Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. perhaps it would be good to in some way set the table for this pause during this now remaining eight days.

[01:15]

The first day I talked about the Buddha giving us The Buddha will come right back. And we'll see Shakyamuni Buddha right in front of us. One way to present the medicine is that it is a practice of compassion, united with wisdom. The practice of compassion is the medicine.

[02:22]

through the together for all living beings. And as we talked about quite a bit, that's the way to open our mouth, open our body and mind to this practice of compassion, integrated wisdom. is through renunciation. Renunciation initiates all of us together into the practice of wisdom ignited with compassion. And I thought it might be good if I also establish some synonyms so that if I shift from one to the other, you don't see.

[03:41]

So passion, it's synonymous with upaya. Upaya means skillful. activities, skillful means, conventional things in the conventional world that help attract beings to the practice and guide them into the practice and help them be alive to practice. Compassion, skillful means. Another possible way to talk about this is Liberative technique. Techniques for liberation. Sin. Compassion. All kinds of concession are really techniques or methods to liberate, to attract beings and liberate beings from suffering.

[04:45]

Another word for it is virtue. Virtues, compassion, skillful means, upaya, Every fifth technique. Students, okay? So can I use those kind of like interchangeably here and there? And you won't do that. And the six paramitas is the first five paramitas in a sense. Five examples of compassion. The example of cognitive technique. They're examples of virtues. So, they're spiritual means that are given to the living beings by Buddhas, and the practice of them is also and also attracts other beings. The practice of giving, the practice of being a precept, all the different kinds of precepts.

[05:48]

That might be helpful. practicing patience, practicing enthusiasm, practicing concentration. These are all liberative techniques, these are all virtues. And then the practice of the Buddha way to join those Wisdom. And wisdom is synonymous with right view. And not just synonymous with emptiness. Emptiness, right view, wisdom. Insight, consciousness. Those are synonymous. So... The concern here is how to keep the prajna-mukhaya, prajna-karuna, karuna is another word for compassion, to keep them, not just to create them, but that keeps the virtues of the company by wisdom.

[07:04]

They arrive through wisdom and wisdom accompanies by, or arrives by compassion. Another thing which might help, you know, I sometimes get lost when the mind starts analyzing. Sometimes they're confused. There's really just, you know, one good mind, which is the union of wisdom and compassion. But compassion can be multitudinously present it. So you can split up compassion into, for example, five reflections.

[08:08]

Split up compassion into giving, precepts, patience, enthusiasm, and concentration. Of course, you see the precepts multitudinously. And you can split up the samadhi in multiple groups. And really they're all one. For example, look at splitting up this one mind into these close five perfections. If you look at, in particular, the bodhisattva precepts the way we work with them, and look at the first, what we call the three pure precepts, Under the first pure precept, the first pure precept is the monastic regulations and ceremonies. So under that precept of monastic regulations and ceremonies, you have forms and ceremonies for practicing samadhi. And in the second precept, while practicing all good, so under precepts, in the second precept, that means...

[09:21]

all six perfections, including wisdom. So the precepts include all the other virtues plus wisdom. So as we break these things apart, really then, as you look at them, since you're breaking apart one thing, one thing contains the other. But it sometimes helps to break them apart to look at them one by one. Since we're in Sashin, among the various virtues, the one that I thought I would concentrate on is concentration.

[10:24]

But before we do that, I just want to say a little bit about Another virtue. And that is the virtue of the second perfection. This is called shila paramita. Perfection of precepts. Sometimes called perfection of ethical precepts. So once again, as we present, as we give the precepts here in this temple, in the form of the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, the second group of three, three pure precepts, the first is to embrace and sustain contentment by conduct, but literally embrace and sustain

[11:31]

Regulations and ceremonies. Monastic ceremonies. Or there was some other place that you had regulations and ceremonies that would be to embrace and sustain those. That's a virtue. An opportunity to practice virtue. An opportunity to practice compassion. So we have these regulations here and ceremonies, so there are opportunities to practice compassion. It's a kind of regulation. And it's, to some sense, like a ceremony. You have a ceremony of ringing a bell, When you hear the bell, suddenly when you hear the bell, you start moving towards the bell.

[12:39]

I mean, excuse me, when you hear the densho bell. When you hear the densho bell during sashin, you start moving towards the bell. Like a sound. Sort of like a regulation. A regular thing to do. Hear the densho bell, move towards the densho bell. You know what I mean? Does that sound familiar? It's a regular thing you do over and over, but it's a customary form of the sentence. Now, of course, if you hear this, the large bell and the zender, you sort of move towards, in that case, maybe, in context, you may bow, or you may go off inside, if that makes sense. And we have these bells, we have these in either ceremonies, And it's a very simple regulation. But actually, some regulations really aren't in the same ceremony because the regulation is something you're not supposed to do.

[13:42]

Like, you have this regulation of not going into the walk-in like this. Yes? That's the regulation. It's not exactly a ceremony because most of us aren't going to see it. The ceremony is sort of like a ceremony. We don't have to practice it. We practice it, but we practice it mostly by just having nothing to do with us, right? Somebody else's world. The regulations don't go in that world unless you're in that world. And then we have no drugs and alcohol regulation. It's not exactly a ceremony. It's more like a law. The law is, this place, you know, the government has decided that this place has no drugs and alcohols. So that's the law. And if you do that, then the legal system will go into action. And you will be, you know, there'll be some kind of decision about something like that.

