the at play by atlanta
that
a great assembly
has gathered
at a place of know abode
and also each of us is at our place
each of us has a unique position in this universe
a unique responsibility
a unique place
to express
awakening
and to offer it to all beings and to receive it from all beings
and from our individual places we have no also somehow gathered
we've come to assemble together in this great sanga
this great community

some of you are in a place called the united states of america others are
in europe
and south america
and asia

and
there is a question in my heart
which is
what is necessary what is required
to make the people
of the united states of america
feel
have a real sense and understanding that we are all in this together
and of course we also want to encourage the people from other parts of the world to to understand that we're all in this together

to understand that and want to take care of that and be responsible for that what that we're all in this together

at various points in history
in the stories of history
people have said that such as such a time was the time of revolution

are we now in a time of revolution

i don't know
but i want us to be in a time of revolution
as you know when we speak of practicing
and studying the teachings of awakening
we often speak of
revolution of turning the wheel of the teacher
and being turned by the wheel of the teaching
revolution is an ongoing
wow
of the buddha way
to turn the world to turn the teaching to turn all beings and to be turned by all beings
this is the normal situation and also one that calls to us to maintain this turning this ongoing revolution
and the revolution is done by the great assembly
and the revolution is done for the sake of peace and harmony
among all beings

in india
there arose a teaching
which is variously called
for methods for
gathering a
or for methods to guide beings
or for methods to embrace and sustain beings
these for methods are sometimes called in english
giving
kind speech
beneficial action
and the one i want to emphasize today is
identity action
these for methods
our away for us to make a revolution which is a revolution of harmony a harmonious revolution
a non violent revolution
in the midst of all the illnesses and violence of this world
we have the unique opportunity each of us has a unique opportunity to turn the wheel of harmony
to nonviolently interact with all beings with each
state of mind and body that we are
and with each mind and body we meet in the form of others self and others embracing and sustaining self embracing and sustaining others
originally this teaching appeared in sanskrit scriptures in india
and when it was translated into chinese
the word they used for ah do the word they used which is sometimes translated as guidance or gathering
that chinese character which means to guide or embrace or sustain or to nurture
that character can be read actively or passively
actively are receptive lee
so the practice
of harmoniously and non violently interacting with others can be read as giving
or receiving gifts it can be embraced
an embracing embracing
i wish to embrace and sustain all of you and i wish to be embraced and sustained by all of you
this teaching is suggesting that right now you are all embracing and sustaining me
and i am embracing and sustaining you

so again briefly practicing giving is an opportunity for me to give to you and receive from you kind speech is from me to speak kindly to you and to receive your kind speech
beneficial action is
for me to do things that are beneficial to you and to receive your beneficence towards me
and finally identity action which is also sometimes to translated into english as operation operating together
realizing that we are in the same boat

that's not i found it i found a painting

and you see it
the see everybody in the boat
i put the top it says
it says in the same boat
this is a picture of reality
the reality of the buddha's the buddhas are in the same boat with everybody and they see everybody in the boat with them and they also see that some of the people in the boat don't think that everybody's in the boat and they some of them don't even water and buddy in the boat
the buddha wishes everybody to be in the boat
at in harmony
how can we
yeah how can we have different views each of us has our unique position nobody else has it
maybe in this assembly there is all seems to be a lot of commonality
maybe we have a lot of shared
perspectives
but still we are different
this practice of identity action
is somehow to find a way to identify with others so they can identify with us
orchard and denna fi with ourselves so we can help others identify with us
are you identify with ourselves so that we can identify with others
this is this is this way of living
this identity action this mind of sameness this mind which finds a way to see that others are the same as us they are different and they are the same
and to be mindful of this and realize it is an ongoing revolution of reality
it's an ongoing refreshment of our life an ongoing
harmony

and the thought came to my mind to say of course again
this work of harmony this work of acting in solidarity with all beings who are different from us is difficult

and my wonderful unconscious gave me a memory when i said that just now which was
one time about fifteen years ago
i was at a lake in minnesota in the summer
and in the summer the ice melts and you can actually go into the lakes
and i was going of walking into the lake with my youngest grandson

and he as he entered as he walked into as he waded into the water
he stopped
and his mother said what's the matter game
he said
i'm having trouble with the plant life
that those up
you know our the the weeds that grow in the plant they they sometimes make it difficult to walk and they feel sometimes you might say creepy in you can't see them but they're tangling your your your ankles in your your calf and he was having trouble with them
all sentient beings
challenge us
they they they tangle us up
and is difficult and la times a tangle us in the dark under water is creepy
but that creepiness we can use to become in harmony

when i see someone
and
i think they're different from me
i think their concerns are not mine
i think they're yeah they're concerned about something that i'm not as concerned about or i'm concerned about something and they seem to be less concerned
here's a great opportunity
to see if i can see myself in the person who
sees things differently
and see if i can see that person who sees things differently in myself this is the opportunity to turn the wheel of dharma
or to let the wheel turn and let the we'll turn me from my delusion
that that person
is not included in me or i am not included in that person
i am included in all others all others are included in me
this is my this is an offering
to you
and it's an offering to me
is there anything further you wish to offer me
anything further you requested me at this moment in of revolution

