Is there anything you'd like to discuss? Yes. So his question is, with a pain like arthritis, what would immersing yourself in it mean? And then a related question is, what about taking ibuprofen, which is, is it an anti-inflammatory? Or any kind of pain relief, yeah.

[01:07]

So, if something comes, like a pain, at the moment, before you have a chance to, before you can reach for the ibuprofen, fully engage it. as best you can and which means be kind to it like you know if a child's crying because they fell down or they're hungry or they have diaper rash when you hear the cry to do is to compassionate to the cry. Then you might say, would you like some food?

[02:12]

Or you might help them get up. Or you might change their diapers. But before you change your diapers, you have a life. And you can be kind to that, or skip over kindness, miss the opportunity of kindness, And then, perhaps, in a kind way, grasp the medication. But also, perhaps, be unkind to the pain, and then, in an unkind way, grasp the medication. And by unkind, I mean half-heartedly. in taking the medication. If we would follow that scenario, then we would have pain and take pain medication and have more pain and take pain medication and perhaps sometimes have pain medication for it and then have more pain and

[03:23]

But all along, we would be missing the opportunity, which was constantly there, of being kind to what was going on. So, it doesn't mean that if you have a pain, like pain in your gut, you don't eat. It doesn't mean you don't take pain medication. it means that you fully engage what's going on. And from full engagement, if you're ever able to be fully engaged, you might feel that some pain medication would be appropriate. So, any questions now about that? Did you say pain is more constant? Okay, so you have a... But you say constant, but anyway, I'm talking about in the moment.

[04:25]

And then you say, well, but then it might happen in the next moment. Well, the next moment, then if it's constant, then you have a constant opportunity for kindness. Like some, again, some children are constantly in pain. And you go visit them and they have a constant pain. So then can you constantly give them compassion? And the answer is, well, I'd like to, but actually I get distracted. I'd like to be compassionate to them, but when I'm with them, I'm being someplace else. Could you close one of the doors, please? The wind is... is making quite a bit of sound. Basically, until we are really free of all attachment, pain is constant in one form or another. It may be pain in the joints, it may be pain in the heart,

[05:32]

It may be pain in the head, it may be pain of confusion, pain of fear, pain of shame, pain of feeling disrespected, pain of feeling unappreciative, pain of hating someone. Until we're able to fully engage our life and our pains, we will continue be deluded. And from that delusion, craving, attachment, and pain will arise. So, if we have physical pain in the moment, what my understanding of the teaching of the enlightened ones is, be kind to that pain. And being kind to the pain includes being generous towards it. And being generous towards it might mean that you give the person some pain medication. But it also might be that you limit the pain medication because you think that would be... To some people who have really strong pain, who are struggling with how much pain medication to take,

[06:52]

I usually recommend that they don't take so much that they don't have any pain. But some people's pain is so great that they can barely function. So in that case, I feel like, well, maybe it's good for you to take some pain medication, but don't overdose. Like Rush Limbaugh overdosed. And then when you overdose, you don't have much compassion Because you've got, you know, you're high on pain medication, so you don't have compassion for other people who are suffering. So to take so much pain medication that you don't have any pain, you're probably overdosed. But to take none might not be kind. Like a friend, actually like in my case, I remember about, yeah, for a Anyway, back in about 1966, I got a sore throat.

[08:02]

And it was so painful that I couldn't swallow. So I actually spent a lot of time outdoors because I had to spit. I couldn't swallow. So I was spitting. and I couldn't eat, it was too painful to eat so you know I was going day after day with this sore throat and a slight fever and gradually getting I don't know about drinking but anyway I was getting in trouble so I went to the I was in college and I went to the student health center and they gave me codeine and aspirin. They put me in the hospital and gave me a test because they didn't know if I had or not. So they took a culture and put me in the hospital and gave me codeine and aspirin.

[09:09]

When they gave me the codeine and aspirin, I could eat. But the pain was enough so that this person opted for not eating rather than because of the pain of the food going over this this inflamed area so I started eating the codeine and aspirin made it made me pretty comfortable I still had a fever but I started eating and then after like a day of eating and stuff the fever went away and basically it took me a while for the inflammation to go down but basically I was fine and I didn't have strep throat I had some other kind of problem but the pain was such that I couldn't eat so I was getting sicker and sicker but then the pain medication helped me do something appropriate another friend of mine had an operation open heart surgery and after finishing the operation he could breathe but when he breathed deeply it really hurt

[10:24]

so he tended to not want to breathe deeply. But if he didn't breathe deeply, fluids accumulated in his lungs, so he kind of needed to breathe deeply, otherwise he would have lung problems. And he didn't want to take a lot of pain medication. When he took a certain amount, which didn't free him from all suffering, he could breathe deeply and clear his lungs. And some other people have operations reconstructing their skeleton from accidents. And they need to do exercise, but the exercise is painful that they can't do it. But if they don't exercise, it's hard for them to recover. So they take some pain medication, and then they can move and exercise. So I think pain medication can help us. Sometimes we can't even go anywhere near the pain. It's like, get me out of here, you know? We're not present with it anyway. And a little bit of pain, what is it?

[11:28]

Also from that movie. No, it's a different movie. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. So sometimes a little pain medication is medicinal. You know, do something good. So, and off shoes, you know, like shoes make it sometimes easier to walk over rocks. They're kind of like foot medication, foot pain medication, when you're walking on a rough surface. But it's, you know, it's a matter of are you shrinking from your body or are you engaging it? And it's possible to work with food and medicine and shoes and clothes to deal with cold. It's possible to deal with things not to avoid our life, but to sponsor full engagement. And you have to look in your heart and say, am I trying to get away from my life? Or is this pain medication going to help me be more present in my life?

[12:31]

And you might feel like, I think a little bit of this is going to help me be present. Like some people want to meditate. Little ibuprofen, they can't sit still. But they want to practice sitting still and meditating, so they take a little bit of pain medication and then they can sit. And then something good happens when they sit still. So the thing is, are you being kind to the situation? Are you being generous? Are you being careful not to take too much, not to take too little? Are you being patient with the pain? And sometimes you got the pain and you're patient, and sometimes you got the pain and you're not. Patience is a fundamental, vital aspect of being kind. Go away from our pain, to shrink away from it, to run away from it, is actually not kind. To be present with it is kind. And we'll set up the wisdom which will understand this pain and liberate beings.

