So with the aid of a text from ancient India, we have been meditating on compassion now. This is our fourth meeting, I think. What do you think? So we're kind of in the middle of the series. And I also feel like we're coming upon in the middle of the heart of this teaching. And would you like to look at some more verses from the ancient teacher Asanga? So I'm suggesting we look at verse number 34, chapter 17. So the translation you have, I think, is something like, the compassionate, or the compassionate ones, have four types of mercy.

[01:17]

Natural, analytic, from former cultivation, and from purity. attained by overcoming its resistance. So that translation sounds like the fourth. Again, let me say before I get into this that I think that rather than seeing this as four types of compassion, I see it as four ways that compassion comes into our life. I hesitate to say causes, but it's like four causes of compassion, rather than, it doesn't speak to so much types of compassion, but it's speaking of their womb or their origin.

[02:24]

So again, it's, The first type is compassion, which is called natural compassion, but it could also be compassion that comes from its nature. And the next one is compassion that comes through analysis and compassion that comes from former cultivation and compassion that comes from purity attained by overcoming its resistance, by overcoming resistance to compassion. Another translation is the tenderness

[03:31]

of those whose nature is compassion is fourfold. And I add in terms of how it comes to be. The tenderness of those whose nature is compassion is fourfold. And I'm adding in terms of how it comes to be. It comes naturally, it comes through analysis, it comes in relationship to former practice, and it is acquired through purity that weakens its counter agents. So the first translation is, the last way that the compassion comes is it comes from a purity that's attained by overcoming resistance.

[04:35]

But the last translation is, it's a purity that overcomes the resistance. So one way to say it is, there's a kind of compassion that comes from a purity that overcomes resistance. The other way is, it's a compassion which comes from purity, which has overcome resistance. to practicing compassion. So again, the first one is kind of like when compassionate ones see suffering, By the nature of compassion, they feel tenderness towards those who they see, just by their nature.

[05:47]

It sounds like it's kind of spontaneous. The second type, through analysis, means like analyzing the virtues of compassion and analyzing the shortcomings of compassion, of our practice of it, and also the shortcomings of not practicing it. By analyzing them, in that analysis, compassion comes forth. And the next one is, and this is somewhat troublesome to some people, it comes from past practice. And the past is kind of like a deep past. You know, all the way to the beginning of this lifetime that we have heard about and maybe have a birth certificate for.

[07:01]

But before that too, we may have practiced compassion. And if we have, in ancient times and in the early part of our life, in the middle part of our life, our past practice of compassion is where our present compassion comes from. And the last one is, the compassion comes from a purity which overcomes resistance or It comes from a purity which overcomes resistance. So those are four, kind of four ways that are being talked about how compassion comes to be. And I think I'm okay with stopping there for a second and see if you have any questions about this. Well, I'm ready to move on if you don't have any questions right now.

[08:15]

Next, the next verse. And it doesn't say so in your translation, and it doesn't say so really in the original text, but I would say that this verse number 35, which is also called Karika 35, It's about great compassion. It's about the great compassion which we've talked about before. It's this compassion which doesn't have objects. It's about a compassion that's not separate from the compassionate person and the being for whom the compassion is given or expressed. That's the great compassion which we've talked about before.

[09:19]

And this compassion is talked about in 35, giving us more information about Buddha's compassion, great compassion. And also let me warn the assembly beforehand that this is talking about great compassion, which means it may seem that we're not there yet. And in the traditional commentaries on this text, they say that this is the great compassion which is realized by advanced bodhisattvas, So this is not, if you don't feel like you have this kind of compassion realized in your life, I would say, well, maybe you're not, you know, a celestial bodhisattva, because they're the ones who attain this.

[10:29]

Still, it's in the text, and I kind of want to talk Talk to you about it and offer you some more information about where we're headed eventually So the translation you have I think is It's also it's put negatively right this this uh description of the great compassion is put negatively So it is not mercy In other words, it is not great compassion Which is not equal or constant, not universal responsibility, nor from practice, and not from detachment, nor from non-perception. Likewise, with one without this kind of mercy, it says one without mercy,

[11:35]

But I would add, one without this kind of mercy is not an advanced bodhisattva. So it's written in poetry, and I'm elucidating the poetry for you. So I would say the last line there is, one without this kind of mercy is not an advanced bodhisattva. In other words, we could have the other kinds of compassion we've talked about, and not yet great compassion. I'll give you another translation if you can handle it, which is, that which is not uniform or constant, which is without superior intention, which corresponds to universal responsibility, which lacks the means of accomplishment, and is neither free from attachment nor non-conceptual, is not the bodhisattva's great tenderness.

