Good morning, children of Buddha. So do you all know, are you all familiar with chickens? Do you know what a chicken is? Chicken? Chicken. Usually when we say chicken we mean like a bird that's a domesticated bird that lives with people, that lives on a farm maybe. We used to have chickens here at Green Gulch, but we don't anymore. And this is a story about a chicken. I want to tell you that once upon a time there was a scientist, a zoologist, who was doing research on chickens. And one day he was walking in the forest and he found some pheasant eggs.

[01:10]

You know what pheasants are? They're a wild bird. They're a beautiful wild bird with long tail. So he found some pheasant eggs in the forest. And he brought the pheasant eggs fairly quickly and kept them warm and brought them back to his place where he studied the chickens. And he took one of his chickens and he removed the chicken's eggs that it was sitting on and gave them to another chicken. And then he put the pheasant eggs in the chicken's nest and put the chicken back on the pheasant eggs, or actually brought the chicken to the pheasant eggs. And when the chicken first saw the pheasant eggs, the chicken looked at them and thought, these eggs look different from my usual eggs. But then the chicken sat on the eggs.

[02:17]

and the eggs hatched and then the chicken took the baby pheasants for a walk out of the laboratory into the forest to where they could live in their normal place where they came from and took them to where they could eat wild food rather than the kind of food the chicken ate which was processed food. So then the scientist thought to try it again with another kind of bird so he got some duck eggs and put them in the chicken's nest and the chicken sat on those and then the chicken took the ducks for a walk to a pond and the ducks went swimming and joined the other ducks. So not only was this chicken kind and loving to her own babies but even was kind and loving to other babies who were different from hers.

[03:32]

And also because she was so kind she was also wise and knew that the pheasants needed to eat different food from her chickens, so she took them to get a special food which they could eat and knew that the ducks needed to be near water, so she took them to water. So this is a story about how animals can be kind, not just to their own kind, but to different kinds. And not only kind, but wise. Do you think that animals can be kind? Do you? Do you think that humans... Are you humans? Do you think humans can be kind? Even to humans that are different from them? Yeah, I think so. So we can learn from these animals and I hope that we can practice being kind

[04:35]

to all different kinds of beings. Do you know any songs about robins? Does any of you kids know a song about a robin? Do you know what robins are? You know what a robin is? I know you do. Anybody want to tell me what a robin is? Yes? A robin is a type of bird. That's right. A robin is a type of bird. There's some robins at Green Gulch now. And they hopper on. Do you want to sing a song about robins? Ready? Ready? I'll sing slowly if you want to join me.

[05:37]

When the red, red robin comes bop, bop, bopping along, along, there'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing his old sweet song. Wake up. Wake up, you sleepy head. Get up, get up, get out of bed. Cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red. Live, love, laugh and be happy. Though I've been blue, now I'm walking through fields of flowers. Rain may glisten, but still I listen for hours. And hours, I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again, singing a song. When the red, red robin comes, bop, bop, bopping along.

[06:41]

Bop, bop, bop, bopping along. Some of the children of Buddha look like they think I'm different. Please be kind to me even though I'm different. Do you have any questions? Children of Buddha, do you have any questions? You understand pretty well the story? Do you want to practice being kind to all beings? How many children would like to practice being kind to all beings? Please raise your hands.

[07:42]

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. Great. Thank you very much for coming to hear the story about the chicken who loved all beings. Do you want to go now? You can stay, actually, if you want.

[08:47]

Yeah, you can go or you can stay. Oh, look, Patty's got a book about birds. Oh, you're going to go learn about birds from Patty. Now there's more seats up in front for other children of Buddha. The last time I talked here, two weeks ago, I offered a

[10:29]

just a kind of very basic proposal that the foundation and fruit of the teaching of enlightened beings, we call it the Buddhadharma, the foundation and fruit of Buddhadharma is great loving kindness and great compassion. And at that time I also asked the assembly to please be kind and compassionate to all beings. And on the radio the other day I heard just a brief little statement.

[11:46]

Oh yeah, it was about some study where children were offered visualizations, sick children were offered visualizations which were given with the hope that if they would do these visualizations it would improve their health. And the children were able, in this study, to hear the instructions in these visualizations and practice them and achieve improved health. And I don't know the details, but I just heard the final comment, which I wanted to share with you, which is, because, how do they put it? because they were able to embrace these healing visualizations because their minds are young and not locked by what they believe to be real.

[13:02]

So all of us probably have some beliefs about what's real. The children do too. However, they sometimes also are not locked into what they believe is real. So they can open to new possibilities, new healing possibilities So all of us come here with some sense of what's real. I think we do. And now I would like to, again, referring to the childlike mind, the mind particularly of an infant that's not locked in perhaps as much as others, not locked into what it believes is real. So I don't know if it's real for you, that it would be, I don't know if it's real for you, that it would be good to learn and practice loving all beings and being compassionate to all beings.

[14:23]

I don't know if that's real, but if it's not, I hope you can open to the possibility that it might be. I think it might be. And so that's why I requested last time I talked here that people give it a try. Try to practice loving-kindness and compassion towards all beings, outwardly and inwardly. Try to be compassionate and kind towards every experience in silence and stillness. This morning I had the great fortune to have some quiet time. And in that quiet time, I said, Reb?

