This may seem a little glib, but in response to Lynn's question about what might right action be in the present situation, this class is about four methods of guidance in whatever present situation a bodhisattva finds herself. And also, the name of the phasco, I think, is Bodhisattva for, and then it has this character which means to unite or embrace. These are four methods to try to unite the world or harmonize and integrate the world of all beings.

[01:04]

So these four methods are about that, so we can talk about that. But I also just say right away that Not everybody in America is necessarily in a place where they actually want to practice these four methods. Not everybody in America wants to practice uniting all peoples. And so those who wish to practice methods of unifying beings may have a different view from those who do not yet wish to practice that way. However, even if some people are not yet ready to practice these four methods of integrating beings, those who wish to practice them still would eventually have the possibility that those who do not yet wish to practice them would someday wish to practice them.

[02:25]

Sometimes these could be called the poor methods of conversion. And if beings are afraid, are frightened of the world, then it's hard for them to be open to the possibility of unifying with the things that they're afraid of. Does that make sense? So the first method for converting beings from fear and not wanting to unite with some people is giving. And the practice of giving, and again, these four methods are methods to heal the separation or the wound between beings and within beings.

[03:43]

So it's both intra-psychic and interpersonal unification. So I'm afraid of, you know, things that are going on in me and what I am, And if I'm afraid of you, the practice of giving, for number one, is to heal the wound in myself and heal the wound that I imagine between you and me and heal the fear. And I'll try not to go... We spent two weeks on fear, I mean on giving. I'll try not to get too much into it. Just a summary for giving. Maybe you need some somewhat new things to say about giving, is that giving is very directly and primarily concerned with healing the separation between giver and receiver.

[04:50]

When we first start practicing giving, we may feel separate from those we give to, or when we first receive things, practice receiving things from people. we may feel separate from the person who is giving to us. But by developing this practice of giving, it is primarily concerned with getting over the belief of separation between giver and receiver. So we meditated on how when you receive, you're actually giving a gift. And Buddhist monks go around and beg as an act of generosity. They go and ask people to help them as an act of giving, as an act of cutting through division and creating unity, realizing unity, not creating it. But another way to talk about giving is that giving is, in a way, it is to...

[05:57]

train our attention into absorption, absorption in the commitment and activity of bodhisattvas. Practicing giving is an absorption in the commitment of bodhisattvas. When the bodhisattva path is presented in one of the most important scriptures of the bodhisattva path, the Avatamsaka Sutra, in the ten stages of bodhisattva, the first stage is called the stage of extreme joy. And the main practice there is the practice of giving. But the way that giving is described is not just in terms of giving things and receiving things, but also giving is described in terms of thinking a certain way.

[07:04]

Thinking about what bodhisattvas are committed to and thinking about the way bodhisattvas act promotes giving, is giving, and it creates this meditation on the activity of bodhisattvas creates a state of extreme joy. And from this joy, the sutra says, fearlessness arises. The fearlessness is wiped away in the midst of the joy in the absorption of the activity and commitment of a bodhisattva. So giving involves thinking in a certain way such that a great joy arises that eliminates fear.

[08:09]

Then, when we have this joy and fearlessness, then we can be nonviolent in any situation. So fearlessness and joy go together with giving and thinking about how wonderful it is to be a bodhisattva and what they're committed to. They're committed to the welfare of all beings, but they're also committed to healing the wound of separation between all beings. And thinking about someone who lives that way Thinking about it over and over to be absorbed in this way of thinking gives rise to this joy which freezes from fear and therefore we are beyond violence. We can be non-violent actually. Not just wish to be, but can be. In the book, Being Upright, there's a story about this Jewish family that moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and experienced attack from the Ku Klux Klan.

[09:38]

And at first they fought back. At first they didn't practice giving in relationship to their attackers. But after a while they said, let's practice our religion. which is to love our neighbor which is to be generous with our neighbor because being excuse me I said love our neighbor love our enemy love our attackers by being generous with attackers they are converted and so they stopped fighting the attackers and started practicing generosity and with attackers and kind speech with the attackers and the attacker could not resist this love he was converted now even if we're not attacked right now we may feel somewhat attacked or feel some hostility from people within our own country who have different values from us

[10:48]

They will be converted from a position different from generosity by generosity. They will be converted from a position of not wanting to unite with all beings by actions which are intended to unite all beings. Givings first. So I need to be absorbed, I need to be absorbed, I need to be concentrated on the activities of bodhisattvas. I need to think about what bodhisattvas do. I need to think about their unlimited goodwill. I need to think about their unlimited goodwill until goodwill arises in me, in my heart. the seed of goodwill gives rise to a heart of kindness, and then with that heart of kindness, when I speak, my speech will be kind speech.

[12:02]

I will then be able to regard all beings with goodwill and all beings with a kind heart, and then my speech will follow that. So that's number two. that we practice kind speech, even towards someone whose activity in some sense we hate. We might hate the activity, but we need to have goodwill towards people who are doing things that we think are harmful, according to this teaching. We need to unite with those who do not wish to unite with us or who do not wish to unite with some other group and who are actually not, do not have, we need to unite with those who do not have goodwill towards all. There are people in this country who do not have goodwill towards all, it looks like, who think some people are evil and should be eliminated.

