Sometimes in Mahayana Buddhism we are taught about two kinds of bodhi mind, two kinds of spirit of enlightenment or enlightened attitude. One is a relative thought of enlightenment and the other is a complete or ultimate thought of enlightenment. the relative thought of enlightenment, the relative spirit of awakening, is to aspire, to hope, to dedicate oneself to the welfare of all beings, to the liberation of all beings. and to practice the perfections of giving ethical observances, patience, enthusiasm,

[01:21]

concentration and wisdom in order to protect and develop this precious thought of altruistic practice for enlightenment. And this aspiration is based on some glimpse that the person has had of the ultimate or complete bodhi mind. People who are willing to make this dedication have had a glimpse, have seen, have sensed the complete mind of enlightenment. Therefore, they're willing to make such a dedication and practice to protect and develop it. The ultimate thought of enlightenment, spirit of enlightenment, is also dedicated to the welfare of all beings, but it is completely unshakable.

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And it is united with emptiness. It is united with understanding that the whole project lacks any inherent existence. and there aren't any beings to save. It is the mind of a fully enlightened Buddha. If we glimpse that mind, if we smell that mind, if we hear about that mind, we might be inspired to work towards it for the sake of all beings. Dogen Zenji says, that the initial thought of enlightenment, once it's made, is very fragile, very unlikely to reach fulfillment, full development. Therefore, we must protect it. Protect it with, basically, staying close to it and not doing anything.

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Protected by zazen, with zazen, through zazen. Dogen's teacher, Ru Jing, said, every time you sit down, remember your vow to save all beings. And then when you sit, like sitting on an egg, sit on that great aspiration and bring it to maturity by not moving. If you move, guess what might happen to it? The egg might get crushed. Somebody, maybe one of you, gave me a, looks like an article from National Geographic about owls, gray owls, which we have here in this valley. These gray owls are all over Alaska and the Yukon and British Columbia and Washington and Montana and Idaho, Oregon.

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And one little strip comes down to Green Gulch. These great, great, gray owls here. Anyways, somebody did that. Who gave me that? Thanks, Tom. Were you hoping that they would get my gophers? I heard one of them, I think, feeding her kids the other day, yesterday afternoon. It looked like they ate. Either we're really excited or we're rejecting whatever she was bringing. Anyway, one of the pictures shows this mother owl completely, not completely, covered all up to snow, snow up like to here, and snow on her head. She was sitting through a snowstorm on her eggs. She didn't move. So this...

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that Gray Owl and Marlon Brando have the same approach. Anyway, so that's what, every time you sit, you sit on that spirit, on that germ of enlightenment, that seed of enlightenment, that thought of benefiting all beings. And Dogen also says that Compared to complete enlightenment, complete thought of enlightenment, this initial thought of enlightenment is like a firefly compared to a blazing sun. However, if you have that thought of enlightenment and you want everyone to attain enlightenment before you, then it's equal to the sun.

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It's equal to the complete enlightenment. How could that be, that one little change of the word? Instead of just saying, I want everybody to be free and happy and enlightened, if you just say before me, It switches from being a relative thing to the complete thing. The reason is that that one little word there takes away the self. That one little word tosses the self into the Buddha project. And therefore, the aspiration is united with emptiness. You have just emptied yourself by completely putting others before you. It's the shortcut to realization of a very difficult project, that is to understand emptiness. It's very difficult to understand emptiness. We study, we study, we study. Every morning we say, form is not different from emptiness.

[08:03]

It's very difficult to understand that teaching. A simple way to realize it, even before you understand it, is just work for the benefit of others and hope that they will attain liberation before you. All these people hope that they attain liberation before you. So someone asked me yesterday, well, but didn't Buddha attain liberation before some other people? And I said, well, in a sense, yes, of course. There he was, for many lifetimes, thinking of the welfare of others, thinking of the welfare of others before him. And then Zappo, he got enlightened. When you think of the welfare of others, the enlightenment of others before yourself, one of the things that might happen to you is you might get enlightened before them. Especially the ones who are thinking for the destruction and misery of other people and hoping that everybody that they don't like will really be messed up.

