Good evening. Welcome. I want to continue talking this evening about the Bodhisattva Precepts. So I spoke about the First Grave Precept yesterday morning, and I want to continue, and maybe I'll say some of what I said yesterday. About half of you were here. One context for Us talking about these Bodhisattva precepts is that we're in the middle of a practice commitment period, so a dozen or so people are doing more intensive practice now for six weeks and focusing on these precepts. Also, we will have a lay ordination precept ceremony in June and a priest ordination precept ceremony in the fall. These precepts, these Bodhisattva precepts are very important in this tradition of Soto Zen going back to Heidogen founded this tradition in Japan, brought it from China in the 13th century.

[01:12]

And really our practice centers on Zazen. And so I'm going to say again about this context of zazen and the precepts. So, in this meditation, this sitting meditation, we settle, as we just have. We have a chance to be present and upright and just witness to this body and mind on your cushion here. Now, And if we keep doing this, so some of us sat all day yesterday, and we just sat a period now, and many of you have been doing this regularly for quite a while, and some of you are newer at it, but as we do this, we get a chance to taste, or glimpse, or out of the corner of our ears here, this possibility and reality

[02:19]

of wholeness and interconnectedness, how we are actually connected with everything. The causes and conditions which allow us to do this practice, to meet Buddha, Dharma, Well, we can't trace it all. We can't understand it all, even. But we know that, as we sit, we start to know more and more that many beings, many causes and conditions allow us to be right here, right now, as we are. Again, we have ideas about who we are and what the world is. And that's part of who we are, is that we have those ideas. But when we sit, we actually get to be present with and witness and pay attention to and find acceptance for the body and mind on your cushion now.

[03:23]

And of course, because it's connected with everything, it's constantly who this is, talking or listening or sitting, breathing is constantly changing. And so really the study of this interconnectedness, the study of this wholeness and openness that we all are fundamentally. We sometimes call it good in nature, but anyway, it's an endless study. The opening and development and unfolding of what it is we are as the human being, as this human being with greed, hate, and delusion, and all of the confusion and grasping that we have somehow in the middle of all that, or as all of that, not separate from all of that, there is this wholeness. And what that is and how that is, as we pay attention, period after period, year after year, lifetime after lifetime, that opens up.

[04:36]

So this is the heart of our practice, but we also, when we see this interconnectedness, realize that it's not enough to have some experience of that. It's not enough even to have some very dramatic, flashy experience of that, if that happens. It's not necessary that that happens, but it's also not necessary to have... It's not enough to have some understanding of that. Fine, you may understand it. Some of the people in this room understand this whole process pretty well. And yet, How do we express that, realize that, make it real, make it actual in the world? So, these Bodhisattva precepts and our version of the precepts and suttas, and we have 16 of them, which I'll read, but the point of them is to give us guidance in how to express awakened heart-mind, how to express this possibility of wholeness in our lives, in our world.

[05:43]

So let me just say the 16, some of you know them, some of you have received them formally by taking refuge in Buddha. But the first one is to take refuge in Buddha, to take refuge in Dharma, to take refuge in Sangha, to come home to Buddha, to awareness and awakeness. Then we have three pure precepts, to embrace and sustain right conduct, avoid all evil, and then to include and awaken all beings. That this is not just about, you know, so-called Buddhists. It's not just about this Sangha. It's not just about the people you know. It's not just about the people on your cushion right now, that we're connected with everyone. And then there's ten grave precepts And these sound a lot like kind of rules or Ten Commandments even, but they're... I want to talk about how these work.

[06:51]

The first one I talked about some yesterday. A disciple of Buddha does not kill. I want to talk tonight about the second one. A disciple of Buddha does not take what is not given. A disciple of Buddha does not misuse sexuality. A disciple of Buddha does not lie. A disciple of Buddha does not intoxicate mind or body of self and others. A disciple of Buddha does not slander or discuss others' faults. A disciple of Buddha does not praise self at the expense of others. A disciple of Buddha is not possessive of anything, including the Dharma. Disciple of Buddha does not harbor ill will, does not turn anger into hatred and hold on to that and harbor it. And a disciple of Buddha does not disparage the three treasures. That's the last one of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. So these precepts, again, are not rules.

[07:59]

They're really questions. They're kind of reminders of, oh yeah, each of these 10, talking about the last 10, are places where we can feel like, well, where we can actually undo the spirit of connectedness and wholeness in our life, where we can slip a little. And the point of these precepts is not to follow them perfectly, because part of the point is that we can't, or we don't. We can't completely follow these precepts in some way. From another point of view, we can't violate them either. But each of these ten is a place where we can look at how our life is. How are we taking care of ourselves? How are we taking care of the people around us, our relations, our family and friends?