[13:17]

This is not the bodhisattva's attitude, but the bodhisattva attitude has the potential to convert and melt the heart which is closed to some beings. Giving's first, kind speech is second. Last night my wife came home and she said she had a pretty nice day. I probably shouldn't have told you that, but anyway, she did tell me that. And I asked her if I could say something that would be difficult. And she said, actually, I don't want to hear anything difficult. I had a pretty good day, but I just wanted to go to bed in peace. So she didn't ever hear it, but I'll tell you what I was going to tell her. Are you ready to hear something difficult? Huh? No? Thug your ears. Well, the difficult thing is that something about George Bush, you know, a warm feeling I had towards George Bush. I had a warm feeling towards his father one time, too.

[14:24]

One time I heard his father didn't like broccoli. And they had this big campaign to convert him to liking broccoli. You know, they had all these great chefs come and make all these special broccoli dishes. And he said, you know, like at some press conference, you know, the press people say, well, you know, why don't you love broccoli? You're hurting the broccoli growers or something. And he said something like, I'm 65 years old. I'm president of the United States. I have a right to not like broccoli. And I thought, yes, you do. You have human rights, too. You don't have to like broccoli, none of you. But you do need to unite with broccoli and be kind to broccoli. Anyway, so then his son went up to Canada, and Canada, you know, was really against this invasion of Iraq.

[15:38]

pretty much the whole country, I don't know anyway, really pretty solidly, vehemently against them. They would not send troops. And Canada, you know, is pretty close to us, right next door, and they would not do it. So George went up there, and he said, I know people disagree with me, but, you know, this is one of the strengths of democracy is we can work with that. And he said, I do appreciate that on the way from the airport, Some people on the way welcomed me warmly and waved to me with all five fingers. I thought, that's pretty good, George. I kind of felt that this came out of his, you know, he appreciated that. I thought, well, sure. I allow myself to feel appreciation and respect for all beings, including George Bush.

[16:50]

I think if I hate him, that supports any of the wrong directions he's going in, if there are any. I think practicing kind speech towards him And being generous with him is part of this practice. The next practice, I also just want to say, kind speech is not literally part of the Constitution of the United States. It doesn't say in there. But I just want to say something that Benjamin Franklin said, and he said, I will not speak ill of any man and will speak all good I know of everyone.

[17:52]

Let other people speak ill of people. The bodhisattvas... speak well of everyone. Let other people not appreciate people, living beings. Practice appreciation and respect for all life, even life forms which seem to be rolling back protections of beings. there's a chance that they'll be converted if we do but if we fight them unkindly we can fight them kindly we can disagree respectfully and appreciatively so then the next one is the next integrating activity called beneficial action of course the previous to our beneficial action too so what's the emphasis here well part of the emphasis here is just simply

[19:17]

to skillfully benefit all classes of sentient beings, to care about all classes of sentient beings in their short-term and far distant lives, and to help them by using skillful means, to help them by using giving, right speech, and all other skillful means. And it says, in ancient times, someone helped a caged tortoise and another took care of an injured sparrow. They did not expect a reward. You know, sometimes birds fly into the windows of my house and sometimes they just glance off and keep flying, but sometimes they fall down. and are, you know, stunned. And I have a couple of times gone out and just picked them up and held them in my hands just to keep them warm for a little while until I feel them start, you know, moving and coming back to life.

[20:35]

And then I open my hands and almost every time they've flown away. Now, sometimes there's people in the house when I do that, so then, of course, they think I'm really kind and skillful. So I get, you know, people think, wow. But anyway, sometimes there's nobody there, and the bird doesn't say thank you when it flies away that I can tell. But I'm not doing it to get the bird's, you know, gratitude. So we talked about that before, about giving with no expectation. And again, here we have this thing of you do it just to do it, with no expectation. You just do it because you do it for the sake of doing it. You protect beings for the sake of protecting beings. Period.

[21:36]

They are moved to do so only for the sake of beneficial action. And it says, foolish people think that if they help others first, their own benefit will be lost. But this is not so. So I remember quite a few years ago, I don't know how many, quite a few, I brought up in a talk at Green Gulch that the Bodhisattva's They first think of helping others. When they see somebody, they first think, how can I help the person, rather than they see somebody and say, how can this person help me, and then how can I help them? They concentrate on, how can I help this person? How can I be kind to this person? Not primarily, how is this person going to be kind to me, or are they going to be kind to me? What are they going to do for me, or aren't they going to do something?

[22:42]

First of all, what can I do for this person? What can I do for this person? What can I do for this person? What can I do for this person? Rather than the other one way, which is quite easy, what can this person do for me? Is this going to be fun for me? It turns out that Our own benefit will not be lost by thinking of others' benefit first. Anyway, I brought that up at a talk one time, and somebody came out and said, well, could we at least think of our own benefit, getting our own benefit at the same time, of helping ourselves at the same time? If we can't put ourselves first, do we have to put the other person first? Couldn't we do it at the same time? Sure, I said. Beneficial action is an act of oneness or beneficial action is one principle.

