Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, Part 7

00:00
00:00
Audio loading...

Welcome! You can log in or create an account to save favorites, edit keywords, transcripts, and more.

Auto-Generated Transcript

i was told that their six people here for the first time welcome to the people here for the first time

as an ongoing
singing and has been going on here were singing a song about have the precious mirror concentration
which is one of the many names for ah
i practice
and i i sang that the beginning of that song to you
earlier today the song starts out
the teaching of such this has been intimately communicated
by buddhism ancestors
you know you have it so keep it well

as how or
in in this tradition we we know if we when we sing the song a lot
the song of gus
of the intimate transmission of boat as an ancestor's this
this is the intimate transmission which is actually
the teaching the teaching is an intimate transmission
and this intimate transmission acts as a guide for beings and the use of this intimate transmission is sung how about as the removal of all suffering
an intimate relationship which is also a truth of such miss the way things really are is intimate transmission
the way our life really is
as the intimate transmission and this is the work of buddha's
this
relief of suffering
in the midst of this intimate transmission
one of that
things we say often had tagged a zen center as we say
our unceasing effort
to free all beings
so they may dwell in peace
our unceasing efforts to free all beings so we may dwell in peace
where do we say that it's in the meal gender is an echo
in one of our dedications of our practice we say
we refer to our unceasing efforts
to free all being so in my dwell in peace

some concern about
is it actually

the badger is low
we just leave it there thank you
and so
when we speak of our unceasing effort
and also we speak of
we wish
to make this effort
we want to make the effort
jeffrey all beings we aspire
we vow to make the effort to
free all being so we may dwell in peace
how was talking to someone recently and she told me that when i spoke of this vow
when i spoke of
of
the vow to care for all beings
she said that she hadn't heard that that now in then before
and i'm i said it in some ways that the traditional presentation of then sometimes that vow is there but it's understated so i feel that in the west we sort of have to stay at more explicitly because like bodhi dharma
that statue of him it is his compassion is understated
his his fierceness his fierceness is not understated
and i would say it's not overstated either harvard the the bodhisattva of compassion on the other side of the buddha are the lucky test for her fierceness is understated in that statue
she is fierce but she doesn't look too fierce their key listen
serene sweet libby
loving
i don't know what but fierce most people wouldn't say
her fierceness is understated
you try to move move her off her seat of compassion and you'll find out
but she's fierce about doing her job
like she might say we're not moving from this spot
when diamond you'll be tries to move
let 'em sit there

you can yeah you can be here
i say to the insect flying around my eyes

one of the
practitioners over a green gulch
tall needs that his brother came from mexico to visit him
and stayed for a few days and had a nice time being aims at being in the community
i think he worked with his brother on the farm and i think you've won to meditation
they experienced sir
the life of the community and as he's leaving he said ah
something like can as a question probably set it in spanish
and in his brother a so what is in practice
he'd been there you know in the midst of it but kind of like what is it what are you doing here

and i said i said your brother yeah that's good what is it
like your brother man he feels like well i was here but i didn't actually see what then was
but his question is good
what is in practice
you can answer it if you want your like as there was zazen is an practice or the precious mirror samadi is in practice or you can say
an unceasing effort
to free all beings so they can dwell in peace that zen practice you can answer that way i could go on the to say the least

but even though i answered that question with those answers then i still say
what is an unceasing efforts to free all beings so their dwelling peace what is that what is the precious mere samadi
what what is that
and also how can i
live the life how can i live the life of an and see sing effort
moment by moment unceasing effort
to free our bags how can i live that life

