Well, now that you've come this far, please call forth as much as you can of love and respect and trust Let all obstructions drop away and let defilements go. And then listen to the perfect wisdom of the gentle Buddhas taught for

[01:03]

heroic beings and intended for the wheel of the world. Once upon a time there was a great Zen master who lived in China. And he asked his monks, he said to them, what was the Buddha up to during his entire lifetime? What was the life work of the Buddha?

[02:16]

And he answered the question himself. The work of the Buddha's entire lifetime is an appropriate response. An appropriate response. That's what Buddha's work is. And the actual Chinese way of saying this is three characters, which I think the first character is meeting, and the next character is one, character for one, and the next character means to teach. So meeting, one, teaching. or meeting each thing and teaching. So that's what the Buddha did.

[03:20]

The Buddha was living. And then every time the Buddha met something, there was teaching. And the point was that this teaching was appropriate to whatever that was. If it's a bird, maybe you listen or look at it. If it's a person, maybe you say, good morning, or maybe you wave, or maybe you say, how are you? If it's a cry of pain, maybe a tear glistens in your eye. If it's a Zen monk, maybe you shout, And when she hears the shout, maybe her response is to wake up and become free.

[04:27]

This is what the Buddha is about. Appropriate responding to wake up birds, to wake up crying people, to wake up meditators. Always, what's the response, the awakening response? What is the response of awakening? What's the enlightened response? That's all the Buddha was working at, according to this Zen teacher. Buddha comes to each moment, or rather each moment comes and then there's Buddha. And this Buddha wasn't there before the moment arrived and had no agenda beforehand, but then a response arises. This is the way of Buddha.

[05:35]

The moment arrives and there's Buddha. The usual way for people is, I'm here and the moment arrives. Here I am and this happens. And now I respond. Here I am and somebody shows up and I say, hello. That point of view of I'm already here and then things come where I'm already here and I go forward and do things and respond. This is not the Buddha's perspective. This is not what the Buddha was up to. The Buddha was not there, not here, but then something came, there was a meeting, and then there was teaching.

[06:41]

It doesn't have an agenda waiting to give it to us. But the usual way is we predate what's happening, and then we're waiting to convey our agendas. So I don't know if you're interested, but I am interested in how do people who have a tendency to be here already and then act upon the world make the turn to being Buddha and be in a way, to be in the way, so that the appropriate response can arise. How can we make the transition to Buddha from the point of view of delusion that I'm already here acting on the world?

[07:55]

How do we make the transition from delusion to enlightenment? I'm interested in this turning How about you? Want to hear about the turning? As a way to enter into this turning, I bring up another story about another ancestor in the Zen tradition. The story is about This is an Indian Zen teacher. His name was Prajnatara, which means a jewel of wisdom or a wisdom jewel. Now this teacher lived in India and he got invited to lunch one day by a king.

[09:04]

And he accepted the invitation and arrived for lunch. And it was traditional for Buddhist monks to, when they come to the household of a person and receive lunch, that they would chant scriptures for the household. But this teacher didn't chant scriptures. And so the king said, Master, you know, usually people chant scriptures, but you don't. You're the only one I've met so far that doesn't chant scriptures. Why don't you chant scriptures? What's the reason? And the teacher said, this poor wayfarer, when exhaling, doesn't get entangled in myriad circumstances.

[10:30]

When inhaling, doesn't abide in the realms of body or mind. I always, I constantly recite such a scripture. One hundred, one thousand, one billion times, one billion scrolls. This, another way of translating it is instead of exhaling, I don't get entangled in myriad circumstances.

[11:41]

Another way to translate it would be, this poor wayfarer, exhaling does not get entangled in myriad circumstances. inhaling and does not abide in the realms of body or mind. I'm constantly reciting such a scripture. And in Chinese, the expression, such a scripture, could also be understood as a scripture of suchness. In other words, I'm always reciting a scripture of the way things are. I'm always reciting the scripture of reality.

