There was once a king. My chairman was a poet who was also a government official. And he'd like to visit the king. But then he tripped. This Zen teacher was called, nickname, Bird's Nest. It was once a Chinese Zen poet. And he went to visit a Zen teacher who was nicknamed Bird's Nest. or when you practice meditation, you treat an angle, a section of the branches, kind of like a person.

[01:16]

That's what he said in that verse. So he went to the Zen teacher and he said, Uh, aren't you in a dangerous position? Up there in the tree? Oh, it's, uh... Who's that teacher, sir? You seem to be in a more dangerous position than me. The poet said, the poet said something like, what do you mean?

[02:16]

I'm a government minister. I'm a government minister. I'm down here on the ground. I'm not in a dangling position. Well, then you don't know yourself very well. When the passions are burning and the mind even stayed, what could be more dangerous than that? Well, then you don't know yourself very well.

[03:25]

When the passions are burning and the lying is unsteady, what could be more dangerous than that? And the poet said, well, what is the kicking of Buddha anyway? And Bird's Nest said, Don't do bad. Do good. And help all living beings. This is what's taught by all the Buddhists.

[04:32]

The poet said, even a three-year-old child knows that. The person has said, although a three-year-old child knows that, even a 80-year-old person Bill finds it very difficult to practice Don't do bad, do good, and help all of you in it.

[05:53]

It's what's taught by all Buddhists. Buddha said, A three-year-old child knows that. When he said even a three-year-old child, I hear him saying, a three-year-old child doesn't know as much as me or as any teacher. There was some exaltation, I think, in the poet's mind, some exaltation of himself or of somebody.

[07:00]

The Buddha said, if a helping being is working for the happiness of others, exalts himself or herself above others, then that helping being is possessed by honor, is possessed by delusion. We can't help people if we exalt ourselves. We can't help them because we are possessed. Actually, we can't be exalted above other people. None of us are a slight bit above anybody else. were all in one surface.

[08:39]

And to realize a new taste of being on the same surface would all be not being a little bit of buzzing. He's a great leader. We are transformed constantly. And our transformation is in accord with our actions. The teachers did meditation in the tree. You could fall asleep, you'd probably fall out of the tree.

[09:53]

We would like to, I think, part of our, part of what most of us, if we can come, maybe not the illest people, I've sensed it myself, I've sensed another fever, some, some desire for football, for some place to stand where we won't slip. We'll be safe for, But keep you sitting in the tree. He wasn't safe for a while. He's safe when he's safe. But in the next moment, if he doesn't pay attention, he falls out of the tree. Many people are suffering greatly in this world. are greatly tormented.

[11:18]

They've fallen from the tree. We may not feel that great suffering now ourselves, but when one moves, it will fall out of the tree, too. But it's not prepared in you. It's not prepared in you. It's just we haven't fallen out of the truth. But it can happen any minute.

[12:23]

And we're not in control of whether we fall asleep or whether the branch breaks. We think that we are in control of it, again, means that we think we're better than the other people who weren't in control. They didn't control themselves far out of the tree. They didn't plan it and go into hell. They just slipped. They want some football protectors. What do they want? What about Buddha?

[13:37]

What about great enlightenment? What's that got to do with this? Aren't there these greatly enlightened beings? What are they like? Did they slip too? I don't know. But maybe they don't slip. And I think maybe the reason why they don't slip is because they have already slipped completely. And there's no place they can slip to. Because they're willing to be down at the bottom with all beings and not be above anybody. And therefore, because of that, they are diminished.

[14:42]

And therefore, they're not afraid of anything. They don't need, out of fear, to be better than one single solitary living creature. They are fearless of all states, both blissful and torment. They are the same as all living beings. And for a living being to be a Buddha means that they are exactly a living being.

[15:52]

to be a living being is exactly the condition of being awake. But it's not easy to just be a living being. What's easy is to be a little bit or a lot better than I may be. What's easy is to result yourself a little bit above the condition of life. You think you have a football over the swirl of transformation that brings us into pain and pleasure. That's easy. But that's possession, not illusion, not waking.

[16:57]

Awakening is not to have the slightest distance from light. And light is not a limited thing. Light is one thing. All living beings are the same light. And there's no distance between the Buddha and any suffering creature. That's why we try to practice sitting still. Because sitting still is the same as be one huge person, all of us. We're just one great living being. And if we don't move from our position, we leave others.

[18:07]

If we don't wiggle around to get a little bit of leverage on where we are, a little bit of advantage over our suffering. Or even if we try to get a little advantage over our suffering, we don't try to get an advantage over the advantage we're trying to get it. To accept our delusion, add to delusion. Delusion is not the same as enlightenment. But there is no enlightenment. even the slightest distance from the illusion.