[14:45]

Whereas, if the ceremonies we don't like, it isn't the legal system. But in both cases, these are opportunities for compassion. So is there a compassionate way, when you hear the bell, is there a compassionate way towards a loving way to move towards, a virtuous way to move towards the bell, which is outside the hall, which you then will enter. And when the people are doing the ceremony, is there a compassionate way towards it? So... How do we interact with them around these ceremonies in a compassionate way, in a kind way, and in a way that's joined with... So I just... all the other virtues, but... In the case of the shila paramita, in the case of the virtue of ethical discipline, in the case of practice of pure precepts, of regulations and ceremonies, it's easy for us to see how we get uptight around these things.

[16:08]

We may not notice that we have rigid views of what giving is. It's harder to see, it's more subtle to see where we grip around giving. But we have a lot of cleaning that we do sometimes around these regulations. So I think Kathy asked the other day, what's the, I don't know what she said, I think maybe she said, what's the difference between upaya, or sealing means, or virtue, or compassion. She's considering compassion and manipulation. So what's the difference between these ethical practices as compassion means and manipulation? And one way to speak of that is that they are manipulation

[17:14]

when you practice them with some expectation. So if you hit the bell with some expectation, hitting a bell is an example of a virtue. It's a practice of compassion. It's the first pure precept. The precepts are practices of compassion. It's a practice of upaya. It's a practice to attract beings, practice. You hit the bell, but if you hit the bell with an expectation, it's not upaya. Well, it's upaya, but it's upaya that's not joined with wisdom. And upaya that's not joined with wisdom is still an upaya practice. Hitting the bell is still a practice of compassion. But, since it's not joined with wisdom as an expectation.

[18:16]

Like you think, it's going to sound like this. Or it's going to sound like this. Or, you know, I'm going to get promoted to be Eno. Or I'm going to go down in history as the best liturgical musician in pastoral history. Or I'm going to hit it wrong. They're going to kick me off the door in Rio. Or I'm going to hit it and they're going to notice I'm not a dawn in punishment. Anyway, all these different ways of hitting the bell with some expectation are virtue not joined with wisdom. In other words, you have an expectation. You do it to get something. In other words, another way is you have a gaining idea about these practices. You hit the horn. So the expectation... What did they think of that? How did that sound, folks? You want to make, you want to make a good sound, fine.

[19:19]

To make a good sound, you have an expectation. Are you trying to gain something by making a good sound? If you are, then that upaya, that's, that liberative technique, hitting the horn, liberates people. Ringing those bells, when does it liberate people? but it's joined with wisdom. When you hit the bell with no expectation, the sound of the bell liberates being. Now, I'm not saying that if you get the bell and you have an expectation that it won't liberate being, it might. But anyway, you might knew anyway that there is a hindrance or a bondage or an obstruction to the 40-second activity because of this interjection of expectation. So, To practice these monastic regulations, the forms of being a monk, in order to get something, is practicing upaya which is not joined with emptiness.

[20:33]

And this is called the bondage of bodhisattva. It's called obstructing the activity of the bodhisattva. So, I mean, I'll use you as an example. So, he said, I want to feel wholehearted. Somebody wants to feel wholehearted? Okay, you want to feel wholehearted. I want to practice wholeheartedness. Okay. Wanting to practice wholeheartedly means I want to practice in such a way that my practice doesn't depend on feeling wholeheartedly. I want to practice wholeheartedly means I want to practice in a way that doesn't depend on anything.

[21:41]

Doesn't depend on feeling wholeheartedly. I want to feel good. That's understandable, I want to feel good. That's the worldly thought. But to practice in order to feel good is to practice full-hearted practice is to practice with no expectation. And to practice with no expectation is to practice full-heartedly. To practice full-heartedly that way means you're doing serving, sitting, cooking, you're doing those things as gifts, as virtues, and you have no expectation. That's wholehearted practice. If you do them with expectation, it doesn't mean they're not happening at all, it just means that they're a virtue undermined by expectation.

[22:44]

Bodhisattva activity hinders, not denies it, but hinders it. It's not full-heartedly. I want to practice full-heartedly means I want to practice with no expectation. I actually want to practice with no expectation. I want to practice not trying to get something. I want to practice that way. I practiced trying to get something for a while now, and that's not so bad. Actually, I got some stuff. It hasn't been that bad. Now, after all these years of practicing and getting stuff, and I also got through this whole day with it, now I'm considering practicing not trying to get stuff. And actually, I think that's wholehearted stuff. I have agreed in practicing wholeheartedly up until now. I'm thinking of renouncing that approach and practicing it. is not trying to get something from me.

[23:52]

Now, I am trying to give things to other people, but this is not exchange for me. And to show other people a way of practicing this non-expectation is my whole heart's practice. This is, I want to practice with a mind that doesn't dwell anywhere, To be firmly devoted to practicing the monastic form and ceremony, to be firmly committed and devoted to practicing them with no gaining idea, without depending on anything and not dwelling anywhere, firm dedication to practice that way is called the heroic march samadhi. It's a samadhi. When you actually, like, put aside the distractions of practicing in order to get something and just practice with more expectation.

[24:59]

In your firmness and clarity, that's the way you want to practice. That's the samadhi. Use the samadhi on this heroic way of practicing. You can practice it without expectation. Practicing with expectation is, I wouldn't say unheroic, it's just automatic. It can be built to These things could get something. That is something you have to work with. The heroic way to live in this bodhisattvic, non-heroic way. So, well, I can follow the, I guess I can practice the, uh, the, uh, monastic regularity ceremony without exercising anything. Seems kind of blinding. They're heroic.

