as the mind surveys the teachings that have been offered during this intensive and before, one might notice going over the same material again and again. So, The purpose of repetition in this case is so that I could invite one of you to come up here and you could present the teachings. But it takes not only repetition but also question and answer in order to actually really become the teaching. So there's a joke about this, but if you want some jokes later, let me know and I'll tell you a joke about this.

[01:31]

But for now, I'd just like to mention again that I presented at the beginning two ways that Dogen presents for directly realizing awakening, or two ways to directly hit the mark. One way is meeting the teacher, or practicing with the teacher, and listening to the Dharma. And again, I would translate it as listening and questioning the Dharma, the teaching. The other way is wholehearted sitting, wholehearted meditation, wholehearted sitting meditation. which, again, I would expand to say, wholehearted meditation in whatever posture you're in. Those are two ways that are presented as a structure for our practice.

[02:40]

And I also presented three kinds of wisdom. Wisdom through listening or hearing. Sometimes said wisdom through learning. Then wisdom through contemplation, analysis, question and answer. Although there could be question and answer in the first part, too. And then wisdom through meditation on the previous wisdoms. The first type, you get things from the other and dialogue about that. The second, you integrate what you got from others with your own whole life. And the third way

[03:40]

is you just sit still with the previous wisdoms and you observe them in tranquility. And then the other thing I brought up is the presentation of the practice as tranquility and insight. Or that's like the one way to put it, tranquility and insight, that's like the result. And the other way to put it is calming and observing. Those two aspects of practice. And then I also have related those two aspects of meditation to the three wisdoms. And I also related the three wisdoms to meeting the teacher and listening to dharma and wholehearted sitting.

[04:46]

Today I'd like to introduce another three, which are three minds or three kinds of awareness. unconscious awareness, conscious awareness, and wisdom awareness. We have a term for unconscious in Mahayana Buddhism called alaya.

[05:47]

The next kind is called sometimes vijnana or citta. And this is prajna. Oh, and then I also related this to thinking, not thinking, and non-thinking. So all these are different ways. Going to meet the teacher and listening to the teaching and wholehearted sitting meditation, that's a tradition that comes from our family, Dogen. And the other is also from our family, Yarshan. thinking, not thinking, and non-thinking. So those are innovations of our family style.

[06:48]

And I've tried to show you how they're related to Mahayana Buddhism. And I do this so that when you read the Fukunzazengi and other Zen texts, you understand that they're being innovative, but they're working with, I feel, they're in accord with Mahayana teachings. but also even more than Mahayana, earlier than that. Like I have suggested a couple of cases where I can see these teachings in the pre-Mahayana. So the shamatha and vipassana, the calming and contemplation, is found in the Pali tradition and the pre-Mahayana Sanskrit tradition. the Samatha and Vipassana.

[07:54]

And I think in Pali it's called Sati, Satipatthana, it's called Samatha Vipassana. It's similar, but they don't have a sh in Pali. So it's both in Pali and Sanskrit, this calming and contemplation practices. But Zen people don't usually talk about it. And I think that was partly to establish their own style, which seems to be different from the indigenous Buddhist schools. Not the indigenous, the other Buddhist schools. So what should I do first here?

[09:00]

Oh, I guess I would say that, as I said before, like right now, we're here together, we're talking, we're listening, and you're learning these, you're hearing about these three types of awareness, three types of mind, about three types of wisdom, about two ways to penetrate body and mind, and so on. You're learning these things and you can be listening to these things in a normal state of consciousness which is not necessarily in a state which we might call tranquility or shamatha. And one of my main supports for understanding Samatha Vipassana is from the Samadhi Nirmocana Sutra.

[10:04]

And again, as I mentioned, I commented on the sutra in the third turning of the wheel. And in chapter seven of the sutra, there is a discussion of, quite a nice discussion of calming and insight, Samatha Vipassana. In the three translations now in English, the translation that was used for the book actually keeps the words shamatha and vipassana. It doesn't translate them into calming and observation or observing. And again, it points out that you could be doing calming practice. And then it says, which means that you're diligently applying the attention to letting go of discursive thought.

[11:11]

And then it says, now if you're doing that, but the mind and body, body and mind do not yet have what's called prashrabdhi or suppleness and flexibility and relaxation in them, is that shamatha? And the siddha says, no, it's not. But it's very similar to shamatha because shamatha does go with this exercise you're doing but you haven't actually attained shamatha, you're training in it. It's a training conducive to or in accord with, but not yet realizing tranquility if you don't have this suppleness of body and mind. Then it says, if you're reviewing the teaching, if you're contemplating the teachings, is it vipassana? if you're not in shamatha.

[12:15]

If you have a mind which doesn't yet have this undistracted, flexible body and mind, and that's the situation in which you're doing the contemplation. Not yet with prashabdhi. Is it vipassana? And the answer is no. But it's very similar because in vipassana you also contemplate the teaching as you have understood it. When you're in a state of tranquility and flexible and subtle, open body and mind, and then you contemplate the teachings, the teaching then it's vipassana. And then again relating that to these three, yeah, three kinds of insight.

[13:28]

Insight can come when you're not, yeah, when you're listening. Insight can come when you're listening. And oftentimes, as I said in the past and present, we have classes, but particularly lectures and dhamma talks given to people who are sitting cross-legged in meditation. So the listeners could be in a state of shamatha. And in that shamatha, there could be insight. And there is that type of insight which comes when you're in tranquility, listening to the teaching, and then the teaching is illuminated, or your mind is illuminated by or with the teaching.

[14:34]

I would say with, actually. or the light of the teaching is discovered. And that's the first type of insight, first type of vipassana, first type of wisdom. And then as you explore and investigate, as you quietly explore and investigate the teaching, quietly explore the causes and conditions of this teaching, then another level of insight can occur, which is integrating your discursive thought more and your current life situation with the teaching. And another level of insight comes in that state of tranquility.