[15:26]

And then I said, I said, yes. And I said, Rebby? And I said, yes. Will you commit to loving and being compassionate to all beings. And I said, I will commit. Now I said it again in your presence and you heard my commitment. With your witnessing of my commitment, my commitment becomes elevated to a vow. And there's also the practice of, throughout the day, you start with, like, once, but I suggest, you know, you might consider three times a day to find a quiet space and ask yourself, Silvia?

[16:43]

Yes? Will you commit to live lovingly and compassionately towards all beings? Yes. Yeah. Three times a day ask yourself that. This takes a second or a couple. I didn't regret it. I didn't regret asking and I didn't regret answering I don't regret sharing this with you, even though it does put one on the spot. So may I ask you, children of Buddha, do you commit to love and be compassionate to all beings?

[17:46]

I commit. I may not be, but I commit. I expose myself. I make myself accountable for that vow. And please check with me. I invite you to check with me to see, are you still committed? Is this action now in the spirit? So, there is a vow, you know, like I vow not to forsake living beings, but rather to be devoted to them, to be devoted to their welfare. I make that vow. And I also wish to be aware of my actions throughout the day to see if they are in accord with this vow. I'm not saying the vow all the time, but I am acting all the time. Are my actions according with this vow? It's another thing to check.

[18:54]

And invite others to check on us. And the other thing I asked last time was I requested the assembly to perform the difficult work of Buddhas, the difficult work of enlightened beings. And the wonderfully playful work of Buddha's children. And the work is to study yourself. I requested that we study ourself. I asked myself this morning, Do you commit to study yourself? Yes, I commit.

[19:59]

My understanding is that in order to live in accord with the vow to be loving and compassionate, I need to study myself. That's my job. which will facilitate realizing the previous vow. And it's hard to study ourselves, but it's also a joyful, playful enterprise too. But it's hard because we are kind of like innately given to disperse ourselves away from ourselves into outward objects, to see things outward and to go out towards them rather than to turn back and look at what we're up to. Look at our body, our breathing, our story, moment by moment.

[21:08]

This is hard work. Buddhas do it. bodhisattvas play at it and teach others how to do it joyfully. We can be joyful doing this hard job. It's possible. So last time I asked, this time I ask again. But I also ask children of Buddha, do you commit for the welfare of all beings to study yourself. That's great. I'm asking you, but of course I do not think, I don't know if it's of course to you, but it's of course to me, I do not think that now you and I are under control of this vow.

[22:12]

but rather that this vow plants a seed which we can plant over and over, over and over, not just once now, not just once in the past, but every day plant the seed again and again. The vow supports the study, the study supports the vow. The study points out to us that we forgot the vow. The study points out that we're not acting in accord with the vow. The vow reminds us to do the study. And then I share what he called the gospel of the Buddhas. The good news of the Buddhas is that we will, all of us will, eventually, be kind and compassionate to all beings.

[23:22]

We will make this vow and we will sit down and we will study ourself and we will become Buddhists. This is our this is where we're all going. According to the ancestors which I now bring up again And with your childlike mind, perhaps you can open to the possibility that we are all going to realize Buddhahood together. And again, studying the self, you know, you could say includes being aware of our posture. You know, like being aware that we're standing when we're standing, or sitting when we're sitting.

[24:31]

Being aware that we're walking when we're walking. Listening to ourselves while we're talking. Being aware that we have a story in our mind right now, what's going on. and now again we have a story of what's going on and so on. Moment by moment our body and mind are vitally active and the ancestors encourage us to be closely attentive to this active life which we can which we can empirically study. Our body and mind are objects of empirical observation. We have a conceivable self that we can study.

[25:37]

And then if we study this empirical self, the self which actually we can conceive of. As the study becomes deeper and deeper, it dawns upon this study a kind of knowledge which is inconceivable, which is not empirical, but which proves the validity and worth of the study. The Buddha's knowledge is not personal, it's the knowledge of all beings together, the way we're actually working together in peace and harmony. The Buddhas see this because they study the karmic consciousnesses which do not see this. And how do they study karmic consciousness?

[26:48]

in such a way that the vision, the Buddha's vision, dawns. And what is the Buddha's vision? The Buddha's vision is there's many sentient beings who are enclosed in their own story of what's going on here and they're all working together on this great movement to benefit all beings. They're all working on this Buddha vehicle together. The Buddhists see that, and they see that many of us do not see that, but they see how those who see and those who don't see are working in cooperation. And they also see that if sentient beings study their karmic consciousness, they will see this. They see people studying and they see people learning and they see people being liberated. And they see people helping each other with various kinds of understanding and they see the whole thing working together.

[27:51]

And they see everybody fully possessing the wisdom which they are now realizing. And they also see that people have to deal with a karmic consciousness. And if they deal with it properly, it doesn't enclose them anymore. If they don't take care of it, they're enclosed by it. This is part of the Buddha's vision. And how do we study karmic consciousness? Very difficult, but very simple. Whatever the karmic consciousness, which means whatever being we're experiencing, inwardly or outwardly, we are gentle with it, We are tender with it. We are flexible with it. This is the way to study ourself, which is the way to study our story of our relationship with each other. Gentle, flexible, soft, tender, and also in a harmonious way.

