Meditation, I didn't. When you're sitting in meditation hall, some people, when they look inside and try to see what kind of impulses they have, action, they have trouble finding anything. Because when you're sitting, you may have a predominant, maybe even more of a predominance of what you might call receptive, kind of receptive mode of consciousness. And in a receptive mode of consciousness, what's the shape of the consciousness at that time? What's the landscape? What's the watershed of the consciousness in a receptive mode? What would the shape of your consciousness be in your receptive moment?

[01:10]

Like a bowl? Like a bowl, yeah. And if you pour water in a bowl, where is the water going to go? Huh? What? Yeah, you're going to need to stick on the bowl. It won't run out someplace. It doesn't look like it's going somewhere. Most bowls. So if your consciousness is just kind of an open and receptive surface, if you look at the inclination, it wouldn't help like we're doing anything. And so in a receptive state, if you try to determine the karmic value of that state, you'd have trouble determining it. you might actually be sure that it was in the terminal. You might be sure that it was not held to mind. It's very clear that it didn't have a tendency, and that water would not flow if poured on it.

[02:17]

It just got filled with space. When the mind is acting like an organ, it actually isn't active. When the mind is just serving the function of receptivity or sensing, it's not actually the actor at that time. So, again, as I mentioned, some part of our life, our mind is in a receptive mode, and therefore there is no karma at that time. So we're not always involved in karma. Yeah. What I was thinking, if you have a bowl and you have water collected, you could also have there, like, stagnation on something that has nowhere that it's going.

[03:23]

And if you have water collected or there's a reception of either negative or either way, you could have a service. Yes, it could. However, this particular bowl only lasts for a moment. And then it's gone. And then a new rainfall happens, the new bowl. So there could be stagnation, but primarily due to the attitude, not too much due to the process. You know, when you're sitting... So, generally speaking, I would say that some Americans say that when organs are passive, they're not active. They're not doing anything. And if organs are doing something, they're not really very receptive.

[04:28]

They're interfering with the process. So for that reason also, when the mind... If not in the receptive mode, it's almost... So when you're sitting, I think a lot of people, when they're sitting, they're more in the receptive mode, so it's harder. That's another reason why it may be harder for you than to meditate on a carnal when you're sitting, because once it's in line in a receptive mode. But I might mention, parenthetically, which I'll expand on later, that what is presented to the mind, what comes up, is not karma either, but is the fruit of karma. And I would also say it is the fruit of karma, but it's not solely determined by karma.

[05:35]

Well, I'm going to say it's the fruit of karma. And I'll say, but not deterministically so. And I'll explain that later. But as you mentioned here, mode, you're not involved in karma at that time. What's presented to you is the maturing of karma. But an analogy would be, If a person walks in the door and talks to you, or you might say if a person delivers you a bill or something, and the bill is for the maturing of the bill, that's the maturing of the bill, but that event is not only determined by the fact that the bill came to mature.

[06:51]

A lot of other things contributed to the fact that that thing came to you. But the fact that it's time to pay it now, that's the maturing of the payment arrangement. But a lot of other things have to support that event, which are not directly related to the payment arrangement. A variety of people could bring it to you. They're not related to the fact that you bought something we now send to pay. A piece of paper may have nothing to do, or it could be delivered on cloth, or it could be delivered verbal, or in plastic, or registered on a computer. That stuff has nothing to do with your action in any sense. You may be able to find a drug, but strictly speaking, the main thing that's being delivered to you It has to do with your actions. In fact, if you bought something, or you took a loan out, and now it's time to pay.

[07:53]

That part of it is maturing of your actions. The other, the way it's delivered to you is .. So for example, the modality of delivery is not necessarily a maturing of your time. But it could be. Great examples. So again, karma is not the sole determinant of the things that happen to you, however. Karma does mature in the midst of what happens to you. Karma matures in terms of what's presented to you. For example, if you're sitting in a zendo, in a meditation hall, in an receptive mood, and you feel a pain, that feeling, feeling karma, but feeling pain Feeling, the way you feel, is retribution. But the experience is not totally determined by retribution, because the experience is influenced by what day it is, what kind of weather, who else is in the room, and who else is in the room and the way they're behaving is not solely determined by your consciousness.

[09:08]

But the quality of experience, the way you experience, that is the experience part of the experience. But the particular qualities of the experience are not all shown in black and white. And you get more on that later. That was supposed to be a preface. Okay, so receptivity is not karma, but what you receive is. So an example of that would be, an example of that would be, if you feel anger towards someone, just think an angry thought or have an ill will, then that ill will in your mind will mature later. It will come to maturity in the form of people. Or even if it becomes, that's one way it can mature. Another way it can mature, there's other ways, I don't want to mention the other way, but one way angry thought, not just anger, but anger which has shaped the consciousness towards an imagination of an action based on ill will.

[10:32]

Anger and also causing anger, anger can be the condition. But angry karma, or karma of angry or ill will, acting out ill will in your mind, that can also cause more anger. It also has recognition, comic effect in terms of pain. And a generous thought a kind thought, and actually thought, you start thinking in a kind and generous way, imagining a kind and generous act, and actually being really behind that act, and you're liking that act, and wanting to do that act, that has retribution in terms of experience. It also might coincide with pleasure at the time you thought it, but not necessarily. It's possible to, you want to do a wholesome thing, and not necessarily feel pleasure at the moment.

[11:34]

but still want to do it. You feel joy and confidence and faith in the beauty even though you're in pain. So you could be in pain, like pretty sick, have intense illness, cancer or something, and really think positive, loving thoughts to a visitor. And want to do something very much to a visitor. And that comic thought would have led to patient pleasure. Maybe not for a while because you're sick. It might be in the next moment if you feel a little flash of pain in the middle of your joints. So the parentheses I think are now blown over. And we're in the second category here of action produces fruit, result, or retribution either in this life or in the future life. So I take the parentheses off. And now I'd like to make a parenthesis inside of this topic.

[12:40]

And that is the example yesterday of waiting in the line at the airport. And this was a particularly difficult wait because the line was long and there was lots of upset and so on. In cases like that, myself, But anyway, some people might find it easy to meditate on kama when they're in such a horrendous situation. Some people might find it hard. But I remember, I used the example in one of my talks here on Sunday that I left Tassajara. I did a retreat at Tassajara. And as part of that retreat, I asked people, and I asked myself, to the seat, if you could continue your mindfulness practice up over the hill into the city. So I I felt like I was doing pretty well going over the mountain. And I curled up on the road as we were leaving.

[13:43]

And I felt like we were pretty mindful and pretty present. And then Charlie and I drove up the highway. And we were actually writing an article on Zazen. I felt pretty present. And the place I felt like I lost it was kind of in the line waiting for getting my ticket. Not getting my ticket, but to check in. I felt like I kind of lost in line. It wasn't a real long line. It wasn't a real difficult line. But I felt like I really wasn't sort of into the meditation. I got a little bit in the line, you know, and getting checked in. And the concern of how long it would take. I was not worried that I'd get on the plane. I was there plenty of times, so that wasn't an issue. But I got a little bit here you are in line at the airport, right?

[14:44]

You've got plenty of time. But you're more into how long it's going to take to get to the line so that you can then walk down to your and then sit there waiting for the plane. Right? So I'm not going to be present here in this line because I want to go present. But then, of course, as you walk down to the gate and stuff and walk to security, you're not kind of like saying, oh, good, now finally I'm in a good situation to meditate. How fast can I get to the security thing? And then when you get to the waiting area, are you really like, now I can meditate? Or is it kind of like, well, how long before the thing or anything like that? and what can I get done, what can I read before I get on the plane, and how many telephone calls can I make. See, it doesn't even work to sort of like get through this so that you can then do that, so then you can start medicating.

[15:46]

It usually is where you are is the best place. And so waiting in line is one of the greatest places, actually, to medicate, especially in difficult circumstances. But in fact, you are standing there. You might be doing karmic, and you're moving forward and moving your bag and moving forward and moving your bag and moving your bag forward and catching up with your bag. You're doing all that. And a perfectly good example of perhaps karmic is a good example of, especially if you're by yourself like I was, of medicating in what you're doing. But you slightly shift from this perfectly good example of opportunity to meditate to kind of being concerned with how long is it going to take and when is it currently going to be. A slight shift of actually enjoying this opportunity to, you know, just not being there and being into something that is, if you think about it, is really, under a lot of circumstances, in my case anyway, totally irrelevant.