[15:40]

And then the third type is the previous insights are now the topic of your meditation. You just sit with them and another kind of insight comes. And now I'd like to shift to the three types of mind. And then I'll bring in, try to relate these teachings, these aspects of practice with the three types of mind. First type is conscious mind. And I also want to relate three types of compassion, which I haven't introduced. but I'll do it now. The first type of compassion is compassion according to your customary way of thinking and understanding. It's sometimes called sentimental compassion.

[16:44]

Its objects of that type of compassion are beings as such. Or I should say beings per se. Beings as they appear to your conscious mind. That's the object, the first type of compassion. Second type of compassion, the objects are according to Dharma, where you actually start now to analyze and investigate the beings with whom you're practicing compassion. the beings internally or externally, you now analyze and bring them into accord with Dharma. A major one would be you can practice compassion towards a being who you think is permanent. Second type of compassion, you're practicing beings, practicing compassion with beings in the light of that the beings you're practicing compassion with are impermanent.

[17:53]

That's one small example of lining up the object of compassion with dharma. The third type of compassion doesn't have objects. And that's great compassion. And that compassion is Buddhist compassion. And that compassion is united with wisdom. And that compassion includes the previous types of compassion. because it also is compassion. It embraces them. However, it doesn't have objects. It has compassion for all beings, but the beings aren't objects. It embraces all beings without them being objects. It embraces them in intimacy. They're not out there. They are totally part and parcel of the compassion. And the compassion embraces the other two types of compassion without them being objects.

[18:57]

So now, again, turning to the three types of mind. First type, unconscious mind. And the Buddha did use the word alaya to some extent in the early teachings, but the alaya was much more developed in the Yogacara school of the Mahayana. So it's the word we use for the unconscious cognitive activity. And it is very closely associated with the body. It's very intimate with the body. Alaya is the unconscious cognitive realm, and it's very intimate with the body. And the body is very intimate with it. A body without unconscious process is what we call dead.

[20:06]

A body with unconscious cognitive process is alive, but not necessarily conscious. So that we human beings actually are sometimes, you know, not very often, but sometimes our life actually embraces unconscious cognitive process and the body. But we don't have consciousness sometimes. like, again, in a coma, in certain special yogic states, or in deep, dreamless sleep. These are situations where the consciousness is, you could say, latent or turned off. So that's the unconscious process, and it is to support

[21:09]

of the arising of conscious mind. And conscious mind, in conscious mind there is a sense, there's some kind of phenomenon called a self. Some of you have studied Yogacara with Phu in the last year, and I think you studied Vasubandha's Thirty Verses. And towards the beginning of Vasubandha's Thirty Verses he says, I think something like, there are three transformations of something. The resultant, mentation and the concept of the object. And that stands for, the resultant is alaya.

[22:11]

Alaya, the storehouse consciousness, is the result of all past karma. So there's the alaya, and then there's the concept of the object. That's the conscious mind. In conscious mind, there seems to be consciousness and objects of consciousness. That mind seems to be mind and objects of mind. That's the normal conscious situation. And that type of mind arises in dependence on the unconscious process. And in that mind we have the sense of self. And also in the 30 verses it says, and that sense of self comes with four afflictions. So this conscious mind is a realm of affliction.

[23:19]

And the overall pattern of the conscious mind, as I said before, in Sanskrit it's called chetana. And in English it could be translated as thinking, intention, volition. And this intention is not the same intention like a vow. It's intention more like the vector or direction of the consciousness. And that's the definition of karma. So the conscious mind has an overall pattern which defines that moment's karmic activity. that moment's thinking. And then the next mind is wisdom mind. And that mind is beyond thinking.

[24:22]

That mind is beyond the conscious mind, free of the conscious mind. It's also beyond the unconscious mind, free of the unconscious mind. and totally intimate with both conscious and unconscious mind. And not only intimate with conscious and unconscious mind, but intimate with many conscious minds and unconscious minds. So for now, I would say we have thinking is in the consciousness. And non-thinking is beyond consciousness. It is wisdom. But it is also great compassion, because great compassion is the same intimacy as wisdom

[25:24]

So again, corresponding the three compassions to the three minds, the first type of compassion, sentimental compassion, corresponds to consciousness. The second type of compassion corresponds to consciousness where there's critical examination of what's going on in consciousness, comparing and bringing the teachings to the consciousness. So the second type of compassion is also in the realm of consciousness. The third type of compassion comes with insight, and it's beyond thinking, beyond consciousness, and unconscious, free of both, and illuminates the previous types of compassion and the previous minds. Now, it's about two other terms I want to bring in here, which I kind of brought up.

[26:36]

One type of thing is called bodhicitta. Did we say that in the chant? One bodhicitta? Did you say bodhicitta in Hotsugaman or bodhimind? Yeah, bodhimind, right? Bodhimind, bodhicitta. So bodhicitta, there's two types. One type appears in consciousness and it's thinking. Kind of like, it is thinking, I would like to realize authentic awakening for the welfare of all sentient beings. That's a thought, that's thinking. And when that arises, and one actually is committed to that, that's a kind of thinking.

[27:41]

So bodhicitta is born in consciousness. I just want to briefly mention that it's born in consciousness through an interaction between consciousness and what is beyond consciousness. What's beyond consciousness? Non-thinking. Great compassion. Perfect wisdom. These things are beyond consciousness And when the consciousness, in a relationship with the wisdom and compassion which are beyond consciousness, this magnificent thought arises in the consciousness. Now before it arises, the consciousness might have already heard of bodhicitta.