[09:04]

How are we taking care of the world around us? So these are areas which help us to, again, to express this openness and wholeness and real taste of interconnectedness that we get from sitting. The kind of challenges to us. and reminders, and really helpful as guidelines. This is how each of these ten, as I read them, is how Buddhas express themselves in the world. For the sake of all beings, for the sake of awakening, for the sake of ourselves and all those we're connected with. So there are different levels of these. I talked about this yesterday in terms of not killing, that one way of seeing this is, for myself, not to kill, not to harm others.

[10:09]

Ahimsa, do no harm, is a basic Buddhist, early Buddhist idea. And then there's helping others not to kill, which might include stopping war, or stopping the poisoning of our environment, or just getting others to not kill. But also there's the positive aspect in each of them. Very important. It's not just the negative. It's not just not killing. It's also, how do we support life, vitality, energy? In ourselves, in others, in the world. What does that mean? So again, each of these three is a kind of question. And then there's this ultimate level, which Dogen speaks of. where he says life is not killed. There's something about life very deep that is just here. So I want to apply this to this second precept a little bit and then say a few things generally about all of them and then just have time for some questions or discussions.

[11:10]

So again, some of you here have formally taken these on in terms of precept ceremonies. Some of you are studying these in your own way in this practice commitment period, but all of us actually, when we come and sit zazen, even if you've never heard these precepts before, these are the kind of natural implications and enjoyments, actually, of this kind of awareness that we taste in meditation, this quietness, this possibility of just being here as ourselves. So the second one is, we say a disciple of Buddha does not take what is not given.

[12:13]

So going back to the earlier origins of these precepts that says just not to steal. But what does that mean? What is the dynamics of that? What does it mean to not take what is not given? What does it mean to help others not take what is not given? And then the positive side of this is how do we express generosity? How do we give? maybe what we've not given before? Or how do we see the process of generosity? So in our meal chat, we talk about the mutuality of giver, receiver, and gift. How do we see that receiving what is given is part of this precept too? So to not take what is not given, It implies also, how do we learn to accept and receive what we are given?

[13:22]

We're each here given this wonderful life, this wonderful opportunity of practicing awareness, practicing awakening, practicing together with others. How do we receive and accept that? And it's not like there's one... Again, these aren't rules or regulations that we can figure out. There's an instruction manual that we figure out, oh, this is how to do it. Each of them is a question, in a way, in each new situation. How do we receive this, the benefits of this situation? How do we accept this and really graciously feel the gratitude to be given? And then when we receive, we also pass that along. So this precept, maybe all of them are this way, but this one particularly feels like a Sangha precept. We share. We give to each other.

[14:24]

And maybe that's almost too much to say just by being here. By sitting here together tonight, each of you is supporting each of the rest of us to be here and practice. So we do this together, and this not taking what is not given implies this mutual receiving and giving, and then also seeing how we think that there is something out there that we have to get. So I talked yesterday about Dogen's essay about these precepts, and very short, but from the ultimate standpoint, in terms of not stealing, as he puts it, he says simply, in the suchness of mind and objects, the door or gateway of liberation is open.

[15:24]

So the precept of not taking what is not given, of course, we have to understand conventionally. Don't steal. Don't take something that's not offered to you. Don't grab. And as human beings, if we look at little kids, there's some stage where they say, me, mine, mine, mine. And they have to learn to share. Some kids maybe naturally share. Some kids, maybe it's a little harder. But how do we not? grab at something out there. How do we take care of the things in our life and in the world so that we don't need to take something out there that hasn't really been given to us? So it's subtle, even on the conventional level. But I think with this one particularly, maybe it's easier, and I was talking yesterday about the danger of these ultimate levels, thinking that that because life is not killed that okay, life is not killed so I can go ahead and kill.

[16:33]

Maybe this one isn't as dangerous. Just to see that in the suchness of mind and objects, the gateway to liberation is open. How do we see the suchness of mind and objects? And this has to do with this giving and receiving, this not taking what's not given, not giving what can't be received, maybe is part of that, too. So each of these has this great complexity. But I want to read a little bit from what this book, Being Upright, that my teacher, Rob Anderson, wrote that people, in the practice commitment period of reading, he talks about this as the suchness of mind in objects. He says, the alternate meaning of the second grade precept is realized by clearly observing the suchness of mind and its objects. Objects are anything in the entire universe of experience, not only material objects, but thoughts, feelings, and memories as well.

