This morning I was talking to a man who wanted to receive Buddhist precepts, be lay ordained. And he's been practicing with Zen Center for about two years. And I asked him to tell me a little bit about his practice. And he said he came to Zen Center and he asked someone at Zen Center what the practice was. And the person told him that the practice was sitting. And he said, And the other man said, yes, just sitting.

[01:10]

And he said he was so happy to hear that. And I was very happy to hear that he was happy. so happy to hear that a new student still finds something so simple to be so joyous and beautiful. Just like many of us, I think, felt one or two or twenty or more years ago. The new student, in some ways, the new student is very lucky because they're not sophisticated enough to know any better than just to be happy at such news.

[02:28]

And I feel that there are wonderful landscapes of Buddhist teaching which are a thrill to hear. But no matter how far we go, it's no good unless we can go back to that beginning inspiration. So we should check. Also because he's new, I don't know because he's new, but anyway, maybe because he's stupid, a lot of other nice things happened to him. Like after he heard that they were just sitting, still he read some Buddhist scriptures. He read some Buddhist scriptures.

[03:37]

What else did he do? Well, that's enough. He read some Mahayana Buddhist scriptures from the collection called the—it's called Ratnakutra, which is the—kutra means knot. It's sort of the knot, jewel knot, treasury. he read in their Mahayana Sutras about emptiness. And he said he doesn't know why, but every time he read, every time he saw the word emptiness, tears came to his eyes. He was very happy. He didn't know why. Sometimes when we bring up the topic of emptiness, Especially if we're in a position of giving a talk about emptiness, it's pretty difficult because sometimes I feel it's a little bit intellectual.

[04:40]

How can I say the word emptiness so that no one will, I mean, I shouldn't say no one will, but so that people will simply hear it and tears will come to their eyes at that wonderful news of emptiness? the most... Isn't it a strange, a strange religion that the greatest news is the news that things lack inherent existence? There was this guy. He was a guy. Well, I'll tell you about him. He lived in Southern California, this fellow. And he wound up in a court of law facing a judge. I forgot what he did.

[05:43]

I can't remember exactly the story. It was a good one. It was something like he... The judge said something to him like, well, aren't you interested in anything? He was kind of, I think, maybe in drugs or something. Don't you have any motivation or any goals or any aspirations? And he said, no. He said, what are you interested in? He said, nothing. And he said, uh... I forgot what the judge said, but anyway, he somehow decided to come to Zen Center because he was interested in nothing. Different person. So anyway,

[06:47]

at the core of my aesthetic heart is something very simple, something very lovely, something which is nothing at all, and yet somehow it's also sitting, and just sitting. And this series of talks is about just sitting, but it's also about what supports the possibility of being happy with nothing more than just sitting and having tears of joy at the news of emptiness. What supports such a way of being? So that when everything's taken away and we're just down to the most basic situation of life, we can be totally happy and don't even know why. What supports that? Well, the thing that supports it is

[08:19]

All these acts, all these compassionate works. That somehow, and this man, this man who I talked to this morning, I don't know exactly how he lives, but he's a busy person. He's not a monk, although he could be, but he's busy. He goes downtown every day and he works in Vanity Fair. He works in I Magnum. And he's a makeup consultant. He's a Latin person, Mexican person, a makeup consultant, very busy with vanity and with superficiality. So he was so happy to hear about something like just sitting. I heard another story today from Laurie, from Mrs. Suzuki, Suzuki Roshi's wife.

[09:26]

While Suzuki Roshi was alive, before we had Zen Center on Page Street, when we were still over on Bush Street, this is at the time of hippies, when lots of hippies came to study with Suzuki Roshi. And he somehow, I don't know, it just happened to work out that this Zen teacher kind of liked hippies. And so it worked out to make possible for a lot of hippies to study Zen because he liked them. The first thing he taught them was, wash your feet. A lot of them came barefoot, right? They came to study Zen, and they were surprised that the Zen master was the first thing he would teach them, say, to wash your feet. His wife, according to the story I heard today, she started complaining to the Zen teacher, Suzuki, that the bathrooms in the temple were dirty.