[28:46]

You read a book, it says, wishing to liberate all beings and attain Buddhahood in order to do so, etc. You can read that and think, that's interesting. But when it actually arises for you, that you actually like, yeah, that's my life. And that's the main thing in my life. Then that's bodhicitta. And it's thinking. It's in the thinking mind, the conscious mind. And it happens a first time, but almost not a last time. It happens a first time, and that's a great moment in the evolution of the world. However, there's another bodhicitta, another bodhi mind, which is beyond the one in consciousness, which is non-thinking, which is beyond thinking. And that bodhicitta we have before the other one arises in our life.

[29:57]

We always have all three of these. And the prajna mind is always here and the prajna mind is great compassion. And it's bodhicitta, but not bodhicitta as a conscious construct, but actual, the absolute, beyond thinking bodhicitta, which is intimate with the relative bodhicitta. That's the thinking in the mind. And this thinking, from the time it arises until the awakening to the bodhicitta which has always been here, and always will be here. So this prajna is always with us when we're alive. This is always with us when we're alive. It's always present. It's a matter of waking up to it.

[31:00]

And we wake up to it by practicing compassion with the thinking mind. We wake up to this prajna this great compassion, which is always intimate with our thinking mind. We wake up to it by practicing compassion with the thinking mind. And when the compassion becomes great compassion, then we realize that the thinking mind is not the thinking mind. So wisdom sees, the wisdom mind is always observing. the conscious mind, and it's always observing the thinking going on in the conscious mind, and it's observing it without it being an object.

[32:09]

It's intimate with the thinking mind, and it sees that thinking is not thinking. That's what the wisdom mind sees in the conscious mind. What kind of thinking is going on there? Well, there's thinking, but the thinking is not thinking. That's what great compassion makes possible and that's what great wisdom sees. Everything and all the different elements of cognitive activity in consciousness which comprise our thinking, each individual element in our thinking and the overall pattern, each of them is also not each of them. So everything is demonstrating the pivotal activity of Buddhas, which is also the liberating function of Buddhas, is that everything free of everything.

[33:13]

And grandmother mind I brought up. Grandmother mind actually is also in consciousness. And it's an event in consciousness which sees everything that's going on as none other than the Buddha way. And it sees the Buddha way as none other than this body-mind. So again, it's closely related. It's like a special key to make bodhicitta work, to make the body-mind work well. But, you know, it also could be called some of the six perfections, and I forgot to mention that. The bodhicitta, when it arises, although it's wonderful,

[34:19]

when it first arises, it's like the flame of a candle. And a light breeze can blow it out. Or a flip of the hand can blow it out. It's fragile. It's a thought, a magnificent thought, but it's impermanent. and it can be lost temporarily. And this flame of bodhicitta is protected by practicing compassion. It's protected by practicing generosity. ethical discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and the ultimate protection is wisdom. By practicing these perfections, this flame grows.

[35:21]

And it grows to such a point that it becomes like a forest fire. And then the wind just makes it get stronger. But that wind that makes the forest fire grow would blow out the candle flame. So we practice these six types of, these three types of wisdom with the bodhicitta. And the grandmother mind is a key teaching to remind us kind of of the six perfections in short form. For example, everything's an opportunity for the Buddha way. In other words, everything's asking for compassion. In other words, everything wants to be dealt with graciously. Everything wants us to be careful of it. Everything's calling for us and is an opportunity for the Buddha way.

[36:28]

Everything's an opportunity for ethical discipline. Everything's an opportunity for patience. Everything's an opportunity for diligence. Everything's an opportunity for concentration and wisdom. Grandmother of mine reminds us about that because we might forget. Everything's an opportunity to practice the six perfections and And Mother Mind also reminds us that no matter what's going on, the six perfections are nothing other than what's going on. If we're going to practice these perfections right now, we practice it with this body and mind. We don't change this body and mind and then practice the six perfections. We practice it through this body and mind. So the emphasis in that section I introduced at the beginning of direct realization is very close to the grandmother mind, to directly realize the way.

[37:32]

Using this body and mind. Grammar of the mind says, same thing. Use this body and mind. Use this grandchild to realize the way. And understand there's not another Buddha way other than taking care of this body and mind. So what I introduced about direct realization is another way, has been said other ways, of the family and the grandmother mind of our school. And once again, the first two types of insight apply to the conscious mind. Now, although they're applied to and applied in the conscious mind, at the moment of application, the unconscious mind changes.

[38:39]

When a conscious event occurs and we We apply, for example, listening to the Dharma. That listening transforms the unconscious at the same moment. When we examine the teachings and question them, that activity in consciousness immediately transforms the unconscious. if we are not practicing compassion with what's going on, that also immediately transforms the unconscious. Practicing compassion towards what's going on in consciousness, that moment of being generous towards what's happening, the unconscious changes. Not later, at that very moment. Not being kind to what's going on,

[39:43]

changes the unconscious, too, at that very moment. Of course, in one case, it changes the unconscious in order to be more supportive of more compassion. The compassion of this mind transforms the support of this mind to be compassionate in later minds. The lack of compassion undermines or I should say transforms the unconscious in a way that undermines the further practice of compassion. So again, in the conscious mind we have the first two types of compassion. In the prajna mind, the mind beyond consciousness, we have great compassion. And the great compassion embraces the earlier types of compassion, just as the great wisdom embraces the previous two types of wisdom.

[40:53]

The third type embraces and meditates on the previous two levels of insight. And again back to Samatha Vipassana right now, some of us could be in a state of tranquility due to our practice of calming, listening to these teachings, and doing the third type of wisdom with the discussions we're having in consciousness right now. So one could be, yeah, again, the perfection of wisdom, the third type of wisdom, the third type of vipassana operates, is beyond consciousness and operates on the insights that have arisen in consciousness. So this is a theory about practice.

