So I started speaking yesterday about buddha nature. So I'll start today with a little review. There are several people who are here today. And I was emphasizing yesterday, and I want to emphasize this session, the expression of buddha nature as our practice, rather than merely seeing buddha nature. nature. So, this teaching of Buddha nature goes back to the awakening of the Buddha, 2500 years ago, more or less, in Northern India. And one description of the account, one description of the content of his awakening is that upon his awakening, he, what was that? Ah, now I see.

[01:04]

all beings without exception are fully endowed with the wisdom and virtue of the awake ones only because of their attachments and because of their false conceptions, their preconceptions. They don't realize it. So I should help them to get rid of attachments and false perceptions and enter the path to fully expressing Buddha nature all the time. So they will be no different from the awakening ones. So this wisdom and virtue of the awakening ones, this clarity and kindness is always available to each one of you right now. This is And then I talked about Dogen's essay on the Buddha nature, which starts with his quote of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the last teachings of the Buddha, Bodhisattva tradition, in which the way it's usually read is all sentient beings, without exception, have the Buddha nature.

[02:31]

Tathagata abides forever without change. So it's like another version of the same sentence. and Dogen re-read it, not as all sentient beings without exception have the buddha nature, because actually the buddha nature is not some thing. So we use words like buddha nature or suchness or buddha or enlightenment or all of these words that we use in buddhism. And the words don't mean anything, you know. The meaning is not in the words. But there are ways of talking about something. that's very close, that's very deep, that's right here now, that all of you have access to, that all beings have access to. But again, it's not some enlightenment or Buddha nature, it's not some thing that you can have, and you are not something who can have it. The world is actually alive, and we're actually alive, and this is what these teachings are trying to get to.

[03:40]

to allow you to express the aliveness of the one who's sitting on your cushion right now, in this body and mind, in this time and place. So Dogen said, instead of all sentient beings without exception have Buddha nature, he said, all sentient beings, whole being, Buddha nature. Or all sentient beings, complete being, Buddha nature. Or all sentient beings completely are Buddha nature. And as he commented on this, it's clear that when he says all sorts of beings, first of all, he's not just talking about human-type beings. And we know that because we have friends who are dogs or cats or trees or everything, everything, everything, everything. I talked yesterday about nature and this kind of bilingual pun. The world around us is alive and is totally endowed with this Buddha nature. we get that from, but the whole world is a notion of Buddha nature.

[04:55]

But it has something to do with this wholeness, this whole being. So as you sit, period after period, and especially during session, there's an opportunity to feel that wholeness. that the person sitting on your cushion right now, this body and mind, there's a wholeness to it. Can you feel it? Can you? Be proud of being in nature, on your cushion. Can you feel the completeness of your life? Now, of course, we all have also attachments, fears, frustration, anger, sadness, confusion, delusions about enlightenment.

[06:04]

So, you know, in a way I'm sorry for you all because here you are doing this Buddhism stuff and you know you're hearing all these words and it's kind of troubling because it's hard not to Flash out to words like enlightenment or buddhanature and make them into something and even make more confusion. The truth is that you're whole from the very beginning. But also, it's worth coming to Sesshin because in Sesshin we can gather the mind. So Sesshin means to gather the mind, to meet the mind, or the heart. In Sino-Japanese this word shin or kokoro means both mind and heart. bring together and embrace our heart. And we feel the wholeness of that. And sitting through the day, sitting for a few days, however long you're here, you know, some periods you may just get tangled up in all the thoughts and feelings and commentaries and the categories and all of the things that the human mind does.

[07:20]

And you can make these teachings into yet more consumer goods or commodities that you want to get a hold of. And yet from the very beginning, just all sorts of things, all being, Buddha nature. Can you feel the wholeness that is on your cushion, your body and mind right now? Part of the work of Sesshin also Some periods you may feel this more than others. Some periods you may just feel the wholeness. And they're actually both together. And that's really what I want to get to today. That our attachments, our false conceptions that block us in some ways from our ability to see and express in the nature. That's right there.