[10:44]

And he told her to stop talking, to stop complaining, and clean them herself. And she cleaned them herself. And I guess that helped her understanding of Buddhism a lot, she felt. And then I guess she wrapped off a little Soto Zen doctrine to Laurie, which is, first, you clean the temple, right? Second, you chant sutras. Third, you sit Zazen. Is that right? Third, you just sit. Now, of course, not of course, anyways, the sitting is the most beautiful thing, of course.

[11:48]

The sitting is just the inconceivable, just the suchness of our life. It's the sitting. But in order to be able to settle with just the way things are, first of all, you clean the temple. And second of all, you chant the sutras. Cleaning the temple and Chaitanya Sutras is a short version of these ten vows of Samantabhadra. Can you see that a little bit? And not only that, but I think she pointed out, not just clean the temple, but clean, start maybe, with the dirtiest part of the temple. Start with the toilets. And that goes back to, in some sense, what we were talking about before is, you start, the first step is confession and repentance. And also, Chanting the Sutras is homage to alignment with the enlightened ones.

[13:03]

Okay? Can you see that? Chanting the scriptures is to align yourself with enlightenment, to pay homage to the enlightenment. It is also singing, singing praises to enlightenment and to those who work for it. And it is also, when you sing the sutras, You align yourself with the Buddhas and you align yourself with the enlightenment workers. You praise the Buddhas and praise the enlightenment workers, but also you make offerings to them because there's nothing they like better than to hear those songs. And also, so those are the first three of the vows. The fourth is a confession repentance, cleaning, cleaning the temple. The fifth is to rejoice in the merits of others.

[14:07]

Is that cleaning the temple? Is that chanting the sutras? I don't know, sort of. Maybe you can see that. Then inviting, asking the enlightened ones to teach, whether you talk to an individual person, or whether you just invite, in general, all your friends to teach you. Invite all your friends to tell you how they see the world. Because asking Buddha to teach is asking to see through the eyes of all sentient beings. Because Buddha is the eyes of all sentient beings. Buddha is the mind of all sentient beings. So inviting Buddha to teach can also be understood as try to understand all living beings, inquire of them, ask them about how it looks from over there, and try to understand.

[15:24]

Asking them to stay in the world, asking the enlightened ones to stay in the world, is asking all sentient beings to stay in the world and work for their own freedom and awakening. Then after that, the next step is to do all the things that Buddhas have done. Which again, what have they done? They've all cleaned the temple. They've all done the dirtiest work. And it isn't that they do dirty work and then graduate from that. They keep always at that lowest level. And then to work and to serve all sentient beings, to accommodate to their needs, This is cleaning the temple too.

[16:33]

In other words, if you try to sit, if you try to just sit before sentient beings are taken care of, you will feel some, even though you may appreciate sitting at first and see the beauty of it, later you will not be sure, you will not be sure that you're allowed to sit still. Just like that example of the last temptation of Buddha, when Buddha said, I'm going to just sit and I'm not going to move until I attain liberation. Just like that, the demon's great challenge was, do you think that you can attain enlightenment, that you can sit still for yourself, by yourself? And he didn't speak, but because his vow for many lifetimes was To clean the temple and to do this for sentient beings, all sentient beings supported him to sit still.

[17:43]

So the initial aspiration and the continued sustained effort in just sitting depends on the support of all sentient beings. That's why we have the first step is to clean the temple. And chanting the sutras is to get the support of all enlightened beings and all enlightenment workers, to get their aid, their support. There's two more things I wanted to talk about, and one of them is building a Buddhaland.

[18:54]

And I kind of would like to discuss with you how to build a Buddhaland. And in order to do that, I think it would be good if we kind of rearranged the sentient beings a little bit. So I wondered if you could please exchange eyeballs with each other. And would you sort of maybe make more of like a...could you sort of turn your face more like a circle? So I'd like to, well, I was first going to sort of maybe tell you a little bit about what I meant by a Buddha land, but maybe we could just start out, without anybody necessarily knowing what a Buddha land is, talk about how you'd build one.

[21:03]

And so I just wondered if anybody has any ideas about how we could build a Buddha Land right nearby. Yes. Well, for myself, when I get aggression and I'm bothered by things, I tend to look at the person closest to me and find a fault or find something within them to release my aggression. By taking note that that's what I'm doing and it's not them, it's me, there's no way possible that I have a problem with them if I help myself. That helps me a lot. To just realize I didn't let go and not affix it to them or to anything. Just realize it's me with the aggression, not them. It's because maybe they're doing something which I wouldn't do. There's no reason for me to feel that way. And it helps me a lot. I agree.