[28:58]

Even if the consciousness itself is cruel and violent, we find a way to be gentle with a cruel consciousness. This is hard. If the mind is terrified, we try to find a way to be gentle and flexible with a terrified consciousness. A petty, selfish, nasty consciousness, we try to be harmonious and gentle with it. Also, Be upright. Not lean into it. Not lean away from it. Not try to avoid it. Meet it in a balanced way. Completely open to it. Without liking or disliking it. and also to be honest about it. This looks like violence. This looks like fear. This looks like pettiness. This looks like kindness. That's what I think.

[30:00]

This is what I think. I do have a view. But I'm gentle with my view. I'm not leaning into my view or away from my view. I'm not denying my view. I'm not overly attached to my view. I offer my view. And this is practice with all beings. This is the way to see the way Buddhas see. This is the way to see that Buddhas are working together with us on this great Buddha way. So I feel that there is personal study. I personally am studying myself. I'm studying this person and this karmic consciousness which I am conceiving of and which includes all my conceptions.

[31:08]

I'm studying this. You are studying this. And our studying of this leads to the realization of a knowledge which is not personal. It's social. It's the social knowledge that arises when beings study themselves deeply. And I want to just, this is really kind of like something I just want to say, excuse me, but people often say to me, like, I feel connected or sometimes we even use the term interconnection among beings. I just want to tell you that I prefer to use the term I am dependent on other beings.

[32:09]

All beings are interdependent. The reason why I would suggest using interdependence rather than interconnection is interconnection a little bit seems like there's things that exist on their own that are connected rather than we depend on each other but we're not really something that exists that's dependent on somebody else. We are just dependents and we are interdependent. And I thank you for your great commitments.

[33:27]

Thank you for supporting each other in these commitments. We do get weary, Zen folks do get weary, studying our little self. So when we're weary, try a little tenderness.

[34:35]

We may be waiting, just anticipating things we may never possess. So while we're waiting, try a little tenderness. It's not just sentimental We have our grief and care And a word that's soft and gentle Makes it easier to bear You won't regret it You won't regret it No we won't regret it. Love is our only happiness. It's all so easy, try a little tenderness.

[35:46]

May our intention equally... Please come. Why I didn't sing it? Teach it to me. I'll sing it. OK. I'll learn it. Thank you very much. Connie, would you please give me the lyrics?

[37:05]

You can Google it, right? Google the lyrics. And the motto of Google is, do no harm, right? Do no harm, Google. Yes. Yeah, I try to not, I try not to do harm. So when... Do no, Ugo. Yeah. Judgment arises. I love your judgment. I love you. I love you, darling. Darling Judgment. I don't like you. I don't dislike you. I love you. Welcome, troublesome, challenging guest, Judgment.

[38:10]

Welcome. I want to be tender with Judgment. I vow to be tender with Judgment. My judgment of myself, my judgment of others, their judgment of me. But start with myself, my own judgment. Please come, Salah. I just walked in and said to Yeshi, I have a story to tell you that I'll tell you afterwards.

[39:13]

It's just something that happened to me and I wanted to know. It wasn't bad, so she wasn't to worry about it. But then I thought, oh, I'll tell you. And anger. I'm very angry. Welcome, anger. Yeah, yeah. You know, okay, yeah, welcome, anger. I love you, anger. I don't like you. I don't like you, but... But I love you. I love you. I love you. Yeah. But... So I was going to pick up a friend. I live in a little town, a little New England town. So picture a New England town. So that means everybody's white except me. But anyway, picture this little New England town. Very sweet town. I love it. And I know almost everybody, but not everybody. And I pulled up Take an old friend of mine to lunch and I forgot which house was hers So I kind of pulled up in between the houses and got out and as I got out I could see somebody was coming to the door So I was going to wait and see if it was my friend and if it wasn't I would say oh which house is a Goldstein house and but instead woman just opened the door and said please do not go through my garbage and

[40:42]

Okay. I won't go through your garbage, but why would I go through your garbage? Well, please don't go through my garbage. People go through my garbage, and I don't want you to go through my garbage. I said, okay, and you don't go through my garbage either, okay? You know, so that's the deal. You don't go through my garbage, I won't go through your garbage. I said, but in the meantime, do you know where the Goldsteins live? And she said, oh, right next door. And so I went next door. I was so angry. I am so angry. I love you, anger. My feelings were so hurt. What was she thinking? I finally told my husband, I said, I want to go stand in front of her house and loud talk her. I just am so angry. And it's silly. She didn't hurt me. But when she was talking to you, you did experience pain.

[41:50]

Really pain. Yeah. And what the pain is, is that I go around really feeling safe from stuff like that. I feel like I don't make myself available for it. I'm not looking for it. I'm not, you know, and it was just so unnecessary and so looking at me right. I came to collect my garbage in my nice gray Prius. I mean, what in the world was she thinking? I mean, who could I be that I was, you know, I mean, and not that there's anything wrong with going through garbage. Anyway, what does she care if people go through our garbage? Anyway, I don't like it. So all those questions, too. I love those questions. And I don't like her. And I love the one who doesn't like her. I love that one. I don't like it, and I love the one who doesn't like it.

[42:53]

But you have to take care of the one who doesn't like it. So just remind me. First of all, I can use it. I guess that's the way I tend to think. You know, I can remember what it's like not to be seen. For people to make assumptions about whoever you are, that just are never, I know this beyond any doubt, that, you know, you are never who I think you are. You know, it can't even be that way. She is not who she thinks she is. You know, I know she's not who I think she is. You know, and I just wanted a little, even at the end, honoring that I wasn't who she thought she was.

