So the Zen master, Tore, says, when I, a student of the Dharma, observe the true form of the universe, I see that everything is the unfailing manifestation of the miraculous light of the Buddhas. And at the end, even if someone's cruel to me, even if someone that I've been kind to is cruel to me, I should extend a mind of great compassion to them And by extending this mind, we may have maturity in Buddha's wisdom.

[01:11]

And the mind extends, in a sense, from us beings and from all beings to us. The extension is from us outward and from others into us. So we say embrace and sustain all beings, but that which is translated embrace and sustain can also mean be embraced and sustained. So I vow to embrace and sustain all beings, and I vow to be sustained by all beings in both directions. Extend this mind and let the mind be extended into you. And when I, a student of Dharma, I see that that's the way they are.

[02:23]

But I don't see it with my perception. This extending of the light of Buddha in this outward and this mutual illumination is imperceptible. So there's a little world where we perceive things, but a little visible world where we perceive things, it's big enough to have problems. It's big enough to be afraid. So we practice Zazen in a perceivable world where we have a body that sits cross-legged in a zendo with other humans and so on. But we also sit Zazen in an invisible world, an imperceptible world.

[03:27]

And the two worlds are inseparable. The imperceptible and the perceptible are inseparable. ...with our perceptible world, and our perceptible world is totally intimate with the imperceptible world. And I don't know if the imperceptible world surrounds the perceptible world or completely interpenetrates inside of it. The imperceptible is beyond such judgments. So it can be inside, outside, and totally interpenetrating. We sit in both those worlds. We sit in the perceptible and we practice the perceptible. And we practice compassion

[04:34]

with what we can't see, too. And we receive compassion from what we can't see. The way we're being helped, we can see in a small, perceptible way. But the way we're actually being helped is inconceivable. The way we're helping, we can see in a perceptible way. I'd like to help you, and then I do, and you say, thank you, that was helpful, and everybody's happy about that. That's fine. But sometimes I might try to be helpful and people say, that was not helpful. It was not helpful. And I maybe say, I hear you. And I might feel sorry, but I might not feel sorry. I might feel like, well, I tried and I was unsuccessful and I accept that, that maybe that was a good lesson for me. Sometimes I feel like, well, I didn't do what I wanted to do, and I'm sorry because I didn't do what I wanted to do.

[05:47]

But anyway, there I am in the perceptible world, making an effort, me making an effort. I accept that. I see things that way sometimes. I don't like it, but my mind sees two kinds of students. But really there's only one kind of student. And that one kind of student is the unfailing manifestation of the light of Buddha's wisdom. The one kind of student is a student who is being supported by everybody, who's an unfailing manifestation of the light of Buddha's wisdom, and that one kind of student is supporting all beings. That's the one kind of student. but that is imperceptible. And how that one student, that one kind of student, is what we all really are, how that's so, is imperceptible, inconceivable, and unstoppable, and unceasing.

[06:58]

It's one of the contexts of our practice, and the other is the perceptible. And understanding of one manifests the other, and the understanding of the other makes the one liberated. The way we're helping each other. Well, in some sense maybe we do. We have to liberate it so that it can penetrate the realm of the perceptible. In the realm of perception, thank you very much for making me a delicious lunch. In the realm of perception, thank you very much for getting those cards ready for Barbara's family and for... Thank you. In the realm of perception, thank you for doing the ceremonies today.

[08:06]

In the realm of perception, thank you for taking care of this temple. In the realm of perception, thank you. In the realm of imperceptible assistance, I don't know what you're doing, but thank you. I can't see how you're doing it, but thank you. I don't know who I'm thanking, Because I don't know who you are in your imperceptible manifestation. But thank you for being the light of Buddha's wisdom. Thank you. And thank you for however I get to be the way I am. And that's my name.

[09:13]

That's the security he gave me. Tenshin means, Reb is Reb, he said. He gave me that name, Tenshin. He said, that means Reb is Reb. And he said, that may be a problem for people, but it can't be helped. And the second part of the name is the whole works. It's the whole works. The whole universe works to make REB. And it's not that REB's the whole universe. It's REB being REB is the whole universe. It's not like there's REB being REB and then the whole universe. It's not that there's Elizabeth being Elizabeth and the whole universe. Vlada being Vlada is the whole universe and it is the working of the whole universe. That's my name.

[10:13]

My name is the teaching of our practice. It's hard to be a self in karmic consciousness. It's hard. Because before we can be totally the self, before we're totally a self, it seems like there's something better than the self. And that's hard. Before we're totally our self, it's not clear. We aren't proving that this self being a self is due to the support of all beings. So we're training to be totally our self. He's helping us in that we cannot be totally ourself by our own effort. We can make our own effort because everyone's supporting us. That's our practice.

[11:16]

in the realm of the perceptible, thank you for taking care of this temple. All of you are doing so much for this temple. Thank you. Is there anything you wish to tell me? Thank you. I asked someone, is there anything you want to tell me? He said, All there is is an empty mind. And I think I may have said, Does the empty mind want to say anything? And I don't remember if the empty mind said anything. All there was is was an empty mind.

