In one sense, I might start by saying that the way I presented tranquility and insight is a way to try and accommodate between early Indian presentation of these two dimensions of meditation and the Chinese and Japanese Zen way of presenting them, which is to present them without saying that they're being presented, and to let you know about these two dynamics, or these two gestures of the mind, these two ways, these two aspects of meditation, but also to present them to you in a way that they're more unified, which that's what I've been trying to do. But I'd like to also give you a review of the difference between them in this final meeting. The difference or, yeah, sort of the difference in their roots, and the difference in their special qualities, which they in some sense don't share, but also try to tie them together.

[01:11]

And the kind of meditation instruction which I feel ties them together, which I've given in some variations, are instructions like this. to meet whatever comes with complete relaxation to meet whatever comes with no conceptual elaboration to meet whatever comes without activating the mind around whatever comes. And to meet objects that have been cleaned of all associations, interpretations,

[02:19]

Those are some kinds of instructions which I feel unify these two sides of meditation. And now I'd like to go back and talk about the special sides of them. And I think I've mentioned this before, but... I mean, I know I've mentioned it before. The stabilization, tranquility type of meditation, is a kind of withdrawal. It's a kind of withdrawal from the object. And a training of the attention to withdraw from the object and attend to an inner object. In some ways, so what it is actually is it's a way to attend to objects, it's a way of attending to the objects in such a way that you're really looking at the subject.

[03:41]

It's a way of attending to things such that you're actually turning your mind around and looking back at the mind itself, or you're turning the attention around and looking at the mind itself. So the insight meditation is to look at the object and to look at it and penetrate to its nature. So the tranquility looks inward and the insight looks outward. Tranquility really looks at the mind itself and looking at the mind itself or looking at cognition itself stabilizes the psychophysical complex.

[04:44]

Looking outward at objects, looking at external objects is generally somewhat upsetting. But to be able to look at them in coordination with stabilization, with a mind that's stabilized and continue to be stabilized while looking. With that stabilization there can be a penetrating insight into the nature of the object. That's why, that's how, that's one of the ways that stabilization aids insight. Because to look at things without stabilization If the mind's already agitated, it may just continue to be agitated, and in the agitation it's hard for the vision to penetrate into the object. But when the mind is stabilized, there can be a penetration into the nature of the object. And penetration into the nature of the object that's established and calm is liberating.

[05:55]

seeing the nature is liberating. The object of stabilization practice is an undifferentiated object. The object of insight is a differentiated object. Turning the light around, turning the attention around and shining it back on the mind itself, you're looking at an undifferentiated object. Cognition itself is undifferentiated. Insight is looking at all the different objects, one by one, and their different aspects and their conditions. which is the nature of all objects, is that they have conditions.

[06:59]

So there's a differentiation. Stabilization is narrowing. Insight is broadening and penetrating. Stabilization is narrowing and calming. Insight is widening horizons and penetrating the world. And I think I mentioned this before, but there is in the history of, you know, human gropings for spiritual liberation, two approaches that are very prominent. One approach is, I don't know if I mentioned the historical, I mean, the geographical association before, but one approach is the Abalonian, Assyrian, Iranian area where the divine, that which saves us from suffering, is up on the hill.

[08:11]

It's transcendent. That salvation transcends the world. That goes with a type of meditation which withdraws from the world. and looks away from the world to find salvation. So in that sense, if you practice stabilization alone, it's like that type of religion, where you think that freedom will come from turning away from the world, perhaps looking into the nature of mind to find freedom. And I think that approach has had some success. The other approach is actually more like the Egyptian kind of religion, where the divine is in things, like it's in beetles, it's in water, it's in everything.

[09:14]

The divine with salvation, enlightenment and salvation are found in the world, which means in the object. So if you would practice that side by itself, that would be like just trying to practice insight by itself. So you don't withdraw from the world. You try to penetrate into the nature of the world. And when you find the penetrating nature, penetrate to the nature of a thing, you find its salvage potential. You find liberation from suffering by seeing into things, anything. And Buddhism in a way, Buddhist meditation anyway, is kind of a combination of the two. They both have some merit, and really they're not two. And one of the advantages of combining the two is that although it may be true that the saving that all things have within them, the keys,

[10:27]

to salvation, the keys to freedom from suffering. If you are currently caught up in things, you're basically not able to see into them. So Buddhist meditation often says, let's take a little break from being involved in the world, calm down, and then go back. So someone asked, Would it be good to attain some tranquility and then go into insight meditation? And yes, that's usually the way. But again, I hesitate to present it too much that way because I don't want you to get into like doing this, then do that too much. Because that's actually, to think in those terms is again, not to withdraw from that idea. and look inward. So if you think of practicing tranquility first and then stabilization second, that way of thinking is not tranquilizing.