[23:43]

It is benefiting self and others together. we should benefit self and other alike. We should help those who are unfriendly towards us and those who are friendly towards us alike. Which doesn't mean exactly the same way, but with similar commitment. The bodhisattvas are not... they learn to not be more committed to the welfare of those who are our friends than to those who are not our friends. It's tough. We have to work on this, but that's what they're committed to. This is what will convert beings to these values of the bodhisattva, would convert beings to giving kind speech with beneficial action.

[24:58]

Now, I just want to tell you some good news and also just happens to be kind of an example of at least the first three of these four. Giving, kind speech, or you could say, yeah, giving and courageous nonviolence and courageous kind speech and courageous, beneficial action. So on NPR, I heard today that Daniel Zwerdling works for NPR. He told this story about the detainees at Guantanamo being attacked by dogs, that people are bringing dogs, you know, and they, like in the middle of the night, they bring these guys out of the cells and have these dogs, you know, not necessarily bite them, but jump at them.

[26:08]

These big dogs jump at them. And sometimes they actually have bitten them. It's part of their... that practice they were doing with these patients, I mean, these internees, these detainees. Detainees. They aren't even convicted yet. They're detainees. So Daniels Werdling brought this out in a skillful way, got it on NPR, and told the world about it. But he did it in a I think, in a courageous way, in a generous way, in a non-violent way. And then, I guess today, the Department of Homeland Security has sent out a, all of its people sent out a message, no more dogs on the detainees. Don't use these attack dogs on the detainees.

[27:13]

so there it is this is a big one and we can't always do things like that but he was able to like speak in such a way that he didn't somehow make the department of homeland security get defensive and strike back at him they did it just what they wanted they stopped they stopped this this cruelty which, as far as I know, doesn't do any good for anybody, including the dogs. So there's somebody who's putting this into practice on the radio, and the people who don't usually listen to the radio at that station heard about it and have now changed their policy. So isn't that good news? So this is an example, a real example of this. Now I'd like to sort of say that, I would say that the moral values of beneficial action are pretty much the same as the moral values

[28:33]

of... they're pretty much the same as moral values of nurturing families. They're not the same moral values, perhaps, as families which go according to the moral values of having a strict father. They're more the moral values of responsible and nurturing parents. They're the values of what we call progressive politics. The moral values of progressive politics are care and nurturing responsibility, fairness, equality, freedom, fearlessness or courage, fulfillment in life, opportunity, community, identity action or cooperation, trust, honesty and openness.

[29:52]

The current administration seems to be a number of those occasions not open because, again, the strict father model moral value is you don't have to tell the children what you're up to. They don't understand it anyway. And you don't have to be honest with them either because you know what's right and you're going to protect them in this dangerous world. I'm not saying the world's not dangerous. I'm just saying there's a nurturing response, there's a caring response, there's an empathic response to danger too, which is more in line with these four practices. And there are lots of Buddhists who hold these progressive values and lots of Christians But still there are some people who are afraid and they don't dare yet.

[31:00]

They think it's unrealistic to adopt these nurturing and empathic moral values. By fortunate coincidence, there is a think tank located down the street here, I guess, called Rockridge Institute. You know, Rockridge is this neighborhood, sort of. And I suppose Rockridge Institute is in Rockridge, neighborhood of Berkeley, Oakland. It's a think tank. which is basically trying to translate the family values of generosity, kind speech, beneficial action, cooperation, of nurturance and responsibility to beings, trying to translate that into political values or to try to get those

[32:09]

politicians, those political leaders who actually share these values to start expressing them and express them with passion and kindness to practice it while they preach it. To speak kindly of those who do not share these values so that those people will feel kindness from them. and see that people can be kind in this world and maybe awaken in their heart a feeling of kindness and nurturance. But for those who already share these values, they will speak for these people and these people will get more organized and unified and integrated with each other. So right here in this town, you have the opportunity to support a process of trying to find a way to convince the leaders of this country to express these values and translate them into political reality.

[33:30]

So you can contact the Rockridge Institute. And you can check out the moral values which that institute is espousing and see if they are in line with the bodhisattva values. I think they pretty much are. So this is one thing you can do to put these into action in a political way. but also do it with your own heart and do it in your own family. See if you can do these practices in your own family. And your own family means whoever you're with in this particular, because the bodhisattva, is in the same family as all beings.

[34:35]

So bodhisattvas have to think about being a bodhisattva. So part of our work is to keep thinking about what are your values and are you living them? What are my values and am I living them? What are my values and am I remembering to ask what my values are? And now that I asked, what are they again? Oh yeah, that's what they are. and to keep absorbed in these meditations on goodwill and generosity and loving speech. Excuse me, I kind of spit at you, Lee. I mean, some spittle came out, I'm sorry. Didn't make it all the way towards you. Did you see it? You didn't? Yeah. The people in the front row probably should wear What do you call those glasses? Safety. Safety glasses. If I get too passionate, I might start spraying spittle.

[35:40]

So that also forecasts the next one. which is the embracing activity or the unifying activity of cooperation or identity action. And someone wrote me a note that she really appreciates coming a little early to class and helping set out the mats and blankets together with the other classmates and also cleaning up at the end. to meditate on doing things together as an act of kindness. So maybe that's enough for starters. Yes? animal rights, and in particular, I have in mind right now, laboratory animals.