[16:57]

In consequence, waste of time. And that waste of time somehow draws you away from a great opportunity to meditate. Then, of course, put it positively if you can appreciate being in the line. Smell the gas, huh? Smell the gas? Get it from the truck? Open it until you smell it better. If you can use the opportunity of being in line there, then you have a chance of walking to the security check. Then the walk from the checking area to the security area is like, you know, one could describe it in glorious terms. I mean, it could be a great walk from one place to the other.

[18:03]

Because you wouldn't, especially like I say, in my case, I was not in a hurry. You're not in a hurry. You don't have to worry about this. And I didn't have to worry. And if you can do the line, you can do the walk. Do the walk means... You can enjoy the experience. And then you can enjoy the experience of going through. You can enjoy the experience of being in the waiting area. Each situation is perfectly what we call equal opportunity employer. A good opportunity for this kind of meditation. Whether you're in a receptive non-karmic state or whether you're in an active karmic state, either way, you have a good opportunity to see which is which. And you learn from both. Anyway, I kind of lost it there. I noticed I kind of lost track. I lost the track when I was waiting in line. My mind veered away, and I was more concerned about the important thing than the present.

[19:06]

I recovered it, I think, by the time I got on the plane. They also switched my seat in the process. So, I was going to say, in the Zendo, I was going to say, now notice the mode, notice your mode. Are you in an active karmic mode, or are you in a receptive mode? I was going to say that. Check it out. And then, you can do this in a future period, is what's your state? Are you actually in actions? Are you actually like in a mental karmic state there? Or in a receptive state? Which is it, and are they alternating? And which is predominant? And when I was sitting there, I was predominantly in a receptive mode, but then I thought of saying this thing to you. Considered to be wholesome karma. My intention was to give you a meditation exercise for your benefit.

[20:07]

I wanted it to help you. I felt happy thinking it, and now I'm telling you about it. But I wasn't sure if I should say it during the meditation. So I did it here now. So the exercise I'm suggesting you check out, active state of karma here. What kind of karma? You know? Like, I want to move. I'm restless. I want to move. I want to sit. I'm sitting up. I'm making a good effort. I'm enjoying making an effort to sit up straight. I enjoy this. This is what I want to do. I think it's wholesome. Or what? Or are you mostly sitting down, I'm sitting up straight, and then... Is it mostly that, which is it? You can tell the difference. And then when the bell rings, watch and see. If you're in a receptive mode, particularly, watch and see what happens in the bell rings.

[21:10]

Then is it kind of like impulse, [...] get up, impulse, impulse? Or can you get up and stay in a receptive mode? What happens? Notice that. Notice what happens when the bell rings. Watch that happen. And what's the qualitative difference between the way you were before the bell rang and when the bell rang after the bell rang? Check that out. That's all I'm going to say. But here's something to watch for future periods. Okay. Pardon? The ideal way to read it is awake. Awake and clearly aware. That's the ideal. No. If you're in the receptive mood, you're awake and clear.

[22:11]

If you're in active mode, you're awake and clear. If you're in positive, you're in. And if you're in the awake and clear part, that will set you free from whatever state you're in. My question was directed at Rosalind. Same. Same. But it would be funny if you were to spend the whole period of Zazen solidly filled with impulse after impulse. That would be kind of, that would be very obsessive. And I wouldn't say that you shouldn't do that, but I would say that if all your periods were like that, I might suggest, why don't you give it a break, give it a rest, I'm very, I'm super lean about, you know, fascist mind control.

[23:14]

I'm not into that. But if you're like a damn pack full of action impulses while you're sitting, I think that's a bit much. It would be good just putting aside for a while. Some people say just cast aside all that karma. But I don't think so. Because that's also kind of karma to me. Yeah, right, that could be, except you happen to give me a little sign of movement, and to step straight. and keep your eyes open, keep your tongue in your mouth, make the move. He did have a little assignment there. So, in fact, if you're just receptive, totally receptive, you would be able to sit up.

[24:19]

Unless, I don't think so. That would happen. Now, if you're accepted in the sense that you're beyond common, then you're also beyond perception. But if you're still in the mind, if you're sitting up, your mind would have the shape of the sitting up posture. But you wouldn't necessarily have to have self interjected. But one of the ingredients in upright sitting is that your mind goes around that posture. There's a little upright posture shape in your mind that goes with the body being in that shape. So that's why I say if you look at the watershed of an awakened person's mind, their watershed would have shapes corresponding to that physical posture. Corresponding.

[25:22]

If they did a flip, something would happen in their brain. You can judge with that flip. If they raised their hand, you know, like this, something would happen over here. If they raised their right hand, something would happen over on the left side of their brain. Okay? So if you're sitting in this posture, the brain would manifest, the brain would, you know, you could tell by looking at the brain what the person is doing. It corresponds to the mind. So they can do this thing. And that's the point we have before. One possibility. There is one exception to the obsession thing. I don't know why. It's not an exception to the obsession. There is an obsession, but it's an obsession that's allowed in tradition. And that's the obsession. Every moment of thought is about the posture. where there's no reception at all. You know, you can't see the birds, you can't see the wall or the floor, you don't hear anything, you don't taste anything, you don't feel anything.

[26:30]

Every moment is actual communication. And every action is, every thought, every kind of thought is possible. And then you'd be thrown into a trance, a body trance. It's okay to do that. But it is obsessive. That's an obsession. And it's also a compulsion if your body corresponds to it. So to some extent, Buddhism allows a meditation practice. But that's one I would say would be all right. But if you're going to obsessively, constantly, unswervingly think of Shab I think that maybe you should discuss that with your meditation instructor beforehand. But that might be all right, too, if you really try to do it and really try to concentrate on shopping the whole time.

[27:31]

That would be okay. You can go into a shopping trend. That might be all right. It depends on what you're shopping for, I think. Shopping is a positive thing. What? I used to, when I first started to sit, I was talking about rearranging furniture. Yeah, so that could be wholesome or unwholesome, depending on the pattern of consciousness in that figure. Yes? I'm still trying to figure out what you mean. I'm talking about the soul. Yes. Are you saying that it's about time to evolve in the body? Not necessarily, but it could be. I mean, the point is, it could be a bowl, it could be a platter, it could be a field. The point is, if the rain fell on it, the rain would just fall and land.

[28:38]

It wouldn't run. There'd be no inclination. There'd just be everything, where everything happened, there'd just be a sea. So it could be a bowl, it could be flat, too. In some sense, clap might be better than bowl, because the bowl still might be a little bit of movement towards, you know, some of the bowl might sort of sense anything they want to run down, so it's better, but I like with a slight curve to contain. But you wouldn't necessarily feel that, just like when you hear something, you don't necessarily feel like the mind kind of like catches in the form, but in fact, A constant movement?

[29:39]

You want it? Well, so now back to, now this is closed parentheses, back to the topic which used to be a parentheses, but now is the topic. And that is, has retribution of good. So is the maha-mangala-sutta in that compendium?

[30:44]

Maha-mangala-sutta. The Buddha talks about three factors which are auspicious in the life of a person. One is merit acquired in the past. The other is life. The second is life in appropriate surroundings. And the third is proper resolve or application. auspicious thing to have in your life. But there are also three categories which determine the way results mature anyway. These are auspicious. Merit, acquired in the past, life inappropriate surroundings, and proper resolve or application. Merit, life inappropriate surroundings, resolve or application.

[32:02]

Now you could also, so in other words, one of the ingredients is what sometimes people think is the only thing that determines what happens to you. Okay, so something's happening, right? You could say, oh, that's because of karma. Well, one of the things that determines what happens is, the merit or demerit of what you've done in the past. That one very determines the results that you're now experiencing. But the other things are the circumstances surrounding and your present result, which is your present mental karma. Those three factors determine your experience. And right now, and right now. Not just what you did in the past, but what you did in the past. And an important one for determining what happens now.

[33:09]

But I want to say that from the point of view of liberation, the fact that karma is one of the factors determining what happens now is important. In fact, karma... is not just a determinant for what you experience, but karma is a determinant for your evolution. It both is an important ingredient in determining the experiences you have. It is an evolutionary factor in the midst of what they're experiencing. It both has effects, and it also has effects in terms of what happens, and also effects in terms of evolution. But I think nowadays, in the what's called spiritual community in the West, a lot of people say, oh, yeah, karma's important. So if you get sick, that's because of your karma. Well, your karma has something to do with it.

