Now, what's the theme of this practice period? Study the Self. Right. Forget the self. And forget the self. Or japa. Your choice. Maybe the thing is do what you really want to do. And then there was radical politeness, right? Remember that? Radical. Radical. all rightness.

[01:07]

What does radical blatance have to do with studying self? Pardon? They don't go without each other. That in itself doesn't go without radical politeness? No. That's right. So what is the relationship between radical politeness and studying of the self? Radical politeness allows for studying of the self. It permits the self... to encourage and in that sense be studied because acknowledgement for the cell yeah it gives acknowledgement to itself and i wouldn't necessarily say it i just say it aids the self to emerge probably helps it helps the unfold full involvement of the cell but the cell sometimes emerges even when there's not radical likeness and then what we all can do when the self emerges

[02:21]

When there's not radical politeness, as we are impolite to the self, and the self goes and hides again. It creates a space for students to become aware. It creates a space to become aware of the self, yeah. And I also mentioned to you before I started to bring up radical evil, right? Remember that? No. You didn't? Yes, I did. You did? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. However, I didn't talk about it a lot. Where's Charlie? Charlie has finally disappeared. He's had enough. Radical evil. have been developed or have been away somewhere. What is radical evil? Suppression. Suppression? Well, that's pretty radical, but that's not what I had in mind.

[03:38]

But that's pretty good. Well, there's Charlie. He can appear and disappear. I will propose a basic definition. So we have to study the Buddha way is to study the self. We study the self. means really, to really study the Self means to forget the Self, to forget the Self means to drop, means to be awakened and confirmed by everything that happens. And that means to drop body and mind of self and others. And there is a traceless awakening, awakening which is free of, which is innocent of. any trace of liberation, which is innocent of any trace of cessation.

[04:39]

So, then we also have a basic definition, which is to carry a self around, or to carry a self and to confirm and practice all things, that it is... called delusion. This is the basic definition of delusion. And this basic definition of delusion, I would say that's radical evil. That's root evil. Say the seed moves? Yes. Somebody said it's not yet good. Pardon? Evil is not yet good.

[05:45]

Evil is not yet good? It is not yet good. Oh, or it is also good backwards. It is live backwards. It's living backwards. What point is there? What point is there? I didn't call it evil. I called it radical evil. Because I want to point out that delusion is the root of all evil. Delusion is not the same as cutting people's necks off. It's a little different. That's not really a delusion. That's a horrendous karmic act. War is not exactly delusion. War is a horrible thing. But war is based on delusion. It comes from delusion. It has all cruelty in the world. It has the same root, I propose. It has a deep root, an evil root, and that evil root, I propose, is deeply ingrained in all of us.

[06:51]

So I'm pointing to radical evil and defining it as this kind of delusion. Now, I said this last Sunday at Green Gulch, and the lady, some lady heard that and thought I was saying that evil is just a delusion. I didn't mean that. In other words, she thought I was saying evil is a delusion, means that evil doesn't exist. I was not saying that. As a Buddhist, I make no existential statement about evil. I don't say evil exists. I don't say evil does not exist. That's not my business to go around and make existential statements about anything. What I'm doing, I feel I need to do is define evil. In particular, I want to define the evil that's not just in some people, but that is in everybody. I don't want to get like into like talking to just certain people in the room.

[07:55]

And I'd like to know if, and I, yes. Because of, or in spite of, the same thing, aren't they? Because of and in spite of are the same thing. Yes, they are. But anyway, what you could ask, am I asking because of or in spite of? Yes. And I would say, I cannot avoid that causation. I will not run away from that relationship. In Buddhism there is a thing which we say every morning, avoid evil. I say it because of that. Because you have to deal with this. The Buddhist precept is to avoid evil and to do good. which I want to address that you avoid is to avoid an evil which is deeply ingrained in you.

[09:04]

I'm also willing to talk about avoiding evil which some of you do and some of you don't do. I'm happy to talk about that too, but I'd like to first of all talk about the evil which everybody is involved in, which I'm defining by evil. The precept doesn't say, avoid all delusion. It says, avoid all evil. I'm using this word so that when you run into the word evil, you don't have to run for cover and say, well, we don't know what to say about that. And I'm also using that word because from my reading and my studies, most of the Buddhist teachers deal with it. So I'm going to deal with it, too. But anyway, I'm not saying that evil does not exist. The root evil or superficial evil does not exist. I also don't say it does exist. I'm pointing to a radical evil, which I propose is like this definition of delusion.

