We begin our vow with all beings, from this life on, throughout countless lives, to give the truth of our love. That upon hearing it, no doubt will arise in us, nor will we lack in faith. That upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha-Dharma, and that in doing so, the greater than all living beings together will attain the Buddha-veil. All our past evil Dharma has greatly accumulated in the beginning, the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way. May all who live as ancestors to attain the Buddha-veil be compassionate to us and free us from our mere effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. May they share with us their compassion, which fills the boundless universe with the

[01:50]

virtue of their enlightenment and teachings. Buddhas and Ancestors, the whole world is we, and we in the future shall be Buddhas and Ancestors. We are hearing Buddhas and Ancestors, we are one Buddha and one Ancestor. We are awakening Bodhi-mind, we are one Bodhi-mind, because they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit. We are able to attain the Buddha, and that could be attainment. Therefore, Shakyamuni Buddha said, those who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened in this life. Liberate the body, which is the fruit of many lives. Before Buddhas were enlightened, they were the same as we. Enlightened people of today are exactly as those of old. Quietly explore the farthest reaches of these causes and conditions.

[02:51]

This practice is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. Confessing and repenting in this way, one never fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and Ancestors. By revealing and disclosing our life of faith and practice before the Buddha, we melt away the root of transgressions by the power of our confession and repentance. This is the pure and simple color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith. Homa.

[03:57]

Linda. Charlie. Darren. Sigwin. Sensei. Lori. Steph. Carolyn. Fred. Norbert. Reed. Eleanor. David. Jane. Abby. Gloria. Charlie. Abby. Karen. Amanda. Nathan. Samuel. Oscar. Timo. Sylvia. Will. Kenneth. Betsy.

[05:00]

David. Max. Michelle. Vincent. Jessica. Mary. We owe you. Charlie, would you bring your question over here? Could you guys move down this way? You three people, you four people. Move over this way. There's one person over there I can't see. I can't see.

[06:05]

And Andrew. Andrew. You can come up here, Andrew, if you want to. Would you like that place there? Go get a cushion and stuff if you want, upstairs. Okay. Okay, so. Let's see here. Do you know how to start this? It started. It started. Okay.

[07:23]

I'll begin with a story that I tell many times. It's a story that occurred supposedly in China. Maybe 1200 years ago. Two noted Buddhist teachers were talking. One is the teacher of the other. The teacher is named Guishan. And the student is named Yamshan. And Guishan says to Yamshan, if someone comes and says, all sentient beings just have karmic consciousness, a boundless and unclear and disorienting, with no fundamental to rely on,

[08:26]

how would you test that inexperience? And the student Yamshan says, if someone comes, I would say, hey you, if she turns her head, I would say, what is it? If she hesitates, then I say, see, all sentient beings just have karmic consciousness, boundless, unclear and disorienting, and there's not even any fundamental to rely on. Without going over that story too much, I just want to point out that this karmic consciousness, this thinking mind that we have, which is all we have to work with, when we say it has no fundamental to rely on,

[09:31]

that's characteristic of all phenomena. Nothing has a fundamental to rely on. But the fact that this karmic consciousness has no fundamental to rely on, this means that it can change, it can be transformed. And also, it can become something that's not attached to. It can become something that's not abided in, not dwelled in. Now, a basic practice that I offer you over and over, I want to say again, is

[10:34]

whatever is coming up or coming to us in the present, no matter what it is, practice compassion with it or towards it. It's hard to say, compassionate it. That's why I sometimes just like to say, love it. Compassionate it. Let's make a verb out of compassion. Compassionate. How can we do it? Any suggestions? Compassionate.

[11:42]

Compassionate. How do you say it? Compassionize it? No. Compassionize yourself. Whatever comes, compassionize yourself. Whatever comes, be compassionate with it. Love it. Not like it or dislike it. If it's a like, love it. If it's a dislike, love it. Whatever comes, be compassionate with it. When the compassion is mature, when it's complete, then you won't dwell in whatever it is. If you don't dwell in it,

[12:47]

then there will be the observation of the true Dharma. There will be the receiving of the true Dharma. And then there can be the transmitting of the true Dharma. And the work, the play of the Bodhisattvas is to transmit the true Dharma, is to receive the true Dharma and transmit the true Dharma. That's what they come to the world to do, is to receive and transmit the true Dharma in order to help all beings be free of suffering. The foundation of the, the foundation,

[13:52]

and there's no foundation to rely on, but still the foundation of the Buddha way is great compassion and great loving-kindness. And great means no exceptions. Horizontally or vertically, no exceptions. In all, throughout all the entire universe, no exceptions to kindness and compassion. And then based on that, we come to not dwell, and not dwelling we open to the perfection of wisdom and receive and transmit the Dharma. This sounds pretty simple to me, but I'm not saying it's easy.

