i talked to before the city
i thought maybe i should
leave the sitting and go to a ceremony
where the abbot abbess of the city centre was gonna step down from her responsibilities as abbess was going to retire
i thought i should go and be there for the ceremony
because she's like a successor to me
so i did i went anyway i told ali and eileen said well if you go probably everybody will leave her
sighs wanna say thank you for not leaving
thank you for upholding the practice
in my absence
and you know i wanted to write because i'm gonna be absent before too long
and i hope you carry on the practice even when i'm not around anymore
when i first started going to europe i i noticed that
when i would leave the meditation hall and got have interviews with people and then i would come back the act imitation how would be almost empty
when i left they left put on the cat's away
but over the years that i've been going now when i'm sometimes i leave and go to interviews
and i come back everybody's there this is called maturity people growing up
and sharing the responsibility
for
maintaining the practice of the buddha away
so when we first are practicing may we do go practice with a teacher with other people so we can practice and if they go away we go away to
but as we get more mature when they go away we carry on the practice doesn't you know this is part of the reproduction rate that we don't
we don't just practice for now we practice for
the future generations of living beings so thank you for
taking care of the practice while i was in the city and things went quite smoothly who went went in and the ceremony and came back
in the traffic was like
you know the waters party
i got back dragged me off
by the sentiment i walked in and i wasn't late

so another lovely day
and
what we just chatted just now every time we chant that i think how amazing that as entity would talk like that
this is a zen master that wrote that bow
he threw his eyes everything he sees his like the buddhist teaching everybody he meets his like
buddha's teaching
but most of us have to train for quite a while to see that
when we do see a tower feel very happy while buddha's teaching buddha's teaching buddha's teaching while for his teaching buddha's teaching but is truth the time on the truth how wonderful
the truth that set us free to see it and everybody's face this is what buddhists these but buddha can see that some of the beef some interfaces
do not yet see that it's in some of the faces
so but a wishes to teach people so they can see the dharma and everybody's face

yes that please have a question that i
last couple of classes
that you're talking about spiritual friendship as a student teacher relationship
and know
awakening through a relationship with your with a teacher face transmission
it seems to it was silly to me that spiritual friendship is more than that
yeah he just say more than that are yearning for you could say that i'm emphasizing that these relationships between student and teacher that their friendships
the buddha shakyamuni buddha
is it is talking to his
disciple
ananda so everybody as as the teacher and ananda on does the student that booty doesn't say and but an on it didn't say when he sat down with the buddha he didn't say this didn't teach your relationship
is half the holy life under said this friendship
between me and you
is half the practice buddha said no
this friendship is a whole practice it so i like that thing about the stories it's a student teacher relationship ah but obviously but the student brings up not didn't say teacher he says friendship and the buddhist it doesn't say what you mean friendship under teacher
he said here friendship but then so then he says he and he says
by relying on good friendship you know
by relying on good comradeship you will be able to practice
the a way to freedom and the nice dinner he says again by relying on
me if the second part of the suture and word it's good friendship but rely on good friendship is also relying on the buddha
the turn around the relationship with the buddha is friendship
and i think sometimes wisdom scary zen master stories we forget the this that this is a friendship so he says you're stressing that aspect of the student teacher relationship that not
i don't i don't mean to stress the i don't mean just stress the student teacher side of it i'm just saying that the stories that we have a lot of the stories we have our between student and teachers by some other stores who have or between teachers and teachers some of them are teachers
but the stories between the students
those not so many of those are being transmitted for hundreds and hundreds of years
but their arse their high friendship between students to to teachers
our to students
but the have two to two teachers of the dharma are to students of the dharma
do we have stories of students of the dharma who are now recognizes teachers and then relating to each other and their friendship is another example is just a deep
the a lot of stories not all of them but a lot of store not all of them but many of the stories where you see the friendship coming to maturity our stories where the student is with a more mature person
so i'm partly trying to show you friendship but i'm also turned to show you the friendship which exemplifies the realization of perfect wisdom so there's gonna be one or more teachers in this in the story if perfect wisdom is coming to maturity
but there's also stories and of pretty good friends but they're both not mature enough yet to be able to realize perfect wisdom in the story but the but it is when it happens at that moment in this law student and teacher anymore
so it's really it's the relationship
it's not like the face to face transmission if we we worship the face to face transmission
we don't it's not that we don't worship the teacher but and also what we just chatted here was that the
we have a worshipful attitude towards everything in other words worshipful means worship means you acknowledge the worth
so when you have the right kind of eyes you worship anything
and that's kind of person who can be a good friend year one who sees your worth
and you can end when you enter that friendship
it's not that the teachers
the left good friend and you're not it's a good friendship and yet the teacher is a good friend so the buddhist says
spanish sutra he says good friendship he doesn't say good friend other places says good friends but here is as good friendship the situation it just a bit a lot of exact and the a lot of examples so maybe i ah
maybe i should give examples that aren't student teacher examples of the friendship maybe there would be helpful to make clear that i'm i'm not exactly
stressing the student teacher relationship just those are a lot of stories i know i see or i'm looking for friendship
where the friendship isn't just friendship but a friendship
is where wisdom is realized
not just the part of as you know we may be a ragged and funny
we've pretty much run out of money but will travel along singing our song side by side through all kinds of whether you know it doesn't matter at all
which is great and the student teacher walk like that together but then there's another kind of friendship or somehow
the mine dissolves
and we and we don't abide in the friendship so those stories a lot of that i know the ones i've seen as it i'm looking at him again as as friendship stores rather than student teacher stories some blood of the stories i know about demonstrating how somebody talks to somebody to show them the way to with
some those are student teacher stories but now i'm looking at miss friendship stores
if i knew more stories where wisdom was being much maturity in there were no teachers around i would tell you but most of the most stores i know where wisdom is being realized there's a buddha in a body sought for borisov savona simply being who has not yet a bodhisattva are to body sought as one was more mature than the other
a and sometimes their dharma siblings
and sometimes the like here's a story gay
it's is to want to tell you
so here's here's i taught you describe him this family and also yeah sure toe
and then you have douche and tracy left
he left but she left me a note before she left which i think i have here
anyway
i think she'll be okay with this note
she left a out and so anyway while the malvinas note there's double and the shirt oh and in douche and from double their comes
longtime and from long time there comes the shop
and from dijon there comes
a tray phone
and shreve and from from dark from dish on come straight from and yandle does to great students schriften and young top
our japanese seppo and gang to not only can in chinese but also learned to me
and then and then look up the characters and learn the english
a simple schriften when and what is it an english
snowy summit
seppo
several was a very diligent practitioner they say he was destroyed nines offers
hello

