Good morning. Good morning. So yesterday, we didn't have any chance to have any discussion. So I'm wondering if anyone has a question, leftovers. I just recently popped into my mind a slightly different approach to the Xin Xin Ming. And I think, I'm not even sure it's different, but I just heard it in this different way, which is, the Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. And I thought, that's nice for them. That's the question.

[01:05]

That's exactly correct. How do you not have a preference when we're constantly making decisions? I did address that, but that's your question, is it not? Yes. That's what it sounded like. So how do we... So there's several things here. And it's good idea to define what it is we're talking about. Because if we don't define what it is we're talking about, we all have a different idea. we're talking about. We're trying to listen to each other in language.

[02:20]

Babble on, babble on, babble on. We want understanding or We all think we're saying the same thing, but we're not. So we have to define what it is exactly we mean. So, I anticipated your question. Preference. Partiality. Usually we mean partiality by preference. So, when we think about prevalence, we're thinking in terms of partiality. Like, the Tambang Khan is a, you remember Tambang Khan? The bird-carrying fellow. And so, we're carrying this big bird on our shoulder, and we see over here, but we can't see over there.

[03:24]

So, everything that we, the way we see the world, the way we see the world is through preference. So, we say, well, this is the way it is. And so, but we answer over here, and we can't see that this is also the way things are. So, we don't see everything the way it really is. We do see some things, and what we call reality, is what we can imagine. And what we can imagine is very limited, although we can imagine a lot. We're searching around for what is reality. And then there's the question of, well, what does reality mean? What is real and what is not real, and what seems to be real,

[04:27]

doesn't seem to be real, so it brings up all these questions about existence and desire. Usually we associate preference with desire. So, how do we make decisions? We can just keep going around discovering what we're doing, but What do we mean by, how do we make decisions, basically? On what basis do we make a decision? So, this brings us to the two parts of our, the two aspects of a human being. There are many more, but two fundamentals is self and not-self. Those are the two fundamentals that I'm familiar with.

[05:33]

What is self and what is not-self? So when we talk about preference, we're talking about self. When we're talking about not-preference, we're talking about not-self. So do we make decisions on the basis of self-centeredness or on the basis of Buddha-centeredness? Because Buddha is not self. A sense of egolessness. So when we talk about self, we're talking about ego. And when we talk about non-self, we refer to it as Buddha. So we have Buddha and self. Buddha nature and self nature. So do we make our decisions based on self nature, or do we make our decisions based on Buddha nature?

[06:50]

So, in this case, to me, this is what we're talking about. So, this is the beginning of the text, if I can find it. The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences, nor is it difficult for Buddhists. And it's not that Buddha has no preferences, but they're not personal. The preferences are not personal. So I think when we're talking about preference here, we're talking about personal preference. I like, like and dislike, want and not want, good and bad, right and wrong, and so forth. But based on duality. The Great Way is not based on duality. although it includes duality, otherwise it wouldn't be the Great Way. So, the Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences or partiality.

[08:03]

When freed from the duality of, answer to that, love and hate, it reveals itself clearly and undisguised. And I have this difference. To stay in the middle is really hard. Life is a tightrope walk. In this area, life is a tightrope. How do you not fall into preference? How do you fall into non-preference? And how do you stay on the rope? When you learn to drive, as we all know, You know, we're watching the white line, you know, and we're... But when you have experience, you can just drive, you know, and you can listen to the radio and talk to the guy next to you, you know. And there's something that takes care of all the driving. You know, actually, faith takes care of the driving.

[09:09]

Which includes awareness, of course. But we get used to something, and then we have confidence. So, the Great Way, if we practice the Great Way, learning how to do that, then at some point we just have confidence, and it becomes a natural course to walk the Great Way. And it won't tap into our intuition. So the Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. And when freed from the duality of love and hate, it reveals itself clearly and undisguised. And heaven and earth are set apart. So heaven and earth are metaphors, you know,

[10:13]

emptiness in form. If you want to appear, if you want it to appear, have no appearance for or against it. The duality of like and dislike is the dis-ease of the mind. It gives us this. That's where we point our problems. When a deep meaning is not understood, the mind's essential peace is disturbed. So what is the Great Way? What is the Great Way? The Great Way Faith in big mind is the great way. Practice means nothing if it's not based on faith. But then what is faith?