[12:33]

And I asked if the empty mind wanted to say anything, but I didn't hear anything. The empty mind does want to say something. The empty mind says, embrace and sustain the forms and ceremonies. The empty mind says, practice the bodhisattva practices. The empty mind says, embrace and sustain all beings. The empty mind says, be embraced and sustained by all beings. The empty mind says, be embraced and sustained by all beings. The empty mind says, be embraced and sustained by all the forms and ceremonies. Yes, Rick?

[13:49]

Thank you very much, and I have no complaints whatsoever. The empty mind says, thank you very much, I have no complaints. It uses human beings to let us know that. The empty mind says, Oh! And we can hear the empty mind talking if we listen to Oh. So we have to train our listening to Oh! And then we'll be able to hear, Oh, I know this name. And I don't know if the person who said that understands that or not.

[15:09]

But I want them to. One time a monk went to visit a friend. And the monk said, How is your venerable health? And her friend said, I'm really sick. Or, I'm really sick. And the visiting monk said, You're really sick. And the other monk said, I'm really sick. I hear that I'm really sick, finally. I've been waiting all this time to hear that.

[16:13]

Thank you for helping me. Does the empty mind have anything more to say? I've been puzzled today about the fifth precept. About the what? Number five, if I have the number correct. It's the selling of intoxicants. The fifth major bodhisattva precept is not selling. That was written a long time ago before other drugs were invented. Now we maybe say intoxicants. You're puzzled by that. Yes. I'm wondering why it isn't the consuming of intoxicants as opposed to the selling.

[17:17]

After Bodhisattva precepts come 48 minor Bodhisattva precepts. And I believe maybe number one on the list of the 48 minor is not consuming intoxicants. Consuming them is considered to be less harmful sell them, try to make money off other people by selling it to them. So it's a great, it's a more serious thing to sell and try to make profit off other people's intoxicants than to intoxicate yourself. So both are included. But in modern America, I don't know who exactly was involved in rewording this, but at Zen Center we say, and not to intoxicate oneself or others. So we put the minor together with the major into one.

[18:19]

Americans may say, oh, so I don't sell drugs. I just use them, so no problem, I guess. Well, so we put them together and say, it's still kind of a problem. Did that solve that problem for now? Yes. So it also seems like the original fermented liquor was very narrow because many, many things can be intoxicants. And intoxicants can also be a subjective matter. One can become intoxicated with things or experience affect others.

[19:21]

Yeah. Would the current interpretation of that be that it's not a matter of . It's intoxicating oneself in any way? Yes. Yes. I've heard you in ceremonies say this precept in different ways. For example, there was one priest training that I sat through where you said, I vow not to intoxicate someone. Yeah. And then at the

[20:25]

My Jukai, you said, I vow not to consume intoxicants. I don't remember that. My sons immediately said, I didn't get you one. Because they heard it, too. Exactly like that. And I felt kind of disappointed in your wording. Yeah. Maybe I didn't say that. What do you think I said? But anyway, you need to change it to just consume. So you can sell your... And you can't sell your wine to your kids either. Okay. So actually you should raise the price. to an inconsistently unpayable level.

[21:29]

And when they pay it, they'll understand the precept. The price of my wine is saving all sentient beings. After you save all sentient beings, you can have my wine. These are expressions from the empty mind to help people understand the empty mind. So, I don't think I said consume, but maybe sometimes I should say consume to help people understand the empty mind. Maybe sometimes it says something different from what we usually expect in order to help people open up to the inconceivable realm of Buddhist wisdom so that children can come try to get their mother's wine and offering an opportunity for imperceptible mutual assistance to be realized in that relationship.

[22:52]

That's the point. which we can't remember, to keep listening to the inconceivable Dharma, even though we can only hear it in its transformation into the conceivable. So, I don't think I said that, but maybe I was possessed And I said it that unusual way, for the sake of Buddha's work, to use me to get your children interested in Buddhism. I wasn't interested until I found out that my mother's receiving the precept meant I got a whole line. I thought Buddhism was really cool. And I get her a car, too, because the one before that, up the line a little bit, was not being possessive of anything, even your car. So can I have your car, Mom? And it's not so much that the kids get the car, but that the kids get the drama.

[24:01]

And you first get interested by the perceptible, to think, hey, there's something cool here for me. Before I wasn't interested in Buddhism, but now I see that actually I could use this to my own advantage. So I'm going to go and use my mother's devotion to make some gains here, and then you as they try to, you know, abuse you this way, you extend great compassion to them and say, on your vulnerability through the precepts, you know, and through this relationship we mature Buddha's wisdom. That's the point. But we have these forms, we use these forms, these precepts are forms, and we use the forms to verify that we're not attached to them. So I'm not attached to the story that I didn't say that you said, but I still don't think I said it, but I could very well have said something.

[25:18]

And, yeah, I'm open to that. I'm open to that. I said just what you said I said, all of you. Thank you for helping me. Thank you for letting me help you live your life. Thank you for letting me help you live yours. May our intention equally extend to every being and place. May it unite us with respect.

[26:05]

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