[08:30]

That's where the wholeness is. So, this wholeness includes all of those... There's nothing that's not part of this wholeness. There's nobody who's excluded from Buddha nature. So I'll tell the story of Dao Sheng. He was a Chinese master before 40 Dharma. translator and teacher. And there were little bits in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra translated and he looked at that and he thought about this idea of buddha nature. And back then they had this idea that there were certain beings called achantikas. You've heard of achantikas? Achantikas are supposed to be people who have no buddha nature, who can never become Buddha, who just have no, not even the slightest good quality, who are just, never, never could they be, have any of the wisdom or virtues of awakenings.

[09:39]

And they really believed that this was the case, that there were people like that. And looking around our world today, you might see people that you think might be exoticas, but really are practices that all beings, all beings, Buddha nature, Even, you know, people who are doing terrible things in the world may have some good qualities. It's possible. Do you know the story of... Now I'm getting into stories upon stories upon stories. I haven't even finished with Dao Shing, but I should tell you about Angulamala. Do you know about Angulamala? Mala is, you know, one of these sets of beings that... And Angulamala became a great disciple of the Buddha. But before that, he was what is sometimes called today a serial killer. He was persuaded that if he, by some false guru, that if he could kill a hundred people and string their fingers on a set of beads, that then he would have tremendous power and he could vanquish his

[10:52]

They can't look at the mistakes. So he thought it was okay for him to go around just killing people. He didn't have bombs or those kinds of things to do it. He just did it with, I don't know, he used a knife or I don't know. Anyway, he had almost succeeded in his mission. He had killed 99 people and he was And he saw the 100th person up ahead. And it happened to be the Buddha. The Buddha was walking and the Guru Mahārāja was following him. And the Guru Mahārāja called, Stop! He wanted one of his fingers. So he had this 100th finger. And the Buddha turned around and said, No, you stop. And he did. And he became a disciple of the Buddha. And he became an Arhat. which is a fully perfected one, here and away, all of his own false conceptual.

[12:06]

So even mass murderers and serial killers can awaken to their Buddha nature. It's possible. And so we don't know. Maybe even neocons can become Buddhas. I don't know. Anyway, going back to Daoxing, a thousand years later in China, Daoxing was this a very scholarly, great Buddhist teacher, and he helped translate the Pranayama Sutra. Anyway, Dao Shun was, I think he was 68 at the time, and he said, all things have Buddha nature, there are no Akshatas. And this was a heresy, according to the school, the Yantra school that he was part of in China, and they said, get out. And they took his robes, and they made him leave the temple, Buddha nature. Fortunately, there's a happy ending to the story.

[13:08]

The complete translation of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra arrived within a couple of years, and there it said, all such beings, except you have the Buddha nature, and they went to Dasharatha. Oh, we're so sorry, you were right all along. So it's important for us to recognize that all beings, all being of Buddha nature, Even people, forget about politicians, but even people we know who give us a hard time, even people we don't like or people we think are real jerks, there's some quality, there's some potentiality, there's some wisdom and virtue. And part of the practice of expressing Buddha nature is to see that in others, to really make an effort to see the good qualities, the Buddha embryo in all beings, in all people. So what is this wholeness? Sometimes it's difficult to see. We feel like we're a Chantakas.

[14:11]

This happens. And there's some Zen students who feel that way. And then, you know, everybody else has Buddha nature, but not me. That can happen too. Well, sorry, but even you are completely in debt with the wisdom and virtue of the Awakenings. So, one practice to do One way of expressing this whole being-put-in-nature is look at, as you're sitting, look at wholeness. Feel the way in which this situation right now is wholeness, is complete. Including that which is missing, that which is lacking. There's a wholeness there too. So, Toget says in Ginger Koan, When Dharma does not fill your body and mind, you feel it's already sufficient. When Dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing.

