I've said repeatedly that initially, the mind of enlightenment, the thought of enlightenment, the spirit of enlightenment is to wish to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings. Now in our last class now, tonight I say it could be the wish to be completely yourself for the welfare of all beings. It seems to me that to realize Buddha is to realize silence and stillness. To be living in silence and stillness is to live with no

[01:44]

self-cleaning, no attachment to any construction of what we are or what other beings are. Being that way is practicing and realizing Buddha. And being that way, in essence, at its heart, is compassion. It is compassion to be yourself. Being yourself is a compassionate act. It requires courageous caring for being authentically yourself. It requires generosity, patience,

[02:54]

ethics. We cannot be ourselves without being honest. We cannot be ourselves and take something that's not given. We cannot be completely ourselves and be possessive of anything, primarily and especially ourselves. Realizing the ultimate truth, we do not attach to anything. And we need to realize the ultimate truth in order to be authentically ourselves. And again, being authentically ourselves, we don't need to move or say anything. Also, last week I suggested that the ultimate truth cannot be an object of knowledge. The

[04:46]

ordinary mind that thinks in terms of existing, existing, and not existing, that can't know the ultimate truth. The ordinary mind is delusion and its objects. Or I should say, conventional truth is a deluded mind and its objects. It is not the ultimate truth. And the mind that realizes ultimate truth is not separate from ultimate truth, so there too there is no knowing, there's no subject or object. I'd like to complement that tonight by saying that under some circumstances you will hear discussion of somebody knowing the ultimate truth. And that's

[06:01]

the circumstance in which we are speaking in ordinary terms of advanced bodhisattvas resting in meditation. Speaking of their resting in meditation, then it's quite all right to speak in terms of subject and object, and to consider ultimate truth as an object of knowledge. When they're resting in meditation, the way they are is unborn, and the mind itself is free from birth. When the mind is turned in this way, it is as though it knows ultimate

[07:07]

truth. So in the context of speaking of the two truths, conventional truth and ultimate truth, the basis for that discussion and the distinction between the two, the two truths which are not separate, the distinction is based on them as being objects of knowledge. So in that context, sometimes people say that the ultimate truth can be seen or known, because the way the mind is, the way knowing is, is ultimate truth. Taking care of conventional

[08:17]

truth completely, taking care of conventional things like what we appear to be to ourselves and how others appear to us, taking care of such conventional things completely, we are ready to realize the ultimate truth. We become ready to realize the ultimate truth. We become ready to let ourselves be completely ourselves, and to let others be completely themselves. In that sense, the sitting quiet and still of the Zen school, the practice of bodhidharma, sitting facing the wall, is to demonstrate being ourselves completely with no attachment

[09:24]

to ourselves, realizing the ultimate truth, and completely taking care of all conventional aspects of our life. If we don't give complete and thorough attention to every conventionality of our life, that lack of complete attention to such phenomena, such conventional things, disables our ability to be thoroughly aware of the ultimate. Any inattention to caring for conventional things, relative things, things in the realm of existence and non-existence, any lack of care for our deluded mind, will disable

[10:35]

our ability to be thoroughly present for the ultimate truth. Caring for all things, all beings, and there only are conventional beings, all sentient beings are conventional beings, are conventional truths, caring for them thoroughly, being compassionate with them, prepares us, sets the ground for realizing the ultimate truth, which is what really heals conventional beings, sentient beings, that realization. Which is the same, basically as saying, this kind of care enables us to be ourselves. If we're not willing to take care of all conventionalities, all the aspects of our life, and all of our relations, we can't be totally just ourselves.

[11:43]

And once again, when we completely take care of things, we are silent and still. When we are everything, and realize, become the ultimate truth, the emptiness which is filled with compassion. And all of this, always, just for the welfare of all beings, which just happens to include ourselves, perfectly. Tamar asked me if there's some textual background for these classes, for these talks.