[13:38]

Are there other things you want to discuss? Yes. I understand the root cause of delusion and suffering. The root cause of suffering is delusion. And that is a sense of alienation. It's a sense of alienation. Well, no, it's not a sense of alienation. It's a belief that we're separate. And then the sense of alienation arises from believing we're separate from something. So alienation is a kind of suffering that arises from belief that we're separate. Where does the what? Where does what? Dissent. Oh, dissent. Where does it fit in? Political dissent. Well, it fits in. I want to get something more. Yeah? When you talk about a heart attack or cancer, what about having one's house full of clothes?

[14:50]

What about losing one's job because the friendship they'll receive do not enable friendship? I would like that included in a Okay, so the example is that your livelihood has, you kind of don't feel like you can find any livelihood. Pardon? What? I didn't say it was. Yes. So we have a situation where we can't find our livelihood. And we, you know, it's part of our life to have livelihood, to have work. Right? So in that situation that would be, you know, feel stressed or frightened or some pain around that. Is that what you're saying?

[15:52]

It's an affliction. Being unemployed is a big affliction for people. And then there's the issue of dissent. Dissent about your... Dissent about unemployment? We're talking about social problems, the environmental crisis, which is a financial system... that creates these things. Yes. I had an experience when I was very, very young, eight or nine years old. This is very, very unique. Except that in a parking lot, in fact, it takes a path over your end of the car that says foreclosed walls. Excuse me. Could I ask you to not tell such a long story and just let me relate to the situation? So, we have a situation of lack of employment and somebody's and they may also feel that not only am I unemployed, sometimes people are unemployed and they feel fine about it.

[17:07]

You know? They, for example, anyway, but other times they feel that the unemployment is the result of or connected to injustice. that some unethical behaviors are supporting this situation of being unemployed. And then your question is, what about dissent in relationship to injustice? As it manifests in, for example, not getting health care, and you may feel that's unjust. People are not being employed or lost their jobs. And you feel like the reasons leading to that The behaviors of humans leading to that unemployment were unjust. And your question is, what about dissent in relationship to the injustice? Right? Am I getting the problem? OK, so I would say, basically I'm saying, when we see injustice, I recommend to myself practicing justice.

[18:18]

So in the legal system or the justice system when people act unjustly they are often brought into the justice system and a lot of behaviors which are seen to be unjust are also called crimes. But there's an idea of being just to unjust behavior. And I would agree to find a way to be just find a way to be ethical towards the appearance of unethical behavior. So if there's something going on that's unethical, which is coming to fruit as lots of miserable unemployed people, I would like to speak to them. I would like to find a way to speak to that and raise a cry justice, but to do that in a just way.

[19:23]

In an ethical way. For example, in an honest way. Like, I don't know what. You could, in a dishonest way, find out something about a problem. And, you know, that would your just relationship to the problem. So, I'm basically saying that if the dissonance, the dissent in relationship to India, I would think it's going to be most effective when it's a just dissent, when it's ethical dissent. Otherwise, we have more injustice, which somebody else is going to have to deal with, hopefully justly. But if they deal with it justly, then if somebody's being just. So dissent can be just, and dissent can be unjust.

[20:28]

And unjust dissent is often about a sense of injustice. Dissent usually is applied to you disagree with it, you think it's not just a problem with it, you don't think it's fair, you don't think it's kind. We don't usually talk about dissent in relationship to the perception of compassion. We feel dissent in relationship to oppression, which is a major form of injustice. How can we be just towards injustice in the form of oppression or corruption? This is a great challenge. I would like to learn how to do that, how to contribute to that. So if I saw an organization that was justly dissenting in relationship to some corruption or justly relating to environmental disaster or environmental dangers.

[21:36]

If I saw an organization that was doing that, I might think I would support that organization. And in that sense, I might be dissenting through that organization towards what I thought was an unjust way to use the environment If I saw the environment being exploited and harmed, I might feel that's unethical. Like I saw a movie about the way they drill for natural gas. They put all kinds of chemicals in the ground in order to get the drilling equipment to go in but then it seems to pollute drinking water so that you can actually, in those areas, you can actually ignite the drinking water and set the drinking water on fire out of the tap. So this movie has now led to, I just heard on the radio yesterday, legislation to regulate the drilling for natural gas.

[22:43]

Because before that there was no regulation on how they could do it. In fact, the movie is called Gasland, by the way. And I think it won Academy Award for Best Documentary. But anyway, it shows how how this is going. And they said on the radio yesterday that this legislation in the end may be good for the gas companies because if they're regulated and they do their drilling in an environmentally less poisonous way, they may prevent the huge crackdown which would happen eventually. So it actually might be good for the drilling companies if they would do it in a more accountable, transparent, and in an ethical way. Do you have any more questions about dissent? I think this is an issue that's important.

[23:51]

A lot of people are wondering about how to do it. The art paper of the New York Times on September 9th this year wasn't a commemoration, written as a commemoration of the 10th anniversary, but it was. And it was a reviewing show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Subtle descent of All right, the Ming Dynasty. And he wrote it in such a way that he made the time of the Ming Dynasty and the invasion of the Manchus seem very, very much like our time, with very weak leadership.

[24:51]

And these artists were dissented. Some of them lost their lives. Yeah, and you sent me that article. Thank you. Or Stephen sent it to me. So I read the article, and basically, here's these works of art, which I felt were just. I felt they were just, that they were compassionate, beautiful responses to injustice. But even if you are non... artistically, beautifully respond, you know, justly responding to injustice, you still can lose your life. So some of these artists either got exiled, which in China is really hard on people,

[25:57]

appreciate their society. To be sent to the wilderness is really a shock to cultured people sometimes. Or they lost their lives in some cases. But I thought their response seemed to be just. I felt compassion in their response. That was a good example. Their descent, I thought, was a good example of speaking justly to the appearance or the perception of injustice. And sometimes we see injustice and we're wrong. But if we respond passionately to what we think is injustice, the situation often then can speak back to us and show us that maybe we were wrong. And if we're practicing justly, we're open to being wrong. Part of, I think, being just is not being self-righteous. So if you see injustice, part of being justice, to be open to that, well, this is my perception.