[36:52]

And I have heard that in San Francisco, at Duke University, are two of the medical training facilities where there's a lot of work to laboratory animals. But we're trying to figure out how to do I treat you as myself. Anything else you want to bring up? Anybody? The expression, foolish people, doesn't strike me as kind speech. I wonder how it was meant that way.

[37:57]

There's something else in the computer where it describes ordinary people who might or sound a little condescending. Or if someone I knew, she'd write a question about what was happening. Yeah, I can see how that would sound condescending and doesn't sound that sweet. So, what I might say is that even a great Zen master slips, so don't feel so bad if you slip. But this particular great Zen master, Dogen, was also very big on confession and repentance. And I don't think he would have been that big on it if it had nothing to do with his practice ever. When he wrote his own personal vow, you know, we have the great bodhisattva vows.

[39:01]

Beings are numberless. I vow to save them all. That kind of vow to delusions and afflictions are inexhaustible. I vow to find a way through them all, to be free of them. Dharma gates are boundless and that means everything that happens is a dharma gate. Dharma gates are boundless means there's no place, there's no place that isn't a dharma gate. There's no like boundary where, oh, right over here where Lee's sitting, there's not a Dharmagate there. Dharmagates aren't like that. They're boundless. They're all over the place. They're in every person you meet, and they're in every particle of every person you meet. Not only every person, but every aspect of every person you meet is a Dharmagate. And the Buddha way is unsurpassable. Oh, excuse me, and I vow to enter all those Dharma gates.

[40:05]

Any Dharma gate I meet, which means everything I meet, I will remember it's a Dharma gate and I will enter it. I will vow to enter every single thing that ever happens. And the Buddha way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. This is the great Bodhisattva vow. But then Dogen wrote his own personal vow. And his personal vow is very strongly emphasizing confession and repentance. So I think Dogen was a great practitioner who probably slipped quite a few times in print so we can see it. So if you write, you might slip too. And if you don't write, you might slip in your speech or your thought. You might occasionally think, I wish those gophers would go away. rather than all those sweet little gophers, rather, you know, rather than those nasty little gophers.

[41:08]

How are you doing with those? Those energetic little gophers. Well, part of what I'd recently thought of was, you know, I was thinking about a number of things like for example you know young two things that young's been saying that getting to be ladies that is our what our mind is really skillful at and highly developed in which he calls our kind of our superior function function or our what's the other word our discriminating function he sometimes says our strongly developed aspects of our mind We do have strong aspects, a lot of us. Most people I know do. So that's okay. They have certain power, but they're also kind of like domesticated. That's the kind of domesticated part of our mind or our body or our spirit. But we have other dimensions of our spirit which are kind of not very well developed, kind of inferior function. So you have superior and inferior.

[42:11]

Inferior is kind of the underdeveloped aspect of our mind and body or our heart. But the undeveloped aspect is the wild part of us, is the undomesticated part. It's really in some ways more vital than the domesticated. But the domesticated part sometimes feels threatened by the wild part, and the domesticated part sometimes tries to annihilate the wild part. So I've been thinking about, you know, I have this little domestic scene there, a little house with a, you know, like, nice little garden around it. That's my domestic situation. And then around my domestic situation are these wild hillsides of Green Gulch, you know. And if I go up into the wild areas and grovers are all over the place, I don't mind.

[43:14]

You know, if I'm crawling around in the underbrush and the poison oak, you know, and I said, Gopher makes a little mound, sticks his head up, I don't mind because I'm in the wild. You know, I'm out there. I'm like crazy man in the wild. So hi, Gopher. But when I get into my little domestic mode with my level ground around the house that you can walk on without tripping, Then they go over, makes a little mound, sticks his head up, and I kind of think, eliminate. So anyway, I clear up the mounds. But now, lately they have not been making new mounds. But walking on my lawn is kind of like walking on a trampoline. Because underneath the lawn are all these tunnels, you know. And there's just this little bit of sod underneath. hanging over these tunnels. So you're sort of bouncing on the sod on top of the tunnel, tunnel, the lower city, you know, gopher city.

[44:21]

So I'm also meditating on how, you know, the gophers are kind of like recycling and aerating the earth. But basically they're wild. They're not domesticated. And this, but they're undomesticated wild beings underneath my domestic little world. And my domestic tendencies want to eliminate them. But I also have heard about this and I realized that that would be killing life. Killing vitality, killing wildness is not good. And Jung also said, do not squander your difficulties, do not squander your problems. So how can I not squander the situation that the gophers are offering me? But my mind can pop up like, I wish they'd just go away.

[45:30]

Or, you know, I wish they'd just get old and die. Or, you know, that kind of attitude does arise in my domesticated mind. in my mind of domestic security. So you're saying don't squander the opportunity to work on those promos? Exactly. Because, I mean, Don't squander your non-problems either. Don't squander the joy of some situations, situations that you just think are totally fantastically wonderful, you know, that you just cannot see any problem in at all. Don't squander those either. But particularly don't squander your problems because that's where we grow. We grow through our problems. Our problems really are the key of our practice. So maybe even, maybe even the great Zen Master Dogen slipped a little bit.

