asked Jane to say goodbye to no abode for her. Would you like to say goodbye for Sylvia? Sylvia, as some people may know, went back to the bookies with great sadness. I'd like to see her shortly before she died. Just give me the biggest hug and say, please say goodbye to Noah Bolivar. So I would like to convey goodbye. Thank you. One, two, three. Goodbye, Sylvia. May you find a great Sangha in Europe. There was a time at the

[01:22]

at the Zen Center, particularly at Green Gulch, when we started to offer workshops at Green Gulch on various topics, various themes. And one of our members looked at a publication, kind of a brochure about the programs being offered and the person couldn't see, it didn't look like any of the offerings had to do with what he thought the Buddha way was. He didn't see any words about Buddha or Zen in any of the workshop announcements. And I mentioned that to some people in the community, and they kind of could see it, that there was nothing about traditional Zen language in any of the workshop announcements.

[02:41]

And a number of the people who were doing the workshops either weren't experienced students of the Buddha way, or they were but they just didn't have to mention anything about that, about their Buddhism in their announcement. So then we made some changes in the programs we offered. at least some of them. And so we changed, so then we mentioned the word Zen. So like, if it was a workshop on bread baking, we would say bread baking and Zen. Or if it was a workshop on... you know, I don't know what, it would be Zen, or it would be such-and-such in Zen.

[03:45]

And if the person who was leading the workshop was not an experienced member of the Zen Center, we had somebody who was an experienced member join them. So there would be this person who was offering psychotherapy with a regular Zen student, and that would be called psychotherapy in Zen. or X and Zen, or X and Buddhism, or whatever. I did a workshop one time called, I think it was called Yoga and Zen. I did a workshop at Tassajara with a yoga teacher. Now, there's many, many yoga and Zen workshops at Tassajara and some in the city of Gulch. So, there's putting the word Zen in the workshop title, or there's putting the Buddha way in the workshop title, and so on.

[04:54]

But I just wanted to mention, to talk to you about what actually... What's the relationship between, I don't know what, the Buddha way and X? And X, you can put anything in there. Accounting. Accounting, yeah. Or, I don't know what. Well, you might say, how about armed robbery? Well, I say, oh, no, that's not what we're... We don't mean armed robbery in Zen. There was Zen in recycled maintenance, right? And then before that, there was Zen in the art of archery, right? That's part of where it came from. And then there was a French movie called Diva, where there was Zen and buttering a baguette.

[05:57]

Remember that scene? You ever seen that? So this guy's explaining how to put butter on a baguette, and there's the Zen of buttering a baguette. So that's even, you know, that's going on. So what is the Zen part, or what is the Buddhist part? And so basically... I'd like to talk to you about that today a little bit. So one story would be, which I think a lot of people think, is that if you're concentrated while you butter the baguette, that that's the Zen way of buttering the baguette. A lot of people associate concentration with Zen which is not. That's part of the story because concentration is part of Zen practice.

[06:58]

Concentration is part of it. But it's not just concentration. It's concentration that you butter the baguette with not just concentration but with wisdom, too. And wisdom is based on concentration. and concentration is compassion. The concentration is based on compassion and that concentration is the basis of wisdom. So to butter a baguette in the Zen way would be to butter the baguette in a wise way. And the way to butter a baguette in a wise way is to butter the baguette with a mind that has no abode. So this temple is called no abode. It represents a mind which does not abide anywhere.

[08:06]

A mind which doesn't attach or depend on where it is or what it's dealing with. That's the mind of a bodhisattva. That's the mind which is authentic, complete awakening mind. So that's an amazing wise mind, when that mind is together with actions, then the actions are Buddha action. These actions, you say, well, don't these actions have to be wholesome? Yes, they do. They have to be wholesome because wholesome means conducive, means an action that's supporting or conducive

[09:17]

to an awakened mind. So, if you did armed robbery with that mind, then the armed robbery would be an armed robbery that's conducive to awakening, and that armed robbery would benefit all beings. All beings would be would be asking you, how come you brought weapons to the bank? All beings would be joyfully supporting you to bring the weapons into the bank and they would keep giving you the money to take out of the bank. Everyone would be free of robbery. There would be no robbery in this. It would be a a robbery where nothing was stolen. It would be a robbery where nothing was taken that wasn't given.