[11:38]

So it's true that tranquility is very helpful to have with objects in order to see what they really are, how they really are. But if you think, first I'm going to do that, then I'm going to look, that actually hinders your stabilization. So somehow, although that's true, you sort of have to forget about it once you hear that. Because once you hear about it, that's a thing in the world that's an idea or some teaching you heard. And if you want to stabilize after you hear the teaching that stabilization is good, then the thing to do with that In some ways, the purest way to relate to that is to not grasp that teaching. By the way, if that window being open gets to be too cold for you, you're welcome to close it. So that's why I like the instruction of whatever comes, meet it with complete relaxation.

[12:43]

Because even the instruction to meet whatever comes with complete relaxation, you should apply that to that instruction. Now, another thing which is very kind of like, I haven't said it quite this way before, but tonight I'd like to say it that way, is that Tranquility meditation sometimes is taught by suggesting to people, which I've done to you, to experience, for example, the breath. Experience the breath, for example, through the tactile sense. You can also experience the breath through sound, but that's usually not recommended. It's usually recommended that you breathe gently enough and quietly enough so you can't really hear it. If you were like outside in the cold and you could see the breath, that probably would be okay. But anyway, the tactile sensation of breath is the way it feels as it moves through your body and your abdomen and diaphragm and chest and nose and so on.

[13:57]

The actual tactile sensation is a good way to turn into it. So sometimes tranquility meditation is taught as to focus the attention on the breath, but It's not actually the breath as an external object that will tranquilize you. We're actually using attention to the breath as a way to attend to the mind because looking at external objects does not tranquilize the mind unless you could see them as they actually were. If you actually see the way objects are, that would immediately tranquilize your mind. But until you can see the way they are when you look at objects, they upset you to some extent. So tranquility meditation is actually to look at the mind. It's to look inward. But we often offer the breath or the tactile sensation of the breath. But then after we offer it, we say to pay attention to the breath in such a way that, for example, you don't elaborate on it.

[15:05]

You don't judge it. You don't select it. You don't wish it were different. By giving these instructions about how to attend to the breath, we're actually teaching ourselves to attend to the mind, to a certain kind of mind that's looking at the breath. So really you're looking at, you're training the mind through the breath, you're training the attention through the breath, through the opportunity of the breath, to look at the mind. But I found that teaching people to directly look at the breath I mean, to directly look at the mind, most people can't do that, just for starters. So picking the breath to look at and then training the way of attending to the breath, actually the meditator is actually training the attention onto the way the mind looks at the breath. And the way the mind knows the breath is that it does not conceptually elaborate on what it knows.

[16:07]

So if you train your attention to look at the breath without conceptual elaboration, you're really training your attention to look at the mind which doesn't elaborate. And it's looking at that mind that tranquilizes you, that stabilizes you, that makes you relaxed and buoyant. And another way to say this would be train the attention onto the breath with complete relaxation. No matter what kind of breath you're looking at, relax with it. that relaxation is the stabilization. What's relaxing is the mind. Or another way to say it is, attend to the breath without grasping it. And this kind of instruction combines insight and tranquility because the relaxation is tranquility, tranquilizes, but we're looking at the object still. So with the complete relaxation,

[17:09]

there can be penetration into the object. I also talked about the cleaning the temple and then entering into meditation. Really, that way of talking really means cleaning the temple is the stabilization side of meditation. Cleaning the temple means clean the object. It means that whatever you look at, clean it or let it be clean. And if you look at something or hear something or think something and you meet that thought, you meet that experience with complete relaxation, it's cleaned. So Lucy asked, later after class, she asked something like, what's the difference between commenting and simply knowing or remembering?

[18:25]

Commenting and remembering are very closely related. Our memory functions and our commenting or interpretive functions are are very closely related. The interpreting function, the commenting function of our mind is actually really almost inseparable from memory. They're a little bit different faculties, but basically the commenter is often commenting on how this should be remembered. And they're very close. So when you see a face, look at somebody's face, And she said, what's the difference between commenting or remembering and just knowing? Just knowing is what the stabilization is trying to train the attention onto. We're trying to train the attention onto the just knowing of the face. Without the commenting, without the memory, and that might seem rather difficult, and it is, but that's actually what we're talking about, of looking at a face without thinking about what it looks like.

[19:37]

In other words, does it look like the last time I saw that face? In other words, I interpret this face as Lucy. That's an interpretation. And I do that because I think, oh, that's the same person that was Lucy last week. Now, it's more complicated with Zsa Zsa, but anyway. But there it is, you know. Okay, now Zsa Zsa is really Dorit, but you know, We're going to work that out somehow. My commenter is going to figure that out. And I'll call myself Eva. What? Right, there you go. That's freedom, right? Very nice of you to come to class tonight, President Bush. Sorry.

[20:38]

So this is quite a training, to train the attention to look at something without commenting. To look at somebody without remembering them, free of the memory associations with that face. There's a kind of depth there. It's like you look at somebody and die and then open your eyes again and see what they are. It's a kind of renunciation or a relinquishment of your commentarial function of your mind and relinquishing that commentarial, associative, elaborative, so on, all those faculties of mind to not, to just clean them away from the object and meet the object without them, stabilizes the mind.

