I'm trying to start a little early this morning because I'd like to stop when the kitchen needs to go. Excuse me, but I have this feeling like I'm going away now for a while and I want to set you on course. Steady. Straight ahead. That's my intention. Let's see how it works out. I don't want to introduce any major new and startling issues today. I'll try to restrain myself from that so that you don't have more new stuff to handle as I'm about to go away for a while. So an overview might be helpful to start with, and that is, can you hear me okay?

[01:10]

Is that all right? So I began by suggesting to study and meditate on ultimate reality, which then brings up the teaching of the two truths, the truth of worldly convention and the ultimate truth, or the truth of ultimate meaning. And then this kind of philosophical presentation is followed by a kind of psychological presentation. And that I would describe simply as, in this way, first of all love, then renunciation, then realization. And, okay, and by renunciation, I mean renunciation of the world, starters, renunciation of the world, renunciation of the world of subject-object dualism, renunciation of the world of suffering that arises from believing in that duality.

[02:27]

And... An inset, a huge inset at this phase of renunciation would be the arising of Bodhicitta. So, I'd say love at the beginning, but then here's love in the middle. Bodhicitta... is also love. It's altruistic. Altruistic love coupled with the intention to achieve liberation for the welfare of those you love. This bodhicitta arises in the context of renunciation of the world. Renouncing the world being willing to work to become free of worldly attachments and miseries involved there.

[03:33]

When that thought arises, this is spiritual love. Because this thought didn't arise by your own power. It arised because you're in communion with Buddha. But the communion with Buddha is set up by the willingness to give up the world. If you're not willing to give up the world and we don't see the problems of the world, it's hard to accept Buddha who comes to help us give rise to the thought, to interact with us. And in that interaction, we give rise to this thought of bodhicitta. And the way to develop bodhicitta and protect bodhicitta are all these other practices which I've been calling training in suchness, training in selflessness, which are also kind of like our elaborations on what renunciation means.

[04:42]

It means renouncing all your usual responses to phenomena. It means renouncing your sentimental ways. renouncing your sentimental ways, Buddha is in communion with you at that time. And this thought to fully realize renunciation in the form of a selfless practice, which is the same as realization. Now, under the heading of love, what I mean by love here is, you know, loving kindness, Dualistic compassion, which can precede this altruistic aspiration to enlightenment. Joy, equanimity, those kinds of practices are love here, which some of you are practicing. Practicing love.

[05:46]

But other aspects of love are giving and being careful and conscientious. and mindful, and patient, and enthusiastic, and concentrated, or practicing concentration. In other words, the first five perfections of the Bodhisattva can be put in that kind of loving context which sets up renunciation. which sets up the ability to enter into deep insight work, which is the container for the old software. Dalai Lama calls this a good heart. So again, the way to look at this is start with heart practice.

[06:51]

That's where it starts. Then you go to heartless practice. Then you go to emptiness with a heart. Heart practice, heartless practice, and then a heart that has no object. And the Chinese character for emptiness looks like this. It's a nice character. It looks like this. It also leaves space and sky. But it also looks like a body. The head, the shoulder, the rib girdle, the pelvis, the legs, and the feet. So realization is this emptiness with a heart in it. Emptiness is ultimate truth, you know, it's always...

[07:53]

It's always the case. Emptiness is always the case. In the phenomenal world, emptiness is the case, really. And in the world where there's no phenomena, emptiness is the case. This is the realization of emptiness with a heart. Mahayana Buddhism, or the pattern of Bodhisattva, is to realize it's this emptiness. But the person who realizes it is the person who's got this good heart and his heart of renunciation and his heart of altruistic aspiration to enlighten him that heart is brought into emptiness it lives there and there there this heart is is unsurpassably protected this is where this heart will never get undermined the good heart won't get undermined The heartless heart won't get on the mind. The body checked the heart won't get on the mind when emptiness is understood. Excuse me, when you say heartless, do you mean the enunciation of the heart of sentiment?

[09:03]

Yeah. Yeah, well, it's kind of like Buddha said. Did you hear what he said the other night? Who wouldn't want to get rid of this body? Who wouldn't want to, like, drop this world off in a local, you know, recycling area or toxic waste dump? Wasn't that kind of heartless of him? Didn't sound all cozy, did it? Here he is, a great teacher going away saying, I'm glad to get out of here. This kind of talk, you know. You're actually seeing that this cute world of samsara, you know, which the shopping malls, And also, you know, all these spiffy little areas that we have around here, like in Silicon Valley. Drive around Silicon Valley. Have you seen that place? It's like spiffy. You know? It looks like heaven. It does. There's no homeless people who walk around there. There's no sick people. You don't see any sick people. Like anybody who can't walk upright and everything, they have them off to the side. Or they have little golf carts, you know.

