that we all have a original nature, an original home. This original nature, this original home, is the way that we exist, really. Independent. Independence. Independence upon the entire universe. This original home is how we are supported by the entire universe.

[01:19]

And it is also how we support the entire universe. The way we really are is the way we support the entire universe. And the entire universe supports us. I said this to some people a while ago, and someone in the group said, I can see how we're all interdependent with the whole universe and with each other, but I don't see the support. And I don't remember what my response was, but today my response is, The way that we are interdependent with the entire universe and the entire universe interdependent with us is not something you can see.

[02:23]

And also the way that the whole universe supports you and me and the way you and I support the universe is not something you can see. It is an imperceptible mutual support and assistance. It is not perceptible. There is an expression the Buddha gave which is, conditioned co-production as a basic reality, as a basic reality. We are conditioned co-productions.

[03:30]

We human beings are, trees are, mountains are, rivers are. Conditioned co-productions. We are born through conditioned co-production. It isn't just that other things make us to be born. We also make all other things to be born. It's co-production. We are not self-produced, we are other-produced, and others are not self-produced, they are other-produced, and we're part of the other that produces all beings. We are a self, we are a unique self, a unique person, and we are a co-production of imperceptible, boundless causes and conditions.

[04:41]

And they are the same. The whole universe is producing individual things that are producing the All beings, for example, me, and for example, you, all beings are calling for compassion. All beings are listening. to the calls of all beings. Each being is listening to the calls of all beings, and all beings are listening to the call of each being.

[05:50]

This calling of all beings to all beings, and also the calling of beings to the fully enlightened Buddhas, And the Buddha's listening, and all beings listening, is imperceptible. It is inconceivable. It is unthinkable. It is ungraspable. It is incessant and open-ended. There's no limit to it. And this is our original home. This is our original nature. This dependent co-production, moment by moment, constantly changing. All things come to give birth to us and death of us.

[06:55]

Birth of us, death of us. And we, our birth, contributes to the production of all beings. We co-produce the Buddhas, the Buddhas co-produce us. We can both co-produce each other, others co-produce us. And in this co-production, in this mutual support, which is our original home moment by moment, without moving, we are in conversation with all beings. This way that we're made is still and silence. And this stillness of what we are, right now, and now, and now, the stillness of it, this immovable presence of what the universe makes us to be in each moment is an endless,

[08:06]

unlimited conversation with all beings. We are a conversation with all beings and they with us. And the way we are with all beings always is imperceptible. This is our original home, our original nature. And also, we humans, for example, I'm not ready to speak for trees right now, but we humans have been made with the capacity, with the capacity, with the facility of being able to

[09:16]

not being able to, but we have the capacity, we have the capacity to perceive. We have the ability to perceive. And this ability to perceive has been projected upon our original home. which is imperceptible. We come with the ability to project perceptions upon an infinite, unlimited, dependent co-production of the whole universe and of ourselves. And we project a perception of this process, which is not... We project perception upon this process, which cannot be reached by perception.

[10:41]

The way we normally know our original home, the way we know The way we are dependently co-arising, the way we know it, is by a perception of it, which is not it, and doesn't reach it. We know the infinite by perceiving it in finite ways. And because this perception of our true nature, of our true home, of our true situation, of infinite mutual support, because of our perception of it, was originally and is originally imperceptible.

[11:55]

Because we put projection upon the imperceptible, our perceptions are yearning to return home. Because we project feelings and discriminations upon this unlimited original home. Our feelings and discriminations are yearning and longing to return home to their imperceptible source. and motivated by this profound wish and longing to return to our original true nature and home, we go someplace else to look for it.

[13:24]

We're sitting right in the middle of our home, our imperceptible true home, we have We have covered it up, or it has been covered up by our perceptions, and we really want to get back together with it, and so we think we probably should go someplace to find it, because it ain't here. It ain't here. In a way, it almost is correct that it ain't here, but it is here. It's just that it's covered by perceptions, is covered by limited versions of itself. And so we think, it's not here. It is here, but it's not here. So we go someplace else to find it. And we'll talk about the other part later. And also, I just want to say that this projection

[14:33]

of perception upon our imperceptible, infinite home, you know, it's necessary that we do that. And one of the basic ways we do that is we tell stories. Like, as children, We're living in our original home, and then our ability to project some graspable images upon the unimaginable home, that ability then... What is it, two? It gives us a way to live with our perceptions.