[34:12]

That's not the only fact. If you feel pain, That's not the only factor. And some things might happen. Yes, Grace? Did you have a hand, Grace? I think it's important for I to have all these questions and whatever, because to do, not just with the whole idea of marriage or religion in the past, maybe some sort of system mask that I can't, that my body doesn't vibrate in. Uh-huh. And it seems to me that if you do something with a tent, you have to sit on stage. or actually see. I mean, the way that I can understand it, if I think in psychological terms, if I look at, let's say, like an insect, you know, and I look at some part of my own life, you know, something to do with

[35:31]

which is either the fruition of something that I see that they sowed, but I feel that it's part of my own action and my own future. I'm asking if there's a way to do this in any way that's possible. Most Buddhists, of course, do not have the ability to actually see how karma works right now. And also, they don't have the ability to see how karma influences rebirth. Most people cannot see that. But to say then, take it on faith, I don't know. You can take it on faith, But another way to do it is, what do you do?

[36:41]

Or almost like, you could also take it as a theory, rather than a faith. In terms of, you may be able to see some workings of karma, but not And then it might be that... Or you might be able to understand some realms of karma, but some others don't make sense to you. But it might be that the very ones that don't make sense to you are the ones that you can't... Some examples of how karma works make sense to you, but when you hear about some other teachings, it does make sense to you. But those teachings are the ones that you may not be able to verify. So, for example, the famous one is... You see that people who seem to be good seem to be fine.

[37:41]

And people who seem to be working hard seem to be in trouble, particularly in terms of wealth. We see wealthy people who don't seem to be, we don't see the virtue. We see some poor people who are quite virtuous. The opposing kind leads to wealth. And how come these people who seem to be fairly virtuous are sick and poor, and these people who seem to be not so kind and virtuous seem to be healthy and rich? And even maybe they're using their health and power to... Is that kept up to speed here? Well, the door is open. We can close the door now. Can we close the door now? That particular cat is a little bit more destructive. So, and it just turns out that there's a Buddhist teaching that karma matures in three lifetimes, in three times anyway.

[38:54]

So that one is part of the way you make sense of the fact. So the classical example, not a classical example, which is maybe more like a caricature with the Buddhist study, that two people, two men, lived a life. And one of them did nothing but good karma his whole life. The other did bad karma his whole life. When the one who had good karma was about to die, he got some kind of premonition or vision of where he was going. And sure enough, where was he going? He was going to hell. What did he think? He didn't think, oh, I did all that good karma. That was a waste of time. Look what happened to me. No, he thought, well, I did good karma. That's for sure. It looks like I'm going to hell now. Well, probably the reason I'm going to hell is because of some misdeed I did that I don't know. I think that's why. And then he said, I've changed the story slightly.

[39:57]

He said, well, a lot of karma really... and suddenly the vision of hell dropped away and heaven manifested. So a moment of faith in the laws of cause and effect at the moment of death sometimes has a really powerful beneficial effect. You see, the law of karma in this case isn't that the manifestation of the... the fruition of the karma as manifesting in a vision of hell. He did all that good karma, so what he got there was a vision of hell. That was an appearing of some type. In response to this vision of hell, what did he do? He kept practicing. Oh, I'll call you back. Here we go. What's this going to do? And that response made that vision, what was all there was to it? It was just a vision. Now, if he had committed the act of really a bunch of bunk, that thought would be sufficient to send most people to hell.

[41:14]

It's that thought. So although he got this little advertising as he was dying, It would be easy for that to just be that and drop away because his faith and cause and effect were so strong. And then his good life plus his faith continuing in the face of this hellish manifestation. So this is an example of something appears, right? Something happened. What is it? Vision of hell. How did this happen? It happens now in conjunction with the surroundings. It's part of the surroundings. It's past karma is part of why it happened. But its present resolve is, I don't regret doing good karma. And law of cause and effect does work. And I'll probably continue to do my best even wherever I'm going. And that determines the overall quality of the event. Would you say probably solve the application if it waited for both that and ?

[42:21]

Yes, by far. Hm? Wait, wait, by far. But the other important, too, because sometimes the other is so strong that it's almost impossible for us to really challenge that present result. Something really obnoxious manifests, which would probably do it past karma, but also due to circumstances. What? Yeah. But it's not just past karma. It's also environment. It's circumstances that manifest, and then you think, You know, am I really going to keep practicing, you know, meditation and karma? And then, it is important. The second principle is important. That's why we don't want to, like, make things too hard on ourselves. That's why you should do good karma.

[43:32]

But your present resolve is really, really what actually sets you free. The story about the guy who did bad things is called Life and the Heat. Upon death, the picture that appears is of a heavenly destiny. And she thought, oh, great. I didn't really think cause and effect worked. I get the big chance of not living, caring much about it. And sure enough, it doesn't work. Because look, here I am going to heaven. I thought I was going to go to hell. In other words, I had a little bit of faith in cause and effect, but not enough to get away about it.

[44:36]

And sure enough, it was good that I didn't worry about cause and effect. The heaven thing dropped down, and the hell thing dropped down, and it went to hell. That's a bit of a story. It sounds kind of terrible, but that's what they're basically saying. The worst kind of, the worst thought possible is that cause and effect. I mean, if you really believe it, if you have that thought and believe it, that... But almost no one does have that thought. Even the worst criminal, kind of like somewhere, could possibly be looking in trouble. Is there any effect on us, you know? Because actually they think probably that we're going to be driven. I mean, like a lot of people are asking, you know, if they do think they're going to cause an effect. But some people almost don't. Like they're robbed, banished without even thinking about whether they're going to get any money out of it. They just, you know, they hardly... They hardly notice that they're involved in equality, but of course they are.

[45:39]

Of course they have motivation. They just don't recognize it. They're just totally not paying attention to that. But they are motivated. We are. That's the way we are. And if you don't admit that, you're really, like, divorcing yourself from the way you are. And that's the worst. That's the biggest divorce, because we're creatures. And the motivation is the king of the evolutionary issue. In our existence, if you overlook it, you go down and if you pay attention to it, you go up. So anyway, past action is only one of a factory. It's important, but it's only one. Present circumstances are, in some cases, not that important to people. but their factor in terms of the quality of the experience and presently as always. A change in your attitude, positively or negatively, at time of death is very important in this kind of like, in the story.

[46:59]

Time zone. the present life or next life, and then innumerable people. One time is that, the next life, and one or many. But the wonderful thing is that if you practice sincerely, All your actions manifest in this life. I guess some people have been a sense of taking, and most acts do not mature in this life if you've not practiced. That's something to say. Yeah, some sages have taken a sense of it.

[48:01]

They watched, you know, they watched an act, they watched a series of acts, and they figured out, you know, what percentage mature in this life and what mature in the future life. In general speaking, things mature in the future life. But if you practice intensely, up close. And it's good news, particularly good news in the case of bad karma. Because bad karma, the longer it takes to mature, the worse it gets. If it matures very fast, like Nipun was saying, if you do some negative thing, and it matures very fast, the effect is almost negligible for unnoticed. So if you're a little bit mean to somebody, and you're very aware and very present, the result is almost unnoticeable, like they hardly even are hurt by it, by a small inattention or a small act of disrespect.

[49:15]

It matures right away. In other words, you feel like they turn at you and say, Sweet thought. Or, you know, I hate you. My wife says that to me. Of course, when I tell you that, I'm bragging, right? I'm bragging to tell you that my wife says, I hate you. That means that people say, I hate you. What? Yeah, I could like... Yeah. No, in that case, before when I wasn't practicing so well, and she said she hated me, then it was also because I was practicing pretty well that she would say she hated me for everything that I did.

[50:16]

Okay? But then they used to really hurt you. I really, you know, I felt really terrible if I had somebody telling me all the time, you should hate it. This isn't, I'm used to, my wife used to say that to me. Just kidding. Some other people say that to me, though. And it used to hurt. But my practice wasn't so good. I used to hear her say they hated me. It would take me a day or a week or something. And then it hurt. But they say it really fast right after you do it. And it hardly even hurts. Because you're like living in an instant feedback world. You're a little off. Somebody says, I hate you. You're a lousy gen student. You're a trashy freak. Instant feedback. And it almost doesn't hurt. But you know, that was kind of what I did there.