[10:10]

Radical evil is that I do things. It is radical evil to say that I practice zazen. To think that way, I practice zazen, that's radical evil. That's not like an atrocity. And I don't think anybody should be beaten up for it unless they had a very intimate relationship with somebody. But basically, that's what I mean by what we call delusion, is saying, I do things. I practice Buddhism. I confirm people's enlightenment. This is the basic definition of delusion. That's what we call delusion. Now, there is no such thing as delusion. That's why I said, in quotes, called delusion. You can't get at anything, including delusion. But anyway, that's what delusion is called. That's called delusion. And that's what I would call radical evil.

[11:11]

Now, I just want to point out before it's too late that the relationship between these two and studying the self is that radical politeness is applied to radical evil. If you should ever run into a radical evil, if you should ever notice it, what I'm recommending is that you be deeply, at the root, polite to it. The word delusion, by the way, the etymology of it is false play. B-E means false, or it's a pejorative. And this comes from the Latin root, which means to play. It's a false kind of playing. In other words, if I just play with Steve, that's OK, unless I think I'm playing with Steve. When I separate myself from Steve, then the play becomes false. When I think that I'm playing with him, that I'm doing the actions with him, rather than realize that we're co-creating along with everything this event called play, that's called delusion.

[12:17]

And polite means to polish, comes from to polish. which I don't like so much, but I think, in a sense, you polish delusion. Not to polish it up, but to polish in the sense of getting intimate with it, of working with something that's at root the problem of our existence, but working with it maybe to make it useful. So the radical politeness allows the awakening to an understanding of radical evil or delusion, which is part of self-study. This is also included in this is confession, is repentance. And the third aspect that I want to bring up tonight, which I have not brought up before in relationship to this, is the next radical. Radical innocence.

[13:23]

And the root of innocence is not hurting, not harming. So these three go together by radical politeness applies to radical evil and everything else, but particularly to this. And radical innocence means not to uh well i'll talk about all the things you don't do after you do this or this that that little slogan i sometimes use of staying close and doing nothing radical politeness is a way to stay close to your diluted experience to your experience of yourself as separate from other beings And radical innocence is doing nothing. And I will talk about many ways of doing nothing. The self-enjoyment samadhi I propose is these three.

[14:35]

The self-fulfillment samadhi involves these three. Admitting where you are, fully embracing where you are, down to the root of your dualistic thinking. and staying with that in stillness and not manipulating that at all in any way, or including not trying to get rid of manipulation. So these three aspects I propose as a way to think about and understand what we mean by self-fulfilling samadhi. So studying the self is self-fulfilling samadhi when it's really working, or self-fulfilling samadhi is the full function of the self-study. So that's kind of an overview. Do you have some questions now? My dictionary says, it doesn't say about knowing, it says, it's not gnosis.

[15:41]

It's not related to gnosis or knowledge or, you know, canon or that kind of thing. It's related to hurt. The second part of it is hurt, not hurt, not harm. But that's just, you know, one dictionary. Recent, you know, later archaeological works may overturn this etymology, but I like that one, not hurting. There was a tie there, a three-way tie. You haven't asked a question yet. Yeah, I was thinking about last spring at Baxter. You talked about the not. Yeah, the who? The man. I wonder exactly what were you, or what, you were saying something like that. Something along the lines of the sin is that you're ignorant, or that you have this real evil, but that you deny the fact that you have this radical evilness.

[16:54]

So evil was sin plus denial. Put that to definition. Right. Yeah. So evil is radical evil plus denial. Does that make sense? So if I'm saying before I was into sort of grosser forms of evil, and what I meant by sin, is radical evil. Like Suzuki Roshi's definition of sin, when I first got to Zen Center, he said, when you look at a flower and say it's beautiful, that's sin. And we do that. That's kind of what very deeply ingrained in us to do that kind of thing, to look at somebody and say, oh, you're beautiful. I confirm you as beautiful. This is sin or radical evil.

[17:58]

To deny that I do that is then a grosser form of evil, which may involve not even noticing I'm doing that, or also denying that there's anything wrong with that. Taking a position like it's not wrong to do that, not being open to the possibility that could be harmful to someone, to say what they are, to put them in a box of your definition of beautiful, Of course, in some sense, everyone's beautiful, but some people would be insulted to be put in your idea of beautiful and herded and manipulated by your definitions to be close to the possibility that calling someone beautiful could be harmful is, again, a denial of the possible harm of dualistic thinking. It's a denial... of the lack of innocence.