[15:16]

So this is a big poem for us. Whole being, completeness, includes that something is missing. How can you see the wholeness in something that's missing? This is tricky. So you don't have to spend a lot of time thinking about it, but just feel wholeness. Feel the wholeness of this body and mind sitting upright on your cushion. Feel the wholeness of this inhale and this exhale. So it's not some idea of wholeness. It's our expression of wholeness right now. It's our expression of completely being this person on you right now.

[16:26]

So I talked about this yesterday in terms of this second part of this Buddha Nature essay. If you wish to know the Buddha Nature's meaning is the quote from wish to know the Buddha nature's meaning, you must contemplate temporal conditions. The time is arriving, the Buddha nature manifests itself. So, we know the meaning of Buddha nature by contemplating temporal conditions. Buddha nature is not some abstraction, some idea. Buddha nature is temporal conditions. Right now. Here. This is a temporal condition. In some particular time and place, all being good in nature. Not some idea of all being good in nature, but here, in this time, in this place, in this situation, this body and mind.

[17:31]

How can we just So, one temporal condition is just that we all managed to get here today. Here we are. Enjoying the inhale and exhale of Sushumna. Gathering together our hearts. Deeper wholeness is, again, it's subtle. It happens in a particular time and place. And each particular time and place has its limits and its bounds. There are four walls and a floor and a ceiling in this room. And yet, the whole universe is here. And yet, it's just this, this time and place. your whole life is breaking, un-efficient.

[18:59]

So that's not something that you have to figure out. So I spent some time yesterday talking about this idea that is in some branches of Zen, of Kensho, of seeing Buddha-nature as the goal of our practice. And there's all the stories about was in dialogues where at the end of the teacher and student talking, it says the student was enlightened. And that's usually a translation of the student has some kencho, some experience of seeing Buddha nature. And I said that that's really not enough for a practice. And whether you have some dramatic the space under your cushion. The point of our practice is to genjo buddha nature, to express buddha nature, to manifest it in the world, to share it with our friends and family and society, to express it in your life, to enjoy your expression of buddha nature.

[20:19]

Each of us has our own special gift, our own way of expressing buddha nature. So it's okay to see good in nature. It's okay to have one of those flashy experiences. But that's, you know, 45% of the practice. That's the starting point. And just the fact that you're here means that already you've had, whether or not you recognize it, whether or not you know why you're here, You may not, and that's okay too, but still, you've each had some taste, some glamour, some sense of wanting to take on living fully, living with wholeness, finding some meaning in this body and mind. So you've all had some

[21:22]

Some piece of Kensho at least. So we do these forms during Sashin. We chant and bow and we get up and do walking meditation. And then we sit and try to sit upright and still. If you have to move in the middle of the period, just do it quietly. Be gentle and kind to yourself. Treat yourself like you would treat Buddha. All being is here in this temporal condition. And these forms are just not special in and of themselves. They're just ways for us to gather the mind and heart together. The other side of this statement of the Buddha, of the statement of his awakening, is that we do have attachments, and false conceptions, and habits, and various kinds of conditioning, which get in the way sometimes.

[23:15]

It's not that they're not all being Buddha nature, but they get in the way of our seeing it and of our expressing it. we get angry and instead of just seeing the anger and saying, oh yeah, there's anger and letting it go, we decide we have to get even with so-and-so who made me angry. And those people over there, the Iraqis or the Christians or the, I don't know, whoever, we think of as the Ashantikas. So we act out these attachments. And it really does get in the way of our expression through the nature. What do we do? How do we see that? Well, the practice is just to be aware. It's not that there's something you have to fix. It's awareness. It's watching.

[24:18]

Feel how it feels. So, our basic practice is just sitting. and being present and feeling the wholeness of this temporal condition. And yet, if you need some particular concentration object, there are many. You can come and I can give you a special one, but there are mantras, there are things to do with breathing, there are... One of them that I recommend is just, how does it feel? Where is this wholeness? How does it feel? And whatever your monkey mind is doing, just see that. You don't have to do anything about it. You don't have to fix it. It's just conditioning. It's just attachments and false perceptions. It's just confusion or anger or greed or whatever. One of those things. Take another breath. Don't turn away from it.