[09:12]

Those people are not going to get enlightened before somebody who's constantly thinking of the welfare of others before herself. They're not going to. So, in fact, if you think all the time of the welfare of others ahead of yourself, in fact, it will cause you to become a Buddha and maybe before somebody else. You're not in control of the scene, but you actually hope that others will be enlightened before you. That's the way all the Buddhas thought. Now once they're Buddhas, they keep thinking that way, although if someone pointed out to them that they're already enlightened and so it doesn't make much sense anymore, they might say, oh, sorry, it's kind of an old habit. But thinking of the welfare of others is good, but thinking of it before you is even better. So when you think all the time of the welfare of others, your mind gets clearer and clearer. And when you think of it before you, it gets clearer and clearer.

[10:14]

And then after a while, it gets completely clear. So there you are, completely clear. So in fact, you do help yourself. even though you're hoping to help them first. The thought of helping others first is the most beneficial thing you can do for yourself. To think of helping others equally or alongside with yourself gets complicated, as you may have noticed. But take an example. If you're on the airplane, what do they say? They say, if you're traveling with someone who needs your assistance, like a child, when it's time to put on the oxygen mask, you're supposed to put your own on first and then put theirs on, right? If you are on the airplane and you are dedicated to the welfare of your child or your elderly relative, then if you want to help them, you should put your mask on first.

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Otherwise, if you try to put theirs on and can't get it on, you might pass out and also they won't get theirs on either. So they recommend first put your own on. They say this to people who first think of helping their children. A parent thinks, oh, I gotta help my child, but if you get nervous and don't get it on, both of you are gonna be in trouble. So in fact, you think of helping them first, and because you think of helping them first, you put the mask on yourself first, okay? You're not helping yourself first. You're helping them first. And if you want to help them first, you put your mask on first so that you're in good position to get theirs on. You have some time to think. And if you get nervous and fumble with it, you've got some air to work with. And if you're really concerned for the others, you'll be completely relaxed when you're putting your own on. You won't be worried. Getting this one on is no problem. I don't worry about it. This life over here is not such a big deal. So I can put this one on very nicely.

[12:17]

There we go. Now, oh, this one. Oh, baby. But I've got air to go through my nervousness and get it on somehow. Maybe I can't even get the strap around the head, but I'll just stick it on the face. That was very clumsy of you. You put that oxygen mask on that kid very clumsily. Well, I just say, that's Yao Shan's way, right? Very clumsy. Very clumsy. A thousand ways and a hundred too. Limping along, working for others' benefit first. This is called a kind mind, sometimes old mind or aged mind, sometimes grandmother mind. Dogen calls it kind mind. He says kind mind is parental mind. Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the three treasures.

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By the way, not only are you working for the benefit of all beings, the Sangha, but you're also working for the benefit of the Dharma and the Buddha. And you take care of these things as though you were taking care of your own children. You should bear in mind the three treasures as though they were your own children. Even poor and suffering people raise their children with deep love. I read this book called The City of Joy about Calcutta, a slum in Calcutta. And when these people have kids, they can't afford to feed themselves or the kids they've already got. They live in houses about the size of this seat here. Can you believe that? In rooms that are four by 12 or something like that. Four, six, eight people live in rooms like that.

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One of the ways they do it is they have bunks. Anyway, so then another kid comes. What's their reaction to this kid? They say, oh, no, another kid. Well, yeah, they do. But they're very happy to have this kid, and they take care of this kid. They're very caring for all the kids. They love the kids. Difficult to understand, but that's the way they are. Oh, by the way, remember, this name of this world, the Buddhist name for this world is called Saha world. Saha means... the realm of patience. This is a world where the main practice is patience. Even the poor and suffering people raise their children with deep love. Their hearts cannot be understood by others. This can only be known when one becomes a father or a mother. And I don't know if that's really true, but it was true for me.