[19:19]

And there is no illusion even the slightest distance from the illusion. But if we wiggle, we don't realize. If we don't want to be a deluded person, we don't settle into our deluded state. We don't accept that we're deluded. Then we can't see that enlightenment is this right here. But it's difficult to settle into our delirium because if we really settle into it, we don't even test it. We don't just get our own delirium. We get all the other kinds of delirium that we probably haven't even got rid of. Once you open up to your own, you get all the other ones. And you realize also that with the device that you use to lift yourself a little bit above the other people's delusion, that's a delusion too.

[20:36]

That you're not the least tiny bit better than anybody anywhere. So it's difficult to accept our own delusion, but then to be open to everybody. That's pretty scary. To have no way to show that you're better than anybody else. To have no way to show that you're better than anybody else. Even to yourself. Buddha doesn't know how to do that. Buddha doesn't know how to figure out Any advantage over other people has lost the ability to do it at that moment.

[21:38]

It is called sometimes love. When you really see Everybody else is made out of the same stuff as you, the same diluted stuff. We're all swimming in the same ocean of boundless repeating. And those who are up high out of the water are the most possessed. If we get right down to the level of everybody, that leaves a weight. But it's hard to sit still.

[23:09]

It really is. And almost everything we've got, everything we are, is sitting still. And everything that we are is built from moving. Illusions are built from motion. But there is no option. The delusions are just stiff. We don't actually have to do anything to sit there. We're already stiff. We don't have to work it. We just have to let ourselves realize. Since I've been practicing Zen, practicing in a community of people, sometimes I have felt alone with people.

[24:27]

And sometimes I want to express the love. But I sometimes have hesitated because I was afraid that someone else nearby might see me expressing love to another and might be jealous. And I didn't want to disturb the other person. So I restrained myself many, many times in expressing my natural feeling. But if I feel the same way about the person who's watching, express my affection to another, my love for another, if I feel the same way towards them, then I'm not afraid to express my love.

[25:48]

Because if they're jealous, it's just for a moment. because I know that I feel the same way about everyone. Once I realize that actually I want the same thing with everybody, once I see what I really want with the people I love the most and most easily, it's actually the same thing I want with those who I find most difficult to love. Then I'm not afraid to vote. I'm not afraid to show. Because I know if this person is jealous, I can turn to them and say, I absolutely, unconditionally, to the bottom of my heart, want the same thing to you. Once I feel that, I don't have to hold back anymore. I don't have to worry about treating one person better than another.

[26:54]

And I realize that I want the same thing for everyone when I realize that I'm not better than them. And what I want for myself, I want for everyone. But I'm a little bit better than anyone. And there's somebody who I don't want them to have what I want. Those who I think are about as good as me or nearly as good as me, I want them to be that. But those who are a little bit lower than that, maybe not. But if I really bring myself down so I'm not better than anybody, then there's no problem in loving. Then I don't have to link my love. Because my love ultimately, even for the people that it's most natural, easy for me to love, on the surface, at the bottom, really what I want is the same thing for anybody.

[28:09]

This is called sitting still. If I just sit still, I will realize that I'm not better with people than me. And then everybody's mine, right? So that's about it. I know we want football. Some way to protect us from being the worst person on the planet, or even being sort of one of the bad ones.

[29:29]

That funny thing, that funny little advantage you want on somebody, limits our love for everybody. You don't have to work at being a pilot. It's my part. It's it. I need you. I have done. Drug addicts, drug pushers, murderers, pilots, child abusers, You made it. I'm not better than that person. I'm not better than Adolf Hitler. He was just a deluded, confused, abused, frightened creature.

[30:50]

Pistic, crazy, frightened person. I'm not better than that. So what does it mean not to do bad? Do good. If you can't put yourself above all the bad things that anybody ever did, what does it mean not to do bad? What does it mean to be good? What does it mean to be comfortable? All I'm saying today, what it means is not to exalt yourself above the life.

[32:01]

Not to exalt yourself above the activities of life. It includes the activities of all food regions. That's what's called Don't Do Bad. That's what's called Be Good. That's what's called Help Me Good. If you exalt yourself above anybody, you do bad. You shouldn't do bad. If you exalt yourself above somebody, you don't do good. You shouldn't do good. And if you exalt yourself above everybody, you don't help yourself. You don't help anybody. All the new beads are the same. We all suffer.

[33:04]

We all don't want to be hurt. We all want to be happy. We all could give. If we can accept that for ourselves, that's called city's good. If we can accept it for ourselves, we can accept it in movies. And you never finish this in work. It's called a work of love. It's called City Skip. It's called the bliss of not being afraid to suffer.

[34:06]

It's the greatest joy. And it flows between all of us all the time. Even right now. But can you see? Can you hear? Can you see? We could feel it if we're not holding ourselves above anybody. We just lower ourselves down to where we really are, which is not the least bit above the surface of life. We'll feel the flow of love between all of us. And love is just simply the fact of the total vitality, the total light of the world.

[35:27]

No big deal, and there's nothing bigger. Simple as pot, and nothing's harder. I'm very happy that you started to live with us. And I love all of you.

[36:18]

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