you all very much once again

from the lotus sutra
i also told the story
in brooklyn
the story
it's a story about the
path
of bodhisattvas

bodhisattvas are
body such as or body is ah
a form of being which is which has a m
i wish
to realize
perfect enlightenment for the welfare of all beings it's it's that kind of up
being it's that way of it's that kind of life
bodhisattva and there's a path for bodhisattvas a practice which realizes perfect enlightenment for the welfare of all beings

and then there's some stories about
this path
and lotus sutra has several stories about this path this bodhisattva path the lotus sutra is the says closer to the load of such for bodhisattvas it's a teaching for them
beings who are devoted to the welfare of all beings
but yeah
and so here's a story about this path and being a bodhisattva
i told it in more detail last time and i'm gonna tell it today today is gonna be a summary
here's a summary of the story
there was a child
who lived in a home
and the child wandered away from her home
and the longer she wandered away from her home the more needy and destitute and
troubled she was
and then one day after after after fifty years of wandering one day by chance
i'm
she wound up back at her home
where her parents were
her parents by the way became on
anyway became very very affluent
and when he saw her parents are when they saw their parents
they were frightened
because their parents look so wonderful and
gorgeous
that they thought oh
they might actually apprehend me and put me into a forced labor
day in my
destitute
miserable condition they might see or there's a possible slave so i'd better get outta here so she ran away from after she found her home again and found her parents she ran away
her parents however saar and her parents had been looking for her for fifty years and we're very happy to see or so then her parents sent some of her their their well dressed servants to apprehend
this
hum
dirt covered emaciated frightening person and bring this person into their room
into their room
of compassion and love
and so when it
servants apprehended the last child the child said leave me alone what am i dive and haven't done you want get away from me
they thought for the child thought that there can be like killed by these powerful forces of wealth
and faded and then the parents kind of can see all i say this is not in a work
and then sent the message sprinkle water on him oh to revive him and tell him he can go so they did
and the and she woke up and was very happy to be released and ran away
i'm very happy to get away from this terrible possibility

but then that the parents got an idea which was
i have some servants put on dirty clothes
and put dirt on them selves in rags and go offer the child a job of shoveling dung
sevilla shoveling animal excrement
an offer good good wages for doing this and so the servants did do that they found the child again who was now rather old and offered the job and the child was very happy to get this job
and ask for as for this the money in advance and was given it
and went to work and was happy to do it
although is difficult work they thought and this is appropriate for me and this is not stop slavery this is actually a good job and they did their job
this is a period
i would say now a period of recovery
and during and after this period of recovery went on for a long time
the child could tolerate actually having the parents come down
an invite them into the house which before they would never dare to go near
they had become so
downcast
and disoriented and last but now after this doing this recovery work for a long time but twenty years or thirty years during this recovery work they had confidence enough so that when
when the father undisguised came and offered them an invitation to come up into the palace and actually start to work with what's going on in the house
the child could say okay i can do that and they came into the house and they learned about the house and what's going on there
and then finally the photos they will actually you know
it's not like you are my son you you actually are my son you are my daughter
and now the child could actually accept or i was always your son he even when i was like afraid of you and thought you were going to you know make me a slave because i was so worthless i remember i used to think i was worthless
i'm not even
allowed to be anywhere near you and now i find out that i'm actually here
your own body
i understand that i am the true inheritance of you and better if you've been wanting all along and that's the story of the bodhisattva career
so
the bodyshop for career is we have a home with bodhisattvas have a home also lot of searching by the way says
everybody's a bodhisattva
everybody's got a home
and in that home the business of this house is being conducted and the business of this house
is the buddha away is the way of making bodhisattvas
realize buddhahood that's the business of the house we all live in that house that's our home
this chapter this story appears in a chapter called faith and understanding the faith of the lotus sutra is we have a home and our home is a home where the business of the buddha's is being conducted
is being practiced
but the story also says we wander away from that home
for some time fifty years is
possible number it could be longer than that
and why were the longer we wander
the worst we fail
however it is going to happen that all these beings who have this home and have wandered away they will wander back some day
and when they first get back they very well might say
if they will actually came into the house they might actually be frightened
when or more what happened to me if i if these beings in his house came near me
have even though they find their way back sometimes
they run away
but sometimes they don't actually find their way back to the house sometimes they actually find our way back to the stables
and so they get the job and the stables right away
but
that's another story that they've they've set of finding their way back to the house they found their way back to the stable and they just went to work in the stable
whole body such as i would say are gonna go through this process
can you do stable work on tell you completely settle into the stable work and when you settle into the stable work you start to open up to the possibility that you could be booed as child
and you can stand to do buddha's work to move into the house

but again once again week
the story says the person had to leave to come back and coming back they had to do recovery work after the did the recovery work they actually go into the house and do the work of the house where they will lived but they didn't know how to do the work when they're a little kid