[10:22]

It would be a robbery where everyone was practicing generosity. But I don't know any stories of the Buddha actually performing armed robbery. But when the Buddha goes to town and begs, the Buddha doesn't rob the people. The Buddha just offers the bowl and says, I'm here to receive your offering. And people don't say the Buddha's stealing the food from us, they give the food to the Buddha. The Buddha doesn't abide in the mind that's receiving the offering. The Buddha doesn't attach to the giver a gift. Then the giving, and then if you have a workshop on begging, you know, could be a workshop on begging, but it's not just begging, it's Zen and begging.

[11:33]

So it's begging, there's a workshop on begging, but without trying to get anything by begging. It's a workshop on begging, with a mind of no abode. It's a workshop on fundraising. There's a lot of fundraising going on at a lot of Zen centers. Like right now, the San Francisco Zen centers are involved in a so-called capital campaign. So they're trying to raise a large, well, looks like a large amount of money to some people. They're trying to raise this large amount of money for the welfare of all sentient beings. to help the Zen Center be for a long time so it can support many beings. But is it fundraising and Zen? Is it Zen fundraising? Well, it's Zen fundraising if the fundraising is being done with the mind of no-bode.

[12:35]

And is the mind of no-bode operating? Well, that's for each person to look into their heart and see have they found this mind of no-bode? That's for the fundraisers to look and the donors to look and the money to look. So I have these Chinese characters here and This is a Chinese character which is pronounced in Chinese something like Dao, and in Japanese it's pronounced Dou, and it means the way or the path, but it also means in Buddhism or enlightenment.

[13:42]

The path and enlightenment, the same character. There's other characters for enlightenment too, but this character means both path and enlightenment. The next character means mind or heart. So it could be translated as the way mind, or the awakened mind, or the awakening mind, or the awakened mind, or the enlightened mind. But also it could be called the mind of the way. Sometimes it's translated as the way-seeking mind. So when you put this mind together with X, with accounting or fundraising or baguette, buttering or maintenance, if you put this mind together with it, then you have what's called the way of the Buddha.

[14:49]

if you put this mind together with sitting upright and still, like you've been doing this morning, if you put sitting together with this mind, if you use the sitting to express this mind, then you have the way, the Buddha way. But you have not, this mind is not completely as the mind of no abode. This mind is the mind which is devoted to realizing the mind of no abode for the welfare of all beings, liberation of all beings. This mind applies to a whole evolutionary process.

[15:55]

You can apply this mind thought that you wish to realize the mind of no abode, the Buddha mind. You wish to realize authentic awakening for the sake of benefiting all beings. You can have that thought. You can have that thought. Right now, you can think that. And thinking that sincerely, when you actually mean it, that is Dao Shin. That is the Bodhi Mind. That is the beginning of the Bodhi Mind, if it's the first time you thought it. If it's the second time you thought it, then it's the beginning of the Bodhi Mind. If it's the millionth time you thought it, it's the millionth occasion of the Bodhi Mind. And there could be spaces between those millions of thoughts where you forgot it. And where you thought, actually, I'd like to butter this baguette.

[17:01]

I'd like to butter this baguette to be a famous movie star. Oops, now I'm buttering the baguette, but now this isn't Zen baguette buttering anymore. This is just ordinary, selfish baguette buttering. I forgot the Bodhi mind. Sorry. Now here, I'll try again now. Now this buttering of the baguette, I wish to do for the welfare of all beings. Now I'm back on track. And I want to be on this track. There's the Bodhi mind. And if you take care of this bodhisattva for a long time, you become a bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas have this mind. They have the thought, I wish to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings. They have that thought. But just having that thought doesn't make you a bodhisattva. You have to take care of that thought for a while.

[18:02]

And if you do, you become a bodhisattva. And you become a bodhisattva means you become a person who has a mind of no abode. Strictly speaking, just wanting to help all beings for the wealth... that wanting to realize enlightenment in order to help them effectively. That wish is a wish which, if it arises in you, you share with all bodhisattvas, you share with all Buddhas. But strictly speaking, you're not a bodhisattva until you have this mind which doesn't abide anywhere. So you can offer a course on accounting and bodhi mind because you offer the workshop on accounting together with the wish of attaining enlightenment for the welfare of all beings, you might have gotten to a place where you offer the workshop with a mind of no abode.