[46:40]

When he's talking, he just was talking about kind speech and in the next, in the next section, he may be talking in a way that doesn't sound so much like kind speech. Maybe he could have said, those sweet, darling people who think that putting other people's welfare first, they'll lose their own benefits, are just wrong. I love them dearly, but they're mistaken. You won't lose your own benefit by thinking of others first. That's how you benefit yourself and others simultaneously. Like I told you before, you know, in that story about the acrobat, you know, The way to help others that helps you is to be patient and kind and sweet and non-violent with them.

[47:41]

That's the way of taking care of others that will benefit you. But first of all, you're taking care of them, and that turns out to be for your benefit. And maybe Dogen put that in there just so you could say that. 800 years later. And you could say, I still want to be a disciple of Dogen even more, actually, now that I find out he's got problems like me. The same vow. Yes? I was thinking about an occasion when I was pulling out of the parking lot, trying to walk to Mill Valley, And the lights are right there, and these cars were coming, piling in there. And then there was still space for me to get out, but then this guy just caught right in front and raced up in the car with me. My wife was in the car. And I kind of started joking, and I says, asshole.

[48:44]

And she turned to me, and she goes, well, you couldn't be an asshole without you, honey. But I was just thinking of this sort of confession of that, or the matter of fact, yeah, at times I'm foolish. I mean, there is a certain... basis for that you know that term so that you know we are ignorant rebel that you know so and but when I call somebody else something then it's it's really might I might not see it at the time but it is a confession that I have this viewpoint and they're not the problem at all Or they are a problem, but it's a wonderful opportunity. They're actually a bodhisattva coming to you as a problem to help you. Yeah, I think that all of these practices should be understood, that these bodhisattva practices

[50:02]

I would say should be understood, but anyway, my understanding is they are to be understood as how you're practicing together with people. It's not how you're practicing alone, it's how you're practicing in the company of all these beings who are doing these practices. Who are they? Well, the bodhisattvas, some of the bodhisattvas are really highly evolved. They're evolved, you know, almost to the level of being a Buddha, but they're still working in the world in a slightly different way than some of the Buddhas are working. So this is somewhat theoretical, but Buddhas have three bodies. three ways that they manifest.

[51:27]

One way they manifest is as, you know, like as a person. So Shakyamuni Buddha is an example of that. But Buddhas also are just actually the fully realized nature of all of us. So there's Buddhas like, there's gazillions of Buddhas inside your own body. teaching bodhisattvas and non-bodhisattva, you know, uneducated beings. In every cell of your body there's, you know, innumerable world systems which have, and each world system has a Buddha in it teaching. That's who the Buddhas are. And those Buddhas are beings who only exist because of the wish for all beings to develop the wisdom which they have.

[52:35]

And they see, these are beings which see fully that all beings possess the wisdom and virtues of the Buddha. They see that. And they manifest in whatever way will promote beings to realize that. And this is spiritual in the sense that I can't see the innumerable Buddhas in every particle of my body. and the therefore even greater innumerable Buddhas who fill my body and live between you and me and inhabit you. But the message from those who have opened to and had a sense of this is that we should have utmost respect for everything. Buddhas love all beings and they are nothing but the wisdom and compassion.

[53:50]

They understand beings and they care for them. And they can take the form of being a person and they can be a person in various sized universes in these universes, some of these universes can be nested inside of particles in other universes. This is part of what they're saying. But the message that's come from those who seem to be most fully realized in the form of those who have bodies and brains and are humans, that's the way those humans talk. But they're saying that this person who's given the sutra like Shakyamuni Buddha or whatever Buddha, period, people. This is just one way to get the word out to people who are in the form that we're in. Yeah.

[54:54]

Now the other form is the form of the joy. of realizing the relationship between the actual, you know, true way that Buddhas are, which is that they aren't in any particular form, this fundamental way which pervades the whole universe, which is the enlightening and enlightened aspect of all things. Living beings and non-living beings resonate back to each other and help each other all day long, every day, with no days off and no moments off. All inanimate things are constantly helping us, giving us life. And we, in return, resonate back this help to them. This resonance is Buddha.

[55:56]

That's the fundamental Buddha. That's what we call the Dharmakaya body, or the true body of Buddha, is the way we're all helping each other all the time. Never not. And how the helping is just bouncing all over the thing. The appreciation of this is called the bliss body. It's the awareness. of this and then it's also the awareness of the relationship between the way buddha can manifest as like a person or a kali or a flower sometimes flowers teach us about this sometimes flowers show us oh i get it The flower's helping me and I'm helping the flower. Or Bernard's helping that guy be an asshole and that guy's helping Bernard realize how he makes the guy an asshole.

[57:03]

They're helping each other all the time. We're always helping each other. The way we are helping each other right now, the way you're helping everybody and everybody's helping you right now, that way is what we mean by Buddha. the way it manifests the dharmic body. The way it manifests is called the transformation body. And again, it can manifest as a flower, as a dog, as a cat, as a mountain, as an ocean, as a song, as a storm, or as a person who speaks the language of the people in the neighborhood. And the appreciation of that of those two kinds of manifestation and how they're related, that's the kind of the awareness of the meditation practice of the Buddha, which we live in.