steve
i rub
hello steve ah i just thought i'd apropos
of that arm
of the encroaching plant life i had a dream this today that dumb
i was sitting in his i was standing in a circle with that with like up like a couple of five like a very well count like chewbacca
and i was like a in a couple of like maybe otters or something we are all stay around is very civilized but i was freaking out and i had a i had a double and i was pounding the ground with a shovel like wristwatch watch it because i can hit you with the shovels
and i did hit anybody with a shovel which as glad about because they were way more civilized than i am most of the time
that dream ended

of course that dream is apropos thanks for telling us
and can and can the
banging the shovel on the earth
be intended as a gift
as kind words
as beneficial action
and as identity action
it's possible
and it calls for mindfulness to remember the practice when you have a shovel in your hand

ah screw

the web
oh oscar
thank you very much for your story about creepy plant life i as a
and actually i'm experiencing some feelings of creepiness associated with other life forms
ha and so i wonder if she could say more about how the creepiness can be used to understand the relationship with the congruence of self and other
oh the first thing that comes up which i think might be appropriate is that when i feel that that creepy entanglement of the plant life underground under the water to look and see if i feel that that plant life is included in me
and if if i look at my history usually when i'm in the water and i feel some slimy sticky entanglement under the water i usually do not remember
that that slimy enos is included in me i think i'm walking along on slimy and suddenly slime as is touching me
it's like a wake up to my own sliminess and when i'm except my own slime this then i'm not afraid of that plant anymore
i still have the job of interacting with it but now i'm interacting with a friend
with a comp with a companion
and also i'm in that creepy slimy
entanglement i'm in that to i'm in it it's in me meditating on that i can find a peaceful harmonious relationship with what's entangling me
and with the entanglement i used the entanglement to become free of the entanglement
rather than what a lot of people think is cut the attack cut get rid of the entanglement to get through the entanglement rather than use the entanglement to pass through the entanglement
i see
with plants with animals and with humans
with water
an earth an air and fire
so on
meditating on the on the creepiness racking my identification with the creepiness
yeah had try to find a the co-operative
action for try to find cooperation with the creepiness
try to see how fight try to five sameness with the creepiness and then we will have harmony realized in that friendly relationship
thank you very much
jody
hi rab i'm going
dr green
how can you thank you for your talk i'm i'm i think i'm hearing you say
action and on
something about
self identity identifying with self or something leading to an understanding of cooperation and i guess i'm having a hard time following that
so i guess what i'll say it again is more like find a way for others to identify with you and you to identify with others we why i missed maybe i misspoke we don't really we don't have to identify with ourselves that's hard that's already going on all the time
what we need to do now as learn how to identify with others and see them identifying with us
and the way to do that is to remember that we are included in others according to this practice and and others are included in us this mutual inclusion is a practice weekend
join by remembering it and wishing to join it and in that way we're wishing to join the revolution of the teaching
cause this is the teaching identity action is the teaching
cooperation is to teach him
it is the method for gathering the sanga into peace and harmony
thank you you're welcome
angela