[26:01]

Not saying it'll seem heroic, I'm just saying it is heroic. Is there a difference between expectation and intention? I think so. If I intend to go to the Zen, though, I can do that without expecting to get there. Pardon? No. I would like to help sentient beings, but I don't expect that I was able to. Or, actually, I don't even think that me, that that mode of me helping sentient beings is the mode of the help. But anyway... If in here there is a wish to help beings, that wish is that wish, and it can happen before I even have a chance to expect that it will come true.

[27:14]

So, I wish to be a Buddha, but I don't expect to be a Buddha. And I understand that Buddhas do not expect to be Buddhas. They seem to be kind of saying that over and over. We do not expect to be Buddhas, we just are. And we intend to be what we are. And I don't expect to be able to do that. And I try not to expect to be able to do that. And actually, you know, I don't actually expect to be able to do that. It's hard enough just to watch it. Now you can get into ecstatic too, but actually I don't have time. I can barely keep up with the wanting part. And now... One little bit more on this before moving into samadhi.

[28:25]

And that is, I mentioned before these three kinds of renunciation that Wang Bo talks about. And prior to the realization of renunciation, of the primary kind of renunciation that he talks about, there is practice of many virtues in hopes of gaining some reward. The first kind of renunciation he spoke of is when you're practicing virtue, like practicing monastic regulations. He lived in a monastery. He was a disciple of Baijong. Baijong was big on monastic regulations. He grew up in a monastery, Wang Bo did. So when he's talking about practicing virtues, some of the virtues he's talking about is practicing these monastic exercises. Practicing these virtues, many virtues, many monastic virtues,

[29:26]

in hopes of getting some reward, quite common, but that's not renunciation. That's just a grasping, undermined bodhisattvic activities. So he says, to practice with some hope of reward these virtues, and then hear the teaching of emptiness, have impact on and then stand through emptiness of these virtues, and then they'll attach to them. This is the first kind of renunciation. So again, to practice monastic virtues, if you practice monastic virtues, if monastic virtues are practiced, If you intend to practice monastic virtues in their practice, you'll be happy.

[30:34]

Yeah, you will. But to practice monastic virtues in order to be happy, that way of practicing is prior to renunciation. If you practice monastic research, it is not doing them so you will be happy, but just doing them with more expectation. You will be happy, but you're not doing it to be happy, but you'll be happy. So to be happy is to be happy, but to do something so you will be happy is unhappy. And out of that, but it doesn't encourage other people quite as much either. So, we need to renounce doing things to get stuff, so we'll be happy. And this is pretty funny, but anyway, again, that shows how renunciation is a way to enter into practice of precepts together with emptiness.

[31:54]

So we have these monastic forms and so forth. They don't need to be approached as individual practices or individual gain or individual purification. In fact, if they are practiced just for themselves with no expectations, so, for example, if you practice and you just practice not feeling, and not feeling is just not feeling, that's it, There's purification. But if you practice not stealing to purify yourself, there's further defilement. Third, the point of practicing not stealing is not so high. Me practicing not stealing For me in the realm of practicing not feeling, it's not to purify me, it's to purify the entire Buddhafield here.

[32:58]

That's the point. Nothing. And not even in the idea that that's an improvement, but the Buddhafield gaining something. It's just to purify the Buddhafield from gaining idea, from cleaning, from grasping, from insight. So these are wonderful practices that we have here when they're practiced through non-resp and non-siki. Try to make them, try to make them into something because of expectations. Yes? about our feeling at home of security which is connected with that. I mean, I do something and then I hope to know what's happening afterwards because I have this feeling of I don't know what's happening actually.

[34:02]

So I feel this security thing that's going on in my life. So how to practice with that actually totally unsecure feeling of I don't know what's happening afterwards when I have this feeling. How do you practice with feeling of insecurity when you give up your expectations? Well, that's an example of showing how the practice of doing some monastic exercise without expectation then brings in other virtues, like giving and patience, enthusiasm. Okay? So, if you contemplate or I contemplate practicing without expectation, I may start becoming aware of some insecurity or some fear. So, one of the things that first comes to mind is patience means being willing to feel the pain of my self-concern of entering into a mind that doesn't dwell on me.

[35:15]

So, practice patience with that pain. Try to, like, be with to, like, uh, like, okay, I gotta get close to this, this idea of, like, practicing without, like, any idea. Get close to this possibility of practicing with no expectations. And it's scary and it's painful. So, how can I get close to it in small doses so I can not run away from it? Use patience. Enthusiasm, how can I be enthusiastic about such a practice? So enthusiastic that I feel just full of joy, and my joy su- buoys me up through this ocean of fear. So you actually meditate on how good it would be to do this, until you feel bubbling over with, with enthusiasm for diving into this dangerous situation. Which seems to be dangerous. Namely, if I don't keep track of what I'm expecting, how will I be able to practice? Can I actually go to the Zendo without expecting anything?

[36:21]

I don't know where I would go if I didn't expect to get there. Just intending to get there might not be enough. Or, you know, if I'm just intending to get there and I'm questioned on the way, I might not be able to answer where I'm going. All kinds of terrible things might possibly happen to me unless I keep tight grip and control of this program. I have to think now, what's good about this again? What's good about practicing letting go up, sort of be on top of it and in control of this practice and being ready with smart answers? What's good about this? Say it again. Oh yeah. Gotta relax here. What's good about being relaxed? And what are we talking about? People are talking about practicing with no expectations. Oh, and how... That's like the bodhisattva.

