So I started speaking yesterday about buddha nature. So I'll start today with a little review, and there are several people who aren't here now. 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. 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 opened his eyes wide and said,

[01:02]

all beings, with that exception, are fully endowed with the wisdom and virtue of the awakened 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 conceptions and enter the path to fully expressing Buddha nature all the time. So they will be no different from the Awakened Ones. So this wisdom and virtue of the Awakened Ones, this clarity and kindness, is always available to each one of you right now. 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.

[02:28]

Tathagata abides forever without change. So it's like another version of the same concept. 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. 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.

[03:36]

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. 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. Everything, everything, everything I talked yesterday about nature and this kind of bilingual pun, the world around us is alive. we get that far, but the whole world is a notion of Buddha nature.

[04:51]

But it has something to do with this wholeness, this whole being. So as you sit, period after period, and especially during Sashin, 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 there. Can you feel it? Can you be proud of being good in nature on your cushion? Can you feel the completeness of your life? Now, of course, we all have also fears, frustration, anger, sadness, confusion, delusions about enlightenment.

[05:59]

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 a kind of problem because it's hard not to lash out to words like enlightenment or Buddha nature and make 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, shedo, kokoro, means both mind and heart. So we bring together and embrace our heart. And we feel the wholeness of that. 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 categories and all of the things that the human mind does.

[07:15]

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 such things, all being, Buddha nature, can you feel the wholeness that is on your push, your body 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 human nature. It's right there.

[08:24]

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 excluded from Buddha nature. So, I'll tell the story of Dao Sheng. He was a Chinese master before Shakyamuni Dharma. And there are little bits of 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. Have you heard of Achantikas? Some of you have. 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

[09:26]

Never, never could they have any of the wisdom or virtues of awakenings. 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 Ashantikas, but really our practice is that all beings, whole being, 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 Daoxing, but I should tell you about Angulamala. Do you know about Angulamala? Angulamala is one of these sets of beings. 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 enemies.

[10:45]

And of course he thought they were evil ones, evildoers. Maybe he thought that he could not make any mistakes. And people like that, they can't make any mistakes. So he thought it was okay for him to go around just killing people. And he didn't have bombs or, you know, those kinds of things to do it with. He just did it with his, I don't know, if 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, 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. He had his hundredth finger. And Buddha turned around and said, No, you stop. And he did.

[11:47]

And he became a disciple of the Buddha. And he became an Arhat. Which is... fully perfected one. He cleared away all of his own false conceptions. 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. He helped translate the Pranayama Sutra. Anyway, Dao Sheng was, I think he was 68 at the time, and he said, all beings have Buddha nature. There are no atrocities. And this was a heresy, according to the school, the Yogyakarta school that he was part of in China. And they said, get out.

[12:48]

And they took his robes and they made him leave the into the story, the complete translation of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra arrived within a couple of years, and there it said, all sentient beings, but it said, we have the Buddha nature, and they went to Dao Shing and said, oh, we're so sorry, you were right all along. So it's important for us to recognize that all beings, all being 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, 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.

[13:52]

So what is this wholeness? Sometimes it's difficult to see. We feel like we're Chantakas. 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 doubt 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 and 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.

[15:01]

When dharma fills your body and mind, you realize that something is missing. So this is a big koan for us. Whole being, completeness, includes that something is missing. How can you see the wholeness in something that's missing? tricky. So you don't have to spend a lot of time thinking about it, but just feel the 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

[16:05]

completely being this person on you right now. 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 If you wish to know the Buddha-nature's meaning, you must contemplate temporal conditions. The time is arriving when 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.

[17:07]

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. How can we just be? 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.

[18:11]

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. It's in here. Your whole life is breaking on your person. Amen. So that's not something that you have to figure out. So I spent some time yesterday again talking about this idea that is in some branches of Zen, of Kensho, or 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 kensho, some experience of seeing Buddha nature.

[19:28]

And I said that that's really not enough for a practice. And whether you have some dramatic fancy 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. Each of us has our own special gift, our own way of expressing buddha nature. So it's okay to see buddha nature. It's okay. 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.

[20:46]

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 piece of Kensho at least. So we do these forms during Sesshin. We chant and bow and we get up and do walking meditation. And then we sit and try and 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. Whole being is here in this temporal condition. And these forms are just not special in and of themselves.

[21:51]

They're just ways for us to Gather the mind and heart together. But the other side of this statement of the Buddha, 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.

[23:04]

It's not that they're not holding 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.

[24:06]

Feel how it feels. So, our basic practice is just sitting and being present and feeling you 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, you know, one of them that I recommend is just, how does it feel? Where is this wholeness? How does it feel? In this temporal condition. And whatever your monkey mind is doing, just 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.