[14:54]

It's not easy to be compassionate right now with whatever happens, or with whatever seems to come. It's not easy to be compassionate with everything, but simply that's what I'm bringing up to practice. And in a fairly intense way since the year started, I've been emphasizing over and over, kind of the first step, the first step in compassion towards anything is to be still. Being still is not separate

[16:00]

from all the other dimensions of compassion. I just would like to emphasize kind of starting with being still with whatever you're wishing to practice compassion with. And along with the stillness, silence. So whatever comes, be still and silent as soon as possible. Before it's gone, and the next moment comes where we start the moment with stillness and silence. Before any comment or movement, we're still and silent with the moment. And now this one. Being still is not different from being generous and being gracious.

[17:03]

It's not different from thank you very much. It's just being gracious and saying thank you before you say thank you. After you're still and don't say anything, then you can say thank you, just to test your stillness or to unfold it. And be non-violent with whatever comes and be gentle with whatever comes and be calm with whatever comes and give up trying to control whatever comes. This morning I was told that

[18:12]

one of our friends got upset and angry here today and I didn't hear about it until things were already over and then I just saw him being driven away with one of his friends to go home because he was still, I guess, really angry. Although I heard he wanted to come to the talk and that would have been okay with me. And at the same time I understand if when he gets angry he upsets people here, I understand that that might be upsetting to see him angry and frightened. He's been practicing with us for a long time. He's really having a hard time and he tries to come to know about it

[19:15]

and he'll call me tonight probably and say, I'm really sorry. He's coming here to try to practice compassion. He's coming here to try to be friendly with you and be kind to you and then he gets angry. It's very, very sad to see his efforts crushed. He's really having a hard time learning how to be kind to what's coming up for him. And so he offers us the opportunity to keep being kind to him and we don't know how many years it will take for this kindness to get through to him but he'll probably keep coming back to no abode. And he's coming here to relax and open to you

[20:16]

and then he gets here and tenses up and closes down and gets angry. And then he calls me every night and apologizes and reaffirms his intention to practice kindness and I say, I hear you, Bob. And we try again. Something came up this morning which I thought was interesting is that someone heard this teaching of practicing stillness and in the midst of her difficult life,

[21:16]

in the midst of her difficult karmic consciousness, which is like doing things like comparing herself to others, sometimes thinking others are not as good as her, sometimes thinking others are better than her, and having some discomfort with this comparison between herself and others, she remembered the teaching of being still and then she started looking for where the stillness was. And I said, it's okay with me if you look for where the stillness is. I don't mind. You're welcome to do so. However, you will never find it. You may think you find it, but then if you think you find it, show it to me and I'll help you look again to see if you really found it. Because you cannot find stillness. You cannot find silence.

[22:21]

You cannot find greed. You cannot find hate. You can't find confusion. You can't find anything if you actually look carefully. You won't be able to find it. No dharmas can be found. And if you're kind to your process of looking for them, you not only will be kind to not being able to find them, you will realize that they can't be found. Not finding something is not the same as understanding that it can't be found. Understanding that things cannot be found is the same as understanding the ultimate truth. Not being able to find things is not the same as understanding ultimate truth. And the way to understand that nothing can be found is by being kind, for example, to yourself when you're trying to find something.

[23:24]

So if you're trying to find stillness, that's okay. You don't have to look for it. But if you're looking for it, just be kind to yourself and you'll realize that nothing can be found. And that will be good for all beings. But what I really thought was interesting is the statement that arose, which is, although we can't find anything, we can't find kindness and we can't find cruelty, although you can't find them, you can be wholeheartedly devoted to things that cannot be found. You can be wholeheartedly devoted to compassion even though you can't find it. You can be wholeheartedly devoted to practices which are empty of inherent existence. And you can also be wholeheartedly devoted to cruelty which can't be found.