[10:08]

It's renouncing all that, all the nice stuff, renouncing puppies. It means renouncing attachment to puppies. And in that renunciation is a heart that wants that really, but then the Buddha comes and the real love affair starts, the spiritual love affair. where your practice and Buddha's engagement in the world are the same thing. So then you are absolutely certain to attain realization once this happens. Now, like I said, you can lose it, though, if you don't cultivate these practices of meditation. But it'll come again. Okay?

[11:11]

Now, under the heading of love, you can receive the precepts. Part of the practice of love is to be careful. Is to try to practice the precepts. Part of love is like, try not to kill. Try not to steal. Try not to laugh. Try not to speak partially and so on. Okay? That's part of love. This kind of love. Love with an object. A good heart. But the real... merit of receiving the precepts is realized in the context of a spiritual communion, which arises out of renunciation. In our 47th precept ceremony in Soto Zen, at the beginning of the ceremony, we cut the hair. Lay people, we just cut a little bit of hair in a stylistically appropriate spot. priest would cut it all off. First thing is renunciation. Then you receive the precepts after that.

[12:12]

In the renunciation, when the renunciation happens, in the priest ceremony we play it out, when the renunciation happens is Buddha cuts the hair. Buddha and the monk together. Keep that renunciation out. And then, we don't say so, but then Bodhicitta is born in that communion between Buddha and this ancient being, in that love. Then the precepts are received, and then they really, the merit of it really starts to happen in that spiritual communion. They can be received before that, but the full merit was not realized until it's received in renunciation and spiritual communion. This is review somewhat, right? tidying things up a little bit, but let's see the review. Now, one thing I want to amplify as I'm going away is we're almost to the halfway point of the practice period, and I'll be darned if people aren't still having a hard time.

[13:20]

If you haven't, you know, you don't have your cruise control on yet. Sitting back, you know. Still, it's hard. Matter of fact, it seems to be getting harder in a way. Again, people came out of Tangaro, they thought everybody here was cool. All the other students, you know. Well, I knew this guy one time, one of our first, I think our first Tangaro, he said, excuse me if you're saying so, this is a quote. He said, when I came out of Tangaro and saw those old students, I thought they were all in fucking Nirvana. Now, then he gradually found out that they... Some of them still had some attachments, and Matthew was really disappointed. So the Thangarga students all thought that the senior students were in blankety-blank nirvana, and now gradually they're finding out that there's humans here, sentient beings, apparently appearing in this valley. And they're becoming disillusioned, and they're having a hard time.

[14:24]

Some people are feeling very irritable now. feeling very irritable, feeling very negative. They're negating things like, you know, bad, [...] bad. No good, no good, no good. Get rid of. Low quality, quality control. No, no, no, no. And of course, they feel bad about this, right? Seeing all this worthless sentient material or maybe not worthless but you know not really you know kind of middle grade mediocre here I am here I am stuck in a valley with mediocrity oh how irritating how much more can I stand this mediocrity so irritating

[15:28]

So right in the middle of practice period, this is coming up. I'll be done. So we're coming into a hard time, and I'm leaving town. So, you know, fasten on your safety lights, because it's going to be rough for some of us. And the ones who aren't having such a rough time have to take care of the ones who are having a rough time. So the ones who are feeling irritable, you know, have to be cared for the ones who don't feel so irritable, and that's kind of irritating. That's why you have to practice this kind of law. And if you practice this kind of law and practice renunciation, like make your mind like a wall, find the mind like a wall, with that mind like a wall, you can meet these people, these suffering people here. When they come to you all kind of quivering and, you know, on verge of collapse or attack, you know, you just sort of like say, okay.

[16:33]

Outside, no, don't activate the mind around this face. Quiet the mind down around this face, this tormented, angry face. Quiet the mind around it. Just angry face. Quiet mind around that. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. inside judgment of this person. Quiet. Don't get riled up about this judgment. Quiet down around all phenomena arising inside and outside. And if you see that phase and some pain comes up, you have to practice patience, but you have to take care of yourself. Practice patience. Give yourself the chance to stop. Practice patience with this painful interaction. The weather is warming up. Today is pretty warm. The weather is warming up, but the people are becoming more challenging.

[17:37]

So I don't usually speak of people in public, but the other day at work meeting, I turned around and shook hands with mats and patted them. kind of parental way. You haven't been the same since yet. And I said, I said later, I said, Max, you know why I shook your hand and called you? And he said, I don't know. Well, did you say I don't know? Yeah. I said, well, because you did good, Max. You did something. He did something, which he didn't think was that bad. It wasn't trying to cause trouble, but it bothered somebody else. And when he found out, and I thought, well, if you do something and you don't think it's that bad and it bothers somebody, when you find that out, it often hurts. Especially if you do something like try to be helpful, and you find out somebody doesn't like it, that really hurts. You know, like, famous example is, not famous, one example is, could be famous now, you go in the kitchen, you know, maybe after hours, and there's stuff laying around on the counters, so you take it in, you put it away in the walk-in, and somebody comes by and says, you thief, you rockin' thief, trying to sneak into that walk-in, and here you are trying to be helpful, and they misunderstand your good intentions, and accuse you falsely, and actually you're trying to help and clean up that kind of thiefs.

