Today is the last day of a three-week meditation intensive here. During this time we have been concentrating on wisdom teachings from a Mahayana called the scripture Unraveling the Thought of the Buddha. In the first Sunday talk that I gave during this intensive, I mentioned that the, I think in the Constitution of this, or is it the Declaration of Independence?

[01:07]

Maybe it's the Declaration of Independence that says all men are created equal. Is that where it says it? All are created equal. And I mentioned that it seems that what the people who wrote that meant was that all people are created equal in the sense that all human beings have in their hearts the capacity, a common capacity for sympathy and concern for others. That all humans are created equally with the heart of compassion. as a founding principle, this is a great thing.

[02:09]

However, as I mentioned at that time, if that's so, that we have this wonderful common element It may also be true, it seems to be true, that this sympathy and moral feeling for each other can be obscured by emotions of greed, hate, and delusion. And these emotions arise from an incomplete understanding of the nature of what we experience, phenomena or objects of knowledge. So that includes, of course, everything we experience, other human beings, other animals, plants, and non-living things like diamonds, poison.

[03:21]

because of an incomplete understanding of the nature of these things we know, that we meet, that we see, emotions which inflict pain on us. And these emotions then engender activities which further hinder our ability to be compassionate with ourselves and others. Whether it's natural or not, this potential for being really kind and skillful with all things, living and non-living, can be obscured by lack of understanding. That's why the Buddha is primarily concerned with teaching people how to see clearly what or how things actually are.

[04:34]

This scripture which we've been studying offers teachings about the way the way things are, the way objects really are, the way phenomena really are. I mentioned in the last two weeks and all through this time, and I will continue perhaps to present this teaching that the Buddha taught in the scripture that all phenomena have three characters, or three characters, or three natures. although he presents them in a different order than the order I'm going to present them. I'm going to present them in a different order. The one character is called the other dependent character. Another character is called the imputational character, and the third character is called the thoroughly established character of phenomena.

[05:52]

The other dependent character is really the way, is really what objects are. They're, at least the objects we experience, as things that come to us. Basically, it means that they have this character or they're produced in dependence on things other than themselves. So everything that you see and everything about you, your body, your mind, your breath, is an example of being a phenomena that arises by the power of things other than itself. I arise due to the power of things other than me. you are produced through the power of things under the influence of things other than you.

[07:02]

That's the other dependent character of you and me and everything in the world. Except the other two characters, They're different. But the other two characters are basically pertaining to this basic character. Basically what we're working with all the time is working with the other dependent character, otherwise nothing's happening for us. So you and I are other dependent characters. But there's two aspects that aren't really the other dependent character, which pertain to this other dependent character. Two aspects which are related to or pertain to me and pertain to you. One is the imputational character, which is various kinds of imaginations, various fantasies, various kinds of conceptual grasping, which are not.

[08:22]

what we are as other dependent phenomena. For example, the main one we want to know about is the of a self, of an essence, of a permanence. of an overly reified status. That's an example of an imputational character. An imagination of overly substantial status of anything, but if we're talking about you and me, of you and me. And that imputational character is just a fantasy. It's a fantasy about something that's not true.

[09:25]

There's no actual substantially existing person, independent, because persons are other dependent phenomena. But you can imagine a self-powered, self-dependent person. And you can superimpose that fantasy on top of an other dependent person. That's possible. But it's actually a fantasy. Not the way we think. But it can be superimposed on the way we really are. And when that superimposition happens, when the superimposition of a about the way we are, is superimposed upon the way we are, actually it's possible to then think or see that the superimposition is actually the way we are.

[10:31]

And again, that is the source of these pain-inflicting emotions which obscure the way that other dependent being can be compassionate. And then there's another character pertaining to our other-dependent, other-powered way we are, and that is the thoroughly established way we are. The way we are, the true way we are, is that actually these superimpositions, which are the source of all the problems in the world, these superimpositions are not there. They're not really there. It's just a confusion. They don't actually... live on top of the way we are. You can imagine them that way and suffer. But actually, they're not actually getting a foothold in that other-dependent dynamism.