[25:08]

You don't have to run away from it. It's okay to be the person on your cushion 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. But don't be fooled. Just say, okay, what do you want? So, we translated this big book of Dogen, so I'm going to use a little bit of it today. A couple of other things that Dogen says about Buddha nature.

[26:11]

These are these very short talks he gave. Here's one. It's just a four-line poem. Dogen said in 1251, the Buddha nature of time and season causes 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 contemplating temporal conditions as the practice and expression 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.

[27:17]

The Buddha nature of time and season, causes and conditions. each time of our being present in this temporal condition, good in nature, completely good in nature. So he says the good in 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 Remember, we have to get rid of all those things that happened in the past that we don't 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.

[28:21]

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. You can try, you can try and stop breathing.

[29:31]

But fortunately, the life force of Buddha nature is a lot. And no matter how long, how good you are at holding your breath, sometimes I see people on satsang 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. 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, 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 earned their names in their own times.

[30:33]

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 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, our first precept, and try and support truth, and try and support generosity, or not taking what is not given, and so forth. We do have, we do, our mind does do this. This is our mind of conditioning our mind of attachments and false perceptions.

[31:37]

And, you know, on some scale, looking at non-harming as a basic principle of Vedanga, 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. So there is transformation.

[32:39]

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, the 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?

[33:43]

From milk and 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. They make cheese in Illinois, and then they do it in Wisconsin. That'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 Buddha nature, there is transformation. It's not that it's static. And it's not that we don't of all of 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.

[34:48]

Does anybody have a favorite cheese? Parmesan. Parmesan. OK. David's in 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 all 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.

[35:53]

But anyway, here we are. She loves me. Your greed was expressed for us. Thank you very much. That was very kind of you to share your greed with us. Glory 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. 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 guess Curious Bill hates that. I think you'd be greedy then. Ask me later. It's number... No, I lost it, see?

[36:57]

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 Edoheiji, if his monks were upset that they were so short. This one's also pretty short, really, really taking hours to read. You don't want to talk about it like that. 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.

[38:00]

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 something 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.

[39:10]

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 sessions 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, okay, I'm done. Buddha nature. Plus, 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.

[40:13]

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. So now you can't practice Rinzai Zazen anymore because I 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.

[41:22]

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. 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 you guys, should know how Buddha nature produces the conditions for Buddha nature.

[42:26]

So this is about where does this temporal condition arrive 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? Is that possible? 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 sesshin considering this sentence. Bodhisattvas studying the way should know how buddha nature produces the conditions for buddha nature.

[43:27]

Many ways to turn this. And yet, here we are in sesshin, gathering the heart-mind. 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

[44:35]

the opportunity, the wonderful opportunity, to inhale in session. The conditions for expressing Buddha nature are brought to us through Buddha nature. This is what Buddha nature does. Buddha nature doesn't proclaim itself 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 we can't we can't explain this except for the quotient buddha nature and buddha nature leads us to practice so buddha nature doesn't just understand buddha nature buddha nature practice of buddha nature buddha nature

[45:37]

by buddha nature, like our government used to be at, where the people buy the people. Buddha nature just encourages us to look for buddha nature, to be concerned about what is our nature, how is it? bodhisattvas 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?

[46:48]

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 a pretty good one. I like when too, but how has Buddha nature produced this situation of being in session together? On your question, on your body and mind right now. Consider that. Appreciate that. Take another 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 it on. Christian?

[48:12]

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 somebody gave birth to the person that 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 mother. So I was talking yesterday about embryos and wombs. Buddha nature, that the world is a womb of embryonic Buddhas, so they're not our Christians.

[49:20]

So we've got into a whole discussion of Buddha embryos and things yesterday. But yes, actually this is, if people don't know, this is Taiga at the moment. Thank you for giving me the time. 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 so many ways that we've Well, also that because we are all born without sin, without original sin, that is, I think, and it was made possible in a womb or even in a glass jar, you know, these days.

[50:45]

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. Kazimir, I think, was saying yesterday about being in the womb as a kind of metaphor for the quality of openness and the quality of Buddha nature of just presence without... before the false conceptions and attachments. So, maybe that's actually a Christian idea. 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, fetuses in the womb aren't making these distinctions and categorizations and differentiations.

[51:50]

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, whole big Buddha 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 already realize they're glued to nature, so we don't have to free them, do we? Well, some of them need some help.

[52:54]

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 of centuries of slavery and of wiping out the Native Americans and greed for oil, you know, the whole combination of many things. It's all okay. Everything that's happening, you know, cycles of All the problems of the world are part of the unfolding of Buddha 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.

[54:00]

And there's plenty of that around, if you take a look. So, everything is fine the way it is, and that includes, 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, to encourage the wisdom and virtue of the awakening ones in the world. To help where we can. To sit patiently and study temporal conditions and see what we can do to be helpful. family and country and even to all the suffering beings on your own cushion right now.

[55:04]

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

[55:09]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