[21:42]

And then you asked, you know, I think, when is an opinion okay? When is an opinion okay? When is commenting okay? When is judging okay? When is remembering okay? When is interpreting okay? And those functions are going on all the time. Your brain is doing that stuff all the time. When is it okay? Basically, it's okay when you're enlightened. Prior to that, it's very problematical, all of those things. I think judgment, opinions, memory, interpretation, these are all tools, wonderful tools. which we have available to us, the potentials of our body-mind opportunity, which can be very useful. But it's kind of like pitchforks are useful, computers are useful, soap is useful, water is useful, knives are useful.

[22:58]

But to take him with you into bed is not necessarily a good idea. You know, to put him in your bed and then get in bed with him and put your covers over yourself and go to sleep, like rest with him, right? Well, you can do it, but it's really, you know, it's easier just to not get him out of your bed. Or to bring him with you and set him on top of you while you're sitting in meditation, you know. It really encumbers you. And it's dangerous, actually. to have water and soap in the bed, not to mention pitchforks and knives. But if you know how to use them, they can help people. Knives can be used to cure wounds and diseases. Pitchforks can help us grow food. Computers are very interesting and helpful in a lot of ways. and so on, all these things can be useful. But if you're basically upset and confused, then if you use these things, you can just create more problems.

[24:07]

And some of these associations, some of these judgments are useful tools, and some of them are useful primarily because they are a basic disease of our life. So some of these associations and concepts that we have are really the source of all of our problems. And other ones are tools which, once we solve our problems, we can use properly. So some concepts are just pure, are basically just tools, like the concept tool is basically just a tool. It's not in itself a harmful thing. But some concepts are basically misleading and they are the source of our problems. For example, the concept that the subject and the object are really separate in being, not just different, but two different beings, which means then that me and you are two different beings, that you're out there on your own, separate from me.

[25:16]

when not seen through and not used properly. And the main way to use that is to use it as your ultimate meditation object to be penetrated and seen that it's an illusion. Once that object has been seen through and seen through in a state of tranquility, then you can use all these concepts skillfully. Then all these concepts which before, if you grasp them, or even now if you grasp them, disturb your mind and create some level of suffering and harm, now they will not be grasped anymore. They will be used without grasping them. They will be used in this very skillful, artful way without grasping them. You just work with them without owning them or rejecting them.

[26:20]

So then the tranquility and the insight are perfectly balanced. You're free from basic misconceptions and then you can use all the kinds of conceptions, all the kind of judgments, all the kind of opinions, all the kind of preferences and selectings. You can use all the things of your mind to help people. Until that time it's like do it as little as possible without rejecting them because rejecting them is also using in a negative way. So using them in a positive or negative way, do it as little as possible, and doing it as little as possible means that when they arise, you meet them with complete relaxation. Using them as little as possible means that whenever anything comes, you relax with it. So I'm saying as much as possible, as much as possible, circumstances, whatever comes, meet it with complete relaxation, meet it with non-grasping.

[27:25]

This will be an opportunity to relax with what's going on, to calm down, to be flexible, and to enter into the relationship which is insight. To enter into the intimacy with the thing free of all the disturbance of grasping, and in that actual relationship, the thing will be revealed. And once it's revealed, then you can use it and all other objects. So, again, this may seem really hard, like you would look at somebody and not think what they look like. And so, like, when you first see somebody, you may remember, oh, yeah, that's Carlos. Okay, you kind of flopped on that one by just thinking that's Carlos, you know. But kind of like to look at it... and barely remember that it's Carlos. Like, sometimes, once you find out that it is Carlos, or once you find that it is, you know, this is my wife, then maybe the next moment, anyway, say, well, now that I've identified who it is, now I can relax.

[28:37]

Now I can forget that it's Carlos. Now that I... Because when you first meet somebody, you kind of feel like there's part of you that says, you know, it's not safe to meet people before identifying them. So as soon as you see something like a person coming, you know, as soon as possible. When they're really far away, you kind of identify them as a person. So first of all, you've got to identify them as a person rather than a bear. Then when they get closer, you say, well, I think as they get closer, then I'm going to figure out which one it is. And once you come up with a pretty good theory about who it is, then... then forget it. If you can't relax, you know, looking at the landscape and let, you know, not sort of say, okay, people and bears and trees, if you can't do that, in other words, your brain is doing that very fast before you have a chance. But then once it's kind of set up, that it's got it set up, okay, there's people in this room, there's no bears, and I know all their names, okay, now, forget it. Now relax.