[19:11]

It really hurts. So anyway, I think that hurt him to hear that what he did bother someone. What did he do? He said. I did it. Told the truth. He didn't get angry at the painful revelation of his behavior not being liked by somebody. He practiced patience with it. It hurt a little bit. He practiced patience with it. Then he told the truth. And then he said, I'm sorry. And he said, I won't do it again. He practiced patience. He practiced carefulness. He practiced giving. He practiced the precepts. He practiced honesty. And he even had some enthusiasm. A little enthusiasm. His voice had some strength. So he did good. I don't know how concentrated he was, but, you know. Most of the other... Loving practices he was doing on himself in response to somebody's comment about his behavior. So that's good, Max.

[20:16]

Keep it up, please. Keep being like that. Now, I also want to mention in this context of the overall view, this love can also be called beginner's mind. Okay, beginner's mind. you come to the monastery, you want to follow the schedule, you want to practice the precepts, and so on. Beginner's mind is not the same as Bodhi mind. Beginner's mind is a mind you have when you first show up to practice. It's not, when you first show up to practice, you may not be coming here to, a lot of people come here, and if I ask them, are you into, like, attending, unsurpassed, perfect, incomparable enlightenment, they all say, well, no. Not yet. Or they hear it by and they say, yeah, I just want to come and tell you I'm not into this enlightenment stuff. I say, fine. It's okay. You don't have to have that aspiration yet. It's okay. But they do want to, like, do some good.

[21:19]

They do want to, like... give up some bad habits. They do want to kind of like eat vegetarian. They do want to like be in a situation that's ecologically less damaging than some other one they could be in. They have some good intentions there. They want to practice the Buddha way. They haven't yet got the concept of renunciation. They want to practice the precepts, but they haven't got the idea of renunciation yet. That's beginner's mind. They don't yet want to attain unsurpassed in life for the welfare of others before themselves. But they want to be somewhat helpful. This is Beginner's Mind. Which is, you know, the name of Tsukiroshi's book. He saw, when he saw these Zen students, he saw Beginner's Mind. This lovely Beginner's Mind. It wasn't Bodhicitta. But it was Beginner's Mind. And we have that Beginner's Mind here. We have to take care of that. We have to work on that, too. We can't forget that.

[22:20]

Even after Bodhi Chikti, you still should have Beginner's Mind. Go back to Beginner's Mind. Go back to that simple little mind which does little good things. That supports this fantastically great project here. So patience is a big one here during this hard time in the practice. The middle is really hard. The beginning is hard for the Tongariya people. The middle is hard for everybody, just about. So a lot of people are running the tough stuff. And at the beginning, I noticed lots of positive energy in the community, lots of tendency towards idle chatter. And we've been working on that. Now, it's not so much idle chatter, although it's still an issue, we have to work on it. Now it's more like harsh speech. And talking of others' faults is coming. Okay? Wherever you stay on this chart, you still have to work on it. No idle chatter. Give up idle chatter.

[23:22]

Give up idle chatter. All the way through. But now let's watch out for harsh speech and talking about others' faults. Let's be careful of that too. Of course, an excellent example. Also tell the truth. I haven't heard about lying going in so much. But there's a tendency towards except for the person maybe who took Elka's book. Okay. Who hasn't confessed yet, where are you? What? If this person knows what's good for her, she's in the men's bathroom right now. Getting graffiti. Getting graffiti to serve people. I will like this to save a eurobuck. Anyway, watch speech now, speech. Be careful of speech. When we're in pain, and when others are in pain, we have to be very careful what we say with our mouth.