[24:32]

However, if you realize that it can't be found, you will no longer be devoted to it. You will be devoted to compassion. Because it's only by being devoted to compassion that you realize the truth. Only by being compassionate do we stop dwelling. If you're energetic and you're not kind to your energy, if you're not really kind to your energy, if you're not kind to your great energy, if you're not kind to it, you will cling to it. If you're clinging to it, that will interfere with your kindness but it won't stop it entirely. You can be clinging to your energy and still practice kindness towards it. You can have some really nice energy, a nice energy ball,

[25:42]

you can have it and be clinging to it. It's possible. It's possible to cling to something nice, isn't it? It seems to be. And if you keep practicing compassion towards yourself and to your clinging self, to your karmic consciousness which is clinging to some nice energy ball, if you keep practicing kindness towards it, you will give up clinging to it. I predict. And when you stop clinging to it, you open to the true Dharma. But if we cling to our wonderful energy balls, if we ever have one, the clinging will interfere with the opening to the Dharma. If you've got low energy, yucky energy, swamp of miserable poisonous energy, if you're not kind to it, you'll sink into it and cling to it.

[26:42]

This is a bad place, but I'm clinging to it. I don't want to, but I am. If you're kind to yourself, clinging to your yucky energy, really kind to yourself, you'll stop dwelling in your bad energy. And if you stop dwelling in your stagnant, stinky energy, right there in the non-attachment to the pollution, you will open to the true Dharma. And I really don't know which is easier to be kind to and not dwell in, the nice energy ball or the stagnant energy slums. I don't know. But they're supposed to be practiced with in the same way, with great compassion. Supposed means, if you wish to attain supreme perfect enlightenment,

[28:04]

you need perfect wisdom. And to have perfect wisdom, we have to stop abiding in things. And in order to stop abiding in things, we have to practice great compassion. And the things that are being offered to us to practice compassion towards, they come in the field which we call thinking consciousness or karmic consciousness. That's where we work. And karmic consciousness has infinite varieties, from the most palatial, exalted, joyful states to the most horrible, tormented states. All those are karmic consciousnesses. And again, number one is be still with them.

[29:10]

Each moment, be still. And have that stillness mean, thank you very much for this opportunity to practice stillness, to practice compassion, to practice perfect wisdom, to practice the Buddha way. I've heard that situations like this are where it's practiced. And any other situation is also where it's practiced. And again, stillness is not something you have to make. It's already the same as you being you.

[30:18]

You being you and me being me is stillness. It's already the case. Stillness is not constructed, is not fabricated. So this basic quality of compassion is actually us being what we are right now, which again is very generous. The whole universe is generously making us what we are. But we have to practice that. We have to enact that. Otherwise we miss it. Moment by moment we have to receive the transmission of stillness. And then moment by moment transmit the practice of stillness. Receive the transmission of kindness which makes us what we are. We are made by kindness, by generosity.

[31:26]

We receive this person and transmit this person. We receive the stillness of this person and transmit the stillness of this person. And we also in that mode receive the Dharma and transmit the Dharma. If we miss being present and still, we practice compassion towards missing. And the Buddha way is again transmitted to us. This is the essential art of practice enlightenment in the Buddha way.

[32:38]

There are eight million ways to tell this story. This is one of them. Any feedback to this situation? Yes. I have two questions. Two questions. One is true Dharma. Earlier on I wondered how we are using true. And you also said, number two, that we can't find compassion or kindness or stillness.

[33:58]

So I'm thinking we can experience it and if we think we find it would be an example of holding or clinging. Because that would give it some duration. That would be finding as opposed to being there for the next moment. Those are my two questions. Well, it's two questions and a comment. Thank you for clarifying. Or two questions plus another question which you're asking is it true or not. That would be three. What is true Dharma? In Buddha Dharma, true Dharma is what the Buddhas would like living beings to open to. And to see demonstrated and to wake up to and to enter. That thing which the Buddhas want us to open to and finally enter is the true Dharma.

[35:07]

And what do they want us to open to and enter? They want us to enter a truth which will help us be free of suffering and also be free, which means free of any fear or resistance to helping others open to the same thing and realize the same freedom. It would be the Dharma which would help us become free of any hindrance to living for the welfare of others. So Buddhas have no problem for living for the welfare of others because they have this Dharma which they've realized, which they understand. And they see other people who are living in the same Dharma but don't realize it and they want to do something to them, for them, so they'll open to it. And the thing they want to open to will be the thing which will make it possible for them to become free of all hindrance to peace and happiness.