someone said to me recently
can i live the life
of great compassion
and i say it's okay to ask that question i don't mind i could live with that can i live the life of great compassion can i live the life of
a bodhisattva can i be a true and student
okay to ask that question can i be bodhidharma
go ahead hesketh can i be all the lucky test for can it be a good mommy can i be a good daddy can i be a good zen priest
okay you can ask that question but if you never ask it it's okay with me
but what i wouldn't like you to ask is how can i be a great body for
if you want to be a great body stuff it's okay with me if you say can i be
if you say may i be upset i will say yes you have my permission
i do not
i'm not i'm not i don't want to discourage you from asking if you can be buddha and can be a voice out i don't want to discourage you had really don't but i'm not mentioned you i don't ask myself can i be a bodhisattva i'm too busy
wondering how to be a bodhisattva
that's enough for me to do that every moment how can i live the life of a bodhisattva now i have some confidence that if i asked that question all the time i am living the life of a bodhisattva
the body thought was want to live the life of a bodhisattva
they want to make the unceasing effort
the free all beings they want to
they're busy wanting to and you're also busy wondering how wondering wondering wondering what is zen practice
what is zazen
what is the true path
and then you get getting again when he asked what is it or how can i become gazillions of answers may come fine enjoy them or they may not
i enjoy the silence
you don't have to ask the question but i think it might be a good idea
to ask the question
about whatever it is that you want base
i'm not tell you what you should be but whatever it is that you wanna be i think it might be good to ask the question how can i become that
some of us don't exactly feel like where mothers or fathers so we don't ask that question
but even see even if you're not a mother or father he's didn't i wonder how to be a good mother or father
if that occasion ever presented itself
but almost all of us are might the human with madam be somewhat humid anyway
how can i become
how can i fully become a human
can i propose to you just to propose only one here proposal anybody gloried get my proposal is in order to fully become a human we have to ask how to fully become a human if you don't ever ask that question you're not going to make it to be who you are
how can i how can i fully be who i am is part of realizing who i really am if i'm a human
him some people say that present practice that the answer to what what is in practice it's becoming complete is
the it's completely becoming a human being is became completely becoming yourself
and when you completely become yourself
you become free of yourself
and you're becoming free of yourself by becoming completely yourself in free all beings
when i become myself completely
i dwell in peace
can everybody there's with me
so i'm wondering
what is the way to live the life of a bodhisattva i'm wondering
also
i'm wondering what enlightenment is i'm wondering what awakening is
i'm wondering

i mean
i am wondering and i wish to continue to wonder
i wish to wonder the rest of the day i wish to wonder tomorrow
while i'm living my human life
probably i'll get up early in the morning tomorrow and go to the meditation hall i would like to wonder as i get up in the morning and go to the meditation hall
what is in practice
what is the life of a bodhisattva as i walk in the dark to the meditation hall
inhofe what is the unceasing effort to free all beings
when i live with that question i never regret the question
it always enlivens me to ask the question but i sometimes get distracted from that question i miss the opportunity i walk in the dark
and miss the opportunity to ask a question in the dark
and i'm confessing that to you and i'm saying i'm sorry and i
refer you to we just chatted by confessing and and repenting my forgetting to ask the question how how to make the effort
to be bodhi dharma
by confessing and repenting that we melt away the root of forgetting we melt away the root of missing the opportunity of our life
and then when we
stop missing the opportunity of missing our life
we regain all the life we have lost
mister proust teaches us
hmm
when we confess that we just missed our life or we have been missing our life and with sorry about missing the opportunity to wonder how do i live my life all these times when we miss
our life the the wonderful life we have and miss wondering what it is and how to live it
when we confess and repent
we've not away the root of getting distracted
from wondering about our life as it's happening and also we regained all those past times that we lost because we weren't attentive
so the name of his book is i think in search of time lost
and then there's a later chapter which is recapturing the last time
he lost a lot of time that guy did like most people he lost a lot of opportunities
to be in his life and wondering what it was
that was his suffering and that is are suffering were alive and were distracted from it
but by confessing our distraction of chamber sorry over and over we stop being distracted and not only are we not distracted at that moment that we stop
but this practice of not being distracted
of continue wondering what our life is regains the last time
so we're searching for the last time the whole book is searching for lost time and the book when it reaches its fullness in the art of meditation
it regains all those wasted times which weren't really wasted times but we missed
we said there were a waste of time
but they weren't
even though the distractions
or even though we were distracted
now you have it you haven't already
there's not the slightest bit of difference between the ones who are missing their lives and the ones who are not does not the slightest bit difference between knows who are saying
right now
saturday september nineteenth etc
in this lovely timber with these great people
what is the way how can i become the way
there's not the slightest bit of difference between that person and the ones who distracted
however the one who's not distracted realizes that that's not the slightest bit of difference and the one who will distract it doesn't realize it
which is the situation
yes