[43:57]

Yeah, I want that too. I want that too. But I love the situation before getting what I want. before she gives me what I want her to give me, and I do want that. Yes. I love her in her present, in the present situation. I love her in the present situation. And I'd like her to, I'd like her to wake up, of course, but not waiting to love her until she wakes up. I'm not waiting to love her before she wakes up. I definitely want her to wake up. She lives on my planet. That's good. Yeah, that's a good wish. And then we may be waiting, just anticipating things we may never possess. So while we're waiting, try a little tenderness. You won't regret it. We won't forget it.

[45:03]

Love is our only happiness. But it's hard to be tender when it's not just weariness, but where it's sharp pain in the gut. It's hard to be tender with that, but it's being called for. Can you be tender with this? Yes. How about this? Yes. How about this? Your reward will be more tests, more challenges, if you can meet the current ones with tenderness. The world will give you more challenges so you can grow bigger and bigger challenges. Yes. And? And. Thank you. Thank you. Alan said, you're going to be in California. They'll take care of you. They'll remind you. you have really thank you and remember you know remember the hurt part too so because it sucks but I'll work on it I will be you will work on it we will work on it we will work on this yes we will all work on it yes we will thank you for the wonderful story

[46:28]

Which reminds me of a story which, please, may I tell it? I was in Minnesota once, visiting the hometown of Garrison Keillor, Anoka, Minnesota. And a friend of mine was employed by the Anoka County to take care of the trees in Anoka. And also, he did some yard work for a family in Anoka. And he brought me along with him while he went to talk to these people who had this house that he took care of. And I was standing outside the house and he went into the house and he overheard the husband and wife who owned the house, he heard them talking to each other. And the wife said to the husband, what's that? Referring to the person named Reb standing outside. The wife said to the husband, what's that?

[47:32]

And the husband said, I think it's a monk. And the wife said, I didn't know we had monks in Anoka. One time, Kadagiri Roshi went to Minnesota, partly on my encouragement, and he went into an antique shop. And the person in the shop treated him like he was a demon, a Japanese Zen teacher. And he went in and she treated him like he was a demon. So people are sometimes frightened when they see something unusual. And sometimes it's easy to handle, sometimes it's really hard.

[48:39]

Yes, please come. Thank you. This is a little intimidating. But I wanted to tell you I like your chicken. Thank you. And when you were telling the story... I like your chicken too. Yeah. I like your chicken. When you were telling the story, I realized you were talking about the chicken being kind and loving. Yes. and not only to its own kind, but to other kinds as well. And then I realized we're using that word, one is very active, and the other one, I don't know if it's a noun or an adjective, to be of a different kind. Pardon? Yes. So I wondered if you could talk more about that.

[49:44]

Also, the word kind means, I think the root of the word kind, I'm not sure about this, but I heard the root of the word kind is same. Same. So being kind has something to do with treating things that are the same as us. So it's, and then we say loving kindness, it's a nice English translation because it's loving but it's also recognizing sameness. And we have the word kindred. And kindred, I think kindred is probably related to kind, huh? So somehow... Kindred. Somehow we've separated... being kind to other kinds. They have this certain separation there when we say that. Yeah. And the more we practice it, and the wider we practice it, the more it discloses the sense of separation.

[50:45]

if we practice kindness in a limited way, then that doesn't force us to confront the substantiation of self and other being separate. If we keep expanding it, it keeps challenging our sense of separation. That's why we really should think, now, who don't I want to be kind to? Who don't I want to be compassionate to? Who don't I love? And then, okay, there's somebody. Okay, good. So then just be gentle with the fact that there's your limit. This person you really don't feel kindness towards. Okay. Accept that in yourself. And try to be close with that delusion. Don't lean into it. Don't lean away from it. welcome it, it's a door to understanding. And there's, you know, basically there's no end to these new horizon or new challenge of somebody else that we haven't been able to love before is here.

[52:10]

Somebody else who we are holding back with. So we can get used to the fact, well, I'm holding back in a lot of areas, but I'm noticing some of them. And some where I used to hold back, I'm holding back less. And some where I used to hold back, I'm holding back not at all. But I used to hold back there, and I've gotten over that hesitation or whatever. Like the chicken had a little hesitation when, according to the story, when the chicken first saw this different kind of egg, it hesitated. didn't instantly say, fine, I'll take care of these eggs. It was a little bit like, whoa, okay. Thank you. Thank you.

[53:14]

You're welcome. Hi. So I want you to explain to me if what I think I would do in the dustbin situation is skillful or not. Okay. So I think what I would do is I'd go back on another day with two bins, one full and one empty. And I would have wrapped up loads of garbage in wrapping paper. And I would take it all out and look at it and then put it in the other bin outside the house of this person who thought I'd come to empty their bin. or go through their bin. And I would keep going through it and then I'd find something and I'd put that aside and then I'd go through the bin until I'd emptied it. And then I'd take the thing that I'd found and I'd go and put it on their front door. And then I would go back to my car, put the bins inside and drive off so that when they got out and opened the thing on their porch, they would see a present that I bought them.