[27:06]

This is my construction. I understand that. But still, I have some pain with my construction. And my construction is something I'm trying to be kind to. And what kind of response do I get when I'm kind to this situation? And I went down to the Market Street, the inhabit, the occupied San Francisco situation, and I felt that they were being just, that the people there were being just in relationship to the skin. I felt good about the way they were dissenting. I've seen other, I've gone by other demonstrations where I felt like they were violently dissenting disrespectfully, self-righteously respond. When there was the protest or the demonstration against going to the Iraq war, I went to that too, and I felt like that was 99% just and kind.

[28:13]

There were some people who were getting self-righteous about it, and I thought being disrespectful to people who they thought were being unjust. So that's another thing. How can you be respectful to something you think is unjust? How can you be respectful to someone who you think is being acting unjustly? And again, in the justice system they have someone who is accused of a terrible crime and they still treat the person with respect. sometimes even when they administer the what's the word the verdict which means prison time or other things like that or some great fine even when they do that they sometimes administer the verdict with respect so again it's hard for us to respect injustice but I would like to myself to

[29:19]

I recommend being respectful and compassionate towards injustice. That, I think, breeds justice. But I know it's hard to act respectful to something that's horrible, that looks horrible. But if you're not careful with it, you're being unjust. Part of justice means to be careful. If there's going to be a punishment, that could sometimes be helpful. Sometimes it could be helpful to punish someone. It could be just the beneficial thing to do. But not if you're being disrespectful and thinking you're better than this criminal. In the Buddha way, we don't think we're better than criminals. We just think that looks like a criminal act. This person seems to be connected to it, but I'm not better than this. I just want to say, you know, I have a problem with this, and I think this person should be restrained or something, or they should be accountable, and here's what the accounts should be.

[30:32]

And I want to learn to do that without thinking I'm better than this person. But it's hard. You know, it's hard for teachers who are teaching something to a student who's not learning it. I should say it's easy for the teacher to slip into, I'm better than this student. But teachers aren't better than students. They're just the teacher. And the student is just as wonderful as the teacher. But, in fact, the student is not something that the teacher has learned. It doesn't mean the teacher is better. The student is the life of the teacher. There's no teacher aside from the student. So when a teacher thinks that she's better than the student, she's not being just. She's being unjust for the moment. If justice is applied to her. Well, it's... I think they want us to... Oh, wait, hold on. I thought that was the bell for lunch, but...

[31:34]

The first serving of lunch has just occurred. Yes. Say again. Yeah. Yeah. Would we, would you, how would you, you would want to also relate with kindness, wouldn't you, to your own anger? Yes, yeah. Yes. If you, if you see something and you get angry, then I would recommend being compassionate towards the anger. And one aspect of justice is not harboring ill will. Ill will is different from anger. There can be anger like you can scream no when you see some harm.

[32:36]

But you can scream no with a rage in your voice, but you don't mean to hurt anybody. You don't have any ill will. That kind of anger is not against justice. However, still, that kind of anger also should receive some compassion. But if you've got this unjust thing of having ill will towards someone who you perceive to be unjust. The ill will is not just. Ill will does not promote justice. It undermines it. Still, ill will might arise in my heart. So if ill will arises An example of injustice. So I should practice justice toward my own injustice in my own heart. I should be kind and generous and welcoming of my own injustice, of my own ill will. Then, even though there's ill will, there's this wonderful compassion growing.

[33:40]

That compassion is what realizes justice in relationship to injustice in my heart, or in someone else's heart, or someone else's speech, or someone else's posture. Anything else? Yes. Pardon? To injustice? Well, I think it's... Yeah, well, you could dissent I take it back that usually dissent is in response to injustice because sometimes children dissent when being asked to brush their teeth, dissent when being asked to eat, you know, like their blood sugar levels getting low sometimes. have a snack or they just want more sugar.

[34:43]

And that person says, no, we're not going to give you more sugar, but you can have a peanut butter sandwich. And they dissent. But that's not necessarily injustice. The person who is saying, I want you to have peanut butter might be very generous and just in the way they do it. So I take back that injustice is usually in response to that dissent is usually in response to injustice. I think dissent is usually in response to what the person thinks is injustice. Like the child is totally unjust, did not give another cookie. The parents are being totally unjust, asked them to take a nap. So it's a perception of injustice. But we may feel that the parents didn't, or that caretakers are really... you know, they're not being oppressive. They're just saying, they're not going to beat the kid up. They're not going to beat the kid up and throw him in the bed. They're just saying, I want you to go to bed.

[35:45]

And the child really feels that's unjust and they dissent. So it's more the perception of injustice that we are usually dissenting against and disagreeing. And again, a just response to the appearance of injustice makes possible That seeing sometimes we're wrong. And then being very happy. Oh, oh, oh, now I see what you're doing. Oh, I'm sorry. That's really great. But also sometimes seeing, it seems to continue to appear unjust. And I'd like to say it looks unjust. And find a way that I can have a conversation with the appearance of injustice. Because in that conversation, there can be justice. Pardon? Yeah. So dissent against compassion.

[36:47]

Among all the different kinds of anger, the worst is anger towards compassion. And that doesn't hurt the compassion. But the person who is being angry... are disrespectful towards compassion is really harming themselves. So that's, again, here's a radical suggestion. One time the Buddha was with his disciples and one of them said to the Buddha, tell who the great compassionate beings are. And the Buddha said, well, only the Buddha knows who the great compassionate beings are. And the disciple said, well then probably it's a good idea to treat everybody as though they were a great compassionate being. Possibly. So that's not easy. But that means if you're a parent or a grandparent, you treat these little kids who are screaming for more cookies, this might be a great bodhisattva.