[22:09]

That's a contribution to building a Buddha land. And how is it building a Buddha land? Maybe you could talk a little bit more about it. Well, I feel mainly because if I look at someone and see this or that, I'll treat them differently, maybe not consciously, but I will. And I'll radiate that in myself. And people will feel that for me. And it will make a difference on everything and everyone. But by knowing it, and not be attached to it. I set myself free from the aggression without having to put it on anyone or to have it back in myself. But that way I help myself and everyone. Yes? I heard a story recently about a monastery that was... kind of dying. There were just a few old monks left. And the abbot was real concerned about what to do about saving the order.

[23:19]

And in the woods nearby, there was a rabbi who used to come out and spend the night sometime in contemplation. So one day when he was there, the abbot went out and said to him... A Christian abbot? It was a Christian abbot, and said, I'm really worried about the order. There's just a handful of us all month, all over 70 now, and there are no young people coming anymore. Do you have any ideas how we can... And he said, They don't. So they spent the day sort of studying, putting the Bible together and appreciating each other. At the end of the day, the abbot was kind of rejecting me. He was going back and telling me, he says, you sure you don't have any idea? And the rabbi said, no, I really don't know how to save your monastery. It would be nice if you could, because one of you is the messiah. One of you is the messiah.

[24:20]

So the abbot went back to the monastery and he was telling the other people about his day as a rabbi. They all said, who's the Messiah? It must be Father Abbott. Maybe it's Kim. Anyhow, so they started treating each other like the Maasai. Because somebody was the Maasai. I don't know who it was. They started treating everybody like the Maasai. And various people came to do it. But the atmosphere was so wonderful that people kept coming more and more. And then some young men decided they wanted to be monks. That was a great story. It reminded me that Siddhika Roshi was always telling us to see each other as Buddha. Treat each other as Buddha. feed each other with the respect that you would give them as I am. Well, what do you think, folks? That was great to read. Thank you, Reverend Hartman.

[25:30]

It's also a Jewish story. The world is maintained by nine men. We have humanity, only they don't know who they are. It might be you. Any other thoughts of how we can make a Buddha Land right nearby? Seems a very difficult thing to do. You know, every time I try to think of something I can do, then that doing seems that by doing doesn't move any closer to Buddha or Buddha Land.

[26:47]

It seems that way? seems almost that way, that that's not, doesn't come from doing. That's loud, sir. D is to do. What did you say? D is to do. I think that was a great example right there of how he was making more of a booze line. Trying to laugh together more and not be so stiff all the time. Not that we are, but it tells you. The group you're watching today, what we're trying to do is so important, we can't take it seriously. The other side of that seems to be involved in porn.

[27:58]

The other side of that, or an aspect of that seems to be involved in porn. Somebody said to me once, and I think it was you, something about that it's very hard to be intimate without porn. For people who are not, people in our relationship to one another, to be intimate without porn to do with it. were to be buried. And I think there's something more in the following that provide framework whereby when the humor comes, it has real meaning. Gregorosh has said the only time we might be able to. The only time we might be able to. The only time for a real meeting. might have a real need to be in the Zen. Not respecting each other in a formal way provides something very interesting.

[29:03]

I was going to say something about the Buddha land. One thing that I thought about when Blanche was talking about the monks and the Messiah who was there, and Lou also talking about the nine men who are like caretakers of the world or whatever, I thought those were really good stories. And I also thought that there are a lot of other beings in the world besides people that really need to be taken care of. And in the story of Shakyamuni Buddha, you know, there's rice that he gets fed and this tree that he sits under and they go to deer parks and vulture peaks and things like that. And so, you know, we have... In our Buddha land, we have all the people that we know, but also all the other forms of life are in the Buddha land too.

[30:19]

And in fact, they are part of the mind of the Buddha land. And so you can learn a lot from the clouds and everything else that's going on. outside of kind of the little circle that, you know, our encampment. You were talking in your practice committee about the Buddhist Teeth Fellowship Week, and it's coming up a week after this, where the veterans will continue the spirit that they found with Thich Nhat Hanh.