[25:20]

You don't have to run away from it. It's okay. be the Christian, I'm your Christian right now. In fact, it's all being good in nature. So one of the things that our mind does, the human mind is very skilled at, categorizing and making judgments and evaluating and trying to figure out where you are on some scale or stages of whatever you think you want to get. That's how our mind works. It's not bad, it's just how our mind works. But it can get in the way. Or you can use it, you know? But don't be fooled. Just say, OK, what do you want? So, I translated this big book of Dogen's, and I'm going to use a little bit of it today. A couple of other things that Dogen says about Udanishad.

[26:23]

These are these very short talks he gave. Here's one. It's just a four-line poem. Dōgen-sen, 1251. The buddha nature of time and season, clauses and conditions, is perfectly complete in past and future and in each moment. Despite differences between merits gathered or layers of virtue, milk and cheese completely earn their names in their own times. So this is about of Buddha nature. The Buddha nature of time and season, causes and conditions, is perfectly complete in past and future, and in each moment. So not only do all sentient beings, all being, express Buddha nature completely, but times and seasons, and causes and conditions, also are Buddha nature.

[27:30]

The buddha nature of time and season, causes and conditions. Each condition, each time of our being present in this temporal condition, buddha nature. Completely buddha nature. So he says the buddha nature of time and season, causes and conditions, is perfectly complete in past and future, and in each moment. So we don't have to try and get rid of past and future and hold on to some idea of this present moment. We can't. Remember, we have to get rid of all those things that happened in the past that we regret, or we have to get rid of all those things in the future that we're afraid of. No. All time is in each temporal condition. Each moment is complete, is whole being. so we can enjoy each breath really deeply. Each breath includes all of history.

[28:35]

Each breath that you take is dependent on every other breath you've ever taken. If you had failed to inhale any of the times that you inhaled in however many years you've been around on this planet, you would not be able to take another inhale. And each inhale you take in this temporal condition right now is totally necessary to every future inhale you will ever take. At some point, all of us, most of us anyway, will not take another inhale. And hopefully that's a long ways away. But each breath Each inhale is completely unique and completely connected to every other inhale you have ever taken or will ever take.

[29:37]

Each breath depends on every other breath. You can try. You can try and stop breathing. But fortunately, the life force of Buddha nature is alive. And no matter how long, how good you are at holding your breath, Sometimes I see people on sashimi who are not breathing. Really. The joy of each breath is precious. Each breath includes all the past and future. And of course we're inhaling the oxygen together. And the forests, the ones that haven't been clear cut are exhaling oxygen for us and we're exhaling carbon dioxide for them and it all kind of works. so far. So the Buddha nature of time and season and causes and conditions is perfectly complete in past and future and in each moment. Then he says, despite differences between merits gathered or layers of virtue, milk and cheese completely earn their names in their own times.

[30:49]

So there are differences between merits gathered and layers of virtue. We can do that. Our mind does that. We can think of people we know. We can develop scales or grades of how much merit, how much virtue. We can do that. Our monkey mind is able to make those categorizations and comparisons. That's sort of sad, but anyway. In a way, it's okay. We actually should. discern, you know, what is happening around us, and try and support life. This is our first precept. And try and support truth. And try and support generosity, or not taking what is not given, and so forth. But, we do have, we do, our mind does do this. This is our mind of conditioning our mind of attachments and false perceptions.

[31:52]

And, you know, on some scale, looking at non-harming as a basic principle of the dogma. Maybe we should look at where is there harm and how can we help. However, despite differences between merits gathered or layers of virtue, Dogen says, milk and cheese completely earn their names in their own times. So, it's not that there is not transformation. This practice is really powerful. This practice can help you find the stability, the settledness, the enjoyment of your breath that will help you to express Buddha nature by expressing non-killing and expressing So there is transformation.