[19:05]

But if you keep offering workshops and play shops and auto shops, if you keep offering workshops workshop and you take care of this mind, you will finally realize this mind in the form of this mind of having no abode. So this mind refers to when you first think of this path and first yearn for it, You attain, actually, the mind of the Buddha, which has no abode, where there's supreme perfect enlightenment, together with accounting, together with begging, together with fundraising, together with cooking, together with walking, together... So we do wholesome practices. Wholesome means practices conducive to the mind of no-abode, and we do them together with the bodhi mind, which wants these practices to evolve into Buddhahood.

[20:21]

It wants that, it wishes for that, it wishes for that, But at the beginning we may have some abode, we may abide in accounting, we may abide in sitting, we may abide in walking, we may abide in enduring. But still wishing to realize the non-abiding Buddha mind, wishing for that, wanting that to be realized. and taking care of that wish until we arrive at the mind of no-bode. And the wish to attain Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings, again, you can abide in that at the beginning. You can abide in it in the middle. You can abide in it in the later middle. You can abide in it in the advanced, but in the end you don't abide in it.

[21:23]

And that's the Buddha mind which you've been striving for without abiding, in striving to abide, you're striving to strive without abiding in striving or anything. And that all beings, again you can attach to it but that wish will naturally promote eventually no abiding. So it says what we chanted before is that we vow with all beings to hear the true dharma and that upon meeting this true dharma we'll renounce worldly affairs and buddha dharma. You can hear the buddha dharma and then when you hear the buddha dharma you'll be able to renounce worldly affairs.

[22:33]

What's worldly affairs? Unworldly affair is to be concerned with the welfare of a limited number of people. That's a worldly affair. Limiting the number of people you care about is worldly because you've just constricted your life to a limited world. When you care for beings without end, you're not in a world. And also a worldly affair is to abide in beings, to abide in them, to cling to them. So bodhisattvas are devoted to save beings. As a matter of fact, they work to save beings. And while they're saving in beings, they understand that although they save many beings, there's no beings have been saved, and that's how they save beings.

[23:36]

But they always wanted to save beings, wanted to save beings, and they are saving beings, and they understand no beings are saved, and that's necessary in order for them to save beings, because most beings think that there's some beings to save, and then they abide in that mind that thinks that way, and that liberation. So when you combine this bodhi mind together with whatever you're doing, then whatever you're doing, excuse me, when you combine this bodhi mind with whatever wholesome activities you're doing, then the wholesome activities become liberating. If you do wholesome activities without this mind, then those wholesome activities are conducive to welfare, to benefit. And as the benefit, if the benefits arise, the possibility of joining this beneficial action together with the Bodhi mind, and then the actions are not just beneficial, they are liberating.

[24:50]

The Buddha way is not just to benefit people. It's not just to benefit suffering beings. It's to liberate. It's to benefit them while they're suffering and then to liberate them from suffering. And so we join this body-mind, this way-mind, hopefully with all of our wholesome actions. And if this is joined with wholesome actions, if unwholesome actions arise, it addresses the unwholesome and encourages resumption of wholesome. So that's my initial offering. Do you understand? Was that clear? Any questions? Yes? So on this continual problem,

[25:54]

Not quite, not quite, because the tradition generously calls the beginning the same name as the end. So at the beginning, when you first think of wishing to live for the welfare of all, and attain Buddhahood for that purpose, that gets the name Bodhi mind. But it's a different Bodhi mind from the one at the end, which is the mind of the Buddha. But it's called the same thing all the way. Sometimes they say they call the first one relative Bodhi mind, the next one complete Bodhi mind. So on the path between relative and complete, you talked about... a decision to renounce worldly affairs? I didn't actually say decision, but I did talk about renouncing worldly affairs. My question is, is that a conscious act, renounce worldly affairs, or is it something that... It can be.

