I heard that one time a Zen teacher in China spoke to his group and he asked the question, what was the Buddha's teaching during her whole lifetime? What was the Buddha teaching the entire life? And then he answered the question himself. And in Chinese, I think it was three Chinese characters that he said, I think he said, meeting, each, teach, or teach, meeting, each.

[01:09]

In other words, what the Buddha was doing was, every time he met some, in every meeting, in each meeting, he would teach. Each person he would meet each tree he would meet, each animal he would meet, each mountain he would meet, he would meet and teach. Actually, now that I say this to you, it isn't exactly like when he met that he would teach, but that in each meeting there was teaching. That's what the Buddha was up to. When the Buddha met a mountain, there was teaching. The mountain was teaching the Buddha and the Buddha was teaching the mountain. Buddha says, thank you, mountain, for the teaching. The mountain said, thank you, Buddha, for the teaching. Nice to meet you. And if Buddha met the Buddha, usually they would thank the Buddha and he didn't necessarily thank them.

[02:27]

But I think he understood that they were teaching him what to say. He didn't come and say, oh, I'm going to tell him about this today. He'd be there someplace in India. He's mostly in India. And he'd meet people. And when he met somebody, he would think, oh, maybe they'd like to hear about this. And then he'd meet somebody else, and maybe they'd like to hear about that. But anyway, that's the way the Chinese put it is. In each meeting, teaching. Teaching, meeting each thing. And the one translation I like of this into English is that what the Buddha was doing all throughout his career was an appropriate response. When he met people, he understood if they were requesting something, he would respond.

[03:36]

If they weren't requesting something, he would be there too, but since they didn't request it, they would not notice that he was giving them a teaching. But when they requested, he responded. And I might mention this morning another translation could be appropriate assistance. What the Buddha was doing was appropriate assistance or appropriate giving. Is that a current term, appropriate giving? No? It is kind of like one... Appropriate giving? Is there some term like that? That fundraisers use? So, what the Buddha, you could say that what the Buddha was up to, what enlightened beings are up to, is they're up to, when they meet current events, and current events

[04:48]

could be, you know, like you could be sitting in meditation in your room or in a meditation hall, in the current events for you, how you're feeling, what you're experiencing, what you're thinking about. And then the question is, what is Buddha, under the circumstances of me meditating, to your experience? When you meet a person, what's the appropriate response? And then, of course, we have now current events, like wars, ecological disasters. Disasters. Have you heard about that? There's some word of current manifesting disasters and impending disasters.

[05:53]

And there were disasters at the time of the life of the Buddha too. He lived in a time when there was disasters. There were current events like that. Disasters to individuals, individual personal psychological disasters. and social disasters and environmental disasters. He lived at a time like that too. And when he met these disastrous or potentially disastrous events, he was involved in appropriate response to work to have teaching arise in the meeting. He taught one of his main teaching was actions have consequence. And the other day on the radio I heard Al Gore say we live in a time when people don't really pay much attention to

[07:15]

the consequences of their actions. There's a real strong message out there like let's pay attention to the consequences of our action. The advertising doesn't say buy this and also when you buy this product be aware that there will be consequences. Invade this country but when you do be very aware that there will be consequences of invading this country. Drive, buy this car and fill it with gas and drive it but when you do drive responsibly be aware that there will be consequences even if you're sober there will be consequences of these actions. This message seems to be a lot of people don't seem to be paying attention to it.

[08:19]

One of the things that Buddha gave over and over again was the teaching actions have consequence. When we think certain ways there's consequences and Part of the consequences is that we tend to think the way we thought before. And our minds create a kind of enclosure. The mind tends to make its own world, its own enclosed world. And then when the mind lives, when the person lives in the mind-created enclosure, they sometimes feel unfree and suffer, sometimes.

[09:28]

And similarly we now have the environmental analogy to that or parallel to that. The actions have created a physical enclosure that all sentient beings, humans and non-humans together, have now apparently starting to create a physical enclosure called an enclosure built with greenhouse gases. So both for our own psychological enclosure, our own psychological entrapment, and for the physical entrapment and the disasters that may come from psychological and physical entrapment, The Buddha responded to that, again, by giving teaching. And the teaching was, pay attention to action and its consequence.

[10:34]

Study causation. And study yourself. study what yourself is, learn what yourself is, and understanding the social and environmental problems of our lives lie in understanding our own mind, our own causal patterns. this morning as I came into the room I noticed that there were empty seats and it crossed my mind maybe it would be good to move Green Gulch to the other side of the hill so that not so many people have to drive here.

[12:16]

Of course then I wouldn't be at Green Gulch. But there's a little bit of a problem of this valley is that not too many people live on this side of the mountain. So if people want to come here, how do they get here? Well, it's kind of a problem. Walk. How do you walk? It takes a long time to walk. If you ride a bicycle, that takes a long time too. And if you walk or drive on the highway, it's not very safe because there's cars and motorcycles on the highway too. so it's kind of uncomfortable to walk over the mountain to Gringosch, although I know how to do it. Going over the hills is very pleasant but it takes quite a long time. This is a problem, I think. I'm kind of... I feel some stress about practice here

[13:22]

in a way that doesn't have disastrous consequences? How can we study the situation and learn about ourselves in such a way to find us freedom from the negative consequences of driving cars here? actions have consequence. Studying karma, studying action, studying intentional action and its consequences is something that requires quite a bit of

[14:26]

intention. It takes quite a bit of intention to study intention. We have enough trouble just acting but then to look at what our intentions are and to consider carefully each action or you might even say to consider that each action is an opportunity to meet the situation, the teaching. Each moment, each moment is an opportunity to meet the moment and consider what's the appropriate response, the appropriate response. What response is coming and what consequences might there be.

[15:28]

Once again, it is recommended that we hear the teaching that has consequence and that studying that, listening to that teaching and studying that teaching in our own life, in our own activity, is what the Buddha gave to people because the Buddha felt that giving that teaching would liberate people from suffering and would help them also have appropriate response to their moment-by-moment events. but I I mention that this kind of meditation is not necessarily easy and so if there's a question ourselves such in such a way that we would be willing to happily

[17:09]

Be careful. Be attentive. Be focused. The practical moment by moment life that we're living. I somehow found myself with a thought in my mind that this morning that I, and this isn't really, this is just me groping to express myself, but I was kind of feeling like I'm feeling pain, I feel pain,

[18:23]

but I'm not unhappy. I was feeling not unhappy, but I felt pain. I felt pain. I feel pain about to our world, what's happening in our world for humans and for non-humans and for the world itself. I feel pain about it, but I'm not unhappy. And it isn't that I want other people to feel pain. It's not that I want other people to feel pain. More that I want people to actually be happy. However, the happiness needs to find a home in pain because pain is part of the deal here, it seems like.