well
hello angela
i there
thank you for sharing this learning and sharing about your memory with your youngest grandson gave
i am always here the entanglement of the weeds as i stand in the night
through my toes around my ankles from my camel
and i'm confessing that i don't
most often i guess i don't feel that i'm joined
i'm i can intellectualized that i can tell myself in my mind
but on a feeling level
i'm yeah
a
i don't feel that i i see myself in the boat with our beings and making great efforts to identify with all the beings in the boat
in the universe
i'm
yeah i do confess that i do feel
an isolated
well that's a that's an opportunity for what i said earlier
for confession and repentance
so i confess that all i've heard the teaching for example the angela is included in me
i don't feel like is included in me
or i don't feel like i'm included and angela when she tells me about not feeling included in others
but if i now confess that i don't feel that i'm included in you
and by confessing that i don't feel like i'm included in you and in a way being embarrassed that i don't actually feel like the teaching is i don't feel the teaching i don't feel the teaching i admit i don't feel the teaching and that melts away the root of not a
a being stuck in not feeling the teaching
but it
actually i don't have to confess that because i do feel like i'm included in you and i do feel like you're including me so that's not my confession today
but i can confess that in the past and probably in the future i will sometimes not feel like i include certain people certain plants certain animals
that i do not feel that there
included in me and i'm included in them and then i can notice what that feels like and it does not it's not it does not feel harmonious and so i'm sorry
but i confess i don't i heard the teaching but i don't feel it in this case and if i notice it and confess it then there's freedom from that
from that not feeling without getting rid of not feeling just not be get being in harmony with it by noticing it and confessing
thank you for this meeting
thank you for this meeting
rights
arab hello
hum are like to ask you about 'em both problems but i have
oh
it's
know like the the whole song goes you're on the bulbs and
a number of people comes me and save the bourbon this person over here
is a monster and when to throw a master boat
and
ah i don't want to the help them throw him off the boat
and
basically what it comes down signal
is them saying but i cannot be compassionate with him while being compassionate with them
he has harmed them and so if i'm not helping them thrown off the boat
the
ha
oh i am not helping that
so
i just really don't know what to say it's with those people
i do
ah this person who is a candidate for being ejected from the boat can you feel that person in yourself come in can you understand you include that person
yes absolutely and you and you feel that your included in that person
yes okay you got that same here my biggest challenges actually i know the hundred line on the one
the people who want you to throw him out of the boat
the who want you to support violence
towards this critter then the job is to do the same with them can you see that these ejectors that the ejection crew is included in you
and can you see that you are included in them
that's your job
but the second one seems significantly harder than i i tell walk
getting a really different are some people can say i can see that person to me but i can't see me and them in something other people say the reverse i can see myself in them but not them and me and to be able to not be to not be able to do either side is greed and hate
and to do be able to do one side you get greet and not the other you get greed and to be able to do the other side but not this side you get hatred
so yes have some people are more prone to hatred which means
ah yeah i don't see that i don't see them in me
then i hate them and the other way around i don't see me and them then i agreed
and some people are more one side of the other some people are got greed and age but if you know most people do some of the of a bottle sometimes but some people specialize in not seeing themselves in the evil ones and some people specialize in not seeing the evil ones
and so that leads to insatiable desire or in safe in one case unsatisfied desire unrequited love and then the other case
ongoing hatred so this is the challenge for you to identify with the people who want to throw people out of the boat
and identify book in both ways that they're in you and your in them and it's really it's hard to be on top of that ball
there's so many cases where people do something and we just don't we miss it we we miss it we miss it we miss it
and this case the advantage of this case as you see there seem to be repetition and so you get more chances to to look into it to examine the situation on this case of ejecting so yeah you know what america lot of people want to
why they want a different president and they wanted the president to be removed from office
and maybe that's gonna happen and they're happy about that but still
still for harmony it is necessary for me to see myself in that person and to see that person in me
and i
i do sometimes think ladies and gentlemen and people who aren't ladies or gentlemen i say to the grey saw a sanga i say to the great assembly i sometimes think i see donald trump and me
i see me being like i it all kind of like a petulant child
not wanting you know wanted to get my way i see that and i say all gonna just like donald trump
i mean just like em
can you believe that i would think that about myself well i do and i feel kind of good not being that way i'd hoped feel good about being heavily but i feel good about seeing that and me rather than it's all over there in those people i don't feel good about that
he's the bad guy not me
i don't feel good about that but he's the bad guy and that's in me that's where the harmony is living that's where i can not look down on
on him
that's where i can be for readily and work on harmony and yeah but occasionally i might miss
that i include
somebody i might miss it it's a missed opportunity and then oh i missed the opportunity i'm sorry
i made barely have time to acknowledge that i miss the opportunity before i miss the next one
but when acknowledge it that i missed it i didn't i did not miss an opportunity then
so there you that's your job that's your responsibility to turn the wheel of dharma and it's easy to miss it
but when you don't you're doing your job you're turning you're doing the revolution
in hong harmony of all beings
harmony is a revolutionary process
and no time
no time to get stuck like i that song i sometimes say
the time to hesitate is through no time to wallow in the mire

did you see your brooks
he also thank you
a know german sanga

for guess that us
okay i'm
well i'm my my first question is are identity identity action i've never heard that and i wanted to know if that's just another word for interdependent colorizing
or if there's something else
well it's
is it is it something
it's it is in is it is
identity action is a dependent core rising
it is a dependent or arising but it is it is also a practice
inspired by the teaching of dependent or arising
and if you are if you are not
mindfully practicing identity action that's also dependent arising to that you can't get away from the pentagon or arising but you can overlook you can forget
to practice cooperation but you can't escape cooperating with all beings dependent core arising is your cooperation was all beings that is unavoidable but you can forget to practice it
and then in that's part of learning how to practice it is divert is involves and i want to practice it but i forgot and i'm sorry that that's a practice but if you don't remember and you're not sorry that's not a practice that forgetting the practice but that's in penn quarter rising to
two
so is that is the practice remembering dependent core rising
well you can remember to panic or arising yeah and also remember that because because of the principle of the teaching of dependent core arising that means that you're in cooperation with everybody
an implication of dependent or arising is that everybody makes you and you make everybody comfortable that's that's an application of the pinnacle horizon and if that's the case then there's an opportunity to practice in accord with that implication
but even if you don't see the implication is still true you still do depend on everybody and everybody does depend on you that's the pentateuch or arising
but you you can not practice that you can forget you could even resist that practice
and that's the pinnacle rising to but that's a dependent core rising of disharmony and violence
violence is a political arising and harmony is a dependent arising
harmony to pet arises through kind speech
through a generosity through beneficial action and through co-operative effort
and and cooperative effort is you don't do it by yourself it isn't you're doing all the cooperation others are cooperating with you those practices realize
the dependent core rising of harmony not doing those practices for getting them not not wanting to join them that is the defendant or arising of disharmony
so both harmony and disharmony
are the pinnacle risings they're both examples of dependent core rising
but they're different and this is this is an assembly for the sake of harmony so we add these practices to remember and if you try to remember them you'll notice you will notice probably unless you're different from me which you're not i mean what you are but you're not
you will have trouble remembering his all the time
but again when when you forget or missed a chance there's a practice for that
call confession and repentance are forgetting the practice of these for methods of in bracing and sustaining and being embraced it sustains so you could say therefore methods for realizing to pendant core rising understanding the pentagon
rising and understanding to political rising means understanding the dharma
and understand the dharma means understanding buddha
so therefore message to realize buddha
and they dependent like or the methods could dependently car eyes and forgetting them also dependent the car arises
i'm still not sure if i know what the practice or what the identity action identity practices really
it's like
well like i said to you
right now you're talking to me and so part of the practice might be right now do you are you remembering that you are included in this person is talking to you and that this person is talking to you is included in you to do you remember that teaching
and if you remember the teaching than you might say okay i remember the teaching but i don't accept it i don't think he is included in me
especially when he's being i don't no stupid
all these stupid people they're not i heard the teaching that they're included me i heard the teaching but i don't agree with it and i'm i'm i'm closed to that possibility that these stupid people are included in me
even people who don't i don't even call stupid they tell me they're stupid
and then i i hear the teaching that they're included me but i don't agree with it i buy push it away okay so that salon nine pushing that away
and they're included my pushing it away and my pushing it away as included in them
if you think about this teaching a lot you'll see a lot of examples of where you don't get it and you'll start to cease a few examples of where you actually can say actually i do so i do feel like someone so is included in me i kind of do now
and i also see how somebody else isn't a kind of don't and you can study the study the to and see which ones are in accord with fearlessness and harmony and which ones are colluded and and greed hate delusion and fear and disharmony and violence that's you
you can see it all right there by doing this practice
thank you you're welcome thank you for your
gift like you for your kind speech thank you for cooperating with me
oh my