[12:46]

And what is reality? Reality is that exhaling, the experience of exhaling, does not get entangled with myriad circumstances. Or exhaling, you don't get involved in myriad circumstances. Inhaling, you don't abide, you don't reside in the realms of body or mind. That's to be with that kind of inhaling and exhaling is to recite the scripture of the way things are. And this way, this kind of recitation, this kind of breathing,

[13:53]

is the medium of turning from delusion to enlightenment. It's the medium of the appropriate response. It's the medium where the appropriate response arises. where it's the medium in which we are weaned from our immature relationships with the world. We are weaned from our immature relationships with the world. And maybe at a certain phase of our development, which I've talked to you about in the past,

[14:58]

we have immature relationships with the world. Immature relationships with the world is that we grasp the world, that we get entangled with the world, we abide in the world, we attach to the world. At a certain point in development, that's appropriate. When we're children, It's appropriate. We need to have that kind of relationship to things. But when we become mature, it's time to have mature relationships. It's possible to have mature relationships where we no longer get entangled and attached to the world. And this way, this kind of practice of non-attachment is the medium in which we make the transition from deluded children to enlightened adults.

[16:14]

And the teaching of the Buddha is to encourage us in this transition, this turning. Celebrating this story, another monk wrote a poem, and one of the lines in the poem is, in the subtle round mouth of the pivot, the spiritual work turns. What's the pivot? Where is the pivot? The pivot is an opportunity that's there, that's always here in every experience.

[17:33]

in the subtle roundness of every experience, there's an opportunity to turn, to be turned, to turn and be turned. To turn from, I breathe, to breathing of me, to turn from I recite the scripture to the scripture recites me. So in the recitation of the scripture, There's just the recitation of the scripture.

[18:49]

There's just listening to the world. Sometimes we say, listening to the cries of the world. Not at first, it's, I'm listening to the world. I'm listening to the cries of the world. And gradually we learned how it can be that there's just listening to the cries of the world. There's just sensing the world. There's just sensing things. There's just experiencing. There's not a me experiencing, there's just experiencing. If there's me experiencing, then I accept there's me experiencing.

[20:02]

I don't fight that. But I also recite the scripture, or eventually there is the recitation of the scripture, which is there's breathing, there's exhaling without me doing it, and there's inhaling without me doing it, and then there's inhaling me and exhaling me, or there's inhaling and then there's me, and there's exhaling and then there's me. First there was inhaling and exhaling, and then there was you. There was breathing before there was you. But then at a certain point, in the middle of this inhaling and exhaling, there was the birth of me, and then there was the birth of you.

[21:09]

There was the birth of you, and then there was the birth of us. This happened. And then there was the birth of attachment. And this happened. Now it's time to turn around and go back to things happening all over and then there being us. I was talking to somebody who is in the current situation of not smoking cigarettes. This person is not smoking cigarettes. I asked him, how's the smoking situation? And he said, well, pretty good, sometimes hard. He said, sometimes I feel stressed in my job.

[22:16]

But then instead of, well, he didn't say, instead of, or, of course, going to have a cigarette, he says, I just inhale and exhale a few times. And it doesn't take the stress away, but I feel more settled with the stress. Now, as some of you know, or from personal experience or have heard, if you feel stress and you smoke a cigarette, sometimes the the experience of smoking makes you feel more calm. Either reduces the stress and or makes you more settled with your stress, which is a similar thing that happens if you just follow your breathing.

[23:31]

And I said to this person, yeah, that reminds me, you know, my mother, you know, who has emphysema and also smokes cigarettes, she tries, she's tried to quit many times smoking cigarettes, but she says it's impossible. But anyway, she still keeps trying even though it's impossible. And she's also tried chewing this gum that has nicotine in it. But I thought, there's two things going on when you smoke. One is you're getting this drug, this chemical, this nicotine, which calms your body and stimulates your mind, which some people like that combination. A lot of writers like it because If you get, you can sit your body down at the desk and your mind's still awake to do the writing.

[24:46]

So it'd be nice if, I guess if there's even a more powerful drug to completely like stop, you know, paralyze your entire body except your fingers. and stimulated your mind. So then all you had to do is get yourself to your writing area, take this drug, and you'd have to stay there until it wore off. And all you could do was think and move your fingers. This would help writers, right? Ordinary people with an active body have trouble sitting someplace for a while and doing their writing. So it's a nice drug. But the thing about the drug that's different from the smoking is that the smoking involves your breath. And it's hard for some people to just sit and feel their breath going in and going out, especially if they have emphysema. It's not necessarily so pleasant to feel the labored breath. But the smoking kind of helps you feel the breath. You feel that smoke going in.