[12:52]

And, in our tradition, there's some stories about one of our ancestors named Dongshan, who's a Chinese ancestor, and in the story of his life, he asked about a teaching story, and in the teaching story, the monk's talking to the teacher, and the teacher gives this unusual teaching, and the monk says, you know, in what scripture does this teaching appear? And the teacher says, well, kind of ironically, I couldn't really be teaching the Dharma if it wasn't in a sutra, could I? And then he gives a sutra. And then later, Dongshan meets his teacher, and he asks his teacher again, what scripture does this appear

[14:00]

in? And his teacher tells him what scripture. So here's some scriptures that this talk came from. Now, this isn't all of them, but this is just some of them. Part of the reason why I don't necessarily mention the scriptures sometimes is because when I say the name of the scripture, people kind of get disoriented from being silent and still, like they start thinking about what scripture I just said it was, and then they start thinking about whether, you know, it's hard to say it, it's in a foreign language, they like it or dislike it because of that, and also they're wondering where they can get it, and why am I mentioning scriptures, and it creates quite a bit of hubbub, but tonight I'll mention some scriptural sources. So one of the main ones for this talk, for this class, and the last one, is the Samadhi Nirmachana Sutra, the Mahayana Gambhira Artha

[15:07]

Samadhi Nirmachana Sutra, which is getting close to becoming, and I did a commentary on this sutra for a number of years, and this is getting close to being a book, a published book. In this sutra, particularly in chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9, there's discussions about the things I've been talking about. For example, in chapter 8, there's a discussion of the six basic Bodhisattva training methods, and the four additional training methods which help the previous six training methods. The six perfections, as they're called, or the six transcendent practices. So in there is a detailed discussion of how these practices

[16:10]

work together, and then in chapter 8 there's a detailed discussion of particularly the last two perfections of concentration and wisdom, and in chapter 7 there's a discussion of ultimate truth, and in chapter 6 there's a discussion of conventionality, illusion, and ultimate truth. But you might want to wait for the book to come out. It's kind of hard to read that sutra without assistance, but that's where a lot of what I'm talking about comes from. Also in the Bodhicaryavatara, the career of the Bodhisattva, which is a

[17:11]

poem spoken by the Indian monk, sage, poet, Shantideva, in that text also these practices to develop and protect Bodhisattva are discussed. And in particular the emphasis on concentrating on the equality of self and other, and exchanging self and other, are spoken of in detail there. However, this practice is not originally from Shantideva, it appears in a number of Mahayana sutras. And Tamar asked if this is related to the Tibetan practice of Tonglen, and Tonglen comes from these texts. Also Nagarjuna wrote a commentary on the large sutras of perfect

[18:19]

wisdom, which is called in Chinese, Dao Zhi De Lun, and translated as the Great Treatise on Wisdom. And in there too is an extensive discussion of the thought of enlightenment and the six perfections. Later in China, Nagarjuna lived in India, but the Dao Zhi De Lun is a Chinese text, and we do not have the Indian original, all we have is the Chinese. That's why I said the Chinese Dao Zhi De Lun. Sanskrit would be something like Maha Prajnaparamita Nirdesha, but we don't have that text, we only have the Chinese. There may never have been an

[19:23]

Indian text, it might have been what we call an apocrypha, something created in China said to be translated from Sanskrit, of Nagarjuna. But anyway, that text is very influential in Chinese Buddhism and in Zen. And another very influential Chinese teacher and author is Tian Tai Jiri, and he lived around the same time as Bodhidharma, and he wrote a Great Treatise on Tranquility and Insight, and in there he has a long discussion about bodhicitta, how it arises, and how it's developed, and so on. And in that text we see the beginning