[16:13]

So our perceptions need to be worked with in such a way that our perceptions will be tolerable. So, our perceptions are actually a misrepresentation, and we need to make the misrepresentation into a form that is, what's the word, that kind of will soothe us from the suffering that we feel from the separation that the perception causes. So then we tell stories about our original home to help us deal with the... What's the word?

[17:16]

The misrepresentation of our home. which is painful. And so the stories we tell are stories, the stories we tell that we want to tell are stories of safety, stories of support. So we tell stories to our children and we tell them that they are going to be supported. They can't see the support because it's not perceptible. They can't perceive it, but in lieu of perceiving it, they perceive other things. And the things they perceive frighten them tremendously. They perceive things like, I'm alone.

[18:25]

Nobody's helping me. I'm in danger. We don't tell, usually people do not tell children, would you please imagine that you're in danger? Would you please imagine that you're all by yourself? Would you please imagine that your parents don't care for you? We don't usually tell children that. They imagine it naturally by projecting perceptions on a wonderful, interconnected universe. And in the process of projecting these perceptions, they come up with perceptions like, my mother, I don't have a mother. They can't see their mother, and they think, I don't have a mother. Because the mother went in another room.

[19:26]

So they cry out in pain. They cry out in fear. Because they think they don't have any support. Because that's what they perceive, no support. And then the mother comes back in the room and they maybe eventually calm down. And the mother does things and the father does things to the baby to help the baby see that they are supported. To help the baby perceive that they are supported. They can't perceive how they're actually supported. But they can perceive how they're not supported. And they can perceive stories of how they are supported.

[20:28]

But their stories of how they're supported are not how they're supported. And their stories of how they're not supported are totally wrong. And when they have perceptions of not being supported, they are more or less incapacitated. They can hardly live, they can hardly breathe. Somebody has to teach them how to perceive that they're supported. And so that's the job of the caregivers, of the parents, to teach the child how to imagine that they're supported, how to imagine that they're safe and loved and protected. They really are, but they can't see how they really are, so they get taught how to think that they are so they can cope with the way their mind

[21:36]

Now we have new forms of perception which help us be calm in the face of not understanding that we are supported. To make up stories about how we are supported to cope with covering up how we're really supported. And after a while, the child can tell themselves, hopefully the child can tell themselves that they're supported. So even when the parents aren't around, they can say, even though my mother's in the other room, I know she'll come back, or I know she'll support me, or I'm a grown adult now and I can support myself, or I can get other people to support me. These stories are what we need. need to deal with, because we do have this perceptual equipment, and it's going to be used.

[22:43]

And then the way to use it is usually to go do things which are, in a sense, negating our original home, which is to say, you need to go someplace and do something in order to be embraced and sustained by the whole universe, or at least by enough of it to survive. So then we go about various activities, all of which are basically denying that we're already supported, and doing things which we are being told by others are necessary in order to receive support. And if you don't do these things, you won't receive support. People talk like that to each other sometimes. If you want support, you gotta do this, rather than you're already supported. But I'm not talking about reality, which includes that we're already supported, and which includes that we're supported

[24:01]

to imagine that we're not supported. And to imagine that we could be supported if we do something to get supported. But our original home, we don't do, the thing we do in our original home to get support is we support the entire universe. That's what we do. But we don't tell people the way to get support is by supporting them. Well, we do tell people, I'm telling you that. But we don't tell children, if you want to be supported, support the whole universe. We actually tell them, even if you don't support your parents, they'll still support you. Even if you don't support your brothers and sisters, we parents will support you. They won't support you. They'll tell you that. If you don't support us, we ain't supporting you. But mommy and daddy, will you support me even if I don't support my brother and sister? Yeah, we'll do it. For a while, anyway, we'll support you. You should eventually learn how to do that, though. Otherwise, we might stop supporting you.

[25:03]

And at a certain point, parents do say that to the children. If you don't get a job, we're not gonna support you anymore. This is what it's like when we've left home, when we left our original home, which we naturally do. We naturally do it because we have equipment which we cannot stop from being projected upon our original home. You cannot stop it. It's going to happen. And then once it starts happening, we're stressed and frightened because we've been cut off from the Buddha mind, from reality. Our mind has cut us off from our original home. So then we need to go through a process of education, of learning stories, of how to cope with being cut off and how to cope with yearning to go back

[26:14]

to our original home. Stories about how we will be supported, stories about how we are supported, and stories about what we need to do to maintain the support. And again, we don't tell the little babies stories about what they need to do to maintain the support. We don't tell them that, we just give it to them. And as they grow up, we tell them, it's time for you to start, we tell them stories about, it's time for you to start to do things, otherwise the support may be cut off. And if they've received enough support before that, they kind of feel like, okay, maybe I can do that.