[25:49]

You feel the breath going into your body. It's coming with smoke, but you're feeling the breath. And feeling the breath, you feel your body. And feeling your body, you feel your body, you start to settle into your bodily feeling. So the advantage of smoking over chewing the nicotine gum is that the smoke, the smoking helps you tune into your breath when you inhale. And then when you exhale again, you get to tune into your breath. So smoking's kind of a meditation aid. Actually, it actually helps you feel your breath, just like a meditator wants to do. But it makes it easier because of the color of the smoke and the feeling of it and the taste of it. So that's why smoking has the additional... virtue over just chewing the gum.

[26:52]

It does if you could just take away the thing and do the same thing, but it's harder without that smoke to notice the breath. It's easier with the smoke. But a big part of what we want here is we want the settling feeling of being with our body. So we kind of have to do that work for starters. To find this pivot, we have to take our seat. We have to feel the body. We have to feel the body. We have to feel the mind. And if we're stressed and we feel the body, it doesn't necessarily take the stress away, but it's possible, even when you're stressed, to be calm with the stress. It's possible to be calm with great pain.

[28:02]

It's possible to be calm with labored breath. It's possible to be calm with anxiety. with the feeling of the anxiety. Which means not that you're feeling good about the anxiety, not that you're feeling blissful about the anxiety, but that you can be with it. That the anxiety comes and you're there and you're not... you're not doing anything but be there with it. And one little mantra that we've been using lately is, in the anxiety, in the stress, as it comes, there is the expression, the feeling, thank you very much.

[29:03]

I have no complaints whatsoever. Anxiety is arising in the body. Stress is arising in the body. And the meditation is, first of all, thank you very much. I have no complaints whatsoever. I'm not asking for an alternative to this stress. I'm not asking for an alternative to this stress. This does not create more stress. This does not necessarily reduce the stress. This is not about reducing stress or increasing stress. This is about making the transition from delusion to enlightenment.

[30:05]

This is called the way to make the transition to experience and realize the turning from bondage to liberation. meditations or any kind of attempt we make to reduce stress. And, you know, stress reduction is fine, but stress reduction is not what Prajna Tara is teaching. He's not teaching stress reduction. He's not teaching stress increase. He's teaching the way to move from bondage, which is to try to negotiate and complain about your experience and try to get it to be different, which is the usual approach. We usually bring our lawyer to our experience. I was saying to someone last night that I find the New Yorker cartoons, generally speaking, you know, often anyway, kind of Buddhist understanding in the New Yorker cartoons.

[31:19]

Like one of the main type of New Yorker cartoon, one of the main genres of New Yorker cartoons is people either praying or people, you know, at the pearly gates. And the thing is usually about some kind of negotiation at the pearly gates, some kind of argument, some kind of complaint. And often there's a lawyer there at the pearly gates, or even sometimes people have their lawyers next to them while they're kneeling at their bed praying. That's not the Buddhist understanding, but it's the Buddhist understanding to see how funny that is. that you'd be negotiating with God. Kind of saying, well, couldn't we work out kind of a deal here? Don't you think you made a little bit of a mistake in my case? I mean, I can see about these other people, but me? Generally speaking, I feel that you're very wise and you're on the ball, but in my case, I have a complaint.

[32:30]

I can't really say thank you very much. This is a cartoon because it's funny, right? It's funny that we would actually, isn't it funny that we would actually, given an experience, you know, like a foggy day, isn't it funny that we would sort of say, well, no thank you. No thank you, fog, no thank you. Isn't that weird? Do we do that ever? Or we get sick and we say, no thank you. Or we feel pain in our gut and we say, no, thank you. God made a mistake, this pain and all. No, thank you, and actually I have a complaint. Wouldn't it be funny to do that if something happened and you say, no, thank you? Something's happening, right? And you say, no, thank you. You say, no, thank you, too. What's happening? I want a different thing happening. It doesn't have to be a lot different.