[20:23]

of an extensive teaching about how the bodhicitta, how the thought of enlightenment arises in the relationship between living beings and Buddhas. This discussion of how Buddhas appear in the world in order so that sentient beings can look at them and practice reverence towards them and generate merit in relationship to them. They appear so that people can generate merit and virtue sufficient for them to open to wisdom. Actually, this statement is taught in the Samadhi Nirmacana Sutra, Indian Sanskrit text. Again, we do not have the Sanskrit text of the Samadhi Nirmacana, we only have Tibetan and Chinese. But in that Indian text, both in the Tibetan and Chinese, which are both translated into English, there is a discussion

[21:29]

of that Buddhas appear in the world so that living beings can relate and generate wholesome roots, because without somebody to relate to sometimes, it never occurs to us to do so. Just like with my case, I've often told the story of when I was twelve, with the inspiration of James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley, I thought that it would be really good for me to be as bad as possible because that would make me as popular as possible. The good boys in school were not very popular. Elvis was not popular for being a good boy, he was popular for the hip movement and singing to African rhythms and so on. So I thought, well, at

[22:35]

twelve you can do more or less anything and nothing much will happen to you, so let's go for it. So I did, but a man who lived in my apartment building after I was apprehended by the police, lovingly had a little talk with me, and the upshot of the conversation was, you know, it's easy to be bad. And by what he said earlier, I actually knew it was easy to be bad. All it takes is a little guts. And he had some guts too. He was 1946 National Heavyweight Golden Gloves champion. So he said to me, it's easy to be bad, what's hard is to be good. So I thought, okay, all right, I'll be good. I didn't say it out loud because

[23:43]

he was six foot four and weighed 240 at the time, and I didn't want him to be provoked into deviating from his love towards me. He wasn't my father, he had two daughters, and I think he wanted to have a son, but I was the closest he had available, so he was a very good kind of uncle to me. And when he said that to me, it kind of inspired a little bodhicitta there. In our relationship, the urge to do good arose in me. Deluded beings do not think up for themselves to be good. They don't naturally think of doing good. They need education, they need somebody to suggest it in a way that makes it appealing, lovely, delicious, joyful. And so Buddhas do that for us. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas make

[24:51]

us think that being good would be really as cool as being very popular. Even doing good is so good, they could teach us, that even if we were less popular, it would still be good. It's so good. Even if nobody noticed that we did it, even if we got no rewards for it, it would still be fine. Something conveys that to us. We naturally learn, we naturally know how to be possessive and selfish. Nobody has to teach us. People can show us how to do it, but if they don't, we'll still be able to figure it out. But to be good, we need teachers, and when we meet and have a relationship with the best of teachers, this bodhicitta arises. Not just to do good, but to do good just to do good for the welfare of all beings.

[25:56]

Not just to do good to get something for ourselves, but to do good for all beings. This arises and that's taught extensively by this Chinese master named Jiri and his disciples. This understanding of where this bodhi mind comes from is very strong in the ancestor Ehe Dogen of this tradition. He says many places in his works, he says, The good of this practice, the good of that practice, these all arise in the context of this relationship between sentient beings and Buddhas. The good of these practices don't arise just from me doing it. They arise from the relationship. In the teachings of Dogen, also the scriptural sources there are in his text, Bendowa, which

[27:12]

can be translated as literally, On Negotiating the Way. In there he has a section which describes this concentration, this self-fulfilling concentration, this concentration which fulfills the self, which is the concentration of the Buddha, which is the Buddha's enjoyment of enlightenment, which is the concentration of being still and silent. It's the concentration of what's going on in the stillness and the silence of the Buddhas. It's talking about just being yourself in the middle of stillness and silence. So that's one text that's in the background of what I'm saying. Dogen describes in that text what's going

[28:19]

on in the Buddha's heart, in the Buddha's mind, when the Buddha is sitting still, being Buddha. He's describing what was going on in Bodhidharma when he was sitting facing the wall for nine years. The tremendously active world of healing relationships among all beings, the way everybody's helping each other, the way everybody's fulfilling each other, that's going on in the silence and stillness of the Buddha, of Bodhidharma, and of us when we do this practice. So Vendawa sets the standard for this practice of sitting still, being ourselves, for the welfare of all beings. Another text by Dogen in the background of what I'm saying is the Bodhisattva's four methods of guidance, sometimes translated as four methods of attracting disciples, four