[32:57]

Our ability and capacity to express Buddha nature can unfold. It doesn't happen in some automatic way. It doesn't happen according to our ideas of how it happens. It happens organically, alchemically. But this stability, this steadiness, the generosity to yourself that you develop by just being able to keep sitting through the day, period after period, being kind to yourself, even when you have to, but finding that steadiness, that wholeness of uprightness develops great capacity, potential, just for being patient and watching and being ready to be helpful when you can. So we can say that there's a difference between milk and cheese. Cheese is produced from milk, right?

[34:01]

From milk, not cheese. So there's some transformation, there's some alchemical process. There's actually a place in Northern Marin County, near where I live, where they make cheese, I don't know. Do they make cheese in Illinois? They do in Wisconsin. It's not so far from here, is it? Cheese, you know, how many of you have ever eaten cheese? Almost everybody raised their hand. Hasn't raised their hand. Oh yeah, you have, okay. So there's a difference between milk and cheese. There's some transformation that happens. And as you express well-being good in nature, there is transformation. It's not that it's static. And it's not that we don't unfold our capacities. And yet, right now, in each temporal situation, all being Buddha nature, despite our evaluations of, you know, some of you may prefer certain kinds of cheese to other kinds of cheese.

[35:07]

Does anybody have a favorite cheese? Parmesan. Parmesan. OK. David's a Parmesan. Parmesan's OK. Anyway. See, we can make those distinctions. Despite differences between merits, gatherer, layers, or virtue, Tolkien says that milk and cheese completely earn their names in their own times. So there's a time for milk and a time for cheese. A time for parmesan and a time for cheddar. Each one is completely whole. Each one is completely whole being. And, you know, if we've got cheddar and we wish we had parmesan, we can cause lots of suffering by just feeling like, I can't eat cheddar, I have to have parmesan. And, you know, running around to the stores and trying to find parmesan, you know, you can cause a lot of sadness if you insist on having parmesan when all you've got is cheddar.

[36:12]

But anyway, here we are. She wants more. Your greed was expressed for us. Thank you very much. That was very kind of you to share your greed with us. Lori wants more than a little more. So we do that, you know. We think, you know, Dharma talks should be this long or that long, you know. And I do have a time We have time scheduled this afternoon for discussion, so we won't have so much discussion this morning. But David has his hand up, so... I'm just curious what page that's on. If I can be greedy then. Ask me later. It's number... No, I lost it, see?

[37:16]

It's number 474. So I'm going to be greedy now, and we're not going to get to the Buddha Nature Ocean today. We'll do that tomorrow, but I'll read one more of these really short dharma talks. This is another one about Buddha nature. So I wonder when Dogen was giving these dharma hall discourses in Eriheiji, if his monks were upset that they were so short. This was also pretty short. Really, really taking hours to go and talk about it. Here goes, Dogen said, and this was around the same time, this may have been, yes, this was also 1251. All Tathagatas are without Buddha nature, but at the same time, previously, they have fully accomplished true awakening.

[38:20]

bodhisattvas studying the way should know how buddha nature produces the conditions for buddha nature. That's what he said. So the first sentence, I really want to talk about the second sentence, but all Tathagatas are without buddha nature. So first of all, buddha nature is not some thing that you can have. Tathagata is another name for buddha. It means Sanskrit, it means The one who comes and goes in suchness, in thusness. So that's what Buddhas do. They hang out and they move around between different temporal conditions. They appear in temporal conditions. They don't appear outside temporal conditions. They appear in some particular temporal condition and then they leave and come in another one. So that's kind of like what we do. But we don't see it that way. That's a temporal condition, but actually then we have to take a little break.