[24:24]

I told somebody this, I'll say it again, you know, my first practice period, I really worked on anger. I didn't work on not being angry, I worked on being angry. I was, for two months of that practice, of that three-month practice period, I was angry from 3.30 in the morning to 8 in the morning, every day. And I was angry at everything. I worked it out. I found out something about anger. And I kind of almost finished it off in those two months. But I stopped at 8 o'clock because that was work meeting and that's when we started talking. I couldn't really work on this anger thing when I was talking to people. Some people knew I was working on something very dark. and they just saw that cloud over me and they just stayed away which was a good idea but I didn't hurt anybody I just stopped it at work meeting and every morning it's easy to turn it on again as you probably know that's the next one so

[25:34]

Anyway, I really worked on it, but I didn't hurt anybody else, I don't think, during the whole time. Well, I should take it back. Maybe it didn't hurt anybody. The next practice period was different. I'll tell you about that later. But anyway, I worked on anger. I mean, it was happening. I had no concept of patience. So I just studied anger, which I had plenty of concepts of. And I was angry at everything. I was angry at the walls. I was angry at Buddha. I was angry at the chanting and all the chanters. I was angry at the sutras. I was angry at the stars. I was angry at everything. So when I finished, I realized that anger has nothing to do with what's out there. I pretty much was disabused of that. It has to do with me working with my pain or lack of working with it. So please, take care of each other. Practice patience with your pain. And your pain being your pain internally and your pain that you feel when you see certain faces and hear certain voices of people.

[26:47]

People are not that freaked out about the Blue Jays yet, as far as I've heard. They're squawking and not being taken personally. But some people squawking is being taken personally. Well, that makes it very painful to listen to people. Another thing about if you don't practice patience, not only will you hurt yourself and maybe hurt others, but you won't be able to move on in the practice. Practice is going to look very stupid, boring, pretty much a wasteland. The practice and the teachings are going to look very uninteresting if you don't practice patience. Not practicing patience when you're irritated and when you're having negative feelings is not the problem. It's the lack of patience. Negative feelings are not under our control. If somebody comes up to you and they smell a certain way, you can have an allergic reaction.

[27:49]

You can't do anything about that. You're just set up to be allergic to something else. Some people are just allergens, is that right? Allergens to us? And our body's set up so that we're irritated by them. We have reactions. That's just, you know, excuse the expression, the result of karma. Karma is the basis of our feelings, but how you respond to them is more common. And if you practice patience, that's the proper response to negative experiences that arise. So please practice patience. Then if you do, not only will you not hurt yourself by not practicing and having reactions to the negativity, you won't hurt others, and the practice and the teaching will start looking interesting. All that energy that goes towards fighting your pain and being angry will now be available to... It'll go into the books and come flying back out at you.

[28:51]

books will come alive, the teachings will come alive, because that energy which was going towards anger was now bouncing, that light is bouncing off the teaching and off the people and coming back with light. Everything will start getting interest. Even things which you've heard yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and the day before, the hearts that you say over and over will start getting interest. The refuges at night, wow, those are crazy. Wow, listen to music. It's celestial music. In the early days of practice periods, people used to bring certain equipment with them to have those experiences rather than practice and patience. One guy took a walk up the road one day, smokes and built and came back and he could hear the celestial music at evening service. Beginner's mind also will open your ears. Actually, it was celestial music going on in the evening service. Can you believe it? You can hear it, I know. When I first practiced Zen at Zen Center, they were doing some research on the meditators.

[30:01]

EEG, tests on our heads. And what they found was, you know, with a non-meditator, if you give a bell... What's that? Okay. Thank you. So with a non-meditator, this bell doesn't look so long. So with a non-meditator, you go like this. Ready? Somebody want to be a non-meditator? Did you kill something? It's a special case. Non-meditators and meditators, when they first hear the bell, when they register EEG, this is the meditator line. This is the non-meditator line. So when they first bring the bell, the meditator's response is like that, and the non-meditator's response. The beginner's mind response is like this. maybe an air blowing citrus as high, and the non-beginner's mind, well, actually, the first time this person hears it, they have a beginner's mind, they have the same reaction, basically, meditator or non-meditator.

[31:09]

Second time, the same bell, the non-meditator has maybe half the response. The third time, the non-meditator has nearly four. After a while, there's no response to bell. Kind of like, they ring a bell, but the brain has... The brain, the person, has decided that it's not really happening. So, say, oh, it's that thing again, and then the response, oh, yeah. But the meditator, the first time is six inches high, and the second time, six inches high, and the third time, six inches high, and the fourth time, six inches high, and the third time, six inches high, and the fourth time, six inches high, and the third time, six inches high. Each time, he's going, oh, what's that? A meditator is not too smart, see? A non-meditator, they know it's that same old bell. They know it's that same old bell, so no need to pay attention or experience it.

[32:13]

And it goes down to the neurological level, this kind of attitude. On the surface, the person is saying, on the surface, they're talking about that, but your neurons follow this thing. If you take care of yourself, the repetitive activities, the motto, don't dampen. They also don't get more interested. You bet you're going to get higher and more and more excited about it, and it's going to be steady. It's going to be steady, and that's what's going to be amazing, is that every morning is kind of like when you first started practicing. You're like a kid again. Kind of like, yeah, this is like 30 years ago. Kind of the same thing. I can still feel that same feeling that I felt when I first started to practice. I'm like a kid again. Doing what I did again. Singing a song. You know? And patience is a big part of this.