[12:58]

And so I'd like to say a little bit about that. So the first one is, put negatively, it is not bodhisattva mercy if it is a mercy which is not equal. So that means equal towards all living beings. And not only just all living beings, It's equal towards all living beings, whether they are in lots of pain and also even if they're really very happy right now. I've talked to you about this before. This compassion is not just towards people who are in agony. It's also towards people who are feeling really happy and also to beings who have kind of neutral

[14:03]

neutral feelings. It applies to all different kinds of suffering, including the suffering of mundane happiness. And then the next one is constant. If it's not constant, it's not this kind of great tenderness. Constant means, again, this is very lofty. It means it's nonstop. It means you don't miss a beat. It means every moment you're on the bodhisattva compassion ball. So great compassion is constant. And then the translation you have is not from practice, Actually, I got the wrong order.

[15:16]

Not from universal responsibility comes before that, which means not, universal responsibility means that you're, yeah, you feel responsible to all beings as you would toward yourself. you see all beings as yourself. And you have that intention to practice compassion towards all beings as you would towards yourself, and towards yourself as you would towards all beings. The one that I'm actually not so clear about is not from practice. I'm not sure what that means, And maybe you could help me with that. And the last two are not being free of attachment.

[16:20]

And that, I would say, is that if you practice compassion with attachment, you're very likely to practice with some sense of getting something from it. For example, you practice compassion towards someone, and you're kind of trying to get them to feel differently. You're practicing compassion towards someone who's sick, and you're trying to get them to be not sick. Or you're practicing compassion towards yourself, and you're trying to get yourself something by practicing compassion. And that is something you might want to ask lots of questions about. And the last one is through non-perception. And that one is, which I sort of said before, you don't perceive, you don't conceive of others as separate from you.

[17:31]

You don't perceive and conceive that their suffering is separate from you, that you are separate from them, that your compassion is separate from them, that you are separate from your compassion, that they are separate from compassion. There's no perception of separation. And in order to have this kind of non-conception, another very high level of attainment is to have insight into the non-arising of all phenomena. which is also called the patient acceptance of the non-arising of all phenomena. It says patience in the original, but the patience is understood as actually understanding that.

[18:31]

Of course, we have to accept it in order to understand it. But the name of this type of insight is called acceptance. So this kind of compassion accepts that the beings for whom we feel tenderness, for whom we feel compassion, they do not actually arise. And our compassion also doesn't arise. And their suffering does not actually arise, and we do not actually arise. Insight into that is the final criteria for this great compassion in this karaka. Now, I'm willing to take a leap from this karaka, 35,

[19:42]

up to 41 and give you two more verses which I found stunning, almost shocking, and extremely interesting. So I'm willing to, if it's okay with you, I'm willing to do two more karakas and then open up the discussion. So if you want to give me any feedback of whether you want to stop now and have discussion or want me to leap to the next two and then have discussion. And I don't know how we... Maybe you could raise your thumbs for going on. I see one thumb. I see a lot of thumbs. Okay, anybody who does not want to go on, please make yourself vocal.

[20:48]

Okay, so let's go on to the next two and then come back to discuss these four karakas. So I suggested to you last week to skip the lovely section on comparing on the analogy of compassion being a tree. I'd like to skip that lovely section and go to Karika 41, which is like, it's really the heart for me of this chapter, of this teaching. Here it is, 41. Who would not be compassionate towards beings who are the source of the virtue of universal mercy, i.e. great compassion. So again, who would not be compassionate towards beings who are the source of the virtue of great compassion?

[22:01]

Is that clear? The living beings are the source of great compassion, so who would not be compassionate to them? Then the next one comes, this is the real surprising thing for me. There is a matchless happiness, even in that suffering, which mercy for beings generates. And here's another translation. Since great compassion is the source of qualities, who would not have compassion for sentient beings who are the source of great compassion? Even though they, the compassionate ones, feel pain for them, aroused through tenderness, it, the pain, produces immeasurable bliss.

[23:13]

So the amazing statement here is that the pain that is generated by compassion, that pain generates matchless, unsurpassable bliss. This suffering, what suffering? The suffering that comes because we feel compassion, that suffering produces, generates unsurpassed bliss. And then one more. Mentally, those compassionate bodhisattvas, permeated with mercy, do not seek to rest even in quietude, that is nirvana.

[24:38]

They do not seek to rest in nirvana. How then could they become fond of worldly happiness or even their own lives? Those with tenderness who are imbued with great compassion do not even set their minds on peace. of nirvana, let alone become attached to mundane bliss or their lives. Okay, we did it. We brought these four karakas into our life. And now I'm ready to deal with your offerings and responses to these amazing teachings, which again, I think,

[25:43]

it's difficult for us to understand that there's a type of suffering which generates an unsurpassed bliss. And that type of suffering is not the suffering that comes from selfishness or cruelty. It's a suffering that comes from loving beings with great compassion. We do feel suffering because they suffer and we feel compassion for them. And from that compassion, we have a suffering in which there is unsurpassable bliss, which by the way, will make it possible for us to continue to work in the middle of suffering, this type of suffering. which is surrounded by other kinds of suffering.