[29:29]

methods of benefiting others. But I like to say that the Bodhisattva's four methods of embracing and sustaining, so usually it's taken as the four methods by which the Bodhisattva helps people, the Bodhisattva guides people, embracing and sustaining. But it's hard to translate it the other way, but the character has both an active and a passive, the character by itself, in Chinese, it needs an active marker if you're embracing and sustaining others, if you're guiding them, if you're nourishing them, you've got to put an active character, an action character next to it to make it that you're doing it. But you can also put a passive character next to it, and then they're doing it. So these methods are methods by which Bodhisattvas guide all beings, but they're also methods by which all beings guide Bodhisattvas.

[30:35]

The four methods of benefiting all beings, the four methods by which all beings benefit themselves. For example, giving is a method by which you benefit and guide others, but when you practice giving it's a method by which others guide you and benefit you. When you use kind speech it's a way to guide others and benefit them, but also when you use kind speech it's a way for them to benefit you and guide you. The last of these, the third one, is beneficial action. So again, beneficial action is a way to attract disciples, to guide disciples, but it's also a way for disciples to attract you. If you practice beneficial action the disciples attract you. When you practice beneficial

[31:39]

action people become more attractive to you. The last one is identity action, practicing together, doing things cooperatively. Again there, this is a way to guide people and it's a way for people to guide you. So that text on these four methods is also in the background of what I've been saying. You can study that. And then there is the literal text called Hotsubodai-shin by Dogen, which means arousing the bodhi mind, arousing the bodhi mind. That's the text by Dogen. So that too is in the background of what I'm saying. And there too you find the discussion of this mind does not arise

[32:42]

by itself, does not arise from others, it arises from spiritual communion between living beings and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And then there is Gakudo Yojinshu, which means guidelines for studying the way. And there too there's a discussion of how does the bodhicitta arise, and there too Dogen says it arises from the spiritual communion. And then there also is a text called, which is one of the last texts he wrote, which is called Doshin, or the word dō, Chinese pronunciation of it is dào. It's a character which means a path, a road, a way. But it also means to speak, and it also means in Buddhist context

[33:52]

enlightenment. So the path and enlightenment are two different understandings. So this is the way-mind, the Buddha-way-mind, the enlightenment-mind. That's another text in the background of what I've been saying. So those are some texts which you could study while I'm away this fall in the mountains, sitting still. But eventually, probably, people are going to ask me to start talking, so I might be talking a little bit too, besides being still and quiet. I hope you are practicing being still and quiet too here in the Bay Area, while some of us will be up in the mountains

[34:57]

being still and quiet for your welfare. And I hope you're practicing here for the mountain monk welfare. Send us care packages of silence and stillness. Please keep in spiritual communion with us. So is there any feedback you want to make on this class or the last one? I think you said that in silence and stillness, you're yourself. So as soon as you start talking, that means there's separation and it's delusion? Is that why you're emphasizing the silence

[36:05]

and stillness and not the speaking? The talking that occurs in silence and stillness is the activity of being yourself. It's the activity of the Buddhas when it occurs in silence and stillness. In silence and stillness, there's no clinging to yourself. So when you speak from no clinging, the speaking is an expression of that non-clinging, of that awakening. And then it's beneficial. It's the Buddha's speech. But if you start speaking and then you get distracted from the silence and stillness,

[37:07]

then your speech doesn't seem to be coming from the silence and stillness anymore. Then it's just conventional talk, which can be wholesome or unwholesome or neutral. But if you lose touch with that radical presence where there's no attachment, then we have a problem in that discrepancy. When we're sitting in silence, silent like a stone, we can realize ourselves fully, but everything is impermanent, so our self isn't really a permanent self, it's changing.