[19:31]

I'm happy I'm actually willing to spend my life, to give my life, to studying action and its consequence. Because the consequence of action, some of the consequences of action, are suffering. Not all suffering is due to past action. But past action is a key Our current action is a key to understanding our suffering. I feel like I need to be happy in order to practice studying pain and where it comes from. I need to be happy in order to open up. to the actual arena in which consequence.

[20:41]

So that led me to look at some teachings which are just a little bit shocking. And I bring these teachings in hopes that I'm responding to current events by offering these teachings and that I offer these teachings in hope that you and I will be able to open happily open to the study of action and its consequence and open to the study of the pain which is the consequence of past actions. Turn the enclosure, the suffocating enclosure, into a door.

[21:49]

So the first kind of somewhat shocking teaching along this line I want to give to you. I want to give this to you. This is something I hope is a gift. I want this to be a gift. It's the teaching that about the effective conditions for terror and so there is a verse about this and it goes something like the suffering which comes from bodhisattva suffering which comes to bodhisattvas the suffering which comes to those who wish to study themselves in order to understand life's problems

[22:55]

and help people. Bodhisattvas are those who want to develop understanding so that they can benefit other beings. They're beings who want to help other people, all other people and all other beings, but they also want to understand cause and effect They're able to help people because they need to teach people how to study cause and effect in order for people to be happy. Without studying cause and effect, bodhisattvas have heard and believe. Without studying causation, without studying how action has consequences, liberation from suffering is not possible. I said that before, sort of.

[24:05]

I'll say it again. I would like to refute the idea, the presumption is possible without studying causation. And then I hope to establish the confidence that liberation is possible in the environment of study. So bodhisattvas are beings who want to encourage being, all beings, to study causation so that they can become free. They're beings who are not just want people to be free but want to teach people how to become free. And once again the way to become free is through learning about yourself, your active self, to study studying your active self

[25:11]

So these beings who want to help other beings become free, suffering comes to them. But the suffering comes to them, the pain comes to them, on account of compassion. Suffering comes to them because they care for them. They love the world, they want to help the world, and Because of that, pain comes to them. And they've been taught, they've been taught beforehand, hearing too, that if you wish to live for the welfare of the world, if you want to take care of all living beings, pain will come to you due to your wish to help all beings.

[26:19]

Pain can come for other reasons too. Namely, pain can come because of the consequences of action and also because somebody's mean to you or the season changes or you get sick. Pain can come for a lot of reasons. But I'm talking about a special kind of pain, a pain that will come to you and to me, if we care for the welfare of all beings, pain will come to us. It will come because we care. And when it first comes, it's terrifying. Not only do we get pain, but it's terrifying, even to someone who really cares for the welfare of all beings. And this is because at the beginning of our practice of caring for all beings, that when the pain comes, we do not yet understand the true nature of the pain.

[27:39]

it almost never happens that the person at the beginning of their practice of working for the welfare of all beings, at the beginning they understand the nature of suffering. They usually want people to be free but they don't start out by understanding the nature of suffering. They start out usually by wanting people to be free of suffering and then your reward is you feel pain. And it's terrifying. But if you're committed to this and keep studying, eventually you will understand, for example, the equality of yourself and others. and by understanding the equality or the non-separation of yourself and other beings, the suffering causes only delight.

[29:13]

There's a verse on the surpassing happiness or caused by the surpassing happiness caused by compassionate suffering. Yeah. Suffering is happiness. There is a verse concerning the fact that the suffering born of compassion surpasses all mundane happiness. I mentioned earlier that if you really care for the welfare of all beings, suffering will come to you, pain will come to you. Now I'm giving you a verse which says that the suffering you feel out of compassion surpasses all mundane happiness.

[30:47]

Suffering surpasses all happiness. What kind of suffering? The suffering you feel when you care one being, two beings, all beings, the suffering that you feel due to caring for the welfare of beings surpasses all happiness. What could be more marvelous than this? That suffering born from compassion surpasses all mundane happiness Even those who have accomplished their own aims are deprived of that. Some people have attained liberation. Personal liberation is possible, but they don't feel this. The bodhisattvas who feel the pain, born of compassion, feel this happiness.

[31:58]

There is nothing more wondrous than this, that a bodhisattva whose suffering is born of compassion becomes happiness that surpasses all mundane happiness. there is a verse on the benefit of compassionate or mercy-driven giving. Generosity accompanied by compassion provides the brave, warm-hearted ones, the bodhisattvas,

[33:03]

with the happiness of generosity. There is a verse on accepting suffering out of compassion. Out of compassion for sentient beings, out of the sake of sentient beings, the bodhisattvas do not forsake suffering. What suffering for the benefit of the benefit of others will the compassionate ones not embrace?

[34:05]

Or what suffering will the compassionate ones not embrace in order to accomplish the benefit of others? Maybe one more verse. This verse is on the growth of and their fruit. And the three things are compassion, giving, and wealth. Those three things and their fruits, which are three types of happiness. So compassion, giving, and wealth always increase for the compassionate one.

[35:11]

From this comes happiness of three kinds. One born of love, this one born of assistance, and the third born or produced by the capacity to assist. So, three practices, compassion, giving, and wealth. Yeah, those are practices. And then their fruits are three types of happiness. Compassion, by continual practice of compassion. Now actually generosity and wealth are part of compassion too, but basic compassion, the basic concern for the welfare of others, it increases continually practicing concern for the welfare of others, which I mentioned earlier you get a gift called pain from doing that practice.

[36:33]

Then compassion, which grows by continual practice, then there is possibility of generosity, and generosity grows on compassion. So compassion grows on compassion. Generosity grows on compassion. And then there's wealth. And wealth means the ability to assist people. And so the wealth grows based on generosity. And then as I practice, as we practice compassion, the happiness from practicing compassion increases.

[37:41]

As we practice giving, the happiness coming from assistance increases. And as we practice assistance, or wealth, which is the capacity to assist, from just being able to assist. The ability to assist gives rise to happiness. And all these happinesses enable us to continue the practice. And one more verse. This is the verse called the verse encouraging giving or generosity. I increase I cause to increase. I fully develop beings. I gladden. I attract.

