May I say again that I propose to you and me that enlightenment is living in stillness and silence. So two ways I hear that are in the context of stillness and silence, that's where enlightenment lives. Another way to hear it is Enlightenment is when you live in stillness and silence. When that's the way you live, that's enlightenment. And then again, being authentic lives in that same place. And being authentic is living in silence and stillness.

[01:01]

And then again, Another turning of it is that you don't have to move to be authentic, or put another way, You must not move. You must be still to be authentic. You don't have to move to be authentic. As a matter of fact, if you do move, you might get distracted from being authentic by the movement. It is possible to move in stillness. The basic thing is we must not move away from anything.

[02:04]

We must be with what's happening if we wish to be authentic. There are many ways that bodhisattvas practice enlightenment or practice being authentic. Many infinite ways that bodhisattvas practice being authentic. But all the different ways are said to be included under six Vaisakha precepts.

[03:13]

Six Vaisakha methods of training in enlightenment. And the six are giving. Alice mentioned yesterday is dana. Ethical discipline, practical training, patience, enthusiasm, concentration, and wisdom.

[04:18]

So these bodhisattva trainings occur in enlightenment. These bodhisattva trainings occur in stillness. These occur in silence. Bodhisattvas may be practicing giving, kind words, giving Dharma talks, giving information to help people. They may be giving speech, but the speech is given in silence. All this silence and stillness of the Buddhas includes dynamic action. All this dynamic training, dynamic function of enlightenment occurs in stillness. So this is not a dead stillness in silence.

[05:27]

It's a totally alive enlightenment in silence and stillness. I think I'm going to expand on this one this afternoon. the second what's up between ethical discipline in terms of how that's part of being authentic. So part of being authentic, I'll talk about giving first, part of being authentic is to be generous. So the Buddhas, of course, are generous. But also generous has also the quality of graciousness. Graciousness But the gracious host is a host that can welcome anybody, not just nice people.

[06:33]

Difficult guests, a gracious host or hostess is one that can be gracious towards difficult guests. Now, it's also possible to be gracious to, I don't know what, easy guests. and be graciously penitent? One. They deserve graciousness too. But the legend of the Buddha on the night of enlightenment, or the afternoon of enlightenment, the Buddha says, I'm going to sit down under this tree and I'm not going to move. Ever hear that story? The Buddha said, I'm going to sit under this tree and I'm not going to move until the way is realized. I'm not going to move until authenticity is realized. I'm not going to move until there's complete genuineness in this world at this seat.

[07:41]

And then he sat there and he did sit still and There is this story in Buddhism that when somebody sits still, not to mention a Bodhisattva who was on the verge of becoming a Buddha, but when anybody sits still, the palaces of Mara, the palaces of the demons, start shaking. They have earthquakes in demon land when somebody sits still. Demons are trying to keep us jumping around all the time. That's their job. Keep us hopping. The demons are like our nervous system. Keep those doggies rolling. Clint Eastwood was in that TV show, wasn't he? Yes. You know who Clint Eastwood is, don't you?

[08:53]

Well, he was actually called Rawhide, and I'm not sure if they said, keep those doggies rolling. Keep those cows moving. Rawhide. Anyway, where was I? demons. The demon says, that guy's going to sit still big time. Let's go try to get him to move. So all kinds of aggressive and seductive and addictive demons came to try to get the Buddha to move. And when they came, the Buddha said, welcome, brothers and sisters. The Buddha met them with loving kindness and compassion, according to the story. Now, maybe he didn't. Maybe he said, oh, darn. I wanted to sit here and become Buddha. Now, these guys are coming here to get away. Maybe he said, you go get those doggies rolling out of here. No, that's not the story.

[09:55]

The story is he did not move, and in that stillness, he welcomed them. And when he welcomed them, they were pacified and peaceful, which is similar to they went away. This is the Buddha's example. Welcome. Gracias, senora, senorita. Gracias, senorita, for coming to visit me on the threshold of enlightenment. You are welcome. I'm busy sitting still, so I can't go dancing with you tonight, but I may have some other time. Although I probably won't be busy teaching, so I may not be able to go dancing with you. Or anyway, I'll dance with you by teaching. Given in the Buddha's stillness there is generosity, there is graciousness, there is welcoming, there is letting demons be demons. Wishing that they will be enlightened, but first of all, let them be what they are.