[41:59]

Was there anything else I wanted to bring? Well, I'll tell you the joke now. So this is a joke about a... a geologist who traveled from university to university. And he had a chauffeur. How many people have heard this story? One? Only one? Wow. Great. So he goes to the university and gives a talk about about geology, for example, about how to drill in the ground and find out what's on there and figure out whether there's oil around there. And not just by finding oil, but by other geological information. And after this chauffeur was his chauffeur for quite a while, he said, they're driving along, I guess, maybe to another university.

[43:17]

He says, you know, I've been listening to your talks for quite a while, and I think actually I could give the talk in your place. And, oh, by the way, I think when the geologist was giving his talks, when his talks were over, then they would have dialogue, question and answer. And people would bring up things which were not mentioned in the talk. But anyway, so the geologist says to the chauffeur, okay, at the next place we go to, you can give the talk and I'll sit in the back and listen to you. So, yeah, so the geologist went as the chauffeur and the chauffeur went as the geologist and the chauffeur gave the talk because he had heard the talks many times. And, yeah, things went quite well because he did remember a lot of diamond talks he heard.

[44:19]

And then people started asking questions. And that went okay for a while, too. And then somebody asked a really hard question. And the chauffeur, smart chauffeur, he stopped and said, I don't mean to be impolite, but that question is so elementary that my chauffeur could answer it. Would you come up and answer it, please, Shilpa? Just demonstrate how elementary that was. Also in mathematics, sometimes when people are doing, when the mathematician is doing a proof, they're writing the proof on the board or on whatever. But like in a class, they're doing the proof in front of the class and then they get to a certain place and they say, well, the next point is trivial and they move on.

[45:25]

They don't need to go through the next part because it's trivial. In Buddhist texts, too, sometimes they say that the next point is obvious and they move on. And so somebody did that with, I don't think, now I can't remember whether I was in the room or not or whether the mathematician was telling me this, but anyway. In the story, the mathematician said it's trivial, and the student said, would you please tell us how it's trivial? In other words, do the proof of how it's trivial. I mean, do the proof which you're skipping, and then if you do it, we can see how trivial it is and whether it was trivial. And the mathematician left the room for quite a long time and came back and said, it's trivial. He had to go and work it out how it was trivial. Oh, just that I had repeated this teaching over and over so many times that you might think, well, I already know this.

[46:38]

I could probably get up and say what he said. But my experience is that if I actually ask people to do that, they can't necessarily do it, even though I've told them something over and over. Over and over is part of it, but still you need dialogue. Another thing I heard in math classes, Leibniz said, if you don't understand some particular theorem, memorize it. And Dogen says, all the Buddhas are practicing together with each person. And he realizes that's pretty surprising to people. And then he says, the mountains and rivers and great earth arise together with each person. And he also knows that people have trouble understanding that. It's kind of a profound theorem.

[47:42]

People usually think that the mountains and rivers and the great earth are there before we arise. Before we were born, there was some mountains and rivers. But he's saying, no, they arise with us. And he says, if you have trouble understanding these teachings, basically memorize them. Think about them over and over. So I'm just sort of like kind of making an excuse for myself, repeating things. because otherwise you won't be able to give up and get the teaching and be questioned and so on. It has to be gone over and over for it to sink in. And so it's in your body. That was the relevance of the story, of the joke. What else was there? Something else really important. What time is it?

[48:45]

10.03. Yeah. So once again, if we have thinking and we give it lots and lots of compassion, we awaken to great compassion. We awaken to that the thinking is really the whole universe. That the thinking is the whole works. It's the whole universe working through the thinking. It's not the thinking. It's the whole universe working in this form. It's 99.9. No, it's 100% the whole universe and 0% the thinking.

[49:47]

It's the whole universe and there's no thinking in thinking. It's just a whole universe like this. It's everything and the one thing that thinking isn't is the thinking. So by being compassionate with anything, like for example thinking, any being You awaken to that this being is the whole universe in this form and there's nothing of this being in this being. This is only the whole universe here. This being is not an addition to the whole universe or less than the whole universe. This being is not a tiny bit of being in addition to the whole universe. And compassion for this thing opens the door to that wisdom. And if you, again, as I mentioned before, the monk asked Yaoshan what kind of thinking was going on, but he could have also asked him what kind of feeling is going on, what kind of pain is going on, what kind of karma is going on.

[51:03]

And for Yaoshan, whatever it is, he loves it so much, he's totally free of it. In other words, well, it's not that. And sometimes they don't answer so directly if you say, well, what kind of thinking or what kind of feeling? Instead of saying, well, the kind of feeling is not thinking, they say stuff like, I always think of Hunan in the springtime with the partridges chirping. That's the way they say, you know, not thinking or not whatever it is. Just to mention something from the realm of freedom from the thing. But this case, this story is the one that Dogen really likes. So one of the things that pops in my mind is

[52:06]

It was a piece of calligraphy which I think is still over the doorway of the door to Suzuki Roshi's apartment in 300 Page Street. I think the calligraphy is still there. And the calligraphy was done by the person who was, I think, the godo at Eheiji, when Suzuki Roshi was a student there, and then he later became an abbot. His name was Kumazawa Taizan. And the calligraphy, I asked Suzuki Roshi, what does that calligraphy say? And he says, it means, he said, cloud driver or cloud farmer. That's what he told me. Later, and then there was some other writing on the calligraphy, but he didn't tell me about the other part of the writing. So in big characters is the word for cloud driver, and then a small inscription below that says non-thinking.

[53:18]

Non-thinking. a more poetic version of beyond thinking. Okay, is there any... Any wisdom you'd like to share with us? You have some wisdom? Oh, you have a question? Okay. Put your mask on, please. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't remind you before you spoke.