[11:34]

To see that, in other words, to see the purity of other-dependent nature, is to see ultimate reality. And as you see it, you become free of this confusion, free of greed, hate, and delusion, free of the things you do based on greed, hate, and delusion, and your altruistic great compassion becomes purified of all hindrance. And this is the point of the Buddha's teaching, is to give us a wisdom that releases our potential compassionately. Of course, you can serve being somewhat compassionately prior to having wisdom. It's just that your compassion work just happens to be interfused with greed and hate and confusion. So, like, you know, you know the problems of trying to be compassionate with someone when you hate them.

[12:40]

It's more complicated, right? But you can't just take the hate away successfully unless you take the root of the hate away. You can take it away a little bit. There are meditations to temporarily clear away the hate again and again because of the basic misconception or lack of wisdom about this person or you or about yourself or somebody else. The basic meditation is on this other dependent character things, living and non-living. That's a basic meditation. And the other two meditations help us fully understand the basic nature. When we are able, through hearing the teachings about the other-dependent character, when we're able to hear them and understand them, we go a long way towards compassion.

[14:01]

But we can't go all the way because just seeing the other-dependent nature doesn't purify us of the impulses to impose the imputational character upon this other dependent. This other dependent character is sometimes called light, spiritual light. If you've seen some statues of Buddha, we don't have in this room any like that, but some statues of Buddha, as you see, they're surrounded by auras of fire. Those flames are called komyo, which means spiritual light. In other words, Buddhas sit in the middle of a kind of light, and the light is the other dependent character of phenomena. When you see the other dependent character of a person or a tree or a door or a rock, you see the spiritual light that surrounds the Buddha mind.

[15:16]

The other dependent character of you, the other dependent character of me, the other dependent character of a Christian, is light. It is also beauty. The beauty of a thing is the way all things make it, the way it has no self-power, self-producing nature, the way it actually is produced by the entire universe. That's its beauty. Light and beauty, if you've ever seen it, you may have noticed that in that moment or two of vision of it, which I'm telling you what you're actually looking at is the other dependent nature of this whatever you're seeing.

[16:18]

When you've had this, you may have noticed that there was an impulse to impose something on the light or on the beauty so that you could get a handle on it and take it home. The nice thing about the gravitational character is that it puts a little handle on the beauty so you can grab it and take it. However, as soon as you put the handle on it, you defile it and pretty much kill it putting a handle on light you can it's not going to work. But better to have a handle and not have it than no handle at all. The meditation on the other dependent is to get used to being with light. Be with light.

[17:21]

The light of things. get used to being with the beauty of things, more and more, and get more and more familiar with the impulse, that impulse that comes, that imputational character that comes up and wants to jump on top of the beauty and the light so that you can talk about it. Because we need the imputational character in order to talk about to ourselves and others, the beauty. To learn how to use the imputational character to talk about the beauty without confusing the imputational character with the beauty. When you develop wisdom, you can actually see the beauty without the impulse, as somebody said, gain a purchase on it. get a foothold, possess it.

[18:30]

You learn how to see the beauty without that impulse taking over. Partly by seeing that and understanding the which as you understand it, you understand it cannot be purchased. This imputational character does not reach it. It tries, but it keeps slipping off. It doesn't make it. It's fruitless. It's an illusion. The superimposition is a mistake, an illusion, and what's being superimposed is true. The more we get familiar with this process, the more we can look at the light, look at the beauty, look at the way things actually are happening without this confusion, and still use the imputational character because it's still there. It doesn't go away, but use it to talk about the illusion, because the Buddha actually and Buddhist successors learn to speak about the other dependent character without the confusion, because we still have to talk to people and tell them about this situation so that they can also tune in to the reality channel.

[19:39]

Learning to see how this conceptual grasping slides in over what's happening, learning to see. The next step is to learn to see the light itself, the beauty itself, the other dependent character itself. Learn to see that so that you can spot and see how that interaction goes. So, mostly during this practice period, we've been trying to develop the ability to do meditation, which is meditation on dependent co-arising. Meditation on how moment-by-moment experiences of body, mind, breath, so-called external objects, how all of those are other dependent. We do this meditation by hearing the teachings about this

[20:47]

and remembering these teachings over and over as a guide to help us look, to help us stare what we're looking at. So you meet people and you stare at them. And then they run away because you're staring at them. They think you're looking through them and you're trying to. you're trying to look how they appear to see how they're happening in a sense. Not like, but not disregard how they appear. But just kind of, you hear a teaching which says, you know, they're not what you're imputing to them. There's something more radiant than that. You listen to the teaching which says they don't make themselves. In their activity, they're not making their activity.

