a lot of level, does it? How about now? Is that better? All right. Can you hear me back there? Well, good morning. It's really nice to be with you on this brisk winter morning. It's a little loud, yeah. I've been gone for most of a month. Actually, come down just a little bit more. Come down a little bit more. I've been gone for most of a month and I'm really happy to be back here with you and happy to be sitting Susheet. I was several weeks in Burma which is a whole other story and talk and I think we're going to do something with the socially engaged Dharma group, a report back at some point in the next couple months. And then I was on the East Coast sort of teaching and performing. And it occurs to me last Saturday, I led a one-day sitting at my daughter Sylvie's college in Connecticut, which was really nice.

[01:11]

Of course, she wasn't there. She was lending moral support. She feels like she gave it home. That was enough. But it still felt good. But the subject at hand today and the kind of center of this session, which is one we do every year, is to commemorate the Buddha's parinirvana, the occasion of the Buddha's death or final nirvana. In the Mahayana tradition, that's one of the three major commemorations of the Buddha's life. In April coming up, we observe the Buddha's birth and this year I think we're going to do something a little different.

[02:12]

We're going to have a big section of the Buddha's birthday pageant with the puppets that they had at Green Gulch here. so we're going to be recruiting among you to put that on. In December, during Rohatsu Seshin, we observe the occasion of the Buddha's enlightenment and then usually in February we observe his passing, his final unbinding. It's the word that some of the translators use which I like a lot. In the Theravada tradition, actually, they usually aggregate all of these holidays into one, which I think is in late April or May, called Vesak. And they make them all into one celebration of the Buddha, which is quite wonderful.

[03:16]

So I've been thinking about this, and I realized, I read, the last couple days I've been reading the Pali Mahaparanibbana Sutta, the great complete extinction or complete unbinding Sutta, which is found in one of the major volumes of the Pali Sutras, the Digha Nikaya, it's about 50-60 pages in translation and it's a sort of interesting compendium of the Buddha's core teachings and then this kind of narrative of his last year, of what happened, his initial illness, last meal, his last illness, his last words, his passing, the way they

[04:29]

took care of his body, the cremation, and the division of his relics. And I thought I would tell you some of these stories in the course of this lecture. And then, I think almost immediately following, perhaps there'll be an interval of short kinhin, we will have the Parinirvana ceremony in here, and I'd just like to encourage people to stay for it and partake of it. I think it's one of our major ceremonies of the year, and perhaps it will have some resonance, hopefully, based on some of what I talk about today. That's for you to decide. So parinirvana, nirvana is an interesting word. Parinirvana often is equated with death, as against nirvana which is more or less translated as extinction or unbinding as a moment that takes place in life.

[05:48]

But actually, in a technical sense, parinirvana can happen at any moment, and it's not the equivalent of death, it's just in this particular context, that's the way it's used. Para means basically complete. Nirvana or nirvana is word that we can't pin down. It has some resonances, I believe, in Pali to the banking of fires or the putting out or cooling down. Is that correct? Do you know? You don't know, but I think that's somewhat the linguistic root and the fires of, you could say the fires of passion, the fires of life, but I was reading a couple days ago Ajahn Thanissaro, who's a Theravada monk, Westerner, really

[07:04]

great scholar who has spoken here, actually. What he says is very interesting about Nirvana. He translates it as unbinding, in the sense that if you think of it in the context of a fire, when a fire ends or when a fire is put out, all of the elements, the constituent elements of that the fuel, the energy, the cause, but they've all been separated from each other. They've been unbound, those elements. So it's not so much that something is going out, it's what he says, it's, It's as if those causes and conditions no longer stick together. They're no longer compounded.

[08:08]

It reminds me of something that Suzuki Roshi said over and over again when he was talking about zazen. I think it applies. Don't get stuck on anything. don't get stuck on your story, don't get stuck on your feeling, don't get stuck on your me-ness, you know, me, self, and in a sense this is kind of root Buddhism. The other thing that this expression of quenching or extinguishing as if there's something to be extinguished, he puts the emphasis on the impossibility of defining a fire that is no longer burning.