[54:19]

Oh, by the way, may I mention something? The translation, it says... and the word for shin is an ordinary word that's sometimes used for consciousness. But some people have translated it rather than grandmother mind. And that character can also be grandmother heart. But some people have translated it as grandmotherly mindfulness. I think mindfulness is nice because it's a heart that remembers, that's mindful that the Buddha way cannot be other than our daily life. And again, that's a conscious mindfulness. Okay, so we have an option to have the microphone here and people wear the masks or go over there and take their masks off.

[55:34]

What? Yeah, vote for mask off over there. Okay. You can go over there and Would you open the other door please so that people aren't backlit? You know, you always say Good job, Jillian.

[56:43]

You always tell us Reb is Reb. And in my experience, what I find most present about you is that Reb is not Reb. That's how I experience you. And when my conscious mind comes in to see what I think of as you with judgments or any opinions... I'm always surprised by how what is not rap about you shows compassion in ways that I'm opened to a greater mind through you. which doesn't seem that different in some ways from the realm of what you're talking about today. But I guess my question has to do with the fact that we're all in the soup, interpenetrated.

[57:55]

So if I have an experience of a visitation, like of great compassion or loving kindness, oftentimes I experience it as not mine, like it's coming through me. Sometimes I have really strong ideas of what direction it's coming in. Other times I'm not as sure. But to hold unity, or you say it's It's not happening anywhere other than this body or mind. But in my experience, I lose myself in a way that I don't think is just losing self like a good way. Like I cannot, I feel a little insane. I cannot, yeah, I can't separate. all the beings in me from being a person.

[58:58]

Did you say you can't separate all the beings in you from being a person? Is that what you said? Yeah, like they take over all the beings, so I'm like an orchestra of beings without... Well, that's true. You are an orchestra of beings. That's true. You are. You're an orchestra of... the whole universe of beings. That's right. So that's why I use my conscious mind like you say. I think what you lose is you lose your grandmother mind. I lose my grandmother mind. You lose the mind which remembers that this orchestra that you are, which is you're having trouble being, is that the Buddha way cannot be other than this orchestra. You lose that. So is that kindness towards every being?

[60:03]

Yeah, you forget the mind which knows that every being is an opportunity, including hatred is a being that's an opportunity. And you forget that the Buddha way cannot be other than what's going on with you. So in that way, you at least temporarily have you were lacking in grandmother mind. And I want to tell you about somebody else who was lacking in grandmother mind in a minute. Yes? You done? Yeah. Okay. So I think I heard her say that sometimes she loses mindfulness she loses grandmotherly mindfulness with what's going on. And I agree with her that she is an orchestra of many beings. We are all an orchestra of many beings.

[61:04]

Is orchestra related to the word oeuvre? Does anybody know? Is it related to the word for work? I'll find out. But anyway, we are all, what do you call it, orchestras of infinite beings. And the one being we're not an orchestra of or that we're not due to is what we are. There's no universe outside of us or inside of us. We are the whole universe, period. And everybody is. And every being in this great way is a great opportunity. And everything that's going on, the Buddha way can not be other than this. And we forget that or we don't believe it in the first place. And one of my most encouraging conversations was one between the ancestor Dogen

[62:16]

and his Dharma grandson, Tetsugikai Daisho, whose name we chanted this morning. So Tetsugikai was talking to Dogen, and Dogen was very sick. And Dogen said, the other day I thought I was going to die, but I didn't. But even so, I don't have much, much longer. And he told his wonderful disciples, he said, you're such a great, you're so great, you do so much for the monastery. Everyone trusts you. However, you do lack in grandmother mind. And in that conversation, he said it to Dogen twice. Dogen said it to him twice. And then later after Dogen died, Tetsugikai was talking to his older brother who became his teacher after Dogen died, Koen Eijo Daisho, he said to him, our late teacher told me I lacked in grandmother mind, and I did.

[63:26]

I didn't believe him. I didn't believe our teacher when he said that there's no Buddha way other than our daily life. I didn't believe it. But now I do. Finally, he really got firm faith in Grandmother Mind. But most of us, in some situations, we think, no, no, the Buddha, the way of peace and freedom, the peace and freedom party, is something other than this. So that's a moment where we either have not heard of grandmother mind or we have temporarily forgotten it. Or we've heard of it and remember it, but we don't believe it. Like Tetsugikai heard it from his teacher over and over. He didn't believe him.

[64:30]

Can you believe that? That you, you know, Dogen would tell you something, I don't believe it. Some people didn't believe Shakyamuni Buddha. And some people didn't believe Sukhirashi. It's amazing, but such things happen that we have a really compassionate teacher who is giving us a gift and we say, that ain't no gift, man. But it happens. And we can recover. And we can discover that it is a good gift, grandmother mind. Next, Maya and Vanessa. Is compassion something that can be experienced?

[65:46]

Experienced? Did you say? Yes. Well, experience, like some people think experience is perception. So I would say there's different types of compassion. The first two types of compassion can be perceived. The third type of compassion is not mixed with perceptions. Like we say in the New Enchant, all this, however, is describing the workings of compassion. All this, however, does not appear within perception because it's unconstructedness and stillness. It's immediate realization. So great compassion is not a perception. But these other first two types of compassion can be perceived. They are in the realm of conscious mind perception. So like you could really wish to give me a gift and really wish to accept me as I am and be gracious towards me.