[39:30]

So, all of those Buddhas who come and go between breaths are without Buddha nature. They have no Buddha nature. So, we can't get a hold of Buddha nature. No matter how much you contemplate temporal conditions, no matter how much you study, no matter how many discourses on Tathagatagarbha and Buddha Nature you study, no matter how many sasheens you sit contemplating Buddha Nature, you're never going to get it and be able to put it in a frame and put it up on the wall and say, OK, I'm done. Buddha Nature. Because here comes another one. So this is not something that You know, that's one of the problems about this idea of kensho is something you've got to get because, you know, you can have some great kensho but then there's another temporal condition.

[40:34]

And kensho is something we do with everything, actually. Even in Rinzai Zen, kensho is a verb. We kensho everything. See the Buddha nature in each thing. See the Buddha nature in each person. See the Buddha nature in each breath. This is the real kensho. So I'm telling you a secret about the nature of kesha. So now you can't practice Vajrasattva anymore because I've told you the secret. Well, you can go and do that if you want. Each moment, each temporal condition. How do we bring our life to life? How do we express our seeing of Buddha nature? Not just once. Anybody can do that. How do we keep doing that? How do we find a way to express it in our life? To bring our life to life? So, all Buddhas are without Buddha nature, but at the same time, right at the same time, he says, previously they have fully accomplished true awakening.

[41:43]

So that's what Buddhas are. They're really awake. And that means they keep on awakening, even though they have no Buddha nature. So these two sentences are really tricky and I don't pretend that I completely understand them. I actually appreciate that I can keep studying them and trying to awaken with them again and again and again. And this is the way the Dharma is. It's not something you should understand. It's something that you bathe in. It's something that you hear the music of. It keeps changing because in each temporal condition it changes. But this morning, the second sentence says, Bodhisattva studying the way should know how Buddha nature produces the conditions for Buddha nature. Bodhisattva studying the way, that's all he does, should know how Buddha nature produces the conditions for Buddha nature.

[42:48]

So this is about where does this temporal condition arrived from. This is a great mystery. I think you were asking about this yesterday, Kazimierz. Conditions for buddha nature. And he says that we should know how buddha nature produces the conditions for buddha nature. Well, you know, you can turn that How can something produce the conditions for itself? It's impossible. Again, buddha nature is not a thing. So if any of you like koan practice, you're welcome to just spend the rest of the seshin considering this sentence. Bodhisattva studying the way should know how buddha nature produces the conditions Many ways to turn this.

[43:53]

And yet, here we are, in Sashin, gathering the heartland, taking another breath, all being Buddha nature. There we go, another temporal condition. How can buddha nature produce the conditions for buddha nature? Well one way to see this is that we're here because we're here because we're here because we're here buddha nature is the sponsor of this session and the sponsor of the body and mind sitting under your cushion right now some glimpse of buddha nature before you ever heard the word buddha or maybe before you ever heard the word nature allows you the opportunity the wonderful opportunity to inhale in such a way the conditions for expressing buddha nature are brought to us through buddha nature this is what buddha nature does buddha nature doesn't kind of

[45:19]

proclaim yourself and hang up on the wall somewhere. Buddha nature produces more conditions for Buddha nature. Some glimpse of the wisdom and virtue of the awakened ones, some taste, some sense, we don't know where it comes from. We can't explain this except that it comes from Buddha nature. and buddha nature leads us to practice so buddha nature doesn't just understand buddha nature buddha nature practices buddha nature buddha nature expresses buddha nature as buddha nature for buddha nature by buddha nature like our government used to be at where the people by the people buddha nature just encourages us to look for Buddha nature, to be concerned about what is our nature?

[46:28]

How is it to be this person? Bodhisattva studying the way should know how buddha nature produces the conditions for buddha nature. So it doesn't just say that we should know that buddha nature produces the conditions for buddha nature. But how? Has buddha nature produced the conditions for buddha nature on your cushion right now? This is contemplating temporal conditions. So there are certain kinds of questions that are more helpful than others. How is a pretty good one? My teacher says he doesn't answer why questions. But how? That's pretty good.