[51:21]

It wasn't really up to snuff. I'm really sorry about it. But it doesn't hurt a lot because it comes right back so fast. Now, the big thing, the big bad thing, you also get fast feedback. Of course, it's more intense. You feel worse. Because it is a really super bad thing. It's something you need. Like I'm something you really need. really nasty comments, slightly disrespectful, some really mean things. And you get benefits more, of course. Like one guy, I got messing with one of the people in our workshop that we did at Tulsa Harp. He left on Friday and didn't come home on Sunday. He hadn't come home. So his family didn't know where he was, and he'd be calling us and stuff like that. This is the same thing. I don't know what he got from that.

[52:24]

Hopefully, it's not complicated. They really gave it to him. He felt bad. They were worried he'd go against them. And the highway patrol took him down. On the other hand, maybe he told them he was going to be late, and they forgot. That happened to me, like, I know what's going to be late. She told us. We forgot that she'd be late. And we just could not figure out where she was. And we thought, you know, she must be something wrong. But actually, she told us she was late. So it wasn't her fault. So we didn't panic it too much. You got me. Kind of happy to see you. But if it's a severe thing, you're practicing hard, it can mature fast. So bad things that happen to you, generally speaking, partly due to your bad karma, but when they're happening to you, these kind of bad things are not that bad. These are not what you call bad things. People telling you they hate you. People hating you is a little bit worse than people telling you they hate you, because if they're hating you, it's waiting longer than it's true.

[53:30]

They don't tell you. It's better if they tell you it's impossible. But they won't tell you if they're not practicing it. And not... Now you can force them to tell you your practice. It's sort of like they're compelled by your practice to cough it up. They become, you know, like tools of your enlightenment. And how are they tools of your enlightenment? They say, I hate you. If they're really resisting their practice, it makes it harder for them to open their mouth and tell you that they hate you. But you can get a few people to tell you that your practice isn't well. Instead of drawing this helpful comment out of it. This is like maturing because of karma. So you're presently resolved to make your bad deeds mature faster. And the learning process occurs faster. And the clearing of karma occurs faster.

[54:34]

So they're presently resolved. That's why it's so important. He said, I want to learn. I want to study. People get the feeling that they're telling how they feel faster and faster. It's the recognition of No, I just said, a single act can produce infinite recognitions. This life, next life, innumerable future life, one act. Plus, now I... But the last one can be, like, super terrible. Some little tiny... tiny infraction, a tiny infraction, unattended by practice, that you get enormous all the time.

[55:38]

The same applies, I believe, I'm not sure, but might apply to wholesome things. A tiny good thing unattended by practice gets enormous. What happens if you practice? Does the good thing get foreshortened? Yeah. You say, that's not good. I mean, that's up to getting big. It's for certain means the kind of result happens and you can deal with it and get beyond it. So all the good things, you don't want to cash in on. You don't want to kind of like, well, I'm going to stay. I'm going to stay in work. I'm a little longer because I've been practicing and I've got these good things I did. I never even churned it in. So I'm going to wait to collect on this thing. It's a great bill of good karma. your practice will bring those good things forward to mature now, too, and they won't be as good if they last any longer. I don't know if that's true, but I think it might be true in the sense of renouncing the collecting the good karma. That seems like it goes with liberation. Getting the good karma and saying, give me my bad karma now.

[56:43]

I want it now, so I can even... I want it now, give it to me now, so I can, you know, like, I want to face it. Almost like praying. Please give it to me. Rather than postponing it. And never know when it's going to hit. So you don't have to ask. The way you ask for it is by meditation. Be present and open. That's what I'm coming to you with. Yeah. Definitely. that, again, it doesn't mean that it's happening completely due to past karma, but it does mean that past karma is maturing by these things. And maturing early and easier. So you can handle it, work through it. It doesn't mean you've got all of it.

[57:46]

It might be one of those things that's going to mature again and again. But still, every time it matures, you know, got that taken care of. So it's good. You're moving toward liberation. The more karma you burn off, the more you understand is that these creatures who are not going to be reborn, which we call arhat in Buddhism, they have a real hard turn towards the end. A big turn, like all these karmic debts come into the state. So they have kind of a rough turn towards the end. It's a chance to block up towards the end. There is this theory that some people don't get reborn. I mean, some steps don't get reborn. And I would say, again, emphatically, because of rebirth, I think that I would allow that some beings would not be reborn.

[58:54]

That the law of rebirth is not necessarily that everybody's going to be reborn. In other words, Buddha says that he is rebirthed, but he didn't say that everybody's going to be reborn indefinitely. But some people say, no, no, everybody's going to be reborn until their Buddha. But at the same time, you wouldn't need to be Buddha if you didn't get reborn. So maybe it's not a problem. Reborn, you're going to have to be Buddha. And most people are going to get reborn until they are Buddha, some people would say. But anyway, some people are supposed to don't get reborn. And the idea is actually that Shakyamuni Buddha was one of these people. Shakyamuni Buddha wasn't aha. Aha means kind of like burnout. All that kind of stuff. They're no more common. And so they don't get reborn. So Shakyamuni Buddha was one of these arhats. He was also a Buddha. But still didn't get reborn. So they don't have Shakyamuni Buddha's incarnations in this world.

[59:55]

But you have to finish that trip. That enlightenment is him, did his thing, and finished the trip of life. And that's the usual thing. But there's also the other people arhat to do that too. But then before they die, They have to, like, collect all their outstanding karma has to come mature so that there's this big hit of somewhat unpleasant things happening towards the end of their life. And it becomes clearer and clearer that the light thing's shutting off. They've got to draw on all this stuff so that they need to be reborn to live it up. That story's been told. The Buddha actually was sick at the end of his life, too. And he was actually kind of uncomfortable. And one other theory is that he couldn't live longer. He couldn't live longer.

[61:01]

He foreshortened his life for our welfare. He gave us the merit that he had to store himself and live longer. But then he had to, he had to, again, before he showed you the clinical trials, he had to experience, he had to, the process had to make him sick again, to get some new tubes. If he'd lived longer, he probably would have been dying. It wasn't that bad, but... What about the reality body? Okay. We were... That's where he went all right. That's where he came from. That's where we go and that's where we come from. That's right. Reality body is no problem. That doesn't have to touch. That doesn't come or go. Because you're gone. Huh? You're gone. No, it's not that. Well, it may be God, but it's not God the creator. There's three bodies of Buddha.

[62:09]

One is this reality body, which is like the way the universe works. And that part can respond to beings. A human being can need a human. then a human can manifest as a human for the sake of a human. So the manifestation for the sake of a human is called a transformation body. In other words, the way things work can manifest as a human body, and that human body that can be as little like . channel for us to sort of tune in to the way the whole universe works. So that person can talk and stuff and say, if you meditate like this, you'll see how the whole universe works. And then also it appears at a certain time and goes away because that's also part of what it wants to show. And also it says, you know, if I stay around forever, you might not practice, so I'm going to go away now.

[63:12]

So it does that kind of stuff. And that helps us. And the other body of the Buddha, the other way that enlightenment manifests, bliss body, or the reward body. And that's the body of joy and appreciation and wonderment that can manifest in the world by understanding the relationship, the transformations of the reality body and the reality body itself, or I like to say, that's like the social club of bodhisattvas. It's not quite in getting to practice sincerely. I want to ask about one is the truth on the journey of two times. I think so. I was under the impression that one unworks an act.

[64:16]

it becomes one that we picture in one of those details that one night could be, you know, mature and then over and over again. Not mature in any way. So it, so the... Of course, the way it matures is bigger. It's very close. Yeah, some plants have multiple seeds on fruits. Other plants have one seed on fruits. They mature this year. Some plants mature many years later. And then they do it once. Yuck. You have to, because after seven years, you all get happened and you're not doing it anymore.

[65:18]

Died with the flu. But other plants have many years in a different pattern. You know, generally speaking, you know, the way nature works, the way we work. It's hard for us to see anything in nature that's not like us. And maybe stuff in nature is not like us, but it's hard for us to see it. And then we have scientific methods so we can see new things in nature, and we change it. We change it at the same time we make or break scientific data, and we're different. But now we've got computers and stuff that came from the way we are, but now we're more like computers than we used to be. They were having a problem with it. Sure. Oh, yeah. Yeah, right. It's been happy to be the other day. I was driving into the elementary school parking lot, and someone pulled into the spot, and it was a face.