[66:54]

And you could like perceive that that's how you feel. And that's compassion. So I could perceive the compassion, my own compassion? Yeah. Can I perceive your compassion? Yeah, I might do something and you might say, that was so gracious of you, that was so patient of you. And that's the first two types, where the compassion, either the compassion seems to have an object or it is an object of your perception. So those are the first two types of compassion. They have objects, they're dualistic, And then there's a third type, which is not perceived, but it embraces the types that are our perceptions. What do you mean it embraces? Pardon? You said the third type embraces the first two? Yeah. Meaning... Well, great compassion is intimacy with the previous two types, but it's so close to them that it doesn't see them as objects.

[68:02]

And it also, what do you say, Yeah, it has no way of clinging to the previous two types because it's so intimate with them. And I also want to relate, she said, can compassion be experienced? And I don't use perception as equivalent to experience. For me, experience is a bigger term than perception. So I would say compassion is really the truth of our experience. Great compassion is. Our truth of our experience is not just our perceptions. It's also our feelings. It's also all kinds of other emotions. It embraces all of what we are consciously and also unconsciously in our body. That's our experience. But that's not a perception. But perceptions are included in it but can't embrace it.

[69:05]

Perception has to reduce things to get them. The Buddhist term perception is talked about the mark of a thing by which you can apprehend it. So perception reduces phenomena to a coherent, graspable version of them. And the first two types of compassion do that. So the first two types have marks. Well, they have marks, but also they're practiced towards things where they grasp the things through their marks. Like in consciousness, you have a mark by which I grasp you as separate from the door behind you. And I practice compassion with the door, but with its marks, and with you, not by its marks, but by what I think are its marks and what I think are your marks. So, yes. Yes. You don't really have, you know, very temporarily you have a mark, which in my mind I use to grasp you, to perceive you.

[70:13]

That's actually your mark, right? Yes, right. And then Vanessa. Will you talk about the relationship between compassion and love? And love? Yeah. Well, so there's You've heard of loving kindness, right? So there's loving kindness and compassion in our tradition. And loving kindness kind of sets up compassion.

[71:17]

Loving kindness is wishing people well, wishing them to be happy, really appreciating them, having a gentle affection for them, cherishing them. And that sets up the possibility of embracing and being intimate with their suffering. So loving-kindness isn't so much about being intimate with people's suffering It's more like wishing them well, whatever their situation. Compassion is being intimate with their suffering in order that that intimacy would be transmitted to them and that they could be free of suffering. So the word love could be used for both loving kindness and compassion. But there's another kind of love which, what do you call it, has attachment involved in it.

[72:23]

But I don't know, did you mean that kind of love? Oh, yeah. So we can use love for both loving kindness and compassion. And the Chinese character, this Chinese character, I think it goes like this. It doesn't look right. Do you want to come through? Do you want to rewrite it? Oh, yeah, right. So this character is translated into English as love and compassion.

[73:28]

So you can use this character for love or compassion. There's another word, another character. This character is almost never, usually is not translated as love. It's translated as compassion or watch out for here's a scary word, pity. It has pain in it. It embraces. This emphasizes embracing the pain. Compassion is more like getting into the pain, like being a suffering-soaked sponge. It's intimacy with it. But it's based on really appreciating people and cherishing them and wishing them well. And then because you care for people, because you appreciate them so much, you will go into the sewer to help them.

[74:30]

Wherever they want to go, you go with them because they're so precious to you. And the preciousness is more like the loving kindness. So you can use love for both of them if you want to. So sometimes I'm disconnected from feeling loving-kindness and yet I'm trying to be compassionate. Am I being compassionate? Being separate from loving-kindness is painful. So be compassionate at the pain of the separation from loving-kindness. So we can still practice compassion even when we're not feeling loving-kindness?

[75:34]

Well, actually, I take it back. If you don't feel loving-kindness for, I don't know who, but let's say me, at that moment maybe you could feel loving-kindness towards yourself. So actually in the teaching of loving-kindness, they do actually start with different renditions of it. But one case, to get started with practicing loving-kindness, they start with something easy. And then they work on to harder and harder cases. That's a short version of it. They teach loving-kindness by picking some being that's easy to do it with and then work out to the ones that are hard. So sometimes some beings we do not feel loving-kindness towards. Like when someone's really cruel to us or cruel to somebody we care for, we might have trouble having loving-kindness.

[76:38]

that cruelty might blow out our loving-kindness. So then we go, fine, where can I be? Where can I feel it? Oh, here, I can feel loving-kindness to this darling little baby or to this puppy or this little kitten. Find something, or a newt. Find something that you can go, oh, my darling. And then work that. And as it grows, you then can... And also maybe feel some compassion that you can only... I feel such compassion for my painful, limited, loving-kindness. But at least I have a little for some things. Can I ask one more question?

[77:40]

So an example of what I'm wondering. Can I adjust this for you? Yeah, all right. It pains me to see you bent over. Yeah, that's good. There we go. That's nice. So an example that I'm thinking about is someone was, I perceive they were cruel to me and then they needed my help later. Yes. And I did not feel loving kindness for them toward them, but I helped them because I wanted to be compassionate, but I didn't feel. And I'm wondering, is that still compassion? Is that the intention to be compassionate even though I'm not feeling? I think it is possible to not feel loving-kindness for something and still practice compassion towards it.

[78:44]

But I would say the compassion is undermined by the lack of loving-kindness. So like this person's cruel and I really try to welcome their cruelty, but I notice that I don't feel loving-kindness for them. That will undermine my welcoming. I can still try it, but I would say loving-kindness is really important for full full-scale compassion. And also, it is work beyond loving-kindness. It's another type of bodhisattvic activity. We can do a little bit of compassion, certainly, even if we're weak on loving-kindness in a particular instance. We can still work the compassion, but we'll be able to work the compassion more

[79:47]

if we really value this being. Partial value of the being does somewhat hinder us from giving ourselves to totally being intimate with them. But it doesn't stop it completely. And we learn by trial and error. So we learn, oh yeah, There was some compassion there, but it was somewhat closed down. And I noticed I don't really cherish that person. But I really did honestly, joyfully give them a gift. I gave them help, and I'm glad I did. But all the more I would have been able to do that if I really cherished them and appreciated them. Thank you. You're welcome. So the text that I was using last year for studying compassion was Chapter 17 of the Mahayana Sutra Alamkara.