[38:15]

Is the self changing when we're sitting silently? Yes. The silence and stillness is only in the moment. Stillness doesn't last. It's just the stillness of you being you now. Now you being you now. This is a new Vera right now. And this new Vera being her is stillness. Now that one has gone away and we have another one, a fresh one, although she's a little bit older than the one that left. So we're constantly getting fresh, new, older selves, and each one is completely still and quiet. Appreciating this stillness and quiet of the present person is Bodhidharma's practice, is Buddha's practice. I don't think we'll be able to do this unless we're doing it for the welfare of others because

[39:26]

it's not much fun for our self. But to do it for others is appropriate. This is our greatest gift is to give our silent, still, unattached self to all beings. This is a great gift and it's a great joy to give this gift. But the self, the personality, might not think it's fun. However, if the personality allows this attention, the personality will be encouraged to continue because it will be a great joy to the whole area. And the one who's not trying to get any joy for herself and not attached to the joy that's being given to her, again, she's very joyful. If we're attached to our joy and trying to get some, that erodes, and

[40:38]

to say to a significant extent is an understatement, our happiness. That erodes to a significant extent our happiness so that you could just say that it erodes our happiness to the point of misery, or misera, or miserables. I'm wondering about when Buddhas appear in the world for us to commune with, is that sometimes through an individual just for a short amount of time? I don't know that I've ever met or come across a Buddha, but I feel like at times I've interacted with people who are manifesting that quality of their own. Maybe those are Bodhisattvas. Strictly speaking, in the historical sense, we only have one

[41:48]

Buddha in history. But there are many Buddhas who are not in our history, but are in some other history right now. There are innumerable historical Buddhas coexisting with us right now who do not live in this world. So we would be spiritually communing with them just on another plane? No, the communion is not a physical plane. The communion between you and me is not physical. Our relationship is not a physical thing. So when you're talking about the Buddhas that are in the world for us to relate to... they're not actually in the world. You and I are in a world, we each have our handy little world and we still can relate to each other even though in some sense we share this physical world, but we also have our sub-worlds within this physical world, and we relate. Our spiritual

[42:54]

relationship is not a physical thing. We can have, and we do have, and we can communicate and we can develop our spiritual relationship with Buddhas who co-exist with us right now. And Mahayana teachings, the great vehicle teachings, are filled with instruction about how to develop relationships with Buddhas. And again, a text which I didn't mention, which I now mention, is a text called the Lotus Sutra. That's also in the background of what I'm saying, because the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra is not the historical Buddha, even though that Buddha in the Lotus Sutra has the name Shakyamuni Buddha. But it's not the historical Shakyamuni, it's a transcendent Shakyamuni who's saying, I'm always here, who tells us that the historical Shakyamuni

[43:56]

was a skillful manifestation of a Buddha that doesn't appear in the world. But that Buddha also says that if you take care of yourself really well and take care of others, or if you take care of yourself really well for the welfare of others, you will see this Buddha teaching the Lotus Sutra right now. And again, see in the same sense of seeing the ultimate truth, not really as an object, but we can say conventionally, you will see the Buddha's teaching right now. That's what the Lotus Sutra tells us. We need this relationship, and it's available. So in terms of needing a relationship, you said that a person can't develop this sense

[44:59]

by themselves and connect to goodness by themselves, and I'm wondering, so what about the concept in Buddhism of basic goodness? I kind of always thought that was kind of there as a ground and that it could be connected to... Well, I guess there's something about us that when we stimulate the Buddhas and they respond to us, something in us responds to them. And so we generate the interest in giving good a try. Something about us wants to, when somebody reminds us or shows us how cool it is. We need the connection in order to awaken it in ourselves. So you could call that our basic goodness. Or just like in a more ordinary sense, a child cries and somebody