[66:21]

And at the back, I had to kind of move the car around. Yeah. And as I turned up, she yelled at me, she said, that was really stupid. And I was clearly, I said, what do you mean? What happened there? She said, you just picked up. And then she continued to tell me what I did, to tap the bumper. I didn't feel any food, I didn't feel anything. And she was a champ at the school, you know, and it's like, you know, we went to the book fair, and I found this story of the two deaf women, and I thought, this is true. And then I really thought, this must be true. I mean, what else was there? How was it that this woman never lived with me? Yeah, that was part of it.

[67:28]

Part of your resolve? Yes. And part of your circumstance. But the part of the fruit part, if you think of the fruit part, It's not so much to feel, oh, it's my fault. Then you could be even angrier at the person. Because, like, now they're reminding me that I did bad things. No. The good part, if you understand it that way, is to understand it's fruition early. So you should be, oh, whew, I'm glad it came this way. So it's not just, it's not that it's my fault. There's an element there. But I probably, you know, We have probably done some bad things. In this life, we've done some bad things because we've forgotten. Because it's hard to remember all the bad things. Some of the really bad things we can remember, but some of them we have kind of forgotten.

[68:31]

And if it's path-wise, we did some really bad things. Or another way to put it is, we are of a genetic tradition. Before we get into that, The slight difference between, oh, it's my fault, you know, I did something. There's part of that, but the other one is, oh, good, it manifested this way. And so this isn't that bad. And my wife's not particularly into any of this stuff, but whenever we have a car accident, she always says, thank God it's a car. We collect a lot of karma on the car. The car, you know, and the hassle of collecting all that, that's kind of nice. Collect it on the car, and going to the shop, and the insurance plates, and the money. That's a nice way to collect. It's not a tech thing, but it's pretty good compared to the body.

[69:38]

So whenever anything bad happens, it's partly, but also, it's good that it's this way rather than the way it could be. Because if you're even there to think that thought, you're doing good shit. But the environment is not the environmental situation that the book there and the type of car it is, all that stuff, a lot of that stuff is That also is karmic result, but it's not the unique karmic result. It's another complication. The environment is the result of karma, but it's the sum total of everybody's karma. That's a difficult concept. After we have many snacks. Do you have one third thing? We have everything before we have our outrageous snacks. Oh, Neil Grayson. Oh, my God. Yeah, I agree.

[70:47]

You are. That's true. You look like... No, do it. Do it. During the last practice, without naming names, there was this wonderful, sincere student that everybody liked, and he was kind of struggling, and he went over the wall, because he left without permission, and he just saw him outside. And he came back, I was thinking about this small thing, when you're practicing tarot, that people are having a blip. I think that you've been kind of fooling around, not trying to be weird, being weird, asking the leader what to do, because you really did. But in this case, departure, it's boring. And it's just... It was a wonderful pain time. What do you know? There's no... I saw that as kind of... For someone practicing something that could be very deep, it's kind of deep down.

[71:51]

It's just... But the pain is bad. It's all painful. It's painful. Mm-hmm. And by the way, this is a book, picture book, Chinese picture book called The Cause and Effect Scripture. And it's written in Chinese, but it has pictures. So you can look at the pictures and see, in some sense, an oversimplified, kind of fundamentalist interpretation of communism. not quite correct. This only traces one element in the kind of picture. But some Buddhists, you can sometimes talk this way. of their Buddhist scripture. And there are pictures so you can see. This is something you might want to look at this. Oh, it actually has an English, too. They're not going to look at this.

[72:53]

So, we talked about what action was, what karma was, And then we talked about how karma arises depending on certain conditions. And now we're talking about action is correlated with consequences. And that little book shows the correlation between actions and consequences. But if you just concentrate on the correlation between the action and the consequence, then you start to develop a deterministic view of karma.

[74:10]

And Buddha did not have a deterministic view of karma. In other words, it's not that Act A leads to result, but rather that there's a correlation between Act A and result B. Correlation does not equal determination. If you look at the correlation alone, you get determinism. But it would also consider various other dependencies that will be taken into account in order to see that what happens is appropriate in relationship to the action how it arose, and the context in which it was committed.

[75:13]

But the result is appropriate given the whole picture. And if you just look at the result, it looks like you can look at .. And in some cases, if you look at the fact and the result and ignore other elements, you could see that the act didn't have the usual results you would expect because you ignore the context. So Linda referred to this example of grain of salt. In British time, they got salt from fairly large grains. You put a grain of salt in a cup of water, the water will become very salty and undrinkable.

[76:16]

Whereas if you take a cup of water and put it into a large body of water, like a lake, The lake will not become salty. It will not become unthinkable. So that's like if you take a small negative act and have it perpetrated by a person who doesn't have any resolve to practice, you could see if you describe this person So, a small negative act that some people send you to hell. What kind of person would this be? Here in monks, a certain person is careless in the culture of habits and thought.

[77:22]

He has not developed insight, he has insignificance, his soul is restricted, and his life is restricted and miserable. very tight, limited, restricted attitude. In such a tight, restricted attitude, such a small and not paying attention to what's being done, in such a person, a small act, try to redeem and bring this person to health. So, that's a small little cup and drain of Chunk of salt. Namas, what sort of person, what sort of being is a similar small offense to be experienced in its very life? This is kind of funny language. For what sort of being is such... For what sort of being is... For what sort of being is not much of it, may not a jot of it seem.

[78:41]

Some person or other has carefully cultured body, habits, and thought. His developed insight is not insignificant. He has a great soul. His life is immeasurable. By such a being, monks, a similar small offense expiated in this very life, and not much of it, nay, not a jot of it is seen. So the act, small act, but the context is that it was a big attitude. and carefully considering all actions, then a small act probably happens in this life and insignificant. If it happens in a very tight world with not taking care, it can dominate the person's life. That's the last action coupled with the surroundings of the action.

[79:44]

And then when it manifests, If the attitude was right, even if it manifested as hell, if the person's practice was good, it could still, even at that time, be handled. In the meantime, then the way it would happen would be different. Yes? Would you like to add something to this, please? Yes. Well, it would just be . So basically, yes, if somebody is practicing the power of the term that is not spelled . so it's not so overly delusional?

[80:45]

Yes, but also that the way it manifests is in relationship to how they are practicing at the time that they begin, gradually. Both of those things. The quicker, yeah. And the harder? Yeah. Well, I think that could be corresponding to here, in that if you have a well-developed practice, people expect a lot of you.

[81:59]

For example, some people, if they get drunk, He doesn't know feedback. Other people have a lot of negative feedback. Because people expect them to have a clear, present mind. But some people maybe do something not so wholesome. And people expect them to do wholesome things. But the nature of the practice does not allow people to give feedback. So it would be a better practice if not only could you, not only do people expect a lot of you, but if you didn't come up with that, would they have a problem with you? They also would find some way to give you feedback. So in that sense, it might look like you get it back stronger when you do something wrong.

[83:07]

But actually, over the long haul, it's much less. So in some sense, I think maybe that's a warning. When you practice more, in some sense, you get more heat than if you practice with us. But that's not the heat that you get for it. off the charts compared to that. So this is still, I would say, like, I've also heard, you know, we have rules in a monastery, we have rules, and rather than the senior people be the exception to the rules, you should be stricter with senior people. You add a fraction X, you're a new person. So in some cases, the new person, maybe you discipline them to take this, you know, maybe, not because it's small, but a senior person that they should be more accountable and more respectful.

[84:12]

But whatever, you know. So you see a difference there still. Okay. And does it all sound common to me now? Yes. You said that a single act can produce multiple negative effects, you know, of course, lifetimes. If the Congress could have a single negative, or a single good karma be added with a single act, would it be a lifetime? You know, even in one way or another, the back of the house, you know, the house of the human body.

[85:29]

You say, now, it's our community, the back. Anyway, I mean, the house isn't, like, the perception of the house, in that you can live in a house, and it's kind of like that, of your kind. I've seen a, I've seen a flag over there, I've seen one of them there, and it's like the, the matronary, like, at the top of the circle. Yeah, I mean, like you said, it could be, it could be the result of the acts of improper data. or whatever, or many inhales of cigarettes, or many secondary loops, whatever. Various chymas contribute to an illness. Similarly, a depression, if you've been in a state of depression, is an example, is a result of many, usually many, thought repetitions. Just to think of thought, you're using it to be depressed, but to think of thought a few thousand times, that can be very unthinkable to be depressed, unless the thought is something like, you know, pushing the locker of all beings.