[18:59]

It's a denial of the possible harm of a lack of innocence. And the lack of innocence is the presence of purity. To look at a flower, to say it's separate from you, and to call it something is what he called a sin. And I thought that was pretty far out when I heard him say that. I don't know if I said that's radical at the time. What would be a way of using beautiful that wouldn't be a sin? What would be a way to use it? Well, if you used it and realized that you were committing a sin, that wouldn't be. Oh, so if you used it in that way, then knowing, consciousness. If you self-defined something as beautiful and noticed that that was evil... then that awareness would not be evil. But the actual, whenever I confirm something, whenever I, independent of everything else in the world, decide that this is beautiful, and even I can prove it's beautiful and prove that's ugly, this kind of thinking is self-affirmed beauty, which is evil, which is root evil.

[20:15]

Again, it's not that bad, you know, and as I say, I don't think most people should be getting much trouble for it. Zen masters should be beaten for that kind of talk, but ordinary people should, you know, get by with it. Art critics. Art critics. Art critics should be, you know, getting a little trouble for it, but they're open to it. But a Zen teacher should be open to getting in big trouble for thinking like that. Unless, as they think it, they immediately give themselves the trouble and then nobody has to do anything. This thing is a little bit cold, you know. This is what Buddhists are constantly doing. Do you understand, Dasha? Do you understand that? We miss this part.

[21:18]

Yeah. Buddhists are noticing all the time that they do this sin of saying, I do something. Who does notice that they think that way? Do you understand that? Buddhists are the ones who say, I, Shakyamuni, or whatever you want to call him, I, Shakyamuni, am doing this all the time. They're the ones who say they do it all the time. That's where we get this idea from. That's why they say it's deeply ingrained. Unenlightened people don't think it's deeply ingrained. They think it's a little bit ingrained in somebody, maybe a little bit in them, and maybe a lot in somebody else. But they don't see that it's deeply ingrained in themselves. When you realize it's deeply ingrained in yourself, that's the important thing. Then later you can kind of figure out that other people are doing the same thing, because that's basically the way they talk. And if you inquire, they actually do mean that, that they personally do zazen, do good, even do bad.

[22:27]

People talk about that. And if you check it out, they actually . But let's see. There were some other people who had their hands raised. before Jim. I think I figured it out. Radical politeness includes the practice of confession. What did you call it? I think even superficial politeness might include a little confession. Like, for example, someone comes to your house and... You know, you don't give them a nice cup of tea or something, and you might notice that and say, I'm sorry I didn't give you a good tea. That would be quite the point. And that would involve confession of your own lack of skill as a host or hostess, right?

[23:29]

But you might not notice that you had thought that you had personally done this thing, independent of all of the beings in the world, and that this person was separate from you, you might not have noticed that that's the way you were thinking, and that that actually is radical evil. You might not have noticed that. And the reason why you don't notice that is because you're not radically polite to yourself, because you don't want to see what you're into. You're kind of pushing in a way, so that's related to denial. So radical politeness means you really, everything that happens to you, all the little dirty tricks you pull throughout the day, you're polite to them. You say, oh, ah, yes, thank you, oh, wow, oh, gee, yeah, no. Simultaneously you're going, oh, ah. It's actually kind of polite to, you know, to be a little bit concerned about

[24:33]

the devastation that you're wreaking on yourself. But still to be polite to it so that you don't push it away. So you don't get into denial. So after a while you don't even notice it. And then you get into these heavier forms without even noticing them. Until finally you get into such heavy forms that society helps you then that would step, yes. Radical politeness is basically the same thing as accepting yourself as you are. It's just that I'm saying radical. And I'm also saying, again, that you notice how you are in a very deep way at the basis of your thinking that you are. kind of a friendly to it, even though it's not a good thing, maybe.

[25:39]

There's some respect there. And again, respect means to look again. The first time you look at things, and then have enough respect to do it again, it may be a little more than that. Yes? I didn't say when you say something is evil. Yeah. Is this radical evil? Is that how you share? If you go, wow, that's not radical evil. But if inside you think, oh, that over there is worthy of one of my wows, that's radical evil.

