Practicing the Four Frames of Mindfulness as Gates to Totality
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world, I'm turned on. That's why I say you can practice this loving all frames, you can love all limits, inwardly and outwardly. So you see somebody, exuberant, don't stop there, love that delusion you have about them. Yes, exactly, yes, yes, yes. That's the practice of being present with your delusions and also know that you're present with delusions rather than be present with your realities and your truths and your correct understandings. Now you could have the delusion of I understand correctly, but we need to remember that that's
[01:04]
a frame called I understand correctly, or I'm practicing really well, or I'm practicing somewhat below average today, or today my practice is way above average. These are frames on our life, these are about myself, or today they're practicing somewhat below average, or today their practice is way above average. This is a frame I'm putting on the practitioners. Hey, I'm not saying to stop that, I'm saying that's what we do. Now what I am saying, if you'd like to see through these frames into the true nature of all things and thereby help all beings, then love these frames, which doesn't mean you believe them or disbelieve them, it means you love them. So you're present and relaxed and generous with them. And if you see that you cannot love them, that's another frame, that's another story. My story
[02:07]
is I don't love this person, that's another frame, that's an interpsychic frame. Another frame is this person is not lovable, that's an interpersonal frame. This one is lovable, this one is not lovable, those are frames on these two beings. The thing is to see your own, [...] frames that you put inwardly and outwardly. Now, then you can help others see their own. How setting up frames relates to ceremony? How setting up frames relates to ceremony? Well, in the case of this example, the Buddha said, the direct path is by mindfulness of these frames. The frames are already there.
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You already have a frame on your body. That's already given. He's saying now be mindful of the frame you put on your body. So the ceremony is the mindfulness of what you're already up to. So like we do the ceremony of walking in and out of a room, or the ceremony of sitting, but that's supposed to be the ceremony of mindfully walking in the room. It's not just to walk in the room, but to walk in the room mindful of the walking into the room. And then sitting, it's not just to sit, it's to be mindful and present with the walking and the sitting. So then those are ritual enactments of what we're already doing, so that we can realize what we're already doing. And they're also ritual enactments of the true nature of the universe, and intimacy with all beings. But that part comes after we settle into being mindful of what we're already aware of, somewhat. But it's to heighten
[04:20]
our awareness of what we're already involved in, which is somewhat limiting, or just plain limiting. And through that means, open the door onto what we're involved in on a much more all-inclusive, selfless level. The ceremony of seeing our limitations, or the ceremony of being aware of the limitations. We have a ceremony of being aware that we're on the left side of this endo. And we really do have that view of the situation. We think we're on the left side, we don't think we're on the right side. We think the right side's over there, separate from us. This is what our mind is doing, and by being aware of that,
[05:20]
we are aware of what our mind is doing. And then we can become free of it, and help other people. Would it be accurate to say the frames are the same as conventional truths? Are frames conventional truths? Frames are conventional truths, yes. So another way to say it is, if you love conventional truths, that loving of conventional truths is the door to ultimate truth. And beings are helped by ultimate truth. Conventional truth is more or less helpful, but doesn't really help people much. Basically leaves them stuck in frames, which they have trouble with, which they suffer with. Because frames are birth
[06:27]
and death, gain and loss, self and other, and therefore fear. Fear of death, fear of life, fear of coming, fear of going. So conventional world is basically suffering. But that doesn't mean we try to trash it. As a matter of fact, we're trying to learn to be really compassionate with it, and then open to see what it is. Namely, that it's ultimate truth. Conventional truth is really ultimate truth. The way the conventional truth really is, is that it's ultimate truth. We have to love, as I said last time here, we can save it. We have to love conventional truth before we open to ultimate truth. Opening to conventional truth also opens to ultimate truth. They're locked together, but if you're
[07:28]
close to conventional truth, which is easy to be close to because it often times is a real insult, if we're close to it, then we're close to the ultimate. If we're open to it, we're open to the ultimate. And opening, loving, mindfulness, presence, generosity and so on, are the way to go. Towards helping people. Helping others. Paralysis is another frame. So now I would suggest that you love the paralysis. Love the
[08:42]
paralysis. That's a really nice frame. Basically all frames are paralyzing. So let's love the paralysis. The paralysis is a nice chunk of being for you to love. Are you loving it? Are you being gracious with this paralysis? Are you being loving that you're not being so great loving with it? Huh? Yeah, a little bit. That's enough to get started. A little bit. That's how you start. A little bit of love towards our inability to love paralysis. And we all understand that paralysis is not easy to love. It's not. Being choked is not easy to love. And then if you try and say, well, I can't, then say, well, can you be
[09:43]
somewhat loving to that inability to do this real hard thing? Well, yeah. Well, that's a start. That's a start. Like Suzuki Roshi's son, Hoitsu, maybe you were there when he said it, he had an asthma attack and he passed out. And while he was passed out, he heard his mother's voice saying, I think she actually called out his childhood name. Like, his name is Hoitsu, I think she made it Ho-chan. Ganbatte kudasai, Ho-chan. Ganbatte kudasai. It means keep trying. He heard his mother's voice, you know, that compassion. Be kind to being choked. And a little opening in the throat, a little breath comes through. So if you can feel the block, and then you can feel you can't even love the block, but you
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can like love this guy who can't even love the block. A little compassion is coming through. Real compassion. Because you feel the block. So you can test it on the block. And when you say that you feel paralyzed, it's like the impact, I feel some impact of the presentation of what we're doing. You're being impacted, you're feeling what I'm saying is so. That there's something about our mind which strangles us, which freezes us. And I'm saying we cannot avoid that. But once you feel it, now we've got something which is the object of compassion. Paralysis. Like I said, I've got the frame on the body, this body is becoming more and more paralyzed as time goes on. It's becoming more and more rigid and old, dying. Compassion towards this body and this body. That's where the