[37:23]

They don't... They're just like... They don't have expectations. They want to help people with no expectations. They're willing to meet someone the way the person is, rather than meet the person according to their expectations. And then whatever happens, they'll be there with them, even if it doesn't go according to what they expect. That means even if they don't, even if they're not under control, I'll still be able to be their friend. Even if they aren't what I like, I still could take care of them. I won't get angry if they don't follow my program and my expectation. This sounds good. This sounds great. So it's scary, but it's good. It's scary, but... This would like take my, this would like take all these obstructions away from my heart. This would set the body's health for free. This would be good. Then the Bodhisattva could like, you know, really interact with everybody without sort of like worrying about what's going to happen. And to see that does deal with that. This is good. So you get more and more enthusiastic and then you, it's still kind of, you think about it, it's scary, but you get more and more enthusiastic.

[38:27]

And then giving is like you just, you think about how good it is to give, not knowing what will happen after you give. There's no expectation of your giving. Like, will they like it? Will they think this gift is good for them? Am I trying to get something from this? This is a mess. Yeah, it's a mess. So what? I have a messy giving practice. That's okay too. I have no expectation of having a clean practice with no kind of suspicion of my motives. So this is an example of all these different practices come to help each other. You know, I... Here's an example.

[39:29]

I... I had some practice I do, which I'm sorry doesn't fool all of you. Yet. ...be the birthday present on your birthday, or somewhere near your birthday. As long as you know your birthday's coming, so, you know. I'm looking for one birthday boy. Where is he? He's not here? Oh. He doesn't know about this. Where is he? Where's Sway? He's there. [...]

[40:30]

He's there. He's there. He Well, which president should I get to vote? What would they like? So when you think about what would they like, try to give them the expectation that they would like that. Like 6'0". 6'0". It's a nice baseball, so maybe a boy would like baseball more than a girl, but, you know, maybe I shouldn't get into that. So I think, well, maybe we should do it this way. present first to the first person, rather than saving the best present later for somebody that you like better. So just like line the presents up in how much they're worth and just give them according to seniority in the year, even though some people are holding those. Or give it according to, you know. How about giving it in a way that's fun? How about How about numbering the gifts and then just pulling all the hats?

[41:34]

That's pretty good. How about asking what they want? Which one, which of these do you want? You put them through. Yeah, I'm giving you, I'm giving you a choice of presents, plus I'm also giving you, I'm also torturing you. Would you care to see what I'm torturing you with? Six gifts here, choose. If there are six gifts here to choose, I'm not going to tell you what's inside the package. And giving is a good idea. But the point is anyway, I'm struggling. I'm trying to find what is the practice of giving? What is it? I don't know. Actually, I do have an idea. I give them all my ideas. How can I cut through? Or how can they be cutting through these ideas of giving? There's no giving idea. And what about people who don't have birthdays?

[42:49]

Huh? You're gonna get them. You know. Today's not your birthday, right? I have a not-birthday present for you. Here it is. And according to my informant, today is Moby's birthday here. So... Okay, now I'm ready to talk about Samadhi, which is another virtue. It's another skill and means. Buddha gave us sentient beings He skillfully taught us the opportunity to practice samadhi. He gave us the samadhi practices. And when we practice them, they are virtues, and they also bring benefit to others and attract others to the practice.

[44:01]

We practice samadhi together with emptiness. In a sense, the definition of the word samadhi, the word samadhi means to be firm, to make firm, or to establish. And the Chinese characters I wrote on the board in class, firm, decisive, resolute, fixed, established. It's like legs under a roof. And so it's a kind of firmness for it being established.

[45:10]

It can be defined as a collectedness of mind on a single object. And then it can go further. You could say collectedness of a mind on a single object through gradual calming of mental activity. And there's this word, Japanese word, Setsu, which some of you probably haven't thought about. Setsu is used to make the word Sashin. What is the mind? You have the mind. Further meanings of Setsu are to embrace and sustain. So in the most pre-Cure precepts, it says embrace and sustain the regulations and ceremonies, embraces, it's been good.

[46:14]

That word sets us there. So it also means, Sashin also means staying the mind. So Sashin in a way means Samadhi. We're deciding during a certain period of time to collect the mind, to practice Samadhi, to embrace and sustain the mind. But it also means to care for, to nurture, to bring up. So we're nurturing the mind, caring for the mind. And sexu also means to receive Buddha's compassion. So sasin, we're also receiving Buddha's compassion and guidance. We're in the samadhi, in sasin, we're in the samadhi of being sexy, of being caring for, and receiving that care. So there's caring for the mind, and there's caring for the mind cared for.

[47:21]

So you're sitting here, and we are caring about you. All of us, all the Buddhas, are caring about your mind. We care about you. We care a lot. We want your mind to be healthy, free, happy, and peaceful. We want that for you. We are caring for you. And our care is up for each of you. There's quite a bit of care here for you. There's other beings that care for you, too. So part of what says she is to receive the care that's coming. And to care. It's a sheep. It's also... And it's also, again, it's a practice of virtue.

[48:38]

It's the first pure precept because we do it according to monastic regulations and ceremonies. That's the first pure precept. And hopefully, again, we practice samadhi as the first pure precept. According to the procedure, we face the wall, we face out according to certain regulations. These are the details of the ceremony. We practice those. That's a virtue. And hopefully we practice that virtue with no gaining idea, with no expectation. And then that virtue is divine wisdom. Then we also practice samadhi under the second true precept, which is to embrace and sustain all good, to step through all good, to practice all good, and also This is samadhi.