[26:48]

But again, all the other kinds of suffering we have compassion for and our compassion for them hurts. And that hurt generates the joy and bliss that keeps the Bodhisattva going. Okay, maybe that's enough. Welcome Great Assembly. My question was on analytic. I have a number of speculations on what analytic could be. The first one would be it's just logical. It's what the mind leads you to think. should be your response, but your heart may or may not be in it, but your mind is driving you to that approach.

[27:52]

Yes, that's part of it. And then you notice that when you do compassion practices, you can notice how that's a virtue of them. You can actually analyze your compassion in that way, and you can notice the fault of not being compassionate. So there is some study of the times when we miss it and see how that works. And there also is a study of times when we are actually able to engage in compassion and how that works. So that's the analysis of faults and virtues of the practice. And it's part of the practice. And I, yeah, I have lots and lots of conversations with people about the faults and virtues of compassion. And it's, it's analytical, it's logical. It's rational. But it has it has its function.

[28:53]

It's one of the places compassion develops from. Yeah, thanks. You're welcome. Nancy. Hayley? Hi there. Hi there. I was wondering, how do we develop this compassion? I guess there's a lot of talk about what it is and how it's, and all this comparison about the strength of the compassion of this bodhisattva. How is it developed? Well, you could say developed. Besides our meditation practice, how is this author suggesting that it's developed or? Later in the chapter, which is another reason why I love this teaching, he's going to teach how practicing generosity

[30:10]

you know, nourishes and brings forth this compassion. So generosity, I see as a compassion practice. So if I practice generosity, I am practicing, I'm practicing compassion. And also, by practicing compassion in the form of generosity. As we said back in the chat in the verse that talked about the the effects of the results of practice. If I practice compassion towards suffering, if I practice generosity towards suffering, if I welcome suffering, if I allow suffering, if I'm gracious with suffering, that is one of the places suffering comes forth from. Also, if I practice ethical discipline with the suffering, if I don't try to kill it or lie about it or intoxicate myself in relationship to it or try and misuse sexuality in relationship to it.

[31:21]

Now, all the things, all the ways of not taking care of it, I give up or I take care of it by practicing those precepts. And then the third practice is I practice patience with it. Those first three practices of generosity, ethical discipline and patience. Those are how we start practicing compassion with pain. And that generates more compassion. And then that compassion, which has been generated when it's applied to the suffering of others and self, that compassion brings a special pain, which is discussed in Karika 41. A pain in which only the people who are compassionate feel that pain. It's a pain that comes from love and compassion.

[32:23]

And that compassion has a great joy in it, which sustains us in a very profound way in practicing compassion in the midst of suffering. But there's more to come about how this, you know, we do continue to talk about how to foster, generate, nourish, and practice compassion. Hi everybody. My question is related to the word mercy. Yes. Somehow you got muted there for a second. I'm sorry, that's my computer. I got stopped by the word mercy. What is the connection between compassion and mercy?

[33:24]

Okay, so a little different, slightly different. So it's a different word. So the word that mostly is translated in this text as compassion is karuna. And the word that's translated as mercy is it's called I don't know how to say it exactly, but kripa, instead of karuna, it's kripa, which is also sometimes translated as pity. So they're related, but they're using different words to get different angles on it. So we have compassion, we have pity, we have mercy, and we have tenderness.

[34:27]

And these are different translations of different words. But I don't think there's a real line between, I shouldn't say real line, there's not really any separation between compassion, mercy, tenderness, and pity, but they have different qualities. However, there is also a term that we use that is quite familiar. Have you heard the term meta? So metta is often translated as loving kindness. So metta is somewhat different from compassion. We don't say, this text doesn't say, that when you feel metta for beings, you feel pain. It's a somewhat different point.

[35:31]

Part of our practice is to feel loving kindness towards beings, which is wishing them well, wishing that they'd be free of suffering, free of fear and distress. But the Metta doesn't necessarily lead us to feel pain. That's a key difference. Compassion, when we feel compassion for beings, we feel pain because of the compassion. And feeling pain because we love someone, this text is saying, is a great joy. But loving kindness, which is sometimes also translated as love, is a different animal. It's part of the program, but this text is emphasizing this feeling we have, this tenderness we have towards beings, which gives rise to a pain, which generates joy. Whereas the loving kindness, when we practice it towards beings, it also gives rise to joy.