[12:07]
Yeah. I mean, do you have something you'd like to say to me? Before you asked me the question, you thought you had the idea that you could use Zen for something? To get out of the paralysis. Well, thank you for telling us that. Maybe some other people had that idea. So we do not use Zen to get out of paralysis. Zen is not used for anything. Zen is loving the paralysis. That's what Zen is. Zen is wanting to help the paralysis by realizing that the paralysis is me. Not trying to get out of it. Trying
[13:10]
to help it. Trying to save it. By loving it. First love it. Not first get rid of it and then love it. First love it. Love the paralysis. Please. And I will try to love it too. Yes? I think I just started maybe hearing love in a new way. You started what? Hearing the word love. Or usually when I hear the word love, there are a lot of ways. Is it really something that's positive? Can I say something? Part of the confusion here is that one of the ways we use love is for extreme liking. Like when liking gets extreme, we call that love. I like you. I love you. But what I'm calling love, I'm sorry, is not extreme like. It's extreme
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freedom from like and dislike. So that's part of the confusion. But I'm kind of like, well let's deal with the confusion by using the same word. Compassion is nice, but it might avoid this problem. And love does not want to avoid any problems. So let's use a confusing word like that. That's really excessive delusion is what people often use love for. Excessive distraction from love is what people call love often. So let's use that word. I actually like it very much for that reason. And what I've heard, and I sort of felt, but I couldn't grasp and you helped me grasp it, is that it's really, really, really permission to be present. To love the paralysis, to love the brain. It's permission really to relax and be present. And it's permission for the thing that you're relaxed with to be itself. It's permission
[15:19]
to the paralysis. It's like, hey paralysis, I'm supporting you completely and you're supporting. You're not supporting me, but I'm supporting you. Okay. Anybody that hasn't asked a question that wants to ask a question? You haven't asked a question. Go ahead. Something that I associate with the word love is a feeling of physical warmth and openness. Yeah. In my chest. Yeah. Is that love the way you were talking about love or is that an extreme liking? That's a frame. That's a frame. A frame to love. Love that warmth and do you say a feeling of openness? Love that feeling of openness. So then when I think, okay, am I loving or not, my way of judging that is... That's another thing to love. That ratiocination, am I really loving or not, that's another
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thing to love. That's another thing to be generous towards. That's another thing to give yourself to. That's another thing to be a good host to. That's another thing to welcome. And if that drops away, that particular questioning process drops away, and you get more and more warmth and openness keeps coming, just say, welcome. You say, well, no problem. But welcome means welcome. It doesn't mean welcome and stay. It means welcome. And then when it starts to go, you say, you can go. It's been great seeing you. I may never have another moment with all this warmth again, but I'm so grateful that I had a little bit. See you later. And more comes, wow. But some doesn't come for a while. But that's fine for you because you've got this practice. So yeah, these are frames that you're talking about. And literally
[17:26]
those are frames that the Buddha talks about being mindful of. Those frames would go under the third frame of mindfulness, or the fourth, those examples. Both the warmth, the openness, and also the cogitation. Those would all go into ways that the mind frames this vast, unobstructed totality of the universe. And if you love all these things, not like, but love them, they are perfectly good doors to reality. But if you attach to them and think, no, these are better doors to reality than most, sorry. Attachment is not compassion. But again, if you're attached, you can be compassionate towards that, and then that loving of that attachment will be a Dharma door. It's not just the thing, it's the loving
[18:30]
of it that makes it a Dharma door. Being present is not a frame. Being present is not a frame, no. You can have a frame called being present, but being present is not a frame. Consciousness itself comes with frame jobs. Every moment consciousness arises, it comes with a frame job. But the consciousness itself is clear, and bright, and transparent. It's not a frame job, but it knows frame jobs. And since it comes with frame jobs, so it sees the world through frame jobs. But there are frame jobs which are called the teaching frame jobs, the words from the Buddha to say, be aware of this frame job. And then you turn your awareness not just to the frame, but be mindful of it, and then the framing reflects the nature of the universe back on the mind. And it's the nature of the mind and the frame, they're all the same. They all have the same nature, unobstructed
[19:34]
totality. In other words, everything is you. Yes? Catherine is experiencing a lot of grief over the eucalyptus trees. Yeah. So, there's going to be clear-cutting probably of all these great trees. All these great beings are actually going to be cut down, probably. These are great beings. These are great invasive beings. And they're invasive. And these beings, they're great, they can be fueled for enormous flames. And Catherine is expressing grief over their being cut down.
[20:45]
Pardon? I think the idea is replanting other trees, right? Yeah. Anyway, in the National Park Service's brochures about the thing, they show pictures of what it looks like after they go away. And it's kind of a nice picture. But the process of getting there means cutting down these great beings. These great beings which are here by the grace and whatever of human beings. And they provide, and they're great blessings, these trees. And a lot of people feel like they're also great hazards. So, it looks like they're going to be cut down. And part of what we're going to do today, maybe, is to clean up the debris underneath them out here so that we don't have a forest
[21:54]
fire in the backyard. Because I guess they're not going to come into our yard and cut down these trees. So, our eucalyptuses, I think, are staying. I mean, our eucalyptus means no abode. Eucalyptuses, I think, are staying. As far as I know, the Park Service is not going to come onto this ground and cut the trees down. So, we will be a eucalyptus stronghold. So-called private property? So-called private property, yeah. They would be willing, I think, to come and take these out. But I did not invite them. I hope it's okay that they're not coming here. Are you going to get the koala bears? Huh? Are we going to get the koala bears? I have the koala bears are coming, yes. May our intention equally extend to...
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