[17:37]

So there's this, I've talked about this fundamental split of self and other, this sense of separation. This is part of how our human mind works. We all have this. We all think there's stuff out there. And we can turn it into stuff out there that I have to grab and get for my own. We do that as human beings. So part of the precept is seeing that we do have that pattern. This isn't a practice for super beings or exalted special beings. It's a practice for human beings who do have this built-in sense of separating me and that out there. We do that with each other. We do that with the objects around us. But ultimately, mind and objects have no independent existence. They exist only interdependently and cooperatively. Graham says, if we continue to be upright, even in circumstances where pain and anxiety are present, eventually this separation between self and other, mind and object, is revealed as insubstantial and ungraspable.

[18:48]

So if you keep trying to look at your relationship to objects, And we can think of it as things that we might want. Oh, I want that. And of course, we're encouraged to want things. Our economy and society is based on you have to consume. And if you think that you need to get all the things in all the TV commercials, it can be pretty demanding. My happiness depends on having lots of stuff. And again, as Rip says, we can make that stuff not just material goodies, but ideas, feelings, emotions, relationships, memories, all kinds of things we can think we have to grab that are separate, that we think are separate from us. But when we study this, when we're willing to look at how our mind actually works, and that we do think the wall is out there, not me, when we think that others are fundamentally separate from me, as we look at that, we see that that distinction is not so clear.

[19:53]

that we are connected. Somebody said to me yesterday that he realized that he was everything else. That this is actually how it is to be. And this is what this precept is about. To study the object without trying to figure anything out, clearly observe the object just as it has come to be. So if you think there's an object, whether it's some other person or something you want or whatever, study this without trying to figure anything out. Clearly observe the object just as it has come to be, as you see it. What it is is actually modern physics. says that anything out there that we see is changed by our seeing it. The process of observing it actually helps change what it is, or determines what it is, or makes it what it is.

[20:55]

So Rev says, such contemplation does not mean to analyze the object into elements, but rather to face the appearance of the object, see that it is nothing more than the nexus of its various conditions. Like all of us, each thing in the universe material or emotional or intellectual, these teachings are products of many various conditions. They are each the nexus of various conditions. Being upright, settling into this suchness of mind and objects, you take what is given and do not take what is not given. In uprightness you can see that everything is you. The life of this precept comes forth from awareness of how your own life is born of and sustained by the kindness of all animate and inanimate beings throughout the universe, and how all beings are supported and sustained by your life.

[22:02]

Right now. Aided by such awareness, you witness a free-flowing giving and receiving between self and others. You understand that everything you see and hear is yourself. Thus, you forget your limited independent self. At the same time, yourself is fulfilled and overjoyed. When we see how connected we are to everything, well, of course, we have problems and difficulties. you know, find confusion and challenges in our life and in the life situation in our world, and we live in a very difficult world. But it's also possible to see this suchness of mind and objects. So this is this ultimate level of this precept. And then we come back to, okay, don't take what's not given. So that means maybe accepting what is given, but also, is it really given?

[23:05]

Can you feel the giving and the generosity? And then how do each of us, how do we support generosity and giving? How do we accept? So acceptance, receiving is a kind of art. The training traditionally in Zen for generosity is to go out on begging rounds and receive. And it's like a sashimi with your feet and your in your mouth, because you're chanting all the time, and you're walking on these straw sandals, and you're holding out this bowl, and people want to come and give to the monks. It's part of their culture in Japan. And yet, while you're in practice period in that situation, that's what you eat, whatever you receive. People give rice, and they give money. Anyway, so part of not stealing is learning how to receive. what is given. Anyway, this is an endless study in question.

[24:16]

I just wanted to say a little bit more generally about the precepts and a couple points about it and then have some more discussion. Just a couple of points that come up around the precepts generally. There's this idea mentioned in commentaries that That transgression of the precepts, we can do that. We can really take something that's not ours. It's possible. We can kill. We can misuse sexuality. We can get intoxicated and try and avoid paying attention to who we are. All of those things, it's possible for us to do. But it's said that it's better to transgress from greed and anger. So taking what's not given maybe isn't as serious a precept as harboring ill-will or killing.