[49:43]

And in Dogen Benji's comment on that second pure precept, he says, this is the practice of anuttara samyak sambodhi. And it is a practice. And what is practice? But you can also say it is the path of practice and being practiced. So the samadhi is the path of practicing samadhi, but it also is the path of being practiced. It's the samadhi of being practiced. So you remember in the... called the self-fulfilling samadhi. or the self-receiving and employing samadhi.

[50:48]

It's being settled and firm about the self which is received and employed. In Dogen's discussion of that samadhi, he says something like, because of this broad awakening, Because of its broad enlightenment. In zazen, in sitting meditation, you will unmistakably drop off body and mind. Because of its broad awakening, it resonates back to you. and you will, unmistakably, can zazen, drop all body and mind, cut off the various defiled thoughts, and realize the central root of dharma.

[51:51]

So, the samadhi practice helps with a firm sense of embracing and sustaining all good, embracing and sustaining what's happening, and being embraced and sustained, and having this broad awakening resonate back to him, and he is unmistakably a dropping off the body of mind, and realizing how to think of Buddha. The phenomena called samādhi is often said to be one-pointedness of mind. citta-eka-gākta citta-mind-eka-gākta means eka-one-gākta object.

[53:05]

A mind with one object is sometimes used to describe samādhi. But the problem with that is that people think that samadhi means to, in a kind of straining concentration on one point. Well, like Sri Yukteswarji said, trying hard to watch something. But this understanding of samadhi, trying hard to focus on something like your breath, is really antithetical to Samadhi. Because Samadhi is not you, the subject, trying to direct your attention onto an object. Samadhi actually is subject and object, are not separate. So, quite frequently, the way people think about samadhi is not samadhi.

[54:13]

I'm sitting here trying to direct my attention, or there's an intention to direct the attention onto the object. This is not samadhi. This is just dualistic habit. Samadhi is just a sip. Samadhi is not even just the sit. Samadhi is just the sit. It's just the body sitting. That's the samadhi. That samadhi in which the subject and object are not two. There's not mind and body. Mind is just body. This broad awakening, this broad enlightenment is resonating back to us all the time, and also it's resonating out from us all the time.

[56:17]

It's enlightening us, and it's resonating back on. It's already happening. that would be proposed to you by the teaching of the self-receiving and employing function. And the samadhi is to tune into the self, to tune into yourself being given to you in each moment, and to tune into yourself after being given to you in the moment, immediately, simultaneously, yourself is employed. You see the self and you blow it. You see the self and you blow it. You see the self and you blow it. Like that. Got one? See how it's used? I got another one? See how it's used? The one? See how it's used? And, uh, so, Samadhi, I guess it's just to, like, it doesn't necessarily sit there and think that way.

[57:20]

But, more like be open to that by speaking and not going to give anything or hold on to anything. And in that state of renunciation, you're ready for this receiving and employing, receiving and employing tomorrow. Which is already going on. Yes? Is somebody aware of this? Um... I would say, yes, samadhi is pure awareness.

[58:26]

And you said, not awareness of something. And if what you mean by not awareness of something, what you mean by that is, it's not like I am aware of something. But it is awareness of something. In fact, it is awareness of something which is just something. That is awareness of something. That awareness, that consciousness is just the object. But for example, when the body is sitting, and there's just the body, then there's awareness of the body. But there's not me being aware of the body, there's just the body. The body is sitting, then the body is standing, the body is walking. So there is awareness of the body, but not me aware of the body, but I aware of the body, or self aware of the body. So there's not a dualism between the body and subject.

[59:26]

So the awareness has been purified as that duality in samadhi. And not only that, but of course, I don't make that samadhi happen. It's awakening that makes that body happen. And that way of being, that way of the body being, is body-mind dropping off. Doesn't mean there's no body, it just means there's no ownership of the body at that moment. And there's no wishing for the body back by somebody. Body and mind are released because the practice of samadhi has been integrated with wishing. So there's no grasping of the practice, there's nobody doing it, separate from the body. And there's no practice separate from somebody. And there's no expectation for this process.

[60:38]

Or if there's an expectation flowing through the room, it's like a bat that you're not afraid of. And I suppose almost nobody likes to eat bats, so nobody's seeking a bat. But anyway, it's like expectations may arise. The river system may keep churning up expectations. What are you doing here? How much longer is this going to go on? When's interim going to be? Expectations are flying up all around. It's not that they necessarily stop, but there's no grasping of them. They don't get mixed up with the semantics. We don't need these expectations and we don't need to get rid of them. Just don't grasp them. I think can be operating without expectation.

[61:43]

Expectation is a type of discursive thought, an example of discursive thought. I think there's some kind of discursive thought that aren't expectations. But one example of discursive thought is expectations. But you can make plans in a discursive way without expecting that they would happen, but still be kind of attached to expectations. to be involved in the process. At least, I guess there's, even to be involved with discursive thought, I think you still have the expectation, I guess, I could have some thinking over how the discursive thought goes and whether it would be effective. So maybe they are kind of synonymous, completely, rather than just partially. Yes? I would say yes, doubly so.

