The title of this talk, I think I'm going to suggest, is, What's the Point? And that could be a very sincere question. But it could also be a kind of an expression of discouragement. Like sometimes people say, kind of like, what's the point? For example, what's the point of building a house? It's just going to fall down. What's the point of taking care of a relationship? It's just going to change. What's the point of taking care of my health? I'm going to die. That's kind of the discouraged kind of possibility for the question, what's the point?

[01:06]

But I'm not going to talk so much about that one right now. I'm going to talk about what is the point? And I was encouraged to bring this up by someone who came to see me recently And they said to me, I feel like I'm missing the point. And he was... he was unhappy about missing the point. As though not missing the point would be a good idea. But he was feeling like he's missing the point. And then, so then I said, well, what is the point?

[02:11]

Brackets. For you. What is the point? And we talked for a while. He couldn't immediately tell me what the point was that he was missing. But I did listen to him and I thought, he seems to be really concerned about missing the point. Worried about missing the point. So, what is it? What's the point? I asked again and again. And finally he said, comfort. And I thought, oh yeah, that's important to a lot of people. That's an important point, comfort. A lot of people would like to be comfortable. When he said it, I didn't exactly, myself, think, oh, being comfortable is the point.

[03:14]

But I thought, well, being comfortable is really important to me, too. I kind of like being comfortable. like the electricity is out here today, but I'm glad it was not out earlier. So it's not too cold in here, is it? It's pretty comfortable. I appreciate, I appreciate being comfortable with you. Anyway, that's what he said. that the point for him at that time was comfort. But then he said something more, which is, that's the point, right? He feels like he's missing it. He's missing the comfort point. In other words, I've kind of said, in other words, you have a lot of discomfort.

[04:17]

And he said, mm-hmm, this person, for whom the point is comfort, he has been given a lot of discomfort. Like many of us have been given discomfort. We haven't been begging for it, but somehow it's coming to us anyway. And not only is it coming to us, it's coming to people who we love. And that's uncomfortable too. For some people, the discomfort of their babies is the most uncomfortable thing. It's the worst. I have a person in my life who calls me Daddy, and she's had some babies.

[05:29]

And after her second baby was born, she said, I just don't want anything to hurt her. She really didn't want anything to hurt. She didn't want her baby to have any discomfort. Which, of course, I wasn't surprised to hear. And I understand, but I also thought, hmm, it's going to be a tall order. And it has been. Her baby's been quite healthy, but her baby has a lot of discomfort. Her baby finds a lot of things uncomfortable. Like if her baby does something that's not nice, her baby feels really bad about that. If her baby's not kind to people, her baby really feels bad. Her baby's now a teenager.

[06:31]

So, I said to this person whose point is comfort, but who has lots of discomfort, I said, oh, and then he said, and I don't want to, I want comfort, And the point is comfort, and I have a lot of discomfort, so I don't know how to practice with all this discomfort. And you might not be surprised if I tell you what I said to him. And what I said was, practicing compassion with all this discomfort comes to fruit as great comfort and joy. Comfort and joy comes with compassion with some and certainly all discomfort. So that's the simple starting message of today is practicing compassion with discomfort promotes and will realize comfort.

[07:56]

And then there's the question still sitting there, though, what is the point? So for this person, the point was comfort. But that's not the point for everybody, although a lot of people, I would say for a lot of people, comfort is one of the points, but it's not the main point. So what's the point, and then what's to the point? What's the point and what's apropos, which means to the point, which is the root of the word appropriate. Appropriate is what is to the point of the point.

[09:14]

So if the point is comfort, then what's to the point is compassion. Compassion is appropriate to whatever's going on, to the point of comfort and joy. I was, and I still am, intending at some point soon to continue to explore, to continue to investigate the twelfth book of the Flower Adornment Scripture. But this thing about what's appropriate

[10:21]

and what's to the point has temporarily postponed more investigation of Book 12. But it has brought us back to Book 9 of the Flower Adornment Scripture. And Book 9 is, a bodhisattva asks for clarification. And the bodhisattva who asked for clarification. I just happened to open this book and it came up with the chapter, a bodhisattva asked for clarification. What a coincidence. And the bodhisattva that asked for clarification was Manjushri Bodhisattva. And Manjushri asked for clarification to various great bodhisattvas.