[86:43]

That thought doesn't tend to get so, like, ground and recognized quite so tightly, because it's so big. And you run into so much resistance in the mind, it has to start manifesting in your thoughts of what that means. Like, I'm concerned about what's happening to you. I keep thinking over and over again how things happen to you, and why this happened to you, and how they happened to you, and why me, why me, why me, and I'm thinking that 10,000 times. 10,000 different acts. Your body chemistry gets blown off. You get depressed. The one thought wasn't that bad. You were just kind of questioning, how come this happened to me? That's enough for lifetime. Doing it twice, OK, you're using it. Next lifetime, you can't. So you throw yourself off balance by repeating certain self-concerned thoughts over and over in one lifetime and create a state of depression.

[87:49]

So that's the example. Would I transfer merit? Yeah, I will. But should I do it now? We could come here and transfer merit. We should collect some of this stuff. Interesting topics. But some things might divert. I'm trying to get some basics here first before we get too wide. Edie and Jacqueline asked questions yesterday, which I think are important, and that is return to program. Anywhere, responsibility. And you want to ask, do you know what you're going to bring up now, or do you have a question? No, no. Do you have any questions? I often think I'm forgetting what I've given. I'm wondering if it's a correlation in the type of .

[88:50]

Yeah, that's part of what this is about, you know? I have a picture probably of somebody. Here it is. Yeah, somebody's going like this. But anyway, it has been often had things that there's a relationship, like this guy's criticizing his parents, you know, going like this to his parents, you know, and the parents are crying. All people probably have parents like that. And then the result is the point. So there is a thing related.

[89:52]

And like a story, a recent article I read, a story about a guy who murdered somebody with his tongue in his neck. And another story. Anyway, there's often a correlation of the retribution to the death. That's often the choice. Just like anger tends to lead to pain. Now, anger is often because... Okay? So then you don't, you ignore your pain and try to avoid it by, you know, pushing it away, or pushing away whatever seems to be, whatever you think is causing it. Okay? So then your life system says, you don't like pain, huh? Okay, well, here it is. And so what I wonder in that story, for instance, that offered Linda an opportunity to practice instead of absorb whatever would be present.

[91:13]

And it seemed like this was a big response to a small So what we don't know is what happened to the woman that led her to such a... a big response. I mean, in a way, what we're saying is just, you know, do the Lynn or whoever, but it was Lynn's past crime. But it kind of happened to be there, in a sense, you know? She's kind of caught in this other one. So it seemed like then that wouldn't necessarily have much to do with Lynn's crime. It happened to be there for anything? Yeah. Or the size of it. Well, for that woman, it was an act. I would say.

[92:15]

Yeah. Unless we... unless, you know, someone was there who could look, who knew that woman, or could, with eyes, see. Oh, this is like, you know, a roving, a roving angel. Has no, has no, what do you call it, no self-concern, and just enacts rage as a wrathful deity to help the, you know, work through their time. That's usually what it is. She might think that. That's right.

[93:15]

She might. Yes, but it's where she was aware of the comment and felt sorry about it. a little more for her, that would be, if the story where you told it happened, it would be slightly better for her than if she walked away from there and felt self-righteous about it and kept thinking that it was really good that she yelled at Linda and so on and so forth and hardly even noticed that she that would be not so fortunate for her. But I think, anyway, you seem to be on a different track from me right now. You seem to be thinking about the other person. Okay? The way you talk to me is the way I experience you is the fruit of my acts. How I see you is the fruit of my practice. The fruit of your practice and the way you solve her.

[94:18]

The fruit of your practice. But it turns out that you don't have to have necessarily people who really have bad practice all around you in order to collect . It's not necessary. You can have people who are pretty healthy, and they can still give you feedback. which will help you, you know, what life's about. In some sense, of course, if you wanted to, like, really be tested, it would be better to hang around with people who are not practicing very sincerely because they will tend to get much stronger with that.

[95:20]

Some people aren't practicing, hold it all in. And so they don't really give you that much, that much feedback, except by doing things with you. If you're like paying attention to one value, they don't necessarily tell you that they think you're, you know, that they hate you or whatever, you know. Is it because of the fact that you speak? Yeah. Because they're practically straight, because they think, you know, like when you say they're in prison, and you don't want to, like, go to the, into, uh, very confinement so they don't hit you as you're walking down the hall, but they'd like to. But you don't need, you don't need to be surrounded by criminals in order to, like, get a sense of, of, you know, feedback on your, on your crime. Although, although sometimes that's very helpful. But usually it's not necessary.

[96:24]

Usually ordinary people can do wrathful deities for you, if you're practicing. It's a good day to help a situation to be surrounded by wrathful deities. And wrathful deities are nice because they're not getting any trouble for expressing wrath toward you. Whereas ordinary people for expressing wrath toward you is kind of unfortunate because they're getting trouble for doing you that service. Well, you know, the classical example is the Buddhist teacher. And the other classical example is dying. When you die, that fatigue is often going to help you. Sometimes just, you know, sitting's eyes on that fatigue is going to help you. Anything?

[97:29]

In other words, if there's not anybody there, but you see, you can use people across the other side of the room. They're just sitting there. They're not, they're not, they don't need, they're just sitting like this, you know. And they're not developing a bad comment with being a radical deities group. You can, you can see, you can look across and see this probably very hateful person who's threatening your existence. And they're just sitting there having breakfast. They're not hating you at all. wishing you all the best, but actually they might just be eating their breakfast and not have any thoughts about you at all. And you're over there saying, and you can see, if you do that, what happens? If you accept it, what happens? So I think that traditional practice is a good situation for a lot of people to serve you at practice areas. Because in silence, you can project that on them and use them in that way, and they'll just let you do it, you know?

[98:30]

And no problem, you know? You don't say anything to distract you from life. Good morning. In fact, they sit there and let you do that. So it's very nice. Sometimes a teacher can do that for you, and it's kind of safe, because they actually do care about you. Or some other person that really loves you, anyway, can room up and be a big... by the god or goddess to you, and kind of get you to see, guess what? Pay attention. Karma is manifest. We expect more of you than this. Don't lie, or whatever. You kind of have to, oh, I get it. Okay, I'm going to listen to this. Okay, now, this has nothing to do with anything I did recently, maybe. Second, you go, oh, I did it. Yeah, I wasn't really being honest there. Some people, if you're a little bit honest, dishonest, they... But sometimes your children can be irrefutable.

[99:37]

A little bit dishonest, they just flare up. They can't stand it. And when they're an irrefutable deity, it's not bad karma for them. But for this woman, it might have been kind of... Maybe she wasn't right for you. Maybe she was like, actually, maybe a con mother was. She paid a lot. I mean, her husband said it was her husband's car. He's going to get it to her. She comes home with a dent in the car or whatever. Anyway, she's got a lot of investment in the car and a little bit of dent in the car. In her world, it's a big problem. This could happen again. It could be a major problem for her after a million. People have been meaning to her all day, and now you have one more person pushing her around, not caring about her, blah, blah, blah. But if it's her self-concern, then there is often a response to it.

[100:44]

If we can do our own work, we can talk to other people about what their problem is. But sometimes they don't want to talk. The woman, Linda, might have said, Well, what's the matter, dear? I'm sorry, sweetheart. What's happening today? Since she was the perpetrator of this insult, the woman might not have been willing to talk to him. But after the woman walked away from Linda, somebody else, you know, if I'd been driving the car Linda had been, Linda could have gone and said, What's the matter, sweetheart? Does he mean to you? Yeah, he bumped my car. Well, geez, I'm sorry. You know, I've been having a hard day. Yeah. My husband was at the top of the hire and didn't call me. I didn't know where he was all evening. Totally stressed out. I thought he was dead or run away from home after going to the monastery. Yeah. That's not always the case. That often is the case, too.

[101:44]

So the act A involves the... So that's not the terminus, but it's just... There is a correlation, a kind of deterministic correlation, because there's many other factors. Maybe now is the time to go to the third point, the first pass over the third point, and that is actions ripen for the author, or more precisely, where it has been accomplished. There is an attributive entity There's an entity that collects the retribution.

[102:49]

That's quite a leading representative of your identity. Yes. Well, I guess maybe this is just a question that we ask to begin, which is, when we talk about former activists, what is the answer to that question? Yeah. Very good. Are you not happy to be sharing some knowledge that's still in our lives? I don't know what to say about former climbers. Right. There's something that certainly makes up the basis of climate change. Yeah. And Stan's, I think, question was, if all five standards are empty, they've said, what is it that, what? Yeah. Okay. So one way to tell the story, you say it's about story, okay? This whole thing is about story. All of it exists.