good morning ram
good morning homer ah
i i hear the word included an inclusive and being inclusive and including including all in in ourselves in me
i i keep running to the challenge because i think as long as
there's the me
there is an object that i'm including that me in me so there's a subject and object
i cannot be won with what is and therefore my whole dilemma is i want to be one with what is and i can't because of that that in and out ah
perception
yeah well i'm proposing that what you're saying you that you can't see i'm saying it is possible without getting rid of the self it is possible to become free not of self and other but of the separation
bye bye this practice you can realize that self and other are completely mutually inclusive
i ah and you haven't seen that yet but i'm but i'm saying this is a teaching for people like you who don't see this it's a teaching to free you from your view that this that you have to get rid yourself
the self is the thing you used to check to see if it includes huddles the self you used his to see if you realize that that self is in others by meditating on this you will become free of the separation of self and other
becoming free of the separation of self and other is harmony
but to get rid itself is like what brooks was talking about throwing somebody out of the boat you don't have to throw the self out of the boat to realize that everybody's in a boat with you and your in the boat with everybody in harmony
so i understand i see myself in you when you tell me you have to get rid of the self i see myself in you and i say to you you don't have to get rid of this self
in order for there to be harmony with set between self and others you don't have to
yes therefore i would like to confess now that you reflected and i said it i realized i like to confess i am not doing the practices yeah and and then and then if you keep telling me that maybe at some point you you feel kind of sorry that your
not doing the practice
and the i really i do feel sad and i do feel the pain and sorrow and all that that sorrow will free you from not doing this practice
that sarah will melt away your resistance to this practice this revolutionary practice of harmonizing self and other not getting rid of self are getting rid of other but harmonizing them through
a meditation on reciprocal inclusion
and if you don't do the practice feeling sorry about it will remove the obstacles to the practice
but it may take more than one sorrow

pink
john
a little rap and hello everyone hello jon and a special along the donald trump and kim larsen ah
donald donald and who donald trump and jim morrison
since so he was song about that memory foam
ah this is just i would just want to play briefly with the map where that you gave based on your story of my stop very brief story involves a boat involves from berkey water and walls weeds or chop like about forty five years ago i was taking your scuba class
off the coast of santa barbara the of huge kelp forests and realizing that many people were afraid of the calvin saw themselves been entangled and suffered a horrible death he instructor kind of basically said look we're all as get into the middle of the scalp
we're on a team works sort of the scalp and then i'm going to tell you what to do you just float in relax in the kelp falls away from you and i so i thought that was that that's what to to mine and job then i also just as i was wasting i thought
if i have been in the water by myself i don't think know with an issue pissed off and big no and and relax and let it float away but because everyone was there with me and we had this good teaching i did that and i think we all had a good time after yeah
thank you that's perfect example
thank you you're welcome
ham

is i talked about pam walton help
she's muted
i thank you i didn't hear my name being called me and i must have cut out right at that second year will hear you found this way my here i am this reminds me of a really beautiful practice that i think i first heard from joseph goldstein called just like me i don't know if
you're familiar with that but you visualize somebody that you're having difficulty with and then you say to yourself things like just like me this is a living breathing human being just like me this person wants to be loved and respected just like me this
person wants to be seen and heard or whatever it is that is that source of conflict and it is kind of this site it's like an identity action meditation you didn't i hear you talking about it the action it is yeah except that it doesn't say the other side
where do you see that that other person that you yeah is he just like me this person is so it's just that i like i'm just like him
he's just like nine just i cannot meet yeah i'm just like you know that i national of you down because that
there's i was thinking like and that side of it like if i think somebody's being stupid or arrogant or even beautiful and amazing you know that i could i could ask myself you know how am i being stupid or how am i being eric garner's there any way that i'm being those things in this situation
so yeah the and then his instructions are half the story of identity action and then turn it route return the wheel and do it the other way and then when you do it the other with internet
keep keep the wheel of revolution of the dharma going to have both directions
in the practice that i'm talking about here
you're right that he he he articulated one side of it very well and knowledge turn the wheel and do it the other way
thank you we welcome
scott