[11:28]

Clarification of the teaching of the Buddha. So one of the things he asked for clarification about was basically the teaching, the truth, the Dharma, is one. So how come there's so many different teachings? And the general kind of tenor of the bodhisattva's response is, the Dharma is one, however, it responds appropriately. It responds to the point of each person. So the Dharma is one, but when Dawu asks a question, the Dharma takes this form.

[12:35]

When Homa asks a question, it takes another form. When Zach asks a question, it takes another form. It takes infinite forms. It takes whatever form people need in order to see. So the Dharma is really just about helping people see the truth and become Buddha. However, that one agenda, that one point is actually to whatever point is being brought to the Buddha. Somebody says to me, I feel like I'm missing the point. So then I say, what's the point? Somebody says to me, I apologize for

[13:52]

I didn't take my seat today. So then there's a response to that. What's the point? I want to take my seat. That's the point. And so on. So this is Chapter 9. The Bodhisattva asked for clarification. But dharma's one. How come there's so many different teachings? The practice is one. There's only one practice. It's great wisdom and great compassion. That's the only practice. However, it can take so many forms, the practice. But they're all really the same practice. And all the varieties are just different offerings to the one practice. But when this offering comes, the one practice looks like this.

[14:58]

When this teaching comes, the one practice looks like this, or like this, whatever. Sometimes I make my eyebrows rise and I wink. Sometimes I don't raise my eyebrows and wink. But I am always the Buddha, responding appropriately to the point of each person. And the Zen master Yun Men said, so here's an example of where the Zen teacher is bringing this sutra to the students. The Zen teacher Yun Men, back in Tang Dynasty China. Actually, He was slightly after the official Tang Dynasty. I think maybe he was born while there was still a Tang Dynasty, but then the Tang Dynasty went bye-bye and he kept living.

[16:03]

And then even though the Tang Dynasty had departed, sorry, bye-bye, he had the practice. And he said to his students, what is the teaching of the Buddha's whole lifetime? What was the Buddha teaching throughout her whole life, moment after moment? He asked the monks, but then he often answered his own questions because his monks were kind of like a little bit below average. And he was way above average. What was the Buddha teaching every moment of her life? The answer is appropriate response. That's an English translation. The Chinese characters say, meet, each, teach. Three characters. Meet, each, teach.

[17:05]

Meet, each, teach. That's what he said. That's what the Buddha's always doing. Meeting each and teaching each. And not only that, but this sutra says, when the Buddha meets this each and teaches, it is simultaneously meeting this each and this each and this each. The Buddha has the appropriate response for this person, and that is also the appropriate response for everybody else at the same time. So it's called one-stop shopping for the Buddhas. They take care of one person and taking care of one person. The sutra says, takes care of everybody. And that's what Yunmen says, too. The Buddha has taken care of each person, but the Buddha, of course, takes care of everybody. He didn't make that point in that particular moment.

[18:08]

But the sutra is saying that. And what comes to mind is one time Suzuki Roshi said, Okay, can anybody guess which story I'm going to tell now? One time, Suzuki Roshi said, and you can say anything you ever heard him say. That would be right. Just light up one corner. Just light up the corner. So anyway, the one thing I'm thinking he's saying, he says, now Zen Center has become rather large. So when he first came to San Francisco in 1959, there was no Zen Center. There was a Japanese-American Buddhist temple, and he took care of the Japanese-American congregation. And little by little, non-Japanese Americans found out about him and started to come. But at first, it was just one or two people coming to sit with him.

[19:11]

But Zen Center became large. He said, now Zen Center has become large. So people need to make appointments to see me now. He used to have just a few students, but at a certain point in his life, towards the end, Zen Center had become large. He had lots of students, so they had to make appointments. So here's the sutra. although you may be waiting to see me, you may be in line waiting to see me, you should know that the person I'm talking to, I'm talking to them for you. Because sometimes he's talking to somebody and the people are waiting and saying, when is he going to get to me? And he's saying, Don't worry. I'm talking to that person for you.

