The Non-Duality of Silence and Language

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on the way back in the night the green gulch thing was tuesday night on the highway up here
right in the middle of highway there was as gorgeous coyote
it was so beautiful in the headlights
just like through alien brilliant coyote

homer could you move that way a little bit
makes you share yours i'll return with you
and hannah i was gonna ask you if your hannah's sister
because your hair looks different
your hair looks different i thought you were different i thought it was not you but look just like you
the oh you jerry brought had a sister today

so sometimes before i give these talks i talked to people and in the talk and talk room over there
and various interesting things are said
this morning i was talking to someone about bud of all things pride in your of meet dot
wisdom gone beyond wisdom
isn't that funny that i i talked to people but stuff i that transcendent wisdom not just regular wisdom transcended wisdom people bring stuff like that up i'm so fortunate
ah so this person was studying
like the heart of great perfect wisdom scripture
the heart cetera

and i am
i became a vehicle for the following expression
the heart surgery says overlooking cash for a bodhisattva when deeply practicing project our barometer
after the surgery says in english and i pointed out it does not say of lucky test for was trying to get pregnant bar meta

but when some people hear about how wonderful perfect wisdom is they think now that would be something would be good to get
because when you because they think when you get it what happens all suffering and distress is relieved
but it doesn't actually say that it doesn't say when you get broken apart when all the good touch fara gets prajna power meta all suffering is relieved it says when deeply practicing it
all suffering is relieved when deeply practicing and you see that all the aggregates of existence are empty of own being and that vision reliefs are suffering
so
bodhisattvas aspire to practice perfect wisdom they don't aspire to get it or if they do they they find out that they should confess and repent
trying to get it it's not something that get is something to practice
and practicing it reveals it liberating reality and and doug liberate
so part of our training is to get overturned to get wisdom
and to be kind to any impulse to get wisdom

and to be kind to any impulse to get peace in this world
and to be kind to impulses to get rid of environmental crises

one story is that the environmental crises the the conditions for environmental crises include many people humans and other beings trying to get rid of environmental crises

on kindness to environmental crises promotes

what i say big one
being what do i say unkind
being unkind to environmental crises is harmful
being unkind to environmental crisis does not get rid of
environmental crises
it might try to
but it doesn't succeed
and it causes harm
being kind to environmental crises
also does not get rid of environmental crises
however
it doesn't cause harm it promotes
the welfare of the environment the environment
becomes well by being treated with compassion
but the compassion doesn't get rid of the crisis the crisis is not gonna go away
it's always been here
we will continue to be in crisis but if we practice compassion in the middle of crisis that compassion will bring benefit
to the environment and all the beings who live in it and being unkind to the crash crisis for example trying to get rid of it
denying it
that will just cause more harm and has been plenty of that going on for a long time has been plenty of unkindness to the environmental crisis which is the same as being unkind to the environment
we have there's a danger that we will be unkind to the environment there's a danger that we will
which is a danger that we will cause harm
but we don't have to
be unkind to that danger we can be kind to it we have the opportunity to be kind to the environment and all beings
and to the fact that the environment that we're being kind to is surrounded by danger always
and still be kind
an environment is surrounded by fear of the dangers of the environment so again we have the opportunity
we have the danger of being unkind to our fears
and the danger of being unkind to our fears is
gonna keep coming up
people are gonna be afraid of the day of dangers and some people are going to say don't be afraid
and sometimes are going to say don't be afraid as edge in a kind way and sometimes are going to say it in a mean way
but we can be kind to our fear
the disasters calamities
horrors or manifest we can be kind to our fears and if we can be kind to our fears
that will be beneficial
we have that opportunity

you've heard of reading tea leaves you heard about that these are really tea leaves here but they aren't with this powdered tea is actually made from tea leaves so i'm reading i really in the tea leaves
shall i talk about what i wanted to talk about earlier
maybe