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that when I saw my daughter being born, I understood a new feeling that I never felt before. And the first thing I thought of after I laughed was, oh, now I understand what my parents meant when they said they loved me. When I was a kid, my mother, and particularly my father, would say, I love you. Do you know I love you? And I would say, yeah. I did. Told me a lot. They acted like they did. Seemed reasonable to me. So I said, yes, I do. And I wondered why they kept saying that to me. Not why they said it to me, but why they asked me if I knew that they did. Because I did know that they did. But when I saw my own child born, I knew that I didn't know what they meant. You don't know what they feel until you see it yourself.

[16:26]

It's a different variety of love. It's a strange kind. This can be known only when you become a mother or a father. They do not care whether they themselves are rich or poor. Their only concern is that their children grow. And this is the spirit of the Buddha way. You don't care about yourself. You only care that your friends develop in Dharma, that they grow up to be Buddhas. That's all you care about. You don't care about yourself. And you can only understand this when you become, when you have that kind of feeling for people, that you're like their parent, and that the Dharma is like your child, and like Zen Center is your baby. And Buddha is your baby. Some of you think, I can't have Buddha be my baby. I'm Buddha's baby. Well, that's true. You are Buddha's baby. But this is a strange situation where you can be Buddha's child and still think of Buddha as your baby, too.

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Even though Buddha is your mom or dad, still, you feel responsible that way. But certainly you can feel that way about all sentient beings. They're your children. And part of the reason why you love them so much as your children is they also have been your parents before. They've been very kind to you before. That's why they chose to be born through you, because they used to be your parents. They love you so much. This is the closest they can get. They pay no attention to whether they themselves are cold or hot, but cover their children to protect them from cold and shield them from the hot sun. This is extreme kindness. Only those who have aroused this mind can know it. Only those who practice this mind can understand it. Therefore, you should look after every sentient being as though they were your own children. This is Dogen talking, yeah.

[18:32]

This is called Instructions to the Cook. I changed it. I actually said, you should treat every grain and every drop of water as though they're your children. Everything, everything should be treated this way, but particularly living beings. Even Shakyamuni Buddha died 20 years early And his gift of his last 20 years of his life was so that now, in these days, when things aren't so auspicious for practice, we have a chance. He offered his parental mind to us without expecting any result or gain. That's another important part. You give this stuff to the kids without expecting any result or gain, and you usually don't get any.

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Except... Except they do grow, they grow. That's one thing you can be sure about. And that's one thing you've got to have happen. They've got to grow and change. But it's not exactly progress. Some people, you know, sometimes say to me, oh, your daughter is beautiful. I say, oh, yeah, mm-hmm. And I sometimes say, but I usually don't, Well, from my point of view, it's been downhill since the first moment. Because when she was first born, all I saw was Buddha. I just saw Buddha. Boy, that's all I saw. And it was a lot bigger Buddha than I expected, too. So she's becoming more and more like a regular person. But I'm still devoted to her. When she first vomited in my face, I thought it... It smelled like ambrosia.

[20:39]

Now I wouldn't want that to happen. It would smell different, I think. She's been eating a lot of crap. So benefiting others first is the way Buddhists think. And they do benefit others before themselves. But in fact, if you think about benefiting others before yourself, you probably will get enlightened before people who don't think that way, which you don't like. They recognize that may happen, but they don't like it. They actually wish the other people would get enlightened before them, but they don't unless they think the same way. So part of the trip is to try to get other people to think that way. For a Buddha, the line between self and others is an illusion. And we have to... And for us too, it's an illusion.