[38:42]

And I lead. It is as if compassion encourages those who are weak in giving. So in a way this is compassion talking. I increase. I cause to increase. I fully develop beings. I gladden. I attract. I lead. I am willing. How does it put it? I am willing to embrace any suffering all suffer happily for the welfare of other beings, for the welfare of all beings. And my willingness to embrace, my contemplation of the willingness to embrace any suffering in order to benefit

[39:59]

This generates the happiness of love. Then, based on this, the actual practice of giving, giving whatever is available to give, which you always have yourself to give. You're never without a self to give. based on that compassion, based on the happiness of being willing to embrace the suffering which is coming to you, embrace the suffering. You're willing to embrace suffering? Okay, here it is. The willingness to embrace any suffering that will benefit beings gives happiness in embracing whatever suffering is being given to you. And out of that comes the happiness of giving, which is already there, but now we see it blossoming.

[41:07]

And then comes the happiness of giving assistance. And you're giving the assistance of showing, whether you tell people or not, that you're happy to assist them in the midst of the suffering which you're receiving because you're happy to assist them. So now the generosity increases. And based on the generosity, wealth comes. But this is a wealth of the ability to assist. And sometimes that takes the form of the ability to assist someone who's hungry. Somehow food comes into the picture. Or it is the ability to help someone rest by offering them some place or to give someone water who is thirsty, or to give someone a seat who needs to sit down. But of course it also is primarily to give them teachings.

[42:15]

Teachings which will help them enter the study of their actions and consequence. So there is an action, it's an action called hearing, called thinking, called using your mind and your heart to contemplate living for the welfare of all beings. And then there is the continual effort to listen to the teaching which tells you beforehand Do actually care for the welfare of all beings, you will receive the gift of suffering, of pain. But if the pain comes because you care for others, you will be happy. You must be happy. If you're not happy, then you need to consider, we need to consider

[43:30]

Am I unwilling to embrace this suffering which comes to me because I care for others? Embrace this suffering now for the welfare of others? Am I unwilling to embrace this suffering for the welfare of others? Whatever suffering is here, am I unwilling to embrace it for the welfare of others? And if so, I confess I'm unwilling. Now, how can I possibly have the opportunity to be willing to embrace the pain I feel now, not just but for the welfare of others such that I will feel the happiness of compassion. a happiness which surpasses any mundane happiness according to this teaching.

[44:39]

And I say to myself, and you can listen to me, although you may not be willing or ready to do such a practice, please understand that this is the practice that somebody is willing to do for you. The bodhisattvas are willing suffering even if I'm not and they will feel suffering when they embrace my suffering and they will feel happiness a delight when they embrace my suffering they're not happy that I'm suffering they're happy because they're embracing myself they're happy to be with me they're happy to not be afraid of my suffering and they also know that if they embrace my suffering they will be happy and that their happiness in embracing my suffering will help me embrace my suffering and will help me embrace my suffering and will bring me great happiness.

[45:42]

And from this happiness I will have the courage to practice generosity. And from that generosity another kind of happiness will come. And because of that happiness and that generosity another happiness will come with another practice called of ways to assist. And having a wealth of ways to assist, seeing that and enjoying that, is another kind of happiness. So there's three kinds. And they all surpass any kind of worldly happiness according to these verses. There is worldly happiness There's the happiness of, like, if you get something you want, you might feel happy. And there's nothing wrong with that happiness. Well, actually there is, sorry.

[46:44]

And then there's the happiness of when somebody, you hear somebody, somebody says something good about you. Or someone says something about some... Or you hear that somebody gave you a compliment, and then you feel happy about that. That's a worldly happiness. And then, of course, there's worldly unhappiness, but those are for life. Unhappiness is like when pain comes to you. When pain comes to you, you know, and then you feel unhappy because pain comes to you, that's worldly pain. Bad, somebody says something rude or cruel to you, and you feel, you feel pain, that's worldly pain. That's worldly unhappiness. You feel unhappy. And then you hear that somebody's saying bad things about you, and you feel unhappy, that's worldly unhappiness.

[47:59]

Worldly Okay? Does that make sense? Bodhisattva's pain, the person who's like on this helping other people, helping all beings thing, they get over that kind of worldly happiness and worldly pain. They don't get over happiness and pain, though. They have a different kind of happiness and pain. So rather than having the pain When they lose something, they have the pain which comes from caring for the welfare of others. The pain of caring for those who feel pain when they lose something. They feel pain because they care for that person. They don't feel pain because they lost something. They feel pain that the person is unhappy because they lost something. But they feel pain that the person's unhappy because they lost something because they care for the person.

[49:08]

They wouldn't feel the pain for the person who feels pain because they lost something if they didn't care for the person. And that kind of care is a delight. a happiness which surpasses the worldly happiness of being happy when you get something. So the bodhisattvas, those who care for the welfare of the world, they kind of like watch themselves to what extent they're still like get happy when they get something and get unhappy when they lose something. They keep an eye on that. And gradually they might wean themselves from that. which is good. Because then they can focus on the other kind of happiness and unhappiness, or the other kind of happiness and suffering. Ideally, well not ideally, but ultimately, you'd be just on the bodhisattva suffering and happiness trip all the time.

[50:19]

You'd be so you wouldn't have any time to even hardly notice when people were insulting you or praising you. because you're so busy like coping with embracing all the misery and being totally delighted that you're embracing it. So once again, it's not that you're delighted, it's that you're delighted to embrace the suffering. And to embrace suffering without delight is impractical. but there is a delight which surpasses the little delight of getting something you want or having people say great things about you. That kind of delight is okay, but it's not okay. It's not okay because it's a distraction from the delight that comes from embracing suffering and having the ability

[51:23]

to assist people. And by people I mean not just humans. I mean ant people, cockroach people, and banana slug people. Recently someone helped me with banana slugs. They told me that if you ever touch a banana slug it's real hard to get that stuff off your fingers. Also if you get a banana slug, if you lick a banana slug, It's very difficult to get that sticky stuff off your tongue. But someone told me the chemical composition of that stuff is very similar to the highest quality face creams. So I haven't yet started smearing it on my face. That made me sort of be much more respectful of bananas. to me because I used to sort of, I must admit, banana slugs were not high on my list of those I'm devoted to.

[52:30]

But they're moving up, you know, they're kind of on the chart now of those that I wish, I'm concerned for the banana slugs to some extent anyway. I'm not so much in touch, and actually I am in touch with the suffering of banana slugs. There was one, some of you may have seen on the stairs by the kitchen last night. Did you see that one? Who saw the banana slug on the stair last night? Do you see it? Yeah. Well, somebody stepped on it. So, anyway. So there's an opportunity to like, and I kind of missed it actually, to open to the suffering of the banana slug, to embrace it. So I'm not happy that the banana slug got stepped on, I'm not. What I'm happy about is the possibility and the actuality that I could feel pain, that I care enough as they used to say in the fifties, that I care enough to give the very best.