i wanted to talk to you about what i brought up while you are sitting earlier
i brought up
silence and stillness
these words are closely related
in german there's a word
and i don't remember exactly which one it is but it's something like either stolen or still in
anybody to just speak german well
and it means both silence and stillness
and in chinese
there's a character which we are that many of our commonly recited scriptures
which means both silence and stillness
an english her the two to three words but the in english to their kind of relive really
ah
the
the
all the
all those calm
so i think there's a sense that the silence and the calmness the stillness
the kind of like
very closely related
but does a wonderful difference between the two words to which i like to talk about
so i have been saying for quite awhile but i on my my recurrent prayers is that we remember silence and stillness
or that we remember silence and remember stillness

today i like to mention that in a way there's two kinds of silence
and two kinds of stillness
one kind of silence is a dualistic silence

and another kind of silence is a non dual silence

one kind of silence
in a way seems interrupted by sound or in particular a particular sound is interrupted by the sounds of language
by sounds of words and phrases
that's a dualistic silence
silence and then you got language
so that
that silence
is
in a dualistic relationship with language there are two different things
which were most people are familiar with like when some people are
expressing language some people tell them to shut up and be silent
by way also parenthetically mentioned that when i say i say re i pray that we remember silence
and even though i say remember it some people here
the statement be silent or shut up
i'm not saying be silent
because i want us to remember it
and it's and when i say remember it i'm okay with remembering both dualistic silence which can be interrupted by language and non dual silence which is not interrupted
by language

i pray that remember both kinds
and i particularly use the word silence
to hold up the banner for the non dual silence silence which is not interrupted by language but that lives together with language and as a matter of fact
when we realize non dual language silence it's the same as realizing non-duality
and realizing it or attaining it or understanding it then makes possible to express non dual silence in language
we have the opportunity
to attain insight
about or into non dual silence and then to manifest and express it with language
the non dual silence
needs to be expressed in speech and posture and thought

it ordered to
attain
non do a wisdom
in order to attain this non dual silence
we need to be compassionate to dualistic silence
and what it's dualistic with
language

and being compassionate to dualistic silence the silence which occurs when there's no language
and being compassionate to the language which occurs when there's no silence
being compassionate to both of those
i would say is necessary or certainly is appropriate to realizing non-duality
of silence and language
and realizing that non-duality makes it possible for us to express the non door silence and the non dual language

that may be perfectly clear to you however even though it may be perfectly clear to you and it's pretty pretty darn clear to me but part of the reason was pretty darn clear to me is because i've been thinking about this
millions of times and this has been pounded into my body and mind is getting down into my cells what
non duality non dual silence
so because i've been doing it over and over i'm gonna do it over and over out into the world now for a while
and you're if you're near me you're gonna get you're going to run into it you're gonna run into dualistic silence which i don't have to take care of
but i'm in a pounding drum of non dual silence the silence which is an intimate reciprocal pivotal relationship with language
and i'm gonna be using language to beat the drum
of silence

not yet
now another way i could have given this talk this morning was
there was another way i could have given it there was another way i could have started it we can also pretend consists a sled
this is like kindergarten right this is this is a garden for kids
and so we can play a game called now is to convey the beginning of the talk ready here's the beginning to talk this talks gonna be about whoa whoa zahn
which means this cock is gonna be about what
what i'm saying that is is not really about zen but i'm going to say was that is now gay
other people use them in a different way it's a nice word and it's like it's an opportunity that word then is an opportunity to realize non dual wisdom
is that it's opportunity to words zen is a word which is an opportunity to realize not do a silence

the word zan is an opportunity to realize
silence
because that word
is in a pivotal relationship with silence
like all other words but i use then as a special word to emphasize that all words including zen is
silence
that's the way that caught talk could have started i here's another way i could have started
then
is
a word that i use
for buddha activity
then isn't like the way i use the resent it isn't like a particular practice
zen is the word i use for all of the activities of the buddha's
as the way i use the words in
now in the past dan has been used like this then is a special transmission
a special transmission
zen is a transmission

