Morning. Morning. Good morning. It is. Well, today, in the past, like yesterday, we discussed the Alaya-Vijnana, and so I want to talk about the other aspects of consciousness. There's still a lot more to talk about the Alaya-Vijnana, but to recap a little bit, the Alaya, of course, is the Eight Consciousness, the Eight Levels of Consciousness. Now, each, although there are Eight, what's called Eight Consciousnesses, they are, of course, all

[01:09]

dependent on the Alaya. All the other Seven are dependent on the Alaya, and so we want to talk about Manas, which is Self-Consciousness, called Self-Consciousness, or it's called actually Defiled Consciousness, because it's the sense of individuation. Consciousness itself, all the way, these Consciousnesses are Consciousnesses of discrimination, of division. And the Seventh Consciousness, Manas, is the real ... the reason it's defiled is because it is considered false

[02:20]

Consciousness, in the sense of believing in Atman and Dharmas. So, I'm going to read a little bit about Manas, Consciousness. The Seventh Consciousness. This is from Vasubandhu's Thirty Stanzas, which actually is almost identical to the Hundred Stanzas, and the Dharmas of the other book. And the Qingwei Xuelun, which is this big, thick book, of commentaries on it, this is a kind of overview, which was by Xuanzang. So, the Qingwei Xuelun says that this evolving Consciousness, Manas, manifests itself with the Alaya Vijnana as its basis and support, and takes that Consciousness as its object.

[03:40]

So, the Alaya uses the ... excuse me, Manas uses the Alaya as its basis and support, and because the Alaya is the repository of the seeds and the manifestation vehicle for all Dharmas, Manas mistakes it for a Self. So, it kind of means that, when you say, well, who are you? Well, I am my thoughts, I am my feelings, I am my emotions. So, Manas believes this. Manas believes, I am my thoughts, I am my ... This is what my thoughts, my feelings, my perceptions, and my consciousness, this is what I am. So, this is false belief.

[04:47]

So, this evolving Consciousness, Manas, manifests itself with the Alaya as its basis and supports and takes the Consciousness, that Consciousness, as its object. It has the nature and character of cogitation, thinking, or intellection. In the sacred teachings, this Consciousness is given the special name of Manas because, in its perpetual practice of intellection, it surpasses the other Consciousnesses. In other words, this is the smart Consciousness. Intelligence. Inasmuch as it perpetually thinks about the Ego, Atman, to which it claims, it has a close relationship with the four fundamental kleshas, kleshas are vexing passions, or vexing passions, sources of affliction and delusion.

[05:58]

These four are self-delusion, or Atman-ignorance, self-belief, self-conceit, and self-love. So, these are the major four defilements which we all possess and cling to. Self-delusion means lack of understanding. It is ignorance of the true character of Atman, or the Self, and delusion as to the principle that there is no Atman, or Self, or Ego, there is actually no real Ego. Therefore, it is called self-delusion. Self-belief means adhering to the view that Atman, Self, exists erroneously imagining certain garments to be the Self, when they are not so. Hence, it is called self-belief.

[07:03]

You can say self-belief, or you can say self-belief, belief in the Self. Self-conceit means pride. Basing itself on the belief in an Atman, it causes the mind to feel superior and lofty. It is therefore called self-conceit. Self-love means a greedy desire for the Self. Because of its belief in the Atman, it develops deep attachments to it. It is therefore called self-love. I'll wait for the image in my consciousness to pass by. So, it is like attachment to an illusion. And we have many Greek tragedies based on this.

[08:19]

But, you know, we say, well, we should love ourself. One of the four... Brahma-Viharas, or not Brahma-Viharas, but Metta practices, is extending love to yourself. Which is important. But, this is different. This is like attaching to a real Self. Loving what is an illusion. Seeing your image in the clear lake, and falling in love with it.

[09:32]

So, the words together with indicate that self-conceit and self-love accompany self-belief. So, if we have self-belief, it is accompanied by self-conceit and self-love. And self-love accompanies self-conceit. So, if we have self-conceit, it is accompanied by self-love. So, you know, all the schools, when they address this kind of problem with the Self, and Atman, and Dharma, all have different takes, different ways of thinking about it. But Vasubandhu's understanding has superseded them all. That's why his understanding is most prominent.