[53:37]

When someone's suffering, I give the willingness to feel the pain, their pain, not their pain, but feel pain with them. And I give, I'm willing to embrace it, and then I'm willing to make other gifts. and because of the gifts have other abilities. So compassion makes possible giving and giving makes possible all kinds of wonderful modes of assistance. And each of these things, the willingness to embrace suffering, of love and compassion, then that makes possible the increase of the practice of giving, which gives rise to the joy of giving and assisting and offering assistance, giving assistance, and then again. So these joys make it possible now for us to open to this world of global warming, of war,

[54:48]

and all kinds of other misery and to open and embrace it all and know beforehand that we will feel pain but that pain that we feel is surpasses not just it surpasses all worldly happiness that's the message from the bodhisattvas And I think we need this in order to fully function, to really help people, to be willing to help people, all types of people. We need that energy. We need that happiness. And when we have that happiness, we will be happy. But it won't be just that we'll be happy. like happy that we got something, or happy that people like us. Not that kind of happy.

[55:50]

Happy that we dare to live in this world for the welfare of others. Happy that we dare, that we have the courage to embrace all suffering. But it's not just, okay, I have the courage to embrace all suffering, here I do it. No, I'm happy to do it. It's a happiness. I need happiness. Bodhisattvas need happiness too. And they get it. And they get the highest quality happiness, the happiness which allows them to plunge into the most painful situation. And also in medium painful situation and low painful situations, all kinds of pain, they happily embrace. all kinds of pain that they feel. And the pain they feel is the pain coming from caring for suffering beings. So by being willing to embrace all the pain they feel, they're also willing to embrace all the beings that they meet.

[56:56]

And in relationship they feel pain because they care for them. And this is the way they do the Buddha's work of meeting each person in such a full, happy way. Not happy like, happy like, no problem happy. It's happy. Problem, embrace, happy, I'm happy to be with you in your suffering. Here I am with you and that meeting is what the Buddha is doing. Meeting people and responding appropriately. by giving. Giving the teachings that you can be happy being with all suffering which arises because you care for all suffering beings. Then we can do whatever we can do. I don't know what we're going to do about this global warming, but we need to do it.

[58:00]

in order to embrace the problem and work on the problem. We need to be happy to embrace the suffering that comes from caring for beings which makes it hard for us to drive our cars because we feel some pain about that because we poison the environment for our grandchildren. But I feel happy to feel that pain. And I'll probably keep riding in cars, just like some of you will, but I want to embrace the pain I will feel. There is pain there. I want to embrace it, and we'll see how that works out. So that's my pain, but I'm not unhappy.

[59:19]

I'm in pain not because I lost something and not because I gained something, and I'm in pain not because people are insulting me to my face or behind my back. I mean, if that happens, I might feel some pain. But that's not the kind of pain I'm telling you about right now. The pain I feel because I care about particularly the children who are going to, you know, most of us are going to be gone pretty soon, but our children and our children's children, I feel a lot of pain for them, but I'm not unhappy. So I can spend, if I keep this happiness generating, then I can join the helping process for the rest of my life. So I hope you find a way to care for people, care for all beings, and understand that this pain that's coming is a pain which, because it's coming from caring for this world, it's better than any happiness

[60:34]

that comes from getting what you want or having people talk what you want. And then if you develop that happiness through giving and assisting and continually caring for others and feeling more pain and embracing more pain and feeling happy about that and embracing more pain and feeling happy about that and embracing more pain and feeling in that way. I hope that you all can really do that thoroughly because it's too much for me to do. But if you do it thoroughly enough, I'll probably start copying you out of shame, at least. So please help me this way. Show me that it's possible to embrace the suffering that you're feeling because you care for the world and that you're really happy about it. So, you know, I have the problem with this song is that I sing it over and over.

[61:43]

That's the problem with this song. But the good thing about this song is that because if you care for the welfare of all beings, you can embrace the pain you feel. But if I imagine the words of this song, it's like It seems quite appropriate to what I just was talking about. So it's a kind of nice summary. And I want you to be happy about all this suffering. I want you to be happy about the suffering you're feeling because you care for the welfare of others. I don't particularly want you to be happy about the suffering you're feeling because you lost some money. I don't particularly want you to be happy about that. But if you are, if you're happy, if you feel from loss and losing money, that's okay, I guess, actually.

[62:45]

Okay. Ready? There is suffering ahead. But while there's music and moonlight And love and romance Let's face the music and dance Before the fiddlers have fled Before they ask us to pay the bill And while we still have a chance, music and dance. Soon we'll be without the moon, humming a different tune.

[63:52]

And then there may be teardrops to shed. But while there's music and moonlight and love and romance let's face the music and dance. Let's face the suffering and dance. May our intention I found myself very moved by what you said earlier. And I'm thinking of the suffering, like in Iraq.

[65:02]

And I'm struck with the magnitude of it and with the littleness of anything I can do about it. And I'm afraid. I'm afraid of opening myself up to that suffering. And by extension, how do you do that when you can't do much about it? If I could do something about it, I could see opening myself up to suffer. But when you can't do much about it, and when the suffering is so large, I'm afraid we'll make myself look to that. You're afraid... Well, first of all, what are you afraid of? What will happen? What are you afraid about opening yourself to it? It's that it'll be too much, that I'll become lost in it. I'm not exactly sure there's a fear there. Yeah, well... When the bodhisattva first feels the pain that arises from caring for others, at first the bodhisattva is terrified.

[66:17]

So your fear is part of the process. then if you can remember that this pain you're feeling is not coming from a bad source, it's coming because you care. It's terrifying, but again, that would be normal that you would be afraid. to see that there's a happiness there because you do care enough to feel pain about these people you care about, these people you love. You don't even see them, but you sense them and you love them and you don't want any harm to come to them.

[67:24]

Even though you don't know their names, you do not want them to be hurt. And because you do not want them to be hurt, you feel pain when you hear that they're being hurt. But there's a happiness in that. And that happiness leads you to be able to practice giving. And as you practice giving, you will become less afraid of this process. And when you say, do anything, if you practice giving that is doing something you may not be able to you can't stop the harm that's happened from having happened but if the giving starts happening that starts transforming the whole process that's your natural contribution is to start practicing giving but the giving has to come with this

[68:27]

the giving that comes from compassion means the giving that comes with pain. But it's also the giving that comes from happiness with the pain of caring for people. And then happiness comes with the giving. See, to have the happiness... of caring enough for people to feel the pain, and then the happiness of being able to practice giving. And then you are doing something. Not you are doing something, but something is happening which is contributing to the welfare of the whole situation. But some fear is, like I said, terror and delight, they both happen to the bodhisattva. ...will come later. Yes.

