A while ago, somebody said to me, I'm wondering how to be most beneficial in this world. And I think I said something like, That's really good wondering. And now that I said that, I think they might have said... No, I think that's what they said. And when they said that, I thought of the last couple lines of verses from the 16th chapter...

[01:01]

of the Lotus Sutra. So the Buddha is expressing these verses, and I'll just say the last two, and if you want me to, I'll say more about the previous several, but the last two verses, which is the last two lines, the Buddha says, different translations, but one translation is, I'm always thinking how to help all living beings enter the great way and quickly realize Buddhahood. hearing those words, I personally aspire to not grasp them.

[02:22]

I was really surprised for the Buddha to say, I'm always thinking. Aren't you just greatly enlightened? Aren't you just radiant all over the universe? And the Buddha is thinking. What's the Buddha thinking about? How to help beings enter the great way and become Buddhas. When it comes to thinking, this is the thinking. And so I thought of that and I thought, we could also kind of rephrase or we could also say the Buddha says, I'm always wondering, I'm always wondering how to help all beings enter the unsurpassed way and quickly become Buddhas. This is the Buddha's practice, but I feel like the Buddha is inviting us to join the wondering how to be beneficial.

[03:41]

But in particular, how to help beings enter the great way and become Buddhas. And what just came into the mind here, what just came into this mind, it was... Suzuki Rishi said to me one time that the job of a Zen priest... is to encourage zazen, which could be rephrased as the job of a Zen priest is to help all beings enter the great way and quickly realize, quickly become Buddhas. That's two verses rather than just saying zazen.

[04:44]

So our zazen is to encourage, could be seen as our activity which encourages beings to enter the great way and attain Buddhahood. That's what I aspire to be doing in this life. cover my mouth I'm not supposed to quote my wife so I'm not going to it's a really good quote but I'll have to ask her if I can tell you so maybe I'll call her and ask her if I can tell you You could pretend somebody else said it.

[05:56]

Okay, let's pretend somebody else said it. Somebody asked a friend of mine if they practiced Zazen. And they said, well, not really, but I do kind of get it by osmosis from that guy over there. So do you aspire to help all beings enter the great way and quickly realize Buddhahood?

[07:10]

You might say, well, no, but I get it by osmosis by hanging out with bodhisattvas. So we are contemplating a great scripture called the Flower Adornment Scripture. And in that scripture, we have the Buddha, Vairotana Buddha, and infinite Buddhas, around Vairacana Buddha, and Vairacana Buddha is practicing an awareness, or Vairacana is practicing which is an awareness, practicing an awareness which is the Buddha's practice of...

[08:28]

And this awareness is called the ocean seal awareness. Or the ocean seal samadhi. Samadhi is almost an English word now, but I don't know, not quite maybe. Zazen is now in the dictionary. I don't know, I think samadhi might be, dharma is, I think, in the dictionary. Anyway... The Buddha's awareness is called Ocean Seal Samadhi. In other words, an awareness that's not distracted, that's open and relaxed, and in which the ocean is sealed. The ocean of the Dharma is sealed. in this awareness. That's the name of the Buddha's awareness in this vast scripture, an awareness in which the ocean is sealed.

[09:48]

And as I mentioned this morning, one could say that our life is superficial and immeasurably profound. the samadhi of the Buddha seals the superficial and the immeasurably profound. Of course, they're already sealed, but this is cultivating the awareness of the sealing of the surface of the ocean and the entire depth and vast width of the samadhi. This is the awareness. It's the awareness of sealing the superficial words of our life with our life beyond the words.

[10:51]

It's using and playing with words to realize what's beyond words. Like for example, the Buddha says. I'm always thinking of how to help beings. I'm always wondering how to help beings enter the unsurpassed way. These are words which the Buddha is uniting with what's beyond words, namely the unsurpassed way. So the simple practice of the ocean seal samadhi is how to take care of the surface of our life which are details which are difficulties which are horrors which are pain and pleasure.

[12:02]

All these things are superficial. And so the practice possibility is to respect the superficial realities to respect them deeply to listen to them to look at them with compassion to welcome them to honor them to be patient with how painful they are sometimes to be diligently caring for all the surfaces of the ocean, all the waves as they splash us and toss us around, to learn how to stay on the boat of compassion in these rough waters on the surface of the ocean of our life.

