It's a little bit more, what do you call it, central, or a little bit more at the core, if you're having a hard, physically having a hard time, it's a little bit more bodhisattvic, although not actually necessary. Bodhisattvas don't have to be in pain all the time. It's not necessary to have pain all the time, but it's necessary to be in the pain realm, and so if you're feeling pain, you're probably downtown, so to speak. So there's these different realms, right? There's divine realms, and then there's these really torturous realms, and there's the human

[01:05]

realm. The human realm sometimes is described as a state of sort of ongoing nausea. I thought you meant it wasn't necessary at all, to be in pain at all. No, no, it's not necessary to be in pain all the time. The human situation isn't always non-stop pain, and it's not non-stop pleasure. In the divine realms, some of them it's non-stop pleasure, and some of them it's like no negative sensation, but the human realm is sometimes painful, sometimes not. In other words, there's lots of opportunities to practice patience, and that's where the Buddhists like that their headquarters is in the human realm. It's the world where you can practice patience. It's hard to practice patience in the divine realm, and it's really hard to practice also in hell, in torturous states. In the human realm, there's lots of opportunities. So when you're in pain, you're kind of like more in the central area. So we're not really looking to get away from the pain, as Bodhisattvas, but we don't want

[02:09]

it to be too much, do we? Is that enough for this lifetime? Did you want to say something? I don't remember you explaining yesterday. I don't know how to etymologize this, but it means receiving and delivering, or receiving and giving, and this and this is related to another term. Actually, I spelled this wrong. There's not an A in here, and this funny thing here is an H.

[03:13]

So this is the jnana, it's a non-dual knowledge, it's a non-dual awareness, which has with it the wish to teach, and this kind of knowledge is the knowledge that the Buddhas manifest in the world of samsara. Enlightenment manifests in the world of samsara in the form of knowing about sentient beings, wishing to teach them, and feeling non-dual with them. So when sentient beings are receiving this, this is their relationship with the Buddhas, is to receive this compassion from a being who does not feel separate from us,

[04:18]

from a being who does not feel separate from us, from a being who is completely free of any kind of conceptual grasping, and they want to help us. So avavada describes a relationship where they're extending themselves to us, and we're accepting it, and we're requesting them, we're inviting them to come into our life and bring this compassion and this knowledge which is free from any kind of conceptual claiming. We're asking them to bring this to us. So they're invited, we're receiving, but also we're extending and delivering an invitation. That's the avavada, it describes that. And that's related to this Chinese term of kanodoko, which means inquiry and response, crossing. And it goes both directions. The Buddhas receive us too. They receive our suffering, they listen to us, they hear our implicit and explicit request

[05:28]

that they bring enlightenment into our world. So the avavada goes in both directions. And then out of this relationship of where those who are free from grasping the separation between self and others interact with those who are still caught by the grasping separation of self and others, that interaction leads to this teaching which tells the people that there's another truth besides that we're separate. There's another truth besides that we're not helping everybody, we're not helping some people, and some people aren't helping us. And this teaching is that the Buddhas are, without any conceptual limitation, extending their compassion to beings in samsara. And beings in samsara are receiving that. And beings in samsara are delivering a request to Buddhas,

[06:29]

and Buddhas are receiving that and delivering this compassion and wisdom teaching to us. This is avavada, and this is this type of knowledge. Is that the way-seeking mind? Is it way-seeking mind? I think way-seeking mind is one translation of bodhicitta. Bodhicitta refers to something that happens to a sentient being, and a sentient being who has this feeling or has this attitude or this spirit gets to have their spirit named the same thing as the Buddha mind. Buddha's mind is bodhicitta, Bodhi mind. Enlightened mind is the Buddha's mind. But when a sentient being is struck in their relationship with the Buddha, when the Buddha extends herself to a sentient being,

[07:34]

and a sentient being receives that, in that communion, in that avavada, a sentient being can feel, I would like to become a Buddha to help people. When a sentient being actually feels that, and actually wants to attain supreme perfect enlightenment for the welfare of the world, this is called bodhicitta. And that arises in this avavada way. I don't make up my own bodhicitta. You don't make it happen to me. The Buddhas don't make it happen to me. I have to receive it. So, in the actual relationship, where I help the Buddhas help me, and the Buddhas help me help others, that is where bodhicitta arises. But the avavada isn't the same as the bodhicitta. The bodhicitta is used to describe the way a human being who is experiencing this avavada,

[08:36]

who is in this avavada, feels. The Buddha doesn't exactly have bodhicitta, because the Buddha has realized this state. We aspire to it. We devote ourselves to it. But we're happy about this job we have to do. The Buddhas have realized it, and they also realize that they're not separate from us. But we have not yet fully realized that. Does that make sense? About bodhicitta? So bodhicitta isn't the same as avavada, but it arises from avavada. It's not the same as kanodoko, but it occurs, it arises in kanodoko. And all really meaningful, all the practices we do, sitting in the zendo, doing service, receiving precepts, practicing confession, getting ordained, all the ceremonies and rituals and work we do together,

[09:38]

the full meaning of it occurs in this avavada, in this relationship. And the teachings are stories and expositions, basically, of this relationship, of the relationship, of the process, of our relationship with the Buddhas, which totally includes our relationship with the entire world, because the whole universe is, you know, kind of working us to wake up. By the way, I told you about this Chinese character for crisis, and I had this nice, kind of, for me, you know, kind of a personally touching experience with it. Can I erase this?

[10:42]

Yes. So, I had this reading card, which has... Oops. Has these characters written for crisis, or turning point. And this character, if you look it up, it means... In the Japanese dictionary, it's said to be afraid, or to mistrust. In the Chinese dictionary, it's said danger, but it also says lofty. It's lofty also. Lofty or dangerous. OK?

[11:42]

And then this character, on the reading card, said it was opportunity, so I wanted to look it up to see what else it meant. And I looked it up, and what I found it meant was desk. And a desk. Somehow that didn't seem right. So then I went to the Chinese dictionary and looked up this character and see if I could find this character with this character. But I couldn't, but I did find it with this character. This is the character ki, which is my name, Zenki. I found it with that thing. And this character ki, together with this character ki, kiki, this means crisis. It turns out that this character, this thing actually,

[12:45]

the person who wrote it didn't write it right. It should have gone up like this. And then it doesn't mean desk. Then it's an abbreviation for this character. So actually, in the word for crisis, it uses that character in my name, Zenki. And one of the meanings of ki, in Zenki, is opportunity. But another meaning of it is, which is related, is the power of the universe. The way the universe acts on us is also ki. It's not just the energy of the universe, it's the way the energy of the universe acts upon us. The power of the universe. But the word danger also, it's like the word danger is power. That's the ki in Aikido, that same Aikido ki. No, the ki in Aikido is ki of energy.

[13:46]

So Aikido means loving energy path. But anyway, so it's danger together with opportunity, but also danger together with with the forces of the universe. And the forces of the universe working on you is this great opportunity, but also this danger. It's easy to find out. We aren't chanting, are we? No. Could you do it now? To our foundation, equally extend to every being and place, with the true merit of this way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible.

[14:50]

I vow to end them. Dharmas are boundless. I vow to end them. The way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[15:10]

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