[47:29]

I like when too, but how? Has Buddha nature produced this situation of being in session together? On your question, in your body and mind, right now. Consider that. Appreciate that. Take another breath. It's springtime. So we'll have time for discussion set aside this afternoon, but if there are one or two comments or questions or expressions of Buddha nature, bring them up. Christian?

[48:35]

This may be far-fetched, but I'm not quite sure how to explain exactly. Good. When I think of Buddha nature, one of the things that comes to my mind is birth, and how we are all here because somebody gave birth to us, and everything that happens inside to make that possible. I think that's a little Buddha nature. Yeah. Yeah. All of us here have a problem. So I was talking yesterday about embryos and wombs. It's a topic of argument which isn't related to this teaching of um through the nature that the world is a womb of embryonic buddhas so we've got into a whole a whole discussion of um through the embryos and things yesterday but yes actually this is if people don't know this is tiger's mommy thank you for giving me

[50:03]

And yes, the ways in which we're all connected, we can't begin to figure out or trace or, you know, our connections are so deep. And we're connected back through generations of mommies and daddies. And we're connected to each other through There's so many ways that we could start trying to figure that out, but that's not the point. We're all just breathing the same air. I'm not sure if that's what you were getting at, but... Also that because we are all born without sin, without original sin, that is, I think, and it was made possible in the womb, or even in a glass jar, you know, these days.

[51:08]

But just that, I think, is Buddha nature. The conditions under which that was made possible. Well, I think you're saying the same thing Kusumira, I think, was saying yesterday about being in the womb as a kind of metaphor for the quality of openness. nature of just presence without before the false conceptions and attachments so maybe that's actually a Christian idea I don't want to I don't want to upset anybody but there is this idea in Buddhism that we actually choose our parents and we have lifetimes of past karma but still the way you said it is fine we are in the womb of you know, fetuses in the womb aren't making these distinctions and categorizations and differentiations.

[52:13]

And in some ways, it's not that we're trying to get rid, you know, so this is not lobotomy zen, where you should get rid of all of your thinking powers, use your thinking powers, but also reconnect to this basic inhale, exhale, all being put in nature. So it's like Manjuan said, the Buddhas and ancestors don't know what it is. Cats and cows and dogs know what it is. And fetuses. And he forgot to add that. One more comment or question? Hey, we're supposed to free all sentient beings, but dogs and cats are ready to realize they're cool in nature, so we don't have to free them, do we? Well, some of them need some help.

[53:18]

So, in a way, everything is fine just the way it is. This is just the working out of karma, you know. And even, you know, the war in Iraq which started two years ago today, you know, it's just the working out of karma. centuries of slavery and of wiping out the Native Americans and greed for oil, you know, a whole combination of many things. It's all okay. Everything that's happening, you know, cycles of destruction of democracy, you know, democracy will be emerged somehow. All the problems of the world are part of the unfolding of good in nature right now. And yet, we have work to do. So it's not that because we see... This is part of the problem with Kensho. Because you think you see Buddha nature and you think everything is fine the way it is. Everything is fine the way it is. And yet that means we have a lot of work to do. We have a responsibility to uphold this basic wisdom and virtue of the awakened ones. Which is to help beings who are suffering.

[54:24]

And there's plenty of that around. If you take a look. So everything is fine the way it is, and that includes that. That doesn't exist over there somewhere on some screen. We're part of everything is fine just the way it is. And that means, as bodhisattvas, as warriors for Buddha nature, we have work to do. And so this is expressing Buddha nature, finding each of us in our own way, finding our way to express, to sponsor, Encourage with the wisdom and virtue of the awakening ones in the world. To help where we can. Just sit patiently and study temporal conditions and see what we can do to be helpful to our friends and family and country and even to all the suffering beings on your own cushion right now.

[55:29]

So we'll have time to talk about this more this afternoon.

[55:33]

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