[33:15]

You can rob yourself of this kind of freshness if you don't practice patience with your stresses. And now is a time of stress and difficulty for a lot of people. So... If you're having difficulty, practice patience. And practice patience with the people who are having difficulty. You're not having so much. Now that was supposed to be just a kind of a... a review. So I don't know if I should do this other part of the review. If I do, there's not going to be much time for questions. Oops. Maybe if we just have all the questions and I won't say anything, that wouldn't take very long.

[34:18]

So I don't know what to do. I was thinking of doing a brief overview of this, how to meditate on these. A brief overview of the relationship between the Precious Mirror Samadhi and teaching the Samadhi Nirmakshana Sutra. But I could also just let that be when I come back. We'll get up question and answer. What do you think? Huh? Yeah. Should I review that or should we have question and answer? Huh? I'm going to give you one review, raise your hands. Any question and answer? Good review. Okay. So, see if I can do this quickly. So, yeah. Bruce? Three characteristics of the phenomena according to the sutra. The first one is what? Inclusion. Inclusion.

[35:21]

Or conception. Mere conception. Images. Second one? The pinnacle arising, right. Third one? Suchness. Suchness. The thoroughly established character of all phenomena. Okay. So, first of all, And which of these three is the truth of worldly convention? Number two is the truth of worldly convention. It's the truth because it's inseparable from three. Two is inseparable from three, and three is that two is separable from one. Okay? Two hides three. But if there's phenomena arising, three is always there. In the phenomena.

[36:24]

But two clouds the phenomena. Two clouds the perfected quality of all phenomena. It clouds it, and it's the same as it. It's identical with it. So the meditator needs to understand the pentacle rising, which means he needs to understand the truth. He needs to understand worldly convention and also the truth of worldly convention, namely that worldly convention, the pentacle rising, cloud, the truth, and are inseparable from the truth. So everything you see is a pentacle rising. You need to understand how that pentacle rising is separate from the word you have, which always comes with it. But it's separate from the word that always comes with it. And if you can study that, depending upon arising, free of conception, you can understand suchness.

[37:28]

Now, there's one more thing that I'm going to tell you. This is a new thing, okay? I think... I think it's okay. The suchness of all phenomena is that the suchness, number three, third characteristic of all phenomena, is that one is not confused with two. The suchness of all phenomena is that two is free of conception. That's the third characteristic, okay? Suchness is ta-ta-ta in Sanskrit. And then there's another word called emptiness, which is shunyata. The difference between shunyata and suchness is that shunyata is the two and three are three of one.

[38:38]

That's emptiness in Mahayama. Okay, once again, three is two. Three of one. That's the truth of all phenomena. And all phenomena have truth. Truth is inseparable from all phenomena. But also all phenomena are dependable horizons, and in their dependable horizon, in their horizons, in their noisiness and activity they hide silence and inactivity of emptiness and suchness of reality suchness and emptiness where you understand that free of the words which are also co-arising with the worldly convention because worldly convention also includes these words

[39:44]

But you don't confuse the words, the word, the conventional designation with dependent core arising. You understand suchness. But when even the suchness, both the suchness and both the suchness and the dependent core arising, both of them are free of the first one. That's emptiness. So, Again, in terms of the Jyomara Samadhi, the meaning, what's the meaning? The meaning, well, there's two meanings. One meaning is the perfected quality of all experience, the meaning, the thoroughly established character, the meaning of all phenomena, is not in one, is not in the concepts which are imputed to all horizons. Nothing arises without imputation. Nothing arises without conceptual imputation.

[40:48]

A dependable arising requires a word, an imputation, a mental imputation. It requires it, but it also is free of it. Understanding that freedom of dependable arising from perceptions which it co-arises with, is the third character, and the meaning is therefore not in the word, the meaning of saving and co-arising. The meaning is not in the word, yet the meaning responds to the arrival of energy, to the arising of energy, to the arising of something. It responds to the arising of something. When something arises, the arising The meaning responds to, doesn't respond to the words which come with the arising. It is identical and responsive.

[41:49]

It's inseparable and responsive to the arising, to the coming of opportunity, to the coming of the acquiring impulse, to the coming of the student who's right and ready. The meaning responds. The chance it is, is when meaning and the arrival of free of the word so this meditation is to look at phenomenon with this great heart in a state of renunciation giving up the world giving up worldly sentiments standing there naked with nothing accept the aspiration to attain the way for the welfare of others. A mind like a wall, but this great heart opens the gate to words from words don't even reach suchness.