[54:26]

Would that be skillful? It might be, but it might even be more skillful if you didn't go all the way up to their porch, to the door, but leave it a little bit away from the door so they don't get frightened when you're delivering the present because they might get scared of you. But I think if you're out on the sidewalk and then you just set the President sort of on their walkway or something, maybe with a little flag on it, an American flag maybe, or maybe a UN flag, and then... No flag. Maybe no flag, yeah. A flag with Earth on it maybe. Yeah, maybe. Would that be all right? That's fine. That would be better for me. You might overwhelm them with your generosity. You might overwhelm them if you keep too close to the house. Okay. So just put it out there. Okay. Yeah, and then probably you would have... Were you thinking that you'd do it even if they weren't there?

[55:34]

Mm-hmm. Well, I hadn't really thought about how I'd know they would be there. I hadn't got that far, and maybe they won't be there. They'd be good if they were. It sounds like a nice gift to me, what you're talking about. Thank you. You're welcome. So tell me where you live. Hi. This may be another way of posing the same question that you asked and following up on your story. But I'm wondering, I guess, when it's useful to offer feedback to someone when you've been hurt and how you know that it is skillful.

[56:41]

and not just sort of satisfying or reinforcing kind of separation? I guess I personally feel like I don't know usually that it is skillful. However, if I think it might be, then I basically would like to offer it if I think it might be. And then I would usually, I also think usually, although I don't know for sure, usually it's good to ask if they're up for feedback, if they're up for a gift. I want to give you a gift in the form of something I feel or something I see or a story I have, I'd like to offer it to you if you're up for it.

[57:45]

And if the person said, do you think it would be beneficial for you to tell me this story? And I say, I think it would be, but I'm not sure. And I welcome your feedback on whether it seems helpful to you when you hear it or later. So I do that quite frequently and quite a few people do that with me. They think something would be helpful to tell me about me or our relationship or what's going on here in the community. They think so. But they often check to see if I'd like to receive the gift. And oftentimes they check in a situation where I can receive it or I'm kind of like actually set up to receive. But if they ask me in some situations, I'd say, I'd rather not receive it right now. Like if I'm serving soup in the dining room, they say, can I give you some feedback? I might say, I'd rather do it later, after we just go sit down someplace. Or maybe I say, I have a headache.

[58:49]

Ask Jane. Tell Jane about it. So sometimes I'm not up for feedback because I'm juggling six balls. And they say, would you want a seventh ball? I say, no, not right now. Eventually, maybe. or maybe after I put one of them down. But right now I've got as much as I want to deal with right now, if you really want my full attention. Or I have to go to the toilet. Let me do that first. We have a lot of stuff to take care of. It's nice that people ask us if we're up to receive more. Almost always when somebody asks me and I say yes, almost no matter what it is, it almost always works well, if they ask. What about people who are not engaged in the kind of self-study that you are, or that, say, people in this community are, which is much of the world, and who are not open, if you say, may offer feedback, and they say... No. No, actually, I don't want your feedback.

[59:54]

Yeah, that's the same as if they were in the community. They don't want it. And... Yeah, I think it's very important that the person is, excuse me for saying kind of strongly, I think it's important that the person even is yearning to learn about themselves. Otherwise, certain kinds of gifts shouldn't be given because you don't want people to reject a precious gift, something you think really could be helpful. You don't want to reject it. So it's really good if they really are, not just okay, but yeah, I would. So that means a lot of times they won't want it. You won't give it in a lot of cases. But the main thing is that you've already done your work with it, whatever it is. You've studied yourself around it and you feel like, okay, I've been kind to myself around this thing in our relationship, around how I see what they did. I've been gentle with myself and with this story.

[60:55]

I think now I could offer this maybe and be gentle with their response. But, you know, this is ideal. Sometimes you feel like some time pressure to give people feedback. But still I recommend this and it does sometimes happen with strangers that it works really well. People sort of who you don't know have made this commitment to have this kind of talk. Some odds and ends.

[61:56]

May I start you off with a knock-knock joke for the grandchild? Okay. Tell us the rhythm. So, knock-knock. Who's there? Troublesome, challenging, interrupting cow. Troublesome. Your Dharma talk this morning touched on a lot of interesting stuff. It's fun to have the children here once in a while. which we have a lot to learn from children, don't we? You're reminding us over the years of this is the broadness of children before we get more narrow as adults. And the fact that visualization was working on children, it'd be fun to hear a little bit more about that having to do with curing illnesses. There's a book, has anyone read it yet, called The Philosophy of Babies by the woman from University of California, Berkeley. That'll be an interesting read. She was interviewed by Charlie Rose this week. What else?

[62:58]

Oh, just an aside about Anoka County, Minnesota, where the wonderful Garrison Keillor is from. Have you met him ever? No. I had a good fortune meeting his sound guy called Fred Newman. He's the guy on the radio show who, you know, Garrison Keillor's off on some tangent in He's obliged to come up with one of his 1,500 kinds of sounds. And I had learned that he was a graduate of Harvard Business School. Fred, you're a graduate of Harvard Business School. He says, yeah, I almost went straight. Please come. Welcome. So I'm a visitor.

[64:03]

But this happened on my way up here. As I was driving, I saw this lady turn a corner talking on her cell phone. And this bothered me. And I tried to think of what I realized from your talk, that the first thing is that I have to deal with that it bothered me and deal with me about this person breaking the law. But I also want to know, how can I help to stop the people from breaking the law like that and possibly being very dangerous to other drivers? You can keep it for a while if you want. So I have a story. This person is breaking the law, endangering the lives of others. And so how can I help this person be more skillful?