[11:16]

That's in big mind. Because big mind is just a way of speaking about universal mind. Now, when we sit that in, we do this, right? That's called the cosmic mantra. This is our mudra. It's not symbolic. It's all there. Matter of fact, it's all in a grain of sand, right? It's all there, contained in a grain of sand. And it's contained right here. So you have to be very careful how you hold the mudra, because you're holding it the right way, as you sit. The word appear, if you wanted to appear, as you read that, what would you say?

[12:26]

Oh yeah, appear is just the translator's term. So I don't know exactly what he meant by that. But if you want to see it, right? If you want to see it, you have to be it. You can't see it without being it. And that's the picture here. If you want to see it, you have to be it. Now, that's a good question. In the book of record, there are four koans about Master Joshu. You may know about this. Master Joshu and the Shinshin-mi. Master Joshu often quoted from the Shinshin-mi, this first line. He would say, Joshua said to his monks, this is the second case in the booklet record.

[13:35]

Joshua said to his monks, the final world is not difficult to reach. One who walks on it must not make any preferences. must be beyond preference, or, you know, it's all language, right? You have to read, Snooki used to say, you have to read the other side of the page. The final word is not difficult to reach. One who walks on it must not make any preference. If one says a word, it stops that person either at preference or non-preference. I don't linger even at non-preference. Can you follow me? And Luke stood up and said, if one has no preference, what does one follow after? In other words, you have to have some, something to, some idea of where you're going, right? And if you have no preference, what are you doing?

[14:40]

You just wandering around or what? And Joshua answered, I don't know. Is that the same as bloody diamonds? I don't know. Maybe. The link I did back, if you don't know, teacher, why do you say that you don't even need it on preference? Joshua said, your business of asking questions is finished. You better go retire. This is a comment by, this is Joshua, Morgan Sasaki's comments on the case. Morgan Sasaki is one of the first Zen priests to come to America, and he was in San Francisco. He traveled all over, but he had a little Zen dorm where the Zen center is.

[15:44]

back in the 50s, 40s. He died in 55, I think. Something like that. So he was, you know, there when nobody else was around. And he had people sitting in chairs, because he didn't think Americans could, you know, it was too hard for Americans to sit with their legs crossed on a cushion. And so his comment was, Usually a Zen teacher does not answer a student's question intellectually, but only shows the way to live Zen. Here in America, many so-called spiritual teachers gather around them, the students who carry many questions, then patiently try to entertain them with favorable answers. They should follow Joshi's way every once in a while. And say, your business of asking questions is finished. Why don't you go home and take a rest?

[16:47]

A student's question, intellectually, but only shows the way to live Zen. The way to live Zen. Like, go home, take a rest. So then, there's a poem by Setsuo, in my usual, in the book of record, and Naga, Suzuki, presents that poem in his own words. Suzuki did that when he was talking about koans, he presents the poem in his own words. So final round is not difficult to reach. Word or no word never disturbs the walking. In other words, word or no word, yes or no, do well and it doesn't bother him one bit.

[17:58]

One is nine and many are one. The sun rises and the moon sets. Water is icy cold in the remote mountains. Dried skull is not separate from the living head. Decayed trees wrestle in the wind. Their life has not ceased as yet. Hard, hard. Preference or non-preference? To experience this, one must work it out by oneself. you might, Joseph, will never give a straight answer. It will just point you to figuring it out for yourself. This is doggone school, schoolwork. Schoolwork is to figure it out for yourself. There are no answers. You have to come and give the answer.

[19:04]

That's the same way. The teacher will, you know, give you all kinds of hints like, get on with the stick, turn over the table, stuff like that, but never give you the answer. Giving you the answer is a big mistake. The answer has to come from you. You have to tell the teacher what the answer is. Got a little tension. No, sorry. Go back and think more about it. It's really good if you can. have one koan for your whole life. And no matter how long you answer it, it's still not answered. And that's what keeps you practicing, is the one koan of your life. It's never finished. I pray to Buddha nature to save me.