[27:13]

It can be a conscious act of thinking or I am, or I wish, or I am renouncing worldly affairs. That's a thought. But the thought, I renounce worldly affairs, is not the same as renouncing worldly affairs. Like, I wish to be good, I will be good. That is a thought generally. We don't know for sure, but it might be. But to actually then renounce worldly affairs in the deepest sense, would be that you actually would renounce the mind that abides anywhere. So, I wish to know abode is a wholesome thought, I would say. I feel it is. I don't know for sure, but I think it is. And thinking it is, I think, is a wholesome thought, too. But actually, that mind that has no abode is not something exactly

[28:19]

I decide and then it's done. I decide I want it and then I practice for a long time and then it is realized. So it's from the intention to the realization. It's from the intention to the realization. And then there's various practices that we do to promote and care for the intentions. And then the way you protect the intention to realize supreme awakening for the welfare of all beings is to do bodhisattva training methods. generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligence, compassion, and wisdom, which is to meditate on the mind of no abode and all the teachings that remind us and teach us about what the mind of no abode is like. Teachings about phenomena that help us not cling to them, not to believe. not to believe that the way things appear are the way they are.

[29:24]

So if I hear a teaching that the way you appear to me is not the way you really are, and I'm mindful of that, then I look at you and I see this person who appears to be a wonderful guy, and my story about you being a wonderful guy is what you are. You are a wonderful guy, but you're not my story of a wonderful guy. What you are is inconceivable. You're an inconceivable wonderful guy. You're not my idea of you. And you're not my ideas of you. You're something beyond the appearances that our minds create of you. These teachings are coming to me, but not to your grandchildren yet. They're not old enough probably. If I tell my grandson these stories, he says, that's totally inconceivable. Which means, that's enough of that. If I tell you it's totally inconceivable, you might say, but I'll listen some more.

[30:29]

Don't stop talking just because it's inconceivable to me. And I say, okay. So those are wisdom. And we do those trainings, and that takes care of the body-mind. If you don't do those trainings for body-mind, we forget it. If you don't practice generosity and ethical discipline, if you're not careful of all your actions of body, speech, and mind, and you see someone, and without that compassionate support, you forget the teaching that you see in your mind. Probably. No, no, no, probably. more likely. But if you do these compassion practices, you're more likely to remember the wisdom practices, the wisdom teachings. So are doshin and bodhishin synonymous? Yes. So bodhishin is the Japanese way of saying, the Sino-Japanese,

[31:39]

In Chinese you say pu ti shin. Pu ti shin. In Japanese you say bo dai shin. And in Sanskrit it's bodhi citta. Bodhi citta means bodhi mind. Shin means bodhi mind. And dao equals bo dai. So the character for Dao is nice because it means both path and bodhi or bodhi. And it connects, this Dao connects, in some sense, Buddhism with Daoism, because in Daoism, you know, the Dao is the point. And it's interesting, too, that the Daoded Shin, I think it starts out by saying something like, the Dao The Tao also means to say.

[32:44]

This character Tao means to say in ordinary Chinese and also means a path. So the Tao Te Ching plays with this character and says the path, the Tao, is not the Tao. The path which can be said is not the path. but it's the same character. First it means the path, then it means to say, then it means the path. The path which can be said is not the path. You could also say, though, the saying which can be said is not the same. And the enlightenment which can be said is not the enlightenment. And so on. So playing with that word, this character which means path, the path of Taoism, the path of the Buddha, enlightenment. It also means to say, because this is enlightenment, this is the path, as a word.

[33:51]

Because for living beings, when the Dharma is conveyed to us, we receive it and convert it into word images. We do that. And if we're kind to those word images, along with the other word images, like enemy and friend and wonderful person and bad person and happiness and sadness, if we practice compassion towards all those words, we realize what they are. But first of all, we always convert them to words because we like to know things. And we don't know things unless we make them into words. But if we're kind to the way we make things into knowables, we realize what they are. We actually experience the reality of them if we are kind to the appearance of them. And again, this bodhi mind is the way to be kind to appearances in order to realize the non-abiding mind of reality.

[34:57]

Reality is a mind. The mind of no-bode is reality. It's not like the mind of no-bode knows reality. It is reality. Reality is a mind that doesn't abide. Yes? I have two questions. One is about the character. It's a very dynamic character, and I wondered if you could talk about what it's made of. The bottom part, this part down here, that's sort of like the little platform at the center parts, this part down here, this part generally is a radical which is used in all kinds of characters, all kinds of words that have to do with travel or movement. So you can put sometimes this character is used for like paths and going places and things like that.