[09:10]

Does that make some sense? Where did it go? Where is it? Actually, we're going to talk more about this in the koan tomorrow. So this is, I think this is the continuous context that comes up within the Mahaparinirvana Sutta. And I'll read you some of these stories. The other thing that occurred to me as I was thinking about this is that there, and this may be, you know, perhaps discount theology here, there's some interesting parallels to the Gospels, the Christian story of the death of Christ. There's some parallels and there's some distinct differences. The parallels, which are interesting, is that there's this, as you hear this story, and I think as you read the Gospels, there's a peculiar interpenetration of things that are miraculous,

[10:22]

and beyond our understanding and things that are really identifiable and empathically human in terms of suffering. And you'll see as I tell this story. There's a last meal. There's last encounters with the disciples. There's a kind of temptation. at least a discourse, an exchange that the Buddha has with Mara, who is usually depicted as a tempter. When the Buddha passes, this is in the Gospel of Matthew, there's an earthquake shook Jerusalem, when the Buddha which is quite miraculous. So there are these stories, but there's also a major difference.

[11:27]

And one wonders about, you know, so are these archetypal elements that just emerge in the story of the passing of a great teacher or a great figure? I mean, I don't know. I've never read anything about this. I've never heard anyone comment on it. perhaps so. I think the difference is that, and you'll see when I tell some of these stories, is that the Buddha didn't die to redeem anyone. The Buddha just felt, okay, my work is done, I have given my disciples and all beings and now let that truth, let that pass, let those teachings live on their own.

[12:34]

So there's not a sense of salvation and also there's not a sense of, there really isn't a sense of the redemptive power of big subject for us, I think, in the West. So there are differences. Anyhow, this is all sort of context, and I think that part of the question as I read in this is how do we find this useful in our lives? As I said, the teachings are given over and over again in the Course of the Sutra, and I'm not going to go into them. the Eightfold Path, a lot of teachings on the foundations of mindfulness, and a variety of other pretty recognizable basic Buddhism. It's kind of all here in this sutra.

[13:36]

And I encourage you to read it for the story and also for these teachings. You know, read it for yourself. So I'm just gonna I'm going to read a little in this and maybe make a few comments and leave some time for discussion, I hope. So, in his last year, when they entered the rainy season, which is the season when monks retreated to a monastery and practiced among themselves, the Buddha became ill. I said, there arose in him a severe illness and sharp and deadly pains came upon him. But the Blessed One endured them mindfully, clearly comprehending and unperturbed. And this is what he thought. It would not be fitting if I came to my final passing away without addressing those who attended on me, without taking leave of the community of bhikkhus,

[14:43]

In other words, he's sort of arranged their way in retreat, and so he's not in contact with all of his community. And he thinks, well, I have to complete something in order to, before I pass away. Then let me suppress this illness by strength of will, resolve to maintain the life process and live on. And so it came about that the Blessed One's illness was allayed. He had that. sort of, in a mythic way, he had that kind of power and control over his physical processes. Ananda. Ananda was one of his main attendants. And if you know about Ananda, this is not the Ananda that's Andrea's dog.

[15:45]

Although maybe it is. We don't know. Ananda was very big-hearted. Ananda was the disciple who convinced the Buddha to create the order of bhikkhunis, of nuns. Ananda was also, of the original disciples, or the early disciples, he was kind of the one, he had, there are two aspects to him. One, he's the one who had the absolutely, I wouldn't even say photographic memory, he remembered everything. when they had the first council after the Buddha died, he was brought in to recite all of the Buddha's words and teachings. On the other hand, he wasn't enlightened, he wasn't free, he had all of the passions, so he's a figure I think that we relate to in various ways because possibly with some exceptions in this room, not myself, we fall short of enlightenment.

[17:00]

We still have our passions with us. We weep. We rejoice. Our hearts are broken. And so Ananda's really a good figure to identify with. So he's identifying like crazy. He's highly empathic. Venerable Ananda approached the Blessed One, respectfully greeted Him, and said, Lord, when I saw the blessed one's sickness, it was as though my own body became weak as a creeper. Everything around became dim to me, and my senses failed me. Yet, Lord, I had some little comfort in the thought that the blessed one would not come to his final passing away until he had given some last instructions resolving the community of bhikkhus. And then the Buddha says, it was a little edgy in this sutra, which I think is very interesting. Buddha says, what more does the community of bhikkhus expect from me, Ananda?