[29:38]

Now not keep, you know, some people, I'm not in on it, You know, in some sense this is funny, and in some sense I really feel compassion about this, but some people are constantly reiterating the names of the people they're talking to. This is called mental illness. It's Lucy, it's Lucy, I know it's Lucy, [...] it's Lucy. I'm going to be okay, it's Lucy, it's Lucy, it's Lucy, you know. And they're doing that, they've got reasons for doing that. There's reasons for it. But anyway, it's very unhappy to have to keep doing that over and over. And it's very nice to forget it, to relax and to meet somebody and forget who it is, to let it go, to stop interpreting them as Carlos and Dean and Lucy and Terry and Donald, to give it up, to actually look at them and forget who they are and not compare them to who they used to be or who they will be, to actually just relinquish, let go of,

[30:40]

the past and future of this person. Just relax with your power to remember who they used to be, and your power to interpret who they used to be, and your power to imagine who they will be. Just let it go. These functions are still there. Every moment offered to you, the meditation is to develop what we call a mind like a wall. And this mind like a wall calms down with everything. It's a mind. And to develop a mind like a wall, to train your attention to find a mind like a wall means that you're turning your attention away from the object and trying to keep it under control. You're turning your attention back to the mind which knows the object. You're turning from an outer object, which you're all concerned about and afraid of and trying to keep in control by judging it all the time and selecting and interpreting it.

[31:45]

You're constantly interpreting. It's safe. It's safe. It might be safe. It's getting more dangerous. This constant interpretation is for safety. So it's like let go of that safety stuff and turn around in a safe situation, like this class, and look back at the mind itself. Then you calm down. Then, in that calm, this object which you didn't push away because the mind that knows it doesn't push it away. The mind that knows it doesn't hold on to it. So you've just trained your attention onto not pushing the object away and not holding on to it. So now you've calmed down. The object is still there. The objects are still coming. But you've trained your mind into not worrying about the objects, not to keep thinking about, what does that object look like? What does that face look like? Does that look like a happy face? Does that look like a face that likes me? Does that look like a face that hates me? Does that look like a face that's going to give me money?

[32:46]

Does that look like... To turn away from messing with the object. In other words, to clean the object. Train the attention to clean the object means that you're turning away from the object. You're withdrawing from the object and looking at the subject. You're looking at the subject. The subject does not mess with the object, but the subject has all kinds of equipment, and that equipment can get associated with the object and clutter the object, and then the subject gets upset, or the whole subject-object situation gets internal. Turning the attention around from the object, from messing with the object, to the subject, which doesn't mess with the object, is the same as look at the object without messing with the object. Not messing with the object, just looking at the subject. This calms you. But the objects are still coming. And in that calm space, when the objects come, you get to see, oh, I see who it is.

[33:49]

You know, it's a wonderful thing to see what it is. It will liberate you from suffering when you see. There's a Zen poem here. Where is it? Oh. The truth you search for cannot be grasped. Renounce all grasping and immediately it appears. The truth which you seek for cannot be grasped. Renounce all grasping and it immediately appears. As the night advances, A bright moon illuminates the whole ocean. The dragon's jewels are found in each wave.

[34:55]

Looking for the moon, looking for the moon, here it is. In this wave, in this wave, So every person you meet, meet them in the dark, which means meet them without grasping an interpretation of them. Meet them in the dark. Like, I'm in the dark about who this is I'm talking to. And meeting each person in the dark Like, I just saw this woman, and very quickly I said, Susan. But then I forgot about Susan, and then I saw her. So the light comes on very fast. Lucy, Mary, Pat. Okay? Then go into the dark.

[36:00]

Relax. Kate, relax. Kate, relax. Kate, relax. Kate, better. Kate, yeah. Who? Closer. And then suddenly I see who Kate is. The dragon's jewel is there. Lucy had some other questions. She says, you know, again, do you recommend people attain some level of tranquility first and then move towards insight meditation?

[37:05]

And so actually what I recommend is not exactly do it first. I recommend possible doing it at the same time. And I think this instruction of meeting whatever comes with complete relaxation is doing it at the same time. And then she said, or do you move towards whatever practice is appropriate for the moment? It's not exactly, it's sort of like that. If you do the meditation, if you do the tranquility first and then do the insight meditation, it kind of splits them apart. But moving towards the practice which is appropriate in the moment, really the appropriate practice in the moment is the one where they're both there. So yes, move towards the practice which is appropriate at the moment, but actually don't move towards it. Don't try to grasp the practice that's appropriate for the moment, and you'll find the practice appropriate for the moment.

[38:08]

Then she says, for example, if you're feeling especially agitated, maybe tranquility meditation is best for that time. So if agitation comes, and again, sometimes people would say, if agitation comes, then try to practice tranquility meditation. But if you actually, if agitation comes, and you meet that agitation with complete relaxation, by meeting the agitation with relaxation, not meeting the agitation to try to get rid of the agitation, and not meeting the agitation to sort of just, you know, exactly, kind of like, not necessarily indulge in the agitation, but in some sense, surrender to the agitation. I mean, surrender, but not surrender like, I mean, really surrender, rather than, oh, darn, okay, I'll be agitated. No, really relax with it. Then there's an opportunity to meet the, to not just, to meet it,

[39:19]

And to relax with it, but not just to relax with it, but meet it. So in the relaxation with the agitation, there also is penetration into the agitation and realizing that agitation is not agitation. And she says, can you shift from tranquility insight in one sitting? Yes. You can shift back and forth. But again, and oftentimes it's taught that way. And sometimes I say that to people, to shift back and forth. If they're, you know, if they want to look at what's going on and try to practice insight and they're not calm, it's not really going to be insight anyway. So it's not exactly that you shouldn't practice insight because you're not calm. But it wouldn't be insight anyway. And if you are calm, it would be insight. So in some sense I say, well, can we calm down now?