[36:04]

But also if you put something up here, it can also be used for like penetrating things or entering things. So this part on the top, I don't know what that character means by itself, but I will hopefully have the answer shortly. And it doesn't look like there's any... Is anybody here expert in Chinese? No. So I'll try to find out what the top part means, but the bottom part generally has to do with some kind of... Yes, will you tell me your name again? David. David. Yeah, you can do that too. The path that can be pathed is not the path.

[37:06]

But also you can say the word that can be said is not the word. The path that can be said is not the word. and so on. Especially in Buddhism because it means path, say, and awakening. In other words, the path cannot be grasped, but it can be realized. The reality of things cannot be grasped, but can be realized. But we have to give up the worldly affairs in order to realize things. We have to give up the worldly affair of grasping in order to realize. When you hear the Dharma, that helps you hear it without grasping it. And if you don't grasp it, then you take care of it and renounce worldly affairs, or you renounce worldly affairs and take care of it. If you hear the Dharma and hold on to it, you can't take care of it.

[38:10]

You've got it. But because you got it, you're not taking good care of it. You're supposed to receive it without holding on to it. Care of it. And then you receive it again and again, probably. Endlessly receiving and giving, receiving and giving, receiving and giving. Or we say receiving and employing. So one of the names for our meditation practice in the Soto Zen school is the concentration on receiving The Dharma. You receive it and give it. Or you receive it to yourself and give it away as yourself. Yes. I believe the path is the path. You believe the path is the path, as long as we don't abide it. And our abiding is what makes it. So the path is the path. Yeah, the path is the path, except don't abide in the path is the path.

[39:12]

Right. If you don't abide in it, then it is. If you don't abide in it, that's the path. The path you don't abide in. So there is a path. You can say there is a path, but when you say that, don't abide in what you just said. Yeah. Would I like that? I know you like to. And it's so kind of you to come and tell us that you like to. And then we can say, fine, we accept that you like to. And that's not the path. I mean, liking it is fine as long as you don't abide in liking it. You can go ahead and like it. You're welcome to like it. Come here and like it, like it, like it. And if you don't abide in liking it, that's the path. And then you say, okay. then that's the path, right? I say, yes, but don't abide in that's the path. Don't abide in that's the path. And you say, but I'd like to. Maybe we should go start over again. Thank you for liking to.

[40:17]

You've been mentioning stories, and one of the ways If you hear a bubbling sound, just put some excellent tea on it on the recording device. Yes, it's a story I just told. It sounds to me a little bit like one of the ways you could say it is the path to beyond words is with words. to beyond words is with words. That's the thing about humans is that the Buddha talks and the Buddha lets, the Buddha speaks, but the Buddha doesn't really speak any words. And people make words out of the Buddha's teaching and people use the words that they make out of Buddha's teaching free of the words, of all their words.

[41:23]

So we do use words to become free of words. Yes. And stories also. We use stories to become free of stories. Yeah, there's so many... There's a currency. There's a currency of relating. There's a currency of relating, right. Also, you're saying, it sounds like you're saying that no actions are unwholesome in themselves. It's not innate. necessarily unwholesome. All phenomena are... There might be a wholesome way to do that. It's possible. We're open to that possibility. So when you're talking about renouncing worldly affairs, renouncing worldly affairs... I'm just trying to put these pieces together. Go ahead. To put them together without abiding in them. I'm thinking about my teenage daughter and saying, you know, honey, how's your homework coming in?

[42:30]

And her saying, I'm sorry, mom, I renounced World Trade Affairs. So they look away and I'm like, shit. it's this Christian saying of being in the world and not of the world, in a way, maybe. Is that a Christian saying? I don't know. You could say it's a Zen saying. I try. Did Jesus speak English? There we go. It's a story about Jesus. It's a story about Jesus, right. But also Sarah said it. So this thing of renouncing You know, there's this currency in a household, there's a currency of having a job, there's a currency of studying Zen, there's a kind of a, the words, beyond the words, and they need to require a lot of us.