[18:03]

I have set forth the Dharma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine. there is nothing with regard to the teachings that the Tathagata holds to the last with closed fist of the teacher who holds something back. In other words, no secret teachings, there's nothing I'm waiting to give you at the last minute. I've given it all. So what instructions should the Buddha have to give respect and community of bhikkhus? Then the Buddha says, now I am frail Ananda, old, aged, he was about 80, far gone in years. This is my 80th year. and my life is spent. Even as an old cart, Ananda, is held together with much difficulty, so the body of the Tathāgata is kept going only with supports. It is, Ananda, only when the Tathāgata, disregarding external objects, with the cessation of certain feelings, attains to and abides in the signless concentration of mind, that his body is more comfortable.

[19:17]

In other words, I'm having a hard time. This getting old is no day at the beach. And I have to use all of my practice in order to reckon with my body. And then he gives this wonderful, sort of timeless message in the next verse. Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves. refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge, with the Dhamma as your island, with the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge. In other words, you have to find because those resources exist there within yourself. Everyone has these resources. We share these resources. How do we find them? This is why we sit Seshim.

[20:17]

We sit together sharing these resources and there's an ease in it. You know, it was, I don't know about for some of you, it was not easy to get up this morning. uh you know uh my body is kept going only with supports and the support was actually coming in here and sitting together with my friends um then the buddha tells us other, gives us other possibility, which is interesting. Whosoever Ananda has developed, practiced, employed, strengthened, maintained, scrutinized, and brought to perfection the four constituents of psychic power, which Buddha has, could, if he so desired, remain throughout a world period or until the end of it. The Tathagata, Ananda, has done so, and I have done so, the Buddha. Therefore, the Tathagata could, if he so desired, remain through the world period or until the end of it.

[21:22]

But, the venerable Ananda was unable to grasp the plain suggestion. doesn't ask, doesn't say, oh, we may know Lord throughout the world period for the welfare and happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, et cetera. And the Buddha sort of, then as happens so often in the sutras, the Buddha repeats this three times in a kind of formulaic way, and Ananda never gets it. He doesn't get, all you have to do is say, oh, don't die, and the Buddha will hang out here forever, until the end of this particular world. But he doesn't ask. Ananda just goes away and Mara, who's the god of the desire realm, sort of put forward as a kind of

[22:28]

Maybe the anti-Buddha, I'm not sure how you put it. He approaches the Buddha and says, now, O Lord, let the blessed one come to his final passing away. Let the happy one utterly pass away. For the Buddha spoke these words to me, this is Mara, I shall not come to my final passing away, evil one, until my bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, laymen and laywomen, have come to be true disciples, wise, well-disciplined, preservers of Dhamma, living according to the Dhamma, and able to expound it. And then Mara says, well, you've done this, there they are. And then the Buddha says again with this little edginess, he speaks to Mara and said, do not trouble yourself, evil one. Before long, the Parinirvana of the Tathagata will come about. Three months hence, the Tathagata will pass away. And that's when he makes the decision that he's going to die.

[23:36]

And he makes this as a decision. So then he goes with Ananda, they sort of go on the road after the rains retreat and he says, the Buddha says, Ananda today at the Kapala shrine the Tathagata has renounced his will to live on. And Ananda says, oh, may the blessed one remain, O Lord, may the happy one remain throughout the world period for the welfare and happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, well-being, and happiness of gods and men. And the blessed one answered, saying, enough, Ananda. This is, I'm just, this is, I'm reading, I'm not making this up. Enough, Ananda, do not entreat the Buddha, for the time has passed for such an entreaty. And Ananda asks three times. And the Buddha denies him each time because his mind is made up.

[24:40]

And then the Buddha says, do you have faith, Ananda, in the enlightenment of the Tathagata? Yes, oh Lord, I do. Then, Ananda, how can you persist against the Tathagata even a third time? Ananda says, whosoever, no, no. Ananda says, I heard this from you, O blessed one. Whosoever has developed, practiced, employed, and so forth, the four constituents of psychic power could, if he so desired, remain throughout the world period. And the Buddha says, and did you believe it, Ananda? And he said, oh yes, Lord, I did. And then the Buddha says, then Ananda, the fault is yours. Herein, you have failed. Inasmuch as you were unable to grasp the plain suggestion, the significant prompting given by the Tathagata, you did not then entreat the Tathagata to remain.