[80:56]

the ornament of the Mahayana Sutras. And in Chapter 17 they have a section on loving-kindness. And it's a lovely section and it highly praises loving-kindness. But most of the chapter is on compassion. So the bodhisattvas do practice loving-kindness. Buddhas do have great loving-kindness. but there's more emphasis in the Mahayana on compassion. Chapter 17 of the Mahayana Sutra Alankara, which translated in English is Ornament of Mahayana Sutras. So we studied that compassion section in a couple of series of classes last year. And I'm always thinking of that chapter.

[82:06]

It's such a wonderful treatment of bodhisattva compassion. Anything else this morning? Oh yeah, Linda? Linda, yeah. Linda and who else had their hand raised? John and Tracy. And Rosa? Oh, Henning. How are we doing on time? Okay. Kitchen leaves at Forty-five? Okay. Well, thank you for closing that door. On the board, you have prajna. Why don't you have prajna karuna?

[83:07]

Why isn't the word karuna together with prajna? I didn't follow that. So... Karuna is prajna. I mean, is compassion. Is compassion. And wisdom, compassion cannot be separated. And that's... Yes, they can. They can? Well, I mean, cruelty and compassion cannot be separated. So nothing can separate great compassion. But these other kinds of compassion are not connected with wisdom. The first type of compassion is not connected with wisdom. Wisdom is present but not realized. The first two types, especially the first type of compassion is conscious compassion and is sentimental. It's not wisdom-fied. It's not insightful. What I'm trying to ask is not coming through clearly.

[84:10]

But maybe this will make it more clear. When I was young and... No, no, that's too much. I was drawn in by Mahayana Buddhism exactly because of the wisdom and compassion inseparability Great wisdom and great compassion. And wisdom is not separate from anything, but certain types of compassion, they don't accept the wisdom teachings. I'm talking about great wisdom and great compassion. And I feel uneasy to see wisdom, even great wisdom, even written without great compassion, right with it. You don't seem to think that's a serious problem, but I do. Yeah, so you do.

[85:13]

And great compassion is with you having some problem with that, right? Well, I am having some problem with that. No, I know. I'm saying, and great compassion is with you there, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. it's not just a problem of me hurting because of something, it's a problem because if we don't completely acknowledge these great compassion and great wisdom forever together, I am afraid that we'll forget it, that we'll think wisdom is something. Like the Arhats, I've never understood that they could have great wisdom and somehow not quite get great compassion. I don't know if they have great wisdom.

[86:16]

Ah, okay then. I don't know if they have prajnaparamita. Okay. So that's part of the deal is you have early Buddhism had prajna, and the Buddha had the same prajna, but then Mahayana had another prajna, which went beyond the first prajna. And prajnaparamita is great compassion. Okay, well, I still think there's a problem here, but you don't seem to think there's a problem with writing prajna without writing karuna. I'm not saying there aren't problems. I'm not saying there's not problems. There are problems. I'm just asking you, has the problem been addressed with compassion? That's the important thing for me. Not whether there's problems or not. Well, I just... I'm asking for understanding and the presence in our midst of wisdom and compassion never separated.

[87:41]

That's all. You're asking for... something in relationship to the inseparableness of great wisdom and compassion. What are you asking for in that regard? I don't want to get lost in wisdom without compassion. You don't want to get lost in wisdom without compassion. Right. Yeah. And also, do you also not want to get lost in compassion without wisdom? Yes, I also don't want to get lost. So in Vimalakirti said, God's scripture says, wisdom that's not conjoined with skill and means, compassion, is the bodhisattva's bondage. And skill and means, compassion, that's not conjoined with wisdom is the bodhisattva's bondage.

[88:46]

So we want them to be united. What I'm trying to point out to you is uniting them with your suffering right now. And I think you're afraid that if you bring compassion to what you're worried about, that you'll stop worrying about it. You don't want them to be separated. And you're worried that they will be. And that's fine. But I think you're afraid to let compassion come to your worry because you think you'll stop worrying and you think it wouldn't be good if you stopped worrying because then you wouldn't be protecting the world from them being separated. But the way to protect the world from them being separated is to be compassionate to the pain of separation, not to uphold separation and say, this must not be so.

[89:48]

I mean, you can do that, but then compassion and wisdom conjoined goes to that and lets that be, doesn't try to... lets it go away if it wants to go away, lets it come if it wants to come. Yeah, so you seem to be afraid of stopping worrying. And if compassion comes to you, you might stop worrying. It might happen. But then we'd have compassion joined with wisdom, which is what you want. So I don't need to worry about your writing wisdom on the board and not writing compassion? Will you show me what I wrote where I didn't write? I don't know what you're talking about. I wrote compassion and loving kindness. What didn't I write? Oh, here? Oh, compassion here?

[90:55]

Yeah. Okay, so we have three minds. unconscious, conscious, and wisdom, compassion mind. Yeah. Because this prajna is a prajna filled with compassion. And the kitchen's leaving and and Dubai Kitchen, and they don't want to miss out on anything. Is it okay if we stop so they don't miss out on anything? Yeah, I know.

[91:56]

So can we let go of the other questions, or should we go ahead and have discussions that the kitchen will miss? That's the question. Yeah? How many people want to go ahead? Raise your hands. And how about not go ahead? A slight majority. Not majority, but a slightly more want to go ahead than not. OK. Who is the next question? John? I wanted to circle my questions. Has turned cold.