[21:44]

We do have that illusion, though. There's a line between ourselves and the rest of the world. The question is, do you honor that line? Or do you honor... Buddha, which doesn't see that line as real. If you don't honor that delusory line, the entire world is revealed by overcoming this self-clinging. And this awareness is nothing other than yourself. So by overcoming this self-clinging, you'll find out who you really are. And this is totally revealed in every individual phenomena in each moment. That's why we concentrate on the present in this project. Striving unceasingly with all our energy to help all sentient beings. And similarly to get them to generate this bodhi mind and lead them to the Buddha way.

[22:51]

thinking lightly of our own life, deepening our compassion for others, generating a mind which seeks to surrender the self to the Buddha precepts. This is what produces, this kind of thinking produces awakening. But again, this is the initial, this is the way to start at each moment or whatever. the final thought is when it's united with realization of emptiness. So now we have some stories about these people who do these practices pretty well. So we go back to Yuen Yuen. Remember where we left him? He was not doing so well. He was, you know, again, he was always He was always making good effort.

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But in a way, he was not... What was his problem? His problem was he was kind of like... His orientation was reversed from what it should be. He was working hard, but he had the wrong orientation. He was hanging out with the greatest Zen masters in history and somehow couldn't use the opportunity. which is quite understandable to me because when you're with a great teacher, there's a strong tendency to listen to what they say and kind of be into what they're saying and appreciate it and all that, right? Rather than think, now what has that got to do with me? What am I going to do with that? How am I going to achieve independence of this wonderful thing that they're saying? So he was like taking in all this great teaching and watching these great teachers, spending 20 years with Baijian, but he never got his own independence. He had such a great parent. He saw what he should do, but never took it on for himself.

[25:01]

So after his teacher died, he went to see Yaoshan, and Yaoshan was happy to see the young man, but really he also wanted to sort of use the young man as a way to find out about this other great teacher, because these old teachers love to hear about the other teachers. It kind of made them feel good to sort of feel that, because they believed that it was their mind way over there thousands of miles away, and when they could feel the teaching coming from another teacher far away, it really makes them happy. Similarly, if now you think like a Buddha, it makes Buddhas happy because they're far away and when they hear you thinking like a Buddha, it increases their joy in the Dharma. So when you meet a Buddha, the Buddha wants to know, where are you coming from? And do you know any good teachings? Have you heard any good teachings lately? So they say, where do you come from?

[26:04]

So he says, I'm from Baijan. Bajan? I've been wondering about that guy. What teachings does he have? Well, he had this one teaching where he would say that... Was that good? See the attitude? Rather than, hey man, I'm here. I want to tell you how I think. I'm his student. He wasn't thinking that way. He was just conveying this wonderful teaching. So he heard this teaching. He's standing here. Bajon's behind him. He was there 20 years. He's conveying this teaching through himself to this other great teacher. So he says this thing about, what was it? I have a teaching of a hundred flavors. Is that what he said? Hmm? Bajon said that? He said, oh, he says he has a, he would tell us sometimes, I have a teaching of a hundred flavors.

[27:05]

Something like that. What was it? Yeah, right. Water. He would say, the Master sometimes said, I have an expression containing a hundred flavors. That's what Bhaijaan said. And the kid remembered that. He said he has a teaching which has a hundred flavors. But it was like going right through him. He wasn't like, you know, he wasn't there. So then Yashan says back to him, Yashan says this, salt is salty, water is bland. What is neither salty nor bland has a constant flavor.

[28:09]

And what expression is that which has a hundred flavors? He asked the kid. The kid couldn't say anything. The kid's 35 years old now. He asked the 35-year-old monk who had been receiving all his great teachings for 20 years this question. And he couldn't say anything because he wasn't there. He never took responsibility for the stuff he was hearing. So Yashan, out of his compassion, says, okay, you don't say anything? Okay, what do you intend to do about birth and death? And he says, right in front of me, I don't see any birth and death. There's no birth and death right in front of me. Now, that's pretty good. It's true. Actually, there is no birth and death right in front of you. And this is a monk who grew up on being told over and over, birth and death is the great matter.