scott you have done butte
no go
am i am
i think like a lot of lot of people now we've been watching their
the situation in america and even abroad and within the of
increasing schism you know writing to you to the even threatened violence of people were left her user rather than fight against them left and it's an you've become a kind of like a mass disease in some way people are are strikingly injury value of the side and
somewhat discouraging to see that handling growing and becoming too powerful
hasn't and our world and culture and and and and i just saw the show the other night before gave me some strange hope and it was a the show about animals and or and at inter species bonding between animals after the
kate that he showed different cases for example of this and
that of his dear they bonded with a dog and they were friends and and
i've been doing a dog would play together and an n and they were dear friends and they spent time with each other all day and how anyone can explain that particularly and then there was a case of a am a horse that had been blinded and
i'm and this girl became him his friend and would lead the horse around the know where they lived and a and take care of a horse who did this his whole life until a horse passed away and it just give me this work this work since well you know is possible
to no feel for for being too you know to reach across a great divide and somehow somehow become friends even though in that case they couldn't have been more different mean in the case of a tortoise and hour and a monkey i think that have abandoned met
and became president and this is this is a cross a great divide and yet they found a way to become friends and and to take care of each other and i just wonder whether in a whether we humans have this capacity now to for us to i think we do
and i should hope that teaching is offering offered
well along with the another teaching which is this teaching is possible and you're giving examples in other species were as possible and also lot of people are able to do it with dogs right
of course yeah to quit he was undoubtedly than that dog human thing the human horsing is and less people can do it but a lot of people can do the human horse thing and also the human cat thing and also the human a new thing in the human
snake thing so it is possible
and it's happening will we need more of it though and we need more the human to human when the humans seem like another species but it is possible that's it you say it is possible and when it also between humans and and up other species of plants
between humans and trees between humans and kelp it is possible but it's also possible that humans hate kelp and hate trees preserve cause they're different so if this practice should be done
is it is practice is possible to do with all animals
with all plants and with all the elements of the universe it is possible but it's difficult
and sometimes is rare like it's rare for a goat to be a seeing i'd goat for a horse but it happened to have happened here it happened and it can and we can turn into seeing eye republicans can turn into seeing eye people
for democrats and democrats can be seeing eye people for republicans is it possible
how do we are happy how do how do we as an and practitioners
others great way you know help help help to promote that in some way to actually makes a difference in well what's happening now with the quite terrible cough frightening to me looking looking at somebody who has a different view than you do and try to find a try to learn about their view
i asked them questions enquire about their view show them respect
be generous towards them
a be a speak kindly to them the beneficial towards them inst and learn to see that you are included in people who have different views from you a part of the way to be able to do that is by being kind of them that will have that will watch
i'm you up to see yourself in them
i said in this in this venue i said that i would like to
here are about how republicans see things and then someone rewarded me by telling me
how republican see things
anna and i was i was really it opened my eyes to see how they saw things and then when i saw saw how they saw things then i had the opportunity to sit to do this practice
which of i'm included in this amazing different amazingly different way of seeing things and this amazingly different way of seeing things is included in me there's the challenge and to warm up to that fine off that fourth practice you warm up to it by being generous to those
of different species
being dead generous towards adults a different political species
being speaking kindly to those of different political views doing beneficial things for people who are different political views
even though you may not be able to vote for somebody who who people want you to vote for you still might be able to give them some water or speak kindly to them
and then you might be able to see that your included in the people that they want you to vote for you still may not vote for them but you can be in harmony with people you don't both for
or
you can be in disharmony
with people you don't vote for
this carnegie i don't have to tell you any you i don't have to tell you folks that disharmony as possible
we got plenty of it when i'm saying is harmony as possible and that's our difficult work the work of harmony
and i'm suggesting some ways to work on it which i and sang to you and as i say it to you i'm inspired to practice it
if you say to me i will be inspired to practice it so say it to me and i'll say it to you and together
we will realize harmony
i often think go with their ancestors great poem trust in mind and when said you know that when love and hate are both apps and everything becomes clear that undisguised and in either you and the more people were aware of such a wonderful teaching that they might be you know the primary interested in being rest of