[42:54]

Words don't reach the decennial arising. Words don't reach you, the one who's making, you and the student who's making an effort. Words don't reach the arising of the yogi. The dependent core rising of the yogi, words don't reach that. And words don't reach the realization of not being reached by words. Words don't reach that either. That's emptiness. That's the full realization. So we realize understanding the dependent core rising is understanding the suchness of phenomenon. And even then, we become free of that understanding. I'll go over this in more and more detail when I get back, but this is like 10 new stuff. So part of what I want to say here too is that this meditation is a, this is a deep, deep insight meditation. This is a wisdom practice here, okay? And some of you, when you start doing this practice, I understand you get flustered and flustered and et cetera.

[43:57]

In some sense, you don't want to do this yet. So go back to those earlier practices of patience and concentration and so on. Keep working on developing these loving context practices. And when you feel stable, this stuff is always just sitting there right under your nose. What? It's time to stop? Huh? 9.15. Okay, tell me at 10.10 too, okay? So... So I think some of you need more instruction before you actually start really diving into this practice. Please accept that of yourself. This is kind of a deep practice, and you need to have more solid kind of context of love before you go into this without getting shaken. Right? So, in fact, you need to practice stabilizing meditations

[44:58]

as part of the context for this deep insight work. And if you start doing the insight work, you start looking at phenomena, trying to figure out, what is a mind like a wall? What does it mean to look at the rising of phenomena, the phenomenal experience, in such a way as to just let the scene be the scene that hurt me the hurt? What does it mean to just let conventional reality be conventional reality? What does it mean to just let the word be a word? What does it mean to just let the pain? That's the practice of upright sitting that is the gate to seeing this dismemberment of delusion and revelation of suchness. But if you don't understand how to do this mind like a wall practice, if you don't understand how to be quiet around objects, outside and be quiet around objects inside. If you start trying to practice that way, and you start getting upset, just go back and practice patience and concentration.

[46:07]

And calm down. When you feel calm, maybe it'll just come up with you. This arena is not some arena where you can do something here. This is not the realm of karma. In order to enter this realm, you've already got to be working with Buddha to do this practice. You can't do this on your own. If you're trying to do this, it's really screwed up. There's no person in here doing this stuff. This is just phenomenal. There's not an additional meditator here. If there's a meditator, that meditator is not the meditator who's meditating on this. That meditator is number two. Got a meditator on the scene? That's an example of the Pentacle Rising. It's not somebody doing meditation on the Pentacle Rising. So if you're confused about all that, set this practice aside until you get further instruction. And just take care of yourself, practicing your love practices, calming yourself, being patient with the situation.

[47:09]

And the stuff may pop up spontaneously. If it doesn't and you don't get destabilized, well, enjoy the lack of destabilization with the teaching happening in your face. So... I think maybe that's enough. Okay? Is that enough for me to say for now? For review? So now we could have a few questions. Yes? The arrival of energy. Yeah, the meaning of response to the arising or the arrival of energy or the opportunity or an event, the arising of an event. And that keeps happening even when two and three are free from one. Yes, that happens all the time. Whenever anything is happening, all three of those are happening. And so suchness is always going on.

[48:13]

It's just that when two is stuck to one, when two is confused as one, then the confusion blocks the realization that two and three are always going on. The perfected quality of phenomena never like slips off the phenomena and falls into the gutter. It's always there. Two is always free of one. It's just that some people sometimes get it and sometimes don't. It's rare that people get it, but even though it's always going on. But even when two is free of one, one is still there right in the neighborhood. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a phenomenon. Okay? All right? Yes? Okay. One of the three definitions is your invitation.

[49:26]

Yes. That keeps coming to mind whenever you go to one. You're saying that one of the meanings of dependent core rising is number one. That's right. So you kind of think strangely enough that one is part of two, don't you? By hearing that. Yeah. Right? Yes. But that is the dependent core arising of the conventional world. That is the pentachorizing of the truth of worldly convention. What is? That one is part of two. That's what makes two effective in clouding. That's not what makes two effective in clouding.

[50:30]

Yeah, that's what makes two ineffective clouding. Right? Okay. So that's why dependent core rising does cloud. However, okay, now you've got that happening, right? You've got dependent core rising coming up with the computation. Right? And that is dependent core rising. Okay? That's what you thought, right? And that's right. Okay? And that's dependent core rising clouding. Which it does. Okay? Now, it is also clouding. true at the same time, okay, that what has arisen, the arising of the phenomenon, is also, the arising of it, is free of reputation. That's also true, and it's always true. And when that's understood, when that bond between them is not so tight, that's the perfected quality of the same, the same dependency co-arism phenomenon.