[20:16]

So you're already being cared for even though you haven't come into the room yet. This is the sutra. When the teacher's talking to this student, he's talking to this student for all students, and all students are included in this student. And it's good for the other students who are not in the room to know that and be grateful that the teacher is talking to that student completely for them. Otherwise, that's the end of our secret, she said. I'm talking to them for you. He didn't say, don't be impatient. But it was kind of implied. In the early days, you could just go over to his office anytime you want. knock on the door, hello, or he wasn't there. But if he was there, probably nobody else was. Because there weren't very many students.

[21:19]

But after a while, you couldn't just go knock on the door anymore. You had to talk to an attendant. I'd like to talk to Roshi. Okay, I'll let him know. And he didn't say that teaching that he just gave was an example of the teaching of the Avatamsaka Sutra. But it was. Even if he didn't know it, it was. And then I heard that teaching and then when I got in the situation of Zen Center has gotten big and people were waiting in line to see me, I remembered that teaching. So I'm talking to so-and-so in the room and so-and-so is out in the hall waiting. Maybe several so-and-sos. There is a tendency, if you don't remember this teaching, to rush through this conversation to get to the next one because there is a next one and a next one.

[22:32]

it's possible that you're talking to somebody and you don't remember, I'm talking to this person for everybody. And so I'm not going to rush through this conversation because then I would be rushing through all conversations. And also, I will get burnout if I rush through this conversation to get to the next one. So, That teaching helped me a lot and made me into a really lousy teacher who doesn't have burnout because he can only talk to one person at a time completely for everybody. So the Buddhist teaching is meet, each, teach.

[23:41]

And the Buddhist practice is meet, each, teach. And that's a practice all of us can do. You can all meet each completely and give completely to each. And not just so you'll be happy, and even not so that this person will be happy, but for the happiness of all beings. You can practice that. What comes to mind is this is not like being at a cocktail party. Or it's not like a cocktail party is for a lot of people. I went to a few cocktail parties in my life, maybe three. And I noticed at cocktail parties, when I would meet people, and they would meet me, almost as soon as they met me, they were looking at who else they might want to meet.

[24:58]

As soon as they met me, they were looking around, who would be more interesting than this person? And it wasn't that I'm less interesting than most people. It's just that that's the way they meet everybody. Like, I meet this person, who else is here? Who might be better than this person? And so that's why I only went to three cocktail parties. Because I didn't want to play that game of like, meet this person, but before you even meet them, you're looking for the next person. Well, again, like a cocktail party is like, hello, I have something I'd like, somebody I'd like you to meet. Thanks for coming. It's like nobody really is meeting anybody. Everybody's meeting, trying to meet everybody and not meeting anybody. And the light come on when you don't practice that, right? Even if there's no electricity in this temple, we can still plant tulips.

[26:08]

Do you understand, Jeff? Do you want to plant tulips today? Sure. So we have tulips, and we can plant tulips, even though there's no electricity. And each tulip you can plant, not just for that tulip, but for everybody, not just all the other tulips even, but for the pine trees and the live oak and the Japanese maples and the succulents and all sentient beings. Every tulip you plant without thinking about the next tulip. Completely giving yourself to plant one tulip. Now this may make tulip planting very popular today. So don't be discouraged if you don't get to be one of the tulip planters because they will be planting for you. So some of you get the chance to plant tulips.

[27:16]

Others will have other chances. But whatever you do, Meet, each, teach. Whatever you do, give the appropriate response to the situation. Now, what is the appropriate response for Buddha? So, it's to teach. Teach what? Teach the truth. Teach the Buddha way. No matter what the Buddha's doing, when the Buddha's planting. And this is, again, part of what the virtues of our Zen tradition is, Zen tradition has shown, brought up the practical value of this amazing sutra. So the sutra is saying, every particle you take care of, every particle you take care of, every tulip, every blueberry you take care of. So I heard somebody's going to be taking care of a blueberry soon.

[28:17]

Every blueberry you touch contains the whole universe. So take care of the blueberry and you'll be taking care of the whole universe. And if you don't take care of this blueberry wholeheartedly, you won't be taking care of the whole universe wholeheartedly. That's the negative scary side. So Zen shows take care of the blueberry, take care of the particle completely. This is a practical application of this sutra. And right now I just think that's such a wonderful practical application and I think the sutra is so wonderful because it showed me that I should take wholehearted care for every particle. every living being and every non-living being.