[26:45]

When you are walking around carrying around you and you go up and say, oh, that gets a wow, this doesn't, that's radical evil. I don't know what if it's wow, but if I say wow, that might. The key is, do you, are you carrying a self? That's the key. Do you see yourself as separate from others? If you do, that's radical evil. Everything you say from that place is a verbal expression of dualistic thinking, which is the root of evil. You separating yourself from all life besides yourself is radical evil. Life backwards. Life backwards is, life is interconnectedness. That's what life is. Life is not my life, and then your life over there. That's not life. Yeah. It seems to me that radical evil is like pork chops.

[27:48]

It sort of is doubling up. It seems like it takes over. It is the others, the other two rats. It seems like it just includes them. And eventually, it's going to swallow its own tail and do something. Yeah. That's one of the reasons why you should respect, that's why you should be polite to radical evil, because in radical evil, you have to take, like, come up to someone, not just radical evil, but come up to radical evil, and you call it, you find there's a bully in there. Come up to this one. There are bullies in anything. And if you don't get close to them, you'll never find out that evil is completely self-identical with good. Oh, well, yeah.

[28:55]

Your definition of right point, it sounds to me like a world that is unconditional love, but do the real thing. I don't know. Evil may be the denial of love. Yeah, yeah. I think that unconditional love, if you push this all away as radical politeness, it basically will get you to unconditional love. But I think I want to bring up this other dimension here of radical innocence because Maybe just to help us understand the full possibility of radical politeness, that radical politeness means that this politeness is free of perception, constructiveness, abode, definition, anything like that. When the radical politeness becomes completely thorough, it will free itself from all possible approaches to doing that

[29:59]

and then this radical innocence is manifested. So, yes, it could get to that point, but I bring this up to help you see how that would be. The Mahayana Buddhism says that the realization of non-discriminating wisdom is about radical evil. The contents of You know, Buddha's wisdom is radical evil. Buddha's wisdom arises out of this basic delusion. That's where it's born. And the way it's born is through this midwifery of radical politeness and radical innocence. Or it's born out of study of the self, finding out what the self is.

[31:00]

and the self has associated with it, this thing of the self and other. If you study self and other thoroughly, you can admit all that's going on there, you'll drop off, this stuff will drop off. But if you're not really polite, at the root, polite to the self which is manifesting in this dualistic way, then the dropping off will be obstructed. And that's part of what the self-fulfillment sonata is about, is to understand that. Yeah. When you read it backwards, you see that? Live. Live. Mm-hmm. I wish I could find some other words like that. So if you see any, let me know. What? Oh. Die? God. God. Oh, God. Or lack of dark. Right. That's not going to be quick.

[32:03]

It's a lot of people. It is. [...] See, those don't respond in any way to swastika. Yeah, right. This radical evil is... Yeah, radical evil is a swastika going clockwise away. Radical politeness is counterclockwise. Radical innocence is counterclockwise. But again, as you're really polite, being really polite to the clockwise swastika, you'll see that it's going counterclockwise. If you're really polite to the clockwise foster care, if you're really polite to the world and to everything in the world, if you really go into everything in the world and love everything in the world, not in a manipulative self, other love, but in a study love, a love that really goes into it, then you'll see that actually the world is not the world.

[33:08]

If you study the self thoroughly, you'll see that it's not the self. Yes. Yes. I can't remember exactly what you said, but if you could say it again, and as you say it, I could help you see how to do it.

[34:10]

Okay. Yeah, when the pain. Pain. Pain. Take care of the pain right now. That's a polite thing to do. So much. So much pain. Take care of so much. Keep going. Take care of that. Take care of that. Don't run away from pain so that I can hardly do it. Don't run away from any of that. Each little thing becomes, be a good host. In fact, you are a host to it, so be a good host. Be a thorough host.

[35:14]

You are a thorough host, so be a thorough host. Really, you're completely letting that stuff happen. And that stuff happening is not radical evil. That's not radical evil. However, you can practice radical politeness with that. And if you can practice politeness with pain, and with pain that you can barely stand, then you might get to some other kinds of pain which are more subtle. And then you do the same thing with that. Dying would be fine, too. That's another way to be radically polite. Just say, pain, you are so wonderful, I give you that. And just drop dead. That's fine, too. Or take a rest is another way to be radically polite.