[27:16]

If they haven't, it's hard for them to even learn what they need to do in the world of stories in order to continue to receive support. But it's still kind of like basically a horrifying situation. Is that, you know, But when you're little, we say, you don't have to do anything, we'll give you the support no matter what you do. And then gradually we tell people, you gotta do something. And then we learn how to do it, and then we have our middle years, and then when we're old, we can't do this stuff anymore that we were told if we did them, we'd get support, old age. So then we're afraid, will they keep taking care of me if I'm not doing that stuff anymore? And then sometimes people say, They don't treat us like they treat babies. They don't say, you don't have to do anything. We're going to support you no matter what you do.

[28:17]

But I'm talking about our original home, where you and I are supported no matter what we do. And no matter what we do, we support the whole universe. So we do, and what we do is imperceptible. We cannot see how we support all beings. We cannot see it. And we are not told also at that home base, we're not told that we need to support the whole universe in order to receive it. Actually, we are told that. We're told, the whole universe says to us, would you please support us? And we say, mm-hmm. Would you let us support you?" And we say, mm-hmm. And we also say to the universe, would you please support me? And the universe says, mm-hmm, yes. So we ask the universe to support it, and it does. It asks us to support, and we do. But how that's going, again, is imperceptible. However, this is a message coming to you from the Buddhas, who have realized this, and are telling us a way

[29:29]

When we're bigger than little, when we're full grown, we have trouble realizing this, even though it's already the case. So what we need is a training program and teachings, and I'm giving you teachings today about how to realize your true home. When you realize it, then you will be at peace, and you will realize that you are imperceptibly according and in harmony with all beings, and you'll be free, totally free, to teach other beings how to realize this. Yeah, so, and of course I talk to you all the time about how to be compassionate to these stories of support and not support in such a way as to realize not the story, but the reality of our true home. We do not make our true home. It is co-produced by us and all beings.

[30:39]

We've already got it. It's just that because of our perceptions, we don't get it. We don't understand it. So now we have a chance to be compassionate with the perceptions which go with all this horror. And being compassionate to the horror, we will realize the true home, which never went anyplace, which is always still, and is always in conversation with us, and doesn't interfere with us making stories about it. like stories like, we do have a true home, we don't have a true home. If we do this, we'll have it. If we do that, we won't have it. These are stuff we have. These are what we have to deal with all day long, these stories. And they're all doing the same thing all the time. They're all calling for compassion.

[31:42]

They're all calling for compassion, and we're calling to them for compassion. but we don't perceive it, so we have to practice it. And when you can practice compassion towards all the stories, and realize that all the stories are asking you to do it, and that you're asking them to do it, when you practice that way, you'll realize, and when you realize, you realize that's the way you've always been, and always will be, and then you can transmit that to others. I think that's enough. Thank you for sitting through that. Yes? I think this is kind of a joke, but given what you just said, I don't know how to use this teaching. I don't know how to use it. This teaching,

[32:47]

Well, one way to use this teaching... I mean, the main way to use this teaching is to realize it. Well, if I could, I would. I said, if I could, I would. Yeah, and the way you realize it is by being compassionate to not this teaching. And not this teaching is all the stories that we tell all day long about what's going on. So by practicing compassion with stories of support and stories of partial support and stories of no support by practicing compassion. So the teaching is, the one teaching is about the way things already are. The other teaching is, so the first teaching is the way things are is Buddhist wisdom. That's the way you really are. You have all the virtues of the Buddhists, that's the way you are. However, because of your perceptions, you don't realize it.

[33:50]

So, that's the basic teaching. This is the way you are, but because of your perceptions, you don't see it, because what we see is your stories about it, and your stories that it's true, and your stories that it's not true, and all the other stories. Because of those stories and attaching to them, you don't realize the way things are. So the teaching is, this is the way you are. The next part of the teaching is, but you have these perceptions which you're attached to, so you don't realize it. So then the way to practice is to train at dealing with these perceptions and your attachments to them with compassion. And if you're compassionate towards your stories and my stories, you will realize the way things are. I find that I want to be helpful in the relative world.