[29:12]

So he knows this is a great matter he's being asked about, and he says, there's no birth and death. That's good. But it wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough. He still wasn't there, he still hadn't, you know, put himself into that no birth and death enough. He still wasn't there totally birth and death about what he said about birth and death. His face wasn't in what he said. So, then Yashan says, how long were you with by John. He said, 20 years. He said, 20 years and you still haven't got beyond your mundane ways.

[30:13]

What are the mundane ways? What's the mundane way in this case? Yeah. What? I come first. Yeah. I come first. Therefore, I'm not going to be here with this. Picking and choosing, whatever you want to say. Anyway, mundane way is when somebody else says something to you, You don't think, that's me talking. Therefore, how could I talk like that? When people talk to you and you think it's you, it's going to be a, sometimes you're going to have a hard time understanding what they're saying. Why am I talking like that? That's not the mundane way to think.

[31:18]

The mundane way to think is that somebody else is talking, if I don't understand, If I don't agree, that's no problem because that's not me. If Bai Zhang's teaching, if I don't understand that, that's no problem. He's a great teacher. I'll just pass on the word and appreciate how smart he is, how kind he is, and so on. But if that's me, why would I act like that? Or what is that asking me to do? Am I supposed to do that too? Or am I supposed to do my own thing? What am I supposed to do now? He was still not thinking that way. He was still thinking this other way. So he couldn't say anything. Then later again, Yashan's still trying to get the teaching of bhajan from this kid. So he says again, does he have any other teachings? And he said, yeah, he's often asked us to say something beyond all propositions and formulations.

[32:20]

And Yashan said, 3,000 miles away. This doesn't relate to it. Totally irrelevant. Well, what did you ask me for then? And then again, Yao Shan asked him, did Baijian have any other teachings? What other teachings did he have? And this time the young man said, Well, one time he came into the hall, and the monks, he was going to give a talk, and the monks were standing around. And he dispersed them with the staff. And when they, as they were leaving, he called out to them. He said, hey, you guys. And they turned around without thinking. And he said, what is it? Nobody said anything. And Yashan said, well, why didn't you say this before?

[33:22]

Now that today, thanks to you, I finally get to meet Brother Baijian." At that, Yuen Yuen was finally awakened. A gift? How did it happen? I don't know. Anyway, he finally was there. And he woke up after many years of hard work that almost seemed like a waste. But the conditions weren't there for him to be able to be present and wake up. So now you've got yin-yang.

[34:33]

By the way, yaoshan means medicine mountain. Medicine mountain, stone head, walking and thinking. Those past ancestors. And now you have cloudy cliff has become awake. And he stays now with his teacher for some number of years more. with the other monks there, one of whom is his brother, named Da Wu, Great Enlightenment. One day, Yuen Yuen, Cloudy Cliff, was sweeping the ground with a broom. Da Wu came up to him and said, too busy. Or another translation would be, hard at it, huh?

[35:38]

And Yuen Yuen said, you should know there's someone who's not busy And Dawu said, well, then are there two moons? And Yuen Yuen said, oh, he took his broom and held it up and said, which moon is this? And Dawu walked off. What did Da'u mean when he said to his brother, too busy?

[36:50]

What was he accusing him of? What does too busy mean? Yeah. He identified with the what? actor or action or actee. Anyway, the mind was busy. He was being indicted for having a mind which was splitting the world in two and taking a side. He was being indicted for having a one-sided view. One-sided views crush Buddha eggs. Got to keep yourself balanced. Don't lean to the right or to the left. You'll break the egg. Although they do say rock side to side several times.

[38:00]

If you put it in your lap at that time. I suggest that people remember all day long, recognize all day long, the one who's not busy. This one who's not busy, this is an example of that thread that's running through the Zen lineage. Remember Yaoshan? He was sitting and his teacher said, what are you doing? What are you doing here? And he said, I'm not doing anything at all. See, he wasn't busy. He's saying, I'm not busy. This is a family tradition to not be busy, to not do anything at all. Well, if you're not doing anything at all, then you're sitting there idly.