[10:50]

But, throughout the commentaries, these other views are expressed, so as to compare and see which view is really superior, or which view is really most correct. What's the difference between self-delusion and self-belief? Self-delusion means lack of understanding. It is ignorance of the true character of the Atman, and delusion as to the principle that there is no Atman. Self-belief means adhering to the view that Atman exists erroneously, imagining certain Dharmas to be the Self, when they are not so. So, self-delusion just means lack of understanding. Whereas self-belief, you really believe certain Dharmas are the Self. More specific, whereas the other is more general.

[12:00]

So, these four kleshas, or defilements, by their constant manifestation, disturb and pollute the innermost mind, or the alaya-vijnana. So, the way they pollute, I think, is by manifesting or creating polluted seeds that are deposited in the alaya. So, the four kleshas, by their constant manifestation, disturb and pollute the innermost mind, or alaya-vijnana, and cause the outer, the remaining seven, transforming consciousnesses, to be perpetually defiled. Because of this, sentient beings are bound to the cycle of birth and death, without being able to liberate themselves from it. Hence, they are called vexing passions, or kleshas.

[13:07]

So, this is why manas is so dangerous, because it pollutes not only the alaya, but also pollutes the other seven consciousnesses, because of its false sense of attachment to itself, and to Dharmas. We've located the ego, and it's called the manas. Manas, though, actually has a purpose. Because the alaya, the eighth consciousness, the seed bin, is the support for all the other seven consciousnesses. Manas is a support for manu-vijnana, which is sense consciousness.

[14:20]

So, manas is a conveyor of information from the sense consciousness, through the senses convey information to manu-vijnana, the sixth consciousness, which conveys the information to the alaya. So, it's like a conveyor of information, when it's not perverted, when it's not diluted. So, each one of these consciousnesses, when manas actually, we say eliminating manas, but eliminating manas is a little extreme. When manas becomes, lets go of attachments, then the whole system works according to reality.

[15:39]

When manas is no longer attached to alaya as its self, and realizes the emptiness of Dharmas, then it takes its rightful place, it does its job. But its problem is, being diluted, it inflates its own position. Can you describe its rightful job? What is what? Can you describe what its rightful job is? Yeah, its rightful job is to convey information. You're saying that the information is that it's about me, it's about the self. The information of the Dharmas to the alaya. In other words, it's no longer self-consciousness. When it's purified, it's no longer self-consciousness.

[16:46]

It's called wisdom. So, I'll get to that. I haven't got there yet. But, self-consciousness, alaya, takes information and construes it according to its delusion, and then sends it out. Because it distorts what it receives through its delusion of self-consciousness. You said alaya distorts or manas distorts? Manas is the distorter. Alaya is not the distorter. I thought you said alaya. I may have said that. Sorry. I see.

[17:49]

Manas. Alaya is neither good nor bad, nor distorted. Alaya is totally honest, without self. I think the interesting question to me in this is, how come this idea of the self is so seductive? You know, the function of manas, which you were going to get to, you know, it has a function which wouldn't necessarily be seduced by this sense of self. But, why is it that we're always... Since beginning, it takes us since beginningless, before beginningless time, that this has been going on. I noticed that. Yeah. So, I wanted to talk a little bit about Pinocchio. About what?

[18:54]

Pinocchio. Everybody knows about Pinocchio, right? Has anybody never read Pinocchio? Well, you know, Pinocchio is a wooden boy. But he wanted to be a real boy. And, but he was always getting into trouble, you know. And getting into trouble, he was always, you know, his father was scolding him. And one day, they came into town, this wagon. And the wagon was drawn by 20 mules, donkeys actually. And the driver was, you know, dressed like a dandy with a top hat, you know. And the cart had all these flashing lights and full of toys.

[19:55]

And when the cart came into town, this was the cart that the little boys all just loved. And the driver, I can't remember his name, but he would invite all the boys to come to his ranch or whatever it was, you know, to his place. Playland, actually. Come to his playland. So, Pinocchio was, gosh, you know, maybe I should do that. And he looked at one of the mules, one of the donkeys. And he said, that donkey looks so familiar. There's something familiar about that donkey. He looks just like one of my old friends. Anyway, he decided that he would jump on and go to the playland where everything was free. You know, the kids just had everything they wanted. And so, as he was driving along in the cart, there was a mirror.