[13:08]

And of course, The surface is already united with the depths. But if we're not caring for all the waves, we don't realize it. And then we just got waves, which are so challenging. So, simply taking care of what's happening now with great compassion, we realize the wisdom of the entire ocean which is the unsurpassed way of the ocean seal samadhi. But while we take the additional rather very difficult thing to do is while we're taking care of the surface, while we're taking care of the words in this compassionate way, which is so wonderful and has such great potential, all this must be done without trying to get anything.

[14:27]

All this is done without grasping the slightest thing. This great effort to take care of the surface, which is so challenging, is great. And it is completed by doing so. With no attachment. To what? To caring for all these things, for all the things and caring for them and also no attachment to the ocean seal samadhi. no attachment to helping beings enter the great way. In the Slaughter Sutra, the Buddha didn't say, I'm always thinking of how to help living beings enter the great way without having any attachment to them entering the great way.

[15:36]

I want all beings to quickly realize Buddha without any attachment to their quick realizations. We can see if we're taking care of the waves. We can see if we're taking care of the words. And we can also maybe see if we're attaching to our caregiving. If we're grasping something in our caregiving, we might be able to see it. If we can't see it, but we are grasping, then of course we often need to go spend time with a friend who's trying to do the same practice and ask him how we're doing. And they might be able to ask us some questions. So we realize that we are attaching.

[16:43]

We can notice when we're trying to help somebody, we can often notice that we are trying to get something or we're trying to help them. We can be trying to help ourselves and notice, I'm not just trying to help myself, I'm trying to get being helped. We can notice that, but we don't always notice it. So we need to bring our effort to be diligent with no attachment. to a friend and say this is what I want to do how am I doing and the friend might just say I hear that you want to take care of all the surface details of your life with minute attention and be thoroughly caring and diligent with everything without attachment is that right and we might say yes and then we might notice oh yeah I am attaching they aren't to accuse us They don't have to say, you're doing it wrong.

[17:43]

They can just ask us some questions and restate our intention. And we notice, oh my God. Amazing. I'm sorry. And then back to work. What work? The work of realizing Buddhahood. the work of realizing the great way together with all beings. That's the work. So this is some words from me about the ocean seal samadhi of the flower adornment scripture. We have recently been looking at book 17 of this great scripture.

[18:53]

And that book 17 is titled The Merit of the First Arising of the Thought of awakening. That's the name of the chapter. The merit of the first arising of the thought of enlightenment. The first arising of the mind of awakening. The first arising of I want to help all beings realize, enter the great way and quickly attain Buddhahood.

[19:58]

I want to help all beings attain Buddhahood. This chapter is about the first time we have such a thought. The first time we aspire to Buddhahood with everybody. for everybody. And in this chapter, the supreme ruler of all the gods, Indra, asks a bodhisattva named Dharma Wisdom to say something about the merit of the first time this thought arises. So in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha expressed the wish to help beings realize Buddhahood.

[21:05]

The Buddha has already realized Buddhahood and is wishing to help others realize Buddhahood. But that wasn't the first time he wished that. He'd been wishing that for a long time and therefore he realized Buddhahood. We who have not yet realized Buddhahood can have the same wish. What wish? The wish to help all beings enter the great way and become Buddhas. The Buddha had a first time too quite a while before. And the Buddha had a second time and a third time. And then here in the Lotus Sutra, it's one of the last times the Buddha is going to have that thought. But this chapter is not about the Buddha's thought of awakening. It's about the first one.

[22:06]

Of course, the Buddha is wishing to help us into the great way. Of course, it's a wonderful thought. It's very similar to when you wish to help beings enter the great way. It's very similar. It's just that for the Buddha it's not the first time. But there's a first time for us and a second time. But even the first one is what's being emphasized here. The following ones are great too but the first one is inconceivably meritorious, inconceivably, immeasurably beneficial according to book 17. So the supreme ruler of the deities asked the bodhisattva dharma wisdom to say something about the extent that

[23:14]

of how wonderful this first thought of awakening is. And to make quite a long story short, the Bodhisattva Dharma wisdom says, basically, that the merit of the arising of this thought, the first one, the merit of the first arising of this thought, is immeasurable. It is like the depth of the ocean of Dharma. It is immeasurable, the merit of it. And it's a superficial thought. It's just like a thought in your head, like, it's Saturday. Except this one is, I totally want to help all beings become Buddhas. I am really committed to that.