[25:18]

Now you might take what's not given out of anger too. Oh, that person's mean to me. I'm going to grab something. But the point of that is that in terms of the bodhisattva precepts, At least greediness, you're still connected to beings. You may want more than really has been given to you. But from anger, anger is very dangerous because it separates us from beings. So the precept about Anger is particularly important. I'm not focusing on it tonight, but we've talked about it here a lot as well again. But to not harbor ill will doesn't mean not to get angry or not to feel anger. Maybe not to get angry is very, very, very fast not harboring ill will, not holding on to it. If you can see anger and let go of it really fast, you wouldn't even get angry.

[26:22]

But we have positive and negative and neutral feelings. This is built into the electromagnetic nature of our reality. So when we see something that's unpleasant, when we feel negative, it's interesting, yesterday I saw many people talking about precepts, and the one that many people are working with is not finding fault with others or speaking ill of others. That one seems to be up for a lot of people. And so that's related to this anger precept, you know, and precepts that push away people rather than, you know, wanting more. So greed is also a problem, but how do we not fall into this kind of negativity of trying to separate ourselves from this suchness of mind and objects?

[27:25]

The suchness of our being connected with each other. So not finding fault with others doesn't mean that we don't see if there's some problem that's happening. Just like there's also a commentary on the anger precept that it's a violation of the precept not to express anger when it's appropriate. So how do you appropriately express outrage at something that's happening that's harmful or negative in our world or whatever? How do you appropriately Notice some problem that somebody else is having. Once you call it a fault, though, then you're separating yourself. Then you're blaming. Can we just see our activity and our speech together and, okay, there may be a problem there.

[28:28]

How do we help the other person to not be doing harmful activities? How do we help the situation to make it not a situation of harm? So I'm covering a lot of material now, just throwing some of this in here at the end. But again, the point is, this is all the natural expression of how we bring aware mind and body to the world. And this is an endless study, so don't worry about whether you're doing the precepts perfectly. Don't worry about whether you understand what I'm saying about some of these, or what Dogen is saying, or what Reb is saying. The point is that we are willing to consider the substance of mind and object. We are willing to consider how do we enter into this realm of not harboring a will, of speaking of others' activities as faults, but rather speaking, seeing how we can be helpful to some situation.

[29:31]

So the last thing I want to just repeat, going back to the very first precept, taking refuge in Buddha, turning towards Buddha. In some ways, all of these are, all of these 16 are aspects of how we can turn to Buddha, return to this deeper awareness that's here already. Just the fact that you're here proves that Buddha's here. Buddha's on your cushion in some way. Something brought you here. Something brought you to consider doing the practice of awakening. So we intentionally do that. We say, I take refuge in Buddha. To take refuge in Buddha means to take refuge in what you really are, Reb says. What you really are is already attained. Always, every moment, what you really are is Buddha.

[30:34]

You don't have to work at what you are. Part of what you are is what you think you are. But what you think you are is not all of what you are. It is just an aspect of what you are. Being Buddha means being unattached to your thoughts about what you are. If you think you are a worthy person or an unworthy person, not grasping those thoughts is Buddha. But in fact, being a person who has such thoughts is a necessary condition for realizing Buddha. So you may think you're unworthy to do this practice, or you may think that you're perfectly worthy, and, you know, oh, I can do this. Either way, Those thoughts are not the point, but those thoughts bring us to considering this. So when you take refuge in Buddha, as it says, when you go back to being fully yourself, you begin to see how you are connected to and dependent, and depend on everybody, and how everybody depends on you. In other words, the first refuge really contains the other two of taking refuge in Dharma, taking refuge in Sangha, and it does go to this...

[31:41]

self and others. When you take refuge in Buddha, you begin to understand the teaching of interdependence, which is taking refuge in Dharma, and you honor your connection with other beings, which is taking refuge in Sangha. So again, all 16 of these are kind of the unfolding of I take refuge in Buddha. So I want to have some discussion and hear your comments or responses. But first, we usually close, and we will tonight, too, with the four bodhisattva vows. But I'd like to just say the refuges together. So I'll say them in three different ways, and just repeat after me. I take refuge in Buddha. I take refuge in Buddha. I take refuge in Dharma. I take refuge in Dharma. I take refuge in Sangha. I take refuge in Sangha. I take refuge in Buddha as the perfect teacher.