[21:51]

In your activity, you're not making your activity. ...teachings. And then you watch things. You hear these teachings and you look at things. You look at things. Now here's a big topic which, you know, could but I think maybe I'll just try to quickly mention it and come back to it later, but we'll see what happens. Sometimes Buddhist practice as presented has divided into two parts, passion on one side and wisdom on the other. In a sense, the compassion practices are how to relate to beings. The wisdom practices are how to see.

[22:53]

The compassion practices don't really see. They aren't vision practices. They're more like relating with what's happening, but not necessarily emphasize seeing it. The wisdom practices aren't really doing anything. They're just seeing what's being done. We need both. I'm enterprising the seeing side of the practice. But I want to remind you that the seeing practice has to be connected to the compassion practice. So I have five fingers on my hand conveniently. I suppose this is how it evolved. This thumb is the thumb of giving, relating to people in a giving way. relating to beings and yourself in a giving way. Next one is relating to beings ethically, according to the precepts of proper relationships.

[23:57]

Next way is relate to beings, but also your pain and so on. Particularly your pain, your discomfort, relate to it. Relate to your discomfort and the discomfort you feel with other beings and the discomfort you feel with other beings' discomfort. Relate to it. Learn to relate to it patiently. Relate to all beings. in a wholesome way and relate to all wholesome ways enthusiastically, with diligence, with enthusiasm, with love for the work, with energy. That's the way to relate, because you are alive. And the last one is relate to the state of tranquility and balance. That's the practice of concentration. These are compassion practices. Calming practice, tranquility practice is a compassion practice. It's a way to relate to things, to relate to things with relaxation, flexibility, buoyancy, ease, softness, balance, calmness.

[25:13]

These are compassion practices, but they can't see by themselves. And they either see with misconceptions or they see with wisdom. So we bring the wisdom to each one of these practices so these practices are conducted properly. And wisdom has no function aside from doing these It's nice to be wise, but it has to come into the world through these forms of compassion. So the wisdom purifies the compassion, and the compassion is the point of the wisdom. Doing these practices without wisdom, although it's a nice idea, it's really not these practices. So they have to be joined in order for these practices to really become what they can become.

[26:19]

In particular, if you do these practices without wisdom, you might do these practices superimposing the false conception of what you are and think that you can do these practices by yourself. To do these practices with holding the conception that you can do them by your own power would mean that since you think that, greed, hate, and delusion are arising in you, and so they're infecting these nice practices. So to some extent, right now, in various wonderful Buddhist meditation centers, people are trying to do these compassion practices, but because they lack wisdom, they're defiling these practices right in Buddhist temples. And not to mention, but even outside Buddhist temples, people are trying to practice compassion, but the compassion is being eroded by the misconception that the yogi who's practicing them is doing it by herself.

[27:25]

and therefore she's doing it with greed or hatred or confusion or alternating between them. We really need wisdom and we need compassion. We need to bring them together. We have to bring wisdom to these wonderful practices so that they can really function fully. That was it. I think that's it. That's it. It wasn't too long. It could have been hours, but... Okay. Back to meditating on the dependent core arising. Back to meditating on light. Back to meditating on the beauty of each thing. When we hear the teachings of the other dependent character of phenomena, and we really hear them and they start, like, coming into us, we start to understand.

[28:36]

Because we start to understand that they are impermanent, holy, unstable, unreliable, unpredictable, by us, and unworthy of competence. This gives rise to feelings of enchantment and disillusionment and disaffection and dread that we will flip back and start to believe that these other dependent phenomena are permanent, reliable, stable.

[29:47]

and worthy of confidence. Having these things and having these feelings, some of which may not be all that's attractive to hear about, then leads us on a path that may sound nicer. Namely, it leads us away from wrongdoing towards virtue. When we are meditating on these teachings and start letting them in, and start understanding that everything that we see is impermanent, all phenomena have this other dependent character, which implies that they're impermanent. They depend on things other than themselves. They cannot maintain themselves even for a second moment. So I've been telling people, I find this meditation especially appropriate to my grandsons.