[65:07]

That's my question, right? Okay. I guess I feel like if I actually get in touch with, perhaps quickly, get in touch with my story, maybe I'm not even angry yet or anything like that. Maybe it's just like I have a story that they're doing something unskillful and I'm not angry with them. I don't hate them at all. I just say, this looks unskillful. Like if I saw a child driving a bicycle unskillfully, endangering themselves or others, maybe not breaking the law about bicycle riding but, or maybe breaking the law, like driving through a red light on a bicycle, endangering themselves and maybe cars might be endangered too. So I see a child but I love this child and I'm concerned and I want them to be more skillful and I'm proposing that as we more wholeheartedly love this story of this person doing an unskillful thing, we get to the point where we realize the inconceivability of this event.

[66:18]

But this revelation of inconceivability of this event comes in the context of inconceivable love for this event. Where I and I come to the place where I don't feel like I'm a non-lawbreaker over here. They're a lawbreaker over there and there's a substantial separation between us. That drops away. And the revelation of our harmonious relationship dawns on me. I not only am trying to be loving but I see the love that's being manifested in this way due to their lack of understanding. And from this place miraculous deeds can arise. acts which can wake up people. When I say something to them or I offer them something and they don't like, you know, steer off the road as a result of my feedback or, you know, or drive into another car because my feedback's not really skillful.

[67:25]

I don't think I understand. I want to believe the idea that it's inconceivable that somebody is not being skillful in thinking about other people or that they're so intense on that they have to say this thing right now. I want to believe that's inconceivable, but I don't see how. No, I'm just saying by studying the conceivable. The conceivable is I have a concept of me and them. I have a concept of what's skillful. I have a concept or a way of seeing this that I see they're being unskillful. And perhaps it might even be a story of we're being unskillful. You might actually see yourself as unskillful too. You might be talking on a cell phone and see somebody else talking on a cell phone and feel like, my God, we're both breaking the law. We're both being unskillful. And then by loving this and welcoming this story up, we lawbreakers, we open to the understanding of actually how this is, there's actually a peaceful cooperation going on here.

[68:33]

And from this peaceful cooperation, something could possibly, not always, but something could be offered to wake us both up. And we both carefully put our cell phones down and start driving more skillfully. It's tuning into the inconceivable reality. And when we're tuned into it, we can do, we can perform miraculous deeds. The inconceivability has this, the truth has this great power which can be given to us to express. And then when we express it, we don't feel like... We don't feel like we're doing it by ourselves. We feel like we're doing it with the person we're offering the feedback to. But there are occasions where we see, also we see occasions where we say, we can see. Right now, there is no, the way this is set up, there's no way to give this person feedback.

[69:35]

It's not going to work right now. They're not going to see what I'm doing. I cannot give them any gifts right now. So there are occasions where the Buddha and the Buddha's disciples have turned around people right in the midst of doing something really unskillful. They offered something which snapped them out of it. In the love and friendship they feel with some unskillful person, without grasping the reality of unskillfulness, loving the skillfulness into any, loving the unskillfulness into basically non-functional. I don't understand you, but that's okay. Yeah, well, if unskillfulness seems to exist, it exists because it seems to function. Not just the idea of it, but it seems to be, we feel like there's a functioning evil or something going on.

[70:42]

And there are cases like that where the Buddha met this with such friendship that one and all could observe that this evil lost its function. In other words, the evil stopped. In other words, a murderer just was no longer a murderer, a murderer who was actually trying to kill the Buddha. And there's a number of Zen stories about people who are about to kill a Zen teacher and the Zen teacher meets them with French, meets this interact, meets themselves and the other, meets their own fear or their own uneasiness with this violence and meets the violence with such friendship that what arises eliminates the violence. It just drops away on both sides of the interaction. That a violent person somehow is touched by the friendship. It melts their fear and violence. There are stories like that. And how it all works is inconceivable, but still the inconceivable can be realized.

[71:47]

But the way we realize it is by loving the conceivable. And we can conceive of this person's unskillful, this person's skillful, this person's unskillful, I'm skillful, I'm unskillful. These are our stories, our conceivable stories. If we love these stories, the curtain, the enclosure of conceivability drops away and we open to the inconceivable truth, the most profound truth. And we open to that then the road of unhindered compassion and peace opens up. And there are stories about this which are translated into conceivable stories about how beings have access to this realm and can bring it into the conceivable realm to encourage others to relate to the conceivable realm the way they do, namely lovingly. So they also open to this this blessed power, the power of blessing in the most challenging situations, which are usually violence and fear are the most challenging.

[73:02]

Thank you. You're welcome. I saw you and I thought, how wonderful that we're wheelchair accessible. Yes, please come. On the subject of studying ourselves, how can we actually sustain that practice during the whole day? You mentioned checking in three times. Yeah. Seems like it might take us 300 times during the day. How can we keep that practice going? Well, what I mean by checking in three times, I mean like formally checking in three times. And if between the formal check-ins, if you haven't been practicing it, then At the check-in time, you would say, I confess that I have not been studying myself since the last check-in, and I'm sorry about that, actually.