[29:23]

I should give myself to completely. That's the great sutra that shows us the value of applying it to our everyday life. All right. Amazing. So, I didn't get to chapter 12, but maybe this afternoon I will. I mean, I already, the last couple of talks have been about chapter 12, but I was going to bring up another aspect in chapter 12. Chapter 12's got a lot of stuff in it. Oh, my God. I'm not going to talk about it now, though. Yes? As I was sitting this morning, waves of expansion, waves of understanding was present, as well as waves of destruction, waves of ignorance, waves of not seeing the truth, not seeing what is.

[30:32]

It brought me to the... Did you see not seeing? She saw not seeing. Exactly. Did you see not seeing exactly? Yeah. And did you practice compassion with not seeing? Did you practice compassion with not seeing? No. You didn't? No. Oh my gosh. Wow. Thank you for telling me. Did you hear that? She had a lot of not, she had some not seeing, but you didn't practice compassion with not seeing. So that's why we have her here. is to not practice compassion. Thank you so much. Okay, okay, it's here. I think, or I see,

[31:40]

We have made... We are story makers. We are story makers. And, although we're story makers, we do not make the stories by ourselves. And we are... Also not story makers. I don't see that yet. I only see the story makers. I just thought I'd mention that to you. And... And by the way, when I mentioned it, that was another story. I am very truly hurt, tight. You are very truly hurt and tight? And is that hurt calling for compassion? Because of the stories we've made for compassion. And I do not want any more stories for compassion.

[32:46]

You don't? And do you want compassion for that story that you don't want any more compassion for the stories? What do you want, by the way? What do you want? Let's hear it. Stop. What? Stopping. She wants stopping. That's what you really want? Do you have it? No. Okay. Well... Maybe you will someday. Maybe you'll have stopping. But after you have the stopping, guess what's going to happen? I don't know. I don't know. I question. I question what is after and... Yeah, what is after? That's a good question. What is after? And do you listen to that question? The after is freedom. Oh, you're going to have freedom after? Not now?

[33:47]

How about freedom now rather than after? Do you want freedom now? I think she's going to say no. Do you want freedom now? I don't know. I don't know. It's in the question. It's in the question. I think so, too. No, no. I don't know because, and the reason I say I don't know is because the truth of it is I don't know, but I kind of pretend or make I know, you know, all kinds of stories. Yeah, okay. Thank you. Thank you for your offering. Thank you for the conversation. Thank you for sharing your agenda with us. All right. I hope you enjoyed that conversation.

[34:49]

Yes? Did you raise your hand? I was thinking about it. Okay. Any other? Yes? Did you raise your hand? I did. Did I raise your hand? You did. We all did. We all did. This raises for me the thought that the practice is tantamount to what we chant in one of our chants. where we're encouraged to practice in a way that indicates the absolute. Can we speak of this practice in that way? Say again? A practice of a way that indicates the absolute. Yep. A practice in a way that indicates the absolute. And indicates is pointing. Pointing. Pointing to the point, the absolute. What's the absolute? Well, it's the awakening of all beings. It's the freedom and comfort and joy of all beings.

[36:00]

That's the absolute. That's the complete. Everything we do is pointing to that. we could say everything we do is pointing to that, whether we think so or not. We're all pointing towards this Buddha way. So Buddha meets, eats, and teaches, but we also are actually doing that too. And Buddha would like us to wake up to that. Yes. of the person, like, is waiting for don't miss on, they're impatient, right? They might think, this person's in there a long time. So then they don't, you know, so at that point, I'm just thinking kind of practice with that, so that you, there's compassion there for this person who feels impatient.

[37:01]

Yeah, and that person might have my name. Yeah, so here there's some impatience with how long it's taking me to get into the room, plus also impatient with that person and maybe the teacher who's, they're going on so long. In other words, I don't really believe that they're doing, that what they're doing in there is for me. Right. So then it seems to be, like, then whatever situation is, like, good, bad, or neutral, like a situation that is good, bad, or neutral, just have that reflection come up that, like, we're all in this together, this is happening with all beings. So that, and then just see where that goes, like, You can stop before there. See where it goes. Just keep doing the practice. And there will be all kinds of revelations. That's where the revelations come from. From appreciating being impatient, waiting in line.

