Same, just a synonym. But self, this self, this independent self which we project on everything, is totally imaginary. It doesn't exist at all. There's no independent thing about you, even though you appear that way to me, and you appear to me. But you, you as a person, you are a person, but you're not an independent person. I am a person, but I'm not an independent person. I am a dependently co-arisen person. I'm produced by things other than myself. But the way I appear to you and me is as we imagine me as an independent, self-existent person. I'm not an independent person. I'm not a self-person. I'm an interdependent person, and I'm free of anybody's idea of ...knows who I am, and neither do I, including my own ideas.

[01:06]

However, that doesn't mean I throw my ideas out the window, because in fact, that's always part of our life. Our life is appearing to us as our ideas. Our apparent life, what is appearing to us, is our ideas of our life. But that's not the totality of our life. That's just the imaginary part of our life, which is the basis for human society. And a lot of the stuff is really good. The problem is, the false part is just the imagination of independence. That's the problem. But it's got a, what do you call it, it's very useful. The imagination of independence and all kinds of other things are very useful, like language and conversations. We can reason with each other and so on. It's good. It's a basis, but it has this kind of like problem at the base, namely the projection of something that's not there, projection of independence as necessary for language.

[02:21]

And language is very useful, as you may have noticed. And I often use the Woody Allen story of the guy who goes to the psychiatrist and says, my brother thinks he's a chicken. And the psychiatrist says, well, why don't you come and eat? He says, I need to eat eggs. So we imagine that we're something we're not. Why don't we just tell ourselves that that's not so and just forget it? Because based on this imagination, we can have language, we can negotiate, we can have human society. It's unavoidable. We have to do this. However, while now that we have language, we can talk to each other, and we can talk to ourselves, and we can listen to the Buddha's teachings, and we can apply it to our delusion. We can stop believing that what we think is going on is actually what's happening, other than our imagination.

[03:29]

We can talk ourselves out of our delusion by reiterating and repeating and reciting a teaching. Just like, you know, learning to say what a thought is. Always keep the heart scripture going in your head all day long in some form, some nice little portable form. Get on to every moment. Learn how to do that. There's a trick called being a Buddha. That's what the scripture is about. It's to help us become Buddhists. That's what it's all about. Yes, way in the back, yeah. Well, I can just say briefly now because it's getting within... Basically, when we project the fantasy or the imagination of independent existence upon things and upon ourselves, then we suffer.

[04:34]

And when we become aware of the suffering, and we think we're independent, then we think, I didn't do something about this suffering. So based on this belief, based on believing that imaginary things are true, I act on that basis. Once again, based on believing that imaginary things are true, I suffer. And based on this suffering and this imagination, this misunderstanding, I act. And I think my action is done by me. And that way of acting then perpetuates the belief, the world of believing that my actions are mine, my actions are yours, and I can do something about you, and I can get you under control. This is the world of karma. Karma comes out of this misconception and perpetuates it. That's how karma works.

[05:36]

It establishes of confusion and produces more karma to keep us going. And so this teaching is to loosen the roots of karma, which is the belief in inherent existence. You can believe in independent power. We do not have independent power. Our power, we do have power, but our power is given to us by things other than ourself, multi-moment. That's what we're teaching. That's an antidote to our view that we can do things on our own. That's why we say, that's the murderer over there, or I'm the murderer. So again, this, and again, this way, the big parentheses, but this vision of how we are does not remove our responsibility, but actually removes any limit to our responsibility and also helps us understand how other people are responsible, too.

[06:46]

We're all responsible for each other in this vision. Is that enough for this morning? Sir? Okay. Although I don't think there's enough, I just wanted to say also, you know, in terms of my talk about how it's hard to learn a new trick. I learned how to swim when I was 40. I could actually move my arms and legs rapidly across the water when I was younger, but I wasn't really swimming. I was more like a motorboat. When I was 40, I learned how to swim, and it was wonderful to learn something at 40.

[07:52]

And in my late 50s, I started to learn how to practice something called the argumentine tango. And it's hard. It's hard to learn. Especially it's difficult at the beginning for the so-called leaders to learn, because it's hard to lead something that you don't understand. You put in a situation where you're supposed to be leading somebody, and you don't know what to do. It's difficult. And oftentimes when I'm in the classes or whatever, I sometimes feel like I wish I wasn't in the class. that I was trying to go someplace where I knew what to do, where I knew what the dance was. I hesitate to say I firmly believe, but I certainly believe to some extent that if I don't keep treating myself in the situations that I don't know what to do and I'm not good at, that I won't be able to grow and that I will die while I'm still walking around

[08:57]

We have to be older. We have to be putting ourselves into realms where we don't understand how to proceed, or we don't quite get it. And we're actually supposed to demonstrate something which we haven't yet learned. I don't know. But in the dancing thing, you have to get up there. and move with someone else who depends on it and act like you know what you're doing. I know what I'm doing here and please follow me. You have to do that when you don't know what you're doing. Okay, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to pretend like I do, okay? She said, okay, let's go. But it's hard. It's hard that I really think I need it. Part of the reason why I like to come here and talk to you is because many of you have talked to me, and I don't know how to talk to you.

[10:03]

I don't know how can this is a new teaching. I don't know how to bring it up. But I feel this is how I'm growing, and so I'm saying this because I think you probably are having some difficulty, some challenges here teaching. But I think this is what we... We need to be in situations like this, you know, so we continue to be challenged and continue to grow so we can be alive. May I equally penetrate every beginning and end. is the true merit of Buddha's way. We are numberless. I hope to save them. The religions are inexhaustible.

[11:05]

I love hearing them. Don't know the case of numberless. I love returning to them. The word I read is unsurpassable. I'm not ready for it to begin.

[11:26]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_80.57