[51:38]

Is it subtle? See, for the pentacle arising to actually contain the truth in this clouded form, it must have the infection or the adherence, adhering of deputation. But it is also true that they are not the same. And that one can arise in the absence of the other, or free of the other. That can happen at the same time. And that's the perfected quality of the event. And then, when you understand that, that understanding of suchness, when that is also free of, and can be free of, and can be free of number one, but also can be compounded with number one, when it's free of number one, that's the realization of the emptiness of the Bodhisattva. If, and the Buddha teaches this meaning of emptiness, he teaches this after Maitreya,

[52:38]

In other words, after the bodhisattva look, asks, if bodhisattvas understand emptiness, and by using emptiness, they eliminate all the signs around things, and realize such is How can they be prevented from then becoming arrogant about the nature of emptiness that they are using in this way? And this is the final key. It's that the real emptiness in Mahayana is that you do not put a sign on the suchness which you use to set yourself free from the phenomena. So this final emptiness... is that dependical arising and suchness are both innocent conception. This is called innocent conception in Buddhism. The conceptions don't hurt the dependical arising anymore, and they don't hurt the suchness.

[53:40]

Isn't it subtle, Rohan? It's very subtle. That's why you have to be really steady and patient in your meditation. And if you're trying to get this, that's going to be stable life in meditation. You have to sit with no gaining idea, and this will be revealed to you. That's the word on top. Okay. Linda and Vicky and... Yeah, okay. say it again yes oh yes in the three emptinesses yes um you know i think if i say that it's gonna destabilize the group so i i'm kind of like this is that's i find that very difficult how these each one of these has its own special type of emptiness

[54:54]

And that's also, I think the first time it was taught is in the Sambhinyama Chama Sutra. There's three kinds of emptinesses which go with these, and they will help you, but I think not today. So I have several agendas to talk about later. One is this issue about how imagination transforms the world, how intention and imagination transform the world. This face-to-face transmission kind of thing. How the relationship between practice and realization, as taught in the sutra and taught by Dōgu in particular. Three kinds of emptiness. And the ultimate thing in some ways is to talk about the yoga practice of the sutra, how they combine these stabilization practices, not concentration practices, although they do realize concentration, stabilization practices, which I've been talking about as mind like a wall, in the herd, you're just the herd, attaching to nothing in the mind, these kinds of practices, non-thinking, these are like stabilization practices, shamatha practices, and the higher insight practices of these samadhis, like dual-mir samadhi, self-pron samadhi, one-practice samadhi.

[56:15]

This is a And that's the most complicated thing to bring up later. These are five different agendas that I'll bring up when I get back. In the meantime, you have this basic job of taking care of yourself, right? And if you do, all this stuff will come up in your face. Buddha didn't. Nobody told Buddha about this. Buddha was just sitting there. taking care of himself, and the stuff just popped up. It will come to you. You have heard it. It is in your mind. It is stuck in all your little cells, all over your body. It will come up at the right time if you take care of yourself. Okay. Really. You'll see. Yes? This is a continuation of Alan's question. Yes. So, Alan, do you have an imputation? Mere imputation, yes? Yes. What is nearness?

[57:15]

Nearness means it's just a word. There's nothing more to it than a word. That's what it means. I'm near. Near means there's nothing more to it than a name. That's it. There's, you know, like, peel back the name, there's nothing there. That's the total extent of imputation is a verbal designation or an image. And these things happen. When sensation stimulates the human and reaches the mind, a concept arises. So there's more in which imputation is not mere imputation. You mean, when you don't understand that imputation is mere imputation? that the problem occurs. Right. That's right. In other words, when you don't understand the emptiness of the imputation, that's what allows you to adhere to the imputational as the dependent co-original.

[58:17]

So dependent co-horizon is not imputation, it's near imputation. I mean, that third definition. But there's not another kind of imputation besides near imputation. We think there is We think there is, yeah. But there isn't. But there isn't. And thinking there is, I mean... See, that's... Yeah, and that's what it means to confuse the imputational with the dependable horizon, is that you feel like there's something more to the imputational than just a word, and the more that you think it is, is the dependable horizon. Because the dependable horizon is a little bit more fleshy, than just a word. I mean, you know, it's everything that happens. Everything that happens is something more than just the words for it. But nothing happens without the word. But then when the word comes, we think all the other stuff besides the word is the word. And then it's not mere imputation. Then it's the imputational confused with this arrival of something, of an opportunity.

[59:21]

So there is like this opportunity for realization. There's this opportunity for living in addition to the word. And then we think that the additional part is the Word. And then the Word brings the opportunity down into this little trap. Which it never really was, you know, because the fact that we feel like something is more shows that in some sense the imputational and dependent co-orising have some separate life. Because there's two other aspects of dependent co-orising. You know, the interdependence of all things is also there. You know, the universe didn't make a mistake for something to happen. to supply this opportunity. The universe supplies an opportunity. It does supply opportunities, or probabilities, or possibilities. The universe does supply these, and it supplies them in lawful ways. And then, not only that, but then it also shows ways for the phenomena to satisfy certain requirements to be a phenomena.