[21:00]

And he looked in the mirror, and he felt funny. His body felt funny. He said, God, what's going on with my body? And he looked in the mirror, and he could see ears starting to sprout from his head. And then a tail was, he looked behind him, there was a tail sprawling from his behind. And he ended up as a mule, as one of the donkeys. And I can't remember what happened after that exactly. But he got redeemed. And eventually he became a boy, I believe. Every time he lied, his nose got like Richard Nixon. So, you know, I got this idea that, you know, what the seekers are saying all the time is that we get tangled up. We get tangled up in our life.

[22:02]

We start out untangled. We start out with, most of us, with new goods. And then little by little, we just get tangled up and tangled up. And we just keep going round and round and round in our tangle. And we can't, it's like a web. Life, the world is like a web. You know, when you look at the animal world, it's like dog-eat-dog. It's a dangerous place for animals. And it's a dangerous place for us. And we get, our world is different than the animal world, but it's somewhat the same. You know, the big animals are looking for the little animals, you know, just eating each other. The fish are all eating each other. And the human world is emotional, mental entanglements.

[23:06]

And through our emotional and mental entanglement, we create this belief in a self. So, there's a kind of, it looks to me like, we see the world, the world is like a trial. Some people see the world as a trial. We meet these dharmas. And we get entangled with the dharmas. And then we suffer. And that's what brings us to revolving. So we start looking for a way to untangle ourselves. But the tangle is necessary. It's not like, you know, a mistake.

[24:10]

The mistake is not making some effort to relieve ourselves from the tangle. But I think we have to go through the tangle. Everybody has to go through the tangle, one way or another, and come out untangled. How do you, you know, it's like Alexander, when he was in some place, and he was given the Gordian knot to untie. This is a knot that nobody could untie. And the king said, well, here, untie the knot, nobody can undo it. And he took out his sword and went... So, in a way, it's like Manjushri. Manjushri has the sword that untangles the Gordian knot. That's the opening of the Visuddhimagga. Also, in the Sutra, the inner tangle and the outer tangle.

[25:15]

The inner tangle and the outer tangle. That's right. That's also in the... Um... Mahayana Sutra. Which, you know, I can't remember. Surangama Sutra. Six tangles. Yeah. It sounds as if there's this malas vijnana, this ego, that interrupts or kind of plays with the flow of the senses as they're going up to the alaya. And it's a self-serving thing. It gets tempted by one thing or another, and then we get tangled up as a result. And then, with our practice, you're proposing that this malas becomes not...

[26:21]

It becomes transformed and it allows a flow of information back and forth and doesn't convolute and tangle us more. So, it's not that things no longer affect us. The stimulation of the various senses and all that are still absorbing information. But, how would you describe, say, a practitioner who lets this information go through, but there's still a self, there's still this person that is... Is it simply, um... Oh, I recognize you. This is where I will get tangled if I attach to this temptation. There's still a self. And the information is still flowing up and flowing back down.

[27:26]

It's not like there's this reckless, seamless... That's like a fantasy, right? Well, the problem with the self, you know... If you say, no self, it doesn't mean that there's nothing there. If you say, dharmas are without self, it doesn't mean that they're not there. So, it simply means they have no inherent self. And, so, our self-belief... We are an assembly of dharmas, but there's no self in the dharmas. No inherent self in the dharmas.

[28:28]

But there's a... Everything works. So, we call... we say, well, this is my self. But it's a self that's not a self. If you only see it one side or the other, if you only see that, understand that, no self doesn't mean that there's not a self. It means that the self that we... that acts is not a self. But that... it's neither a self nor not a self. That's the middle way. It's neither a self nor not a self. But we say, no self, in order to understand that the self is not a self. And does that self and not a self suffer? Okay. Let's see what this interest is. Well, so we have this phrase, you know,

[29:32]

the sum is greater... the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. And, so, we understand the self as interdependent upon all these factors. But the self is a whole that's still, in some way, greater than the sum of the parts. Well, let's see. Okay.