[38:05]

And I do have some... I confess, I'm challenged with the security lines at the airport. I sometimes... do not think of them as the best opportunity when they're happening. Now, when they're not happening, I don't think I should go to the airport just to... But when I'm there, I sometimes forget that I'm there to appreciate I'm there in my place in the cube for the sake of all beings. It's an opportunity. I had that opportunity, and I sometimes get distracted. I miss the point occasionally, and I'm sorry about that. You know, I think what sometimes I get caught trying to think like, oh, we're all in this together type of thing. And I'm expecting more revelations from that. I just don't really feel right. So I just think like, is that true?

[39:07]

Well, okay, maybe. I'm just saying that's kind of where I go. I don't see it as, I'm hoping it leads to easing the suffering. But I don't necessarily see that. You don't necessarily see the easing of suffering? No, you might not see it. You might see actually the increase of suffering. You might see that. And that, the increase of suffering is calling for you to listen to it. The decrease of suffering is calling for you to listen to it. The decrease is also calling for you. So what attracted me to Zen was a simple Zen story about a teacher, about a monk, a Zen monk, and the suffering was, he was in a situation where he was there meeting someone, he was meeting this person, this person meeting him, the suffering increased.

[40:11]

And he listened to that suffering with compassion. And then the suffering decreased, and he listened the same way. It isn't that you listen to the decrease of suffering less than the increase, or that you listen to the decrease more than the increase. He showed the same listening, the same compassion to increase suffering as to decrease suffering. Share with all beings. And both of them with all beings. That's why this increase of suffering is together with all beings and the decrease is too. They both are equally worthy of our complete devotion. And he demonstrated that in an everyday event of people, you know, insulting him severely, falsely, painfully, and then praising him excessively, pleasantly.

[41:19]

That's one practice. But it's different for those two situations. Pain is different from pleasure. Pain is different than relief from pain. But the practice is the same with both of them. In both cases, we don't push the pain away, and we don't hold on to the pain. We don't push the pleasure away. We don't push the comfort away. And we don't hold on to the comfort. We don't push the discomfort away. We are being called to practice that way. The world wants us to practice with comfort and discomfort like the Buddha way. And it's hard, isn't it? It's hard to practice being as devoted to discomfort as to comfort. But that's what we're being asked to do.

[42:20]

I mean, some people may actually say differently, to try to make a living off of us. You know, like, if you go this way, it's going to be comfortable. And if you go that way, it's not. And so you shouldn't be putting your energy and attention and love into the You should put it into this way. And I can actually sell you the way to get there. I've got a practice which will take you to comfort. And will help you avoid discomfort. People are doing that. What they're really doing is trying to realize the Buddha way, but they do it in this kind of deceptive way, which seems to be encouraging us to not respect discomfort, to not be generous and patient and gentle with discomfort. I'm thinking something's wrong because I'm getting less comfortable.

[43:26]

Yeah, exactly. That's what I think is the problem. Yeah, yeah. You can push comfortable away, too. Just in case, just to make sure I'm safe, I'll push the discomfort away, too. And that wish to push the discomfort away is another opportunity to be totally devoted to this wish to push it away for the welfare of all beings. The human beings are extremely complex and very changing. And all those little changes, all those little blueberries are calling for total devotion. And I'm saying this, but that doesn't mean I'm able to remember that with each moment.

[44:27]

But when I don't remember it, I can notice some part of my body probably is holding back a little bit. And if I look at my face in the mirror, I see a little tension sometimes. What am I resisting? But when I see that tension in my face, oh yeah, I can practice compassion with that kind of tense face. Now I'm going to stop looking in the mirror and do something else. Yes? Thank you. Yeah, this is a wonderful topic. And I don't know if I can put this... I came with a question, and I'm going to see if I can put it together. Can I just mention something? She came with a question. We all come with a question.

[45:31]

And now we're going to hear about hers. But we all come with a question. We come, but we come with a question. Yes? Thank you. So... although I was not the person with you wondering what's the point, for some amount of time, like acutely been thinking, what is the point? This is like completely on my mind. Great. I know. Yeah. Yeah. And just the Buddha's wondering that all the time, too. Yeah. Buddha's wondering, what is the point? And then Buddha says, what the point is. What is the point? Oh yeah, I'm always thinking about how to help people enter the Great Way and attain Buddhahood quickly. Good for him. Good for her.