[39:05]

If I were sitting here idly, that still would be doing something. Well, what is it that you're not doing? Even 10,000 sages don't know. Even the 10,000 sages don't know this unbusy one. We've been with this unbusy one from the beginning, but we don't know her name. We go along with her everywhere, You can't see this thing, but you must recognize it all day long. Otherwise, you are wasting time, wasting precious time." Yaoshan sat, didn't do anything at all.

[40:11]

He recognized the unbusy one. If he had seen the unbusy one, he would be doing something called seeing the unbusy one. He couldn't see it. If he heard the unbusy one, if he touched the unbusy one, if he smelled the unbusy one, if he thought of the unbusy one, these would all be busyness. That's not what it means to not do anything at all. Meantime, he's doing something. He's sweeping the ground. He has a posture. He's breathing. It's not that he's not doing anything in the world of doing things. He's busy as anybody else. but he's also not doing anything at all. There's some people here who can cut vegetables fast, and some people here who can dance and sing. When they're doing their art, although they're completely busy, they also kind of know there's somebody who's not doing anything. Problem for these people is how to extend that intimacy

[41:16]

with this one they don't know a name for into their daily life. Just sitting is the practice of recognizing the one who's not busy. When you sit still, what kind of thinking are you doing? Yashan said, I think of not thinking. When you're sitting still, you are thinking. That's busy, right? But what kind of thinking? You think of not thinking. What kind of thinking is that? Thinking of not thinking is done by thinking the thinking you're thinking. Thinking. That's thinking of not thinking.

[42:19]

And what kind of thinking is thinking the thinking which you're thinking? What kind of thinking is that? That's the thinking you're doing, isn't it? It's exactly just the thinking you're doing, the thinking of the thinking which you're thinking. That's called modeling yourself on yourself. What the unbusy one's thinking. That's called being unbusy. That's called just sitting. That's called staying close. You're very close. You're close to every little tiny phenomenal thought. You're close to every physical experience. You're close to every breath. And you don't do anything other than breathe the breath, think the thought, have the body.

[43:32]

In other words, you are just not moving. You are precisely what you are. And that is what's called overcoming self-clinging. There's no clinging to this self. There is total absorption in this moment. You're not trying to think something else. Not the slightest bit of your life energy is trying to go someplace else. And where are you? Maybe you're totally hoping to be somewhere else. I wish I was a woman. I wish I was in Czechoslovakia. I wish I was a man. I wish I was a Buddha." If you think like that, then you should think of thinking like that. Then you're not moving. Not moving is who you really are, and who you really are is Yaoshan, Yuen Yuen, Dawu,

[44:41]

You are exactly them and all sentient beings. That's who you are. The mind is constantly changing, fast moving as can be. Everything's very swift. But somebody is not caught up in this stuff. And there are some people, there are certain types of people who actually, the way they think is they think about, for example, their breath. And they think about their breath again and [...] again. And what they're thinking about is their breath. That's the thought they have, is their breath. And for them, not moving would be to constantly think of their breath. But if you think of something else beside your breath, then not moving would be to think of what you're thinking of.

[45:58]

It wouldn't be to say, oh, I shouldn't be thinking of this. It would be to begrudge the thought you have. It wouldn't be to dislike this weed in your breath garden. it would be to say, oh, I thought I was meditating on breath, but here's this thing. What is that? It's a weed, because I was in the garden of breath. To dislike this thing, which is not in your program, is called making the weeds get stronger. Or if you have a nice breath garden, and the breath garden... gets lost or wilts, to dislike that, you lose your basic flower. To take care of the flower is to say a weed is a weed and a flower is a flower.