[36:40]

Practicing metta, which is also in Sanskrit, maitri, towards beings, practicing love in that form, wishing them well, it doesn't, it's usually not spoken of in the tradition as saying, when people practice loving kindness, they feel pain. But when they practice compassion, they feel pain, a special kind of pain, which is the pain that comes because you love. The other kind of love, it doesn't really lead to pain. It's just, it's a joy. It's a joy to wish people well and want them to be free. This is a compassion which embraces them tenderly with empathy. And in that embrace, we feel pain. But it's the pain that comes from love. It's a special pain. The great compassion does not feel pain from being mean to people. It's far beyond that.

[37:44]

It feels pain by loving people. And that pain is unsurpassed. There's no greater happiness in our life than the happiness that comes from feeling pain because we love. So that's a difference, and the tenderness and the pity are kind of over in the compassion department. And the Chinese characters, there's two common Chinese characters that are used in this connection. The first character is pronounced ji in Japanese, and it's translated as love, and it's also translated as compassion. but it's not translated as pity or sorrow. The second character that's translated as compassion and also as love, but it's also translated as pity and sorrow. So compassion has pity and sorrow in it.

[38:48]

It's, you know, it's in that way, it's different from other forms and it's mercy in the sense, mercy is slightly different also than wishing people well. Mercy is like relating to their suffering rather than, not in contradiction with, but it's different to wish people who are suffering well than to, you know, be with their suffering. Mercy is not about, it's so much about wishing them well. It's about being with them in their misery. And again, that's painful and that's great joy. So I'm getting some, making some sense. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Good evening, everyone.

[39:52]

So you know in Sanskrit there's also the usage of the word Kripa that to mean grace as in like you know when you say Guru Kripa it's like the grace of the Guru and the Guru has so much compassion or you know the teacher has so much compassion for the student and their suffering from ignorance and their state that there's sort of a grace that is bestowed upon the student. And it's slightly different from the sort of sense of mercy, but I can see the relationship to that word of mercy and grace, like a universal grace of some kind, which comes from that quality of love. So there is that, yeah, I guess there is that relationship with love in that word of mercy and grace and, you know, in that way.

[41:01]

The guru has this kripa. Kripa. And the guru's kripa. Kripa, kripa, yeah. Yeah, the guru's whatever it is, the gift. Yes. This whatever you want to translate it, compassion, pity, mercy. It's a gift. It's given. And the one who gives it feels pain for the one it's given to. Even if the one who's given to is very happy. And that pain sustains the one who's giving this. Because it's hard to feel this pain, because it's painful. But we want to keep feeling it, which means we want to stay with beings, and keep giving them this compassion, and feel the pain, and give the compassion, and give the compassion, and feel the pain.

[42:09]

We need joy to keep us going. So this is not mundane joy, Mundane happiness usually goes with getting something or being free of pain. This joy is in the middle of pain. Also, this joy helps us not attach to mundane joy. Because we've all probably had some experience of mundane joy, and we all probably have had some attachment to it. So this kind of joy frees us from being attached or even addicted to this other kind of joy, which is mundane.

[43:12]

and doesn't really grow, this mundane joy doesn't grow on the suffering of others that we feel compassion for. Thank you, Rev. There was one question that came up when you were reading the verses about, and Linda, I noticed, also had typed it in the chat, where you, there was a verse which said, that it comes from the realization that, or the insight that we don't arise, the compassion doesn't arise, the suffering doesn't arise. And so is that teaching sort of related to the teaching on emptiness, or in the sense that it's, is it the same idea, like something not arising? Well, in emptiness, things don't arise and cease. And this is emphasizing the non-arising of things. It's not so much emphasizing, for whatever reason, the non-arising of things.

[44:18]

And again, this realization is the way the Bodhisattva understands nirvana, too. That nirvana also doesn't really... They understand nirvana as non-arising, non-origination. And earlier understanding was they understood nirvana as ceasing of nirvana, a ceasing of suffering. Bodhisattva understands nirvana as non-arising of suffering and non-arising of compassion. And the non-arising compassion and the non-arising of suffering and the non-arising of the bodhisattva, they go together in great compassion. And all of this, of course, lives in emptiness. But it's a slightly different emphasis than emptiness. In emptiness, nothing arises, but also nothing ceases. Nothing increases, nothing decreases. So this is the special emphasis on non-arising.

[45:23]

Interesting. Yeah, that takes a little bit of chewing over. But thank you. A lot of chewing over. And according to the tradition, it's very advanced to actually see this. In the meantime, we're hearing about it and having problems understanding what they could be talking about. Thank you. You're welcome. The Assembly is not being sheltered from very advanced discussions I have a question about resistance to compassion. And I have somebody in my life that's, I'm resisting compassion. And so I'm trying to give myself compassion. And sometimes I'll wonder, well, maybe actually compassion looks like resisting right now from what I think of as being compassion. So I guess I have a question about a great compassion.