[31:30]

And one of the things that was brought up was that a safe place in which to be. that Green Gulch is a place that is a secure place. That would certainly have to be somehow fit into this plan. Protect the place. I think I'm going to be too stressed to learn to appreciate people. Like myself, sometimes I'll see people doing things, and instead of seeing that they're effort, and then really trying, I can just see that they're doing it wrong, or doing it too fast, or doing this, or doing that. I can't just see that they're trying, that they're making an effort, which is a beautiful thing. I guess I've caught up in all these other things so many times.

[32:33]

It's more than nothing for me. What? It says to pray for nothing, nothing, nothing. It's not enough. It's not enough. But you could find out pretty quick. Yeah. You could start that. You don't want anything. I find with what people were saying about seeing the Buddha in other people, for myself, I find it's almost easier to see the Buddha in other people than for me to see it myself. And so for myself, if I were trying to contribute to Aluda Land, I would have to start very close to home and with myself and with trying to give myself that same respect that I want to give to other people and that I'm drawn to give to other people that I'm inspired by.

[33:51]

Yeah, I understood that as very much of the story. I mean, I didn't go into the detail of the story, but this was very much of the story. Well, it couldn't be me. Oh, well, I don't know, maybe it is me. Very much a part of the story to treat everyone, including oneself, with love and respect. Because you don't know who it is. You see, it's everybody. Did I interrupt any last time? No, it's in the book that I'm reading that I want to share with you. Thank you. Interestingly, the theme of this book is a Christian writing it about an authentic community, as opposed to manufactured communities, accidental communities.

[34:53]

what is a community, and how quickly it can arise, and how quickly it can disappear. It's very... just in the spirit of woodland, I think, of Christianity. I said beyond Christian communities and monastic life, because when I was up in Vancouver, Michelle Mills had a wonderful book in her bookshelf on Gethsemane with beautiful pictures of Gethsemane Monastery in Kentucky where Thomas Merton lived. He wrote the text for this book. The thing that struck me, why I said what I said in his endo yesterday, was that there were great pictures in there about the work. Work was a big part of their practice. They farmed and had much more work than we do here. Kinds of extensive shops, furniture making, and all kinds of stuff.

[36:00]

Beautiful pictures of monks working. The way that Martin put it was that work was a form of prayer. And all the pictures made it all look like beautiful, kind of black and white pictures of what looked like very quiet, contemplative work. And that really impressed me. You know what Merton's hard work was, don't you? He's become a cheese factory. Only Jesus. I am Jesus. It seems like everybody can agree, or most people can agree, to treat others like they are Buddha. Treat a Buddha, treat yourself with that respect. Everybody can kind of agree that that's a nice idea. Where I get stuck is exactly what that means.

[37:02]

I think we might find that we've had a variety of disagreements on what it might mean to follow that through in practice. I want to reiterate the fact that these kinds of practices are, they're kind of like, they have some movement in them. They're like doing something, or they're like thinking. They are kind of thinking. And they surround not doing something. So part of what I'm pointing to is what kinds of activities, not necessarily really doing anything, but what kind of apparent

[38:09]

doing things, things that really are not doing anything at all, would decorate, not so much make a Buddhaland even, but would adorn or decorate a Buddhaland, would decorate our just sitting. Again, I like the image, to bring up the image of walking around Buddha, not walking away from Buddha, not turning away from Buddha, and not grabbing Buddha, but walking around and not identifying with Buddha and not separating from Buddha. So being aware of Buddha means not having an object of thought. Treating others as Buddha Then if you treat others as Buddha, then again, you walk around them.

[39:14]

You don't grasp them and you don't separate from them. To grasp a fixed idea of how you treat a Buddha, that would be a kind of leakage, okay? To have a fixed idea of how you relate to a Buddha, that's fine to have a fixed idea of how to relate to a Buddha, that you're tempted how to relate to a Buddha, but that fixed idea will cause leakage and then pretty soon you won't be able to relate to a person as Buddha. So again, I'm talking about how do we walk around Buddha here together? without losing touch with it, always remembering Buddha, but not as an object, not as something out there because then we're separate from it. And also not identifying with it and saying, it's me. This dynamic is kind of what I want to know more about how you'd see that.