the thank you read with you so much
you're welcome
more more welcome
doreen
marine
did you say doreen yes oh well thank you i will first i would like to share a memory that i have a view and one of your dharma talks many years ago at green gulch and you talked about on sitting on
a blanket out on the lawn somewhere having a picnic and then you noticed a trail of ants crawling across the little picnic bass a blanket on their way to the basket and your thought was oh there are beans with another agenda and i have remembered the hobby
his years in a just have loved that and shared it with others but you know you just an expanded and on the question or the comment that i had with scott and for me it was on about finding a way to identify with the other ah that i might not agree with him
to to do that in the way of than half the having them identify with me and yes as you spoke about having a dialogue what's one common thing we can agree on maybe it's we love our children right i mean though the most important things to us there's a common ground and you can kind of bill
from that so that was kind of where i was gonna go with real life examples of how we can start sharing our identities as human beings bank you europe pre-shaped you that reminds me the story of this soon
to illustrate your point is a story about
this song
this here and he was a healer who was also
afflicted with various kinds of paralysis so in the later part of his life he
he healed people from wheelchair or even from them from on gurney and so he was called in to consult on a person in
he's made this person's name is the healers maze milton erickson and he was called in to help with a person who was in a state mental institution who thought he was jesus christ the savior of the world andor
he wouldn't talk to anybody or relate to anybody who didn't recognize that he was the savior so he wouldn't talk to any other
any the doctors or nurses or orderlies because they would not
they would not agree with him that he was jesus christ
they had no crime and common ground with him so there's no communication so he was institutionalized an isolated and milton erickson came to see him and heard about a situation in milton erickson said to him i understand your a carpenter
they found common grown and them and of course the man said yes i am a carpenter
anne milton erickson says well would you build me some would you build me some bookshelves
and the man built the bookshelves
and he started to communicate with people he was released he probably still thought he was jesus christ
but now he could relate to people through being a carpenter
which is okay a lot of people relate to people i'm a carpenter i'm a cook i'm a mother and also i am jesus christ or whatever but i do have some way to relate to people i'm a human
i'm a carpenter i'm a cook so he found that he found that and place and then they could start they could live together harmony they developed harmony not just through the recognition but through the making the bookshelves
yeah said
that's a key ingredient in this identity action is to find some place to agree
in one easy place to find it is oh i'm just like here i'm just like her on there i am i agree i'm like that to or are all you have you just like me
there it is the common room
thank you dream
oh by the way before i forget related to related to this talk and also to john
to john and about john in the kelp and and scott in the animals is as a movie called my octopus teacher about this this sub
this relation this inter species relationship between two quite different animals a human in an octopus
it's a and that took a lot of work for that relationship to develop
but anyway it's a good another great example of cooperation the beauty of identity action
hell on your iphone
i'm twelve first i wanna wish on gratitude for the teaching and on a wish for on a safe and harmonious new year i'm to robin to the saga thank you
yeah was good to be reminded of the possibility that even though you know we arise within human form that the brain is just naturally hardwired to reach out and connect with others have all the different sorts of you know species and
categories i'm what had arisen for me as a reminder of the opposite syndrome which is also a hardwired into people so on there's a syndrome called alien hand syndrome where on when the connection between the left and right side of
the brain gets weekend i'm people often don't recognize like their own hand as part of themselves but then you know it raises the question of you know what is this thing that's hardwired within us that's already making the distinction of what is us her other i'm so you know if regards to identity acts
and just perhaps a confession and awareness of arising within human form and to be compassionate to that and work well fed to try to connect better with others for the coming year i miss something that arose in me as something to express yeah
that's a wonderful meditation i hope we can remember it

karen
the morning run good morning karen
i i wanted to ask you
if we can explore to the idea of not not leaning into this identity process so far that that were just respectful of difference or that were just respectful of the ways in which were really quite mysterious to each other
i wondered if you could talk about that though if we could have a conversation about that
oh yeah i think is this practice is
it's it's already going on when we don't feel any separation
this is to practice when we do think others are different
and yeah so i don't quite know what you mean by not respecting
difference law for example in the in the example of a a human with a dog you know i think that both a dog and a human get into trouble if the human forgets that there are some differences
you know i am
i can i i can i think that when we talk about inclusion it's not exactly the same as saying this this living creatures exactly the same as i'll
i'm just not does not each person is is for the other than you think is not you
and what i'm what i'm trying to get out is in am
yeah incorporating
incorporating the idea i have that there are some real different there are some differences and in there are differences come between people are there differences in and the experience the lived experience of each person has
a little bit different than sometimes i think we when we when we do this kind of you know well this person is just like me it's a little bit disrespectful of
if their own process for instance if i if i say this person from us a different back lizards zapped yeah i'm not saying i didn't say this person just like me i said i'm included in that person
i who i for example right now i'm not i don't feel like i'm like you exactly how much gang i'm not saying i'm just like you i'm saying i'm included in you
and your included in me you who are not me you who are other than me are included in me
and if you think i'm being disrespectful than you think and you thinking i'm being disrespectful i'm included in that and that's included in me
do you feel like i'm being disrespectful
i don't because i think that you do make you do incorporate the notion of difference entered into inclusion and i guess that's how that's what i wanted to bring up that might think also the idea of mystery that that we are in someone is on the street to each other and that
it's also part of the inclusion
hmm yes
i'm included in the midst of new and the mystery of view is included in me
oh i guess i'm thinking you know donald trump there are some ways in which i can relate to i can relate to him as
in the way that you were talking about it get a we we share some
some human responses they've come up in different ways but he's also very mysterious to me and and i sometimes i sometimes find it helpful to think of him more as a mystery than as earn then trying to
find the ways in which were the same
yeah
it's called a mind of same years
but it's applied to difference

and

can you hear me
yes hello
and i find his teaching goes right to the heart of the revolution i'm experiencing internally and and
when my father was dying i was holding his hand and there was a transmission of energy that was horrific i didn't want it it was a feeling of a and a great deal of suffering of a rage a demonic kind of energy that was sort of
i take it conceptually to be some kind of internalized oppression hatred and and it was coursing through my body as a guy i don't want to send me an ever since then i've really started to realize how much how many devils i have in me
how much demons i have in me and when i perceive it elsewhere i realize it because it's triggering what's in me and that if i didn't have such a big am
if i didn't have such a big identify t identification with like massive negative mind states like anxiety as it as a demonic stay or and if i didn't have so much angry aggression in me when i met this energy i wouldn't be so taken over by it so ever since it started
happening i've started to really own a lot more a capacity for a lot greater range and to be intimate with with wilder things and become more civilized and soft but i guess it seems as though the the container for all this
this is the harmony that somehow it's actually the harmony it's giving rise to the harmony because if i didn't have a certain amount of harmony in the process i don't think i could do it
or safety
harmony is the container and when we need a container for all the disharmony
the homies container for all the disharmony
and the disharmony wanted to throw things out of the container
like the original the original question from brooks we got this nice boat and want to throw all the disharmony out of the boat
that's that's the disharmony is to get rid of the disharmony
the many contains all the disharmony
the harmony contains all the pain and suffering
not trying to get rid of any of the difference