[47:01]

Even to say flowers are beautiful is too much. Of course, if you're saying a flower is beautiful, then all you can do is say a flower is beautiful. So how do you recognize the unbusy one every moment of the day? Yes, you recognize it by how. During one practice period at Tassajara, kind of the slogan of the practice period was how. It means, how means how is the way. How is the way to walk the path. Not how like, oh, how, but how. How, how, how. Step by step, how. Step by step, who are you? Step by step, what about you? No fixed idea of what brings peace to this world.

[48:10]

More, how do we bring peace to this world? How do I help people? How do I benefit? What are you talking about? Who are you? And if any movement occurs away from this basic path forward towards the benefit of all beings, any variation on that occurs, then completely don't move and don't resist that. Be right there with that. Because that phenomenon, which you call the variation, is exactly how the way is revealed at that moment. That is a perfect revelation of the way at that moment, even though you think it's a diversion. So again, you think of the thought you're thinking. And again, how do you do that? Yes. This kind of thinking is called non-thinking.

[49:19]

It's a type of thinking which Buddhas do. Buddhas do think. But the thinking they do is called non-thinking because it's an unusual type of thinking. Awakened thinking is what is simply that you're willing to think the way you're thinking. You're not trying to get away from your life. You're willing to be who you are. And everybody's who they are, but very few people are willing to be who they are completely. In other words, very few people are willing to not move in the moment. And then, everything changes, you get a new moment, not move. Everything changes, a new moment, not move. Every moment, not move. What's it like when you're not moving?

[50:24]

Thinking of not thinking. What is thinking not thinking? How is thinking not thinking? Yes, non-thinking. Thinking of the one who is not thinking is just thinking itself. Can you find the one who is willing Can you recognize the one who's willing to think your thoughts? Somebody's willing to be you. Who is that? Who is the one that's willing to be you in all your weaknesses, in all your shortcomings? Who's willing to be you? We say we don't know his name. But we have a name for it. The name is Avalokiteshvara. The name is infinite compassion is willing to be you. Infinite compassion is willing to take the form you're in right now and think the thought you're thinking.

[51:31]

The one who's willing to do that is called infinite compassion. A lot of compassion, quite a bit of compassion may not be willing to be you. But infinite compassion is willing to have your thoughts, is willing to completely embrace and sustain your life just as it is right now. And when you don't move, you realize infinite compassion. Somebody characterized Soto Zen in contrast to Vajrayana. The Vajrayana monks sit and chant, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum. which is the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, and they hope by that mantra to bring infinite compassion into their body and mind. He said the Soto Zen people just don't move. That's how they bring it. But still, before you don't move, you have the aspiration to bring it.

[52:40]

That's the project. If you don't have that project, that don't moving may not work quite as, may not catalyze. It has to be, that yoga practice of not moving has to be in conjunction with this vow. So the vow, receiving the Buddha's precept, and don't move. In other words, recognize the one that's not busy. Which means, the one that's not busy is not busy is not doing anything, is not being the slightest bit different from the busy one. So you're busy all day, somebody's right there with you, holding your hand. Somebody's not saying, would you be a little less busy, please? The busy one is not only busy, but is also saying, would you be less busy? Various people around here, dear Zen students, are trying to slow down the busy one.

[53:42]

This is a common thing that Zen students want to do. They want to slow down this busy one. Well, fine. That's a perfectly good form of busyness. And it's a wholesome form of busyness, too. Wholesome busyness. It's not like they want to speed up the busyness, make it more hysterical around here, and cause a lot of trouble. No, they want to slow things down so that everybody's happier. That's why. So people can appreciate life and have a nice time. Fine. That's a positive and aspiration. But this is what's called wholesome busyness. to try to be less busy. I say generally wholesome busyness. Unless you try to slow other people down, that's unwholesome. Generally. Because you're imposing, you're pushing them around, you're not respecting them. So it's a wholesome busyness to try to slow yourself down, and it's a wholesome busyness to appreciate other speedy people. Say, oh, they're so beautiful. Look at them. They're so fast. It's like Superman or something. They're fantastic. I love them. Oh, I want to help them.

