The title that I put down for this talk, is this a microphone also? It's just for the video. It seems like I hear it coming back to me, is it? No? The title was Nothing. And another possible title would be the heart, which is no heart. Or another possible title would be beauty, and so on. What I mean is how to develop a heart which is... Am I speaking not loud enough? No? I guess what I'm talking about is how to build a And I call it a heart which is no heart, which means it's not a heart which is any kind of heart by some limited idea of what a heart is, or our old idea of a heart.

[01:15]

And I want to talk a little bit about how to develop a new heart and what kind of heart I mean. And as I mentioned yesterday morning, the medium or state of body and mind, am I speaking loudly enough now? The state of body and mind in which this transformation can occur is one of concentration and balance. The about how to grow a new heart and build a new heart comes primarily from your heart as it already is.

[02:30]

And all you need to do is develop a concentrated and balanced state of body and mind, and then you will be able to learn from your heart what it wants to be. It has a true nature which it's heading for. or another way to put it is the true nature of things is trying to work through your heart all the time to your heart as a vehicle to realize itself so our job is mainly to not interfere with that process

[03:35]

to be patient. And again, being concentrated in balance is the way we can take care of ourselves while this process is going at its own rate, not necessarily at the rate which we would like to go. We don't know how long it takes. And that's why, that's part of the reason why there are these mythological descriptions of the path, or stories about previous practitioners and all they went through. So that you know, and I know, it's a very large-scale process.

[04:43]

And we shouldn't be worried if it doesn't go along according to our desires. For a psychotherapist or a psychiatrist, but also for a Zen teacher, it's very difficult to trust enough in our Buddha nature our awakened nature, to trust that it is naturally working for its realization, and to be aware of that process. We little human beings cannot direct this project. It's much too subtle for us to be steering it. It's going on all the time, whether you know it or not. But if you aren't aware of it, or if you're not patient with it, you won't be able to realize it.

[05:55]

But it is going on all the time. So tonight I'm going to tell you a bunch of stories about this process And your job is to be concentrated and keep your balance. Don't be too encouraged, discouraged, excited or depressed about anything I say. Just take care of yourself and I'll pour the teaching onto you. Yesterday I talked quite a bit about what your job is, namely to stand on your own two feet and be where you are, to be very sincere about what you're doing.

[07:04]

So, for example, you're all right now, and now again, you're concocting a posture. You're sitting the way you're sitting. You're deciding to sit the way you're sitting or lying down. And I just ask that you do that very sincerely. And also your breathing. And again, your job is to... If you're sincere... The teachings of your life will work for you. And again, you're always doing what you're doing anyway. It's just a question of this strange, strange sincerity. So one of the main things to be sincere about is your breathing.

[08:10]

So you can say, you should have awareness of your breathing. Or you should have breathing awareness. Either way, do you see? Aware breathing or breathing awareness. Either way. Or have an aware posture or be aware of your posture. Is that...

[08:41]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_89.71