[63:05]

In other words, I think the nervous system is keeping track of the breath all the time anyway, because it's operating it, so they never lose track of it. But also, samadhi, which is not just being aware of the breath, keeping track of it at a phenomenal event and making sure it's going on all right, because that's being monitored all the time too. But in addition, there's also the samadhi, which is the sense of receiving the sense of junction with the breath and receiving the breath in dependence on the self. And if there's not separation, that's also going on. So the attention to the breath's going on, and the samadhi, there's non-dual samadhis going on all the time, too. And actually, we're receiving it all the time. All the time, this food's washing over us. How is the relationship between teacher and Samadhi?

[64:41]

There is some, the thought arises, could you be more specific, but then I think, well, maybe that's not necessary. Could you be more specific? You're trying to understand samadhi in relationship to the precepts? Yes. Samadhi in relationship to the precepts. Well, one relationship between samadhi and precepts is that one of the precepts is to practice samadhi. The second pure precept is to practice all virtues. So, precepts, when you receive those bodhisattva precepts, when you receive the second pure precept, you're receiving the precept of practicing samadhi.

[66:08]

So, once you receive the second precept, then you might say, you might say to a teacher, what's that second precept? The teacher might say, well, one of the things it is, is to practice samadhi. Well, what's samadhi? The teacher might tell you about samadhi. And then you might say, could I practice it? The teacher might say, Well, strictly speaking, no. And so on. And you get into this discussion with the teacher about the second precept, and get more and more instruction about how to practice samadhi, how samadhi is practiced. And after talking with the teacher about that second precept for a long time, suddenly you understand, there's an understanding, a realization of the second precept. There's a realization of samadhi. And part of the realization of samadhi comes when you understand, when you practice it by yourself, that it came through this interaction between you, the teacher, all the Buddhas, the tradition, all the teachings, all that came together in this way. Suddenly, samadhi happened.

[67:10]

Boom! Samadhi. And there's this big glowing that felt happening. But there was an understanding that you didn't do it, I didn't do it. All that stuff working together. But if you weren't interested in the precepts, You might not understand what the second precept is and find out about samadhi. Also, the first pure precept is also about samadhi because the first pure precept is about the regulations and ceremonies, about how we practice the samadhi. Or in Ringolch or City Center, we follow these active monastic communal yogic practices. So then, if you want to practice samadhi, the first pure precept would also be helpful to you. And also to understand how that first three precepts helps you with samadhi, the teaching might help you. And then the first three precepts. Here's the first three precepts of our tradition. I take refuge in Buddha, okay? Buddha. I take refuge in West Buddha.

[68:12]

Buddha is basically this samadhi. West samadhi. It's the samadhi which includes all the samadhis. There's only one samadhi, and it's the samadhi that all the Buddhas are doing. All the Buddhas are practicing this one samadhi. They're all doing this one samadhi. And all the Buddhist doctors are doing one samadhi for all the Buddhas. And this samadhi includes all the virtues, all the precepts. And the precepts are about this samadhi. And as a matter of fact, one of the first precepts is Buddha, which is this samadhi. This gives you the idea how looking at the precepts starts to get you involved with samadhi. And the teacher starts to help you pull this samadhi out of the precepts and pull the precepts out of the samadhi. Precepts and samadhi are inseparable. Precepts unpack the samadhi and the samadhi realizes the precepts.

[69:13]

And the precepts realize the samadhi. And the teacher and the student are in that, all mixed up with all the Buddhas. This is the Samadhi, the Samadhi of the Buddhists. All our old person dharmas, working together, that's the Samadhi. But you can break it up into parts, sub-Samadhis, which emphasize certain things. So, probably it will happen, what I did today, the self-fulfilling Samadhi, the Samadhi of receiving yourself and employing yourself. Or put another way, the Samadhi of seeing the self-given and the self-employed. There's also this ocean seal samadhi, the heroic march samadhi, the one practice samadhi. All these samadhis are interesting facets, facets means little faces, of the big samadhi, the one samadhi, that all Buddhas are practicing.

[70:15]

So the first precept of the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, Buddha, I take refuge in Buddha means refuge in this ocean of samadhis, which are really just one ocean, one samadhi ocean. And we'll look at all these different samadhis, not all of them, but we'll look at some of these samadhis, which means we're going to look at various aspects of the ocean of all virtue. And the ocean of all virtue, but not just virtue, but the ocean of all virtue, integrated with emptiness, integrated with wisdom. And the way we enter the ocean of this is through renunciation. So when we come to the center, if you haven't done it before, you cross the threshold, and when you cross the threshold, you just renounce everything.

[71:16]

You renounce all expectations of the next period of time. If you expect to come in here and get really concentrated and get really focused, fine. You're nonsense. That approach is antithetical to the precepts. The virtuous idea that that virtue is not connected with wisdom. Wisdom says, check all your expectations at the door. Wisdom says, It's futile to approach... of you doing it. So renounce, practice renunciation, come here, sit, and receive precepts and samadhis of the deepest. Just feel this resonance.

[72:17]

Feel this vast, broad awakening resonating back to you. Yeah. Uh-huh. I got it. Okay? Before you say, I would combine those two. She said one way is to come in and find yourself bowing and going to your seat. Which she says is uncomfortable.

[73:20]

It is to be aware of coming in. Okay? And I would say that those two can be combined. And actually, the unconscious one, together with the conscious one, I think, it sounds to me a more whole, a more whole argument than either one of the other two. They both have some virtue, I think. So, to come in and just as falling happens, and then just as walking to the seat happens, And you said almost unconscious. Did you say unconscious? If it's unconscious, then that's going pretty far that it's unconscious. But you said you find yourself bound. Oh, you're thinking of something else. Okay, so you come in and you stop. Yeah, so maybe you step in. Okay, the other case, you step in and you don't think something else.