[40:25]

I think we're bound to be Zafu, we're bound to be separate. That's pretty good, isn't it? Yes? I had an experience today where my car was towed and I spent a good part of the day in the street corner and a policeman came over to me after I had been staying and waiting for a half hour, an hour from a friend that picked me up. He says, are you holding up the street post? And I said, no, I'm just waiting. And while I was waiting, it reminded me of how everyone that hurries about in their day seems to put something into the world, a little bit of who they are, and they seem to affect the flow of the traffic or the flow of the walking. And just standing there watching the whole flow,

[41:27]

I felt that maybe if one could just go through and not have to put their opinion or their way they have to do it into everybody else and just be with themselves and just go through it and not have to have a direct effect like, I want to go this way. No, you can't go this way because the traffic only goes this way. No, you can't walk across the street because you have to stop. The cars are coming. be a little more observant. And while standing there, I felt a sense of just how observing everyone had such a strong personality. And I didn't know anybody, but I looked at everybody. There was one woman sitting there begging with her son, and she just sat there. And I looked at her and I said, maybe she's got something here. Every day she sits in this spot. I don't know if people gave her money or not, but she sits there.

[42:30]

It was a very interesting time to observe. And it was a parade. That's why they stopped the traffic. It was a parade where it was honoring veterans today. It wasn't Veterans Day, but it was a day honoring people that fought in the wars. That's all that came to mind. Just what we're creating, I think that a lot of it is just not putting any more into it than is already there. Like specifics or metaphors?

[44:21]

Yeah, specific metaphors. Well, I could eat what's served. I could... That sounds like sort of what you're saying. I could give myself enough time. I could... Slowing down. Slowing down has to do with not tripping over other people's operations. Has to do with what? Not tripping, it's relatively metaphorical. Not tripping over other people's operations. Tripping over... Tripping over other people's production. What's the matter with tripping over their production? What does tripping mean, falling over? Yeah, not working. It has to do with space, with each person's space.

[45:23]

And pace. Space and pace, yeah. Making room for the other. So by slowing down, you mean making room for the other? One time. So it could be speeding up. For somebody else that might be speeding up. I mean, if the other's coming along fast, then you probably should speed up so you make some space for them. Along that same line, for myself, I try to notice when I'm doing something, in doing some activity, when I start to start to ignore other people around me for the sake of getting something done. I try to, like for example, I was part biggest student, little cubby scurrying out to the farm the other day and I tend to walk quickly and there's such a difference in feeling

[46:39]

between walking out to the fields at my own rate so I could get there and start doing the work, versus walking out there with the other people. There are a dozen times during the day when I find myself going and doing something, but subtly ignoring other people. And I think that can be a very strong contribution to the community to always kind of try to keep in tune with other people's presence and not sacrifice it in order to fix a wheelbarrow or get up to the fields or whatever direction you're going. Almost always involves somebody else, everything we do during the day. And it doesn't have to be that you're walking at the same rate with them necessarily, but that, let's say you dash off ahead, you dash off not to get someplace so much, but to maybe make some beautiful relief or...

[48:00]

with what they're doing. According to the other extreme, obviously they're insensitive to stay together in a collage. That's a time of departing also. There's a certain dance that goes on and it's very interesting without words being spoken. Sometimes I can walk about a third of the way opposite feels with the group. And then you just sort of feel like then it's okay to go at your own pace. Then it feels like it's okay. Right. Or you could walk in circles around them. And they could say, hey, Brian, that's neat. You're a fast walker. You're a fast walker. You're a fast walker. Do you know what the plural, a group of rhinoceros is called a crash? What?

[49:06]

We call it a sangha. So to have a crash on someone needs I don't talk to you. Are they about creating a Buddha land? Yeah. Right. All those vows are to create a Buddha land so that there can be a Buddha in the middle of those activities.

[50:10]

In order to have one of us or all of us be messiahs, in other words, be just sitters, all of us have to help that one person. Any of us could be that one person if all of us help that person. So treating a person as Buddha is also to realize that they can't be Buddha without our support. So we all help each one of these people. Be a Buddha. Which doesn't leave anybody out, of course. Everybody then does it for each of us, too. And it's okay to ask to, if you need some help to be a Buddha, it's okay to ask for some help. And part of what a Buddha needs is to know from other people whether it's okay for him or her to sit still, to be who they are.