[30:40]

Okay. So, the question is raised. If a real Atman does not exist, how can memory, perception of objects, etc., be explained? If there's no self, how can one be explained? In reply to this, the Master expresses the view that each sentient being has a fundamental consciousness, which is the laya-vijnana, which evolves in a homogeneous and continuous series and carries within it the seeds or germs, bijas, of all dharmas. This fundamental consciousness and the dharmas act as reciprocal causes on one another. And because the perfuming energy, vasana, of the dharmas

[31:58]

imprints its essence permanently on the laya-vijnana in the form of seeds or bijas, memory, cognition, etc., are brought into manifestation. The bijas manifesting themselves as actual dharmas, which in turn produce bijas in the laya. So, in other words, seeds sprout, and due to various causes, dharmas appear, and when the dharmas appear, they are a cause for the new seeds. So there's a continuation continually. So further questions are raised. If there is no real Atman, by whom is a deed accomplished? By whom are the fruits of deeds reaped? In reply, the Master points out the truth that by virtue of the force of causes and conditions, the mind and its activities, of each sentient being evolve in a continuous uninterrupted series,

[32:58]

resulting in the accomplishment of acts and the reaping of their fruits. So it's simply dharmas rolling on. There's a, in the Trimsekha, he says that the laya is like a rushing torrent, which has continued from before beginningless time to endless end. So it's something that the laya is continuously producing dharmas, which are continually producing seeds, which are continuously producing dharmas, which are continuously producing seeds, which are continuously producing dharmas. So it's just like a rolling ball that is continually redoing itself. It's like a continuous perpetual motion machine.

[34:08]

The laya is like a perpetual motion machine, which continues, which drives itself, because of its momentum. So the laya is known as momentum, basically. And when we look at our life, we see that our life is nothing but momentum, which means from moment to moment. Continuous moment to moment, yes. I have a question about vow. About life of vow. In the stream, the tumultuous stream of the laya, thoughts arise, impressions arise, memories, and perhaps an idea occurs to this impermanent self,

[35:15]

this totally interconnected self, of an outcome, desired outcome. Yes. So, given that it all exists in the laya... Well, it exists. Yeah, okay. Potential. Potential, yes. So, I guess I have a question about vow and skillful means in the face of all this. So, vow practice is to... The vow practice is to raise yourself out of samsara and practice the way of liberation. And the bodhisattva vow.

[36:21]

Yeah. And the bodhisattva vow is to save all beings before you go for your own liberation. So, bodhisattva doesn't make that split between samsara and nirvana. That's why you can practice in the world. That's why we practice in the world. Otherwise, we'd just be stuck in a monastery, which is not a bad place to be stuck, but it's good. Practicing in a monastery is very good. And that's where you have your education. But the result should be that you leave and go back into the world.

[37:25]

So, Jun, earlier you mentioned the practice of metta. Metta, yeah. What is the difference... Could you talk about the difference between that and delusional self-love? No. Metta is loving-kindness to others. But there is a metta practice in which you express metta to yourself so that you can express it to others. You know, the formula is you express love for yourself, and then express that to someone who you don't know, express it to someone who you do know, express it to someone that may be your enemy or someone who you have ill feelings about, and then express it to the world and so forth. So it starts from you, right? That's why. But it's not the self-love of ego.

[38:36]

It's simply pure love is not self-centered. This is the whole, you know, study of what is love, right? So, basically, metta, the four Brahma-viharas, actually, are the basis of the way Buddhists express love. So, although you express love for the universe, you have to include yourself, which is not your ego, but your true self. So there's ego, self, and true self. So, when ego is absorbed, so to speak, when there is realization of no ego,

[39:39]

then the whole universe is yourself. This is the understanding, basic understanding. Also, loving-kindness is not exactly the same thing as other kinds of loving. It's a more gentle kind of, oh, I wish you well, rather than... Yes, right. It's totally dissociated from the self-love that's expressed here. So, but self-love has two dimensions. One is for your personal self, and the other is for your true self, which is the universe. So, in that sense, it's just your mode. It's not directed at anything in particular. It's just, since it's your mode, it's just expressed wherever you are to whatever you mean. So, two thoughts came up to me a few minutes ago