[36:18]

Say, you know, somebody comes to visit you and they're so awesome that you just say, I don't know what you came for, but I'm going to lie down now. You are like the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I cannot stand up anymore, so I'm just going to lie down right here. You can do what you want. You have just wiped me out. This person will probably not be insulted. You will have respect a little, to some extent, for what an awesome mystery has just happened to you. You can do that with your pain, too. You don't have to stand up and fight it. If it's too big, say, I give up. I'm going to curl up in a ball. That can be polite. I'm going to be a wimp. This is not something to fight. This is too big. What are you going to do when the big white wave comes? Surf if you can surf.

[37:21]

Dive under it if you can dive under it, or be taken out back to mama. In other words, guess what, folks? This thing that's happening is actually going to get all my attention. And nothing else really matters right now because this is happening. I just forgot about everything else in my life but this. This is my life. Which is very close to this is my death. This is a little example of radical politeness. Can you practice that? Yes, you can. Buddha is in this pain. It deserves everything I have. It deserves my complete attention, my complete devotion. And then we'll talk about the next step from there.

[38:26]

We'll see what the next thing comes, and we'll do the same practice. We'll keep doing that as much as we can. That's the advantage of these big problems, is that there's a chance that you give them the kind of attention that you could have been giving smaller things before that. But you'd say, well, you know, this pain isn't that bad. I don't have to give this my complete attention, so I'll just sort of give it some of my attention and do something else too. Well, that's not very polite. When a guest comes in your house, to think that you can... I mean, I'm not saying I do this, but to think that... I'm not saying I don't do this, but to think you can still stay on the telephone and say, I'll be right with you. I mean, that's not that polite. Now, of course, you could also get to be quite the person on the phone, but you can say, you'll never believe who just came to see me, but I call you back. And then they'll, you know... But they'll understand. We can tell them later who it was. Wren? When you said, when you were saying this story about the gas and the oil, the statement, this is the most appropriate thing that I've happened to read, this statement seems to border on

[39:42]

I'm not quite sure how, but it seems to border over the same thing as what you were saying about that flower is so beautiful. It borders on it? It's the same thing. I remember once Tia had said something in a liberal conference. It was one that they really sat with me about events happening, and they kind of go through me, and it's kind of very cautious. They go through me. as soon as I am there. And if they hit me, walk me around, and it happens to me, it's . If they happen to me, then I'm not bleeding them. And that seems to be the evil. That's like killing yourself. I'm killing myself with someone today. I'm going to kill you after that. I'm going to kill myself free of injury. So. Yeah, your self is three-dimensional instead of, what do you call it, myriad dimension.

[40:50]

So what we want to do is we want to wake up to this myriad dimension self. So radical innocence initiates us into, instead of we come to the situation, the situation comes and we're there. And it's the same place. When I come to the situation... That's the same place as when the situation comes and I'm there. So you don't have to move or mess around. It's the same place. The thing is, are you aware? You have to completely give yourself to being deluded. And then you're in the same place where awakening happens. That's why you don't have to mess with it at all. That's why we sit still. When you were helping Mark figure out how to take care of pain.

[41:52]

You say, take care of that, take care of that. And I heard him asking how. Is that how figured out on the spot, or is there some method of knowing how to take care, how to be radically polite? There is a how, but again, the how is not a figuring out how. Like, basically this is the same as saying you just are aware of the causes and conditions. You put your trust in watching causes and conditions rather than manipulating things that are happening, including manipulating causes and conditions. You put your faith in the teaching that watching how things happen is liberation. How things happen is the clockwise fastika, is the world. The world is the way things happen for us. To spend my life watching how the world happens rather than trying to influence the way the world happens is a radical shift.

[42:55]

Most people are trying to make the world happen a certain way. That's what makes the world happen. To then shift from trying to make the world happen, in other words, not being innocent, thinking I can do something, to make a shift from that to watching the way that works is a reversal. And that can be how. How would it happen? But how without trying to figure it out? If you try to figure it out, it will only work in situations which are less important. There are lots of situations like that. But the only time that you can figure things out is in situations where the contingencies are not moving. When things aren't moving, you can figure it out. If you people all stay there in your places, I can figure out some things here. But if you're moving, I can't figure anything out. If you all sit there, I can figure out who I want to dance with next. But if you start moving around and changing the way you look and gaining weight and losing weight and growing older and putting on makeup and taking drugs and stuff, I can't tell what to do by figuring it out.