[58:04]

And these four methods are just four ways to talk about how to open to this, how to open this way we're all actually working together all the time, and how it also works out that some of us do not at all see that. But we're still working as closely with those who do not see it as with those who are seeing it. But the people who are seeing it, they're kind of like, they're in the same kind of like, they're enjoying it with you. The other people are not enjoying it. So in that sense... Although they're in it, they don't enjoy it. So the Buddha says, everybody has the wisdom and virtue, fully possesses. He said, fully possesses. In the Abhidhamma Sakyamuni Sutra, he said, all beings, without exception, fully possess, or, another translation, fully are the wisdom and virtue of the Buddhas. But they don't realize it. Therefore, we have to have this teaching program, this Buddha-making program,

[59:08]

But that's a kind of manifestation in response to beings. So Buddhas don't just stay in the position of this perfect resonance and harmony. They come out of it into a world where people don't see it and manifest in a way that people will be able to see it and speak to them and practice generosity and kind speech and so on. And then people get converted and enter the samadhi, this awareness of how this is working. Those are the three bodies of Buddha. And all those Buddhas and all the bodhisattvas who are like doing part of the grunt work for Buddhas, by definition, they have no other practice than us. We are their practice. But it's not just that we are, not just that I'm their practice and you're their practice, but also the way you're helping me and I'm helping you is their practice.

[60:14]

That's all they are. They're not something in addition to that. So the Buddhas are totally pervading me and you, but they're not something in addition to me and you. They're just a part of me and you that we don't usually notice. their how when we have cancer actually that's Buddha the way where the cancer is actually helping us so these people who want to fight the cancer cells got to be careful of that because you might be fighting some Buddhas in there more like how do you use cancer as a growth experience and a lot of people do is that So it was elementary, but it was also ultimate. Both elementary and ultimate. Does that announce you're kind of quiet tonight for some reason?

[61:29]

Do you want it just to be quiet a little longer? Fine. It seems like with this series of classes, and before, when you're talking, I keep thinking about this one person that's in my life that's really difficult. You keep thinking about one person in your life that's really difficult? Mm-hmm. Everything you say just applies to this relationship I have with this one person, and I dislike them so much. Yeah. Don't squander this opportunity. It's so hard, because I sit here and listen to you, and it's like, oh, this is about my relationship with Jesse. I'm supposed to be doing what he's saying with Jesse, and I... I can't. Every time I have an encounter with this person, I'm like, I'm going to be nice this time. He's not going to get up to me. He's not going to push my buttons. I'm going to try to practice, and every time I fail.

[62:29]

I would suggest, if I may, rather than say, I'm going to be nice, and I'm not going to let him push my buttons, I think it's better to say, I want to be nice. I want to be nice. And I want to be nice when my buttons get pushed. Because this person, by definition, is a button pusher. So I want to use the opportunity of having my buttons pushed. Because if I don't let this person push my buttons, who am I going to let push my buttons? Don't squander that button push thing. So it's more like I want to respond to my buttons being pushed in some really creative way. So the thing that attracted me with the Zen was not that these Zen practitioners didn't get their buttons pushed, but that when their buttons were pushed, they did something a little different from what we usually do. When your button gets pushed, instead of one like this, squeezing your hands together, how about opening them?

[63:40]

It's not such an amazing difference. I mean, it's an amazing difference, but we can close our hands and open our hands. We can do that. Usually we close to this response and open to the other one. How about doing something surprising? So I want to do something different next time. And we'll see what happens. I don't expect that I will. I'm not saying that I will, but I'd like to... I've done the other stuff enough, so next time my button gets pushed, I'd like to do something that would surprise one and all. And maybe I won't, but I'd like to. And then if I don't, I can practice confession and repentance.

[64:41]

Ooh, not bad. And if I do practice confession and repentance, I'm just like that nuts that's great Zen master, though, then. I want to avoid him. You want to... I have anything to do with him, and I avoid him, and then we encounter each other, and it's like... Yeah, so the feeling of wanting to avoid someone, that's a difficulty. Wanting to avoid somebody is not an ease. It's easy to want to, but it's painful to want to. It's a difficulty. It's a problem. Wanting to avoid people is a problem. Another thing on NPR is this guy who doesn't like golf, but he's thinking of joining the Kabul Golf Club in Afghanistan.

[65:44]

And they have landmines on the golf course. So he's thinking of joining that golf course. so anyway in some sense the world is like you know group of people that there's a lot of landmines out there you know gotta be very careful not to step on somebody's toes or get near somebody who might gobble you up who might somebody who might like just want a lot of your attention and a lot of your time and it's dangerous out there but even so if I realize all these dangers are great opportunities. And I can try to avoid them and go someplace where it's not so dangerous, but I'm just missing great opportunity. I don't want it right now.