[24:15]

I really want that I think that would be so great and I can't measure how great it is but I still have this thought and thoughts like that can continue for a long time until Buddhahood and then at Buddhahood it's physically similar it's just not number one and so the sutra is basically saying number one the first time you have this thought It's basically the same as the one the Buddha has. They're the same. It's just that one's complete Buddhahood in the form of aspiring to complete Buddhahood. But the aspiring is what makes Buddhahood possible. And the Buddha had an aspiration for a long time and took care of it for a long time. and realized the way so by this thought the sutra says is by this thought that realization is fully manifest in the world by this superficial word pattern

[25:37]

And so the sutra, after explaining that the merit's infinite, basically, it doesn't say infinite, it just says immeasurable. And it does various measurements to show how immeasurable it is. It doesn't really say infinite. After this is all over, it's basically showing us how wonderful this is beyond any measure. then there's a few more words in that chapter 16, 17. A few more words, which, for example, are, having aroused this mind of great determination to realize Buddhahood to help all beings do so, after realizing the arousing of this mind, and then it says, one translation says, he, is able to know for the first he is able to know the first attainment of true awakening as well as the final nirvana of all Buddhas of the past.

[26:56]

Having aroused this mind, having this mind aroused, he is able to know for the first time the attainment of true awakening but when I take notes in this I write something besides he I actually do he slash they after arousing this mind they are able to know the first attainment of true awakening And then I often have another slash, slash, it. He, she, they, it. So one of our translations says he, Cleary says they, or Cleary says one, one is able to know.

[28:09]

Recently I started to add it. Having aroused this mind, it is able to know the first attainment of true awakening. What's it? It's the thought. When this thought arises, this thought is able to know. So it is There's merit in saying he knows, she knows true awakening when this thought arises. There's merit in saying they know and there's merit in saying it, the mind knows. What do they know? The first attainment of true awakening as well as the final nirvana of all Buddhas of the past. It, is able to believe in the roots of goodness of all Buddhas of the future.

[29:18]

And it is able to know the knowledge and wisdom of all Buddhas of the present. When this thought arises, this is the way of knowing the knowledge of all Buddhas right now. want us all to enter the great way but I'm not trying to talk you into it I'm offering words to encourage us all to enter without trying to coerce you after bringing forth this mind again that's what the sutra says after bringing forth this mind but we could also say after this mind comes forth it is able to know the first realization of right awakening.

[30:34]

Because they have set their minds on awakening, because the mind is set on awakening, They are remembered by all Buddhas of three times. Again, some of you may say, I really don't care if all the Buddhas remember me. But now that you mention that, what does it mean for the Buddhas to remember me? What does it mean for the Buddhas of three times to remember me? When this thought... When the mind is set this way on awakening, the Buddhas of the past remember you. The Buddhas of the future remember you. And the Buddhas of the present remember you. Again, some people say, I don't want the Buddhist dream.

[31:45]

I don't care if the Buddhas remember me. But honestly speaking, I did care when I was young that the Buddhas would remember me. And I still do. But in a way I was more in touch with the Buddhas remembering me in my early days of trying to practice. For example, I didn't try to get Suzuki Rishi to like me. I actually was open to the possibility that he didn't really like me or that he hardly noticed me. I also heard some Zen stories about students who go to teachers and the teachers don't pay much attention to them. It seems that way sometimes. So I thought, it doesn't really matter whether he likes me or not.

[32:48]

If he does, fine. If he doesn't, okay. So I don't know whether he notices me or cares about me, but I do want him to notice me. because I'm here. I came here for him to notice me. So he sees that I'm here so that he can teach me. So what I did was I had this practice called, I called it post-practice, which was at the temple where Suzuki Rishi was practicing and living in San Francisco. You know where San Francisco is? It's south of here a little ways. Over the Golden Gate Bridge is a city called San Francisco. And in San Francisco, there's a street called Bush. And on Bush Street, there was a temple. And Sikoshi lived in that temple on Bush Street. 1881 Bush Street. And I came to San Francisco to practice with him.