[32:45]

I take refuge in Buddha as the perfect teacher. I take refuge in Dharma as the perfect teaching. I take refuge in Dharma as the perfect teaching. I take refuge in the Sangha as the perfect life. I take refuge in the Sangha as the perfect life. Now I have completely taken refuge in Buddha. Now I have completely taken refuge in Buddha. Now I have completely taken refuge in Dharma. Now I have completely taken refuge in Dharma. Now I have completely taken refuge in Sangha. Now I have completely taken refuge in Sangha. Thank you all. So being here tonight, sitting zazen, we did all of that, but now we just made it explicit. And there are these ceremonies that some people do to do this formally, but all of us, just by sitting together, are doing this. Comments, questions, responses, anyone, please feel free.

[33:48]

Yes, sir? I was thinking while you were talking about taking what is not given and I was thinking kind of about the environment and even in the city, you know, how it's really to kind of, like, we think we own it and we think that these streets that we walk down are ours and we can, like, you know, drop garbage or whatever, and it's like this great assumption that it's really easy to make as a human, that all of this is here for us, and to like abuse it, and it's very, it's really childish in a way, like I think of, not to dish on my sister, but when she was young, she used to bring dishes into her room and like let them mold and she would like get really mad if anyone moved them or anything.

[34:55]

She was really into her way of housekeeping but in a way it's like, but you know, like that's okay when you're really young and you're a kid but... She was what, 20 at that time? She was like, yeah she was, well she did it right up until she was about 20. But now, yeah, she actually has She has a, she hires someone to come clean her house now. Which is good. But yeah, but I was just thinking about that, because I was thinking about my yard, which isn't my yard, but my landlord owns it, and he lives in our building. And he said basically we could do whatever we want in the yard. And then, and then I bought this water catchment system. But it means now that he has to redo all of the gutters. And now it's like this big responsibility for him that he has to take care of this problem, because there's water pouring all over the place.

[35:56]

And now it's kind of, now I'm kind of like, oh, like, I kind of wanted this, like, perfection in the backyard, and I was really possessive about this idea. And now, like, he's got to do all this stuff, which I think is great, but I'm kind of, like, realizing, like, wow, maybe that's not Maybe it's still his yard and he should be able to have his problems in the yard if he wants to. But maybe it wasn't given to you. Right, right. I just made the assumption he's got this water thing now. What you say about the city, though, for me, that's interesting, because in some ways, yes, it is ours. It's the public streets. But it's interesting the way you said it, to litter, to drop a cigarette butt on the street, is taking what's not given. in a way, and I never thought of it that way, but it is given to us, but that means taking care of it. It's not given to us to, you know, abuse it for others, because it's not just ours.

[36:58]

It's interesting, that's an interesting way of thinking about it. It's like an assumption, which is like, kind of the assumption is like the same thing as like massive pollution from industry. Yes. Thank you. Other reflections, responses? Dawn? I was kind of wondering about... I have two thoughts. The one about stealing, and I kind of thought about... Not mine, I don't really... you know, sweet childhood, so I mean, it wasn't the end of the world or anything, but like, you know, I've seen some people with a terrible, like, childhood stolen, or, you know, like, you know, or they've been, their suit lines, you know, like a stolen kid's suit, I don't know.

[38:02]

So I was kind of thinking those things, and so that was kind of what I was thinking about when you were talking. And then I was also thinking, Like, okay, so I steal, like, literally, or I throw something on the ground, which I would leap. But if I were to, you know, so, okay. But it would have to be something more serious. It would have to be, like, something pretty serious. I think, you know, like, I would have to kill somebody or kill something, you know. Okay, so then what do you do? It's not, I'm going to go to this confessional and do, like, Hail the Buddhas. and you know whatever you know so and it's not like you to come and sit on this and like just be you know so is there like a you know so what do you do then is there like a not a remedy or a tincture to get a date or is there something that you can do that to fix what you've If you've done something? Well, you have to just... Yes, it's Azzam.

[39:07]

Azzam in some ways is penance. Azzam is seeing, confessing, okay, this is part of our humanity, that we can take what's not given. So I want to make a confession. I think I was about eight years old, Yeah, probably about eight, maybe even 10. And there was a corner drugstore that I used to go to. And I don't know why, with a buddy of mine, we used to do this just for a little while, but I, more than once, took, stole, I don't know, lifesavers or some little candy. And part of it was just, I think it was, you know, I did eat it, but it was mostly just to see if I could get away with it. You know, at that age, I thought, oh, gee, can I do that? And, you know, and I never did get, if anybody, if the, there was an old lady who was taking care of it at the store some of the time.