[31:05]

My grandsons are not permanent phenomena. They are not stable phenomena. I could go through and tell you the nots, but instead of putting it that way, I'll put it like what they are. They are impermanent. My grandson is impermanent. He's right up there right now. He's impermanent. I feel bad that I can't see him right now because he just changed and I missed something. But you know, it's my situation. I can't see all the grandsons in the world. He's impermanent, he's unstable. Quite unstable. He's quite an unstable little guy. You know, he's going along and suddenly, I want my mommy, you know, and then, hello, hi.

[32:15]

He's unstable. He's unpredictable, he's uncontrollable. Uncontrollable. he's not worthy of confidence. Now, some people might think, boy, he's certainly being insulting to his grandson. But the funny thing is that the more I tune into that dimension, the more I see his beauty and the more I care for him. other side of our life which is like people are supposed to be reliable, stable, and worthy of confidence. We encourage that. This is wisdom.

[33:19]

When you start, if someone would go along with that and say, I am actually permanent, just like you want. Some love songs go like, I'm permanently in love with you and I'll permanently be cool. You can depend, I will always be this way. Some people like to hear that news and some people say, yes, that's the way I am. I am predictable, I'm reliable, etc., etc., this gives rise, this is going along with delusion. The more I hear the teaching and start to let it in and start to realize things are this way, I become disenchanted. And as I become disenchanted, I start more and more to not take other dependent phenomena, to not take

[34:26]

impermanent, unreliable, things unworthy of competence, I tend to not take them too seriously. Not taking them too seriously, I also tend not to get excessively involved with them. As I take things not too seriously, then when I am that way with things, there is the practice of virtue. But even if you try to do something you think is good, and you take the thing or the doing good too seriously, and you get excessively involved, it turns into wrong. Excessively involved means

[35:30]

you don't pay attention to some people and you pay too much attention to other people. Some people, because you're involved in the way they are, you don't ever want to see them again. Because you don't remember they're impermanent and unworthy of confidence, you can take them too seriously and not care about them at all. Other people, because you see them as permanent and worthy of confidence, you get excessively involved in wanting to keep them that way and stay near them all the time. And you hurt them. which you do not want to do, but you're doing it because you don't understand what you're looking at.

[36:32]

Being involved in your relationships with yourself or other people, taking the relationship and the other person too seriously, is, what do you call it, it undermines intimacy. Positively, as we hear this teaching and meditate on it, meditate on it, as we see the light of a person, as we're absorbed one-pointedly in the light of a person or a wall or a feeling or a thought, Again, gradually stop taking them too seriously, gradually become free, turn away from excessive involvement, and then we relate in a virtuous way. Not because we do it, but because the wisdom guides the proper response. The appropriate behavior, the virtuous behavior, the appropriate behavior, which is the virtuous behavior, dependently co-arises.

[37:49]

a radiant way of being with the light arises. We become intimate with this phenomena in this awareness of its light, awareness of its insubstantiality, awareness of its other dependence, awareness of its impermanence. In this awareness we become intimate with it and then we become ready ...aspects of the wisdom teaching, which will help us now, we're getting ready to overthrow our basic misconceptions, which are still hovering, waiting to land. And maybe actually occasionally landing. Various like, what do you call it, what are they, light snatchers are coming. Light snuffers. But as you get more and more stationed here and practice more and more virtue, and I say you do, there is more and more awareness of this teaching.

[39:04]

There is more and more turning away from excessive involvement, turning towards appropriate action of virtue, becoming more intimate, becoming more settled in this space, and more and more readiness understand the things which sometimes seem to get confused with it, which don't really apply, and to be able to see that they don't actually apply, and that they never apply, and that they're actually absent, and then we overthrow delusion. Or rather, delusion is overthrown by this process of meditation. So it has been said that the fundamental meditation practice of our school is one-pointed awareness in the womb of light.