[33:36]

A little bit will be okay, and then we can gradually work from there. You know, a patient process of negotiating with what's happening. Rather than being friends with what's happening and saying, hello, thank you for coming, and I have no complaints. You are actually okay the way you are. I accept this completely. Not because it's good, because it isn't good. Not because it's bad, even though it is bad. But I just accept it because it's what's happening. I recite a scripture like this, like this, like this. This is the scripture I recite all the time, the scripture of what is happening. This is the start. This is the settling. the settling into what is happening.

[34:43]

And, you know, people say, oh, acceptance, I can see accepting, but thank you? No. Thank you, if you can't say thank you, that shows you you don't really accept. Thank you very much, not just thank you, but thank you very much shows you what acceptance is like. It's actually thank you very much. I actually not only accept life, but I actually really do accept it. I actually affirm life. I actually accept it. Or not even I accept it, just thank you very much. I don't even say that. Somebody says that. When there is this kind of talking, it's not really me that's saying it. It is Buddha saying it. This is Buddha talk. I've just taken over my mouth. This is the ancestors, the Zen ancestors saying, I don't get entangled in the world. Getting entangled in the world means, well, you know, let's keep this a little longer and let's move this along now.

[35:52]

This is enough of this. This isn't enough of this. This is called being entangled in what's happening. This is called abiding in the realms of body and mind rather than Realms of body and mind arise, realms of body and mind cease. Here comes, there goes. Here comes, there goes. Here comes, there goes. No negotiating, no arguing, just thank you very much, settling into simply what's happening. And then in that settling, then now that we're settled, not attaching to what's happening and not seeking anything else. Just listening to the world.

[36:57]

Just listening to the cries of the world. And in this medium in this soup of what's happening. There is a transition from me doing things, me carrying myself forth onto the world and trying to manipulate it. to the world coming forth and giving me life. And in this life, in this life, this life that happens when the world comes forth, this life, this life is the appropriate response.

[38:05]

The way you are when the world comes forth and then there's you, the way you are at that time is what the Buddha is about. The you, the self that's there in the advent of all things is the Buddha. That self, the way it is at that moment, not a moment later even, at that very moment, that self The way that self responds to what has come is teaching the Buddha Dharma. The Buddha's teaching is just like that. It's not a moment later. It's not like things come forth, and then there's you, and then you teach. Things come forth as you, and then you have appropriate response. The way you are is the appropriate response. Things come forth and there is your face, and there is a tear in your eye, and that tear is the appropriate response.

[39:12]

That tear is your freedom, is your happiness, and it teaches all other beings. The word comes forth and there you have a face, and the face is smiling. The world comes forth as your smiling face, and your smiling face is the appropriate response to the sunset, to the tree, to the suffering person, to the Buddha. You don't do this. This response is given to you by the arrival of everything that's happening. This face you have is the arrival of everything that's happening as your face. you already have this face. This face is already happening every moment. But unless we let go of that face which we bring to situations and we use on situations, we have to let go of that and find this new face which is already there.

[40:27]

It's the same face. But the difference is there's no attachment to this face. And the other one, there's attachment. One's delusion, the other's enlightenment. Same face. One's a deluded tier, the other's enlightened tier. Same tier. The enlightened one is always there. In each moment there's an enlightened one there. When I say always there, I mean in each moment it's there, then each moment it's gone, then each moment it's there, and then each moment it's gone. The deluded one may or may not be there. Delusion is optional. Enlightenment always appears. But we have to let go of delusion in order to realize enlightenment. And we also have to let go of enlightenment to realize enlightenment.

[41:39]

Holding on to delusion maintains delusion. Holding on to enlightenment maintains delusion. Letting go of delusion maintains enlightenment. Letting go of enlightenment maintains enlightenment. Letting go is the medium. But not just letting go theoretically, letting go after taking residence in what's happening. So first of all, take residence in your body and mind. Take away, take residence. Be present in body and mind without taking residence. Just be present in this body and mind, which means, thank you very much, I have no alternative. And then don't hold on to that body and mind. and enlightenment is realized. So simple. Just settle with what's happening no matter what it is. That's simple but very hard.

[42:43]

You know it's very hard, right? It's very hard to say, thank you very much when someone spits in your face. I mean sincerely, thank you very much. So you're going along practicing. Thank you very much. [...] And then spit in the face. Thank you very much. Spit's gone. Thank you very much. It's not even windshield wiper, you know. Just thank you very much. Thank you very much. Each person you meet, thank you very much. Thank [...] you. Scowling, distrustful, angry faces. Thank you very much. And I have no complaint about this face whatsoever. This look of distrust.