and using send the way i did before than is buddha activity buddha activity is a transmission
it's a relationship it's a face to face transmission that's what boot activity is of roseanne is

but again that's just that's just what i sang in kindergarten
there's just me talking
then is buddha activity zen is a transmission
now it is often been said in the past thousand years it's a special transmission
the flood to transmissions this is a special one is special it's it's the buddha transmission is to transmission of project upon meta it is the transmission of practicing perfect wisdom
it's the transmission of not trying to get perfect wisdom it's a transmission of practicing it
it's special
and then the the phrase goes on
blank
then blank but activity is a special transmission
anything more you want to say or yeah what what i want to say that is doesn't depend on words it's a transmission that doesn't depend on words
and it's outside the scriptures
what scriptures the heart sutra all the mahayana sutras then is
the blooming of all the scriptures and in blooms in a way that's hard to find in the scriptures

like everything that we told here this morning it will be hard to find anything i said in the scriptures except the part about of a low-key test for a bodhisattva
when practicing deeply the perfection of wisdom clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty and relieved or suffering distress that you can find that in this in the scriptures right i quoted scripture however
zen is not in the coding of the scripture zen is a special transmission that occurred while i was quoting scripture
so there was a scriptural quotation the zen part was to transmission that occurred during the during the quotation
the trend the transmission isn't in those words however while those words were occurring those words were in and non dual relationship with what silence

the transmission is going on
in silence
in stillness and in language simultaneously in the relationship

so in the boot activity in the zan activity
words are given as opportunities to not fall into words
then is a special transmission of not falling into words
and words are used as opportunities
and words are used as dangers
in the crisis of our life the buddha activity brings up words and as you to balance between the danger of falling into the words
and the opportunity of not falling into the words

it is possible to be balanced between
falling into words
have not falling into words
to be balanced between the danger of falling into words
and the opportunity of not falling into them
but an order to fully exercise that balance we need to offer some words so people can work with the danger and the opportunity so the words are offered
but these words are offered
as an expression of the non-duality of the words and silence
however we also offer silence
which is an opportunity to not fall into silence
and there's a danger of falling into silence
we have such a wonderful life of crisis environmental crisis silence crisis opportunity crisis
and also the are the words which are given
with the aspiration of giving them in such a way that people don't fall into them
the words of
watch out for falling into words
and then we also have a silence we give a silence which is why challenge we don't see it but the fans this is actually saying watch out don't fall into the silence
and so now let's have some silent sitting and why we're sitting see if you can sit in their silence without falling into it

and there's the language which we don't want you to fall into the language which says it's possible to balance between
silence and stillness and language and movement it's possible
but
an oven we have to practice it so and we are we're practicing it

and we have a whole bunch of stories which are offered to us
as opportunities to not fall into the stories we have really and here's another story here's as greedy for another story we have really good stories period that's one of our that's one of my our stores we got lots of stories we got excellent stories
period
and i hope you didn't fall into that one but here's another one but it's true we do period we have good stories and these stories are truly good stories however i don't say these stories are true they're just stories they're wonderful stories which i don't
say are true however i could say they're wonderful stories and they aren't you but i don't say that and that's another story is that is then we often say what we're not going to say period
and i'm not gonna say these stories are true but i am gonna say
these are our stories and they're great and they're offering an opportunity to not fall into them and an order to not fall into them
it's not going to work to not listen to them that's not gonna work
if you run away from the zen center where people are whoops we were gonna be careful
what for those who are not here for gotta be careful as i can't move this my finger recklessly
and still balance this court so on my finger i have to be careful while i'm getting excited here i'm not really getting excited i'm just getting very very dynamic
and to stay balanced in this dynamic situation with this coastal blam balancing on my right index finger is this index finger

in order to realize zen buddha activity
we need to practice balance
and we can and that's a story to encourage you to practice it without falling into that story
because there wouldn't be balanced
so i said the stuff a bot stories because i was thinking of china you to some of our stores
and i think i will i'll just tell one maybe maybe six
but many one we'll see and i might be here too
it's a story that i brought up at early earlier this fall over and at the center of the universe berkeley