[104:01]

There really aren't things in any place. I'm saying that, you know. In other words, It's hard for anybody to demonstrate that they're a thing until you start talking. And when you start talking, then you have . But with some kind of linguistic convention, the universe doesn't necessarily present itself in your thing packages. And so that's a statement. And that statement's not a thing either, other than the fact that it may be. So, we have this linguistic thing. We have this ability to separate ourselves. We're separate from our own experience. If you're an animal that can have an experience and say the experience is outside, we can separate ourselves from our own organ.

[105:05]

We can do this with our imagination. So we can imagine that we are a separate person who can do things, and that imagination makes us the author of our actions. We feel that way. If we don't feel that we're the author of our actions, consciously or unconsciously, then there's not any karma. And I believe the root of the word author is maker. If we don't see a self as the maker of the action, then it's not really coming.

[106:09]

Then it's just like in the case of a Buddha, an awakened person, that the mind has a certain shape, is the shape of the mind. And that shape can also correspond to a physical posture or a vocalization. So these mental manifestations, these shapes in the mind, and the shapes of the body, and the shapes of the voice, can manifest in a causal fashion. If somebody is the maker of this thought, of this thinking, or the maker of this posture, or the maker of this voice, then that's the author. of the action. And if you imagine that you did it, then it will work out that you'll think you got it. You get the results. And other people will play along with this to some extent, too. But they don't know what thoughts you have that you just don't understand.

[107:14]

And you can see the relationship between the thoughts which you offer and . Yeah. Yeah. Has it been accomplished? Where is it accomplished? Is it accomplished at a self, at a person, at an isolated entity? Is that what's accomplished? Or is it that what's accomplished? then that place where it's accomplished will be the place where the retribution will happen. That's the way the illusion of karma works. The place where the action is accomplished will be the place where retribution is realized. And therefore, there's a retributive entity need.

[108:16]

So if there was an entity in the first place, the act, then that entity then will be received the recognition. If that's the way, if that kind of thinking that there was, the thinking was associated with that entity, then you create that entity. There really isn't an entity. There really isn't a thing which created it. But if you see it that way, you collect it that way. That's the rule of recognition. I feel like really long-term consequences, the question I'm like exploring, kind of the state of affairs there, what that land means, you know, when people are trapped, when someone does something in a war or in some way that was just really long-term effect on people that, you know, came across it and it takes a million years. Uh, yeah.

[109:31]

Well, you think, I guess, it sounds like you think that, you know, when some people put a landmine in the ground, that's a result of... I guess it's also got some residual undone... Well, if I put a rock up in the hill, the rock might stay there for any one time. And you might take a walk up in the hill and walk by a rock. Another twist on this, just to throw it into the mix, As far as I know, this basic Buddhism does not teach anything about group karma. Groups don't do karma.

[110:34]

What we mean by karma here is individual, basic karma in somebody's mind. It doesn't start in three people's mind. If three people can get together, you know, and lift a rock together. There's three different acts there in the lifting of the rock. There's three different minds and three different khandhas. However, as a result of these three people's action, the rock step and move. So if you looked at a rock, a bigger rock arrangement, that's the result of a lot of people working a long time, which we can conceive of and understand that action of people. But Buddhism makes it rather astounding that the entire physical world is a result of the sum total of all individuals' karma. The whole physical world that we see is the result of the karma of all living beings, not just all beings give their karma to determine the physical world.

[111:39]

That's the thing about the physical world. The physical world we share, because we share in the native. So we overlap, in a sense, in the physical world. That's why it's kind of, I think, a part of the reason, you might say, I'll just say this, but I think it's part of the reason why we all have five senses. And this five sense field, of course, because we have made the physical world together, so we all have the same physical world. If none of us had six senses, dimensions of physicality, and nobody has a sixth physicality that they can report about and demonstrate. But all of us can do this, do it with five, because we made the world. Um, just one more question. I wonder if what you're trying to say was the person who put the body in there, was his karma bad when he put the body in there, which is completely stretching later, or when it goes off 50 years later, which I was playing on it. You wondering if that picked like the deer?

[112:42]

Well, that's part of what you're going to get at. Yesterday, it started yesterday, and we hung that with your experience, and it said that it'd be on carnivores. But the water, I thought, what about the person who set it? But it wasn't a harmful thing. Yeah, it's a harmless... For the most part, I think it's a harmless way to scare the deer away from eating your plants and your garden. Still, however... The activity of the deerstead is not chronic. But the building of the deerstead could very well have been chronic. On the other hand, a Buddha might have made the deerstead. And the motivation of building the deerstead might have been not to scare the deer away from eating, but to scare the deer away from hunters. Who knows? The motivation of deerstead might have been better than Appalachia. been built by a Buddha, or it might have been built by some sculptural carpenter who thought, boy, I built a very nice deerscare. And that carpenter probably thought that that was a wholesome act.

[113:44]

And generally speaking, I think building deerscares is pretty wholesome unless there's many, many deerscares. So many deerscares that there's no room for grow rice or something. Anything could be done, you know, but usually I haven't seen a big problem in the world of deerscares. They're a pretty wholesome thing, actually. I mean, they're kind of nice looking. They're kind of cute. They're fun. They offer us, you know, a little bit of musical entertainment and just otherwise awesome and exciting Japanese girls. So generally speaking, someone could with the world of self and other can build a nice deer scale. But if you put a mine in the ground... with the intention of killing whoever walks by, it seems like one of the cruelest acts you could imagine. You don't even know who's going to walk by there. You might kill your mother. Or you might kill a Buddha. You don't know who's going to do that.

[114:46]

It's really cruel just to put a destructive thing in the world. It really seems to be cruel. And if it doesn't go off, if it never goes off, it's better. The funny thing is that the way karma works, it's weird, but your intention to put it in and hoping that it will hurt people, that itself is a big problem for you if you think that way. But actually, when it kills somebody, even if you don't know about it, then you get another whack-o for that. So go off, and you're, this is, you know, I don't know if this is true, but this is what I've heard. And I haven't really figured this out completely. I'll think about it for a few years and let you know what I think. But anyway, to do something like that with the intention of harming, and then to leave it in the ground, you know, and then to die, okay, and then it goes off after you're dead, in your next life, you'll get in trouble for going off after you die.

[115:55]

If you put something, if you were in the army and you put, if you put a landmine here and you go back to your home country and it's leaving over that country, you should go back and get that landmine and get it out of there. You shouldn't go home and say, ah, they left the government. You should make sure that that's the, anyway, if that thing goes off later, it's worse than, it adds to your problem. If you do a bad thing, When you did, it was bad. Plus, if it had potential for causing damage later, if you let it go, then every day you let it go. And then when it finally does go, then it actually ties up. And you didn't do anything about it. So now you're in more trouble than you thought. All those days you let it go, every day you let it go, it comes. And basically the same with all . When you originally did it, it was pretty bad. If the practice is pretty good, you collect on it right away.

[116:58]

If the practice isn't great, every day I dressed 50 years. Because all the things you did, the first one, the second one, so it's a multiple. That's why we should try to bring these things into fruition as soon as possible. Don't rush, but realize there's an urgency to foreshorten these as much as possible. Try to address them as soon as possible. Anything that you, any harm that you initiated, try to, like, end it as soon as possible. There's two people over there. Okay, I'll call. Steven? Yes. Yeah, fairly likely. I don't know if it's our language.

[118:22]

I don't know if it's our language. Yeah, it's kind of worse. Isn't it? Yeah, exactly. Sometimes, it's a fun thing, sometimes you're angry and it's appropriate anger. You don't express it. Then, later, something happens and you express it inappropriately. So, you should express it in the first place. You made a mistake by not expressing it in the first place. It would have been helpful to express it in the first place. And you don't. That's a mistake. However, it's not as big a mistake as later when you express it inappropriately.

[119:27]

So anger that you missed your chance of appropriately expressing is not super bad, usually. A lot of times, the reason why you don't express it is because you think it might harm them, even though it actually would have helped. You're not clear enough to see that actually this is good anger, helpful anger. And it's time to get the oracle deal. It would help the person if he just screamed at them. And he said, what's the matter? He said, I don't know. I just helped him scream for a moment. Do you have any idea why? I was pretty surprised. Here I was talking to you, and suddenly I just screamed. I don't know where it came from. Do you have any idea what it's about? Oh, yeah, I do. Thank you. But we, you know, we're social humans, so we think, here I am talking to somebody, so I shouldn't speak to them, because, you know, I think they're some kind of self-concerned man, or some kind of, you know, smug, or trying to be a Zen master or something, so on and so forth.