[66:49]

It's a lot to learn anyway and it's really hard to start there. You don't have to start there. You can start with Ron. He's right next to you. You can start with Ron and Lee and Marlon. Okay? Start with them. When you see Lee, think Kindly thoughts. Find your feeling of goodwill when you see Lee. And then feel this warm, loving heart in your mind and then speak to him kindly. Think about bodhisattvas who can do what we can't do. Think about bodhisattvas who can do what we can't do. Think about bodhisattvas who are committed to what we can barely even commit to. Think about how wonderful it is that they take the leap. into loving all beings and think about it and think about it forget about the jesse for a while just think about that think about it until you feel so much joy you say where is that guy where is he you know until you're not afraid of him anymore until you're not afraid of being who you are with him then you can go right up to him with fearlessness and joy and the difficulties are still there

[68:22]

But you're not afraid of them anymore. And you can be non-violent with yourself. The way you feel when this thing happens. We are sometimes allergic to things. We're sometimes allergic to some people. It's just in our body that we're allergic. We're allergic to the way people are helping us. And the allergy doesn't necessarily go away right away. You can get more and more non-violent with your allergies. You can become less and less afraid of your allergies. You can have allergies and have joy at the same time so that you're not afraid of your allergies and you're not violent with your allergies. Eventually they might go away. But in the meantime you become non-violent joyful, courageous.

[69:26]

And you can do all kinds of good things with this highly reactive situation. But we don't have much chance to do that if we don't think about the possibility and try to remember it and develop the things that will support it, like thinking about how wonderful it is that some people can do that. that some people can go up to Jesse and say, is there anything I can do to help you? He might say, yeah, let me press your buttons. You say, OK, go ahead, press them. Was that helpful? Yeah, it was really helpful. Great. Some people can do that. And you can do some things maybe that those people can't do. But this particular setup is like, a little too advanced maybe right now. But think about those who can do it and how wonderful it would be if you could do that and then joy will come up and you become less and less afraid of him.

[70:35]

And then you'll be more and more ready. But sometimes things are too advanced for us and we should know that. If I go in that situation, I do not yet have the patience and I don't have enough joy to go into that situation. Like my wife saying, you know, she wasn't ready for me to tell her. She didn't even know what it was, but she wasn't ready for me to tell her a difficult thing last night. She was doing fine. That was enough. She got through the day, felt pretty encouraged to do another one. She'd like to get a little sleep before it happened. So just let me go to sleep now, you know, and maybe some other day you can tell me this thing. I asked my daughter, are you ready to hear something difficult? She said, yeah. It's about George Bush. It's kind of something difficult about George Bush. I told her, and she actually didn't freak out. She actually let me say this, kind of like, then we think. I don't know if it's possible to be a Republican and be fearless.

[71:57]

I don't know. But anyway, a lot of people are afraid. And I think if you're afraid, that makes you more conservative. And I think if we can empathize with frightened children, and we can empathize with frightened adults, then we can see that children are very conservative sometimes. They can't tolerate any change. They can't tolerate certain kind of closeness with some people. You know, they only want their mom because they're afraid. They're okay being close to their mom, but they don't want to be close to some other people. So being liberal goes more with being fearless. But being fearless goes quite nicely with being tolerant and loving to people who are afraid and conservative and controlling and think that they have to dominate the world in order to get through the day.

[73:12]

Like my grandson thinks he has to dominate me. You know? We're playing this game called Candyland. And it's a game. It has these cards, you know? And it's Candyland, all the different steps from the beginning to the end, which is Candyland Castle. All the different steps are different colors. So you draw these colors, color cards. So the children learn how colors this way. And there's like one colored block or two colored blocks, and you can move ahead one color step or two color steps. And then there's these picture cards. And the picture cards, you can leap way ahead to some place several neighborhoods ahead. And then sometimes you get colored cards which send you back. And they have a thing in there for younger players. When they get the one to send them back, they don't have to go back.

[74:13]

Because the younger ones, they get free cards. But he actually didn't know about this provisal for younger players. So he was happy to get these cards that sent him way ahead of me. So he had two decks. One deck was he had all the fixture cards, and I had just the regular color cards. So I'm drawing the color cards and moving like one square or two squares, and he's leaping way ahead of me. But then when he gets one of these cards to send him back, he says, but when I get one of these cards, I go back to that place, but then I just get to go back where I was before. so we're playing this game you know and he's like buzzing all over the board he's going way ahead and he's going way back and then where he was before and going up but none of these but but they don't have a card which is candy castle there's not one of those cards so he's just buzzing around from all these advanced advancements and going back forth whereas i'm getting just the colors i'm going that

[75:23]

Step, step, step, step. He's watching me move around the board, you know. He's noticing that he's flying all over the place. And he can see me just inexorably moving forward. So he says, he says, you take the picture cards. I didn't know the color. But then I explained to him, you know, if I get the picture cards, I can never get to the candy castle because the space between the last picture card destination and the candy castle is just colors. You have to go just by color, step by step. And he said, that's okay. I said, but that's not really fair. And he said, No, but I really want to win.

[76:26]

So I have to do it this way. So he's still a little afraid of losing. So we don't have that. He doesn't lose. We just don't do that. In this house, also, like, he asked me to peel him an orange. And the way I peel oranges is I bite the top off, you know, and I peel with my hands. And he says, this is not the way we do it in this house. He's afraid of any, like, alteration in procedures. He's a frightened little guy. He's totally wonderful, but he's really scared a lot of the time. And he's got me there to get me under control so that everything will go well because he knows I'm a big, powerful being. So if he can control me, everything's going to be fine. So I go along with it to some extent.