question

would you say that again or louder
seems to be you say

in

stay
no and but thanks for that question
thanks for asking that question which was not the most important thing but thank you
being a true human being
but if you're doing it not that being true human being the most important thing is that you're wondering how to do it is just that if you don't wonder how you do it you're not gonna be it
but also part of being a true human being is not is not asking questions but making statements and putting on shows
like i'm
i don't know what i'm a man
i'm a priest that's not a question
but that's part of a deal
i'm here with you practicing very nicely today i'm feeling the heat of the day that's not a question but that's part of the deal
i want to be a bodhisattva is not a question but that's part of a deal
how want to become bodhidharma of the local cash bar that's part of the deal
and then
day
i also into question what is the way to become what i aspire to
then also there's
there is i want to be
involved in unceasing efforts to free biggs and also i just think i wasn't that's not a question either i think that i calculate i was not really in accord what i just did there was not in accord with my aspiration as another thing now
what i did i actually maybe even the buddha's might say i agree with that was not in accord with with your aspiration
ana but it confessing it is
and also say you're sorry that you did something that didn't accord with your aspiration that also is in accord with your aspiration because that confession repentance will remove
transgressing into things that are not in accord as your aspiration and also will remove the transgression from questioning
so the practices aspiration and wondering what we're aspiring to and noticing we were not and confessing and repenting
so i'm not say one part is more important than the other but people naturally present themselves in some way they do that but they don't a question what their what the present mirth the presentation is
or what their presentation aspires to
so i've put an emphasis on that by smell more important even if i said it was i don't mean as
it's just necessary and most people are weak in the questioning department
questions
and also most people are weak in the confession and repentance department
most people
categories
we're week some as such a beautiful week and perfect enlightenment
and i can say more about perfect enlightenment in a minute if you have one hear more things that were weekends
there are other things report that we generally that sentient beings are generally weak in a number of varieties of of qualities that borders are not weekend
but has have virtues that were weekend however although the weaken them it really means that were weak and realizing them but we're not week in totally embodying i mean that were endowed with all these things that were weak weekly developed are infinite
but we have it it's our nature
and questioning his questioning our nature is part of realizing it
so chances to start with aspiration
aspiration is a pistol
long
time ago
here us

what's the source of aspers
sam i gave us two siblings and not air this was the last place they'd ever
the source of aspiration me what we want about that the source of aspiration is
contemplation of
ah the stories of your life

no more technical way to say it is the source of aspiration the source of aspiration to complete perfect enlightenment the source of aspirations for free or beings the source of it is contemplation of karmic causation
comic possession or another i put it is it's contemplation of of your karmic consciousness of your mind where you're they're doing stuff
contemplating that mind
which in which their stories i did this they did that i help them they didn't help me
that was bad what i did that was good what i did contemplating all those stories
use there arises the feeling of i don't want to do that anymore that was not what i want and that's what i do want and this and nobody wants me to do that and everybody wants me to do this and so on and has you can't these are stories
and as you contemplate them he started to wanna do something about your life
and one of the things you want to do but your life is you wish to free yourself from these stories
at least you wish to fierce at the beginning you wish to free yourself of all the bad stories
he wished to free yourself and others of the stories of misery
that was the the aspiration starts to come up
as it comes up and gets train you will eventually wish to free yourself from even the good stories
but the beginning you might not have that aspiration to free yourself from all stories
but the beginning you if you just i will least like some to say i will release like to be less harmful
or even i would like to be heart not harmful as they review the harm they've done they want
do less harm people don't review the harm they've done might not yet had the aspiration i would like to do less harm
so we have a number of people in recovery programs in the sanga and there are people who saw
the story of harm harm they did hannah was done to them in real and they want to stop that and they but it doesn't mean that they want to stop at they stop remembering the looking at the stories they keep looking at the stories to refresh their
aspiration
do not let those stories
which will eventually lead them to the aspiration of not dwelling in any stories
so you have the story i wanna be a princess i wanna be a bodhisattva i want to be harmless yeah that story which comes up out of reviewing other stories
and then you move on to actually developing the story of are not story but the question what are those stories
what is the life of being free of these stories what is a person who's free what is a bodhisattva
but he's half a dozen dwell in her stories but what is that
so the the aspiration
actually evolved into
wondering what the aspiration is or when it is that you're aspiring to if the aspiration is to buddhahood if you aspire to be deluded you don't have to ask any questions
cause when you're deluded you know what delusion is and you know what an enlightenment is
i mean you think you do
when you're enlighten you don't know what a delusion is anymore you this question it
and you don't know what enlightenment is but you don't need to you are
and you question it joyfully question what what is it
i know
i'm just gonna mention that the desert there's a piece of music
called starboard mightier which means mother stood and refers to marry standing by her son while he's on the cross
this is up
a wonderful teaching stabat mater starboard marta stabat mater
dela rosa
it just the christian luck grim masa
she's the mother
stood
in pain full of pain
next to the cross crime
that's
appropriate to what we're talking about here

did you did you want britain better deal
so you just seem to be you be
here it with your hand not you