[44:04]

However, if I just sit here and watch what's happening, I can figure out what to do. But not by figuring out. I'll never find my heart by trying to figure it out. Unless everybody stopped moving, now I could figure it out. But in situations like this, in our math problems or something, things are changing so much that discursive thinking is not going to come up with the answer of what I want. But if we suffer with that long enough, the lights will go on and we'll see, oh, I want to do this. Suffer what it means to suffer with the consequences of trying to figure it out until finally the switch occurs and you see, and then you act from the place of where everything comes and confirms you, then you act from there. That's called awakened action. But you don't, you're watching how but not figuring out how.

[45:09]

You're watching how, watching how, not trying to get how or define how. or grasp how, or, you know, focus how. You just how. How, in other words, you're polite to the way it's happening without trying to correlate it to something that you can capitalize on, you can do. But the tendency of doing it that way, of you can do it, gets you into the situation, so that's why you should be polite to it, because the only way we can... get to the place where this is going to happen is by accepting what we're already doing. That's why we should really be applied, because Buddha's there. Buddha's in our delusion. Buddha's in that radical evil. Buddha's right there. It's just that it's kind of turned around. It's just the other side. Nirvana is the nature of samsara. Nirvana is the way the world... Samsara means turning around. The way things turn around is that they don't move. Or that they're not turning is the way to turn.

[46:21]

That's what the Buddha said, right? Yes? Done? That wasn't you? That was not you. Yes? Mm-hmm. When you sit still, you allow everything else to move. And also, when you sit still, everything else does move. So how is that led to having that tension completely in a big way? Uh, putting your attention on the big wave means you're just, you know, into the how of the waves. Just being into how things are happening.

[47:23]

Okay? That's not moving. Things happen, and what you're doing is you're into how they're happening. You're studying what's happening. You're studying the self. You're not trying to push it away or pull it over here. You're not working with the self and with things. You're watching how the self and things work. That awareness is not moving. That awareness is just present with what's happening. Yeah. If you can have radical evil, you can also have various ramifications of radical evil. Shame is one of the ramifications of radical evil. Shame is a wholesome dharma. But it's a dharma that, to say, yeah, it's a wholesome dharma that could accompany radical evil.

[48:43]

I don't think so. Well, there's two kinds. I guess one kind of shame is this is really not up to snuff for me. I'm not really behaving in a way that's apropos of my self-respect. If I look at myself a second time, if I look at myself as red and then I look again and find out not red, my behavior is not apropos of not red. That's shame. So maybe I'd take it back and say that shame is perhaps almost always accompanies radical evil. Yeah, maybe almost. And politeness is to notice that shame. Maybe shame is necessary to have a self-reliance.

[49:54]

Really? It is necessary, yes. When there's not a self-confirming... You don't have to have any shame when everything's deriving and confirming itself. So Buddha's vibrating between confession and an awakening. Buddha's gone at this all time. Buddha's... Okay, I'm Buddha. I'm practicing Buddhism and, you know, I'm good and I'm bad. But... Radically... And being polite to that and not messing with that allows everything's coming together and creating this evil person or this sense of self. And then that's liberation from that. So the Buddha's, in order to have constant liberation, you have to have constant delusion. So Buddha's constantly falling down.

[50:55]

and admitting it and waking up. So there probably is shame there. And there's also external shame in the sense of, well, I guess if people knew what I was up to, they'd probably feel kind of upset. Or they might be let down in a way. Do you know what I mean? So if you have a relationship with somebody and maybe you love them a lot, some of the time you're spending, you're separating yourself from them. Which is, if they knew that you were doing that, they would probably bother them. But if you don't then elaborate that into certain kinds of actions, they may not even notice, so it doesn't bother them that much.

[52:03]

And especially it won't bother them if they're doing their own work. Because they're barely able to keep up with their own stuff. So in that case, they won't be so concerned that you're barely able to keep up with yours. And two such people can live together for hours. You don't know about that? When I still had, when my hair was still cut straight across my forehead, you didn't hear that before? You came up to me playing horse on stilts. You didn't hear that start, that poem? It was? It's in the last incident. I thought I sang that poem to you before.

[53:07]

Yeah. But I thought I'd do that over and over, so I thought I'd do it here. I mean, I have done it here. I've done it here several times, but some of you didn't hear me. At the same time, you talked about raccoons. That's right. Wait, I was here for that. I heard that one. I've done that for him several times, but it wasn't necessarily with this group of people. You want me to go get it? I don't have it quite down. I could try. Want me to try? I'll try. Here you go. When I still had my hair cut straight across my forehead, you came up to me on stilts playing horse.