[46:27]

Does it have a little variety in its flavor or would I know if it was great compassion that setting a limit? I don't know. Maybe my heart feels tight. So it's just not compassion. Well, I would suggest that great compassion again has the quality of equal. So it would apply. to this any tight feeling in your chest. It would embrace any resistance. And again, there's two different ways I see this translated. It embraces resistance, great compassion embraces resistance because it is pure. It has no way to like embrace this kind of suffering and not that kind of suffering. So it embraces resistance to compassion. But also the other way around is that by embracing, we'll say it one more, because it's pure, it embraces resistance.

[47:34]

And in embracing resistance, it overcomes resistance. The other way around, if you embrace resistance, you overcome it by embracing it and then That's the purity of great compassion. So either embrace the resistance and overcome it, or be pure and embrace the resistance and overcome it. So many opportunities. Next, please. Good evening. So this is just in the nature of a discussion. This text is, you say it's advanced, and so it comes across to me as like concepts, you know, wait a minute.

[48:43]

So I just want to discuss a little bit with you First of all about Kripa. One lovely thing that happens in regular conversation in India, my friends, especially the village friends, if I say to them, how are you? Are you healthy? They say, Apki Kripa, say, by your Kripa, I am healthy. Which seems like such an understanding a cultural understanding of what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Though, I bet I'm not the only one who does not like the word pity. But we don't have to get into that as a as a translation for anything here. So wonderful is what we're talking about. But I'll just do you want to say something about that? Well, just maybe I hear so much people have a problem with that word. I think it has the quality people associated with looking down on people.

[49:47]

We do. You've probably heard this often, and everybody knows what I'm talking about. So I'd rather just raise one more thing instead of that. I think sorrow is a nicer word. Sorrow is good. Yeah. So this section you advised us to skip, I just, you know, mischievously read that. And It's nice because it's just a metaphor of the tree. And it helped me. And it started out by saying about the tree of compassion that, or I don't know if this is where it started, but at 39, it says, one should recognize that love is the watering for the tree of compassion. So that gets to me. Sometimes when I'm just grappling with these constructs that you're giving us in words, doesn't. So is that maitri, that where it says love?

[50:53]

Is the watering of the tree of compassion? Do you think that that might be maitri or metta? I'm not, right now I'm not sure, but I do want to thank you, and I do feel like it's a beautiful section, but I feel like to discuss an analogy doesn't work very well in this medium. But I do think that it's a beautiful analogy or metaphor, and I'm glad that you read it and found it nurturing. So, yeah. But I just didn't feel like discussing analogies, it's like then, I just don't know how to do that in a group. But I do think meditating on that would be good. It's poetic, so it can sometimes get to our heart in a way that the concepts can't. So love, I have some ability to say, oh, love, whatever that is, because that's just as hard to penetrate as compassion.

[52:04]

But I can sort of get that in something is in love, Even the suffering on behalf of the loved one also is beautiful. You said blissful. So that's all I just wanted to say that. Yeah. So I love someone and their suffering and I'm just so happy to be with them. And I would feel terrible not being with them. And I would feel weird if I didn't care. But I do care. It is also the source of that great happiness. So anyway, we agree. Thank you for talking to me. Basia?

[53:12]

I know. Hi, Assembly. I just wanted to add some things. As I was listening to the conversations on the meaning of compassion, what came to my mind was working as a therapist with clients. and trying to find a place that is most helpful to the clients. And so what came to me was that there's something about transformative for the client when the therapist is able to be with the client completely. And really it's in that great compassion And I just remembered and I then from that quality of being, I thought it feels like when we have none of those things on the list in 35, then there's that total openness to the person, to the situation, to what is.

[54:37]

And then the suffering simply is the product of no separations, no barriers between, of the concepts of me and they and this and that. So then I looked up in the dictionary to see if that's where actually, is there any translation of that kind of meaning that I was thinking about? And in the Wikipedia, it says the etymology of compassion is Latin meaning co-suffering. So it's a very good observation. It is to be so unreserved, not protected, not separated by any conceptual things that we are completely naked and naked is even a good not a very good word but it's just there being so

[55:38]

You know what I mean? It's just, there's no separation. And then of course you feel suffering because you perceive that, you see it, you win it, you live it. It's just there. And somebody mentioned, I will ask the question, how do we get there? Well, actually 35 gives the list of things that if we observe in our, that's how I saw it as I read it, if we observe each one of those in our quality of being, and if we recognize that, okay, first one, not equal or constant, to me actually, what you, is not only what you just said, that it's equal to everyone, but also I thought about equal or constant instead of, describing a state of being because compassion does not have preferences or liking or disliking.