[46:10]

responds to it. And sometimes people respond very skillfully and compassionately. And the child sees this skillful, compassionate response, and then something in the child gets, other than their own crying for help, they see this person helping them. And at some point they think, that was cool how they helped me, I'd like to do that, I'd like to learn that too. Now maybe they don't quite say it that way, but later they may say, they kind of saw the example and they want to give it a try. Now sometimes they think, they see the example, but they say, I don't want to copy that person. Sometimes parents teach children a good example, but the children don't want to admit to the parents that they're copying them, so they wait until they're left home to start copying some of the good things that the parents taught them. But actually there is this thing in them which, when they cry for help and they get a good response, something arises in them which is like, I'd like to do that too. And

[47:14]

if it's not your parents, like the stories I've told you, when it wasn't my parents, I saw this example and something in me said, I want to be like that. There's something about me that wants to be like that. So that's something in me that was brought out, actually when I was being naughty and somebody responded to my naughtiness in a certain way, something good in me says, I want to do something other than being naughty, something more difficult, called being good or called being like that great Bodhisattva. Some things that Jesus did, the teacher Jesus, I kind of stimulated him to do things that stimulated something in me, I wanted to be like that. But the miracle worker I wasn't so interested in, couldn't relate to. So again, I was attracted to Buddhism through not miracle workers but through teachers, through people setting kind of ordinary daily life situations

[48:18]

which everybody could do with a slight change. The things that I thought were coolest were the things that were kind of like closest but totally different, like opening your hand rather than closing it. It actually does open, but it often closes at very characteristic times like around our own possessions. It doesn't necessarily open around our possessions, but we do know how to open and close. We have the ability to open, we have the ability to give, but we sometimes don't do it except under special circumstances. And to see somebody who gives at an unusual time is really attractive. Later I heard about miracles, but now I think the major miracle is actually the most ordinary thing, namely to be yourself is the greatest miracle. Being still is like, that's my idea of a miracle, to realize that. And yet, it's

[49:28]

so close, it's like right here all the time. But we get distracted from the miracles so easily. Again, we need examples to remind us. We need a sangha, we need a teacher, we need a guru. So, doing it for others might be a concept to get to that part, but it's not a concept

[50:46]

of others. That's okay, it's okay if there's no concept of others. Is there a concept of self? No. That's fine then. And then, what do you do if somebody says, are you sitting for others? How do you respond to that? If I say to you, are you sitting for the welfare of others, how do you respond? That's okay, that's good. That's fine, that's me too. It's okay, it's fine. Is that a result? It feels like it. What's the result? Being that is doing it for others, it's doing it for life.

[51:51]

Also, if you sit still, people probably will eventually ask you what you're doing. And one of his teachers was sitting, and his teacher said to him, what are you doing? And he said, I'm not doing anything at all. And the teacher said, then are you idly sitting? And he said, if I was idly sitting, I would be doing something. And the teacher said, you say you're not doing anything, what is this not doing anything? And the student said, even the ten thousand sages don't know. And when the student said that, the teacher was very happy.

[53:03]

And the teacher said a poem. The poem was, We've been practicing together like this, going along, adjusting to circumstances. Even the ten thousand sages don't know what we're doing. Much less foolish, inattentive beings. The problem is that two women being at that part, there's no difference. There's no difference, yeah. And they're joyfully practicing together. Not for themselves. And they're not really doing anything.

[54:11]

They're not doing it for anybody else, and they're doing it for all, not anybody else's. And all the, anybody else's that meet them are very happy with the way they're practicing. And are encouraged. Right? Yes? In addition to the long list of books mentioned tonight, do we have one thing at the top of our list for homework assignments for the next few months? Well, I think I would put Bodhicitta at the top of the list. Study that. Think about

[55:23]

awakening and realizing it. You don't have to say to me, for the welfare of all beings. And you don't have to say others. Just the welfare of all beings. Whatever you do, just remember to do it for the welfare of all beings. Or to just ask yourself, do you want to do this, or do you want to offer this to the welfare of all beings? Just open the scope on what you're doing, moment after moment. When you go to class, when you go to work, when you do anything, are you doing this for the welfare of all beings? Yes. We have lots of responsibilities, but I haven't noticed that being mindful of that makes things any harder.