[37:53]

But still you might feel like, in your heart great bodhisattva I really don't want you to eat more sugar great bodhisattva I really want you to take a nap please take a nap great bodhisattva I really want you to stop hitting your sister please but really respect them because it might be a great bodhisattva it's possible that a great bodhisattva has come to test you to see if they can give you the opportunity of being kind even to this mean little girl or mean little boy. It could be. In other words, or I could say always, always respect living beings. Always be kind to living beings no matter what they're doing. And from that kindness you can sometimes do miraculous acts of protection.

[38:55]

Sometimes a sh... living being is like being very cruel to some other living being. And if you can really be compassionate, you can sometimes turn that huge, cruel living being into a peaceful person. And there are in the history of the world of people who have related to huge, violent, negative living beings with kindness and converted them to kindness. Of course it's very difficult. That's what the Buddhas are recommending we learn and also be patient with ourselves if we're unable to do it. And when somebody's insulting us We often have a hard time responding with kindness, but that's what's being recommended. And somebody could be a dog, could be a mosquito, could be a spider, could be a snake, could be heat, could be cold, could be sickness, could be unemployment, all these things.

[40:13]

We're being encouraged to respond to them with compassion. and be patient if we can't because some things are extremely difficult and almost no one can respond to them with compassion unless they've practiced for a really long time. So, okay, I lost my patience. I became I looked down on that person and then if I examined my shortcomings in relationship to this being. That examination of my shortcomings in my compassion, that really protects beings. I'm recommending this extremely exhaustive and exalted practice of being compassionate to all living beings. But part of that practice is to notice that we have shortcomings in that practice sometimes or often. And then be attentive to that and by attending to that shortcoming, we can heal the defects in our compassion.

[41:27]

Part of compassion is noticing our shortcomings, noticing our defects. That's compassionate. Not beating ourselves up, but noticing it and studying it. You know, Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you. Shortcoming. Okay. Anything else? Yes. Studying, yes. Studying children's behavior, yes. You feel that if you're studying you're not being present? Well, give me an example of a moment of your life.

[42:47]

What is the studying is the question. The study starts, the beginning of studying is to be kind. So if you see a person, you meet a person, an adult or a child, a dog, a mosquito, you look at it. If you're looking at your own feelings, you pay attention to it. And then you pay attention in a kindly way. So the foundation of study is compassion. So you're generous towards what's happening. You're careful at what's happening and you're patient with what's happening. And then you actually feel courage and enthusiasm about continuing to be kind to what you're studying.

[43:56]

Compassion is part of study. Be kind to this and you're present with it. and patient with it. Now you can be calm with it. So being calm, setting the stage of calmness with whatever you're studying. So now you're with the children and you're generous towards them. You're careful of them. You're generous towards your feelings with them. You're careful of your feelings with them. You're patient with your feelings with them. And now you're calm with them. This is definitely part of studies, is to have that environment of kindness. Now you wonder, what is this child? But you've trained yourself into the present. You're very present and calm. So now your question, who is this? What is this? Now you're not distracted from the present.

[44:59]

And you can ask questions in the present or you can ask questions and distract yourself from the present. So before you ask questions in the most beneficial way, it's good to be really present and still with what you're questioning about. Then, in response to your question or with your questioning comes wisdom. as the crown of this compassionate study. But we do want this study to be in the present, calmly, tranquilly in the present. And in order to be calmly present, we need to be kind to the present. or put it the other way, if we can be present, we can be calm and present.

[46:04]

Now we can question what is reality. And this questioning is the wisdom function within this compassion. Wisdom does not really operate without compassion. Compassion can operate without wisdom It's kind of a warm-up to wisdom. So you can be calm without wisdom, but once you're calm and present, now you're ready to inquire about what's going on. In real time, right? In real time. In the most real time you can find. Not, you know, like real minutes, but real moments. Most real. And that's where you practice patience, is to be in the present with this situation.

[47:07]

And that patience then sets up the ability to have energy, because you're not distracted from the present. And with that energy and that patience, now you can really be calm in the present. Yeah, if you mean studying by cerebral and attached, that's not what I mean. I mean studying in total immersion. Or rather, yeah, total immersion is necessary for the studying which realizes freedom. Yes. Could you speak up a little bit? Yes? Is there an aim towards enlightenment?

[48:19]

Well, one time people asked Sukhiraji about the word enlightenment. Oh, I know what they did. He said something like, you know, before you're enlightened, it's pretty hard to help people. And then one of the students said, well, then most of us wouldn't be able to help people because most of us aren't enlightened. And he said, well, what I mean by enlightenment is helping people. Enlightenment is helping others. And then he said... In order to do that, or what that means is that you see, you understand others are yourself. So what I hope for, what I wish for, is the understanding that you are me. And if I understand that, that helps you. For somebody to understand that you are them. That's enlightenment. want that so I am kind of oriented towards that in order to understand that I have to be kind to you and me and out from that kindness there can be an understanding that you are me and that's what helps people but if we think people are not us and we believe and we think that they're secular then that undermines our compassion okay yes

[49:49]

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Can I say be kind towards the what? The clinging? The what? Clinging part. Be kind to that? Be kind to that? Well, I would just say the same. Everything else I would apply to the clinging. If I saw myself clinging to my money or my house or my clothes, I wish, I want to be kind to myself, to this little clinging guy. treat myself like I would treat my grandson who is sometimes is clingy like you know the other day I I brought him a brand new beautiful brand new mountain bike I drove down to Santa Barbara and gave it to him so it was bought in San Francisco but his parents didn't want to spend more than the bike cost to ship it down there

[51:09]

and they couldn't take it on the airplane. So I drove this bike down to him, and I gave it to him, and we were discussing the bike. No, we weren't discussing the bike. He just received this beautiful new bike. We were discussing his baby sister, who probably will come out of his mother in about one month from now. So he's got this baby sister coming, and he's 12. gonna have this baby sister and I was asking him how he feels about this baby sister coming and he says she's not gonna ride this bike so I I easily feel love for this little boy all the time. I easily continue to feel love for him and compassion for him and generously welcome my greedy, possessive grandson.