[33:56]

And I was fortunately able to move into an apartment immediately. across the street in 1824 Bush Street. And so I went across the street and sat in the zendo in that temple and the zendo was on the second floor and there were stairways going up to the zendo and at the bottom of the stairway was a post and a balustrade. And when Suzuki Rishi went up and down those stairs, when he got to the post, he put his hand on the post and turned the corner to go wherever he was going, or even put his hand on the post to walk out of the temple. The post had a nice knob on it, like the top of somebody's head. He put his hand on that, and a lot of other people put their hand on it too. It was not just Suzuki Rishi's... knob to put his hand on but he did and I thought I'm just going to be like that post I'm going to just be in the Zendo and I'm just going to be a piece of furniture that he has to deal with day after day I'm going to be there and he's going to learn that I'm there and he did learn that I was there now maybe he knew before I started this practice but I made myself available

[35:25]

And so he remembered me. And then even when I wasn't around, even when he couldn't see me or put his hand on my head, he remembered me so he could say, come here, I'd like you to do something. Come here, I'd like you to help me with something. Or even when I was around, he thought, oh, I think it'd be good for me to tell him something. And then he would tell me. So him remembering me was a big part of me practicing with him. He remembered me. Fortunately, he remembered. He could remember his students. And I wasn't the only one he remembered, but I just wanted to make sure I was one of them. And he did. And it worked out really well for me. And him. He was happy to have this offering of this person's life. and he remembered it.

[36:29]

So when you offer your life to awakening, when your mind is offered to awakening, the Buddhas of three times remember you. The sutra says, when you offer yourself to awakening, the Buddhas of three times remember you, and you will attain unsurpassed complete perfect awakening in three times with three times of Buddhas. Another way to say it is because the mind is set on awakening it is remembered by Buddhas of three times and it will attain Anyuttara samyak sambodhi. Of all Buddhas, it will attain unsurpassed awakening of all Buddhas in three times.

[37:36]

I just had this joyful thought, you're hearing the Avatamsaka Sutra in English. How wonderful. How amazing this sutra is. Now we've got the Buddhas remembering this mind that has arisen. Next it says, as soon as one sets the mind on complete awakening, as soon as one sets the mind on complete awakening, as soon as the mind is set on complete awakening, one is praised by all Buddhas and can thereby expound the Dharma. and can thereby realize the light of Buddha's wisdom. Okay? That's the sutra. And now there's a comment, which is, reading that, as soon as one sets the mind on complete awakening, one is praised by all Buddhas, okay, they're remembering, now they're praising,

[38:57]

The teacher remembers, now the teacher praises. The next part is the hard part. One can thereupon expound the Dharma. So you're just a beginner, right? You just had this thought, now you can expound the Dharma? It doesn't mean now you can give a lecture at the San Francisco Zen Center. It doesn't mean that now you can get up on the great Dharma seat in India and teach thousands of people, like the Buddha is in this sutra. It just means that when this thought arises, you can expound the Dharma. The way you are when this thought arises, being a person who is offering this person to awakening,

[39:59]

being that person, you are expounding the Dharma. Having this wish, even if you don't tell people that you have it, you are expounding the Dharma. That's my comment. Because there's certain ways of thinking of teaching which might not be appropriate. So the brand new student who has this thought arise... The community is not necessarily ready for that person to speak to the whole community the way that maybe the teacher is, who they have met. But still, they're teaching. This mind is teaching. When this mind enters your consciousness, you are now, and while it's there, you're teaching. or rather, while you're there, it's teaching.

[41:01]

And how is teaching? As a superficial aspect and a profound aspect. So, for example, one might have this thought arise at the Zen Center on Bush Street, back in the 60s, and with this mind arisen, one might go into that zendo and sit, and sit as an offering to awakening, and sitting as an offering to awakening expounds the Dharma. You might not be sitting there thinking, I'm expounding the Dharma, but you might be saying, I am sitting here because I do actually aspire to be a Zen student, a bodhisattva, a Buddha. Sitting and offering yourself is teaching the Dharma.

[42:09]

And it just might be encouraging the people sitting to your right and the left who might also be teaching you by sitting to the right and the left for the sake of awakening. for the sake of the awakening of all beings. Back in the day, back in the 60s, people didn't very often say to me that they were really inspired by me going to the zendo and sitting. I don't remember them saying that. But as time went on, and I kept doing this practice, day after day, month after month, year after year, after a while, people started coming and saying, I'm having a hard time practicing regularly, but it really helps me that you're there.