[43:49]

this look of contempt, this look of displeasure, this look of disapproval that I'm seeing on this face. Thank you very much. I have no complaint whatsoever. I feel pain when I see that face. It hurts to see that face. it hurts to see that face. I don't just see the face and feel good and then say, thank you very much. I see that painful, angry, negative face and I feel pain when I see it. And I say, to the pain I feel, I say, thank you very much. I have no complaint whatsoever. Then I'm present. Now, I don't hold on to that presence. I don't hold on to that thank you very much. I don't hold on to that no complaint whatsoever. And I do not hold on to this a scowling, contemptuous face that I see. I don't hold on to the pain I feel seeing the face. And if it's a nice face, nice means trusting, appreciative face, I also say, thank you very much, I have no complaint, and I don't hold on to that either.

[44:59]

So taking my seat, really taking my seat, Not in general. Not in general. It's nice to have a general... It's sweet to have a general policy of taking your seat. It's fine to have a general policy like that. People write it on the wall in their bedroom, carry a little card to remind them of the general policy of thank you very much. That's fine. But really what counts is to apply it to this plain old ordinary moment. to this one, to this one, to this body, to this breath, okay? And then non-attachment and non-seeking when you're there. And then the transition from bringing, carrying yourself forward onto the world, to the world coming forth and realizing you. Then the transition from conveying the self to everything, to everything coming forward, and verifying your life, proving your life, making your life, period.

[46:17]

But then after period, you can say making your life worthwhile, making your life happy, making your life free. But first of all, just making your life, period. And that life is the appropriate response to that situation. And now that's gone. And now another one comes, and the same process arrives at the next appropriate response. And you're part of it, but you don't do it. Buddha does not do the appropriate response. Buddha is the appropriate response. That is the Buddha's life. What was the Buddha's whole lifetime? Appropriate response. What is your whole lifetime?

[47:18]

It could be also the appropriate response. Your life as Buddha, the appropriate response. There's, you know, it's very simple, but there's endless aspects of this kind of practice. But I guess it's probably kind of like almost an hour now. It's actually less than an hour. So since it's less than an hour, I could stop or not.

[48:21]

The kitchen's already abandoned the situation. gone to make you lunch. So we have now a situation. Things are happening right now. And now that's over with, and now something else is happening. So you're right here, so if you're on, it's happening now, and this is it. I don't know if what I said is a little bit clear or crystal clear or not too clear. There is a question and answer session if you have some questions. But since some of you might have to go, even with whatever your present understanding of what I've been saying is,

[49:35]

I wonder, I'd like to ask you before you go, and I'll ask myself too. Maybe I'll ask myself and you can listen to me talk to myself. Reb, do you believe what you're talking about? Do you trust what you're talking about? Yes, I do. Do you trust it completely? Well, just a bot, but I guess in a sense I don't trust it completely because sometimes I don't practice it. If I really trusted it, I'd probably practice it every moment for every experience. If I really trusted it, I probably would always say, thank you very much. I have no complaint. Everything had happened. But I don't know if I can quite say that. There's some moments when I can't really say, I actively say, thank you very much.

[50:38]

It's kind of more like, okay. I'm not going to argue, but I have a wisecrack at least. But anyway, what I can say is that when this kind of practice happens, And I don't say, I did it. But when this thing happens, of a sincere, whatever it is, when there's a sincere, thank you very much, I have no complaint, although I don't always hear that. When I hear that, when it's like that, I've never regretted it. I've never regretted that it was like that. When there was things happening just as they happened and nobody was arguing, at those moments, when it was like that, those were the best moments of this life. Those are what I'm grateful for, that once in a while, it has been just like that.

[51:43]

Once in a while... The sheets were hanging on the line, waving in the breeze, and there was just that. And that makes a life worthwhile. And that was an appropriate response at that moment. So I'm convinced pretty much about this kind of practice, but I know sometimes there's a slipping. So now, thank you for saying that. You're welcome. Now, do you wish... Do you want to practice this way more thoroughly? Would you like to practice working up to, like, almost all the time? Is that what you'd like to do? Would you like to practice that way with everything that happens? Would you like to be able to say eventually, thank you very much, I have no complaint to everything that happens? Would you like to... Well, yes, I would. But I want to... I would, but... But... I don't want that to get, like, heavy.