[52:11]

I totally, you know, I have, I just totally appreciate him when, which does sometimes happen. I've seen, like, he gave Steph a box of incense when she got ordained. He took his own money, which he made, working in the fields here, and he went to the bookstore and bought some incense and gave it to Steph for her ordination. You know, wow. That little guy does sometimes think of being generous. Not to me, but to some people. Because he knows, with granddaddy, as he says, I can do no wrong. And you know, it's true. I'm so easily compassionate to him. He's getting to his new bike and doesn't want to share with his baby sister. I totally feel... I love him. However, I did have some comments. Which were not exactly dissent, because I didn't feel he was really being unjust.

[53:17]

I just felt like he wasn't... which I think he didn't. So I said to him, by the time she's able to ride the bike, you'll be in college. Or rather, yeah. And the guy who's there going to college won't be you anymore. And that guy might feel fine. He says, I don't care. I still don't want her to ride it. So again, I love this boy. I don't hate him for clinging to his bike. And I would try to do the same to myself if I was clinging to my bike. I would try to be as kind to me as I am to him. And I do sometimes notice that this person is being a little clingy, and I do sometimes treat him very lovingly, like I would my grandson. And I feel fine about that. And then the one who's clinging feels like, well, maybe I don't have to cling so hard anymore since you're so nice to me.

[54:19]

Great. And then I explained to him more and more about how the person who's there when his sister's old enough to ride the bike won't be him. He said, that's totally incomprehensible to me. He was aware that he didn't understand what I was talking about. But he was kind to me. He just didn't say, granddaddy, you are so stupid. He's pretty patient with me. Being this kind of strange thing that I am. Well, there's still more time, yes. Having said no to someone.

[55:25]

Having said no to someone. Having to say no. Yeah. Boundary, she said. It's hard to say no sometimes, you know. It's hard to offer boundaries. And, yeah, so this is one of my favorite topics. So, I often offer a surprising comment that offering boundaries, rather than setting, offering boundaries is an integral part of kindness, compassion, and intimacy.

[56:32]

Offering boundaries is an integral part of liberating things from suffering. Recently, she said, this is a priest, she said, this is not a usual relationship. Even though this is not a usual relationship, is setting boundaries... And I said, something like, playing with boundaries, offering boundaries, basically giving boundaries as gifts, negotiating boundaries, agreeing on boundaries is an essential part of this tradition. Setting boundaries sounds a little dualistic. It sounds a little unilateral.

[57:38]

But establishing, creating, agreeing on boundaries in a conversation, back and forth, back and forth. I offer you this boundary. I don't like it. What do you suggest? This. I don't agree. Well, I don't agree with that. Back and forth, back and forth. More or less, endless negotiation is part of the tradition. But you feel like you need to offer one. You feel like you need to say, no. That's what you feel like you have to offer. But are you offering that to control the person? Or are you offering it because that's who you are? This doesn't work for me. I don't want this. I want you to know that. So setting boundaries, that word setting sounds a little too harsh. So to not be rigid, we don't want to be rigid in this offering of boundaries. But still, even if you gently offer a boundary, just like if you dissent and do a beautiful painting trying to represent your dissent, the government still may kill you.

[58:50]

And your friend may still not like what you're doing. Doesn't mean that they'll like it. But still, it might be a perfect act of compassion for you to say, no, this, this, what was the word you used? What were they doing? Clinging. Your clinging, I don't feel this clinging is appropriate. And I would like you to stop. And it's possible to do that and the other person does not like it. But you have just done a really great gift. And you look to see if you're trying to get them to like you by doing it. And you may notice they didn't like it, but I still feel good about the gift. I'm sorry they didn't like it. And I really feel good that I watched them after I gave it and noticed they didn't like it. And I stayed there with them. So I said no to the clinging, but I didn't say no to the compassion.

[59:55]

So I say no to the clinging, but I'm still here with you. I devoted you, but this clinging thing is... I'd like to offer a no. Another one of my grandsons likes to put his hand into my mouth and pull my mouth wide apart in various directions and then put his hand in. When I said to him, you can do it, but go wash your hands. So he goes and washes his hands and comes back and sticks his hands in my mouth again. I'm actually okay with this. I'm okay with that. It's not a boundary. Generally speaking, it's not a boundary that I'm setting. Not even a boundary that I'm offering. I'm okay with him doing that. But the boundary I do offer is wash your hands. So he came back and stuck his hands in again. I said, would you please wash again? So he went back and washed again. Because the first time I still felt that I still smelled and tasted all this stuff from the street and, you know, the other kids.

[61:01]

It's all in there, you know. So I said, no, no. So he came back again. And then that time they felt pretty clean. So then he was exploring my mouth with his hands. And I'm okay with that. That was okay for me. And his hands are not that big, so it wasn't painful. So, for intimacy, and part of intimacy is setting boundaries like, okay, but wash your hands, or okay, but wear gloves, or okay, but, you know, you can be that close, but not closer. I'm comfortable with this, and this is too much for me. But I'm offering that as an act of compassion, not to... And I have to judge myself, and they say, you're trying to control me, you're being rigid. And I try to listen to that. You're dominating me. I try to listen to that. Maybe I am. I'm open to possibly dominating you. You're being stingy now, letting me put my hand in your mouth. I hear you. But in my case, when he's 15, I probably would say, you're getting too big to do this.

[62:06]

It hurts me when you put your hand in my mouth now. You used to let me do it. Yeah, I know, but you've gotten so big. You used to let me jump on you, but now it hurts. And my daughter, my 35-year-old daughter, she used to climb all over me all the time, you know, and punch me for fun. And at a certain point when she got, you know, like eight or nine or ten, I said, you know, I really love this. You know, I don't mind it at all. I really don't. You know, it's not... But I think you should stop because you're getting too big. You might do it with other people who are not up for it. So I kind of think it's time for you to realize that you can't do this with everybody and start with me, even though I kind of all miss it.