[40:41]

while you were speaking. The first thought that came up, as you were talking about this self, which is a no-self, and energy, to the image that came up to me, is like dominoes falling. One domino hits the next, which hits the next. And if you look at it, you see the energy going around the room, but what is it, or where is it? It's more like energy moving. That was the first kind of image that came up for me. Yeah, it's energy movement. Yeah, definitely. How you allow the energy to move without distorting it, or not understanding it. Of course, we don't understand, ultimately, but we can act, even though we don't understand. We can sit Zazen, even though we don't understand it. That's the virtue of practice, is that we can come in without knowing anything at all about Buddhism, and sit in Zazen. Something else that occurred to me,

[41:44]

I was thinking, what is the self? It's a question that I've tried to ask myself for years now. It just occurred to me to ask the question, easier to understand the question, what is the Berkley Sat Center? Or what is IBM? Seriously, is it you? Is it this building? Is it a community? Whatever aspect you look at, well, yeah, there's a community here. Yeah, there are pillars here. But is that? Yeah, there's an Abbot. That's a very interesting question. In the Hawaiian understanding, you look at a building, and you say, well, what's the building? Is it the door? Is it the frame? Is it the foundation? Is it the high beam, or the pillars, or whatever? What is it?

[42:46]

So, Cole's question is, is it bigger than the sum of its parts? Right? But when you look at it, you say, well, this is the building. But if you take any particular point, like the foundation, the foundation is the whole building. The roof is the whole building. If you take out the roof, you don't have a building. If you take away the foundation, you don't have a building. So all the parts are the building, but each part is the whole building. That's you, yourself, or the Berkley Zindo, completely. I'm the Berkley Zindo completely. And every one of us is totally the Berkley Zindo. That's why when I go to Tassajara, and I talk to the students, the first talk I give when I leave the practice period is, each one of us is totally equal. The abbot has a position.

[43:47]

General labor has a position. But if you are general labor, there's a hierarchy of positions. But at the same time, everyone is equal. So, if you are general labor, you're doing your position totally, and your whole body and mind is totally in that position, that makes the whole thing work. And you are driving the practice, just in the same way that the abbot is driving the practice. So each part is as important as every other part. This is the true meaning of hierarchy. And I talked about the tree and the roots going into the ground yesterday, sucking up the nutrients. The senses are like sucking up the nutrients. And the crown, maybe the crown of the tree,

[44:52]

is like the distributor called mind consciousness. And then, because manas is... It's nothing, I'm a tree. But it's distributing all that juice to the branches and leaves, which are like the alaya. And so the whole thing is circulating beautifully, and the whole tree is blooming, and fire of jhana is up there in the sky, raining down the sun. So each part is important. Every single part is doing it. Without all the parts, it doesn't work. So each part is equal, no matter what it is. That's why it's just as great to wash the dishes as it is to give a talk. Although I don't wash the dishes very often, but...

[45:52]

I do cook. Getting back a little bit to this, this metaphor of alaya-vijnana being this torrential flow, dharmas rolling along, seeds sprouting, and growing trees, and trees growing more seeds. But, repeating this endlessly, I wonder if this is like a really ancient metaphor for the concept of evolution. Oh, yes. And uniqueness. Evolution is what it's called. Evolving consciousness. Yeah, so there's something about evolution that brings forth new forms, or unique forms. It's not so much the cyclical model. Oh, I see.

[46:52]

Well, that's an interesting concept. Bringing forth new forms all the time. But it's like, each dharma that is produced only lasts for a moment. Everything produced is momentary. That's why it has no self. And the way things continue is through a series. So, this moment gives way to this moment, which gives way to this moment, which gives way to this moment. So this entity gives way to this entity, gives way to this entity, moment by moment. So, each one of us is totally evolving all the time, but we don't see it. We say, well, you know, he's a baby, and then he gets middle age, or youth, middle age, but five minutes of time is evolutionary. There's so much happening in that one, in that five minutes,

[47:54]

that we don't necessarily pay attention to, unless we're caught in zazen by the pain in our legs, and all we can do is breathe. Then we're actually living kasana to kasana, moment to moment. But we don't usually realize the momentous dynamic acuity that's happening all the time, called change. Even though there's this vast background of entanglements involving consciousness, really, there's only this moment. So, it's really just this. So, how does that relate to all my ancient tangled karma? It's just this. Well, all the ancient tangled karma is what brought us to all this. But we can only deal with this. That's right. So, the past,

[48:56]

which doesn't really exist, but the past-present, and then the present-present, and the future-present, which is just an idea. So, the past-present is a memory, but the present is the sum of all the conditions from inconceivable time. What we are right at this moment is the sum of all the karmic conditions, the fruit of karma, in a very broad sense. Like, how did I get here? So, we are on the forefront of the evolution of human race, right? But each one of us is individual, and we each have a history, long, long, long history of evolution to where we are now.