[74:24]

You just say, oh, I think a foot's stepping over there. I think a foot has come into the room. I think a left foot has come into the room. The other one is, I don't know which foot, but I think it's a late foot. So, if you notice that you're late, I mean, if you think that you're late, and you notice that you're thinking that you're late, and being aware that you have the thought, I'm late, of being aware of the thought, I should rush to my seat. That's a good mindset. To me, I would say it's good of being aware, left foot into the green. However, if you step in with the right foot, and what, when you're thinking, oh, I'm late, that's when you're mindful of all of the thought, oh, I'm late. If you step in with the right foot, then someone may say to you, It's the left foot, right? You may get that feedback.

[75:26]

And then you may think, oh, I made a mistake. Oh, that person is bothering me or whatever. So I think that... I think you're practicing virtue. In one case, you're practicing virtue because you're coming to this room, practicing meditation, and you're thinking you're late, and you're aware you're thinking you're late. This is mindfulness in the context of practicing the precepts of monastic regulation. So you're practicing the precepts and you're also practicing the precepts. So you're practicing the first precept and you're practicing the second precept of all good, which mindfulness is one of the virtues. So you're practicing the virtue of mindfulness and the virtue of monastic regulation. You're practicing two precepts right there. Then also, they're combined in both cases, in both your examples. In the example of this... And that's it. In this case, also, I'm thinking I'm late, and that's it. Of course, there could be more or less concentrations.

[76:31]

In other words, you could be more or less having no expectation around the stepping in, or thinking that you're late. You could have either of those or not, and you could notice those expectations or not. If you notice the expectations, then you won't notice what it feels like to have expectations. And you'll notice that it's painful, and so on. If you don't have expectations, you could perhaps notice that, and notice that that's freedom. But I'm... Not expect... Having no expectations about even not having expectations is freedom. So if I notice I have expectations and it's painful, perhaps I could say, this is fine too. I accept it. It's about patience. The... The thought awakened is resonating back to you all the time. No matter what you do, it's coming to you. Correction of how much we appreciate it.

[77:34]

It seems to be possible to appreciate it more and more. But, it's funny to hear this. It's the awakening resonating back to us that makes us appreciate the awakening resonating back to us. So we're not in control of appreciating the resonance of the awakening more. But it is being said that it is possible to deepen and widen our appreciation of the unacceptable mutual assistance of this broad awakening. It conceivably Resonating back to us. Resonating back to us inconceivably. We don't understand how this happens. But this broad awakening is resonating back to us. And helping us in the process of body and mind dropping off. And me thinking that way is fine.

[78:34]

But the actuality of that is the self-proclaimed samadhi. Right now, this broad awakening is resonating back to us inconceivably, helping us practice selfless giving. Right now, selfless giving is happening. Not by me doing it. Not by you doing it. Sort of by all of us. Because all of what all of us are doing with all the Buddhas is this broad awakening. And that broad awakening is resonating back to us inconceivably, realizing selfless giving, realizing body-mind dropping off, body-mind dropping off is happening now. And you may say, well, so what? I want a conceivable one. But you don't get a conceivable. I mean, you can have a conceivable dropping off body and mind. And so there are stories. And that's an example of a student-teacher relationship where the student has a conceivable dropping off body and mind.

[79:42]

So they say, I've been practicing the precepts. And wowie zowie, I've got the dropping off body and mind. So then you say, well, I quote to the check with the teacher now, I suppose. a little verification of this dropping off body and mind. So you go and show the teacher the conceivable or the conceptual body and mind. And the teacher says, you've got the conceptual mind. That is dropping off body and mind conceptually. But do you understand the body and mind dropping off that happened before you had that idea and after? And maybe you have something to say about that. Maybe you don't. That's how you work it out with the teacher. Now, if you don't have the conception of body and mind, then maybe you don't even go to the teacher to talk about it. Fine. Make it easier on everybody. But nonetheless, there is this word, there are these words, and the words are that the dropping off body and mind is what's going on, actually.

[80:52]

Now, I said before, it is happening now, but another way to put it is, it is what is happening. It's not like there's various things happening and that's happening. It's more like the various things are happening, but the way they're actually happening is that their body-mind is dropping off. So it's not like this is happening, this is happening, this is happening, and body-mind is dropping off. It's that in all these things that are happening, what they thought was happening is body-mind dropping off. And while I'm awakening... You're wondering about effort, yeah? Well, if I'm making effort, this is called Before I said, you tell me what's called.

[81:56]

When I'm making effort, what do you call that? What? That's a delusion. What? Yes. What? It's duality. Let me just say. If I'm making effort, then that's an example of practicing compassion, practicing skillful means, but not being integrated with intimacy. Okay? There is the practice of virtue that's not integrated with emptiness. Okay? It's still virtue if you try to, if you sit there and you think, okay, I'm going to think now, me, Ben's going to think about how good it is. Be a good student. I'm going to think about how good it is to practice giving. I'm going to think about how good it is to practice precepts. And here I am thinking about it, and it feels really good, and I'm really happy about it, and I feel full of joy about it. I'm so happy, and I want to help people.