[63:12]

And I think she could see that I wasn't looking down. I just thought, for your sake, I think you should stop it. So she stopped, and I miss it. I miss it. But I think it was a good boundary to offer her and she accepted it. And yeah, so she doesn't hit people. She doesn't hit it. She gave it up when she was about nine. Which is good because she's got quite a punch. Thank you very much. Oh, by the way, I wanted to mention one more thing. It was that today when you ask questions, I didn't invite you to come up, which I usually do. But I think in the future I'd like to go back to my usual practice of inviting people to come up because I can hear you better when you come close. So I just want to tell you that. If you come again and you notice I invite you up, that's my usual mode of question and answer is have the closer.

[64:21]

Thank you. With you. At least for the rest of this year but probably for the rest of my life. And not only are Buddhas those who are enlightened about delusion, but this delusion of independent existence is the main cause of craving and attachment. And craving and attachment are the basic cause of suffering and entanglement in life. Generally, is concerned with living beings and is concerned with their suffering and

[65:29]

It transmits the understanding that the suffering and entanglement of living beings is attachment and craving which are based on delusions. The work, and it is kind of hard work, is to encourage the mind to pay attention and to study the attachment at its base and the delusion at the base of attachment. to look at what's happening and study it.

[66:35]

And it's often, unless well-trained, it's hard for them when they see some pleasant scene to remember to study it, to look at what delusion is there in this pleasant scene. And equally hard, or more hard and difficult, is when we see a horrible thing. When we see, for example, humans being cruel to each other or humans being cruel to animals. When we see something like that, it's hard to react and be mindful. Not just to see it, but to study it. So that you can understand it. so that there can be freedom from this horror. And also freedom, you may not care about it, but freedom from pleasant things too. Because even pleasant things, if we are attached to them, they're suffering.

[67:48]

I'm trying to remember all the time, whatever I see, I try to remember to study it for the sake of understanding it. And that is a basic agreement among all, I think, pretty much all the students of the Buddha Way, is to study our experience, in hopes that freedom will come through this study. And in the great vehicle, the Mahayana, the emphasis is actually put on studying and understanding experience, studying and understanding suffering and delusion, for the freedom and happiness of others.

[68:58]

The thing on the freedom from suffering of others actually helps the study. It's possible to have more courage to do the work when you realize it's not just for yourself For example, if you're looking at your children and they seem to be happy, you might think, well, it's sufficient to enjoy their happiness. That's enough. I don't have to, like, understand. But actually, the proposal is that it's good not to miss any opportunity to understand delusion. Because even while we look at our happy children, there may be delusion. There probably is.

[70:01]

And what's the delusion? The delusion is that the children and their friends exist separate from yourself. And that delusion is innate in sentient beings, in living beings. human beings innately misconceive their experience and think that what they're experiencing is separate from themselves. This is a delusion. We are not experiencing something separate from ourself. When we experience others, we're actually experiencing ourself, our own version of others. So if we're looking at a happy scene, that's wonderful. But we don't take a break necessarily from the practice of enlightenment.

[71:03]

So that when a horrible scene comes, perhaps we don't take a break then either. And we continue to study. A basic principle here, a principle of freedom, of reality, is that total immersion goes with total transcendence. Immersion and transcendence are partners. Suffering, attachment, and delusion is essential for transcendence from delusion, attachment, and entanglement and suffering. And there are many teachings about how to immerse ourselves

[72:18]

and attachments and sufferings of the world in order to help the world become transcendent of itself. There are early teachings in the Buddhist tradition and there are later teachings. And among the later teachings are the great vehicle teachings. The great vehicle teachings are the teachings for those who wish to study their experience in order to help other beings become free of suffering. It's also called in Sanskrit the Mahayana, the great vehicle. At the beginning of the year, I committed to study my own delusion, my own attachments, my own suffering, and to share this study.

[73:26]

And after a few months of the year, I turned attention towards a text could be called the summary of the great vehicle could also be called embracing the great vehicle or being embraced by the great vehicle and this text teaches gives teachings on our mind gives a teaching of our mental processes and shows how delusion and attachment and affliction arise. And it also teaches how studying this process develops freedom, realizes, if you just use the expression, complete perfect enlightenment.

[74:27]

It was stressed that all of our experience, all of our experience, all the things we experience are impermanent ill or characterized by impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not having an independent self. And students were encouraged to be mindful of what they were experiencing and focus on what they were experiencing until they could see these three characteristics of their experience. And by seeing these three characteristics they would become liberated from delusion and suffering.

[75:48]

In the great vehicle these three characteristics are also recommended for attention. But a more radical focus is that all phenomena are none other than our mind. That everything we look at is a construction of our consciousness. And to learn how to remember that teaching, whatever you're looking at, to remember what you're seeing, what you're experiencing is a construction of your mind. To learn how to remember that teaching, to be encouraged to remember that teaching,

[76:55]

to remember that teaching is essential for complete enlightenment. And it's not just to remember the teaching and then without being engaged in this experience and this experience. Remembering that teaching and studying it and seeing things with the aid of that teaching while being completely immersed in your experience. Or I should say immersed in experience. Just to hear this teaching and think of it is a start.

[78:18]

Hearing this teaching now is changing your mind. Hearing this teaching now is transforming my consciousness. But I also must pay attention to what's going on in particular here at the same time. Paying attention also transforms the mind and encourages further attention to experience. And paying attention to experience transforms the mind so that it will be more enabled to continue to pay attention to what it's experiencing. And again, what is it experiencing? Whatever it's experiencing is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and doesn't have a self, but also whatever it's experiencing is a conscious construction.

[79:24]

In order to let these traditional early teachings into our mind and let them change our mind so that our mind becomes free of delusion in order to let this later teaching of conscious construction only into our mind so that we actually realize it become in accord with the reality the reality of what? of delusion Becoming in accord with the reality of delusion liberates us from it. To do that, we need to be very kind to our moment-by-moment experience. In order to study and immerse ourself in our experience, we need to be kind to our experience by moment.