[69:32]

When you talk about happiness, so I always talk about our ... I was wondering if there is something common they have. or is it another quality of happiness which bodhisattva represents? Rosemary is asking about the Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva, the bodhisattva whose name means to listen to the cries of the world. And Avalokiteshvara is pictured in many ways.

[70:37]

Very seldom is Avalokiteshvara pictured smiling very broadly and looking really happy. Avalokiteshvara looks calm usually and at ease while he or she is listening to other beings. but the hote looks really big smile and sometimes even like this, you know, with the hands up like this. So that face as a face which to welcome people who maybe need a more broad or a more intense expression, a more gross form of happiness that they can see.

[71:46]

Because they go into the temple maybe and they see all these calm Buddhas and calm Bodhisattvas and maybe this more exuberant form of happiness is easier to identify as happy. So I think it's part of the of the kind of the team, the team effort of the different beings that some are, you know, attracting people in one way and then others attract them in another way. They like that happy Buddha. They like the more serene bodhisattva. But some people, the serene bodhisattva, they don't relate to it. A lot of children like those happy Buddhas. They can understand it. And it looks kind of funny, almost like a clown with a big stomach. But that Buddha also is a transformation, or that bodhisattva is a transformation of a bodhisattva who appears in quite a different way.

[72:51]

I think that that... Is it correct that that's a transformation of Maitreya Buddha? Is that right? Maitreya Buddha often appears very serene, but if it helps people, Maitreya Buddha can puff out the stomach and smile very broadly so that people feel comfortable. Like some children are afraid to come into this hall, they are afraid of the statues. I think that's part of the welcoming program of the tradition is to have some other forms. Did I respond to you? It's another quality, but it's, yeah, it's another quality because people need that quality. Just like Green Gulch, we have the garden.

[73:53]

Because some people, the Zen does too austere or looks too formal. So they go to the garden. They feel comfortable in the garden. Or some other people come to Zen Center because they like the food. They like vegetarian food or like the bread. So they eat the bread and they eat the bread and then they say, after a while they say, maybe I can go in the meditation hall now. Because the bread is maybe not so frightening, not so awesome, in such a simple, elegant room. So there's various ways that you bring people into the Buddha's into the Buddha mind and various qualities will be appropriate for different people and various personifications, impersonations of these qualities will attract different people. Someone told me one time that there was a person at Zen Center who was not your typical idea of a Zen student.

[74:59]

He was an unusual type of Zen student. He drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes and marijuana and made a lot of noise and got in a lot of trouble at Zen Center. But when this person met this person, he said, seeing that he could be at Zen Center, I realized I could be at Zen Center. But if the person had seen all sort of well-behaved, disciplined students, oh, I can't practice at Zen Center. But they thought, if he can be a Zen Center, I can be a Zen Center. If they let him in. So he was kind of a welcoming person in that way, that he made people feel like, I guess they'd let anybody in. Which is almost... Yes?

[76:04]

When you spoke about the translation or the literal characters for an appropriate response, which is, I think, what I had missed, the only translation, although I may have heard you speak about the characters before. Anyway, in the meeting, there's the appropriate response, I didn't know before today that it meant there was a teaching. Does this teaching express in other ways, and if so, what other ways, than expounding the Dharma in terms of study, or like when you study a text, so you can help somebody study that text? Are there other ways that teaching can be expressed? In one sense, if you ask what was the Buddha doing during his time as Buddha, I could say today the Buddha was practicing compassion.

[77:28]

the Buddha was practicing giving. And the giving according to each situation. Give one thing, meet another person, give another thing. And there's three things the Buddha would give. Teaching, material things, and fearlessness. so sometimes the Buddha would just meet someone and they would he wouldn't say give some teaching he would just he would just demonstrate and initiate them into fearlessness other times Buddha would occasionally give people things you know there's a few cases but things were not necessarily all written down because maybe people weren't so interested that Buddha, you know, like every day Buddha went and begged for food.

[78:32]

So actually almost every day probably he shared his food with his students because sometimes people would give him the food and then he would share it. They would give it to him rather than give it to all of them. Or sometimes he'd get a lot and then maybe bring some back or sometimes he would go into the house and receive a lot it wouldn't be big enough for all the students so he would bring it out and give it to them but also but usually when he went to the house to visit the people he wouldn't give them food he didn't bring food and clothing with him to give to them they already had the food and clothing food and clothing, but he would give them the teachings. So usually the thing he had a lot to give is fearlessness of his body and his teachings.

[79:34]

That's mostly what he would give and that stuff was remembered. Sometimes give material things if people needed it, but usually that was not his job. but there are examples of where he gave material things and of course many examples of where every day he was given material things when people give him food then they would get back he would give back to them the gift of letting them give him food So he would give them the gift of them being generous by receiving their gifts. He gave that back to them every time they gave to him. But it was not a material thing. That's a spiritual thing. And when they would give him food, they would give him a material thing, but they also gave him a spiritual thing because they not just gave him the food, but he also got their generosity.

[80:35]

If they were generous, and probably usually they were, if you give to someone but you don't really want to, then the spiritual giving is not there. So does that answer your question? So that the teaching is the highest gift. The teaching is, you could say is highest, but I think again it's good to make the point that even if the teaching was highest, which I'm not saying it is, the most important point that I'm bringing up today is the appropriate response Some people don't want the teaching. They want a donut. Or they want fearlessness. They want, you know, they want to look in your eyes. They don't want any teaching. So then the Buddha didn't say, hey, I got this teaching, which is superior to anything.

[81:36]

No, he didn't. He'd give them what was... So you can say, teaching's higher than the material things, but really it's more like the teaching is what the Buddha does is what's appropriate. And sometimes it's like literally teaching, but even if he gives food when it's appropriate, that's his teaching too. But the suffering, that worldly suffering, as opposed to suffering, that spiritual suffering, the teaching addresses the spiritual suffering, but might be appropriate maybe addressing the worldly suffering, such as food? I didn't follow that. Well, you had said that… In other words, I didn't… …Tathagata wants to assist others in being free of their suffering. And I interpreted that, or maybe you said, this is a suffering that is a spiritual suffering, not like not having food.

[82:42]

So the bodhisattva wants to help beings who are suffering. And the appropriate response might be a physical response. But if possible, you would like to teach them so they could be free of their suffering. they would, bodhisattvas, want to teach. And is there any other way to teach besides kindness? Are there other ways that help beings be free of suffering besides expounding the Dharma? Yeah, kindness helps them. Expounding kindness, it's a gift. Giving is, in a sense, a very fundamental form of kindness. So the Buddha's teaching is, when the Buddha is teaching, the Buddha is being kind through giving.