[56:50]

So it's a state of being that is like just totally non flavored. So it's constant. If there's up and down, there's emotions and that's usually attached to the self, right? That's what I was thinking. What do you think about that? Well, we talked about three kinds of compassion, right? But now we're talking about great compassion. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. So, you could say great compassion has no flavor, but also great compassion embraces all flavors. Right. It doesn't have them, but it's not separate from any flavor. Right. And it embraces all fragrances or odors. It embraces all sounds. It embraces all beings. But it doesn't have any of them. It just is nothing in addition to or separate from all beings.

[57:53]

Right. And when you go to the second one, not from universal responsibility, again, the way I read it was You know, when I come to act from my personal responsibility, that's my little self coming up. Universal responsibility is something that, again, just like flavorless, great compassion. It's kind of indescribable until we feel it because anything else is a little self jumping in. little agenda of me trying to do something. But the little self is included. Right. It's just that it's not great compassion by itself. It's embraced by great compassion. But there's that quality of constant that you don't feel when you're just when you're encapsulated

[58:57]

in the self, in the simple level self. But again... Because then it's up and down. Being encapsulated and being in the up and down... It's part of it. That doesn't interfere with great compassion. Great compassion just embraces that and draws on that. Right. Yes. just more nourishment for great compassion. But the other kinds of compassion, like sentimental compassion, has some problems with some of this stuff. Yeah, get rid of that self or bring that stuff on or keep this self and get rid of that self. And that's part of compassion, too. But we call that kind of first type, which is again, sentimental compassion or compassion, which sees these things as objects and existing on their own. But all the beings who are doing this warm-up compassion of the first type are totally included in great compassion.

[60:04]

And great compassion is saving them without being anything in addition to them or less than them. Oh, it's almost like holding them you know, once once in a big hands, you know, definitely holding them, and it's also being held by them. All the all the kind of immature forms of compassion, hold great compassion, and vice versa. It's really a great situation. Yeah, yeah, like, thank you. Thank you. Yes, welcome Yuki. Thank you. I wanted to ask you about equality also.

[61:06]

And at the very beginning of this, this class, I think in the first session, you said something about you had a pain in your knee. And I said, I had a pain in my knee too. But those two things seem different, you know, and I might, I might equally wish that we each be free of pain, but the experience still has, you know, my needs, I'm a little more intimate with that than I am with your pain. So I'm just wondering how that works into this discussion of great compassion. You know, I have heard that there's some practice like exchange yourself for others, like imagine that somebody else says pain is yours, I can see why that would be helpful. You can do that as an exercise. Yeah. But also in this text where it says, how does it say it?

[62:08]

I think universal responsibility is one translation and superior intention is another translation and high resolve. That's referring to when you actually see, when you actually have the insight. that you are exchangeable for others, and others are exchangeable for you. And then there's also exercises to develop that. Well, that seems very advanced. Yeah, it is. It's very advanced. And this understanding of this reciprocity between each other is part of great compassion. even before we realize it, we can do exercises, which promote it. And before that, I feel like we can be sympathetic. And we can even be empathetic, but it's not the same as we can.

[63:11]

And that and that's part of developing this other thing. Yeah. And in in Shanti Deva's work, the entering the bodhisattvas way of life. Bodhicharyavatara. He teaches about developing tranquility and concentration. And then after being concentrated, then he brings up this meditation on exchanging self for other. So it's a practice he recommends to do after the person has been taking good care of themselves and the person is now quite calm. And then in that calm, open space, he recommends this meditation. And then if one actually enters into that understanding, then you have realized an element of great compassion. Congratulations. Thank you.

[64:13]

Thank you. Rem? Yes, Pam. Welcome. I just had a question. The double negatives in number 35 have confused me. So it says that is not mercy, which is not equal or constant. So I get that part. Mercy is this mercy that we're talking about is equal and constant. This mercy that we're talking about is from universal responsibility. Yeah, it is from practice. Well, it's it's it's from it's from equality. It's from constantness. It's from universal responsibility, which also means understanding that self and other are reversible. That's another translation of that.

[65:16]

It's from practice. And it's from detachment from gain in the practice. And it's from non perception. It's from all those things, this type of compassion. And we don't have those things, there's some lack of realization of great compassion, even though we may have quite a bit of other types of compassion, which great compassion embraces. So the part where it says this mercy is from non perception. So what they're talking about. So So non-perception is beyond perception. Also, it's a particular thing that's being referred to. It's saying that this great compassion, it emerges from realizing that the beings we're devoted to don't arise.

[66:24]

It arises from realizing that we practitioners do not arise, and our compassion doesn't arise. That really unleashes and opens up the full dimension of compassion. So great compassion has this realization of non-origination, which sets it free to totally embrace all beings. And that totally embrace, which requires this kind of understanding, otherwise we hold back now and then. or a lot. This total embrace is what saves all beings. It doesn't add anything to them or subtract anything. But in order to not add, we need to understand that the thing that we're not adding to doesn't even arise. Okay. We understand that thing doesn't arise, we don't subtract from it. So we see suffering, we don't add to the suffering, we don't subtract from the suffering.