[40:21]

Let's relax. Let's settle down. But it's not exactly like then there's insight, but right in that relaxation there's insight, and also right in insight there's relaxation. They're really not two. Just like The withdrawing from the world, going inward from the world to find liberation from suffering in the nature of mind is not really different from that in all things is the liberating truth. Because when you turn around and look at the mind, you find the liberating truth in the mind. The liberating truth is in the mind. The dharma is in the mind, too. It's just that if you're looking out at things and your mind's agitated around the things you're looking at, you can't see it in the other things.

[41:27]

But if you look at the mind, you calm down and see it in the mind. But when you see it in the mind, the mind's an object. But the mind is a tranquilizing object. the non-elaborative cognitions, when looked at, when they're the object of meditation, they're the unified, non-differentiated objects that are calming. And then this insight, this calm, can then be turned onto objects, all other objects, that are supposedly external, and they will be penetrated So the kind of instruction which says to pay attention to something without any conceptual elaboration, the lack of conceptual elaboration, cleaning the object, is both a stabilization instruction, but it's also an insight instruction.

[42:32]

But if you're trying to do that meditation practice, you're trying to follow that instruction, and you feel like you're really upset, then again, that feeling that you're upset is an interpretation of what you're feeling. Let go of it. Or relax with the sense of being upset. Relax with the failure to be able to not conceptually elaborate. So if you're conceptually elaborating, relax with that. Just, okay? You know, like, Like Nancy getting up in the night and trying to meditate, and probably what she was doing was conceptually, had a conceptual elaboration about what meditation was. So she relaxed with that and read a book. And when she was reading the book, maybe she wasn't conceptually elaborating. She never expected to be meditating while she was reading the book, but she probably was. So then she felt relaxed and went to sleep. So we have an idea that this is meditation. Well, that's a conceptual elaboration of whatever you're doing.

[43:36]

Also, this is not meditation as a conceptual elaboration of whatever is happening. To let go of both of those is entering into samadhi, is entering into stability. Which might take the form of, if you were alive and you were interpreting what you were doing as meditation, And if you let go of your interpretation of meditation and did something else, which you didn't even interpret, but just you read a book, but you didn't even say, I'm reading a book, you forgot about it, forgot you were reading a book. At first you sort of say, well, I'm going to read a book, but then you forgot that you were reading a book. So, in fact, you stopped interpreting what you were doing. you stopped elaborating on the activity of reading the book. And that actually is closer to meditation than when you were sitting there saying, okay, I'm meditating now, and I'm doing really well, or I'm not doing well.

[44:46]

But if you're up in the middle of the night saying, hey, I am meditating really well, but I'm upset. I guess I'm not meditating well. You think you're not meditating well, or this is not meditation, that's also not meditation. So thinking that you're meditating is not meditation, and thinking you're not meditation is not meditation, but forgetting and relaxing about the thoughts that you are or are not meditating, that's meditation. But it's hard. Like, you know, I was practicing here in this room here before, you know, I was like letting go of various things in the midst of all that noise, you know. And I was like, you know, there was this momentary flinching from that because I felt myself at the edge of a rapidly flowing river of sounds. But I managed to let go of my interpretation of what those sounds were. Nutcracker rehearsals, right?

[45:49]

Cute little kids. Two different things at once. Blah, blah, blah. All that stuff happening. And if you're making those interpretations of all the stuff that's going on, you're agitated. You're upset. And if you contemplate relaxing those interpretations of what's going on, those interpretations which create dissonance and disturbance, like plunging into this river and gets swept along. But then if in that river you just keep being present without interpreting the river or thinking about what's going to happen to you, you've just entered into the flow of events, which is exactly what the meditation is trying to open you up to. And in that flow of events, you're going to understand what these objects are. But it's a little scary at first. If you think about it, you'll flinch. But if you flinch and then relax again, then you're in the flow. And actually, just keep practicing. And then once you're in the flow, to not interpret the flow as the flow.

[46:51]

So first there's a flinching from the flow. Let go of the flinching and you fall in. And then there's a reinterpretation of the flow. I'm in the flow. This is like meditation, right? And you might feel like, wow, this is like, this is like the flow that I've been looking for. Okay? Well, relax with that great flow that you're in. And then again, and again and again, meet... meet this flow of events letting go of the interpretation that you're actually exactly in the flow that you've been looking for all along this truth of impermanence that you've been trying to actually directly experience you are now directly experiencing it but relax about that and then you experience it again relax with that relax with the interpretation of how successful you are you are successful And then interpreting is you're back out of the stream sitting on the bank again. And one more big thing I want to introduce to you.