[83:45]

So when the Buddha is being kind through giving, the Buddha gives fearlessness, the Buddha gives material things, and the Buddha gives teaching. But the Buddha can also be kind through practice. The Buddha can also be kind through practicing ethical discipline. The Buddha can also be kind by practicing concentration. Being calm with people is a compassionate way to be with them. But it's also a gift. So the Buddha is actually practicing ethics, patience, concentration, diligence, and wisdom all the time. And the Buddha is giving that all the time and being patient with people as the gift is being given. All these things are actually happening simultaneously with the Buddha. Coming out of his or her practice, arising out of the practice,

[84:46]

arising out of the practice which is not really his or hers, which they understand. It arises out of the practice of Buddha, which the Buddha is sitting in the middle of. What occurred to me during the whole talk was the pain that comes from thinking that I'm the giver that I'm to help, that I'm assisting, and whether I can do it, all questions of doubt about the... I think more or less what this gentleman may be addressing, I have this feeling, and that is addressed by the practice, where you look at the self in working with... Yeah, right. So in the practice of giving, if you find yourself in the middle of or if you find this person in the middle of the practice of giving, and you notice that there's kind of a one-sided view of giving appearing, like you think, oh, I'm giving to that person.

[85:55]

You look at that, you see there's kind of a way of looking at the giving, like I'm giving you something. you're in the receiver department, I'm in the giving department, or vice versa, you're in the giving department, I'm in the receiving department. Studying that is part of what it means to study connection and self and enclosure, all that. And if you notice that you're kind of stuck in one part of the process, you'll probably notice that that's painful. and somehow being able to be happy about studying this process where pains are being disclosed. Pains are being disclosed because you care enough to work for the salvation of beings and you can feel happy even though it's painful. Like I said yesterday I mentioned that someone asked me about

[86:59]

how I seem to be comfortable making physical effort even in my sixties and earlier I feel comfortable making efforts which are kind of difficult and I pointed out that I remembered that when I was two years old I had polio and I was paralyzed And then I received good medical attention. So when I recovered from the inflammation from the infection, I could walk, you know, right away. But I still had to do exercises for years because my muscles got very stiff and tight during the time of paralysis. So at two years old I was doing exercises daily and they were painful.

[88:06]

To stretch those tight muscles, it was painful and I cried I understand, but I guess I didn't resist much, but it was painful for me to do those stretching exercises. But I think from an early age I learned that there is a happiness in doing something that's rather painful that's good for your health. So I learned that sometimes pain is sometimes therapeutic. That's been helpful to me. And I think other people have also, I think, had that good fortune to be assisted in learning that opening to pain and doing some things which are difficult, you need to do that sometimes and it's not bad. Yes? You're welcome.

[89:13]

The reason I came today is because my daughter died 49 days ago, and I know that because I've been reading to her every day for 49 days. She's buried up. And one thing that happened was it really deepened my practice, this experience. She was a young dog, and just over several days, it was a shock. And the experience really deepened my practice. And so I took her from the Tibet book that we did at progression days and so on. But one thing that has been happening to me over this series of things is things have been percolating in my writing.

[90:30]

And what I was curious about was you were talking about and that they teach people cause and effect. And so I was curious because there's a theater, a special theater, and I was curious about why it was, at least that I can remember or perceive, that there's no theater of Buddhism. I was wondering why that is. I mean, that's what's happened to me, that my stories that are coming to me are about various things that happened around my dog, and cause and effect, and things like that. And practice Buddhism for decades, really. And so. That may sound silly at the moment, but the dog's now in character in this story that I was working on.

[91:34]

She's the narrator. So I was just curious about that, about your ideas about that, of the Buddhism, because it seems to me that this other person was asking a question about how to teach Buddhism, that theater or the arts is one way that people learn through narrative, but really about their stories and why that would be. And if you thought that that might be something that could happen, what would happen, and how that would look, what that would look like in the office. Could you hear her question? Thank you for that question. There's many dimensions that you brought up that I'd be happy to talk about, but I'd just deal with maybe two of them. One is... that yesterday we had a one day sitting at a place over the hill, a little temple over the hill called No Abode. And I discussed with the people during the discussion, I discussed a story.

[92:44]

which I would say which I would say is you could say it's a story about Zen theater, you could say, but maybe you could also say it's a Zen drama. So the story is that there was a Zen teacher, his name was Baizhang, and he was named after the mountain that he lived on, Baijiang Mountain. And whenever he gave a talk to the group, an old man would come. And when the group dispersed, the old man would leave with them. But one day, the old man didn't go. Master Baijiang said, Who is this that's standing before me? And the old man said, I'm not a human being.

[93:57]

A very long time ago, I lived on this mountain, and I was a teacher on this mountain. And someone asked me, if a greatly cultivated person falls into cause and effect or not. She does not fall into cause and effect. As a result of that, I was born in five hundred lifetimes as a fox or as a dog. But it's a fox in this case because in Chinese mythology there are dogs that symbolize that are shape-shifters. Foxes are tricksters or shape-shifters and they're also symbols of ethical dilemma and ethical causation. This fox spirit can change into a fox and can change into a person, but it's not really a person.

[95:09]

So then this old man says to the teacher, please give me a turning word so the teacher takes the previous expression this man made the expression was does not fall into cause and effect and he changed it to does not obscure cause and effect and the man dash fox spirit was enlightened and then according to this story told his monks we're going to do a funeral ceremony for a fox. And also the man said, please do a funeral ceremony for me, a monk's funeral ceremony, because I used to be a monk. So Bai Zhang went with his group out and dug out a fox, a dead fox, from the bushes. And and had the monks do a funeral ceremony for the fox.

[96:14]

And the story goes on, but just as I wanted to say that, this is supposedly a drama, a theatrical piece that happened with a great Zen master, that that actually was a dramatic event. Could that have actually happened? Can beings actually be born as foxes? this is part of what you're being asked to look at. And then this story has been brought up for twelve hundred years and re-re-enacted in a sense through conversations, through masters commenting on the story but also in talking to the teacher and in those meetings they actually dramatize, they go through the theater of that story and the teacher and the student work on whether what's the student understanding of causation. But they're using that old story to do that.

[97:19]

Now this could be extended into new stories and I think it is but in America particularly because I think this is supposed to be a land of freedom of religion, right? Right? It's supposed to be freedom of religion. But the Buddhists aren't so sure that this, you know, we know we're being allowed here. But we know we're the minority. And if we get too rambunctious, the minority may snuff us out. You know? We're kind of like, you know, I'm an American, born in America, but as a Buddhist, I'm like, I'm in the minority. I'm in the minority. So when it comes to telling stories about foxes and stuff, we've got to be a little careful here. So a lot of people go to study Zen and hear these dramas and actually in their actual private interviews with teachers, they're actually dramatizing these things to help learn cause and effect.