[25:43]

For if you had done so, Ananda, the third time he would have consented. And then there's a review of the teachings. So this is a really, I think this is a really interesting piece of this story. He willfully goes to this, there's a teaching in this, and how do we find that? And at the end of this piece, he says, Ananda and the other bhikkhus. So bhikkhus, I exhort you, all compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness. The time of the Tathagata's parinirvana is near. Three months hence the Tathagata will utterly pass away. So I'm going to skip here to the last meal. The rains retreat is over and they're walking about.

[26:46]

The Buddha took his abode at Pava together with a great community of bhikkhus and stayed in the mango grove of Kunda who was by family a metal worker. And Kunda the metal worker went to the Buddha and having respectfully greeted him sat down. And the Blessed One instructed Kunda the metal worker in the Dhamma and roused and edified and gladdened him. So he really heard the Buddha's teachings. And in response he says, may the Blessed One please accept my invitation for tomorrow's meal together with the community of Bhikkhus. And the Buddha consented. The next night, Kunda the metal worker, I'm dreading the next day, because they don't eat at night, right? Sorry. And Kunda the metal worker, after the night had passed, had choice food, hard and soft, prepared in his abode, together with a quantity of Sukara Madhava, and announced it to the Blessed One, it is time, O Lord, the meal is ready.

[28:03]

Thereupon, The Buddha took his robe and bowl and went with the community of monks to the house of Kunda and there sat down on the seat prepared for him. And he spoke to Kunda saying, with the sukara-madhava you have prepared, Kunda, you may serve me. With the other food, hard and soft, you may serve the community of bhikkhus. and so be it, and he served him as he instructed. Thereafter, the Blessed One spoke to Kunda, saying, whatever Kunda is left over of that Sukara Madhava, bury that in a pit, for I do not see in all this world, with its gods, Maras, and Brahmas, gods and men, anyone who could eat it and entirely digest it, except for the Tathagata alone.

[29:07]

So Kunda answered okay and what remained of the Sukara Madhava he buried in a pit. So what is this stuff? Sukara Madhava. There's a lot of controversy about this. Some translation has it as hog's mincemeat, which is maybe like chopped pork mixed up with something, which might lead one to think, well, if he kept kosher or halal, we would have a different story. There's another There's other speculation that it was some kind of mushrooms, but at any rate what happens is, even though he says there's nobody but me who could digest it, it doesn't seem that he could digest it. And soon after the Blessed One had eaten the meal provided by Kunda, a dire sickness fell upon him, even dysentery, and he suffered sharp and deadly pains.

[30:24]

But the Blessed One endured them mindfully, clearly comprehending and unperturbed. So there's another difference here between the Gospel story and this narrative of the Last Meal. you could see some parallels between Judas Iscariot and Kunda. And of course, there's a lot of complexity in the various interpretations of Judas. Whose work was he doing? Was he doing Christ's work or God's work? In the end, in most of the stories, the commentaries and the Gospels, he either kills himself or is accidentally disemboweled, but he doesn't come to a good end. He suffers for this interaction he has with Christ, the pointing out of Christ.

[31:33]

In this story, the Buddha says to Ananda, it may come to pass, Ananda, that someone will cause remorse to Kunda, the metal worker, saying it is no gain to you, but a loss that it was from you that Tathagata took his last alms meal and came to his end. But you should say to Kunda, it is again to you, friend Kunda, a blessing that the Tathagata took his last alms meal from you. For friend, face to face with the blessed one, I have heard and learned. There are two offerings of food which are of equal fruition. The two best meals of my life, that's what the Buddha says. Which two? The one partaken of by the Tathagata before becoming fully enlightened. and the one partaken of it by the Tathagata before passing into the state of Nirvana in which no element of clinging remains. By his deed, the worthy kunda has accumulated merit which makes for long life, beauty, well-being, glory, heavenly birth, and sovereignty.