[36:14]

That's the true Dharma. Or also called Buddha Dharma. You can also shorten it to Dharma or just D. Or DH with a circle. There are a lot of possibilities. You can also shorten it to Duh. That's the true Dharma. And the other thing was what? That we couldn't find. You can't find. And part of the teaching is you can't find anything if you actually look carefully. And it's always moving because everything is interdependent. Everything is other-powered, other-dependent. Nothing is self-dependent. Nothing makes itself. And nothing else makes things either, but things exist in dependence on other things. And because they exist in dependence on things, they can't stay still very long.

[37:19]

They can only be present long enough to practice with. And also, they can only be present long enough for us to have the idea that they could be present a little longer. And we might like that or not like that. They're present long enough for us to be deluded about them. That would be the finding part. Yeah, that would be like, I think I found it. I think I saw something. I think it was substantial. I think it could be grabbed a hold of. I don't have time to investigate it thoroughly, so I'm just going to assume I can get a hold of it. So then, grasping it is actually an act which is not that loving. Rather than, wow, thank you very much for coming. It's like, I don't have time for that. First of all, let me get you or push you away. Before I say thank you, before I'm still with you, before I practice with you, I'm going to grasp you. After I grasp you, then I'll practice with you. Meantime, things have changed.

[38:20]

I've got another situation which you're going to try to grasp before you practice with. So things appear, this life, this consciousness, this life of conscious living together, it appears in this dependent and therefore very fleeting way, and there's only enough time to grasp or not grasp. That's all there's time for. However, in order to not grasp, for a being whose habit is grasping, we have to be very quick to practice kindness first. Kindness first. Train ourselves. First kindness before getting. Before you even get the thing, be kind. Kindness at the same time as receiving. Kindness. Because if we don't practice kindness, we'll slip into getting. Getting. Getting. Clinging. So we have to train ourselves to give, give, give.

[39:24]

Be still. Be still. So there's the expression, be still my heart, but it means more, I think, better to say, let me be still with you, my heart. Not to stop my heart from beating, but to be still with my beating heart. And now again. And this is very challenging to learn to do this and be consistent. But Bodhisattvas vow to learn this. This consistent kindness, moment by moment. It's just an amazing vow. As someone said, I mentioned before, it's the most grandiose of all vows to be able to live that way. Let's see. We have three in a row here, four on this lot over here. I don't know who's first. Who's first?

[40:26]

Okay, we'll go alphabetical order. Is your name Darren? Okay, Darren. Can you hear him? Can you hear him? He's, he's, he's, he's, he's observing karmic consciousness and what he sees there is a grappling with various kinds of attachments, did you say? He's noticing a consciousness in which there is grappling with attachments and aversions. consciousness. This sounds like karmic consciousness. This sounds like what all ascension beings have, is grappling or you could even be dancing with aversions and attachments. Anyway, he's

[41:35]

in the grappling mood now, and noticing this grappling is noticing karmic consciousness. Question inaudible. A desire arises in karmic consciousness that something should end? There's almost motivation from stillness that there should be no dance, and there's also some acceptance that even that I'll have to accept, that there is some kind of dance between the Buddha nature and karmic consciousness.

[42:41]

There's a dance between Buddha nature and karmic consciousness? Is that what you said? I agree, except there's a dance between enlightenment and karmic consciousness. Enlightenment is the way of being with karmic consciousness, like in a dance, when you dance with somebody, you have to be still for a moment to make contact. So there's stillness in the dance of enlightenment with karmic consciousness or delusion, and there's engagement without attachment. Contact without attachment, flexibility, stillness, generosity, gentleness, not trying to control. You're not dancing with somebody when you're trying to control them. That's more what we call wrestling, trying to control them. Enlightenment is not wrestling with karmic consciousness. Karmic consciousness may think

[43:48]

it's wrestling with enlightenment, trying to get enlightenment under control, like the possession of enlightenment. I know quite a few karmic consciousnesses that have been trying to get control of enlightenment for a while. Enlightenment is not trying to get control of karmic consciousness. Enlightenment understands that it cannot control karmic consciousness. Buddha does not control sentient beings. Buddha is not running our karmic consciousness. Buddha is dancing with us, and when we start practicing compassion towards ourselves, we'll find out that Buddha has been dancing with us. But even though Buddha is dancing with us, or even though we don't realize it, Buddha is dancing with us right now. Enlightenment is dancing with our karmic consciousness right