[51:35]

And part of what's necessary to tell somebody that they can be who they are is to find out who they are. Theoretically, I can say, oh, you can be who you are. But when I find out who you are, when I find out a little bit about you, it may be a little bit more difficult. So then I have to find out more. I had a meeting with somebody yesterday And I wanted to meet with this person because I really wanted to find out how he was seeing things. And he started out the meeting by making various statements which I didn't think were true and slandering a whole bunch of people very angrily and finally slandering me. So I fought with him for a while, but finally I just told him that he hurt my feelings.

[52:46]

And also I didn't want him to... Well, first I told him I didn't want him to slander anybody else in my presence. And then I finally told him he also hurt my feelings. And then he kind of stopped, and then he told me what I came to hear. He just, he told me his... He showed me his Buddha heart, his Buddha intention. his great appreciation and his gratitude. And part of what he told me was, you know, some people have, like me, he said, some people have to get in a fight before they can open their heart. And the funny thing is that at the end of the conversation, he said, I kind of feel like we're parting now and I won't see you anymore. And even that we will later be in a battle, that there'll be a fight between us.

[53:55]

He kind of in some ways maybe intends to fight, not so much me, but fight some people. But I felt like... Even if he does, still, I heard who he was. So even if he makes war on some people and I have to be involved in that war, it's much different now, now that I saw who he is, you know, fundamentally. But I had to get... I had to... go through a lot of tough stuff before I could hear that, and barely made it to the land of listening to his real heart. It was really, barely made it. Almost walked out of the room before I heard that. That was a very important conversation, a very inspiring conversation, but also very important, so I really couldn't, I really couldn't walk out on it.

[55:14]

I mean, it would have been, I had a lot of commitment to staying there with it, to hear that message from him. I wonder if he doesn't need to keep fighting because he wants to keep opening his heart. I think that's why he does, yeah. I think he's partly saying that's the only way he knows how. And he even told me his father's that way too. Like he asked his father a few years ago to loan him some money to buy a house and his father said he got very angry at him for asking and they had a big fight.

[56:26]

But now, sort of following that fight, he's finally close to his father. Elizabethan? No. Reminds me just sort of parenthetically, I saw this movie several years ago. I think it was called something like... I think it was a woman's name, like Mrs. Ophel or something like that? Mrs. Soffel. Soffel? Mrs. Soffel. It was a movie taking place in Pittsburgh, like in 1900 or something like that. And she's the wife of a warden of a prison. And a really nice prison right there in the middle of Pittsburgh. And... These young men are in there in prison, and I think for murder, was it?

[57:33]

For murder. And she's a Christian woman, and she goes to them to read scripture and so on. And in the process of reading scripture to them, they tell her that they're really innocent, and she starts to believe them, I think. And this is Diane Keaton, this woman. And somehow in the process, also of believing them, she starts to kind of a little bit fall in love with one of these guys, who is Mel Gibson, which you can understand maybe. He's kind of an attractive guy. So there's Mel Gibson in jail, and so she's starting to fall in love with him, and she goes to her husband and says, you know, she doesn't exactly tell him, but she sort of says, let's go on a vacation. Take me to Florida.

[58:35]

You know, and he says, I'm too busy. She gives him a little warning that something's coming up in her life. Anyway, he doesn't listen to her, and so these guys, so she gets sort of a little bit more involved with these guys. I think to some point that she actually, the combination of believing that they're innocent and kind of being in love with one of them, I think she helps him to get out, right? So they escape, and they run away from prison, and she helps them get away, but then they come and get her when they run away. She wasn't intending to go with them, but they come and take her. Partly, you could say, maybe you don't know exactly. Did they take her as a hostage? Or did he take her because he loved her? We never know. And she doesn't either. Anyway, she goes with them, and they run off. And then finally they get caught. And as they're running away and the police are closing in on them,

[59:38]

She says to her lover, please shoot me. I don't want to live through this. So he shoots her. And there I think maybe we feel that he's doing that out of compassion. He had nothing to gain by shooting her. And then they shot him and his brother and he was killed. And then she went to prison. Oh, she lived, yeah. He was a lousy shot. But it's the same order of the movie. She's shot. We think she's dead. Then they shoot. Then they shoot. Then they shoot them with lots and lots of holes. And then we go back and find her sort of groaning in the car, right? Then she goes to prison. She goes to prison right in the place she used to live as the warden's wife. And that's the story.