[49:58]

And so, this is our problem. So, the Buddha says, like the guy with the arrow, he shot the arrow, and he says, well, how did that happen? And so, he shot that, and blah, blah, blah. And Buddha says, just take it out. I don't know how it all happened. This is what I have to work with. This is the ball of wax I got. Now I have to work with it. So, we shouldn't complain about our place in the world. Somehow it happened. I think the problem, I think the whole study that we've been doing, the problem to me is that we feel that the thing that we perceive as our past is defining what's going to be our future. That's right. We believe in the solidity of it rather than in the transparency of the transformative possibility of it. So, yeah, we have this moment,

[51:04]

but we think, whether we're conscious of it or not, that this moment is conditioned by what happened in the past, but we think that determines what's going to happen in the next moment. That's exactly the problem. Well, it does, except that we have the ability to change the trajectory of our karma. And that's the Buddhist notion of karma rather than, say, Brahmanic. Right. So, we're not stuck in our karma unless we don't do anything about it. If we don't do anything about it, then we can see our destiny going in the same direction. So, we have the ability to change. Even though it may be hard, difficult, but it's possible, and we can change our karma. And this is what the vow means.

[52:14]

Your vow means that your vow gives you the ability to change your karma, because you're living by karma, by vow instead of by karma. That's the difference. Living by vow means you're no longer stuck living by karma. So, I think it also goes back to Ross's question, in part, about what is the self when it's not defiled? And it seems to me that self is, wants nothing for itself. It's unselfish. Well, it's not self-centered. It's not self-centered. We're not centered around that self. It's not looking for anything. It's just being present, responding to. So, you can still be the kind of person you are, but you're not attached, because you don't need anything to verify yourself. Your self-doubts disappear, and your self-needs

[53:14]

become just what they are. Right. So, characterized by the phrase, the old man who has nothing more to do. So, this skill of rising above samsara, how would you say that relates to the study of the nine consciousnesses and the five wisdoms? Understanding the self, and what is not the self. If you have an understanding of what is and what is not a self, then it helps you to understand who you are. So, if there's the ability to be able

[54:15]

to identify them as they arise, that's the skill, really. Yeah. Yeah. And so, hopefully, we don't fall into traps and snares, as Tolkien says. Traps and snares will not reach you. You know, it's important to have an intellectual understanding of things, as well as a practice. So, we have to do things with reason. And over and over, Vasubandhu says, the way we understand this is through the study of the scriptures and by reason. Not just believing in the scriptures,

[55:16]

using the scriptures for our understanding, but also observing them with reason, so that we don't just take something for granted, but we reason with what's said. So, it's good to have knowledge. Knowledge is important, but if we only rely on knowledge, that's not enough. If we only rely on Zazen, that's not enough. Even though Dogen says, just Zazen, but he had a lot of knowledge. So, I think we have to be careful when we study something, we say, well, what use is that? There's no use. You just study it. And then, ten years later, you see, oh, I understand why I studied that now. But if you're looking for something to study

[56:18]

that's going to help you right now, that may not be the case. So, understanding by study, the study goes in and gets digested. And over time, the digestion works, and then, oh, now I understand. That's the way it works. So, we may think that studying is useless in some ways, or sometimes, but it matures. I studied this years and years ago, but it was really difficult. And then, over periods of time, it becomes more and more evident, more, I understand it better and better all the time, and it keeps making more sense to me. I don't think I could have done this years ago.

[57:25]

Well, I wonder, I don't know what time we're supposed to start. Pretty soon, huh? I want to read you something from Kosananda, who, I think Alan met him, right? In Thailand. Actually, I have a very nice picture of you with Kosananda walking together. Oh, that's right. Alan's girl. Right. That's right. With his red hat. So, he's talking about eating time. He says, what is life? Life is eating and drinking through all of our senses. So, eating and drinking, that's what happens, that's what we do, right? We're constantly eating, these are the roots. And life is keeping from being eaten.