[74:07]

Yeah, I'm actually, I do want to practice kindness, and I have not remembered to do it since the last time I checked, and I'm sorry about that, and I'm going to try again now. And then the next check-in, you say, I missed many times again, but there were a few times, and I'm happy about that. And you check in again. So it's checking in, reiterating your intention, but also check to see if you've flipped up on it. So in here in the morning, once a day at least at Green Gulch, except Friday, we formally gather together and we say, oh, my ancient twisted karma, I now fully evolve. In other words, we formally model checking that we have been distracted from our most sincere intention. We have done that for a long time.

[75:10]

We do do that. So part of the practice is you can say three times a day, confess that you've been forgetting. And then after we confess, then we usually recommit. So I confess that I'd forgotten from beginningless time to be kind to all beings, and now I recommit by going for refuge in Buddha. I now go for refuge in Buddha, which means I go for refuge in compassion for all beings. And then again, I have forgotten to go for refuge in Buddha, and now I recommit to go for refuge in Buddha. So I didn't say it in talk, but it's maybe confession, repentance, recommit, check, check in, confession, repentance, and recommit, check in, okay, confession, repentance, and recommit. Sometimes you check in and say, I can't say I really did forget in the last two hours to practice this.

[76:16]

I can't really see examples of where I really forgot. But sometimes you can. So whether I can see examples where I wasn't kind, which I confess and I'm sorry about, or whether I can't really see anything, I did check anyway, but still, whether I find slip-ups or not, I recommit. That's, you know, very basic to all the Buddhas. They all do that. They all have done that. That's the practice. They've all done that. I mean, that's the word. It isn't that a few Buddhas didn't have to do this. They all went through this process of checking, studying themselves, finding shortcomings. Shakyamuni Buddha checked on himself, found shortcomings. He also checked on himself and found virtue and said, I want to continue this.

[77:23]

But he also, he confessed, the Buddha confessed, I checked on myself and found shortcomings and I recommitted to the way over and over again. But it is necessary to check. And also if you listen to the historical Buddhist teachings, you can see he does reflect on himself still. Like he says, when I went into the forest, if I became afraid, in other words, I checked on myself, I found I was afraid, If I was walking, I just kept walking until the fear stopped. In other words, I kept watching myself as I walked and I kept observing the fear and I kept walking until I observed the fear wane. So the Buddha was demonstrating that the Buddha had fear paid attention to it, stayed focused on what was going on with him, and through that focus became free of fear. If he was sitting, the same thing.

[78:25]

If he was lying down, the same thing. So he demonstrated, he was the Buddhist that showed, I studied myself too. And it's a good practice. It leads to fearlessness, and it leads to eventually being able to be joyful in really challenging environments where most people, including the Buddha, would be terrified. That scripture is called Fear and Dread, where somebody asks the Buddha about going into the forest. Isn't that frightening? Isn't it hard to practice meditation in the forest with all those wild animals and stuff? So they discuss that. Buddha said, well, before I got things together, yeah, I was afraid too, but now I think it's really fun to go out there. I love it because I can handle the fear. I know how to love the fear now. So now I can go in really dangerous situations and love the fear and be joyful wherever.

[79:32]

Thank you. Yes, Justin. Thank you. I think I've heard you speak about love a lot and I think it's a helpful teaching. I guess the question is about the actual act of practicing loving in oneself. And for me I think it's taken a variety of forms. I think right now in my practice it's important not to exert too much effort or control over a situation, so not... in my own mind, like say, an emotion or a tension. Could I say something? Yeah. So part of love is not being overbearing.

[80:39]

So not trying to control the situation is part of love. Giving up trying to control is part of loving the situation. So I wanted to affirm that. Yeah. So say there's a difficult emotion or sensation. simply being aware of that, that acceptance is love. Yeah, it's a part of love. Yeah. It's a part. Very important part. First of all, noticing it, then accepting it. And then sometimes if I see that there's still maybe just a neutral or maybe a slightly negative relationship with it, I can... Well, that's another thing to do the same thing with. Right. Well, okay. The negative relationship could be seen as the way you're dealing with this problem, but also it's a new thing to be kind to.

[81:40]

So I guess I'm asking about, or I'm thinking about the act of being kind in that sometimes what I'll do is maybe I'll just crack a little smile. Yeah, that's a good one. And that actually brings some energy, some positive energy. Look at the Buddha statue, there's a little smile there. There's a little crack in the cheeks. It's a slight smile, a relaxed smile, a sustainable smile. So the Buddha is actually smiling, even though the Buddha is living... Buddhas live at the center of all suffering beings. That's where they live. They don't live in like, you know, the gated communities. They live right in the middle of suffering, and there's a little smile. They're not like, this is really funny, all these suffering people. No, it's more like, I love being here with all these beings. I love... I love practicing love in the midst of all beings. I love it. It is a joy. But it's a subtle thing.

[82:44]

Subtle smile. So making your cheeks like that, you're making your cheeks like the Buddhas. Yeah. So there's also a practice of metta where one sort of will recite or uses something that then brings forth maybe a feeling of compassion or kindness for a situation. Yes, right. So I see there being some sort of spectrum of what it means to practice kindness. Yeah. And so I guess I'm curious. For me, I guess it seems like I just kind of feel it out in whatever situation, kind of, oh, this feels necessary, this doesn't. But do you have that same sort of spectrum of how you sort of approach practicing kindness? Because you say love things, be kind to things. When you say spectrum, you mean like sometimes just being loving to something and other times doing a formal practice? Is that what you mean by spectrum? Yeah, yeah, I suppose so.