[46:33]

How about you? I'm going to keep going where I was going. What's the point? Yeah. So, and I think you're bringing in Chapter 9, and I was thinking about Chapter 12, so maybe I'm bringing them together. Thank you. So in a group, you know, in the past, you used to talk about what's your ultimate concern. And then, as you know, I'm sort of on to the word, what's your intention, which, and you talk about vow, so. just moving around words and what makes sense to people. And in a Dharma group I was in, just recently somebody said, when I sit down, I think about what's my incentive. Incentive? Well, that's really a good, it's almost a, I don't know if it's a better word, but it was really a word that gave some energy that was a little different than intention, which

[47:37]

Anyway, it had some energy to it, so I really liked that. And then I was thinking about faith, because I have a little challenge around that word, but I thought if you are clear, this might be the ultimate concern, but if I'm clear on my incentive when I sit and stay with that, as I see that manifest, it becomes the fruition of faith. where faith becomes the fruition of clarifying incentive. And so I had the thought, I wonder what you think about that word, but it's also like in Chapter 9, how many words are there, how many ways are there to say the same thing, what are you about, or what's the point? And when that's clear, it builds the basis or platform for faith. Mm-hmm. So what do you think about the word incentive and fruition?

[48:40]

Incentive and fruition and faith? Yeah. And when I think about those words, I think they're calling for me to listen to them. And what do you hear? Well, when it comes to incentive, I thought of the tulips. The tulips, I feel, the tulips are asking me to somehow get them planted. So the tulips are an incentive to tulip planting. In faith that they will bloom. Pardon? In faith that they will bloom. No, I don't have faith that they'll bloom. I'm just listening to them. This package comes in the mail and I listen to the package. And the package says, would you please plant me? I don't want to just turn to mold in this box. So here's this, I got this thing.

[49:45]

So this box comes in. I can try to give it to somebody else. Would you want to plant this box of tulips? But it's a lot of work. You can't just give the 200 tulip bulbs to anybody, because there's a lot of work to plant them. So maybe the people with no bone would like to plant the tulips. And then the tulips, I felt they were calling me to plant them and help them fulfill their potential to make tulips. in this world for the welfare of beings. So that box was an incentive for me to pick the box up and take it over here and put it in the refrigerator. But I don't have faith that they're going to bloom. I just feel like I have faith in taking care of the tulip bulbs. My faith is take care of tulip bulbs when tulip bulbs come and say hello. I have faith in taking care of every blueberry, every particle.

[50:53]

But I don't have faith in the particles. I don't have faith that the particles are going to turn into diamonds. Isn't that what 12 is about, though? Say again? Isn't that what book 12 is about? Is that that taking care of is a fruit or is it faith? You could say taking care is a fruit of faith. Yeah. Yeah. So my faith, I just said it, I have faith in taking care of, and taking care of then has the fruit of giving me more faith to take care of. The more I take care of, the more I have faith that taking care of is the practice. So it's a cycle. Faith that taking care of would be good, taking care of deepens the faith, which leads to more taking care of. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are you doing over there? What are you doing? This is my chair.

[51:54]

Huh? This is my chair. This is your chair. Well, actually, it's just loaned to you. It's not really yours. It's not mine either. You people are not sitting in my chair. And if I think they're my chair, then I need a high chair. If they're not your chair, then those aren't your Zafus. Well, I did find myself, and what's the point, on this chair. I was thinking about the opening verse from the Prajnaparamita. And I thought, maybe that one... Would you say the verse, please? What I remember. Or say what you remember, yeah. Yeah, okay. Bring, bring, bring forth... Okay, as much as you can... of love, of respect, and of faith. Listen to the something teaching of the gentle Buddhas.

[53:01]

Listen to the teaching of the gentle Buddhas. Listen to the teaching of the gentle Buddhas. There's one I'm missing in there. taught for the wheel of the world. But you missed one line, right? Kind of like, let go of all kinds of obstructions. Yeah, that one. That's the one I often forget. Some people say, get rid of them. I always say, let go of them. Let go of the obstructions. Bring forth the faith and let go of all the obstructions and resistances. Just let go of them. And then listen. Yeah. to this wonderful teaching of perfect wisdom. Actually, it says, listen to the perfect wisdom of the gentle Buddhas. Our job is to take care of our love, our respect, and our faith, and then anything that comes challenging us, practice the faith with those things.