[35:01]

Well, the way I'm suggesting that you be helpful in the relative world is to practice compassion towards the relative world. Do you want to practice compassion towards the relative world? Do you want to? Yeah. Practicing compassion towards the relative world means practice compassion to your stories. And my stories. So your story is maybe... I don't know what. Want to tell a story? There are children being mistreated on our home. Yeah, so there's children who do not have a good home. There's a story about that. So practicing compassion towards that story is appropriate to realizing your true home. In the process of practicing compassion to those who do not have a home, you have a story that they don't have a home. They have a story that they don't have a home. So you're suffering with them. They're suffering with you. They're calling to you for compassion.

[36:04]

And you want to give it, right? Or do you? I do, but I also want to change the situation. Wanting to change the situation, okay? What am I saying? Wanting to change the situation is another child crying. So... The child crying is calling me for compassion. I'm suffering seeing this child. That's calling for compassion. I want to change the situation. That's calling for compassion. If we hear the thought, I want to change the situation, and we don't practice compassion with the thought, I want to change the situation, then basically we're forestalling the realization of our true home. And some people might say, actually, yeah, I don't care about realizing my true home.

[37:06]

I just want to change the situation. I would say, my commitment is to practice compassion to you when you want to change the situation. And I ask you, do you want to practice compassion to the feeling of wanting to change the situation? And some people might say, no. But the no, that no, to what? The no to the thought, I want to change the situation, okay? That no is no, I do not want to practice compassion. That's the same as no, I don't feel compassion for the president. It's the same no. Or the children. Yeah, it's the same as, yeah, exactly. Saying no, to practicing compassion towards your thought, I want to change the children's situation, you're actually saying no to compassion to the children. The compassion towards the relative world, in order to accomplish the realization of our true home,

[38:16]

is the place from where Buddhahood is realized in our true home. We're in our true home, but we have not yet realized Buddhahood. We're in it, but we don't realize it. But what we do realize is, to some extent, is the relative world. When we take care of the relative world with compassion, with no exceptions, Then, we've been in our true home the whole time, but then we've realized Buddhahood. Buddhahood is practicing compassion to the relative world with no exceptions. Buddhahood accepts the relative world is always with us. Buddha is not trying to get a break from the relative world. Sentient beings sometimes want to get a break And that's part of the relative world.

[39:23]

Practicing compassion towards... I'd like a break from the relative world. That's the Buddha way. Is it possible to do both? To be compassionate and to change the situation? If you're not compassionate, you contribute to the situation changing. If you are compassionate, you contribute to the situation changing. The situation is going to change. No matter what you do, whatever you do contributes to the situation changing. The situation is changing. I'm talking about practicing compassion towards a situation that's changing. If I don't practice compassion, I simply waste the opportunity to practice compassion, which is wasting the opportunity with the relative world to realize our true home. And when you realize a true home, you realize it for everybody, because that's your true home. The resources that come with Buddhahood are, what do you call it, fully endowed, are the best resources.

[40:35]

But even Buddha has not been able to eliminate all the suffering in the world. What Buddhas have done is they have contributed to compassion. Some people say the world seems like the world's worst than it's ever been. I'm not gonna argue with that. But it used to be bad too. The Second World War was pretty bad. Was it worse than what we've got now? I don't know. I was a little kid, you know, and my mother protected me, and all beings protected me. All the beings in the universe protected me through the Second World War, and it was terrible. And since the Second World War, all kinds of other terrible things have happened all over this precious world. I don't know if it's worse. But the Buddhas have not managed over the 2,500 years of this history, have not eliminated suffering.

[41:40]

What have they done? They have encouraged, they have demonstrated, they have shown compassion. And they've shown it in the most horrible situations, and they've shown it when things When things are pretty peaceful within people's vision, the Buddhas have shown compassion. Because some people were attached to that situation and suffering, even though there were no bombs, there were no starving children, there were no cruelty that anybody could see, they were still suffering. And the Buddha brought compassion. And when war came, Buddha brought compassion and taught compassion. The Buddha way is to teach compassion and the compassion then leads back home to the realization that we already fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the Buddhas. Compassion towards the relative world frees us from attaching to our perceptions.