[93:08]

I think the word you said was ouvre. Is orchestra related to the word ouvre? Yeah, I was wondering. I'm not sure, but I think ouvre means like egg. Ouvre means what? I think it's the French word for egg, so it's sort of like this is the whole collection of my work. The word I'm talking about is the French word for a work, like a symphony is an ouvre. But I think ovum is also in there. Maybe ovum and ovra are etymologically related. So going along that same route then, would you be willing to talk a little bit about bija or latencies and how they relate to store consciousness and being activated and so on? Okay. Yeah, I will. So the unconscious, one of the definitions is the... all the seeds for conscious events are in this storehouse.

[94:19]

And these seeds are the result of karmic consciousness. So every kind of consciousness creates an effect. Every moment of karma has an effect. And the effects are embodied in our unconscious cognitive processes and also in our bodies. So when you think something, it has an effect on your nervous system. which is closely related to your unconscious cognitive processes. So all those effects the effects become the seeds for further conscious events which have the effect of further seeds. So these two are constantly evolving and the seed emphasizes that the unconscious is the source of what matures, what might mature in consciousness.

[95:33]

Is that enough on that? So the follow-up is about, some teachers will talk about the awareness which cultivates and brings forward positive states and which tends to subdue negative states. In other words, they sort of want to tune the mind to a good experience. I feel like we don't do that so much in our training. Like the great compassion is sort of like what you're saying of, it's all good with me, just anything grows, anything goes. Could you talk about that? Yeah. Conscious compassion is the cause and effect of compassion. So conscious compassion leads to more compassion. And lack of compassion tends to lead to lack of compassion.

[96:43]

So we do recommend we beat the drum, we praise practicing compassion in consciousness because it does transform our unconscious and our body. And, yeah, so we definitely are encouraging compassion for the sake of more compassion. The confusion that comes, though, if you talk about subduing negative states, it's possible then that you would not practice compassion towards them. So I want to be careful to encourage compassion towards states which are unwholesome. not that you like them or try to encourage them, but you're using them as a opportunity for compassion on one side, and also you're liberating them on the other side.

[97:50]

So, yeah, so they want to receive compassion. They're calling for compassion. And if they get compassion, they become free. And also the compassion grows by freeing them. rather than compassion going and trying to squash all the negative states, which means squashing lots of people. Compassion is not a people squasher, a people subduer. So subduing is, you know, at the present top point in the evolution of Buddhism, is a word I rarely use. I'm more talking about promoting and protecting and liberating rather than getting rid of stuff. But there is, in the past of Buddhism and in the presence of Buddhism, people sometimes find it useful to destroy things, eliminate things, destroy bad things, eliminate bad things, subdue bad things.

[98:53]

I'm careful not to use those words because it seems like it just gets people all agitated and confused and they can't hear the teaching of compassion anymore because they're on the teaching of revenge against evil. But I do want to encourage and praise compassion. And who was it? Was Tracy next? Maybe? Maybe? Okay, Tracy gives up her question. And any other people want to give up? You want to give up your question, Henning, or you want to ask your question? Go tell the kitchen what you said. What do you want to do, Henning? Okay. So any other questions that people don't particularly want to give up at this time? You have one you don't want to give up? Okay. maybe I shouldn't put it, not wanting to give up, maybe I should put it, feel it's really necessary to give it at this time.

[100:10]

I might change it a little bit. My question then for you is with bodhicitta, you had mentioned that when that arises in your mind, that that is like a flame of a candle that needs to be nurtured. Same thing with perhaps compassion. When that arises in the conscious mind, then it's important that it's cared for so it doesn't get blown out. Yeah. And from that, when that arises, then comes the boundaries that you put in place, such as the precepts, to nurture it. Now, the question that I... It's a little bit difficult. The precepts are part of the way you protect it. Okay. So it's protecting it. And nurturing it. And nurturing it. Okay. So... With that, though, because it's arisen in the mind, is not bodhicitta the same as any other being that would arise in the mind, inherently empty?

[101:18]

I didn't quite follow that. Is bodhicitta when it arises in the conscious mind? and it's being cared for. Is that not treating the bodhicitta as any other object or any other being that would arise in the mind? Is bodhicitta not inherently empty? And because it seems that what we're learning here through caring for it, it's treating it as if it is somehow more valuable than maybe any other thing that arises in the mind. I don't think we have to get into that it's more valuable. I think that we just have to point out it's more like we should treat Bodhisattva like we treat any suffering being.

[102:19]

we should apply the same compassion to bodhicitta that we would to a suffering puppy. Same compassion. Same. It's just that people might think bodhicitta is so big and strong and wonderful and glorious it doesn't need protection, but it does. So it's not that it's more important or deserves more compassion. It's just that it deserves the compassion that everything should get. And it's not that they're less important, but they should get the compassion that bodhicitta gets. So the great bodhicitta and the petty little thought, they're both calling for compassion. They both deserve it. But yet we're choosing to care for the bodhicitta rather than another... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, [...] no. Thank you for asking that question. Because no, we are not choosing to give bodhicitta protection and not giving protection to other things.

[103:25]

However, not however, and if you give protection to all things, you will give protection to bodhicitta. And if you give protection to bodhicitta, you will give protection to all things. Thank you. It's not compassion for X rather than Y. However, it may be that we are at a stage of development where we give compassion to X and not to Y, but that's something we, when we notice it, it's something to look at and see if, you know, that's not... If you want to practice compassion Buddha's compassion, then you want to practice it towards all beings. And if you notice you're not, then be compassionate towards your limited compassion. Okay, is that enough for this morning?

[104:32]

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