[54:02]

Listen to them. And then you can listen to the Buddha. If we don't listen to each other, Then it closes our ears to the perfect wisdom of the Buddhas, of the gentle Buddhas, who do not force perfect wisdom into our ear. And it also says for heroic spirits intended. Intended for heroic spirits. Yeah. Those who do this heroic thing of listening to everybody. That's too much. I can't do that. All right, thank you. Thank you. And Deborah? So if I'm really going to take care of a tulip and plant it, I'm probably going to kill some bugs as I'm planting. You think you might? I might. I might not. I mean, I wouldn't like that. It's possible that our soil has some bugs in them. I feel like I'm not taking care of the tulips.

[55:05]

Yeah, so I think, so how do you want to plant the tulips then with this concern? I don't know. I don't know either. I mean, probably. I don't know either. I mean, like with my dog, I feed her meat that someone dies so she can eat. So if I didn't feed her. I would see her suffering. So I'm kind of taking care of what's in front of me and what I have. But I'm also aware that by taking care of this, I'm not taking... I'm really not... I don't feel like I'm taking care of these things. Yeah, see, that's the thing. It is to remember this teaching while you're taking care of this. All the thises. All the thises, remember the teaching. The teaching of the Buddha is not this teaching. Clearly observe the teaching, the Dharma, of the Queen of Dharma. The Dharma of the Queen of Dharma is not this. It's thus.

[56:08]

So while you're feeding this dog and while you're putting this tulip in the soil, while that's happening, observe the teaching of thus, of thus, while you're doing that. That doesn't get rid of the thing of the incredible complexity. It just means that what you're doing, remember the teaching, and that's to remember this teaching while you're doing this for the welfare of everything. I hear that. Yeah, and I'm glad you hear it. Yes, Linda. Just an observation that what you've talked about, we've been talking about, kind of goes back to what Sonia said at the beginning that she was remembering Suzuki Roshi saying, go light up the corner wherever you are.

[57:14]

It's like light this moment or let this moment be light. That's what I could do. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other memories of Susukarashi's teachings you want to bring up? Okay, well, once again, yes. I just was remembering as people were talking something, perhaps books, the one on the paramitas, I believe it's a chapter on patience, I'm not sure, but it's where you talk about the phrase that came is, relax to welcome life. And you maybe want to tell the story about the bicycle accident.

[58:18]

And I just feel like there's a way that our mind can get caught. And by, you know, this is a horrible thing. And then remembering that we're all in it together is a, for me anyway, it's a relaxation. Letting go. That can happen. And I've been using that. I have it on my mirror. And I look at it and I realize. And it helps. It helps. Yeah. It's an instruction which might help letting go. So letting go of, I'm doing this by myself. Yes. So I'm doing it together with all beings helps me let go of the delusion that I do something by myself. We don't do anything by ourself. But we think we do. And then we're tense. And we're suffering. We're twisted into, I can do this by myself.

[59:21]

And you don't have to teach children to think that way. They think from the early time, I did that all by myself. And we said, yes, you did that all by yourself. So as part of our situation, now we have a teaching which is, we're doing it together with everybody. That helps us relax that gripping, that delusion. I'm doing it together with everybody. Also, I'm doing it together with everybody for everybody. And everybody else is doing it together with me for me. Yes. So I mentioned this story earlier. This is a story from the first time that I met my root teacher, Shido Nyogen, who passed away on Monday. And He was the abbot at the Hazy Moon Zen Center, a small Zen center in Maizumi's lineage in the middle of Los Angeles.

[60:34]

There's helicopters going overhead. And the thing that really was getting to me in that first sashin that I ever did in 2006 was the ice cream trucks, because there were not one or two, there were actually three ice cream trucks outside playing different songs out of tune at the same time. And I felt like I was going crazy. And when I went to see Nyogen in Dokusan, I said, the ice cream trucks, I can't take it. And he said, what are you going to do about it? And so it just struck me that he was asking, what's the appropriate response? What flavor do you like? Maybe that would have been the appropriate response to go buy one.

[61:41]

Well, it's not too late. Thank you, everybody.

[61:50]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_89.34