laura
so when i am
when i have a preference
regarding how i proceed with harming and if i have a a preference for a container that i am
that is you know what did you say friendly cooperative and so on am i might think well that doesn't include criticism or that doesn't include this or that and then because i have the preference and this sort of criteria for what's gonna work then when i
come across those things that serve increases the arms
the the separation
so i'm a i'm wondering if there's a way to
to to create a safe or
create a way to perceive that doesn't do realize the container like that
oh him
i'm not could you try to condense your question please
ah is there a way to
to hold the container of perception of self another
so that there's you know how was the common ground like if you're going on use you're looking at the guy who is
thanks use jesus christ like hat how do you find out one place
if it's enough for some people it might be okay we can relate as long as on nice to you or we can relate as long as you're cool are we can relate as long as you think can't jesus you know like is not the same for everybody so as long as there's
preference it seems like it ups my
what in that example you said
i can relate to you if you think i'm jesus
but but let's see i can't read i can't actually say that i think your jesus but i maybe i can find something that i share with jesus or maybe i can find something about you that shared by jesus that i also can share
did i can see that you know if your jesus then you're a carpenter right and i could see you could be a carpenter i could ask you do to build some shelves and even if you didn't do very well that's fine with me because i just want to find some way to relate to you so it might be that all you can do is to say
a to somebody on
please have a seat
so maybe we can share that is a chair in the room and and i'm i'm willing to share the chair with you that's a start or
would you like some water
or you know find something some common ground but
before i even say anything to the other person i can find the common ground in my own meditation namely i see someone they look different
and am i willing to say in the way they look in the way they're behaving fight am i willing to say to myself i'm included in them
if i think if i look at that i just found common ground that i feel that i'm in that person or what they're doing can i see that that's included in me
put that response found me so
thank you you're welcome
mara
i read
mara
thank you for the teaching
i am still struggling with the identity action two parts of the identity action on
and the how i took my notice i i don't see him in me and that's true that's the hate that's where or hate lives and the other is i don't see me and down
and you used you used the words unrequited love and as a as a manifestation of a form of greed and but i but some of my reflections and i'm not gonna actually
clear perhaps but it there's a lot of power and being seen and a lot of they have the power and one in in when when used when you feel that your seen yes and there's a lot of power in when you are willing to see others units kind of kind of an overarching
ye
feeling that i have about this but i i i feel like i can approach that i don't see them in me and i can approach that and i can kind of work with that because it i can i can see that when i don't do that but i have a harder time with i don't see me in them and it's kind of a number people have talked about
to you know it's two parts there's two parts to this and it's that i don't see me and down or am i included in them i that slippery for me i i can go to at and eye it it's elusive i was wondering if you would come speak more to that
what i i saw myself in what you said when you gave the example of
someone being seen by someone
so you you see someone and this and you feel that they see you
which is may be pretty important to you pretty nice
what a great
and if i if someone sees me and i appreciated but i don't see myself in this person who sees me i can become
quite greedy or attach to have to that person who does this great thing for me
but if i see myself in them i can still appreciate their wonderful gift of seeing me but i don't pigeons i'm not greedy for them and not i don't feel like i need to possess them cause i see myself in their wonderful offering
to me
and again if i noticed that i had agreed to be with them then i have the opportunity to see like to check to see do i have actually
except that i'm included in this wonderful being and i might find out know i'm really don't that's why i'm so yearning to be with them and attached to them
it's why i agreed together them because the gifts that they offer me i think i think i don't i'm not included in their gift-giving i receive it but i'm not included in the giver
which again the first practice leading up to this is giver to be a giver in such a way that you you understand that you're giving is also receiving that you're not stuck on the receiving side of this being heard or being seen
and that on being on the receiving slide it sounds like there perhaps an element of trust that it truly as a gap to born in know suspending and in doubt of that
i'm get
suspending doubt well if if it's not being perceived as it as the gift that it is that restores the front about like an insatiable component is that rule is that true and so i kind of about experiencing if i see
oh that i'm feeling kind of doubt and mistrust on that portion of it
which leads to know
kind of a preoccupation with that own
greediness can have always looking for it
okay so now we have this thing called greediness
which is not exactly a person but the practice could also be done with the greediness
to harmonize with the greediness
i'm in the greediness i'm included in this region is and as greediness is included in me
and i and i'm having trouble i'm fishy
i'm having difficulty with the plant life i'm having trouble accepting that this greediness really welcoming the greediness in me and and feel like i include the greediness and i'm included in the greediness and then there can be harmony with the grenadines
and then you can move on to the person under the same with them
the same practice with the person
but even when the person's isn't around you can do this practice because you have something in you that's telling you about a lack of cooperation in your own being