[43:12]

It really helps. Thank you so much for continuing to sit. brackets, to continue to sit and offer yourself your life to awakening. And when they told me that, they were teaching me to continue to practice. I just had this thought. Zen Center moved from the place on Bush Street over to a place on Page Street. And I went and practiced there, then after that. And during one period of extended sitting at Page Street, I got sick. I got the flu.

[44:13]

And I don't know if my original seat, in that zendo, there's like a main room and then there's a side room which is a hall and they call that the outside town anyway I was sitting out there and I don't know if I moved out there because I got sick but anyway I was sitting out there and I started to get sick and because I was getting sick I started to opt out of certain phases or certain aspects of the retreat of the seshin. So the seshin has sitting, walking, chanting sutras, meals, and work period. It has all those aspects which I would usually participate in and which I did participate in at the beginning, like the first day I participated. Did you get the picture?

[45:18]

And while I was participating, I was starting to feel sick. So the next day I felt like, well, maybe I should take a break during the work period. And I talked to the leaders, one of them being me, and I said, could I rest during the work period? And I was... supported to do so. And then the next day, I felt like, well, I think I will continue to rest during work period, but I think I'd also like to rest during meals, which take a lot of effort. So then I stopped resting during meals. Then I felt even sicker and I started to rest during the sutra chanting. Then the walking meditation was just too much, so all I did was I came in and sat.

[46:28]

When I was most sick, I was still able to go and sit. I'm not recommending this, but anyway, that's what I did. And I wasn't thinking, I'm going to continue to sit to help the other people in Sashin. I didn't have that thought. I just was sitting to try to keep sitting. And I was able to sit. I could have got the next step was I got even sicker so I couldn't sit. Suzuki Rishi did get so sick finally that he couldn't go to the Zendo anymore. So I didn't know about that. I didn't know that was going to happen. But that did happen. And I was able, however, in this particular case, to continue sitting even though I was pretty sick. And then, I'm laughing because my next question is kind of funny. The next question is, and then what do you think happened next?

[47:33]

That's my funny question. There it is. What do you think happened next after I could just sit? I couldn't do anything else in the session. No, I continued to be able to sit. Pardon? Yeah, I started feeling not so sick. I wouldn't say it's better, but I was less sick. And then, so then I started to do the walking meditation. And then guess what happened? I felt less sick. And then I started to go to the chanting, and I felt less sick. Then I started to go to the meals, and I felt less sick. Then I started to go to the work period. So by the end, I had recovered. This is a practice for mortals. You know mortals, the ones who can die? Still, we can kind of like die, almost die, and then keep going.

[48:38]

This is about, and then what led me to say this was, after the session was over, because I wasn't talking to people, except to say, can I be excused from work period, after the session, the people who were sitting near me, said, thank you so much. That was so encouraging that you kept coming even though I could tell you were getting really weak. And I was happy that it encouraged them who were not sick to continue to sit. I wasn't intending that. I hadn't yet had that thought that that's what practice is about. I hadn't really had that thought. But it was helpful and I thought, oh, okay. So maybe I'll maybe that would be good to continue sitting for others. As soon as the mind is set on complete awakening, one is praised by all Buddhas and also by one's friends who are sitting with you and thereupon manifests the light of Buddha's wisdom.

[49:58]

which people really appreciate, even though they don't even know where it's coming from. Well, it's coming from me. This light, where is it coming from? Having set their minds on unsurpassed, complete, perfect wisdom, they make offerings to all Buddhas in ten directions. and three times they could have been doing it before but now this mind is doing it and also they do it without grasping anything they it this mind makes offerings without trying to get any approval or appreciation from the Buddhas.

[50:59]

Of course, the Buddhas have already praised us. We might be trying to get more. And I cannot resist bringing up another scripture, which is called the Buddha Treasury Scripture. And I brought it up because in that scripture... Because that scripture occurs in a fascicle, in an essay by Dogen, and the name of the essay is Making Offerings to All Buddhas. What did I just say? When this mind arises, it makes offerings to all Buddhas in ten directions, all Buddhas in ten directions, three times. So, Dogenrata fascicle called Making Offerings to All Buddhas.