[60:41]

Well, there's a few little details, but anyway. And after the movie was over, someone who I went to the movie with said, it's really impressive what some people will go to to get in touch with whatever you want to call it. You know, it's got various names. Life, the unconscious, you know. But she was, you know, she was a little cuckoo before she went through all this. She was a kind of split woman. You know, she really was not really a whole person. There was great forces coming through her. And I think sometimes we have to... So I think that's really good that maybe we should see this guy. This is all... We're providing him a battleground to realize himself. That'd be a good way to see this, although it's hard to remember that. But I think that's part of what this guy said when I quoted of saying, truth requires that we see through the eyes of strangers, foreigners, and enemies.

[61:54]

How are our enemies trying to realize their Buddha nature? And can we provide them a war zone in which they can realize their Buddha nature? Well, it's pretty hard because we also want to make a safe place, right? So this is a real problem for us, how we provide for those who need a war zone, a war zone. and also provide a safe, harmonious, peaceful place for those who need that. Some people need a peaceful place to go through their wars. Other people need a war zone in order to find the peace and love. So as bodhisattvas, number nine is accommodate the people. Give those people who need a boxing ring, or a gladiator field or a war zone, give it to them so they can realize themselves. Give others quiet, remote monasteries to realize themselves.

[62:56]

Work so that people get what they need to realize themselves. How do you know? You don't know, but you work to try to listen and see, try to understand where they're coming from. And that effort, hopefully, will support you to give them what they need. But you don't know what they need. You don't know. Make maximum effort. Yeah, maximum effort. Yeah. Right. Make some maximum effort, right. How do you do it without being poisoned by it? That's what we were talking about weeks ago. You have to keep working on your leakage. you have to plug up your leaks. So you can't attach to a view of how to help people. If you have a fixed view of how to help people, like if you have a fixed view of what it means to treat people like Buddha, then you'll be thrown into a poisonous sea.

[64:04]

And if you get turned about If you get disoriented by feelings and emotions, you must avoid those things in order to also adapt and accommodate to beings. And also you have to be very careful of words. When you hear words, you have to understand the source. If you don't, you'll become bewitched, you'll leak, and you'll be less effective. in your work of trying to understand other people and give them what they need in order to... just whatever they need, accommodating to them and serving them. I mean, like, because you don't focus on so much that, but why are they doing it, as in maybe they have some stress within them and that's why it's coming out? Is that the source? That's part of the source.

[65:07]

Their motivation is part of the source, but another part of the source is your education. Another part of the source, you know, is... Everything is part of the source. Everything is contributing to that word's formation. It's a marvel. A word is a marvel, conjured up by everything. Each one is like that, highly concentrated, bursting its seams. If we would list, that's also to hear words as Buddha. To be present for what people are saying with that kind of total dedication to the hearing.

[66:11]

Like our saying, like Buddha says, just in the herd there will be just the herd. That's it. Which is not adding anything. Which is eating what you're given. Without bringing anything more to it. How were you able to take the slander, which is worse? How were you able to be slandered and continue not to slander? Sounds like that, like, raspy. Well, I think actually... You said you almost left, so I'm interested. I think when I felt slandered that I forgot the source. By the way, slander doesn't just mean that people saying something about you is not true. Slander basically means to smear or smudge.

[67:15]

So just to say anything negative, even if it's true, is slander too. The things he was saying were not exactly untrue or true, but he was angry when he said them, and they hurt. But me telling him that I was hurt was what turned the conversation. There are some people who, until they hurt me, they can't calm down. They have to know that they hurt me before they can open their heart, because I think they're afraid to open their heart if they don't know that they can hurt me, because if they open their heart, they can be hurt, and if I can't be hurt, they're kind of in a dangerous situation. So what they need to do is first see that they hurt me, not hurt me, because they can hurt me and not know it, and they'll keep trying until they see blood. When they see blood, then they relax and get friendly.

[68:17]

because they know they're dealing with another person. And another person who's also not necessarily attacking them. But even if I don't attack people, but they can't tell they hurt me, sometimes they're afraid to be vulnerable. But they want to be vulnerable so badly that they attack me. They want to share blood with me so much, the blood of Buddha, so much that they, first of all, have to draw blood from me. And sometimes I forget that. And they're whacking at me and whacking at me and whacking at me. And I just sit there and go, how many more can I take? When also, if the first touch, if I would just say, ouch, that would be enough. But sometimes I get a little dazed and I forget to tell them. Yeah. Well, anyway, in my case, it's true.