[83:46]

Or... I feel like just allowing things to be as they are is one form of loving them. And then you could add something or you could also do a more formal practice. So when you move by spectrum, you mean like one situation, you're in silence and stillness, you allow something to be. Another case, in silence and stillness, you say, I allow you to be. Yeah. Yeah, I think both. Sometimes you speak, sometimes a word, really helps. Sometimes silence is sufficient to the moment. I'd like to know how you develop the skills to understand when someone is able or ripe to receive a gift.

[85:28]

By admitting that you don't know, if you don't know if somebody's ready to receive a gift, I think being honest about that you don't know will develop the ability to know. So I have a gift maybe I'd like to give you. I don't know if you're ready. And I'm honest about that, first of all, with myself. I don't know if she's ready for that gift. So that's one step. Next step. I have a gift and I don't know if she's ready to receive it, but I'm gentle and flexible about not knowing if she's ready. I have a gift to give, I don't know if she's ready to receive it, but I'm upright with the gift and with my not knowing that she's ready. I have a gift to give. I don't know if she's ready to receive it, but I'm harmonizing with my not knowing if she's ready to receive it.

[86:44]

By practicing that way with my not knowing if she's ready to receive it, the Buddha will appear with us. And the Buddha will say, give it to her. this inconceivable wisdom will manifest with that wholehearted love of the not knowing if this is a good time to give the gift. In the meantime, if I feel like, well, the Buddha isn't appearing to guide us, I would say, well, I feel I'm going to take a risk now. I feel like I have a gift for you. I've been practicing being upright and gentle and honest and flexible. And I now would like to tell you I have a gift for you and I'd like to know if you're ready for it. And you may say yes, but still not really be ready. Or you may say no. And that makes it easier for me.

[87:46]

I say, okay, maybe later. And you say, yeah, maybe later. But you know I still offer the possibility of a gift which you didn't feel you were ready to receive. But it's possible that we would make a mistake, that I would be offering you a gift, you would say, okay, I'll give it to you, and we may feel later it was too soon, it wasn't the right time, it wasn't really helpful. It's possible. But if I feel like it probably would be helpful and I check with you, check with myself first of all and try to be balanced with it in this way, sometimes this amazing suggestion is being made, sometimes the Buddha will appear. And the Buddha will guide you on how to deliver the gift. Other times the Buddha won't appear because you're not yet ready to receive the guidance and you do your best under the circumstances. But you know that you might be wrong. So the person said that was not helpful. You can say probably, thank you, I'm sorry. I knew it might not be good, but I thought it would be.

[88:50]

So that's why I offered it. So what happens when you have an impulse to give a gift? Well, when you say impulse, whenever you want to give a gift, it's an impulse to give. So what do you mean by impulse? You mean something that's ahead of you? Yes, it is ahead. I mean, in other words, yeah. Well, then I would say, then probably, it's pretty likely, if it's ahead of you, in other words, if you're not upright, you know, you're ahead of the game, you're not abreast, you're ahead of your game, then probably it might work out, but you probably won't get to see the Buddha. So if we're getting ahead of ourselves, if we're gift-giving and we're ahead of ourselves in the gift-giving, it might work out. It's possible. But if you're upright with it and not ahead of yourself, then more than just the gift can occur. Great awakening can occur.

[89:52]

So, but always, there's always an impulse. Whenever you want to give, you do have the impulse to give. But you can be right up there with it and not back of it or front of it. It's possible to be balanced. And that's the realm in which we open to the great understanding of this gift, to the enlightenment that's in the gift. Thank you. Yes. I feel like Alan was right, that he knew that you would be well taken care of, and I'm just feeling like I hope that the other person, the person that you danced with in that story, also has a community supporting her

[91:02]

And I, listening to people dialogue this morning, have been thinking that I would like to become a better dancer. And I feel like I say things to people. Like what she said to you, I actually feel like I say things like that to people. So at the moment, I'm feeling a lot of love for her. And I have a song in my mind that I'd like to share, not to upstage the master. Dance me to your beauty. with a burning violin Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in Show me slowly what I only know the limits of Dance me to the end of love Dance me to the end of love

[92:21]

Some years ago, I don't know how many, one of the senior students at Zen Center, actually it was Tia Strozer, said, why don't we ever sing in Zen? And I said, we do. She said, when? I said, kanji, zaibo, zazugyojin, hanyan. She said, no, I mean like sing. I said, oh no. So I started singing. And some people say, why don't you ever talk about love in Zen? So I started talking about love. Why don't you do X in Zen? Well, we do. Whatever it is, you tell me, why don't we do that in Zen? We'll start doing it. Why aren't you mean in Zen? Well, of course, no one says that. We are. Why don't you stop being mean? Okay, let's stop. But yeah, I... I'd like to be challenged, so if you say, why don't we do such and such in Zen, I'd be happy to start. Now, the question is how to stop. Now that they've got me talking about love and singing, how do you stop me now and give me something else?

[93:38]

Yes, please come. You just prompted me to ask a very impromptu question, and that's... Prompted to impromptu? Prompted, yeah. Doing and not doing. How come we don't show our... love for each other, our appreciation, our support for each other in Zen. How come I never get a hug in Sangha? How come you never get a hug? How come you don't give me hugs? Would you please come and hug her? Okay? Yes. My mom used to say, a kiss without a squeeze is like apple pie without cheese.

[95:08]

Thank you very much.

[95:43]

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