[52:02]

He didn't say in ten directions three times. Anyway, making offerings. And so then in that fascicle he quotes this sutra where Shakyamuni Buddha is saying, I just saw what time it is and I'm amazed. So you must be tired of hearing me. One person, no. Okay, anyway, in the scripture that's quoted by Dogen, in that scripture, Shakyamuni Buddha says that Shakyamuni Buddha, baby Bodhisattva Shakyamuni Buddha, Bodhisattva Shakyamuni, who had this thought of awakening, made offerings to... a lot of Buddhas and did for a long time and in many ways and he goes through various Buddhas so I made offerings to this Buddha for a long time in all these ways amazing offerings and the Buddha did not basically praise me the Buddha did not approve of my practice

[53:20]

The Buddha did not predict me, the Buddhahood. Even though he's doing what the sutra says you would do if you had this thought. But he says, and why? Because I was trying to get something. Because I was trying to receive something back. And then there are quite a few examples of him making offerings to this Buddha, that Buddha, that Buddha. And each time he says, but then after all these eons of offerings, they did not say, oh, you're going to be Buddha so-and-so. Oh, you got the practice right. Good job. Good job. They didn't say good job. They basically said... You know, thanks a lot for making all these offerings. I really appreciate it. But you didn't do the practice properly.

[54:29]

You're trying to get something. Well, as you know, there's more to the sutras than what I just brought up. but it has gotten to be quite late. It's like reached the middle of the day. It's noon. Congratulations for putting up with this all the way to noon. Barry. Yes. I wanted to express my gratitude and share with you my first superficial awakening, which was at the at the yoga club, when Donald Trump had just been, or was going to be elected, and you spent the evening talking about the other. I talked about what? You talked about the other. The other? I talked about how to practice with the other. Thank you.

[55:39]

We're still working on that. On the surface of this ocean there are some terrible, shocking waves. We're still trying to learn how to ride those waves with compassion, with respect, without hatred, with patience. It's so terrible. We're still working on it. I don't think the surface of the ocean is going to suddenly become calm. I think it's going to continue to have waves. Some of them, maybe some days, it'll be calm. But then the next day there's going to be a tidal wave. And I remember in one Zen text it says, what are you going to do when the big white wave comes? What's the name of the movie?

[56:45]

about Australian Aborigines, and it has this big wave coming. What's the name of that movie? The Last Wave. What's it called? I'm not sure. The Last Wave. The Last Wave, yeah. The name of the movie is The Last Wave, and at the end of the movie, the big waves are coming, and also one is really big going to come. What are you going to do? We look for a practice to ride the waves and if we practice well we can ride the waves without attachment and then we realize the whole ocean. It isn't just us that are good surfers, it's us surfing properly which realizes the meeting and interfusing of each wave with the whole ocean. Yes.

[57:46]

I request that you speak louder because Linda can't hear you. Thank you for thinking of me as you put on your hearing aids. Okay, Homer, let's hear it. I can talk you through them. I'm not trying to talk you. Actually, I am trying to talk you into them, but without coercion. Yeah. I have no objection. Okay. So I'd like to bring my question. And for you to talk with me, I'd be happy to hear that. And that is, I am here. You can't see the mind that is not attached.

[59:16]

Yeah. So you can see a mind that is attached. And if you're kind to that mind, you'll realize the mind you cannot see, which is striding along with the mind that can attach. The mind that can attach maybe sometimes doesn't attach. And so sometimes you can't see your mind attached. But sometimes you can. And then if you practice compassion with your attachments, you realize the mind that's beyond what you can hear and see. The mind which is deportment beyond hearing and seeing is realized by the mind you can see and which... you're being compassionate towards. Well, it's not so much the mind that cannot see.

[60:29]

The mind which is not limited to hearing and seeing sees the mind that is seeing and hearing. So the Buddha... has a mind which doesn't fall into seeing and hearing, is beyond seeing and hearing, and the Buddha sees all the beings who are into seeing and hearing. And the Buddha, if they have this thought, the Buddha is like attending to them, helping them to develop this thought. That's the mind which you want to help people enter. But again, that mind is interfused That's the mind where the depth is interfused with the surface. The Buddha mind isn't just beyond hearing and seeing, it's also I'm thinking, I'm seeing. So on one level the Buddha thinks and sees, but the Buddha is also beyond seeing and hearing. And this sutra is teaching the interfusion of the level of seeing and hearing with the level beyond.