[40:24]

that was one way it has been said. Another way I could change it today is the fundamental practice of our school is one-pointed awareness in the womb of phenomena, or in the womb of the radiance of other dependent phenomena, or the womb of beauty. This is our fundamental meditation. And then in that meditation, also this meditation is open to receiving the teachings which then teach us about false ideas about phenomena and teaches how they get posed on this light and also teaches how they're actually absent in the light. So this is our basic meditation.

[41:30]

An ancient Zen master said, over and over he said this, over and over he said this. So maybe it should be said over and over in this world, just like it was back in China. Who's going to say it over and over? Somebody's got to do it. It could be you. But first of all you have to learn the words. What did he say? He said all of you without exception have light. All of you are light. You have a great beam of light coming out of you. It's shining continuously. Now as of old. It seems far removed.

[42:39]

If you're asked about it and you try to get hold of it, it's dark and dim. But if you're asked about it and you don't try to get hold of it, you say, sorry, and it's undimmed. Sorry, I can't deal in this. Hearing this teaching has the implication that we should respect everything, that everything we see we should respect in many different ways, for many different reasons.

[43:59]

One way we respect everything is that we respect everything as an opportunity to meditate on light. Everything is an opportunity to meditate on the teaching of the other dependent character phenomena because everything that comes to you is an example of that very thing. There's no exceptions. Everything is an opportunity for this wisdom meditation. And also we should respect in the sense that we should practice respecting in the sense of look again. When you see someone Look again. When you first see some people, you think, oh, friend, or oh, jerk. Look again. Friend, look again. Oh, light. Jerk, look again. Oh, light. Look again.

[45:01]

Oh, other dependent phenomena. Impermanent, unreliable. Unstable. Enemy, impermanent, unreliable, unstable. You can't depend on your enemies being enemies or your lovers being enemies. Remember that, and you'll take care of both more and more skillfully. Forget it, and we're in big trouble, all of us. This is the basic meditation. Someone said to me, who's having a really nice time in his practice period, I don't see him, maybe he escaped. He said, I just love this practice period. Is Toby here? They still didn't escape.

[46:02]

Toby had a real nighttime experience and what I'm worried about is when I drive out of here over the road and somebody cuts in in front of me. So when we leave the practice we're worried basically in some sense that we won't be able to continue the meditation on the other dependent character of the other drivers We're afraid that when we drive out of here without the help, you know, constant battering by the strange people, to remember that other drivers are other dependent phenomena in control. They're not under your control. And even though they're not under their control or your control, you're responsible. They are unreliable, unpredictable, impermanent, not worthy of competence.

[47:11]

That's what they say in driving school. They don't say, these people are not going to hurt you. Like if somebody's in front of you, you know, and they put on their left turn signal, that means they're going to turn left. They tell you, if you see somebody in front of you and they have their left turn signal on, it means their left turn signal's on. That's it. Now you may wonder, how come I know about driving school? In the distance past, I used to be a criminal and I was sent to driving school to get some teachings. They tell you these other drivers are unreliable, you can't trust them. They might turn their left turn signal on and stop.

[48:12]

They might turn their left turn signal on and go straight. They might go right. Now, if they turn their left turn signal on, it doesn't mean they're not going to turn left. There are other drivers, unreliable. Now, if you get in your car and you say, I'm happy. I did a retreat. This is nice. My car works. The road's in good repair. Here I go down a permanent road in a permanent car, and I'm in control of my life. In front of me, a permanent, reliable person has just become unreliable and impermanent, and I'm going to make him more impermanent. But if you're driving down the road and you realize the road can collapse any moment, you can lose control of your car any moment, you are not, you are not a reliable driver. You are not worthy of competence. Oh, yes I am.

[49:13]

Right. You are not an other dependent phenomena, are you? No, I'm not. I'm a self-dependent phenomena and I can drive this car and I'm reliable stable permanent and worthy of confidence I hate Buddhism but if you're meditating on this you realize that you're in a vulnerable position when you get in a car and you're vulnerable before you get in the car and after you get out If you meditate this way and somehow you're moving towards a car, somehow you're moving towards a car, something's helping you. Every step of the way, you're vulnerable. Every step of the way, it's impermanent. If you wind up in the car that you're heading for, that you'd like to get into, you sit in the car seat and you feel grateful. I made it.