[69:23]

Because... That's right. In my case, it … No. I'm not saying … No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about simply the fact that when … is that the way I am is that when I get hurt, I sometimes … my reaction is more like just to sort of get my footing rather than tell the other person. And so they don't... I'm actually hurt and I'm not playing any Buddha game. I'm just sort of like, okay, no, okay. That's my response rather than just say, ouch. Whereas if I would say, ouch, right away, they wouldn't need to get so much into it.

[70:27]

But that's just not who I am. Really? Really? It's going to be full of a week. You can't take it. You know, oh, I can take this. You know, it's just a portion of the bill. But that's wrong. That's the way it is. And you can say, am I hurt? You're hurt. Are we all right? What I would say to someone right away, they get so offended that you would say that they actually tried to hurt you. But that's breathing. It's really something that really hurts you. It's a reaction. Why that would hurt you. You can also disarm somebody and

[71:29]

The cat should disarm you by showing her immediately. You can almost show her before it is real. In an attempt to disarm. So if someone wants to fight with you, are you obligated to fight with them in order to give them what they want or need? Not necessarily. I wouldn't hold to that. But it might be that. That might be what they need, is for you to be willing to do that. I mean, that might be sort of really what's happening. For example, let's say they start fighting with you and you feel angry. But you don't think you should be angry because you're a bodhisattva.

[72:34]

But really you are angry. Maybe you should confess it. Maybe they need you to, maybe they need to know that, because sometimes people say, you know, are you angry at me? And you say no, and they really, and you are, but you don't know it or you don't want to admit it, and they really, they know you are, but they feel really confused because they know you are and you say you're not. So you're lying. And then, yes. Hmm? Hmm? about authenticity, which in that book is the minimum authentic community. But I'm not saying we should be angry. I definitely think it's good not to be angry if we can possibly avoid it. But once we are, and someone asks us if we are, well, it seems like maybe you should say yes. Sorry. It seems like you're saying it's very important to adjust to every person.

[73:40]

Well, I'm not saying to look at people as they are so much, but more try to find out who they are, because I don't think we know, usually. No, we never will know, but it's just this maximum effort to find out. And also, I like, again, the language I like is it doesn't say, you know, truth requires that you make the maximum effort even. It says truth requires the maximum effort. There doesn't need to be anybody there making the maximum effort, just the maximum effort. Well, that must be why there's so little truth in this world. I was thinking the opposite. That's why truth is always happening. Well, they're starting to make some effort here towards each other. This is the foothills of the mountain ranges of them trying to understand each other.

[74:52]

Which one does? I would like to make a contribution about the... Mary, I have a story. It's an old story I got from the mall. And I will stay back for a moment. There were two monks that were asked by the abbot to go to the country, to the rural area, for an air... When they went back home, they had to pass the river to go to the country. When they went back home, there was a lady beside them to cross the river, but the river was so swollen because it rained. So they had to wait a little bit to cross the river. It was already getting dark. And the woman was really worried that she has to go home, she has to cross the river.

[76:16]

So the monk said, come on, I'll just carry you on my back. So he carried her on the back to that shore. Now, the other monk was so worried, was so scandalized at what the other monk was doing. He said, how dare he? He does that. We're not even allowed to look at a woman. How much more to cover all that across the river? So that little incident just passed. And a few months afterwards, the monk was still worried about the action of the other monk. So the other monk asked, The other monk that carried the woman said, I'm just so worried about why did you carry that woman across the river? And the other monk said, oh my gosh, it must be very heavy for you.

[77:24]

You've been carried here for when you're back for two months, and I just carried her across the river. I used to say, just as it is. Just as it is. You don't have to worry about it. Yeah, and on the other hand, the monk who carried her for two months was very kind to hold her in his arms for two months. Huh? He was carrying both of them. Oh, yeah, right. He was carrying his friend, too, right. Well, let's hope he was carrying both of them. Well, if you don't even look at women, then carrying a woman across the stream is really something.

[78:42]

Can you imagine? That's how to make things really juicy. Well, am I reading your minds? If I...

[79:12]

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