[11:00]

Show them that you will let them be who they are, and then they can be who they are, and then they will be enlightened. Demons can be enlightened by Buddhists. The Buddhists show the demons how? By sitting still and saying, welcome. It isn't like sitting still and get out of here. It's sitting still and you're welcome to come, even though you're not ready to sit still, you're still welcome to come here and jump on over. That's a given. Can you believe it? That someone could welcome demons? You can learn. We can learn to welcome demons. And this is the Buddha way. To learn to welcome demons. To learn to welcome everybody. Because that's what we're sitting still for. We're not sitting still just to set the world's record for stillness. We're sitting still because in stillness enlightenment is living there.

[12:03]

Graciousness is living there. And part of being gracious is giving up trying to control your guests. It's not a gracious host that people come in and the host tells them what to eat, where to stand, how long to stay and when to go. Although last night Elizabeth did tell the guests to go, but in that case it was gracious because it came from stillness, right? She wasn't trying to control the guests out of the house. She was just letting them know that they could go. They probably wanted to go anyway. And they were just staying, you know, because they were gracious to their hostess. She probably wants us to stay all night. Maybe she does anyway. So we should wait until she invites us to leave. And she did. So they went. And now they're here. And they're happy that she got to go home and get some rest. Right? Yay, Elizabeth. So anyway, graciousness is part of what's going on in the stillness of the Buddhas.

[13:09]

Giving and not trying to control the gifts, not trying to control the demons, not trying to get the pretty ones to stay and the unwilling ones to go or vice versa. Welcoming everybody, let everybody come and let everybody go. Help support everybody to have a good time. Help everybody be authentic. It's the giving. That's the giving practice, that's the giving precept that's going on in the stillness of Zen sitting, Buddha sitting. And I'll talk about the ethics this afternoon. Any feedback before lunch? Yes, please come. This week I'm going camping with 23 children, and yesterday I was thinking, I'll be authentic next week.

[14:17]

And today I'm thinking, well, I can be authentic, and I can imagine meeting each child and doing each bit, but how do I remember to be authentic each moment? How did it I can hardly remember one sitting. Well, you said, how can I remember, and you went... That's part of it. You answered your question right there. You kind of went, you inhaled, and then you settled. That was... 23 children. It's going to be the last time you inhale. So I get it in sort of kind of get it in a retreat setting, but in day-to-day. Well, the basic thing I would say is make everything you do a gift. So various impulses to action will arise in you when confronted with these children.

[15:24]

You will wish for various things. Like, for example, you wish for their safety and their happiness. Maybe their safety first. They've got to survive. If they survive, that's good. If they're happy to, that would be great. If they're happy and don't survive, I can't deal with that. I've got to give them back to their parents. So you want that. But you may not get it. It's possible that you won't get that. But they won't be safe, that they will be harmed. They will be injured. It's possible. You should be open to that. You should be gracious with that possibility. And I think the reason why you come up here is you know there's some danger of having that many kids without having 55 adults. And still there's danger. You cannot control children. You cannot control anybody.

[16:27]

So it's good just to remember that. But still, you wish for these things. And I think that what you do, what you speak, the postures you make, it's good to make them given, so to say. I want you to do this. I want to give you another question. Do you hear me? And look them in the eye to see if they received your gift. I want you to do this. I don't want you to do that. That's who I am. I really am. I don't want you to do this. I do want you to do it. I don't want you to step over this line. I don't want you to go into that place. So you're going to set up probably some, you're going to make some requests of them. You're going to set some boundaries. But as a practice, if you want to practice that, and these boundaries are gifts, not control them.