[54:20]

You walked around me while I was pulling grass. I have two small persons growing up in the village of Chu Thaw So, not suspicious of each other. When I was 15, I married you. of being bashful, I would not respond when called to. I would just sit facing the wall. When I was 16, did I say 15 when I got married?

[55:36]

When I was 16, I stopped scowling and I desired my dust to be mingled with yours forever and forever and forever. When I was 17, you were called away on business to the far province of Khotan. You went off by the river of swirling eddies. You dragged your feet when you left.

[56:44]

The mosses, the many mosses, had grown up around the gate, too thick to remove. The monkeys in the West Garden, under the monkeys overhead, cry sorrowfully. The paired butterflies are yellow with August in the West Garden. They hurt me. I grow older. If you're coming down to the river Jiang and you let me know beforehand, I'll come to meet you as far as Choufu Sa.

[58:12]

That's my memory. It's not quite right. I missed one line that I remember. After she stopped scowling and decided that she wanted her dust to mingle with her husband, then she said, why should I climb the lookout? I bet you know. You said something about pulling up flowers. Oh, I said pulling up flowers, yeah. So I guess my plan for this session is to talk about, particularly to talk about radical innocence in the context of the self and fulfillment samadhi.

[59:35]

and how radically innocent it is of all human trips going to And it's included, I mean, it's also innocent of us doing it, this self-propelled samadhi, which is our practice. Our practice is free of us doing it. You have a fun practice. It's a religious practice. It's not another human trip. It's something to add to the list of things you can do. So strictly speaking, it's not something you get skillful at.

[60:42]

Harder skills do come out of the practice. skills of helping people come out of the practice. But I did not get skillful at the practice. Although I feel sorry to say that, I guess I offer you a consolation. The thing you can get skillful at is you can become a skillful host. You can become skillful at admitting your humanness. That you can get skillful at. And as a matter of fact, human beings are the ones who can be skillful at being human. And at the limit of, at the total willingness to be a human being, you make a space for this practice to happen.

[61:47]

But it's hard to be a human being. It's hard to do it all the way. Because we human beings think that we can do other than that. And that would be easier. It would be easier to be something other than a human being if we could be. Anything would probably be easier. Let me ask you. So radical politeness is... I wrote down what it was on this piece of paper over here.

[63:15]

Those who have cultivated all virtues are gentle and agreeable, straightforward and honest. see my body dwelling here, preaching the Dharma. Buddha says that in the Lotus Sutra. Those who practice all virtues are gentle, agreeable, flexible, upright, stable, and rhapsodizing. and honest, I see my body here, dwelling here, preaching the Dharma. This is the statement of radical politeness.

[64:24]

And those who practice radical politeness will see the Buddha dwelling here, preaching the Dharma. Now, when the Buddha said that, you might think, well, he was on vulture peak, giving the lotus sutra, so he was here. He was referring to his here. But here is not here. So those who practice all virtues are gentle, upright, stable, tolerant, and honest. will see the Buddha here preaching the Dharma. And Dogen Zenji says, practicing all virtues means to enter the mire, to enter the mud, and get dirty in order to help the Buddha.

[65:28]

to enter the water and get wet in order to help drowning people. That's what practicing all virtues means. In other words, not into other people's matter. You can't enter other people's matter. You can't enter other people's evil. You cannot do that. But you can enter your own in order to help others. Entering your own, that's how you get dirty. You don't get dirty on other people's stuff. You get dirty on your own stuff. And you get dirty not just to get dirty and indulge yourself in dirt. You get dirty in order to help people. That's called practicing all virtues. That's politeness. And being upright and honest and stable, Dogen Zenji says, that's quotes, I am thus, you are thus too.

[66:40]

I am thus, you are thus too. It refers to the story of the ancestor when He said, when the sixth ancestor said, sent you to the seventh. What is it? What is it that thus comes? What is this that has come? It just comes now. And the disciples said, to say it's this misses the point. And the teacher says, well, then is there no practice and realization? For me to say it's this misses the point. For me to say it's this misses the point.

[67:45]

That's delusion. That's basic delusion, for me to say it's this. So I won't say it's this. Well, then is there no? to practice and confirm things while fearing the self is delusion. Well, if I won't do that, then is there no practice in confirmation? I don't say that there's no practice in confirmation, just that I'm not going to defile it. I'm not going to defile it. It can't be defiled. That's all. I don't say that you can't practice and confirm things. You can't do it. That's all. That's all. And then the teacher says, this undefiled way has been practiced by all Buddhas. They all practice this way. And then he says, I am thus, you are thus too.