[67:25]

Without this understanding we're into like subtracting from a lot of people into subtracting suffering, or increasing freedom from suffering. There's none of that in this because we're starting with things don't arise and that releases the compassion to enter fully into great compassion. And when we say they don't arise, we mean it doesn't arise in consciousness as a separate thing. Well, let's see. Even if there is an appearance in consciousness of a separate thing, that appearance of separation does not arise. Okay. That's the understanding. Okay. Which again, allows us to be kind to these illusory appearances of separate beings who are, you know, Who, who should be who then we might get into they should be different, rather than just embracing them.

[68:32]

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Me. I am. Who is it? Is it Tracy or John? Tracy. Tracy, it was you, but I think you... Sorry? Tracy, I think you turned off your video. Oh, I did? We're next, but... We're after you. You can't see my picture right now? Now we can. Oh, okay. But before, it was your voice and Barbara Jones' face. Oh, okay. Shall we do my face now? Okay, and then should we have Barbara Jones' voice? might be an interesting combination. Um, I would like to confess to being deeply unsettled by the compassion teachings, by my misperceptions, misperceptions, that I feel like I based my love of Buddhism on a complete misunderstanding.

[69:51]

And it's, it's just, it is disorienting for me. And more than something beyond disorienting. So all this time, I thought the vows I took were to remove suffering. I thought that's what I was signing on for that. May all beings be happy sentient beings are numberless, I'd rather save them. So I've been going down that track. That's my that's my Buddhist job. And then at the intensive, I think I heard or got the little idea that no, That's not the job. The job is to be with suffering, not remove it. Okay, so that's been, I'm not kidding, that's been a huge deal, yes. Okay, so, by the way, I'm gonna give a talk on Saturday through the KnowAbode Zoom room, and I will talk in more detail about this. But right now I'd like to say that yes, Buddhism's about saving beings who are suffering rather than removing the suffering.

[71:03]

For me. Because if you remove the suffering, you would also get rid of the beings. You'd throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's about embracing suffering beings and protecting them from suffering, even while they're suffering, protecting them, liberate them while they're suffering, and not liberate them from suffering they used to have or might have in the future, but the suffering they have right now. It's fine to wish people to be free of suffering. That's like loving kindness. I wish beings to be free of suffering. But loving kindness does not say, I wish there was no suffering. It doesn't say that. It says, may beings be free of suffering. May they be buoyant and at ease and free. It doesn't say, I wish there were no suffering people. But some people think that's what Buddhism is about, is reducing the suffering, which means reduce those people to be suffering less.

[72:11]

That's fine. And we have a wonderful medical profession, which is trying to do that to reduce suffering. And, you know, I'm probably going to have a knee replacement, which might be seen as to reduce suffering so I can walk more. You know, because right now the suffering in my knee is such that I can't walk very far. But I'm being careful with it, but I'm not so much trying to reduce the suffering. I'm just being careful with it. So I would say not so much. For me Buddhism is about embracing the suffering and liberating beings. Embracing suffering beings and liberating them. And the main thing that liberates them is for me and the other to realize that we're not separate. Not for me who's separate from you to get you to suffer less, which might really annoy you. And you might feel like I disrespect you to try to get you to be a less suffering person, but I'm not into that.

[73:15]

I'm not into having a less suffering Tracy than I've got right now. But is that realistic? I mean, if I'm suffering and you can help me, I don't think I'd be insulted. In fact, you've helped me a ton with my suffering. So why are you saying I would? But my helping people is not intended to reduce their suffering, it's to help them deal with their suffering better. Because if I were to reduce people's suffering, what happens when I walk away and the suffering comes back? But if I'm helping the person deal with their suffering, if they feel less suffering when I'm around, that's fine, I don't mind. But what I really do mind is for them not to learn how to deal with it because it's going to come back. And even if it doesn't come back for them, it's going to come back for their friends. So for me, compassion is where it's at. Compassion is not about reducing suffering from my understanding.

[74:18]

It's about embracing it and liberating it. And liberating the beings who are engaged with it. It's about freedom and peace, and also not attaching to peace and freedom. And being compassionate with the suffering we've got now goes with not attaching to less suffering and peace. So again, look at the fascicles as saying the bodhisattva does not abide, they do not abide in peace, they do not abide in nirvana, where basically, suffering is not arising. Yes, but they don't abide there. They embrace the suffering when it comes. They wish people well, I wish, you know, you're gonna have an operation, I wish you well. But I don't wish you to suffer less than you're suffering. I'm with your suffering the way it is. And I wish you well. As you speak it, that is I aspire to that.