[56:35]

Adding that mindfulness to all the other things I'm doing doesn't make them harder. Does it make them easier? Yes. Easier in the sense that they're not so draining, because I'm not doing anything by myself anymore. Then I'm open to everybody helping me do whatever I'm doing. And then the question is, is everybody helping me do this? Yes. That's the context, a good context for everything. Is everybody helping me do this? Am I doing this to help everybody? Am I answering this question to help everybody?

[57:37]

Am I asking this question? I have a question about patience. I've been meditating on patience, and I was struck by your teaching, where the grouping of the first three perfections is being oriented toward serving others, and the last three toward it. You can call it an antidote to self-cleaning. Actually, let's change it in context of Michelle's comment. The first three are to benefit sentient beings, which means to benefit suffering beings, the first three. And the last three were an antidote to self-cleaning. Antidote to self-cleaning, antidote to affliction, and the main affliction is self-cleaning. Antidote to the causes of suffering, self-cleaning. Belief that there's some independently existing thing.

[58:39]

Antidote to that. And you talked about altruistic selfishness. Altruistic selfishness, yeah. And I'm just wondering if there's, it seems like there's sort of a threshold between patience and heroic effort, of making that shift from altruistic selfishness, in a sense, to... To altruistic unselfishness. Yes. There's a threshold there. It's made me reflect on the patience. And I'm wondering if patience can also be seen as being patient with your own self-cleaning. Yeah. Being patient with your own altruistic selfishness. Definitely. That's one that's available quite frequently. You don't always have a pain in the butt, but you always have that one. Yeah, definitely. Because it seems like, for me,

[59:40]

what comes up is almost a self-loathing, or a suppression of clinging. Self-loathing is part of self-clinging. Yes. Yeah, so patient with self-clinging, patient with self-loathing, patient with the pain of self-clinging, patient with other people's self-clinging, patient with other people suffering from self-clinging, all that. That's the way to benefit suffering beings who have self-clinging. And also he said there's a threshold between benefiting sentient beings who are suffering because of self-clinging and practices which alleviate or antidote the cause of being a sentient being, the cause of suffering. There's a threshold there. And at that threshold, you also need to practice these first three perfections. At the threshold between benefiting beings

[60:44]

while still having self-clinging and benefiting beings unselfishly, at that threshold you practice the first three and hopefully start practicing the last three. Like that poem, you know, the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You have to say what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. Everyone's walking back and forth at the threshold where the two worlds meet. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. So in order to sit on that threshold, we have to do the first, we have to practice generosity, ethics, and patience to sit at that threshold

[61:45]

where we interface selfishness and suffering. It's at our back or at our front. But also at the threshold is selflessness. Selflessness and even the end of the tendency towards it. So the world of selfishness and unselfishness are meeting all the time. The world of form and emptiness are meeting all the time. And everybody lives on that threshold actually. On one side you have suffering beings, on the other side you have liberation. But actually everybody's at the threshold. And some people are practicing on both sides at once. Other people aren't practicing enough on the side of suffering to be open to walk through the door, which is always open.

[62:48]

And it's not good to go through the door actually if you're not taking care of yourself. If you don't take care of yourself in the realm of selfishness, it's not good to go into the realm of unselfishness. That can just be psychosis. Dreaming that you understand selflessness is worse than dreaming that you're a self. Which is pretty bad. It's worse to dream that you're selfless. But it's fine to be selfless. Just dreaming about it is... Dreaming that you're selfish or that you're the best person in the world you'll get feedback on that. But dreaming that you're selfless, it's hard to get help then. So don't do that. Don't dream that you're selfless.

[63:51]

Just be selfless without dreaming of it. Any more feedback? Silence. Silence.

[65:36]

Silence. Silence. Silence.

[67:06]

May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Thank you.

[68:13]

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