the story is about
a buddhist monk named me who
or somebody might say me who are
anyway me who
was a dimer brother of the great wonderful monk named young schon
they are both students of question
so the story that i was going to tell you goes like this me who had one of his monks one of his students go and ask his dharma brother yong schon a question
it's anybody know the question
you remember it you can try she's gonna try to save the question that was asked a thousand years ago in china
yes
is
she said quietly is there enlightenment or not which is close
another translation would be me who said go ask him if people these days need enlightenment or not
so katie remembered it as is their enlightenment or not
slightly different do people need enlightenment or not was the question so the monk went some distance and asked the teacher young sean
do people these days need enlightenment or not
and young chan said it's not that there's no enlightenment
it's just that one needs to be
careful not to fall into the secondary

one example of the secondary is the word enlightenment
so as not that there's no enlightenment we just need to be careful not to fall into the word enlightenment
or the word delusion
it's not that there's no enlightenment we just need to be careful not to fall into words but again
the way to not fond of words is to meet them with compassion to run away toward to some place where there's no words which is called sometimes death
if you cut your head off they'll be no words for a while
but does not then you can practice compassion towards the words
the way the generally for most people for most humans the way to not fall into the secondary is to practice with the secondary
the practice with it the practice with it
not turn away from it or touch it
to listen to it to look at it
to clearly observe it with great compassion if you observe the secondary with great compassion you will not be falling into it i wouldn't i wouldn't say that you will not bonded because if you observe with great compassion and then you take a break from great compassion you might fall into it at the me
moment of practicing great compassion with the secondary you're not falling into it
and before and after that we don't say there's no enlightenment but had the very moment of being compassionate to the secondary to the words of our life
at that very moment we are not falling into it and then we don't say there is no enlightenment
and we don't say there is enlightenment we just realize it
which everybody wants us to do
because realizing it brings benefit to this world of crisis
where we live together
all day long there's an opportunity to be compassionate to the secondary and not fall into it

you've heard of sucre have you heard a cirque du soleil
they have not yet invited me to come
the that they think or you think that's something special that you can balance that quotes you on your on your finger you should see what we can do
we can we can balance six amazing young women on our one finger
oh
it's now high noon
by coincidence
and we are in crisis together we have a great opportunity to practice compassion with this crisis to not fall into the secondary which is swirling around us and gushing out of us and raining down on us all day long
we had this great good fortune to have this opportunity and we also have
the great fortune
of having this danger because that's life
it's danger and as opportunity life is crisis
we have a teacher for how to practice in the middle of crisis
don't we
don't wait
don't wait
what i'm trying to get here i'm not trying to force you to respond

it's not that we do is just that we need to not fall in the secondary and we need to because other people want somebody to teach him how
people are they would if anybody knows how to not ball and of secondary what they please demonstrated
and we say me i'm maybe if you asked me again nicely maybe three times
okay
it's not as past high noon so we can call in homer
trying to remember
the time and september

your exact words at the mall moment but i tried to capture a the switches are
i can i can
yeah why don't you forget about what i said and just stay where you want to say what i want
in that point what i was hearing was
the mind which he knows nothing
a mine which knows nothing but compassion is is the mind of compassion is water
the mind however the mine which knows nothing but from the passion which is compassion deals with things that are not compassion
and that's why we eat
most is that what he's doing his compassion with that one mind
coaches every new it's non dual it's nothing
zachary
and exactly is non do with not exactly

there's a logic by the way to duality and there's a logic to non-duality and the to logics pivot on each other they both have
the red logic is related to the word word right
doesn't logic doesn't blow goes meet word
so there's a word a logic for duality and there's words for non-duality
we got it all
we got the whole universe in our hands
and the whole universe has us in its hand
we're just in the right place at the right time
and now
we can have lunch
just the right time
and it can be
the best lunch
in the history of the universe
i mean it could be