[75:24]

And I just feel like cannot be counted on to not, if I see you suffering, to not want to remove the suffering. I feel like it's in my blood and my bones to want to do that. This sentimental compassion is deeply rooted in our body and mind. And great compassion embraces this sentimental compassion and helps it become free of itself. It wants to liberate beings from these lesser compassions, but not by getting rid of, we're not trying to get rid of suffering. We're not trying to get rid of lesser compassions. We're embracing both to, to save beings and to liberate them and to make them be at peace. And then once they're at peace, we practice compassion with them so they won't be attached to the peace. This is a truly amazing teaching. Thank you. It's amazing. And thank you for sharing how disorienting it can be. And I'll talk more about this, because many people come to me and say that they're practicing Buddhism in order to reduce suffering.

[76:33]

And they don't ask me, but if they did, they say, can I stay at Zen Center, even though I'm here mainly to reduce my suffering? I say, yeah, you can stay. But some people come to practices and not to reduce their suffering, but to learn how to embrace it more fully. The people who attracted me weren't people who had a low level of suffering. They were people who like open themselves to suffering and weren't afraid of it. That's what I wanna learn. Barbara, Joan and Jeffrey and whatever. Well, I think it's me with the question this time, but I also want to say that I really appreciated Tracy voicing that misgiving and the answer you just gave to her. I think that was very helpful. Everything you've been saying is very helpful. That was particularly resonant with me. My question is a bit different, and I had this from the very first couple of minutes of this.

[77:36]

Which is, can you speak a little more about non-arising? Because you've mentioned that in a number of times tonight, that the non-arising of the person or being that is suffering, or that is apparently suffering, and the non-arising of the appearance of that. I think you've spoken to both of those. Could you elaborate on what that means? Because I'm having trouble with that concept. So, I don't know if that's a clear enough question, but... It's a very clear question, and... Thank you. Yeah, you're talking about a very profound teaching, okay? So one thing I would say, for starters, is that we have three kinds of patients sometimes we talk about. The first kind of patients is patients with hardship, like being too cold or too hot, or having pain in your knees, or just like, I just thought of, this gymnast named Simone Biles.

[78:42]

She said, I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. That's like a hardship. It's just really hard to be in her shoes. Not to mention she had a hard time training all those years. She went through a lot of hardship to get to where she's at now. She did a lot of hard training to get where she's at. And now she has a new kind of, weight and difficulty to bear, and it's really hard. So the first type of patience is to be with that kind of hardship, like pain in our body, overwork, and so on. The second kind is patience with insult or attack and cruelty that comes to us from other people. It's more difficult than cold and heat and heavy burdens. It's really hard when people are cruel to us or other people.

[79:43]

So that's the next kind of compassion of patience. Compassion in the form of patience with insult and injury from other sentient beings. And the third type of compassion is, third type of patience is to be able to accept that things don't arise. That's the most difficult thing to be patient with. And you didn't exactly ask about that, but I'm just saying that this kind of patience is so unusual. I mean, the object of this kind of patience is very unusual, and it's much more difficult to deal with than being insulted, because it basically, it upends our whole view of the world as a place where things are arising and ceasing. So basically what it's saying is that this arising and ceasing, the arising is an illusion. It's like something's arising, which is really totally the whole universe, but it looks like this thing's arising and not something else, but that's an illusion.

[80:56]

And so I'm happy to talk about this more, but basically it's, the rising is an illusion, which if we meditate on and we see that as an illusion, and we can accept it, we see and accept it, that kind of frees our compassion. But I'm happy to talk about this more, but it's a quarter of nine. It's a very deep question. And basically, it's the acceptance of reality that that these appearances are arising are illusions. Would that take the thing that's arising out of context? In context, it doesn't arise. It just is happening together with everything. Out of context, it arises and something else doesn't. But we can talk about this hopefully forever, because it's an ongoing meditation, okay? I suspect we will be talking about it. It's a very profound and advanced thing to understand, but that doesn't mean we don't start talking about it now.

[82:04]

Meditating on it. Matter of fact, let's meditate on it tonight, shall we? Yes, thank you. As you go to sleep tonight, meditate on non-arising of all things, all right? Thank you everybody for staying with us through this challenging teaching. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to cut through. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Vivian, you came late. Welcome. Nice to see you with your hat on.

[83:08]

What time did you arrive, Vivian? around 720. Okay, welcome everybody and thank you everybody and good night everybody. I wish you well, I wish you well. Is it possible to get from you the titles of the translations or whatever that you're using so we could read them as well? Yeah, let's see. Maybe I'll try to give them to Sonia and ask Sonia to send them to Gay. Sounds good. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Good night.

[84:04]

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