[58:30]

What eats us? Time. What is time? Time is living in the past, or living in the future, feeding on the emotions. Beings who can say that they have been mentally healthy for even one minute are rare in the world. Most of us suffer from clinging to pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feelings, and from hunger and thirst. Most living beings have to eat and drink every second through their eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and nerves. We eat 24 hours a day without stopping. We crave food for the body, food for feeling, food for volitional action and food for rebirth. We are what we eat. We are the world and we eat the world. I've often talked about it as like an earthworm. Just a big mouth and body. Plowing the ground.

[59:31]

The Buddha cried when he saw the endless cycle of suffering. The fly eats the flower. The frog eats the fly. The snake eats the frog. The bird eats the snake. The tiger eats the bird. The hunter kills the tiger. The tiger's body becomes swollen. Flies come and eat the tiger's corpse. The flies lay eggs in the corpse. The eggs become more flies. The flies eat the flowers and the frogs eat the flies. And so the Buddha said, I teach only two things. Suffering and the end of suffering. Suffering, eating and feeling are exactly the same. Feeling eats everything. Feeling has six mouths. The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. These are all dharmas, right? The first mouth eats forms through the eye. Form dharmas. The second mouth eats sounds.

[60:35]

Sound dharmas. The third mouth eats smells. Smell dharmas. That's my comment. The fourth mouth eats tastes. Taste dharmas. The fifth mouth eats physical contact. And the last mouth eats ideas. That is feeling. Time is also an eater. In traditional Cambodian stories, there is often a giant with many mouths who eats everything. This giant is time. If you eat time, you gain nirvana. When you eat time by living in the moment, when you have just in this moment, when you live just in this moment, time cannot eat you. Everything is causational. There is no you, only causes and conditions. Therefore, you cannot hear or see. When sound and ear come together, there is hearing. When form and eye meet,

[61:36]

there is seeing. When eye, form and consciousness meet, those three, there is eye contact. Eye contact conditions feeling. Feeling conditions perception. Perception conditions thinking. And thinking is I, me, mine. Manas. The painful misconception that I see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think. This is manas that thinks this. Feeling uses the eye to eat shapes. If a shape is beautiful, a pleasant feeling enters the eye. If a shape is not beautiful, it brings an unpleasant feeling. If we are not attentive to a shape, a neutral feeling comes. These are the three perceptions, the three feelings, basic feelings. The ear is the same. Sweet sounds bring pleasant feelings.

[62:37]

Harsh sounds bring unpleasant feelings. And inattention brings neutral feelings. Again you may think, I am seeing. I am hearing. I am seeing, feeling. But it is not you. It is only contact, the meeting of the eye, form, the eye consciousness. It is only the dharma. A man once asked the Buddha, who feels? The Buddha answered, this is not a real question. No one feels. Feeling feels. There is no I, my or me. There is only the dharma. All kinds of feelings are suffering, filled with vanity, filled with I am. Vanity, you know, we have various understandings of what vanity means. But basically, vanity means believing in something that doesn't exist.

[63:39]

If we can penetrate the nature of sensations, we can realize the pure happiness of nirvana. Feelings and sensations cause us to suffer because we fail to realize that they are impermanent. The Buddha asked, how can feeling be permanent if it depends upon the body, which is impermanent? When we do not control our feelings, we are controlled by them. If we live in the moment, we can see things just as they are. Doing so, we can put an end to all desire, break our bondage, and realize peace. To understand pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings, we have to put the four foundations of mindfulness into practice. Mindfulness can transform pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings into wisdom. The world is created by the mind. If we can control feeling, then we can control the mind. The world is created by the mind.

[64:52]

This is exactly what this is saying. If we can control the mind, then we can rule the world. And as Sukhyoji says, you can be the boss. If you can control the mind. Good luck and bad luck. This is incidental, but you'll love it. You've heard it before. Opposites are endless. Good and bad days, and good and bad day and night, right and wrong, mine and yours, praising and blaming, all are opposites, and all are endless. Opposites produce each other. Day becomes night, and death becomes rebirth. The egg becomes the hen, and the hen makes the egg. It's just this way. Good luck and bad luck are an endless cycle. There was once a farmer

[65:53]

who lost his mare. When the mare disappeared, the people of the village said, bad luck. But when the mare came home the very next day, followed by a good strong horse, the people of the village said, good luck. Yesterday they thought, bad luck. Today they think, good luck. Yesterday they said, loss. But today they say, gain, which is true. Gain and loss are opposites. When the farmer's son rode the beautiful horse, he fell and broke his leg. Then all the people said, bad luck. War came, and all the strong men were drafted. Many men fought and died in the battlefield. Because the farmer's son had broken his leg, he could not go to war. Was this loss or gain? Good luck or bad luck? Who knows? I think it's probably done. Sergeant, if you want, the schedule says 12 minutes.