[44:48]

now, and it's gently encouraging us to practice compassion, and with the understanding that if we practice compassion, if we stop trying to control our karmic consciousness, we will open to the dance of enlightenment and delusion without getting rid of the delusion. Someone told me recently, I was so happy to hear about the horse arriving before the donkey leaves. The Buddha horse arrives before the donkey of delusion leaves. They're always running together. And the Buddha is not trying to get control of the donkey, and the donkey is trying to get control of various things. You name it. And Buddha is running always with that. And when the donkey learns to give up trying to control, which you say, well, that's not a very good donkey, but when the donkey stops trying to control, the donkey

[45:51]

is transformed into a Buddha. The times that I experience, or feel, or be, the absolute stillness, which is the absolute stillness, which came the question, in those moments, there is no next moment. In the absolute stillness, there is really no next moment. And I'm wondering, where does this next moment come from? In stillness, if you've got a karmic consciousness and there's stillness with it, there can be a next moment. But the next moment is just karmic consciousness. It's not a real next

[46:53]

moment. It's this moment. But in this moment, karmic consciousness can be thinking about the next moment. Okay, we've got a karmic consciousness here, okay? Arising. And now this karmic consciousness is arising, and its main thing it's thinking about right now is the next moment. And there's stillness with that. The stillness does not eliminate the karmic consciousness, which has the thought, next moment. But the thought next moment is not the next moment, it's just thinking about the next moment. This is just a silly little boy who's thinking about the next moment. But actually he's here right now, in the present, thinking of the next moment. So you can't really find the next moment, but he's got the idea of the next moment, and there's stillness with that, and kindness towards this person, this karmic consciousness who's thinking about

[47:56]

the next moment. And if there's kindness towards this thinking about the next moment, there can be no dwelling in thinking about the next moment, and then there can be opening to the truth of the thought of the next moment. And also the truth of the thought of this moment. You can also have a karmic consciousness not thinking about the next moment, that's thinking about this moment. They can also do that, and there's stillness with that. You can have a karmic consciousness that's thinking about past moments, and you can be still with that. And then we can open to the truth of past, present, and future, which is that none of them can be found, like the story of the Zen monk, right? Past mind cannot be found, present mind cannot be found, future mind cannot be found. Which mind are you going to use to eat your lunch? If you can be still with your mind, you can have lunch.

[49:00]

And then, let's see, so H-L. You don't have a question, you just raised your hand? Oh, you moved your hand, I saw you. And then, Sese. Yes. I had a question when you were talking about kindness as a first response of the relationship between compassion and contingency. And my question was whether when we're practicing compassion with what comes, are we practicing compassion with the contingency of what comes? Why not? Since you're going to practice compassion with everything, why not with the contingency? Well, it struck me that there was a little, in my mind, there was a little difference there that I often feel that when I'm trying to practice compassion with what comes, there's more of a sense of allowance with what comes. Whereas when I think about the contingency

[50:03]

of what's coming to me, I feel much more compassionate to what's arising, because it's contingent itself. Oh, so for you, thinking of contingency helps you be more wholeheartedly compassionate? Well, go right ahead. And don't forget that. Oh, now Laurie has a question. Well, contingency is like you think you know what's coming, but you don't, so that should just be, it's nothing. Oh, and is John open to you saying that? I'm trying. That's careful keeping my mouth shut. Oh, their contingency sounds like a source. Their contingency sounds like a source? Yeah, so your job is to be still with what you just said. If you think somebody's talking about it, then you be still with that. And then give them what comes from your stillness, which might be what you just said, for all

[51:12]

I know. It's just questioning, questioning the contingency, questioning is there a source? Say again? Questioning, contingency questioning if there's a source, a direct source. Contingency questioning, is contingency doing the questioning? What is it contingent on? It's contingent on something, right? Things are contingent on something, yeah. They're contingent on things other than themselves. That's one way to phrase it. Say it another way. That's the appropriate way to say it. I think it's inappropriate, it's contingent on a specific thing. Contingent on one specific thing, rather than many things. Oh, it's contingent on a source. But I really appreciated his first response, like that's a first aid thing. The first response is to check all the vital signs.

[52:12]

So it's sweet that he phrased it like that. Compassion is the first response. Now lunch will be transmitted to you. Please receive it. May our intention equally extend to every being and place. With the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless.

[53:15]

I vow to save them. Illusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[53:44]

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