[42:46]

But it doesn't mean that after you are not attached to your perception that these children are suffering, the compassion doesn't stop when you are free of your perception that they're suffering. It's unleashed even more fully. So if I see a suffering person, and if I have a perception that they're suffering, and I attach to my perception of their suffering, my compassion is somewhat hindered. But if I turn my compassion towards my attachment to my idea of their suffering, the compassion becomes unhindered. But I have to be compassionate towards my attachment in the relative world in order for the compassion to be fully realized. So any compassion that you can do to anything in the relative world now, please, and that will lead more compassion.

[43:49]

And that has been going on, certainly for 2,500 years. But actually, long before that, the work of compassion is the work of the Buddhas. And some Zen teachers built bridges so people didn't drown in the rivers. They built bridges over the rivers. Some Zen teachers were doctors. Some Zen teachers were nurses. Some Zen teachers were parents. You name it, all forms of activity, but they were practicing compassion. along with whatever they were doing. And did they eliminate suffering? I haven't seen that happen. Did they transmit compassion? I have seen that compassion. Did people learn it? I have seen them learn it. When they learned it, was it wonderful?

[44:54]

Yes, it was. And did it free them from attachment to their ideas? Yes, it did. And then, were they even more compassionate? Yes, they were. This is what I've understood. Yes? It's kind of complicated, sorry, because I have an accent, I always feel a little bit weird when I talk. So, bear with me. Did you say, bear with me? Yeah, I hear you calling for compassion. Be compassionate to me. Here I am. Be compassionate to me. Also, be compassionate to me, which you're doing, right? Thank you. Towards yourself, towards me, and I'm on the same path as you. I had this conversation with my nephew, and I was thinking about in the situation precisely that these children on the border are evoking in everybody around me, in myself, in everybody.

[46:08]

The children are evoking what? The suffering of the children at the border is evoking, I mean, it's projecting this reality that, you know, and we can feel compassion for them, because we are seeing their suffering. But what I was thinking is, these children suffer all the time anyway, there, where they come from. But we never see that suffering because it doesn't come into our borders. Well, I wouldn't say never. We sometimes hear about the suffering of the children in their homes. We sometimes hear about the drug wars and so on. But now it's come closer, so we hear it more loudly. We're more aware of it. And so, it's always been there. Now we hear it, we should say thank you. Thank you for calling us. We want to listen to you. Thank you for coming closer.

[47:10]

Matter of fact, please come in. Please come into our country. We want to help you. You wouldn't be here, you wouldn't travel all this way to cry at our borders if you weren't suffering so much. And your parents wouldn't have brought you if... No, thank you for coming. We're here for you. So, but we have to have compassion all the time also for the other ones that didn't come, that are still there. Exactly, and we have to be compassionate to the border guards. Not we have to be, we are being asked to be. We're being called to be compassionate by the children, by their parents, and also by the children all over the world are calling to us. And the adults all over the world are calling to us. The point I'm making sometimes is that I am having a hard time having compassion for the cruelty, for the people that are doing cruelty.

[48:11]

So how do you... Because the cruelty is a projection, but it's an action too. It's a perception. There's cruelty and there's a perception of the cruelty. But it's an action too. And you're having trouble being compassionate to the perception of cruelty. And what do you think the perception's about? I think that the people that are cruel maybe it's because they're suffering. I mean, they're probably suffering also inside themselves. I think so too. Where does cruelty come from? Pardon? Where does cruelty come from? It comes from projecting upon our true home and attaching to the perception, to the projection. That's where it comes from. And we do that, we do that, they do that, our children do that. Our children project onto the world and attach to it, and our children do cruel things.

[49:11]

Because of attaching, we do cruel things because we attach to our perceptions. Border guards attach to their perceptions, and because of that, whenever we attach to a perception, we are at risk of being cruel. If we're a child, if we're a child in a rich home, or a child in a poor home, if we're an adult in poverty, if we're an adult in wealth, when we attach to our perceptions, we're at risk of being violent. When we attach to our perceptions, we're afraid. When we attach to our perceptions, we are afraid. We become frightened when we attach to our perceptions, because we're afraid of what's going to happen now. And when we're afraid, we're... Border guards, when they're afraid, are at risk of being cruel to what they're afraid of. And what are they afraid of? People! Or walls falling down, or whatever.