[48:02]

Actually, before I do that, I have a couple of reasons to tell you for why. I introduced this type of meditation and some of the advantages of this way of presenting stabilization and insight is that one of the strong points, not exactly a strong point, but one of the points of strong emphasis in Zen, and it may be a strong point. It's not always a strong point. We don't want a hold to it. But anyway, it's something that is emphasized in Zen and is sometimes very useful, and that is to not get into stages And there are some situations when you can get into stages of some kind of practice and where people do that without clinging to the stages. Sometimes that can be the case. But there's a lot of other cases, and especially it seems like with Americans or modern-day people. But way back in the early days of Zen, too, it was already a problem there that when you set the practice up as stages, it introduces all kinds of problems because it basically introduces sort of the implication that we're at this stage and we're trying to go to that stage.

[49:20]

We're not Buddhists and we're trying to get to be Buddhists. This is basically wacko. So, you know, if you introduce these practices of first stabilization and then insight, and then even within stabilization they sometimes teach it as having nine stages, you know, people get into those stages and sometimes it's not worth the trouble of getting into the stages. So it isn't like we try to get rid of the stages because there are stages, but try to like not emphasize it too strongly because then they turn into this really tempting thing for people not to relax with. So the nine stages of relaxation are in some ways more difficult to relax with than just one stage of relaxation, namely just relax. And then if people try to practice that, you can see that they're going through these deeper and deeper stages of it, and you can articulate they do have an orderly succession, but have to be very careful, you know. And it's like, before I tell you about nine stages, you've got to be really relaxed.

[50:22]

If you're really relaxed, okay, now let's see now, okay, now. Are you ready? You're stage five. Five of how many? Well, I'm not going to tell you now. But if I say, you know, okay, you're ready for these, you know, to find out you're at stage five and you have some more work to do, and you're really relaxed about to respond and say, okay, now here's the next thing to do. But I've hesitated to get into the stages because I... You know, I don't think you're relaxed enough to hear about them. So, in other words, to hear about them without falling into them, without getting stuck in them, then they're a disservice to you. You've got enough problems. You've got enough stages in your life, right? You've got enough ranks and stuff like that that you're working with and struggling to not get caught up in. or that you are caught up in and you're living with the pain of that. This is about like giving up stages, and there's stages in giving up stages, right?

[51:24]

So I haven't... So this way of presenting it is somewhat avoiding that. And the other thing is to not set up... I try not to set up a distinction between the transcendent aspect of liberation and the immanent aspect. They both have some merit, you know, because there is stages, but there's also no stages, because it's all right here. And another thing which this type of, some of the Zen ways of teaching this tranquility insight, one of the things they try to do is to teach it without using any contrivance. So, in other words, without having a whole repertoire of techniques and contrivances by which you're going to become calm, to become calm without using anything, to become calm just by a slight gesture of the mind, just turn the mind a little bit, as little as possible contrivance.

[52:34]

Yes. Could you tell me again about the distinction between transcendent and immanent? Yes. Well, transcendent means that liberation, it will not be found in the world. Liberation will be found by, apart from the world. Got the world? The world is not the place for liberation. You can find liberation apart from the world in another realm. So you withdraw from the world, which is objects. So, and in fact, when people withdraw from the world, and in a lot of meditations they close their eyes and they withdraw from the senses and calm down. And there is a calming and there's a kind of, there is a temporary liberation when you withdraw from objects. You calm down and the affliction that we usually experience from objects can be temporarily eliminated. But then when people get up from the meditation and go look at the objects again,

[53:38]

their understanding of them has not necessarily changed, and the way they understand them is that they're out there separate, and when you think things are out there separate and you look at them, you feel relative degrees of anxiety and suffering. So those people who can actually successfully withdraw from objects and calm down, they tend to just do that as much as they can. And in India, some people who are quite good at that, And they're sitting there very happy in their withdrawn state. The society actually supported them to do that. And not only that, but when you first come out of those stages, sometimes you're temporarily... You continue to feel good and to be able to tell people with authority that it is possible to get relief. It is an actual relief. It is a true vacation from suffering. You actually are... During that time, you do not have any pain by withdrawing in this way and calming down.

[54:41]

The afflictions are abated. They're held off. And then it'll last for a while after that. So the society actually supported people to do that, but these people couldn't re-enter the society. But the Buddha could. because he understood the other side, namely that in everything is the truth which liberates you. So he could look at the world and interact with people and see the dharma, the truth of awakening and freedom from suffering in everything. But he also practiced this way of withdrawal for many years. So his teaching actually combined the two methods, that in everything is the liberating truth, that Immanent in all things is the truth that liberates beings. Together with, you have to withdraw from that which you don't understand yet in order to calm down. So if you don't understand the world, you might as well check out and take a break.