[61:37]

That's the whole Buddha. Samadhi. That's what we call Zazen in the Bodhisattva Zen School. Kim and Linda. You also said that the Buddha is a past, present, and future, three times, that somehow affects the past. I was curious if you could talk a little bit about that. Well, One thing that just comes... Do you say a little bit? Okay, here's a little bit. When this mind arises, Buddhas in the past who had wished that this mind would arise, they're very happy because their wish, their vows had become realized in this thought arising in you. So the Buddhas wish that beings in the future

[62:41]

will have this thought arise. So when this thought arises, for example, in your consciousness, the Buddhas in the past who wished that are saying, thank you, I'll always remember you. Because they are their wish. And you made their wish come true. And the Buddhas in the future, they also are very happy that you have done this in their past just like I wish that my relationships in the past will be healed and the way I take care of the present can heal the past, my past life just like and also with somebody who you know now, right now while they're still alive, in your interactions with them you can heal your past relationship with them.

[63:50]

And even people who have died, who you can't talk to anymore, you can save them from their suffering they went through by the way you live your life now. You can make certain parents good parents by becoming a bodhisattva. Because when you become a bodhisattva, your parents have become the parents of a bodhisattva. Which makes them wonderful. Before that, before that, they might have been mean to you, impatient with you, disrespectful of you. It doesn't take that away. It just... lifts them up by your practice because they are your parents and you're practicing. So they're successful from the Buddha's point of view, from the Buddha's eyes. These are good parents because you're practicing.

[64:56]

And if when they died that wasn't clear, you can make that clear now. Buddhism, I think, is a tradition of never, never too late. I'll be right with you, Linda. Yeah, about making offerings to Buddhas, I was thinking that there's many ways to make offerings to Buddhas. Many ways. One way is like, oh, look at that altar, couldn't give flowers, incense, couldn't bow and everything. Mm-hmm. I was thinking of the doctor that I was hearing about recently. He's a Palestinian doctor. He kept going in under every circumstance with the war zones. He just kept going in. Kept going in. Trying to help people.

[66:01]

No more lights. No more medicine. Just going in, just going in. So I'd call that making offerings to Buddha. I do too. And I don't know what to say about him, but when bodhisattvas have this thought, then they can be like him. We don't know if the person who offered to the altar is trying to get something. We don't know. Or that doctor. We don't know. The way I heard the story, I just had a suspicion that he was not trying to get something. It seems like he might actually be not trying to get anything, because if he was, he might not have been able to continue. But we don't know. If he comes and asks us, well, I'm doing all this stuff, what do you think? If he came and asked us, did you see on TV what I've been doing? He said, I did, and I'm so happy. He said, how am I doing? He said, well, are you trying to get anything? And he might say, yeah. I was trying to get something.

[67:04]

I said, well, maybe get over that part. Say you're sorry about that part. All the other stuff's good. Just drop the trying to get something. But maybe he'd say, no, I wasn't trying to get anything. I'd say, great. That's just great. You're the greatest. And he might say, oh, I just saw that I was. Yeah. This thought enables us to be like that palestinian doctor. We want to be like that doctor. Of course. But without getting anything. Because that undermines the goodness of it. Jacques. When I first start to say thank you. You're welcome. I'm here. I'm here. I'm in the past. I'm in the future. And I think it's the hardest thing that I've learned now. is to be here.

[68:04]

Not by coercion, but to be here by choice. I'm suffering with love, with everything. And it's taken a long way to realize that. What you said today, I've just clicked. I think that it is the hardest thing to do. Because when I'm here, I'm also in the past because of my ancestors. Thank you. I've just had an opportunity to acknowledge them in the past year and to come to a piece very much of acceptance of where I come from. And I look forward to where I'm going. I'm getting married again. Congratulations. And I see that it's not a fight. It's not enough. I think the hardest thing to do is to fight like men. The hardest thing is to what?

[69:07]

To fight like men. You cannot fight. You must leave it to a path that inspires you that you can be free. Ha ha ha. strong and fragile thank you well as I said a moment ago there's more to come so please take care of your health oh and one more thing I want to say

[70:53]

because I just saw somebody's face who has difficulty with the words of this sutra coming into their life over and over. So even these words of the sutra are superficial. They're superficial words and they can get quite splashy and salty and hot and cold. These words can be difficult. So taking care of these words has been called for and it's difficult. And I'm having difficulty too, but thanks for helping me stay and take care of the surface of the sutra.

[71:38]

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