[40:15]

Anyway, so I confess. I did that for a little while to see if I could, and I could, and that was a little dangerous. But anyway, somehow I stopped. Does it make your stomach hurt now? I could do that. But the point is that we all have, you know, it's not that anybody comes into this world and perfectly follows all ten of these. We all sometimes want to grab something. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. In that case, I did. And I did it really. I can't remember any other intention or motivation. It wasn't even that I wanted it that much. I mean, I could have bought it, I guess, but I just wanted to see if I could do it. So maybe people break these precepts to see if they can do it. large corporations, you know, to create pollution, to see if they can get away with it, or bankers, you know, whatever, anyway.

[41:22]

So, that doesn't, that doesn't, so we don't have this thing about guilt, and we don't have confessionals in the same way as some Western religions. There was that situation, and that's what happened, and I took that. And I haven't spoken about it, I don't think, since then. Some part of me doesn't feel like it was this terrible thing, and yet, yeah, it was a terrible thing, and I'm sure it affected my growing up, and that I had thought I'd gotten away with this, but now I haven't, because I've told you. Yes, Steve? So it seems like karma comes in play. Yeah, that's what this is about, all of these things.

[42:27]

Yeah, because even if, like you said, you steal something and you didn't get caught, but then karma is like a little splinter in your mind for years and years and years afterwards. Yeah, thinking that I didn't get caught. Now I'm caught. But this thing, you know, going back to finding fault with others, I don't, you know, fault and blame and, you know, there are times when there's appropriate, you know, jurisprudence and somebody does something, has done something, and maybe they should be in jail for having caused harm in some cases, having harmed others. Where was I going? But to think, particularly in our interactions, when we think about blame and fault and guilt, rather than just looking at the situation,

[43:40]

I don't know what it was about my situation at that age that I felt like I had to prove something to someone, to myself, that I could do that. I don't know. And I could analyze that. But how do we just see the situation as it is, look at it, see what's going on, and then when we see somebody else taking what's not given, well, how do we help them to turn towards generosity? Maybe to give back. what was taken, or maybe to learn to receive what is given instead of what's not given. So again, I confess this to you, and you may feel like I'm a bad person as a result, and I'll accept that, but I don't think that blame and fault is helpful, generally. How do we see the situation? It is a karmic situation, dependent on everything else in the universe.

[44:41]

And how do we help make it better? And that's the direction of the precepts. Sure. Well, there's a lot of people who steal. of poverty, and they need to survive, and it's a means to an end, and it's like this thing that they either have to steal something to sell it, or whatever, and maybe probably more different, maybe not our country as much, but then, and for me, I can be compassionate, be like, well, they have to survive, they've got to support their family, or whatever they're doing, or maybe it's directly, they're actually getting food. But then if it's like somebody, if someone's stealing out of greed or they're buying too much or eating too much whatever out of gluttony, it's different. It's kind of like, well, you know, that's this kind of going above and beyond what you need.

[45:45]

And I kind of believe that it's okay if people have to take care of themselves or whatever. It's easy to be compassionate I mean, with children, they don't know that they don't need candy. So it's easier to be like, well, kids are obviously, they're different. They're different about candy. They think they actually need it. So it's kind of ignorance. But, you know, as adults, we know pretty clearly what we need and what we don't need. Well, it's hard for me not to go from what you're just saying to the people who, the bankers who, you know, well, The facts of 1% of our population controlling 25% of the, having 25% of the income and 400 richest people in our country owning more than 50% of the, you know. And that sort of is agreed there. And how we solve that, I don't know, but getting people to not be greedy and to see that they have enough and that it's okay and they don't need more is part of that.

[46:52]

process that's going to help us all awaken. Anyway, all this is just by way of talking about the complexity of how do we express awareness, awakening, kindness, our deep interconnectedness in the particular situations of the world, of our lives. This is the challenge, and this is the joy, too, to try and take on these situations. We can see the enjoyment of living in an upright way, really being upright. So... Oh, yes, please, Daniel. I've been in the song for a while, and I enjoy your honesty.

[48:01]

When I was a little older, I took it a lot more, and I think it is figuring out how to be aware. You know, it's like in this world we can do whatever we want as long as we're willing to pay the price. The problem is we don't know what that price is going to be until we're paying it. So I appreciate that you are also discussing the disproportionate wealth. Yeah.

[49:09]

So, yeah, as a preceptor, as a teacher trying to express moral perspective, I do talk about what's going on in this country some, and I think we have to pay attention to that as well. So, thank you. I'm glad you're here. Come again.

[49:31]

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