[80:41]

Well, anyway, in a moment. And then hopefully again. But for now, just now. And for now, just now. With the prayer that we will become continuous in our attention to now. And now I'm paying attention. And I wish to be kind to what I am paying attention to. I'm paying attention to experience. I want to immerse, I want to be immersed in my experience where I am. We are immersed in our experience completely. But do we practice that? And the answer is, many answers. One answer is, no. Another one is, a little. Another one is, I would like to learn how to practice the reality of my immersion in my experience

[81:44]

In order to be immersed in my experience, I believe I must be kind to my experience. And if my experience is summarized as anxious or nervous, embarrassed, ashamed, afraid, angry, jealous, confused, confused, embarrassed, anxious. If such words apply to my experience, in order to be immersed in this and become free of it, I must be kind to it. As I often say, if you saw your grandchildren and they were confused and frightened, wouldn't it be appropriate to be kind to them rather than be angry at them for being confused?

[82:57]

For example, if they had the delusion that they were ugly and they were suffering because of that delusion, and they thought not only were they ugly, but they were separate from the other children that they were playing with, who were beautiful or ugly, and you saw them suffering, suffering from delusion, wouldn't it be appropriate to be compassionate to them? The same for ourselves. And it's not just to be compassionate to be compassionate, but also to be compassionate to fully enter our suffering and thereby become intimate with our delusion. And then again, Be compassionate to our delusion. And the basic way to be compassionate to our delusion is to be generous towards it. Be careful of it.

[84:02]

Be ethical with it. Be patient with it. And the fuel for practicing three dimensions of compassion towards our affliction and our delusions, the fuel for it is courageous enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, enthusiastic engagement, enthusiastic aspiration to immerse ourselves in our experience moment by moment. Enthusiasm, joyful courage to live completely in this moment in order that all beings could be free

[85:16]

to be courageous, to encourage courage in others, to dare to live in their difficult life, to be enthusiastic about learning how to be present when we are experiencing irritation from outside and inside. And how do we develop this courage or this enthusiasm to immerse ourselves in our present moment of experience so that there can be freedom for all beings? How do we do that? Well, to a great extent, by thinking. We're thinking all day long, but...

[86:27]

This is a particular type of thinking. This is a type of thinking to develop courage. And there's many ways to think which can develop courage. And there's many ways to think which don't seem to develop courage. For example, let's see now. I do not want to pay attention to what's going on is a way to think. it's not worth it. It's too hard. Or even if it's worth it, I'm incapable of doing it, so I'm just going to not pay attention. And I'm going to try to get away from what I'm experiencing. Like, for example, yesterday and tomorrow... That will help me get away from now.

[87:29]

Pretty soon this will be over. Pretty soon this will be over. Pretty soon I won't have this experience anymore. And this one, I'll be over soon. I'll be dead soon. This is a way of thinking which might not develop enthusiasm for immersing ourselves in our experience Every moment we've got an experience immersed in for the welfare of all beings. So, one way that beings who want to work for the welfare of all beings, one way they think is they... With correct intention, one would be able to practice generosity and ethics and enthusiasm and tranquility and eventually wisdom steadily with

[88:56]

correct intention, one would these enlightening behaviors. One would be able to be kind to what's going on now and be enthusiastic about being kind and be calm with what's happening and come to actually understand it. Once again, one could with correct intention for the welfare of all beings cultivate these virtues practice compassion towards this moment and be calm with this moment and study how the teachings apply to this moment and understand I now would like to commit.

[90:03]

I now want to practice that way. I want to practice with correct intention and do these practices and realize the steady application of them. This is a way of thinking to inspire, to stimulate courage, the courage to do the difficult work of being completely engaged with our experience. Not just to be engaged, but to be engaged so that all living beings can be free of suffering. somebody, somebodies have to learn this and teach it so that beings in all the different kinds of suffering in this world can learn this and practice this and be free.

[91:11]

I am proposing that suffering beings cannot become free unless they do this hard work. of completely engaging with what they're experiencing and understanding it. So not only do we have this work, this wonderful work to do, but we need to cultivate the energy and courage to do it. So part of the work is encouraging our work or being encouraged to do the work and the encouragement comes from thinking about the work and thinking about it and thinking about it until you feel the courage to practice it.

[92:14]

Eventually the courage to practice it no matter what Now, if a kind person is in your face encouraging you to be kind to yourself, you might say, oh, okay. I'm horrified at what I just did and someone said, well, how would you like to deal with that? Could you be friendly to that horror? But if you're feeling horrible and then someone comes up and engages you in a painful way, it's pretty difficult to remember to be kind to your horror and to them. I heard stories 50 years ago of a person who, when he was attacked and insulted unjustly, was able to fully engage with that insult and that

[93:19]

calmly, generously, carefully, patiently received the attack. And then he was praised later when people found out that he was unjustly accused, and then they praised him. And he did the same practice with the praise. And when I saw that, I said, I would like to learn that. That would be really cool. And I've been trying to learn it for the last almost 50 years. And I do not regret one moment. I haven't always remembered, but I never regret being generous with experience, with my experience of my mind. which takes the form sometimes of you.

[94:23]

Sometimes you're my mind and sometimes I'm my mind. But you and I, for me, are my mind and I and we are, for you, your mind. Today, I want to encourage myself and all of you to compassionately engage, to compassionately immerse yourself in your experience, your body-mind experience. One way to encourage is the thinking I just proposed. What was it again? Do you remember? If beings practice these six perfections of the intelligence, generosity, ethical carefulness, patience, and enthusiasm, and concentration, and wisdom, if they practice this, they will realize enlightenment.

[95:44]

And the fourth one on the list is what is being practiced when you think about practicing all six. And I, I commit to do these practices moment by moment. And this commitment will come to fruit as enlightenment. And all enlightened beings have done the same thing. And they all said it was difficult to learn. And if I'm having a difficulty learning it now, I'm just like the awakened ones were before they were completely awakened. But remembering this teaching is enlightenment. It is not complete yet, but it is enlightenment. It is the functioning of Buddha's wisdom and compassion to think about doing these practices and to wish to do them and commit to do them.