[82:56]

You're feeling good about serving meetings, and the next time I have something nice for somebody and give somebody a present, you're going to have a ball. You're just feeling great about it. This is practicing virtue. This is compassion. You want my blood? Here, how much do you want? You know, I'd love you. This is practicing virtue. This is virtue. It's virtuous. It's not virtuous to say, I hate you, I want to... Give it here. That's not virtuous. Virtuous is, I want to help you, I want to be your servant, I want to be your servant. I want to spend my whole life helping you. That's virtue. Okay? But I want to do this, and I'm going to do this, and I'm doing this. This is virtue not united with emptiness. And, you know, it leaks. It sucks. It's impure. But anyway, it's, you know, it has this impurity of self and mother's gain and loss around it.

[83:59]

So I would say, yeah, practice the virtues. Follow the schedule. Be careful. Be mindful. Do all those practices. And if you do them from the perspective of you doing them, then they haven't yet been united with right view. But they're so good, it's just that the actuality of the functioning of the bodhisattva is hindered by that duality, by that substantial view of it, of you getting it, you grasping it, you... It just hinders the great activity of the bodhisattva. same practice the same enthusiasm were arising and there was understanding that this is arising through the cause and condition all those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all were suffering and here it is and I'm so happy to practice and I want to be and I want to be of service but I'm not doing this I want to be of service this I want to be of service to me and this gift to me is now a gift to everybody I'm not in charge of this I'm not grasping it I'm not seeking anything I'm just thank you [...] and I'm not in charge of saying thank you

[85:10]

This is getting closer to saying thank you, which is a virtue generally. Unless you say thank you. But thank you for your kindness. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your servant. Thank you. But I don't see that there's some great thing I pulled off. And I don't see the act and the actor separately. That's a samadhi. That's the virtue united by an integrative. and sometimes it happens sometimes it happens again I'm saying it's happening all the time every virtuous act actually is not under the sponsor of an isolated person it's actually all these virtues are arising right now through body mind dropping people just like jump on the bandwagon and say I did it I cannot lie I'm the one who did the good thing fine [...] sure you get to take credit for the good thing okay sure Rather than, I know, I know how it happened.

[86:15]

Everybody together made it happen. That's good experience. I know. And just tell us, without taking credit for being annoying. Okay. Everybody made this virtue happen. It happened around here, but everybody made this virtue happen. All beings made it happen. Broad awakening, resonating fact, it's inconceivably manifested as virtue. This is to that, being without understanding, is self-performed samadhi, red-marked samadhi, the one-faceted samadhi, the one-faceted samadhi, the ocean-sealing samadhi. It is the one samadhi. They're all in together, all three. And... Why is it there? It is effort. If there's not effort, well, take another look. It is effort. Effort is happening all the time. We are cooking all the time. But because we think in terms of me doing the cooking, we sometimes miss it.

[87:18]

What's done by me is non-stop. The cooking that I do just happens when I think that I'm doing it. And when I think I'm doing it, once again, it still is cooking, it's still virtuous, it's still good, but it's in full activity of the bodhisattva, it's in it, following it. And when wisdom joins with it, the activity is released For example, literally. Make sense? Yeah. Yes. I'm having trouble kind of equating the part where I haven't inserted some sort of self into how all my good intention is gone, or I, and I want to... Just a second now. One case is, I did something good. The other case, I did something bad.

[88:18]

Yes. Okay, so that's the question. I did something good. Can I say something? If I think I did something good, then right away I confess the, what do you call it, the impurity of the good that I think I did being interpreted as I did. I confess I confess that I saw this as something I did. So I mainly confess that clinging, that grasping, that self-centeredness about the act, even though it was a good thing, like a gift, I confess the three worlds were not pure. I thought I gave it. So I confess my dualistic attitude towards that virtue. And the same, if an unwholesome thing happens, like a theft, I confess, in that case, but mainly I confess, I think I took it.

[89:25]

I took it. So a gift is undermined by me thinking I did it, and theft is facilitated by me thinking I took it. I confess my selfishness in both cases. I confess the grasping in both cases. In both cases, it's kind of a grasping and a seeking. In one case, I was seeking to get this thing. In the other case, I was seeking to get something else. In one case, I was seeking to get the status of a donor, of a giver, of a generous person. In fact, I did get it. I confessed the value. I defiled the giving by personal gain in terms of giving, me becoming a giver. In the other case, I stole something. In both cases, I confess my selfishness. In the part where you confess your selfishness in the theft, and you come clear, you see that... Actually, I didn't do that.

[90:31]

What... But there's still the theft. Okay. Okay, so... in the giving when there's an understanding that there was the impurity in the giving of me giving. That's an example of the Throg enlightenment resonating back inconceivably to help me. Help me what? Help me be aware of that impurity. This is awakening, coming back. I'm not in control even of noticing my own selfishness. But in fact, sometimes I do notice my selfishness And that's an example of when I see that not only did I notice my selfishness, but Buddha's helping me notice my selfishness. Buddhism's happening here. I'm being supported to notice my selfishness. That's the important thing, is that the self-fulfilling samadhi's happening as I'm giving. If I'm stealing, and I notice that I'm being selfish there,

[91:35]

This is the broad awakening resonating, conceivably helping me in the act of stealing. And I feel grateful that enlightenment is helping me admit my selfishness in this act. Hence, I can also then notice that I didn't, that I thought in terms of stealing this too. That's also the broad awakening resonating fact. And this way of making it very easy for me to admit that I stole, but even more than that, that there was selfishness around the stealing. This is the enlightenment resonating back to this person inconceivably. And this dropping off body and mind realized there is selfishness here and stealing. It's precipitate to the precept of the practice in that case. Body-mind is dropping off when we Simply note, this is people.

[92:39]

And simply note, that's cleaning. Seeking.

[92:44]

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