[98:31]

But when they go on in public, they may not mention that this is a Buddhist story. because the majority may say, oh, it's a Buddha story. So they may kind of like downplay the, take away the word bodhisattva and Buddha and just say, you know, once there was a teacher who lived on a mountain and a fox came. To just walk away, take away the word Buddha. And like, you know, Leonard Cohen, you know him? so he studied with Zen for about ten fifteen years and now he's like not studying Zen formally anymore but he's back in action and he's doing what I think he's doing his part to dramatize to teach what he learned about Zen and life you know what he learned from smoking and drinking and practicing Zen right he studied cause and effect so he's going to do his best and

[99:36]

And then here, right now, I'm here, and some of you may come to visit me and tell me that you used to teach here a long time ago, maybe even before the Native Americans were here. And that you made a mistake, but you, you know, and now you may ask me, and we may have some new dramas. And then people may, that actually are happening here, and people are learning dramatically right here about cause and effect. Just like you and I are talking right now. Is this theater? Is this dramatic? You know, and maybe if something spectacularly wondrous happened between us, people would tell the story around the Bay Area. I saw this woman talking to this priest at Green Gulch and And suddenly, she understood her dog. And then, so this... And so that started circulating around the Bay Area, right?

[100:51]

And they may, at first, you know, they may say it was at a Zen center. Or they may disguise it and say it was on a farm. You know? So I think drama is definitely a key ingredient. And you haven't noticed it before, but don't have a dramatic conversation. We're missing out on a fundamentally important venue for transmitting the teaching. Maybe, but also Zen in the temple. So the Buddha, if you, the Buddha one time was, this is supposedly there was this mass murderer. He was a mass murderer and serial murderer.

[101:52]

He was a serial killer and he also sometimes killed large groups of people. And the story is actually going to kill his mother. he was actually a good person who kind of went totally crazy and became this like he might say it's like some other serial killers are good people who just go completely nuts and they start coping with life by killing people. That's the story of this guy. A very good person in a way did a lot of good things but then something broke and he went into this horrible transformation and he killed people. That's the story. And he was going to kill his mother, and the Buddha happened to be there at that moment. And the Buddha then walked between him and his mother. Our Buddha did that. And then this guy goes after the Buddha. He starts running after the Buddha, and the Buddha's walking slowly.

[102:54]

And he's running as fast as he can, but he can't catch the Buddha. So he yells out to the Buddha, Why can't I catch you? And the Buddha says, Because I stopped. And the guy wakes up. and becomes a disciple of Buddha. And then there's more to the story, but this is very dramatic. We have dramatic stories in the tradition that actually were performed. Now, if we really had a healthy tradition and we had a Buddha, we would have Broadway right here. So, you know. But we're kind of not very good, so we're mostly telling the old stories and have a few new ones, and the best ones may be turned into plays. Acted around the country, around the world, if they're good enough. But anyway, definitely we need, humans need drama in order to, humans need drama in order to learn Dharma.

[103:57]

You can learn some drama, but drama is necessary to really enact And it's hard to enact the Dharma without it being dramatic. And drama, I propose to you, has to do with, from Greek times, it has to do with the consequences of actions. It's demonstrating to people, so-and-so had an affair with his mother, you know, and then gets his eye taken out. Greek drama is very much about cause and effect and studying how it works. Great person develops hubris and then we have tragedy. So it's very much the point. Yes.

[105:02]

Yes. I partly didn't get your question because I couldn't hear so well. Could you say it again a little louder? You have a commitment to helping a certain population. Okay. And they have day-to-day circumstances that are difficult.

[106:04]

Yes. And yet there's this opportunity to assist them at the bodhisattva level. Excuse me, but I kind of lost me there because if you're trying to assist someone who's having difficulty Already at the bodhisattva level? Well, I think there could be an opportunity to be, you know, maybe attentive there, yet the delivery is difficult, because there are such painful circumstances. Yeah. That sounds like the bodhisattva level still. There's a population which could be like one person, or two or many, you want to help them, and in the process of fulfilling your desire, you may have difficulty. This sounds like the normal story to me. So far it sounds normal, and I'm following that as the normal process of wishing to help people, is that you wish to help them and when you endeavor to do so, you have difficulty.

[107:19]

And I guess I may have separated my own mind as far as what would be a true assistant, given that I pick up space, I have hands, and I have money I can give. Yes. Yes. Yet, pain is so deep. Yes. Is it an attachment to being of a system that So, again, I want to try to connect with what you're saying. So you have the situation of someone you want to care for, And when you're caring for them, you feel a lot of pain because of the situation they're in, coupled with your care for them, you feel a lot of pain.

[108:27]

And that can get to be as strong as that you start feeling terrified. And when you're terrified, you may be slip into, like, attachment or something to try to, like, get some control of the situation. So that can happen. That's part of the difficulty that could happen as you wade into helping people is there can be tensing up, attachment, and fear. Again, this is like normal that you run into. It doesn't always happen, but When I hear of this happening, I say, yeah, right. That happens a lot of the time. Attachment is not exactly on the agenda. It's just that attachments may arise. You're concerned to help someone you're not concerned with getting them to do what you want.

[109:35]

You're concerned with getting them what they want to be good for them, even if what's good for them is something you had no idea about beforehand. But as you start to help people, you may have some idea about what would be helpful. And then if you get scared, you may hold on to your idea For example, asking them what they want. But again, what they want isn't necessarily what's helpful either. The key ingredient of happiness is very important because when you're happy in the pain, you're open to the question of what's appropriate. but if you're in a painful situation and you're not happy you start to close down and then you can't see what's helpful anymore. So the happiness that comes with the caring for the person and the happiness which comes from embracing the pain you feel because you care for the person that you know I can even be happy when I start to feel the pain because this is appropriate pain

[110:54]

that happiness makes you open to what might be helpful. Openness to what is helpful is the birth of the giving. But when you're giving, you don't have some fixed idea about what giving is. This giving is coming from compassion, which is not like, I'm giving. it's more like you're in the giving process. And then you have the joy of giving, which again opens you up. So the more joy there is and the more happiness coming from compassion, the less you attach to the way it's going to go. If you stay away from people and don't care about them, you can say, hey, I'm quite open about how they might be helped. Matter of fact, I don't even care if they're helped anyway. And I feel no pain about their suffering. okay fine but when you start to care about them deeply you start to feel pain about their suffering but that pain is better than the greatest worldly happiness and you start to feel this great happiness about having the right kind of pain the pain that comes with caring for people and that happiness helps you be not attached and then

[112:19]

should be generous and generous means this is what i thought you wanted you asked me for this right you said would you help me with this and now i'm giving you this and now you tell me you don't want it this is like not happy this is like okay you asked for something and i'm going to give you i'm going to give you that's not giving It's not giving from compassion, it's worldly giving. It's giving, I'm going to give what I say is giving, and you listen to what I say. This is a gift, take it. No. Giving comes with joy, and with that joy you say, here's my gift. Okay, I'm going to throw out the window, and you say, great. And then I'll be out there to catch it. Whatever. You're having a good time practicing giving. Giving, however, is not painful. Giving is just joyful. First, our practicing compassion.