[50:17]

So that's where the cruelty comes from. It comes from attaching to our perceptions. And those who are attached to their perceptions and being cruel, We have trouble, and we perceive that, we have trouble, and we attach to our perception that they're being cruel. Now we are at risk of being cruel. But they're not calling for us to be cruel, they're calling us for compassion. If we practice compassion towards cruelty, this is the path of the Buddha. The path of the Buddha is not to practice cruelty to cruelty. So the cruelty comes from attaching to our projection upon what's going on. In other words, it comes from attachment to the perception of the relative world. That's where the cruelty comes.

[51:18]

And in that world where there's cruelty, it is hard for us to hear that the cruelty is calling for compassion. But the Buddhas, when a person's being cruel, they hear that person calling for compassion. They understand that that's what we're doing. That's what everybody's doing all day long, is their calling for compassion. It's hard for us to understand that everybody all day long, and also everything we feel all day long, is calling for compassion. It's hard for us to learn this. We're in training to learn to not be knocked off the seat of compassion. We're training to be bodhisattvas who do not get knocked off compassion by terrible, horrible insults in our life.

[52:23]

This is the training process. This is the path of realizing the true home and transmitting this realization to others. Okay? You're good now, right? How do I transmit this to others? Say again? How do I transmit? By doing it yourself. By practicing compassion towards your own pain. And by practicing compassion towards your perception of other, like if I see someone as cruel, and I practice compassion towards my perception of them, it's very similar as practicing compassion towards them. Because I think that my perception is them. So, if I practice compassion towards that, that gets transmitted to them. However, even like the greatest teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha, and maybe some of, over the 2,500 years, maybe some of the disciples of Buddha were also like really great teachers, male and female, etc.

[53:34]

Maybe they were great teachers, and they saw cruelty. People were cruel to them, and they practiced compassion towards them. And in many cases, the people got the transmission and joined the compassion program. They gave up being cruel. They gave up being violent. They gave up thinking they were better than other people. But even these great teachers who transmitted this compassion to suffering people who were being cruel. Right while they're being cruel, they transmitted. Even these great teachers sometimes couldn't immediately wake the person up. And then they did it again and again. They couldn't. After several applications of great skillful compassion, the person still wasn't ready to turn. There's many stories where they did. They'd turn like that. There's many stories like that.

[54:39]

But some, they tried, the great teachers tried again and again, and it didn't work. And then it did work. And then some, they tried and they tried and they tried, but maybe the person died before they finished their work. But we keep trying. Our vow is to keep trying to practice compassion until And by practicing compassion, it does get transmitted. If you practice cruelty, it gets transmitted. If you practice, not cruelty, but laziness, it gets transmitted. If you practice being negligent, it gets transmitted. If you practice wholeheartedly, it gets transmitted. Whatever we do gets transmitted. The question is, what are we doing? And another part of what we're doing is questioning ourselves, while we're practicing compassion, we also question ourselves, is my compassion wholehearted enough?

[55:44]

That question arises. And if no questions like that arise, you should probably question that. It's normal that you would question your compassion practice. It's normal that other people will question your compassion practice. And when people question you about whether you're being compassionate, like, you know, somebody's cruel, and then you're like, I don't know what, kill them? Someone might say, was that compassionate? And you might kill them for asking. That happens quite a bit, right? We have that going on in this world. Somebody's being cruel, somebody kills them, and then somebody asks the person who killed them if they're being compassionate, and they kill the person who asked the question. This is not the Buddha way. The Buddha way is somebody's suffering, you practice compassion, but also the question comes to you when you're practicing compassion. Do you think that was compassion?

[56:46]

You go, hmm. And you listen to them ask you questions. Or they say, that wasn't compassion, and you practice compassion to them, telling you that you're not compassionate. And if I would give this talk in certain places, I would get attacked, probably. People would attack me, they'd probably beat me up. And then that would be hard for me to be compassionate to them. But I think if I actually went there and gave this talk, I would expect that to happen, and I think I'd say, okay, I thought that would happen, and it is, thank you very much. And if I wasn't ready for that, I probably wouldn't go there. And you people have not beat me up today. But one of you could, and I know that can happen. I vowed to be up for it. And that's what I came to Zen to learn. How can you practice compassion, and then while you're practicing compassion, you get attacked, and then continue to practice compassion.