he said he no he destroyed him with his booty
sample also they say a bicep both he climbed don't shot nine times
gates on the other side coming down from shirt or we have ja schon and
ah union and on susceptible went to study with dump shot nine times
this is a really fanatic meditator
his name settled or srei
right so this guy has a diamond brother named me on tool
and one time they were traveling visiting different teachers and they got some place where they are they couldn't go any further because the snow was so deep so they stayed in some in
over and they're staying overnight and seppo was
meditating and yeah was sleeping and he woke up and saw his dumb brother destroying us offers
and he said you know take it easy man
and
che function my heart aches i'm just trying to understand the dharma with my whole heart and working to understand the dharma
you know i'm not just fooling around here being intense
and and as a his guitar says okay okay let me help you just tell me your understanding and out
are correct it for it's often so he's an older done my brother so that he's a a brother but he's gonna gonna teach simple
so i several tells him one story of enlightenment experiences brought the that don't ever the mention that again and he goes to me so it does he cracks as understanding on three different occasions where he shows his understanding and is dahmer brother shows him
the is kind of grasping a you know
and then as diamond brother to says term in our man you should just let it come up from here and just spread over the whole universe
give got it here to let it out and let it go all over the place and schriften woke up
it's a dumb or brother friendship
no
so here's a letter from tracy
rep dash
i'm sorry
not to be able to stay for the afternoon
thank you for the teaching this morning
and as always deeply deeply appreciated tracy explanation month
so you know
without some resistance you don't make a pearl
a pro comes from irritation right
but instead of instead of just crushing
the irritant instead of
passing
the sand out of the chelle
the placed her oozes some
liquids minerals around the sand and makes it into a pearl
yes
to express my gratitude

thirsty
rate
great throughout
thanks to you
a lot of things like practice exam
it worked
yeah
good friendship
yeah
now

may our in and need a way to extend to every and place where
has way be the number
as ah to say man
are exhausted all i
the element
hey
as laughter and to them
as way so as well i recommend
thank you very much