[52:53]

Which means I want it to be like that, but I don't want that to turn into another thing I'm doing. Because this is not about me doing that. Okay, so... I want it to be like that, but I don't want it to be another thing I've learned that I'm doing. In other words, I really do want it to be like that. I want it to be like, thank you very much, I have no complaint, but me not doing it. But just like it was when I saw that Like it was when I saw the sheet on the line. I didn't like say, okay, I'm going to like say, thank you very much. I have no complaints to that sheet in the breeze. It just was that way. It was just that way. I wasn't like trying to meditate when I was seven years old, looking at the sheet, but that's the way it was. The sheet gave me my life. Do I want a life like that? Yes. Am I willing to give myself to that?

[53:58]

I would like to. So I ask you, do you want to make the transition, to turn on the pivot from delusion to enlightenment? Do you want to Do you want to settle into and be with your life and let go of it and realize enlightenment? I ask you that and I ask you to listen to see if there was an answer. And if the answer was, yes I do, I ask you to note that there was that answer. And if the answer is, I'm not sure or no, I'd like you to, in question and answer, bring forth your doubts. What reservations do you have about what's happening? What reservations do you have about the transition from delusion to enlightenment?

[55:03]

Are you afraid of something? A lot of people are afraid to make the transition. Bring forth your doubts and your fears and the gentle Buddhas can encourage you. They have teachings to encourage you to make this transition. I've heard that there was a French philosopher or essayist. His name is Montaigne. And he had a friend, and I think his friend's name was Boitier. And they were friends in Sarla, a city in southern France. And there's a plaque, I think, on Montaigne's house commemorating their friendship.

[56:05]

And I don't remember if it says on the plaque or someplace else, but someone asked Montaigne about their friendship. And he wrote an essay about their friendship. But someone asked Montaigne, What was your, you know, what was it like, what kind of relationship did you have with him? How could you love him so much? Or how did you love him so much? Or what was your love like? What was the love between you like? And Montaigne said something like, all I can say is that we were together And I was myself and he was himself. We were like that. Yes?

[57:08]

The name was La Boissy, the friend. Boissy? La Boissy. La Boissy. The friend said, Montaigne said, I loved him because he was himself and he loved me because I was myself. I loved him because he was himself. He loved me because I was myself. Thank you for the comment. Thank you very much. I have no complaint whatsoever. Pardon? Can I speak more? Yes, you can, since you're French. I was born in France in 1939. In 1943, I was sent away for my own protection in hiding.

[58:11]

In the middle of 1943, my parents were deported to Auschwitz. I was in hiding for the two following years of the war from place to place under false names. When the war was over, my parents had been murdered in Auschwitz. This left severe trauma for people all my life. And it's really impossible to say thank you very much. I have no complaint. In fact, what I want to say is I don't want this to happen again to anyone ever. So what do you have to say to that? Could you hear what she said? Okay, if something, if the worst thing that can happen happens, like your parents being murdered is about the worst thing that can happen, or your children being murdered, these are like the worst things that can happen. People dying is pretty difficult.

[59:15]

I understand. I'm just saying dying is pretty difficult. But seeing someone be cruel to someone and then them dying, what we call murder, this is like about the worst thing that can happen, isn't it? Yes. Genocide is about the worst thing that can happen. Yeah. This is about the worst thing that can happen. Anyway, it's certainly extremely terrible and horrible. that human beings do this kind of thing. And you said you don't want to say thank you very much. What you want to say is, I hope that nothing like this will ever happen again. Right? And I think that Buddha definitely says the same thing. Buddha says, I hope that nothing like this will ever happen again. And my life, my whole life, is about trying to prevent anything like this ever happening again. That's what Buddha is about. Okay?

[60:19]

Buddha completely agrees with your feeling. There's one difference between your feeling and Buddha's, though, that Buddha actually says, Thank you very much. When the most terrible thing in the world happens, Buddha says, thank you very much. I have no complaint whatsoever at that moment. It's not possible for you right now. In that case, and some other people have some other things that aren't possible for them. Like my mother says, it's impossible to quit smoking, she says. Well, my mother says it's impossible, okay? For her, it's impossible. For you, this is possible, okay? For you, something else is impossible. For some people, certain things are impossible. For other people, that very same thing is possible. There are people who realize that it's possible to practice love in any situation.