[55:46]

However, you don't necessarily understand the world by taking a break from it. So the Buddhist thing is, don't just take a temporary break. Take a break for a while, and then when you feel relatively calm, or based on that calm, based on that calm, then look at the world again. And then if you understand, then you will continue to be calm, but also you'll be able to interact in the world, and also interact with the objects of your mind, and continue to be calm and free of suffering without withdrawing from the object. So working with the two together is a real innovation of the Buddhist practice. And I'm not saying that there's no other schools of meditation that have both of them together, but anyway, Buddhism does. And in some ways, the Zen tradition tried different ways of presenting it such that you can hardly see it anymore.

[56:55]

as articulated as those two gestures. The two versions of... the two somewhat dualistic versions of where liberation from suffering is found. That's another, in a sense, another kind of middle way of the Buddhism. And then the big thing which I bring up is this. I think I said maybe at the beginning of the class, I don't remember, that the purpose of Zen is to purify love. Did I say that? I did? Oh, good. To purify love and compassion, that's the purpose of Zen. So the foundation of Zen is compassion. The foundation of Buddhism is compassion, I would say. Compassion is not totally divorced of wisdom. You can never have compassion without some wisdom.

[58:00]

To care for other beings, or even to care for yourself, is somewhat wise. But it's possible to be somewhat wise and have a lot of compassion, but not be completely wise. And if you're not completely wise, your compassion is somewhat defiled by your lack of wisdom. And so Zen or Buddhism is to, for those of us who have some compassion, is to purify that compassion by wisdom. And the main fault of compassion, well, the core fault of compassion is attachment. Not all compassion does have that fault. But the most difficult to remove fault of compassion is attachment.

[59:02]

There's also the fault of compassion, which is to get depressed. Sometimes people, when they start caring about other beings and about themselves, when you start to feel compassion, sometimes you can get depressed about it, because you're recognizing suffering. And you're wishing that you, yourself, or other beings would be liberated, and you can slip into being depressed about it. But that's not so difficult to get over as some attachment, some attachment. And the attachment comes from thinking that these other beings who you care so much about are not you. So as long as we think that other beings are not us, or in other words that there are other beings, as long as we think there are other beings, Even though we love them dearly, if we think they're other, our compassion is somewhat defiled. So the most subtle problem of compassion is to think that there's other beings.

[60:11]

So, of course, compassion is that you see other beings and want to help them. But the ultimate compassion is you want to help beings who aren't other. But you start, usually, by wanting to help other beings. You start by wanting to help yourself and help others. That's how you start. And then when you have great compassion, but still somewhat defiled, in other words, when you want to help all beings which you think are other, Then the next step in the practice is to practice renunciation. The first stage is compassion, which at the beginning, again, we're now in stages, right? But anyway, at the beginning, it's somewhat defiled by this sense of that there's others. The next phase of the practice, or the next, instead of phase, maybe you could say another dimension that we need in the practice,

[61:16]

is renunciation and renunciation or relinquishment. And that means to relinquish what? Huh? Relinquish attachment. And how does that take place in meditation? What? Yeah. Relinquish mental elaboration. Relinquish conceptual... By the way, relinquish conceptual elaboration. Relinquish interpretation. Relinquish past and future. Relinquish remembering who this is you're looking at. You can do it. You know, I was looking at Lucy and I remembered and then I forgot. And I remembered and I forgot. And if I just keep looking at it long enough, I'll mostly forget. And then where will I be? I'll be in this flow of loosies. But they won't be loosies anymore. If you look at somebody's face, watch it, it just changes.

[62:17]

You lose control of their face, which is kind of scary. You relinquish control. You relinquish control of what you're experiencing, and you enter into your experience, which you never were in control of, but you thought you were, so you tried to keep it up. And you're miserable when you're in control, but at least you're in control. great compassion wanting to help all beings next step is relinquish control of this helping process relinquish control of your experience enter into the experience without controlling relinquish interpret and the way we control our experiences interpret judge interpret judge remember plan calculate select choose this is how we deal with our experience try to control it And no matter what's happening to you, no matter how bad it gets, you know you can judge it.

[63:20]

You know, okay, you can hit me, but I can judge you. Go ahead, slap me. You're a jerk. No, stop my mouth. You're a jerk. You can't stop me from judging you. I can always defend myself by judging, selecting, wishing something else was happening, thinking of the future, thinking of the past, or thinking of sex. I can always get some control here. This is called relinquished control. Enter the river of experience. Relinquished control, relinquished control, relinquished interpreting, relinquished elaborating. And these are the things, these kinds of things are the things which, not them themselves, but these are the things which, take it back, these are the things which which are opportunities for us to attach. And when we attach, that attachment hinders us from entering into the experience where our compassion will be purified.

[64:24]

When we relinquish this stuff, we enter into the experience with other beings, and in that experience with other beings, in that uncontrolling mutuality with all beings, our compassion becomes purified. And simultaneously, the purification of our compassion means the purification of our wisdom. And we realize in this way of being with beings where we've relinquished our control of our meetings, we meet beings with complete relaxation and we control what happens when we meet. We relinquish control of what's happening when we meet. We relinquish control. We enter into the experience. We relinquish control of the experience. We relinquish judging it. We relinquish the past and future of it. In that space, we understand that... the being we're looking at is not other. And when we realize that the being we're looking at is not other, our compassion is purified and beings are saved.