[20:23]

No. That's a horrible answer. But it's not THE answer. Good. Very good answer. It concludes both. Yes. Buddhas and sentient beings are not separate. Buddhas and sentient beings are not separate. That's all I have to tell you. The Buddhist preference is not personal. Did I hear you say that right? No, it's not personal. It's not personal. So, is my understanding correct in that this person is not substantial, changing on his own? No, that's your substantiality, not substantiality. The purpose is stated.

[21:24]

It's not personal. As long as I know that my insubstantiality is substantial. This person is carried through insubstantiality, so at any given moment, There are decisions made based on what I like and what I don't like. That's personal. There are decisions which are based on this Indian way of thinking.

[22:34]

Decisions that are based on cosmic confluences, if you know what I'm saying. It's not personal. It includes the person, but it's not personal. It's like in order to create harmony in all circumstances, we make decisions based on that harmony, which may benefit you or may not. But you don't do something for your own benefit. You don't make those decisions for your own benefit only. Sometimes you do make decisions based on your own preference, on your own. But basically, the decision includes both you and the cosmos. So the bigger your mind is, the more expansive your mind is,

[23:41]

to include your decision, you can easily get lost that way, but to include your decision, that's selfless activity, because you're making a decision based on the greater good, not just based on your own, what you like and what you don't like. So that's taking the board off your shoulder. I think that's what you're talking about. I think this is the koan that I'll have for the rest of my life. Yes, because the koan is always there in front of us. It's always there, and we're gaining with it moment after moment. So it never goes away. During my work period yesterday, there was a request to attend to the fence, the little fence along the garden here.

[24:49]

The bamboo structures that keep the plants off the path. And there were different views on how that should appear or disappear. Although the person had a thought or a preference for taking it out, I didn't feel strongly one way or another. But I wouldn't say that was necessarily my Buddhist centricity. I think it's more of my being more of a refugee in a movie theater than out in the garden. That's my personal preference that I didn't talk to. So you take into consideration the whole surrounding.

[26:03]

You take into consideration the whole garden. And where does this particular fence sit given its configuration into the garden? That's non-preference. You're making a decision based on your own preference. Because it's what benefits the whole garden and not just your preference. So it's called selflessness. So we make our decisions based on selflessness rather than being selfish or self-centered. I don't know how to remain selfish or self-centered based on selflessness. It's very simple. The great way is very simple, actually. That's what it says. Post-mortems, you know. The great way is really easy. I've been in situations before, and I've done this myself, where there's a situation presented where, you know, red or blue, you know, people go for it, picking and choosing.

[27:13]

we recognize that's what we're doing, but then we say, oh, ha, ha, ha, there we are taking the chance of getting the blue. But in that moment, with our training, we can make decisions. When we see that we're doing it. It becomes difficult when other people are involved. I was going to say that certainly everybody in this room has done a softly stacked amount. I'm not so sure about Ross after what he was saying. When I'm aware of both sides, when I'm aware that I'm expressing a preference, and maybe I could look at that, I just see now I have a decision to do selflessness. It makes a big difference.

[28:21]

But, you know, I prefer blue to red, you know, that's okay. That, you know, it's not a big deal because nobody is affected except yourself. But when other people and other situations, then it makes a big difference. Okay, I'll get to him. If you like chocolate, you know, and then you have, you choose the flavor you like, you know, that's okay, you know. But it's when you're in social, I don't want to say social situations, but dealing with decisions that affect other people, or other, not just other people, but other everything around yourself. So choosing blue doesn't affect your surroundings. But when you're dealing with other people, it makes a big difference how you make decisions.

[29:34]

You used the word for me years ago that freed me from guilt. And you called it, we have affinities, natural affinities. So people have different senses. They hear differently. They taste differently. They see differently. We can't help that, that some people taste cilantro and they taste different. I don't know. But to me, there's an issue. There's the word judging. And you can judge like two scales, you know, justice, or you can judge in an arbitrary way where you're actually making a negative judgment and have a virgin and a positive judgment. So those are different feelings to having an infinity of judgment. My judgments based on thought, feelings, history, you know, all these different parts of our body and mind are instrumental in making judgments, versions, and affinities, and so forth.