[61:23]

who can say, I loved him because he was the way he was. So it is impossible now for you to imagine to love a murderer. You say that's impossible. I understand that. I'm not saying I could do it. But I'm saying that the Buddha loves the murderer. Loves them. Not like them. Of course the Buddha does not like even a slight violence, not to mention extreme violence. The Buddha does not love violence. The Buddha is totally dedicated to protect beings from violence. But to say no thank you is violence. To say no thank you and I have a complaint is the source of cruelty. The people who committed those murders were saying no thank you.

[62:32]

I have a big complaint here about these people and I'm going to act on my no thank you and I'm going to act on my complaint and I'm going to eliminate them. If we come back with no thank you to that, it does not set the example. When someone hates someone, the Buddha... Okay, you can't even think about them. You can't even think about the SS. Yes. Yes. What is the inherent duty to resist this evil? The inherent duty to resist this evil is to express yourself. Did you express yourself just now? Did you express yourself?

[63:34]

Yes. And did you express yourself? Are you expressing yourself, madam? Do you express yourself when you say, I hope that nothing like this will ever happen again? And did that come... Pardon? I can't imagine it. No? You can tell me I can't imagine it, but... All I can say is the Buddha said, this is the Buddha's teaching, is that if someone comes to you and is cruel to you and tortures you and starts to kill you, you come back with love.

[64:34]

That's the Buddha's teaching. You may feel that that's impossible. to come back with love when someone's on the verge of murdering you. But that is the Buddha's teaching. Not to come back with anger and hatred. And the question is, when someone's being cruel to someone else, you or someone else, is coming back with anger and hatred the appropriate response? Or is coming back with love the appropriate response? That's the question. And what I'm saying is, although I'm not saying I could do the response, I'm not saying that. I'm saying, though, that I actually am betting on the possibility that in response to evil, the response to evil can be love. That, I think, is the appropriate response to evil. And if you want to call that resistance to evil...

[65:38]

That's fine. But I would also say it's not just resistance to evil, it is the medicine for evil. I do not know of examples of where someone's coming with violent, murderous energy I do not know of examples of people coming with violent murderous energy who have been met with violent murderous energy and been converted from their violent murderous energy. I only know of examples of where people come with violent energy and are met with loving skill and are converted. That's the only examples I know. I haven't heard of where hatred converts hatred to love. I haven't heard of that. But I've heard of a few examples. Yes? What are you coming back with? Pardon? Fear and horror. Fear and horror. Okay. And I'm asking you to come back with love.

[66:42]

And you're telling me it's impossible. Right? You're not telling me it's impossible? Okay. No, that's what I'm saying. Okay, well, what can you say if you don't want to say thank you very much? Can you come back with love? Pardon? Pardon? You can only be silent? Okay. Is that loving? Is it a loving silence? Silence can be loving. And I don't want to force the mantra of thank you very much, I have no complaints on anybody, but it conveys to me a sense of love.

[67:52]

And that's what I'm talking about, is meeting our experience in this world that has horrors in it, meeting it with love, which involves feeling that this horror is realizing my life right now. If I'm alive, this horror is my life. I have no other life than this horror at this moment, if it's a horror. I do not pre-exist this horror. This horror enlightens me. This horror enlightens me. And I can be enlightened in silence or I can be enlightened when I'm screaming. The scream or the silence can wake me up. So I thank you for coming forth

[69:00]

and expressing this horror, which I think, although we don't understand it as deeply as you, we share to some extent the horror and the horror that you feel about this. I think everyone here, I guess everyone here feels horrible about this. So the world does have horrors in it, right? And we have to, not have to, we have the opportunity to face them. We have the opportunity to meet horrors with love. What does it mean to meet horrors with love?

[70:13]

I think that we should adjourn and have question and answer about these questions because maybe some people have to go. And if you want to come back and discuss this more, we can do so in a few minutes. Don't leave yet, folks. We're gonna sing a song. May our intention equally penetrate

[71:24]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_87.5