[65:36]

So we must understand that there's no other beings in order to save beings. And if we enter into our relationship with beings with complete relaxation, this will happen, and then our compassion is purified. Yes? Yes. Yes, it does. Both. Not which. Both. But if you had to choose between, if you're only going to let go of one of them, then I would suggest you let go of that's impossible. which will allow you then to, like, let go of the prejudices. So this is exactly an unprejudiced heart. That's exactly what I'm talking about here.

[66:40]

Training your attention to find this unprejudiced heart. And again, the fundamental prejudice that we have in relationship to beings is they're other. You know, like, some people have this prejudice that George Bush is other, and they're having a real hard time with that. I'm not going to be devoted to George Bush. I'm not going to be of service to George Bush. I'm not going to. Relax, please. I know it's hard. It's virtually impossible. But that's what we're talking about. And sometimes this is called an impossible dream. Like in the Don Quixote, you know? There's one Zen teacher who He moved to New York and he went to Broadway and he saw that movie, to dream the impossible dream. He said, oh, that's it. This impossible dream that you could wholeheartedly be of service and work for the welfare of George Bush.

[67:47]

Isn't that, that's a dream and it's an impossible dream. That's the dream of Bodhisattva, that you would spend your whole life working for his happiness. But fortunately, what that looks like is extremely creative. So you don't have to be of service to anybody according to your idea of what that service might be. But you have to really, in your heart, really like want their welfare and understand that the welfare of everybody is really where it's at, with no exceptions. And that's really hard. But that's why we have to train our mind to relax. When you're relaxed enough, you can say, okay, okay, them too. Yeah, okay, okay, yeah, I can see that they have to be included. We can't really have a world of peace and have this person left out, even though they deserve to be left out.

[68:49]

If you get relaxed enough, you get relaxed, and you realize that, really, there isn't anybody other anyway. There really isn't an other. And it's virtually impossible to realize this in the sense of, you know, that it just goes against our equipment. But even some people who are happy that things worked out the way they have, they have just as difficult a job to not see certain people as other. Everybody's got a heart. This is very challenging. But that's exactly, precisely, almost completely the point is that we're talking about is an extremely challenging meditation program, and the only way to meet it is with, I would say, transcendent skill, but also immanent skill.

[70:00]

We have within us the ability to learn to be a Buddha, and it is a super transcendent skill but we also have it so somehow this is like aspiring to the highest the highest and the question is why settle for less anyway that's kind of like the point is that this is like the highest that you would love everybody and be devoted to everybody with no exception and you would train yourself to get over whatever would hinder you from being totally devoted to anybody. And this is a training exactly to dissolve those hindrances, those obstructions to you being of complete devotion to any beings, to all beings. So I think most of us can sense the obstruction, in California anyway, since most people didn't vote for Bush.

[71:06]

And probably most of them that didn't vote for Bush wouldn't have voted for Bush. So probably most people in California are having some adjustment problems. So this is a good example of the Bodhisattva practice. to find the Buddha mind which wants to be devoted to George Bush and how about Dick Cheney you know so yeah you can there's tremendous challenges there right I like actually I like George's mother I wouldn't have trouble being devoted to her. She seems like she was pretty devoted, so why not pay her back? But her boys... So we bodhisattvas are well set up with challenges.

[72:09]

We're not going to be able to kid ourselves that we've accomplished Buddhahood so easily, because we can see there's a few people out there that we're not totally devoted to yet. So we got to, like, really work at relaxing. Get a lot of massages. The whole state of California going to deep samadhi. The whole state just starts relaxing. You know, you can hardly even drive buses in there anymore. They say melt when they get to the border. The border guards are kind of like saying, oh, yeah, come on in. That's all right. We're tranquilized out here. Because we're trying to get ready for the big one. We're, like, going to join the country here. We're going to, like, be united with the rest of them. Because, you know, we're relaxing more and more here. And we're not even using drugs. We're doing it with, you know, tranquility and insight. Mostly tranquility right now.

[73:12]

We still think that George's other... We still think he's other, but we're, like, trying to relax with that so we can actually see that he's not really other. He's really our brother, you know? Okay. But not yet. We haven't gone deep enough. We're still up there on the surface where he looks awfully other. Awfully, like, not me. Not my group. Okay. So you get the picture? Oh, I'm getting more relaxed all the time. If you laugh enough, you know, you will let go. And see. And then right after you do that, then there'll be another challenge. I don't know what it'll be, but... So you always can grow more and more and get more and more skillful with more and more challenge.

[74:14]

And I want to thank you very much for your devotion to this study and wish you well on your practice of meeting whatever comes, whatever comes, with complete relaxation and realizing pure compassion for all beings. Okay? Happy New Year. I'm, this is two-thirds of our original class, no, no, three-fourths of our original class, which I'm happy that we got three-fourths. I'm sorry the other people didn't hear it, but if you can see them around town, give them the word, would you? That's right.

[75:09]

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