[31:09]

So very complex. But if we can step back from those and see things as it is, then we can make a decision that is not self-centered, which is very hard. But you can't be a teacher unless you can do that. Unless you can step back from your own preferences and see the situation as it really is and how it affects all its many details, people and animals and plants and so forth, unless you can step back and see the thing as it is, regardless of your own likes and dislikes and affinities and disaffinities,

[32:11]

You can't be a teacher in a true sense, because you have to be able to relate to people free from yourself, free from your own preferences. Magicia, you had a question? Why'd you hand up anyway? Um, well, it's kind of relevant. I think my preference is often molded by what I think others' preferences are. So I was holding my hand up to signal Jerry and make Jerry have questions. But I find myself trying to guess what someone's preference is and then trying to make my desire fit into that a lot. This is all generalization, right?

[33:22]

So it's really hard to deal with that question. You have to just, like, what's essential in this particular situation? That's your koan. That's the koan that we're always dealing with. How do I, what am I doing? How do I relate to this? What am I really doing, what are my true feelings about this, and how can I harmonize? If we're always looking for harmony, then we can find it. If we're just looking for self-satisfaction, we stray from it. So, how can I create a harmonious situation with what's handed to me right now, with the elements that are handed to me right now? Does that work?

[34:28]

Sense? Sense? More? I'm not saying it. Okay. When you have preferences, right, you're going to make mistakes, right? So that comes then in your face as vow and repentance. Vow and repentance, right? Because we're not perfect. We take the whole body, but we're trying to take everything in, but we still make mistakes. We do that, yes, that happens. That's the other side of it. You're trying to do that, but over and over you're missing it. As I was saying, we learn from our mistakes. That's the koan too.

[35:30]

We learn what the mistake is and learn from it. And it's not always easy to get out of it, because karma is very strong. you know, the fox comes looking for the bait, you know, and gets caught in the trap. So... It caused a trap. Joe? Does attachment figure in here somewhere? Oh, what? Attachment. Oh, yeah, well, of course. It's all about attachment. Some preferences I have, I can use. hold more lightly than others, not so much. Yes, but that's it.

[36:34]

That's the ones that really hook us, you know. We say, this thing is hooking me. I'm hooked by this thing, but actually, you're hooked by yourself. The thing is just the thing. You know, if you're cigarettes, or drinking, or dope, or whatever it is. we hook ourselves. And so we should be careful, although that which we are hooked to is the object, but basically we hook ourselves. So You know, you say, we should get all the guns off the street. It's impossible, right? Because there are people, there are many people hooked on guns, hooked on violence. So it's really hard to... My solution to guns off of the street is that

[37:42]

People should look at themselves and say, I am contributing to all this mayhem by being hooked on my gun. But they love their guns more than they love other people. That's a big problem. If you really love people, you just throw the world in the ocean. No, not in the ocean. We'll have to mow down. So, you know, but we'd rather, people would rather hold on to them rather than, instead of creating harmony in the world. It's very selfish, really selfish.

[38:47]

I mean, it's the epitome of selfishness. So what do I have to say? Did you want to say something? Selflessness always prevents you from seeing things as it is. Yeah. And then I have another comment. Okay. When you say make selfless decisions, you're not really talking about, so I understand it as you're not really talking about selflessness in the sense of altruism, because altruism just means

[39:51]

I think you're talking about just seeing the whole picture of the situation, seeing the situation as is, free of anyone's preferences, and then make a decision. Yes, yes. That's correct. No one in the world likes the preference. No one likes the decision. It's free of everyone else's preference, right? You're not preferring somebody. That's just another preference, right? Yeah, totally. Yeah. Okay, Judy. Connecting to that, there's also the hubris of being human, and that when we see something By definition, we don't see something else, so... Richard excludes that.

[41:02]

Recognizing Richard excludes that, yes. Right, so... The way I see living by vow is to be mindful of that hubris and that being human. And so my question is, What's the essence of preference when it's seen through the mirror of wisdom? Stereotypically it's called preference. And yet, it's not that that's a dualism of non-preference versus preference. I think what you're pointing to is one could say beyond preference. Maybe it's just beyond preference and non-preference. But that's the transcendence of the duality.