[66:55]

Oh, OK. I have a present for you. Chocolate? Chocolate. We want to know if it's chocolate. Kind of. Kind of. OK. Let's see. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do that. OK.

[68:01]

How is it? Just enough? So, what does this suggest to you? Who said that? What did you say? Emptiness at the center. Emptiness at the center. It's like the mudra. They're creating this collective mudra. It's very interesting culturally, though, because in Asia, you're not supposed to put... It's extremely rude. But that's culture.

[69:15]

That's just... Well, it's extremely rude for you to put your feet facing somebody else. But here, everybody's doing the same thing, so there's nobody else. It's totally equal. It's real equality. And also, differentiation. Because each one of those little boys is individual. He's got a lot of soul. Back in the fifties, back in the fifties... They're African. I'm not African-American. I'm African. Back in the fifties, I knew this musician. He's a... I kind of bummed, but he was a musician. He's got a better soul

[70:16]

than the shoe sole. Okay. It's a little interesting in the explanation of the game. They're not all equal in this. There's the winner. There's the winner. The one who keeps on coming up with the most... Well, each one... They have to name something that's circular. And the one who... Whoever can't name something circular has to drop out. That's the thing. What kind of a good mnemonic device to instill the concept of independence? Oh, yeah. It's like circular is really an important form. The world is both... What is the shape of the world? When you walk out the door, it's flat. If you walk across the plains of the Midwest, I remember

[71:18]

when my son Daniel rode his bike across the country. When he got to the middle of the country, it was totally flat. He said, I could ride all day and it feels like he's just staying in the same place. But actually, the world is round. The world of fish is water. But everything is really circular no matter how straight it is. Didn't Einstein say that space has a curvature? So... Resolution... Everything is a round shape, even though, you know, of course, it's made of other shapes as well. But fundamentally, shapes are round. The head is round. The finger is round. The moon is round.

[72:23]

The spheres are round. The planets are round. And what makes things round anyway? Anything... I think anything that lasts gets rounded off. Even money. We round it off to the nearest... trillion. According to this game, Osani, the Temple of Love, apparently, the final player is the one who has continually, successfully... Yeah. ...stated an expression of round. Yeah, true. Apparently, that is valuable for a long life and a prosperous life. So we should cultivate our circular thinking. Oh, I think that's right. So, you know,

[73:24]

in Buddhism, life is circular. So... Buddhists don't think of life as a plane, but as a circle. And that's why the idea of rebirth is prominent in both Hindu and, you know, in Indian philosophy, but in Buddhism. And it gets mixed up with reincarnation, but... I think reincarnation is a little too much. But rebirth is circularity. What goes around comes around. And we can see it in nature. You know, nature is circular. Like, the tree grows up, and then it drops its fruit, and the fruit grows up, and creates more trees. And there's that circularity of life in nature. Every plant is

[74:25]

reproducing itself in a circular way. So... And we don't understand human circularity very well. It's not... You know, it's not... It's not investigated so much in science that I know of. But... maybe it is. The new plant is circular, but it's also not the same plant. It's never exactly... That's right. It's never exactly the same plant. That's why rebirth is different than every incarnation Every incarnation implies the same plant. But... rebirth doesn't mean that the same plant appears. But the action influence is generated in such a way that

[75:26]

that energy is circular, not the person. Yeah, we've changed our time. I usually think of service as 10 to 12. But here it's 10... 12.20, right? So... Service day is 12.10. Oh, 12.10. Okay. So, it's time to stop, right? Suppose that. Okay. So this afternoon I want to talk about consciousness as wisdom. The transformation of consciousness into wisdom. And we can leave this here for this afternoon.

[76:12]

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