[68:49]

So if you enter your life You get dirty in your own stuff for the sake of all beings, and then you just be upright and stable and honest. Then I am thus, you are thus too. To enter the mud means that you see Dures in the mud. I brought that up because a little while ago you were sleeping very... I saw Buddha sleeping. Did some of you see Buddha sleeping? So go back to sleep so we can see Buddha again. Anyway, if you really enter the mud, you'll see Buddha. To see Buddha is not something I can cause myself to do.

[69:57]

I can't like... I know this person's Buddha. Try real hard, you can see him. No, that's not how you see him. You don't try to see him. You enter your own mud. If you enter your own mud, you'll see the Buddha in everything. When you say enter your own mud, you don't try and enter your own mud, do you? Well, to enter it means you will admit it. But I mean, the practice is radical politeness, not the sort of intangible trying to get this off. They're sort of in the process of being radically polite. And it will eventually happen. Right. You don't just go around and just indulge yourself. You don't just like, okay, now I'm going to go think that I'm separate from Michael.

[70:59]

I'm separate from Michael. I'm going to do that now. I'm separate from Michael. Not like that, no. I notice what I'm doing and I notice I think that way. And that's the dirtiest thing I can do. Admit that. If you can stay with that, the other stuff will drop away. That may stay because it's built into the nervous system. That's deeply ingrained. But there's other kinds of evil which are not so deeply ingrained. They'll drop away. But you still may have this deep thing, which even Buddhas have. Even Buddhas have it, but they are on the ball. They keep spotting it. Oh, there it is again. If you watch the chain of causation going around, you know, The formation of the consciousness and the sense organs and stuff like that and objects of awareness and contact and stuff, that happens to Buddhas. But they stop the craving for it.

[72:02]

Well, you know, like, you stop violating precepts, basically. I mean, Buddhas almost never, like, you know... They almost never do anything that's not helpful. So all those kind of unhelpful, harmful things they stop doing with themselves. They stop messing with themselves. And therefore, because they stop messing with themselves, they have ability to stop messing with others. All that stuff starts to drop away. And more and more you can let people be themselves because you can let yourself be yourself. Again, I propose to you that it's hard for us to let other people get by what we won't let ourselves get by with. If we're not going to let ourselves be free, it's hard for us to let other people be free.

[73:07]

So start being nice to yourself and let yourself be free. Then you'll be willing to let other people be free too. It's getting kind of late, Jim. I don't want to necessarily answer it, but I just thought this must tie with the pinnacle rising somehow. Right, it really does. I knew that. Did you talk about that with me? Yeah, that was actually, as I said, I'm going to talk about that in a minute. others say this, when all dharmas, when everything comes forward, they confirm and realize themselves, that's awakening. When all things come forward and confirm you or realize you, that's awakening. That's the pinnacle of rising. And when you're there, you are witnessing.

[74:10]

You're nothing other than dependent core rising. This is just another way to say when dependent core rising is what happens, then everything's interconnection, everything's life, this is awakening. But I haven't been using that term lately, so it's right there. All this stuff is just, you know, the latest attempt to make you people interested in independent colonizing. Just so you don't think I say the same thing all the time. I disguise it as porn. Evil is basically You put yourself outside up to ignore dependent core rising. To say, I'm over here, something's over there. Or even dependent rising's over there. That's the basic delusion that we do. We human beings do not meditate on dependent core rising.

[75:18]

We're into not meditating on dependent core rising. We're into that. So as an antidote to that, we should start meditating on dependent core rising. But in order to effectively meditate on dependent co-arising, we have to admit we don't like to. And we spend most of our time ignoring dependent co-arising and thinking, I do stuff. I do not want to look at dependent co-arising as the most boring topic. I want to look at me making things arise, not them making me arise. You're making me realize. You're making me realize. Cassandra's making me realize. Dasha's making me realize. This is getting out of control. I don't want to switch over to that way of looking at the world. Rin's making me realize. Oh, no.

[76:21]

Richard's making me realize. Less is my life. No. I'd rather do it this other way, so I think I will. Good night, Irene. Good night, Irene. I'll see you in my dreams.

[76:47]

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