[50:14]

I mean, here we are. And when you sit in the car seat, as you sit in the car seat, that the car seat may not support you. The whole car may bust down on the ground. This is like what it's like to be a Buddha. To walk around stepping on the earth free of expectation that the earth's going to hold you up. If it does, you're grateful. Thank you, earth. So when you get in the car, you're basically... afraid of these impermanent phenomena. You do not rely on them. You're doing your best and if you're going up the road, you expect, but you know, innumerable people may cut in front of you and you may have an accident. So if somebody cuts in front of you and you don't have an accident, you feel grateful rather than hateful. You feel grateful rather than proud.

[51:16]

So you move from greed, pride, and shame over to gratitude, gratitude, and gratitude, and gratitude. Gratitude that you're alive, gratitude that you're able to practice. Not proud, because one will understand you're not in charge of the practice. All beings other than you are supporting you. You're not in control, but you're lucky because you're hearing the Dharma. And the fact that you're hearing even a few seconds of it is a piece of good fortune of inconceivably great merit. Your gratitude, you feel grateful. You get in the car and as people invade you from various directions, you're ready to be intimate with them. And in that intimacy, you may survive your drive home. funny thing, because you're not drained by expecting to get there.

[52:28]

In each moment being challenged, you're actually full of energy and joy that you made at home by the kindness of all beings, which in fact is the Buddhist teaching, that you don't get there by yourself. You get there through the power of everything else, including the people who cut in front of you. This is a way you leave Green Gulch. meditating up the road, driving carefully, driving appropriately, recognizing that this world of roads, cars, drivers, grandchildren, lovers, health, and so on, this is a world of impermanent, constantly changing, unreliable, And the more you accept this fact, the more you make, the more you allow the appropriate response to come up.

[53:33]

And that will be your great joy and the great joy of everyone near you. Now in the future, if we keep living, some of us, we will continue to study These teachings on wisdom, we will look more carefully and understand better the nature of this creepy, crawly, imputational character that tries to come in and make money off radiant and so on and make suffering arise in the world. We will learn to know this thing until we finally see, hey, no more superimpositions. We're all cleaned up. But this is hard work, so I hope some of you practice patience with the pain of your mind stretching and changing shape. Because as you go from misconceptions to proper conceptions, as you go from misunderstanding to correct understanding, it's a little bit painful to have your mental organs rearranged.

[54:39]

But I'm just telling you ahead of time, for those of you who go through this process, it's normal to feel a little uncomfortable as your versions of truth get gently put in the trash bin. Or perhaps filed for later if you need them. But anymore, no longer messing around with your life. No more causing trouble. Just, you know, time out. So that's a prediction of more of this. The people in the practice period like the Sunday talks because they're a little easier. They get pushed more during the week into new territory and then we sort of review it on Sunday and they think, oh God, I understand, great. But really their minds have already been totally mushed up and massaged and rearranged. Hey, this is easy.

[55:41]

So I hope it's not too hard for the people just dropping in on Sunday to hear these teachings which might be kind of different. They have to be different from our habits in order for us to change. If we can change, then the world changes. And that's really the point, is to get the whole world to be a place of peace and love, unpolluted by misconception and greed, hate, and delusion. Right? Isn't that what you get? Okay, last week I sang a song. Some people are requesting it. And some of the people, by the way, who have expressed some pain over my singing practice... came and told me last week that they really appreciated the song. Some other people told me they really liked the sort of R&B kind of emphasis.

[56:45]

But I'm sorry for those people. I don't have an R&B song today. I have to work harder at the R&B songs. I'm not so good at them. But I will continue to try to learn R&B from my practice. So I'm going to do instead a kind of easy one. But part of the reason why I'm doing this, not just that it's a little easier, but that it's so applicable to this practice of meditation on light. No. Thank you. Call me irresponsible.

[57:58]

Call me unreliable. Throw in undependable too. Do do my foolish eyes. for you. Well, I'm not too clever. I just adore you. Call me unpredictable. Tell me I'm impractical. High goals I'm inclined to pursue. Call me irresponsible. Yeah, I'm unreliable.

[59:02]

But it's undeniably true. I'm irresistibly mad about you. Get the picture? May our intention equally penetrate.

[59:39]

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