[77:29]

We have these conversations with all, you know. And then his mother called me this morning and she said, want to hear a story about your grandson? I said, yeah. He said, I went in this morning and And he was eating a tangerine, a peeled tangerine. She said, who peeled the tangerine? He said, I did. She said, you never peeled a tangerine before. I said, well, how did you peel it? She said, well, I bit the top off and peeled it with my hands. And she said, where did you learn that? I said, from granddaddy. So, you know, when you first show them, it's like, it disturbs their whole world, right? It's very, you know, they're scared, you know. But then they, but, you know, just let it go and then later they can try again when they're ready. And then, so, just like they have

[78:33]

Just like they have their fears and they're wonderful beings and we love them, adults have their fears and they're wonderful beings and we love them. But because of their fears, they can be very controlling, unempathetic, unfair, dishonest, all that stuff can go with that. And then we can be afraid of them and try to do the same thing with them. So we have to somehow train ourselves to practice giving and kind speech and beneficial action with those who are, because of being afraid, aren't ready to do those things. And we also have to be patient with ourselves when we're not up for somebody who's not up for a certain form of kindness. Just like a nurturing parent, always think kindly, how can I nurture this person?

[79:44]

Nurture this person. How can I practice the bodhisattva way of nurturing all beings, including those who are just trying to push me around and control me? And yeah. get me under control so that they can be less, so they're not afraid. How can I practice it with them? So. And somehow do that without being condescending. So I don't know if I was condescending about my grandson. I just, you know, I just think it's, it's just wonderful the way he is. But he's learning too, you know. He learned a lot during that game. It was amazing, you know, how much he learned about his method of... His method was not working. He could see it, you know. And he switched to the other one.

[80:47]

And then he could see the reason why he switched to the other one, because he really wants to... He's waking up, you know. And because I love him and... And that also, we were also playing, before that we were playing soccer. At Brian's house, so the entrance to the garage was the goal, so he was gonna kick the ball towards the goal and I was the goalie. And so he kicked the ball and I caught it. He said, you can't use your hands. No, first of all, he kicked it and I leaned over and caught it. He said, you can't lean over. So then I had to sit up straight. Then he kicked it and I just caught it, you know, without moving. He said, you can't use your hand. He said, you can use your feet. So then I was catching up my feet. And he says, now you have to move over to the other side of the garage and leave that space empty. You can't move over there. So then there was no, I wasn't, I was the goalie, but I wasn't obstructing a shot at all, right?

[81:49]

So then he would come over and he'd kick it, but he'd kick it and it would go off, you know, strange directions. So without even trying to stop it, he couldn't make go. And then I kind of chuckled. He said, no laughing. But he's, you know, he's seeing what he's doing. He watched himself get more and more control of me. And then he could see that after I'd be totally under control, he still couldn't make a shot. And then he saw me laugh, and he knew that that was not good that I was laughing. So he told me to stop, and I stopped. But then he gave me a chance to kick the ball. Anyway, it's wonderful. This is the bodhisattva's thing, you know. Can we have, basically, with everybody we meet, can we remember, always remember, start with

[82:54]

goodwill start with kindness what can I do to help this person how can I nurture this person how can I nurture our relationship how can I open to how this person's helping me start there and if I forget start with confessing I'm not doing it that's what it says here in this text right read it that's what it says sincerely Sincerely, that's the bodhisattva way. It really is beneficial action for all classes of beings. Amazing. Think about how wonderful it is to even want to be that way until you do want to be that way. And then be patient with yourself when you're not and go back to, I want to be that way. I want to be that way. I do. It's so wonderful. I'd love to be that way. It's so great. So we have two more weeks to work ourselves into a passion of love for all beings and to figure out a way to get our government to adopt these values, these bodhisattva values.

[84:15]

We need to do that. This is one of our jobs is to get the US government to be fearless and committed to the doctrine that all beings are created equal. And equal means not that they're the same, but they all have the potential to be wise and kind. That's what the Buddha said. That's what the Constitution of the United States says. This is real patriotism. This is what's great about America, is we have that principle. And then we have the First Amendment, which is, you know, express yourself. Not to manipulate people, but to express yourself generously, kind speech, beneficially. Because you have the potential to do that.

[85:18]

Our Constitution says that. People have problems, yes. We're deluded to some extent, yes, but we have the potential. This is our great thing. This is patriotic. We need to have as much passion about this as people who are afraid have. about how to act from fear. We need to know how to act from, we need to be fearless and be passionate about being fearless and non-violent. We need to be as energetic about being non-violent as some other people are about being violent. Otherwise they'll vote for the violent person because they look more alive. We need to look, make non-violence look like really beautiful and really vital. don't you think? So we have two more weeks to work on this to send ourselves into the holiday season so and I also appreciate that people are really making the effort to tell me when they're not going to be in class and also turns out this amazingly good attendance anyway but

[86:41]

Those of you who have missed classes have really kept me informed, and I really appreciate that. Thank you.

[86:47]

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