we are looking or what we are seeking or what we are trying to understand is in the beyond of its own self. It's not in what we see here. It's not in the senses. It's beyond the senses. I need to sit on the onset. Thank you. May your good health continue. Thank you so much. You're so welcome. Hello, Rev. Hello. I don't see that I can raise my hand, but I feel you can hear me. Is that correct? It sounds like Frederick, is it?

[60:59]

Yes, it is. Nice to see you. Isn't that wonderful that I can recognize your voice? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. I feel alive now. I feel as alive as I was when I was nervous pressing that button. Reb, the word universe to me feels like a made-up perception for the mind. It's a distinction that's created with the word universe, is it not? It doesn't have an inherent existence other than the word universe and the meaning that we put to that word. Yeah. The universe is just a word. It's just a word and a concept and everything else that is a word and a concept. They only exist because we name that, don't we? We name that universe. Part of it. It's more than that, though. That's just an important point.

[62:01]

But isn't it more than that because we make up? No, it's more than that. Well, more than that is also just a word. So sometimes I relate to our winter friends outside. I see them every day and they don't know universe. They don't know anything that I have in my mind. And we're sharing that precious moment together. And I see that the distinction between me and them is made up by me. Well, I don't know if it's made up by you, but it's made up. Well, to my own understanding of that. Don't take too much credit for that stuff. That monk who's running around outside on the ground taking nuts, we call him chipmunk. He's a different monk than you are, I think. That chipmunk is just an expression out of my mind, isn't it? And therein is with any dharma, with any perceived entity in this world, is that non-duality between me, Frederick, perceiving that chipmunk,

[63:10]

that creates this universe, that creates my world known as Frederick. So can't I just bow and laugh at my craziness in the words? May you be able to bow and laugh. I think it was you that taught us that one day, one monk, and I said this to the surgeon when he was about to operate on me, when he asked me who I was, I should have told him you taught me this. The monk asked the other monk, who are you? And the monk said, I don't know, because what are you going to say that really points to who you are? What can you say that would point to who you are? He was asking me to confirm that I'm who I am and I'm who he should be operating on. Did you manage to get the operation finally? Yeah, now 10 years later, I have a little bit of leakage.

[64:13]

But, you know, 10 years, I've had a good 10 years. A lot of it is thanks to you and the Great Assembly and everybody that shares this path together. Wonderful. We all have peace this new year. Thank you. Thank you. Is that all? Good morning, Rem. This is Dave. David? Somebody else has a hand up. Good morning, Rem. Good morning, Great Assembly. Are there any teachings regarding dealing with white male privilege within oneself and its effect in the world in terms of suffering to women and people of color.

[65:16]

Did you say, are there any teachings about that situation? Yes, it apparently, use that word accurately, is one of the causes and conditions of a great deal of suffering. in the world and I am aware of it within myself only often only as an after effect because as a white male I am largely unaware of the privilege that of the point of view that a great deal of my actions born through body speech and mind come from as a white male So I'm concerned about that both individually and about observations of it in the world. I frequently deal with the suffering within myself of seeing my own actions coming from that point of view as an after effect and confess and repent that.

[66:28]

But it... And I also deal with the suffering of thinking that's not enough because there's so much of that in the world right now. And going forward through this year, I would appreciate any teachings around right action, both to myself in dealing with that directly and in seeing it in the world in terms of if there are any responsibilities. involved in that that I'm missing in terms of acting in the world with great compassion. If I notice that I'm living in the situation of white male privilege, if I notice that, then I have the opportunity of acknowledging and confessing that that's where I'm living, and also perhaps acknowledging and confessing that I feel regret and sorrow about this.

[67:40]

Understood, yeah. And then do that over and over, whenever I'm aware that I'm living in dependence on that unjust privilege. rather unjust in the sense that I'm privileged and some other people do not have the same privileges. And I feel sorrow about that. And I wish to promote them having the privileges that I have been given. I pray for that, for them. And I'm sorry that it's been given to me instead of them. I'm sorry. So, what comes up in me when I hear that is, oh, more thoughts and prayers.

[68:41]

Yeah, and be careful of ever thinking in terms of enough. Just pray, but don't get into, have I prayed enough? Or, I have prayed enough. Just stay away from enough. and just keep giving yourself to confession and repentance of injustice in my life. I confess that seems ineffectual in terms of the world, what's happening in the world. Well, thinking that it's ineffectual is not exactly a privilege. So that may be good to go ahead and think that. But the way of treating that thought that it's ineffectual is the same way you treat everything. With respect and silence and stillness, you treat that sense of this is ineffectual. Listen to the thought, this is ineffectual.

[69:47]

Respect the thought, this is ineffectual. And what might even be more difficult is to respect the thought, this is effectual. This is effectual, also deserves to be respected. But respect doesn't mean you agree, it just means you listen wholeheartedly. And you can also question whether you're listening. Was I listening to you just now? Was I listening to you? How am I doing in terms of listening? Please help me listen better. That's a good teaching. How can you help me listen better? Thank you. You're welcome. Well, let me say again to this wonderful assembly of bodhisattvas, I'm so happy that you're in my life.

[71:12]

Thank you for blessing me with your life and coming to meet me to share the teaching of the Buddhas. the perfect wisdom of the gentle Buddhas we are sharing, and respecting each other, and respecting ourselves too. Please continue this practice of utmost respect and compassion for all phenomena which do not have any existence in their own being.

[71:49]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_91.59