yes

living from did you say living from compassion doesn't seem ordinary
the i can see how you would like if i'm being cruel then it doesn't seem at that moment like i'm being compassionate
at that moment that i did that i feel like i'm being cruel i don't feel like i'm being compassionate yeah
and i might feel i can be human and feeling like i'm being human might be a little bit compassionate it's not cruel for me to think that i'm maybe i'm human that's kind of fairly kind actually so then i'll be back in the compassion track
but anyway we are as somewhere north of recently said to me where i want to do you i'd be who i really am but aren't i always being who i really am she said and then she's went on to say maybe the stories i have ah
hinder me from being who i really am and i and i said to her
it's not at the stories that you have
are hindering you from being who you really are because who who you really are as a storyteller
when what might hinder you from being who you really are is if you believe the stories you have
of who you are or who other people are so she normally we have stories of ourselves and others this person is suffering this person is not i'm suffering i'm not why these stories about myself and about others that has like part of being human
the story themselves are not necessarily hindrances that they're really not hindrances their part of my
part of my nature
and part of my nature is the storyteller
and the one who is completely beyond our stories are not the slightest bit different
but my job as a human is to question or my stories
until i don't dwell in them because again if i dwell in my stories if i abide in my stories then that abiding can hinder me fully realizing that i am truly who i am
and that that liberates all beings

andy i think what you said was correct would you say it again louder
it means understanding in some way that were dependent theater with
if we have a dependent origination yes i will say that to become to realize
our humanness involves a real understanding how we dependently call rise to be suffering but also it also involves
understanding that heart
our nature hard to nature also independently cauterizes so both are deluded side
and are light inside both dependently color eyes and we have the capacity to understand both
sarah
masters
let's start with what you're ready to be i would say start with what you're ready to be responsible about
and you will eventually realize that these other
fairly advanced realizations would be part of your responsibility so
we are responsible
to before human
i would say
and if you don't fulfill that responsibility or partially say as we don't fulfill that responsibility we have stressed
when we do realize that responsibility we realized freedom from suffering
and there's certain aspects of it of the real of the responsibility that were not yet aware of you know
like when i first got ordained as a priest i had some idea about what was not my responsibility was but over the years i realized oh i didn't know that out that that was part of my responsibility but now i see that it is like when i first got ordained i didn't know that people would trust me
because i was ordained
but can we found out that they trust me because as ordained so then they said to me don't betray that trust
we trust we we can't help but trust you because you are ordained
so don't disappoint us don't frustrate us don't betray us
i didn't know i i didn't know what i was getting into
but i got but still i was into it and when we get born as humans we don't know what we're getting into but we're getting into a big responsibility and if we don't limit with we have more or less stress
but there's also the ideas that our responsibility is to be what we actually already are now you have it it's your responsibility to take care of it you can't get away from it
but if you get distracted be
it'll be sad
i'll be painful but that's not that is not eternal damnation so we can recover from not
having fully realized who we are

in the midst of wondering
ah
i thought it might mention a few other things maybe i'll just say this and we can talk about more later and that is the word awakening or enlightenment
part of me wants to say i don't like to talk about it
because i kind of don't
and i also kind of don't want to talk about the buddha buddha is but i guess kind of my responsibility somehow
i have to sort of talk about your visit i'm sorry
i hadn't kind of wanna say i hate to talk about buddha i don't hate buddha i hate talking barbuda
and i just did
so in this context of wondering what is the life of a body sought for how can i live the life of bodhisattva
what is freeing all beings how can i live that life
what is the enlightenment which frees all beings in that context is wanted to say something about
enlightenment
which
ah
i'm recently feeling it's helpful to mention that their sudden enlightenment
and you could say the gradual practice of it
so there's like waking up
from delusion
and that
his sudden it's a sudden waking up from delusion
and then there is a transformation which follows that sudden awakening which is gradual
the gradual practice which follows so the sudden awakening is actually a gradual practice of that sudden awakening
so for example i mentioned earlier
that maybe maybe it was even more than a mentioned that does not the little slightest bit of difference between humans who have not yet fully realized
their humanness and those who have it's not the slightest big difference between them
those who are abiding in their stories about their life or their world
and those who are not abiding there's not the slightest bit of difference between them those who do not abide understand that does not the slightest bit of difference those who do abide even a faith think the thought does not the slightest bit of difference they don't really realize it they're not really convinced
but the convinced in the unconvinced they're convinced say are not the slightest bit different
and enlightenment is sudden in you can suddenly wake up to
the statement does not the slightest bit of difference
i think many of us already have
some awakening about if there is a difference it can be a big suffering think many of us feel that deuteronomy
i think it can sense if there's a big difference of course there could be a lot of suffering there's a big difference between they stuck in our stories and being free of them than a big difference would mean a big difference but even a little difference
can be quite a stress factor
and stress stress fractures and stress factors can be quite a problem
you for try to walk on them
and then the stress factor can turn into a major break apart
so we understand that but to realize no gap that can happen suddenly
so in one sense the buddhist path is sometimes characterized as five paths
three for to a to our preparations for sudden awakening
and to follow sudden awakening
so we we practice sitting we practice we practice virtue we just listened to the teaching we discuss the teaching
we hear the teaching we hear the song