[60:25]

And then also for that to happen, there has to be the imputational. But before that, there's all this stuff offered, which is the opportunity, which is the arrival of the opportunity, which is the arrival of this right being. But in order for the being to be fully a phenomena, there also has to be the imputational. And then when there's imputational, there's something like, there's something more than just imputational, and therefore the imputational is more than just imputational. That's right, there is something more than just imputational. The rest of the dependent core arises. But that's not the imputational. That's interdependence and so on. And then, when you put them together, then perfectly good interdependence turns into a cloud hiding interdependence and emptiness. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah, yeah. because otherwise there's something more. It's like a shadow with a dream.

[61:28]

It's bigger than it is. Yeah, it makes it conceited merely imputational. It makes the conceptual conceited. And conceptual conceit means, right? It makes you inflate it. You inflate the imputational to include the interdependence of the universe at that spot, which this concept applies to. And then we have the truth of worldly convention, which is obscuring reality. But the phenomena always has reality right there with it. So, we're all set. All we have to do is, like, get the right attitude, and we'll see. Yeah, right. So, let's see. It's 10-10. So, I'm going to stop in five minutes. So, it'll include the kitchen. Okay, so let's see.

[62:29]

I think next was... Is that right? Yeah. Huh? I'm not sure if I still have words for the question. I'm going to go. You don't have to use words. You kind of have to though, don't you? Well, you have been actually. Perfectly good words. Renunciation is the practice of removing two from one in a sense. Renunciation is the practice which opens the gate to realizing that two is separate from one. Renunciation means that you are present giving up your sentimental emotions

[63:33]

ways in the midst of your phenomena. And that state of renunciation, your eye opens to see that the conventional world is just a conventional world. When you see that, then you see ultimate truth. And you see When you look at the separation between yourself and others, for example, in that way, you see that the separation between yourself and others is just a separation between self and others. In other words, there's no separation between self and others. Then you sort of begin to love that state of affairs. That's really the only way you can see that. You begin to love what state of affairs? The conventional world that we all consent to agree upon. All you've got to love is the conventional world. That's right. You love it. And loving it means, again, loving it sets up the possibility.

[64:38]

First of all, you have this heartless relationship with it. Where you're not trying to get anything from it. And you're also not going to let it put you around either. You're like a wall. You become like a wall. You don't reject it or cling to it. You have no agenda for it or not for it. And this is your love. And you can practice this with confidence because you have in your heart this fantastic intention to save all beings before yourself and to understand phenomenon in order to do that. So you don't feel cold-hearted even though you've just taken your heart and let go of it. You don't have a heart anymore. You're not a have-a-heart trap. Your being has nothing, including you don't have a heart. But you understand, at the same time, you have confidence that you're a great bodhisattva, but you have a great heart.

[65:41]

But this isn't your heart. It's the heart that arises between you and Buddha. It's because you're in the middle of this love affair that you can let go of your heart. And then you can really see. And then you realize the heart to catch no objects. Nigel? Well, my question really relates to what you're speaking about. Yes, it's okay. And what struck me when you were talking was that in terms of one and two, then the scene being the same That's a dependent co-arising, which now is dependent co-arising, is also the understanding of the realization that one is in no way supported by that. But it seems to me that part of it cloudy is that we're so locked into the conviction that one is supported in truth.

[66:48]

There's something about the way we preach the mechanical behavior. It's the support mechanism for one. Right. There's nothing about two that supports one. That's the emptiness of one. Right, and then there's that point where, as you've said before, it lies in realization. Yeah, that's good. One is not supported in any way, despite the Bible's thought. One is not supported in any way. Right, and so it's mere reputation. Yeah, and so it's mere reputation. One is not supported in any way, and in particular, one's not supported by two. And since one's not supported by two, two could have a life free of one, even though... In fact, a dependent core rising always comes with both of them. Which is what makes... And since it always comes... The fact that it always comes with both of them is why it always is clouding. The fact that even though it always comes with both of them, and it is always clouding, it also... It also...

[67:49]

it being the phenomena, it also has in it that one is not supported by two, and therefore two is not supported by one, and therefore two is free of one, and therefore there is a perfect equality also. But you never can see it, because the two and one part never stops being the case, so there's always clouding. But there's also always freedom, not from clouding, but from the dependence between the two, and the support between the two of them. There's freedom from that, and that's perfected quality. And so there it is. So we can stop now, and then the kitchen can hear the whole class. Isn't that great? I know there's drawbacks, but... So I won't say, you know, what the Buddha said when he was about to die.

[68:58]

Namely, there may be some among you who have doubts. So ask now. I won't say that. May our intention be great.

[69:17]

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