[42:04]

It's beyond preference and non-preference. So for me, the challenge with that is the pain that can come in The best of my ability came from presence, whatever, and because everything is flowing, quote, aren't. I want to say one more thing. What comes to my mind is making a decision, for example, that actually is painful to you, to myself. I make a decision that is, that benefits everybody, but is painful to myself. How can I know if it benefits everybody? How about if it harms me? That's not, that's, you know, can't go there. How do I know? I don't know how you know.

[43:05]

You just know, one way or another. To me, the edge is that I actually know. I can know. Yeah, sometimes I am, sometimes I don't. You melt down all the guns and toxic lead or something. That's better. That's better than shooting people. If you do something that's harmful to you, I mean that hurts you, not harmful, but it hurts you because it benefits everybody else. Well, then that pain is, I don't want to call it pleasure, but a certain kind of redemption. Yeah, but that part's easy. The hard part is being a witness or not being sure that I'm seeing pain. So everyone has an opposite wrong and everyone has an opposite right.

[44:16]

It's life. That's why this is called Saha world. It's the world of suffering. You can't get out of it. So what do we do with our suffering? That's the big question. How do you, how do you get out, not get out of your suffering, but how do you use your suffering, instead of your suffering losing you? Charles. How do we learn? Sit up, sit up. I can't answer your question. Well, I'm confused then. I hear that the great way is using the word that's correct. I hear that everyone is correct.

[45:23]

and they don't seem to fit. It would be easy if I were someone other than who I am. It would be easy if I were someone other than who I am. That's how I feel. Can you help? You already know how to do it. You already know how to do it. The only way I can help you is by convincing you or by helping you to convince yourself that you already know.

[46:38]

Because what I hear is, I don't want to go there. Yeah. You have to go there. Uh-huh. [...] Indifference. I mean, I can't deny that you care. Indifference means that you don't care. So, if you feel indifference, that's just what it is, right? It's not necessarily a problem or... It depends on what the problem is.

[47:42]

Well, everything depends on what is, because it's nice abstract ideas, but so what? Well, you could use indifference as a way to disengage. Yeah, but those are just concepts. No, it's an emotion. Well, give me something that I can actually relate to. The political situation is so well experienced between conservatives and liberals. And I've argued that before. I wonder, just sort of like, it's hopeless, forget about it. I don't want to get gay for that. So, Danny, what is your question about that?

[48:54]

Well, indifference, in this case, affects everybody. So it's a matter of selfishness. Totally selfish. to say, well, you know, we have to deal with the un-dealable. We have to bear the unbearable. We have to be able to, you know, even though it's totally hopeless, and I'm indifferent to it, There's one side. The other side is, even though it's hopeless, I throw myself into it. That's unselfish. Selfish. And that's the two sides of indifference. One is, fuck it all, you know.

[50:04]

I don't care what... And the other side is, even though it's impossible and I have no idea what the outcome is. I'll throw myself into it because it's important. To put it mildly. Because it affects everybody. Yeah. Is this your second question? It seems like an impossible situation that we're in. I can't express the preference for one kind of chocolate over another. I would have to choose your... This is the difficulty.

[51:20]

I look for what is the most fundamental thing to choose. It may not be what you like. But what is the most fundamental thing to choose which will balance the whole situation? No matter what you choose, as Jeanine was talking about, no matter what you choose, someone else, something inside will be affected negatively. So that's life. Life on Earth is positive and negative. And the positive thing over here will affect the negative thing over here, and the negative thing over here will affect the positive thing over here. And how do you bring it all together? This is the way you do it. But beyond words, this is the fundamental gesture.

[52:25]

You should study your gassho. That's the fundamental gesture. We do it all the time. And it means that this is spiritual and mundane. And you bring them both together, and then you make a decision. So that's all. At that point, I like the translation of the koan that ends with Joku saying, bow and retreat. I don't know, it's another one of the cards. Well, boring. Well, what I mean by boring cheat is, go home. I don't expect you to cheat any further than that. That's time to quit.

[53:25]

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