[32:45]

Thus, Ananda, the remorse of kunda, the metal worker, should be dispelled." So that's that's rather different. I'm aware of the time and I'm going to skip towards the end. So the Buddha gives instructions for his funeral and Ananda can't really take it. Venerable Ananda going into a nearby building stood leaning against the door jamb weeping. Here I am still in training with work left to do and the total unbinding of my teacher is about to occur. The teacher who has had such sympathy for me and at that moment the Buddha says

[33:52]

And he says to Ananda, don't grieve, don't lament. Haven't I already taught you the state of growing different with regard to all things dear and appealing, the state of becoming separate, the state of becoming otherwise? What else is there to expect? It is impossible that one could forbid anything born, existent, fabricated, and subject to disintegration from disintegrating. So the teaching is, this is the teaching, this is the law, that things are impermanent, that they fall apart. And I think in our enlightened state, we grieve. And until perhaps we have reached some mysterious place where there is no grief, we will continue to do so because it's our human way, which is what is exemplified by Ananda.

[35:06]

We can hold this teaching, but we may not be able to enact it yet because we haven't reached this unbinding. In the last stage, there are two things that happen. One is that the Buddha asks the monks, he says to all the monks who are gathered around him, he's on his deathbed now, he's lying down in this position that you've seen, reclining at ease, eyes half closed, and the Buddha said to Ananda, but to all the monks, now if it occurs to you, oh no, where is it? The Blessed One said, if even a single monk has any doubt or complexity or perplexity concerning the Buddha, Dhamma, or Sangha, the path or the practice, ask. Don't later regret that the teacher was face to face, but we didn't bring ourselves to ask a question in his presence.

[36:14]

When this was said, the monks were silent a second time, the third time. Now the blessed one addressed the monks, now if it is out of respect for the teacher that you don't ask, let a friend inform a friend. In other words, ask somebody else and let them ask for you so you're not embarrassing yourself in front of the teacher. Still silence. Ananda said, it is amazing Lord, it's marvelous. I'm confident that in this community of monks, there is not even a single monk who has any doubt or perplexity. You, Ananda, speak out of confidence, this is the Buddha speaking, while there is knowledge in the Tathagata that in this community of monks there is not even a single monk who has any doubt or perplexity concerning the Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha, the path or the practice. Of these 500 monks, the most backward is a stream-winner, in other words, one who is destined to

[37:16]

headed to self-awakening for sure. And then the Buddha offers his last words. Now then monks, I exhort you, all fabrications are subject to decay. Bring about completion by being mindful. Those were the Tathagata's last words. All fabrications are subject to decay. bring about completion by being mindful. And then he enters into meditation, he enters into the jhanas, the particular concentrations, and what you have is the complete unbinding of his life. We think of the skandhas, which we recite in the Heart Sutra, form feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness. These are the they're held together with some binding energy, some mysterious energy, but when they come unbound, where do they go?

[38:32]

For some of us ordinary mortals, at least in Buddhist doctrine, this is something we don't… I've heard Sojin say, well, I don't know about rebirth But there's still some, the unbinding is not total. There's still some stickiness. But for the Buddha in this narrative, it's completely unbound, completely free. And yet, here we are, 2,500 years later, reciting his words, doing our best to practice the buddha way and actually this leads to the content of this leads to tomorrow's lecture you know dead or alive is the buddha alive is the buddha dead

[39:43]

So let's leave just a few minutes for questions and comments, and then we'll do our ceremony. Go. And that means that all clinging, I mean, in the Buddha, the fully enlightened being did what?

[41:00]

Go all clinging. But so what is this final, this final clinging that, this final release that there's already Nirvana? He was already fully enlightened. Right. What is it? you can't get your mind around it. That's exactly what Tanisaro is saying about this notion of unbinding, of where is the fire? Where does it go? That is what we have to work with, just that question. To get our fear out of the way, set aside some of our clinging and to raise this question is, I think it's essential work of practice, but you're not going to be able to render it in words.

[42:04]

It's not rendered in words here, it's just alluded to. You have to, you know, how is it that we live and die miraculous or mysterious. We're no more able to get our mind around that, I think. I'm not, anyway. Herit and Linda, yeah. Please. Number of times today you refer to us as When the Buddha was enlightened, he said, ah, he said, now I am enlightened to get with all beings.

[43:08]

All beings are manifestations of enlightenment itself. And yet, if we're all, this is part of the koan, this is part of Dogon's koan. This is the koan that he asked his teacher in the Tendai tradition, the result of which was that you should go find a Zen teacher. It's like, if we're all enlightened, why do we have to practice? Because, to me, the practice is about manifesting the enlightenment. Each of us has moments of enlightenment. How do we live in such a way that we are expressing and transmitting it? And that's not so easy when we have bodies. I see, if I refer to myself that way as unenlightened, it's because I see my habit energies, I see the places where I do get stuck.