[57:48]

That's what I came to learn. That's my training program. Yes, Gail. I was wondering if practicing compassion towards your own perceptions and stories that you tell yourself about being here If the act of practicing the compassion can allow you to actually see your true home as it truly is, or is it more that... Yes! If you practice compassion towards your projections about what's going on, if you practice compassion towards the relative world, you will see through it to your original home. Yes. Was that your question? No, I was going to say, I can see how it would create enough spaciousness around your thoughts. It doesn't create the spaciousness.

[58:49]

It realizes it. Your compassion doesn't create things. Your compassion will open you to realize the spaciousness of the situation that was already there. you are not creating anything by yourself. I'm not creating anything by myself. But by practicing compassion, I open to that, which is already here, but my perceptions cover it, and if I attach to them, the cover is locked in place. This is the relative world, and our projections are grasped suffering. Compassion towards our projection and their attachment to them the door opens to our original home. And from there, from that realization, guess what we do from there? Guess. What's your deal? We practice more compassion.

[59:51]

Exactly! The path to the realization is compassion, and after the realization, the compassion, as we say, really goes to town. Then the compassion is now. All of you have some compassion, right? You sat here today and listened to me. That was very kind of you, wasn't it? Weren't you kind to me today? Yes. That was easy. Easy? But you did it. You do easy compassion, right? Sometimes it's easy, and today you did it. Okay? Thank you. If I made it harder for you, which I'm not going to do this intentionally, if I made it hard for you, then you might say, uh-oh. You might say, uh-oh, I think actually he's asking for a bit much here. I think maybe he's not going to get any more compassion from me, at least not right now. He's going to get something else.

[60:55]

But still, you practice compassion with me. Enter an easy phase. Later this afternoon, we'll see. I might give you a little bit more to work with. However, after you have realization, nothing will hinder your compassion, which is good. It's nice to have some people around here whose compassion is unhindered. But in order for it to be unhindered, it has to be unhinged from all attachment, and it gets unhinged compassion will unhinge us, and then the compassion will lead us to realization, and then the compassion will really be fully realized in the world, and get transmitted to other people, who not only will receive the compassion, but will be guided to realization, and their compassion will also be. So it's compassion before realization and after, but it's a little different after.

[62:00]

It's enough different that we mention realization. We tell, you know, it's good that you're practicing compassion, it'd be nice if you just keep at it until this realization will be helpful. This compassion's good, thank you so much, but realization will really be, we need some people to get some realization to make sure we got this. So we realize in the world there is uninterrupted, uninterrupted, We need some people to realize this teaching. And compassion realizes it, and it's the fruit of it. All the bodhisattva practices of generosity, ethics, patience, and effort, and concentration, and wisdom, they all lead to realization, and then after realization, they flow from it.

[63:03]

But it's a little different afterwards. And the difference is that we're free of being caught by difference. Like the difference between us and... I won't say the name. The difference between us and those who we believe are really different. Some people really think they're different. You notice any of those people around? We've become free of that. by realization. It doesn't mean we can't see the difference, we just won't be hung up on it. Just like, oh, there's a difference, huh? That's a nice thing to be compassionate to, rather than, that's a thing to be like, grasped. So, you look really great. I don't know who you are, I believe that you are listening to me with compassion, and calling to me for compassion, and that you're supporting me, and I'm supporting you.

[64:08]

I'm betting on that, and I'm working on realizing that with you, and you're working on realizing that with me, according to me. I can't take credit for any of this. It was transmitted to me by Buddhists. and they always have been, and they ain't gonna stop. And that's what you're really doing, and you're not gonna stop either. You're in the Bodhisattva way. This is it. Compassion for everything. In order to realize, so that there can be even more fully compassion for everything. just before realization there might be like one exception to compassion.

[65:13]

I was like compassionate to everybody, and then there was one person I wasn't compassionate to. Just one! And then I was. And then there was realization. And from now on it's like, come on, bring it on. I'm here for you. No exceptions. This is reality, is that you do actually say to the whole universe, come on. And the universe says, thanks, we're coming. And the universe says to you, come to me, and you say, okay. That's our true home. And it's hard to believe, it's imperceptible, but it's part of the Bodhisattva path is to get this teaching and realize it. Is that enough for this morning?

[66:15]

Is that enough for this afternoon? It's enough for a lifetime, Oscar said. And I thought, it's enough for a life. This is enough for a life. This is what our life is asking of us. Thank you very much.

[66:36]

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