[43:43]

Did you say they need care? They need attention and diligence. They do. They're calling for attention, they're calling for diligence, they're calling for compassion. All the words are calling for liberation. If you diligently care for something, if you compassionately care for something, you will realize the mind which doesn't abide in the thing, and the thing will be liberated. The Bodhi mind, the Bodhi way, is to care for the point of liberation, and then to care for the liberation, the point of liberation from liberation, and so on. Care for words, care for stories, care for all beings to the point of liberation. And the way of caring is practices together, but we also need wisdom teachings, otherwise we can care for things

[44:46]

and still cling to them. So we need a little reminder that you're doing a good job of caring, but there's a little clinging there. I have a story that's a little clinging. And then the person can say, that's just your story. Yes? I was wondering about the point where we say arising body-mind from the step before to the point arising body-mind. I wonder if there is a body-mind, there is a body-mind which awakens body-mind, or otherwise it would be... There is something searching for arising body-mind. I just want to say, before the last part of your thing, I want to say, you talked about the arising of body-mind. Body-mind, when it first arises,

[45:49]

is always like a thought. It arises in the realm of thought. In other words, it appears to arise. The body-mind doesn't arise. It's realized, and it's realized in the realm of no-abode, which there's no arising or ceasing for the body-mind. But when the body-mind first arises, then usually second and third arises, and for quite a while the body-mind seems to be arising. Oh, yeah, there are things that are coming. Oh, great. Or even like it stayed for a while. That's another way it can appear. So the early bodhi mind, the first bodhi mind, and then the bodhi minds for quite a while might look like they arise, and sometimes we forget them, and then they arise again. The complete bodhi mind doesn't arise. It's just the realization of reality. But you also said something about maybe there needs to be a bodhi mind in relationship to the arising of Bodhi mind. And there is.

[46:52]

So we always say, you know, the Bodhi mind does not make itself arise. Otherwise, Bodhi mind, we just have everybody have Bodhi mind all the time. And I do not make Bodhi mind arise. And you do not make Bodhi mind arise, and Buddha doesn't make Bodhi mind arise, otherwise Buddha would just make everybody have Bodhi mind all the time, just like, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind. I mean, Buddha does do that, but doesn't succeed. Buddha's going, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind. That's what Buddha is, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind. That's what Buddha's doing all day long. However, it's only when we say, hi, how you doing, man? And then Buddha says, wow, that sounds great. I want to do that. So it's not the Buddha. The Buddha's not in control. Buddha's not the all-powerful controller.

[47:53]

Can't control everybody to have Bodhi mind. But Buddha is like, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind, Bodhi mind. That's totally cool. I want to do that. So sometimes Buddha gets a communion with sentient beings. But the Buddha doesn't make it happen. The sentient being doesn't make it happen. But when they do this communion, this Bodhi mind comes up. Or the Bodhi mind, you could say either the Bodhi mind is the communion or the arising of it happens in the communion. The Bodhi mind isn't really the arising of Bodhi mind. Ultimately, it is the communion. Because Buddhas are communing with living beings. That's their thing. That's their concept. In that communion, body-mind arises. But even in that communion, sometimes the sentient being can get distracted from the communion, and then they get distracted from body-mind.

[48:54]

But then the communion happens again, and they remember it. And after a while, they remember it more and more often. In other words, they stay more with the communion. The bodhi mind is, again, it's always present because it is the realization of reality. The realization of reality is always present, but we sometimes think we have something else to do besides commune with it. It takes quite a bit of training to consistently commune with it. But the proposal is we can get more consistent in our training and more often appreciate that communion and more often appreciate that mind. But it's not something sentient beings do by themselves, or that Buddha does by herself. It's a communion thing. Because there's no sentient beings without Buddhas, and there's no Buddhas without sentient beings. There could be sentient beings without Buddhas, like you have all these suffering beings, and no Buddhas around.

[49:56]

But definitely you don't have Buddhas floating around totally blissed out without sentient beings. That's not a Buddha. A Buddha never floats away from sentient beings. A Buddha totally arises out of sentient beings and keeps in touch with them through the arising process. So we are Buddhas sentient beings but not completely realized yet. And in complete realization we stay connected to our roots sentient beings are the lifeblood of Buddhas. So, teaching seems to me like an expression of the Buddha mind. The teaching is an expression of Buddha mind. Definitely. Buddhas are constantly teaching. So, to realize myself, I cannot realize the expression of myself.