[120:32]

And you miss. It's too bad. You missed a great chance to help a person be a Zen master or whatever. What's up, question? And if we did get a little hurt, then later, because you missed your chance, you know, you're feeling uncomfortable about it or whatever, or maybe the missed chance is close by, and later, anyway, you express anger appropriately. Maybe that same one. The body's saying, you missed your chance, you know. And then you get revenge, really. But not necessarily if you do it for the right person. Okay? If you do it to somebody who just converts it into patience, it doesn't, you know, that's part of the deal. Sometimes you do something that you really need, you're really angry, really inappropriate, and the person benefits from it. And then they're lucky in some way because they don't get hurt by it, so you don't get into much trouble. But that all works according to some kind of appropriate thing, too. It's hard for you to see that person.

[121:34]

But it does sometimes happen that you do something really mean to somebody and you say, what's the matter, darling? And sometimes also somebody does something really mean to you, but what they're trying to do is they're trying to see if they can register something on you, what you should do in that case. It's not only the concern for them, but you should also tell them that they were successful in hurting them. You really hurt, good job. You know the matter. He knows you very well. Maybe I got off the topic. All of the people that I think want to talk to me, they want to talk to me. They want to talk to me about their own self. But then, even though I think they know me, they still want to talk to me about their self and who I am.

[122:35]

Well, I think it's very important to step back and say something. You have something to say, and you don't express it because you think it's your own stuff. What does it mean that it's your own stuff? What does that mean? I think. Well, I don't want to commit some . I think I don't want to commit self-concern. I think if I act on it .. Now, that's not the thing about the way you said it. I think maybe because it's self-concern, so it's my thing. That's the difference. But that's not the reason why you shouldn't tell the person that you know them. It sometimes is helpful for people to know that they're behaving in such a way that people with self-concern get hurt.

[123:46]

Like flowers are a certain kind of thing. If you treat them a certain way, you hurt them. typically know that treating people with self-concern around, treat the people with self-concern in a certain way, they can be hurt. They can be harmed. Their practice can be not encouraged. And so if your practice is not encouraged by what someone's doing, and this person is someone who is into treasuring your practice at their bow, then The fact that your self-concern was a condition for you being hurt doesn't mean that you're talking to them would be your thing. Your talking to them should not be your thing. Now, if you're talking to them, I need a question. Now, what would talking to them be your thing if there's going to be some kind of enhancement or protection of your self-concern rather than telling them

[124:52]

giving them information about the effects that they have on a person's health and so forth. And that's the reading that we're telling them that night. When you already talked about it, you should have tried to get it out. But then, then I wouldn't be able to do it. No. You've got to go. Right. Right. Yeah. So, um, you have to tell me how I can... First, just let me say it one more time. In other words, holding it back, it becomes... The holding back becomes your point. Expressing it is not your point. It's not there if you need it. It's just helpful. So... Um... I was with my husband, and we said, you know, what had we know, there's been nothing we've been told.

[125:58]

We've known that we're going back in America. I was in Chicago. But we were talking about clear things. It's time to come to this relation, you know. I think you'd have to have a call to a supernormal policy. to know that it's over with. And knowing that it's over with is not particularly important in most cases. I don't see that knowing that it's over is really that important.

[127:02]

As a matter of fact, I would think it's somewhat dangerous to have that thought. The thought that I'm proposing is not that you know that it's over with when something happens, but just that you understand that basically, Every experience you have is probably maturing from some of your past karma. Every color you see is part of what's going on there is your karma maturing. When you're born, as soon as you're born, you have a certain amount of light coming to you. that's been your life determinant at that point, but certain experiences are going to start coming to you when you're born. And that's, and yet, the experiences that come to you are partly because you're born. And some of the experiences that come to you are experiences in which you say, hey, I don't need this. Learn from. This is not something I'm going to, like, you know, understand in terms of cause and effect.

[128:06]

I'm going to, like, primarily be concerned with blaming somebody for this and, you know, complaining about it rather than meditating on how could this have happened? How could this happen? It's not just, again, it's not uniquely due to your crime, but it is teaching you about cause and effect. Everything. is partly due to your past acting. And your past acting is part of what has to do with it. But it's more complicated than that. Whether my karma is finished or not, actually, it's pretty, now that I tell you this, I realize that it's pretty easy to tell that, in general, your karma is not done. Some particular act might be finished, but your karma is not done until you don't have any experience with any of it. So I was thinking, what is the particular act? And what... So I would say for that particular aspect or element of the company, there seems to be a little bit shift toward the occupation.

[129:43]

I'm not going to be quick about that, but where I'd be going to today. And so, um... Another way to look at it is not so much that the conic sex has been completed, but rather when you let some aspect of it be completed, you experience some aspect of it now, and now you're able to go on to some other thing because you're open to that. And your openness allows this to mature, but your openness is the main thing. Your practices allow that to happen. It may not be done, but what if you were able to let this happen? So that's a sign.

[130:44]

that you're ready for something else. But there may be more of that. And if you're able to accept more of it, then that will let you even set up deeper levels of awareness. The welcoming of learning is important for our learning. And so some things, for them to happen, and then to sort of like be able to say, now, what's that about? And gee, I never saw that before. And isn't this interesting? Then you can open the door to other things. What I'm wondering about is, is it, um, is it not perfect? Is it not perfect? Is it not perfect? Is it not perfect? Right. I did. And so Or another way to put it is opening up space and you open up to the anxiety.

[132:12]

The anxiety is already there, I think. It's just that we get something quite subtle. If you're biting certain gross things, then you don't have a chance to see certain kinds of anxiety. If you accept these grosser things, then you can open up to the anxiety. You're studying the anxiety. And it's very possible you'll need it to be successful. Open it. Would your forgiveness of them mitigate their retribution? Well, the fact that you're forgiven is part of it.

[133:25]

It seems to me. The rule is, unwholesome acts lead to suffering. Okay? But, Well, what sometimes happens is that someone does an unwholesome thing, they experience suffering, they go to the priest and tell the priest, the priest forgives them, and forgiveness doesn't forgive the fact that they confessed. Practice. Practice. Practice. Right. Practice. Practice. Yeah, it has to do with the practice of confession. The story I just told has to do with the practice of confession, right? But it has to do with the act, doesn't it? Oh, right there. It wouldn't be confessing.

[134:27]

So the person does the act, they feel pain, but there's a little bit more work to be done there. Namely, they could maybe deal with the experience more fully by confessing it, and maybe pay for it, In order to deal with it fully, they feel a need to confess. And when you confess, the awareness of the act, the feeling of the pain, the confession, is kind of like a pretty healthy way to deal with the unwholesome things we've done. Now, can you be forgiven without even confessing? Yes. Does it have much effect on you? Not too much. If I do something and you forgive me, but I don't tell you I did it, then your forgiveness doesn't count to me. Because, you know, what are you doing coming in to forgive me for something I didn't even tell you I did? I might not be able to appreciate the forgiveness.

[135:28]

Because what are you forgiving me for something I didn't tell you I did? Are you accusing me? There was a boarding software like that that went around and forgave everybody. Went around and said to everybody, you know, I don't hate you. I don't despise you, I don't despise you. In other words, I forgive you, I forgive you, I forgive you. And people get really angry at him. But if people would have repressed first, and Forty Southwood would have said, I don't despise you, you know, it's fine, that would have been different. So... Okay. So, I think we need to do a little bit of practice right now. But in addition to noting the cost and facts, Right. Right. Yeah, it would somewhat affect her because Linda then wouldn't go over and slap the lady's title. Right. Okay, so that affects her.

[136:39]

We saw her later in the whatever event it was, Linda would be like snarling at her. And Linda would be saying, you know what that woman did to me? I make everybody hate the woman for how cruel she was. So Linda's forgiveness would in some sense be beneficial to this woman. And there's some connection between this woman and Linda's forgiveness. And maybe Linda forgets everybody, so maybe that's what the woman did. But The forgiveness of the woman doesn't count nearly as much, in my opinion, as if the woman would come to Linden and say, I'm sorry. Then the forgiveness would be much more powerful. When someone forgives you, it means they're not in your case anymore. But spiritually speaking, people being on your case is not that bad. A lot of the people who really develop spiritually are people who got everybody on their case.

[137:35]

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