[96:56]

That's one type of way to stimulate the courage to live wholeheartedly so that you can become free. Again, the principle is Total immersion in X leads to transcendence of X. Total immersion and transcendence in this situation for living beings. Living beings who shrink away from their life are stuck in their life. So how can we stimulate the courage to shrink away from life? Not shrink away from insult. Not shrink away from cancer. Not shrink away from heart attack. Not shrink away from seeing the horrible suffering of others. Not shrink away. Like it.

[98:01]

Totally embrace it. How can we do that? We have to talk ourselves into it by thinking about how good it would be if we didn't shrink away. To teach others how to lovingly enter the total world of all living beings who are suffering. Another stimulant, just to give you another example of a way to stimulate the courage to experience in innumerable, in innumerable, uncountable universes. There are innumerable, immeasurable human beings who are attaining complete enlightenment every moment.

[99:17]

For example, on this planet right now there may be a human being who is attaining perfect enlightenment right this moment. But there might not be on this planet even one. But in the innumerable earths, in innumerable world systems, there are innumerable human beings who are attaining enlightenment. And this thought, it has been recommended in ancient times as a way to encourage us to practice so that somebody and so that innumerable somebodies will attain complete enlightenment and liberation. And somebody told me recently that he heard this recommendation and when he heard it he felt discouraged This is a thought, this is a way of thinking to stimulate courage.

[100:35]

And on some of your faces, right now, innumerable human beings are attaining enlightenment. I saw some kind of flutter on your eyebrows. It's like, really? What are you talking about? Such fluttering in the eyebrows is welcome. No, no. We want to totally be immersed in any skepticism about that statement. But it's not so much that you say it's true or false, although you might, it's more that you think it. And you might think, does it cause any harm if I think that innumerable human beings are attaining enlightenment right now? Will that harm anybody? When you think about whether it's harming anybody, at the same moment you might think innumerable living beings are attaining while I wonder if that's true.

[101:43]

I'm not sure, but I had this feeling that Buddhas, that enlightened beings, actually don't just think innumerable human beings are attaining enlightenment right now. They don't just think it, they actually see it. They're seeing beings enlightened right now. And they have unlimited courage to work for the welfare of others because they see this wonderful thing. And when we think that way, we're thinking like Buddhas. And if we have a thought wondering if it's true or false, if we think it's false or if we think it's true, still, to cultivate this thought may give us great courage of a Buddha. Not denying all the suffering in the world, but thinking of something to generate courage in the middle of the suffering.

[103:05]

Not denying the suffering, but saying, there's something good to do here in this suffering. What good thing could there be? Oh, well, we could understand its cause and become free. And do that to help others learn how. And I need some courage, so maybe I'll think about it. beings attaining enlightenment right now. Maybe they'll develop courage. I'll try that. Another one. One more. It's two parts. One is the mountains and rivers and the great earth are born together in each moment with each living being. This teaching is kind of like saying that whatever you're experiencing is a conscious construction.

[104:13]

The sun and the hills and the ocean and all living beings are born together right now with each of us. With each of us a world is born. In each moment, a world is born together with us. The world is not there before us or after us. It arises with us. All enlightened beings are practicing together with each of us. And one ancient master said, if you hear this and it doesn't make sense to you, Just keep thinking about it until it does. This practice, this potential practice, we have the potential to fully live our life is what's being said here.

[105:26]

Living beings can be completely living beings. They have that potential, but they need to train. And it's hard for them to do the training long-heartedly enough to completely accept being themselves. All Buddhas have learned how to do this. They've learned how to completely immerse themselves and thereby completely transcend themselves. And the transcendent Buddhas, the ones who have learned how to completely be themselves, are practicing together with each of us right now. They have sent us that message. The ones who have completely immersed themselves in their lives and become free have sent us the message that they have completely immersed themselves in their lives. transcendence and they are here to support us to do the same practice.

[106:31]

This kind of courage then if we hear the teaching about our delusion it really it has a place to pervade because we're here. If we're half here and the teaching comes in, it's half received. If we're totally here and the teaching comes in, it's totally received and our mind is transformed into understanding of delusion. This is the teaching about delusion. receive this teaching completely, we will understand it, and when we understand it, we will be free of what the teaching is about. And Buddhas are those who have received this teaching, understood this teaching, understood delusion, and thereby transcended it.

[107:39]

It is also asked in this text that we're studying, it's asked, well, who gets to understand this teaching? And it says, well, listen to it a lot. So you're listening to it now for about an hour. I've been listening to it for more than an hour. And I intend to keep listening to it and listening to it so that there would be a lot of what you might call permeation of this teaching in the mind. And I also wish to do it so that other beings' minds will be permeated by this teaching of the nature of the mind and the nature of its transformation. So I'm offering it here. And I'm offering it tomorrow night here at Green Gulch.

[108:54]

And I'm offering it in Berkeley. And I'm offering it in Watsonville. And I'm offering it in Los Angeles. And wherever I go this year, I'm offering the teaching of how to study our delusion, how to immerse in experience and study the experience in order that all beings free of delusion and the suffering which arises from it free of delusion and the craving and attachment and suffering delusion misconception craving, attachment, suffering misconception craving, attachment, and suffering. Round and round it goes. And as I say, where it stops, nobody knows. It doesn't stop. It won't stop unless we immerse ourselves in the process.

[109:58]

And it's not a process to immerse ourselves in because it is uncomfortable. It is unsatisfactory. But there can be a great enthusiasm in the middle of it that if we would totally engage it, we would understand it and free all beings from it. I just thought of a song. I don't know this song very well, but maybe some of you do. I also just thought that some will criticize me for singing such an old song. This song predates me hearing the story about the man who was insulted and received the insult generously and kindly.

[111:03]

I heard that story even before that. It's probably from the 50s or 40s. I think it's from a movie called The King and I. So I don't know this song. Anybody who does know it can come and stand by me and help me. Do you know it? Getting to know you? Do you know it? Do you know it, Sala? Anybody else know it? Well, this is a song actually I think sung by a tutor, a female tutor. It goes something like this. Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

[112:02]

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