[51:02]

So to follow the teaching, I cannot realize myself, as long as I follow it. In a way, that's right. When the teaching first comes to us, the teaching is inconceivable. The way the Buddha is and the way the Buddha teaches is inconceivable. But the Buddha doesn't prohibit us or hinder us from making the inconceivable Dharma into something conceivable. So we do. The Buddhists are going, hello, and we turn hello into hello. Or the Buddha goes, and we turn it into hello. But now we've got something to work on. And that which we were working on, there's some separation there. When you realize that there's nothing to work on anymore, you become it. Right, but if you're kind to that thing that's not it, you'll realize it.

[52:09]

So you have to be kind to what's not it to realize it, in this case. Whereas cruelty, if you're kind to cruelty, you can realize it. If you're kind to cruelty, you can realize cruelty. But to realize Buddha's wisdom, you have to be kind to it, knowing that what you're dealing with is not it. Because it's inconceivable. So you have to be kind to the conceivable version of the Dharma to realize the actual inconceivable Dharma. You have to be kind to the grasped Dharma You have to be kind in the way you grasp the Dharma in order to realize the Dharma cannot be grasped or is not grasped. Reality cannot be grasped because we can't be separate from it. So you hear that teaching and you can separate yourself from that teaching and realize the inseparable teaching. So only once I realize that it's an expression of me, then I don't have to abide by it.

[53:15]

Yeah, it's kind of the same thing. If you realize that, you don't abide by it. If you don't abide, you don't... there's no way to grasp it, no way to separate from it. There's an Academy Award-winning film called High Noon. Did you have something to say? Yes. I was reading The Wind and the Willow yesterday. Yes. And... Is it a good book? It's very good. And it talks about, you know, there's a mole, and he crawls out of his home, and he goes... There's lots of songs, and then... And then he sees the rat, you know, boating in the river. And then he joins the rat, and he's very happy boating in the river. And then the rat says to him, the rat says, in boats, simply messing.

[54:23]

And then they crash into the shore. They're so happy messing about in boats. And then the rat says, the rat says, In boats or with boats? Boating up river, there's no destination. Is that like... That looks like Bodhi Mai. Is that like Bodhi Mai? Are you saying is that like Bodhi Mai or is that like the mind of Noah Bode? That's more like the mind. Because I didn't hear them say, I entered this river for the welfare of all beings. Didn't hear that part. So that would be Bodhi mind, that you come out of your hole and go into the river for the welfare of all beings. And then if rats and other beings show up, you remember that that's what you're in the water for.

[55:27]

But it takes a long time to come out of your hole and go into the water for the welfare of all beings. But in this story you can maybe say in a past life those animals had both in this river excursion they realized the mind of no abode. That really they didn't say it. That they actually came out of their hole and entered the river for the welfare of all beings. But they actually said that in a, you know, before they left the hole, they already had that vow. But they didn't tell us that. Because the children read the book, find that inconceivable. So they just told about the mind of an old brood. But to understand that kind of thing, you kind of have to have great compassion to really realize that. Like I was taking care of this little girl last night, and she's, you know, she comes out of her hole now and then, you know, and faces the world, but then she goes back into the hole. It's scary out there, you know.

[56:31]

Lots of stuff happens, and she's standing in the bathtub, and she seems to be fine, and suddenly the whole world falls apart, and for no reason, she's just... ...into, kind of like, really, this is not a good situation. And then, like, she has this little, what do you call it, this little zebra that has these little ears and stuff on that she can put in her mouth and gave her some milk and sang her some songs over and over. And then she went back and was very happy. And she'll come out again and again and go back and go until finally she can come out and say, okay. I want to do this for all sentient beings. So it's going to take a while, I think. Now she's going out and back, out and back, out and back, until she finally realizes the Bodhi mind and then was supported to take care of that. What a wonderful journey. Shall we have a little break now and have our nursing?

[57:38]

May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit and love.

[57:52]

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