[113:22]

It says, pain comes to the bodhisattva who is practicing compassion. Now pain comes to people who aren't practicing compassion, but the pain that comes to them, as I mentioned, comes from people insulting your friends people talking behind your back people talking behind your friend's back people taking stuff from you that you want that kind of suffering this is the bodhisattva suffering is that you do feel pain and it can be terrifying joy to antidote happiness to antidote that terror And then after a while, you're in there in this real difficult situation, wading into it with joy. And with the joy, you can be flexible. With the joy, you can relax. And then you can start being generous and let people be what they are. And you can let them change their agendas all the time about what they want.

[114:26]

And you can continue to be joyful about feeling pain when they get confused about what the gifts you're giving them. So that's why I bring in this suffering that is involved in compassion. But it's a bodhisattva suffering. It's the suffering of the kind person. It's a good suffering. The word for compassion, karuna, means dented happiness. It's a happiness that has a dent or it's a dent that's surrounded by happiness. It's a happy dent. It's a happy pain. It's a pain you wouldn't trade in for the worldly, well, you wouldn't trade this pain in for worldly happiness. This is because you feel so happy having the right kind of pain, the pain of Buddha, the pain of the Bodhisattva.

[115:30]

Hmm? Martyrdom? Well, again, we could try that drama. Nancy, would you be a martyr? Let me check that out here. What kind of martyrdom do you have in mind? We can discuss it. I'll talk to you about it. But it's not like when they bring it up, you say, oh, finally, I'm going to get some real good stuff here. No, it's more like, we can converse about it. dramatically converse about the martyrdom opportunities. Okay? Sound dramatic? That's the greatest challenge. Did you have your hand raised? Yes? This is actually my first time here, so if I ask you something that everyone already knows,

[116:33]

Yeah, it's okay. The talk is really compelling to me because a lot of what you said I connect with, but at the same time, from everything I've always heard, it's been the exact opposite. Yeah, it's a strange talk. A suffering that surpasses all worldly happiness? What? I feel like I've tried to live a life of helping others, and not in just, not a little bit, but not as much in like a martyrdom way, but it's because I felt compelled to do so, and I feel like it's due. But I've always been told that I do it at the expense of myself and my self-care, even. Maybe because I don't have the core discipline to go with this action of trying to create my own world.

[117:39]

She says she's trying to... May I say? Yeah, go ahead. She wants to live to help all beings, but some people tell her that she's doing that at the expense of her own health. Self. Well, self-help, self-help, self-care, self... Okay? That's why... That's why you really should listen to those people because if you're not happy doing this, you're not doing it quite right. Should you be getting happy doing this kind of stuff? But you need to be happy in order to do the stuff properly because otherwise you can be devoted. Some people are devoted to help people and they're having a really lousy time and And they compensate themselves for helping trying to get their way because they think they'll feel good if they at least... I don't like to help people, but at least if I can get them help the way I want them to be helped, at least I'll feel good about that.

[118:51]

So then they become coercive helpers, which is not good for the helper either. It's not good for the helper to be abusive and coercive in your helping. But if you're trying to help people and you're having joy about it, then you can be flexible. And if you're trying to help them this way and they say, we don't want to be helped that way, you can say, okay, what way do you want to be helped? I want to be helped this way. And you might say, oh, okay, I'm not going to help you that way. I don't want to help you that way. Say, I thought you wanted to help me. I do, but I don't think that's helpful, so I'm not going to do it. They say, oh, come on. You say, oh, okay. You can be flexible, you know. And then you can play. And you can show them that they can be flexible and they can play. Get overly serious about helping people. So if you're not having a lot of joy in your helping people, I think your friends are right that you're something a little off there. You want to help people because you feel pain because you care for them.

[119:59]

But you've got to have more. Karuna, compassion isn't just pain. Compassion isn't just passion. It's happy passion. It's happy compassion. So your friends may be right that you should be having a good time in your activity. and if you're not demonstrating them that you're thriving you should thrive and you should thrive not only for 18 reasons you should thrive you should thrive because if you're thriving it shows you're dealing with the suffering you feel appropriately you should thrive so that your work will grow if everybody is helping people is making themselves sick we're not going to have any helpers pretty soon that's called burnout we don't want to burn out we want to bloom out And you bloom from happiness in helping beings. But there's pain there.

[121:01]

You're blooming in pain. But you shouldn't be blooming. Otherwise, how could you help them? If you don't know how to bloom, how can you help them bloom? But if you can bloom in the pain you feel for them, you can show them how they can bloom in the pain that they're feeling and teach them to feel others and let them bloom from that pain. Get them to trade in their personal selfish pain for the pain of compassion by showing them how much fun it is to have the pain of compassion. It's fun. It's happiness to feel compassion. And compassion but not selfish pain. So your friends, I think, have done you a service by saying, you can keep doing this work, but you better be happy, you better be thriving, you better be bubbling with life, otherwise we're going to bust you. You have to take a vacation, you know, time out, until you can come back to that work with joy, even though it is painful work.

[122:06]

So I think they got a point. This should be good for you too. You're included. It should benefit you. You're concerned with them first. The other people first should be happiness for you. People who are concerned for themselves first are unhappy. People who are concerned for others are sometimes happy but sometimes not. You've got to care for them in such a way that you feel happy to care for them. And, of course, sometimes you feel happy that you care about people. That's the right kind of happiness because it's a happiness which is grounded in suffering, which is natural when you care about people. And a happiness that comes from not caring about people is no good. It causes you suffering and others suffering. Does that make some sense? I'm wondering about the separation of self and compassion for others.

[123:10]

That's sort of always been my big question. That's part of the work, too, is to understand, to get to practice wisdom, too. But part of helping people is to vow to become wise, which means you understand the equality of self and other. In order to really be fully helpful, you have to understand you're not separate from other beings. I didn't get into that much today. I mentioned a little bit. That's a necessary part of your equipment that you have to develop in order to help people. You've got to develop transcendent wisdom also. This is kind of a big project, but since you brought it up, there it is. I'm sorry I kept you late for lunch. Please forgive me.

[123:59]

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