[17:30]

You say, I don't want you to go over there. I don't want you guys to do this. And in your heart, you're knowing that these are gifts that you're giving. You're not trying to control them. And they want to see if you're giving them gifts, if you disrespect them and think that you can control them. I can't control you kids, but I do have some things I want to ask of you. And after I ask them and ask you, I feel a lot, too many. Do you agree to do what I just asked you to do? It doesn't mean they will. So I give precepts to big kids, old kids. I say, here's the precept of not killing. Do you wish to receive this precept? And they say, yes. And I say, from now on and even after realizing Buddha, will you continue to practice this precept of not killing? And they say, yes, I will. But I don't expect that they will. But I asked them if they wanted it. They said they did. And I gave it to them. And I ask them, are you going to try to keep practicing? And they say yes, but I don't expect that they will.

[18:37]

If they do, great. If they don't, I'll ask them again, do you want to practice? And they say yes. Did you do it? No. You want to? Yes. So tell them what you want. Tell them what you value. And be present when you tell them. Being present. Yeah. If you don't pay attention to them when you deliver the message, then you missed someone. Then you should be kind to yourself and be gentle with yourself when you forgot to stay present with them when you delivered the message of what you want. And then try again, because you do want to be present. But you probably are going to miss many times. So there'd be many things, I kind of miss that one. But just like when you're playing tennis or something, I miss that one, I miss that one, I miss that one. You keep playing. That wasn't quite right, that wasn't quite right. I don't want to try again and again and again. So they will support you to feel things.

[19:41]

They will support you to be concerned for low welfare. And from that concern, you will have something you'd like to ask of them. And you will express yourself, you will. You will be expressing yourself the whole time. But will these expressions, will these expressions be gifts? And I'm saying this to you now, but you may forget to make them gifts. So you just say, oh, I forgot to make that a gift. That was more like a controlling thing. It wasn't the way I want to do it. This is what I want to ask of you people. Any questions? Yes. Is it okay to pet on a first date? What? Younger. I'm glad you have this child. It's kind of like Jules. So from the Buddhist point of view, we're all Buddhist children. And Buddha loves us all and wants us all to be enlightened.

[20:51]

So Buddha gives the gift of what the Buddha wants and recommends for us. But Buddha doesn't expect that we'll follow the teaching. He just keeps giving it. Just keeps giving. If you expect that they'll follow it, that'll make it harder when they don't. You might even say, I don't care anymore. But because the Buddha doesn't expect us to practice the Dharma, when we don't, the Buddha just keeps wanting us to practice the Dharma and never gives up Please come. Yes, you may. That was intimate, but go ahead. I'm having trouble with the concept of silence. Can they be stuck with a literal meaning of silence? Yeah. Well, there's a literal meaning and then there's a non-literal meaning. And then there's both literal and non-literal.

[21:53]

But even with the literal level, right now I'm talking to you. OK? I said, OK, OK, OK. OK, [...] OK. I'm talking, but I'm not forgetting silence. There's some silence here. Without silence, my speech would be incoherent. However, I can forget the silence. and still speak. But if I remember the silence while I speak, I think it's better speaking. In the silence while I speak, I have a chance to remember that you might be a great bodhisattva. Like the man says yesterday, I want to find a pause. In every experience there's a pause.

[22:56]

There's a rest in which the experience happens. The stillness and the silence around the apparent movement and speech. Listen to yourself when you talk. That means somebody's quietly listening while somebody's speaking. However, you don't have to talk while other people are talking. You can just listen to them. So there can be silence simultaneous with speech or carrying the airplane in silence. Basically we have this meditative silence in which we experience all sounds. But we can forget the silence when we hear the sound.

[23:58]

So I'm saying be mindful of silence when there's sound. Be mindful of stillness when there's movement. Now we have the context for being authentic. That's working with the literal meaning. Okay? Okay? I wanted to say before lunch that I noticed Jo Williams bringing in lots of food, which I have a feeling she prepared for us. Is that right? Yeah. Thank you so much. And if you'd like to have a little lunch break now, we could. Sorry, if you'd like to have lunch meditation now. Inside. Huh? Inside. Sorry, look. Do people want it to be in silence? No. So maybe some talking, but you can be styled around the talking. Or if you want to, when people talk to you, you can say, I'll listen to you, but I don't want to talk.

[25:06]

So we'll have about an hour break. Maybe come back at 1. Would that be okay? Have a lovely lunch.

[25:17]

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