thank you you're welcome
some samir
hello teacher
good morning samir couldn't hurt could you not named your
no mean good evening year period
yes read
i have this practice or
ah
i have to confess i have difficulties with kind of practice where i
shitting on the pillow i visualize a person
i'm
these patients may be very sick ah or like my coffee now in france she's becoming blind so i visualize her i i take her blindness in my heart and then i sang to her
my site oh
maybe somebody who who have cancer i take the cancer in my heart i prefer that and sent back to the special
oh her healthy attitude or
and i feel sometimes i feel very red
and and and
and no not generous
because i feel scared
oh
so when i practice mehta kindness it it works very well but the other practice come from the tibetan and to visualize something completely dark like a monster and
attracting the small spit in my heart and breathing with that and then transforming that from my heart as sending light to the other person sometimes i just say to myself oh i'm just i'm just
a human being i am
i i'm not a buddha i'm like the body fat about i'm not superman i'm just but very something in my heart
i'm longing to to help this person with those people and i really
i'm in contact with your sincerity in in me
but that i should also in some cases a thread
to attract something and maybe to become blind
and another moment i asked myself but you weren't generous because if you are really generous you can give you fight to your in and become blind the buddha gave his body to the lion
i'm only familiar a simple tracked practitioner so can you maybe give me some support or something from what i'm trying to share with you and with the sangha thank you
well it seems to me that when you're aware of your fear
that does that you have a great opportunity to be generous towards your fear
you don't have to at that moment your responsibility is to your fear
and your i feel you're very fortunate
when it when you're aware of your fear sometimes people are afraid but they don't even know so when you know that you're afraid you're you're aware of a great opportunity for compassion
to the fear
you don't have to go get some other problem you've got a nice nice opportunity here to be generous towards the fear and to actually against big kindly and sweetly to your fear
ask your fear of if there's anything you can do to help it
anything that it needs
and and
offer beneficial things to your fear
and then you're ready to see that you're in your fear and your fears in you but you can start just by practicing
giving kind speech and beneficial action towards your fear
this practice will open you to other practices
and then you can do the same thing with as other opportunities i should not to other practices same practice other opportunities so some opportunities may not really be appropriate for your right now
but if you feel afraid your fear is actually saying it's time for you to take care of me some year
i'm here please be my friend your fear says to you

what happens many times during when i i'm in contact with this fear
even in the city even in other situations
oh
in one way
i feel you i hear you i i i remarked we remember something that you fed and so you you you're very presence and these presence of the a few rep make me able to
whoa
yes to to to see with kindness and to to pm
confront
you know in a humble and and gentle way yeah
i'm black with here
i'm very happy to hear this
please please use me
in this way
and when barry
thanks rob i'm i'm inspired to practice identity action in both directions
wonderful

justin

i read
hello justin
it seems to me that when thinking about seeing another myself and see myself another that at one seems
it almost easier because it's theoretical and one seems or or i see it as theoretical and one seems almost more reality based night but for example i'm talking about a negative situation so
i think about some i trump or mitch mcconnell
and i can think about how on based on their circumstances and air conditioning
in their life how they might you know without without being exposed to the teaching i could behave in ways that they do or believe in away and things that they do and i could see how can see how that could happen i can see that in me but it seems like it's harder to an and it is fun and am
asking if i'm looking at this and a correct way when i think that is charter if when i to see my salva now as basically to acknowledge that ah their actions are also an effect of my actions and i have some responsibility there ah when i see where
when for what i want to an a situation i recognize hate i want to say i could see how i could do that but i wouldn't but i'm not what i'm telling myself but so i am i am publishing an hour away and would you have a feeling a version but to really acknowledge and i'm a nam as to say
that they are also results of my actions
that true
everybody it depends on you you're responsible for everybody
but even so even though for example even though i'm responsible for everybody and i am responsible for somebody who can pull vol twenty feet
i'm responsible for that person i might not see myself in the person
and i'm not going to be able to pole vault twenty feet but i'm included in the twenty and in the great athlete
or somebody on who's unskillful who can pull vault even two inches
not i can i can pull vol two inches but anyway i i'm responsible for everybody
yes and now way that but can i see myself included in everybody
that i am responsible for so this mutual inclusion this reciprocal inclusion is not just reciprocal support
and server reciprocal dependence it's reciprocal inclusion so i'm responsible for people who are the ones who appear on skillful and i'm included in them and i'm responsible for them and they're included in me and they're also responsible for me
i'm responsible for you your response for me i'm included in you you are included in me so it's
the this a complimentary teachings
mutual responsibility and mutual inclusion
thank you welcome
wreck
hello rob thank you very much
hello breck
i wanted to say that i am both missing be present in the temple physically but also very grateful to be
to feel like i'm present the new and the temple and the saga wherever i am
and i know i said this a few months ago in one of these lectures but
i've been away from california so much over the years the last few years that it's an extraordinary gift coming out of this terrible suffering of the pandemic
let me go opened up more than use more ways
to all be included in each other
and to be present in each other no matter almost no matter where we are in the world
and i'm deeply grateful
thank you

so no matter where we are role that no abode
wherever you go there you are
wherever we are we don't have an abode yes
so ah the name of his temple it turns out to be very auspicious during these times yes
who thought of this great name centuries ago
well thank you all for coming to know about and for letting know about come to you
and
i wish you well in the rest of this year and i maybe i'll see you at the new year's greeting
may our intention equally extend to every being and plays with the true merit of buddha's way
beings are numberless i vow to save them
afflictions are inexhaustible i vow to pass through
dharma gates are boundless i vow to enter them
good away is unsurpassable i vow to be comment