[54:44]

Not like, oh, yucky, fast people, slow down. Bad Zen students, slow down, too fast, too mindless. No, appreciate them. But for yourself, you want a wholesome thing, slow down, guys, slow down, take it easy. At least slow down enough to remember your project. What's your project? Project is recognize the one who's not busy. The one who's not busy is willing to speed up so he can catch up with speedy people and hold hands with them and enjoy them It speeds up exactly to the speed of the busy one. And when it gets there, it doesn't do anything. It stays close to the speedy one. Wherever the speedy one goes, the unspeedy one's there. But the unspeedy one doesn't have to do the speed. It just rides on the speedy one. Somebody won a Nobel Prize for designing a light and a camera that could float on top of a contact lens.

[55:47]

so that when the eye moved, the light would shine in the same spot. Completely unbusy light. Wherever you go, that light's there. So that's why he said, first guy said, are there two moons then? He said, you're busy. You should remember the unbusy one. He said, busy one one and the unbusy another. The unbusy is so unbusy that it doesn't even busy itself with being different from the busy one. To separate yourself from the busy one is already the busy one. The unbusy one doesn't even have another location, doesn't have another address from the busy one. So, then which one is this? Is this the busy one or the unbusy one? If you say the busy one, then you're saying that is a busy thought. If you say it's the unbusy one, then you're saying that what you see here is the unbusy one.

[56:54]

That's just another busy thought. No matter what you say anyway, nobody knows whether this is the busy one or the unbusy one. It certainly is the busy one. Is it not the unbusy one? The unbusy one is revealed only to us through the phenomenal individual experience of the moment. To look for it someplace else is just again more busyness. This kind of practice is to help us and protect us in working for the benefit of others. Because the main thing to help people is to teach them how to be enlightened.

[57:57]

And the main way to be enlightened is to let yourself be enlightened. perfectly filled with compassion. And in order to be perfectly filled with compassion, you have to sit in your life. You can't be someplace else. Otherwise, you don't believe in universal compassion. You think it wouldn't be letting you be this way. If you're willing to be yourself, it shows that compassion has arrived. Some people have objected to this song, Because it says she and girls and women and stuff like that. But you can change the words. For example, you can say he. He may get weary. You can also say she may get weary. You can say he or she may get weary. Or they. Yeah, you can say they.

[58:59]

But I thought an interesting way to change it would be She may get weary. Teachers do get weary wearing that same shabby robe. And when he's weary, try a little tenderness. You know he's waiting, just anticipating things she may never, never, never possess. Like good students. Laughter So when she's waiting, won't you try a little tenderness? It's not just sentimental. She has her cares and woes. But a word that's soft and gentle makes it easier to bear. One time I... I was talking, somebody was talking to me.

[60:04]

And they were talking to me and talking to me and talking to me like I'm talking to you and talking to you and talking to you. And I started to get kind of weak and after a while I couldn't even say that I was getting weak. And in those days I thought, actually also I shouldn't say I'm getting weak, and I also shouldn't tell people I feel uncomfortable and suffocated in the conversation. I thought I was supposed to be able to sit through any conversation and just survive somehow, so I just... But I was on the verge of collapsing, or on the verge of getting angry. And from some place I heard these words, I love you, Rebbe. I don't even know how to spell Rebbe, but anyway, I heard those words, and I relaxed, and I was able to sit through quite a bit more. It's funny how when we're suffering, if somebody just says something sweet to us or gentle, it somehow makes it easier to bear.

[61:13]

I don't know why that is. I could probably do some child development theories about that. You won't regret it. Teachers won't forget it. Love is their only happiness. So when they're weary, try a little tenderness. I think that works just as well that way as with women, don't you think so? I think a man write that song.

[61:50]

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