[44:11]

And yet, like so many like everybody in this room right right now you know there's something enlightened then this is the original enlightenment brings us into this room it brings us into the good things that we practice and and do in life so you know i feel it's a it's a mixture but i'm not done yet uh and i've never met anyone who was Only a couple more. Okay. Let's see. Linda, Catherine, Sue, and then that's it. Okay. About that passage where the Buddha says to Ananda, you failed. I think that I, this is a feeling that I had as I listened to that. That's phony and that some Buddhist propagandists injected that into the text because if it

[45:15]

that the Buddha is going to go, and that's the teaching of his parinirvana. He wouldn't stay till the end of the... that would be... Well, he didn't. Yeah, so that idea that Ananda failed by not asking him to stay forever rings false with me, unless you take it as a kind of esoteric teaching that you should have asked me for some secret at that moment. Oh, yeah. And one other thing I want to say about Ananda is that I felt that he, in his grief and love, may have demonstrated something very, very high that should not be understood as a lack. I agree. I agree with that. I mean, Ananda is in these stories, I think, as manifesting something that is so big-hearted and connecting that it's essential.

[46:31]

It's also possible. There's other things in this sutra that I didn't read that seem to me quite injections of, intrusions of other kinds of points of view and ideology. It's possible. It's also possible I see this just as a teaching story. It's a teaching for Ananda, and it's a teaching for us. What is missing in my understanding? So I'm not troubled by that. I don't think it's about something esoteric. But it doesn't bother me so much. It doesn't bother me. I learn from where my teacher tells me I'm missing something. And that opens my eyes a little bit. Just Catherine, then Sue, and then we have to end, yeah. This flips back, it keeps scudding back and forth because the Buddha's body with its 32 marks was not an ordinary body and yet the way he describes it in terms of this aging cart that's kind of falling apart.

[48:09]

So this is what I meant at the beginning when I said there's this kind of interweaving or conflation of this mythic spiritual dimension and this ordinary human one, and I can't get my mind around it. That's okay. So is he saying that I am a supernatural being? All of the sutras do say that. And if you read more of this, you see all these supernatural things are happening around him. but he's choosing in a sense as a bodhisattva he's choosing not to you know he's choosing to be human and he's allowing he's actually allowing ananda and his community to make this choice in the sense as far as their understanding goes he allowed Ananda, he gave him pretty strenuous clues and he didn't get it and that point then he made up his mind.

[49:14]

Buddha is not given to changing his mind, you may have noticed. He made that decision and actually it's marked in the sutra, there's earthquakes and rains of flowers that happens when he Ananda is always being set up. Ananda is the fall guy. He's the straight man for Buddha, you know. He's the George Burns to the Buddha's Gracie Allen? Or is it the other way around? I'm not sure. But that's his role in all the sutras, I think. So if it troubles you, that's good. Then you let that

[50:14]

work at you. Sue. This is not Mahayana. How's that for a cop-out? Well, I think that the Mahayana has it both ways. That on the one hand, because if you look at Mahayana cosmology, every Buddha field is kind of supervised by a Buddha, right? The Buddha that's kind of, you know, the manager of this particular Buddha field we live in, the Saha world to be endured, is Shakyamuni Buddha.

[51:19]

Oh, but wait, Didn't he experience the complete unbinding? So how is it? So the Mahayana takes a whole other kind of turn. The question to me is, this is sort of theology and it's very interesting and we're going to get about as far with it as we can get about whether there's a self or any of the other great theological questions. The question is, How does this work on us? How do we work with it? What's useful here? What isn't? And actually each person has to decide for themselves. The core teaching is everything fabricated comes apart. And maybe that's a good place to stop. Oh, one more thing before I stop.

[52:21]

Just to say that on Sunday, March 1st, for people who haven't done Sesshin, but who would like to, we're gonna have a beginner's Sesshin from 8.30 until 4.30 with kind of emphasis on what our practices and forms are. And it'll be a regular Sesshin sitting day, but a little shorter periods and a little more teaching and explanation. So you can talk to me or to, is Carol here? Carol Paul, who's the session director, and there's a sign up outside on the bulletin board. So thank you very much.

[52:58]

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