and as possible you can tell another story let it change a story slightly that there was a child who lived in a home and the parents said would you like to learn about our family business and the charles said no i do not want to learn the family business
no thank you daddy
and then the child wandered away
relevant yes i would like to learn found diverse business what is it well as it's the boot away and we have all these practices we do for the welfare of all beings and a chance it or great let's please teach me
but the children were separate away i think our children who did the other part of the story which we just talked about
that's what it's like when you're a seventy year old and like in this story when you're seventy or eighty and you come back home and you're enthusiastic about learning the business finally which you weren't when you were ten or eleven or twenty
that's the picture that the story that i propose
and today i actually would like to talk to you about the family business
but again before the family businesses being talked about you want to mention that an order to accept the family business you have to be happy about doing dung shoveling
and have any have to have to do don't show like until you feel completely settled in dung shoveling an open to doing it for ever
when you open to do it forever you're ready
use to do the family business and it's not that the family business isn't dumb shumlin
it's not that it's not
it's the it's that it it's the family business is the business of 'em
it's the business is the business of how the dung shoveling
always includes the entire universe
that's the family business and have to really being into dung shoveling you ready to open to the revelation that in the dung shoveling the whole universe was included
that the whole universe supported your dung shoveling and your dung shoveling supported the whole universe but yeah most people to do quite a bit of dung shoveling before they can be settled enough to risk have that revelation
and the revelation and practice of that revelation is the business of the house it's the business of the buddhas and bodhisattvas

to going away from home coming back to home settling down in the neighborhood of the home and as you settled down the neighborhood of the phone for for whom you find out that the neighborhood of the home when you settle in the neighborhood is actually the home
again
when you watch
your children run away from home
so i also i i think in the afternoon last time and i have to tell your story in the morning and aesthetic could discussing the story i think we chatted a text zaza and she'll do degree in the afternoon so here's the text
cause as engine
it's a text about dodging but it's also a text pointing out
that doesn't work that doesn't is a
pivotal activity
the word shin in his text means a needle or on
or like our punch needle
for like a point so sometimes this is doesn't she is sometimes translated as
the point of seated meditation or the pivot for the and needle or sit sitting meditation gay
so this is this sitting meditation in this text is
the business of the house
this is the business of buddhist house is seated meditation
and we were born in this in this house were born in the house subs awesome
and we
wandered away more or less we wandered away from this
business or large
and this is a text about what is right at home
and then we'll see if you feel ready to come home and to the work or whether maybe you need to do more for recovery work before you want to come home
i'm laughing now because i just thought
if you don't want to come home to this business today it's okay and then you can just do it will give you dump shoveling instead
and then when you do know shoveling more and more wholeheartedly you will be ready for this works
but some of you may say no i don't want i don't i don't want to do this the houses in the work of the house
this might be a trick to make me a slave a buddha
let's see how you feel about it to you ready to hear about the business of the house
are you sure
are you really wow as great let's drink to that

so also last time i pointed out the first two lines
of this text go
the this translation here says the essential function of all buddhas
and i pointed out that a central function is a translation through chinese characters
the character for essential
can also mean
necessary
that makes sense that necessary and essential might be two dimensions of the same animal
but the the concrete image
on the character is pivot
pim it
so the not the other transaction weapon which i think i'd like to talk to him today is the pivotal function the pivotal action the pivotal business of all buddhas
s the first line the pivotal activity of our buddhas the next line is the active wrote the active pivot
of all ancestors
the pivotal business
i'm all buddhas
yeah
the business life the pivotal business and busy pivot of all ancestors
that's one thousand is zazen when maybe that's on a surprise to you that the family business and buddha's is is called zazen in the zanskar have like not a surprise
anybody surprised by that
that's our business or family business
like gerber's used to say babies are business and our only business
zazen is our business the pivotal activity of all buddhas is awesome and that's our business
an active pivot
of our ancestors that thousand that's our business that's what's going on and buddhist house that's where were born
but part of our story is when we're a mature we do not want to hear about diseases and we did not want to hear about
what is activity we want to hear about other things called girls or boys are people who not sure whether they're girls or boys or hamburgers or football or
fame and fortune
we go off to didn't learn about those things
we're not interested in our own home when we're a mature and then we find out that
things when not so well and we think maybe it would be good to shovel some done because we're really in bad shape
and again as we as we start to shovel or would become more and more ready to do the business of the borders
to engage in a pivotal activity
and watch the pivotal activity that i wish to speak about alone now
the pivotal activity is the way that you
include
the entire universe
that's not new
and it's the way
the entire universe
includes you
that's
the pivotal activity you are actively every moment you are the activity of including the entire universe and you are the activity of being included by the entire universe
that's the pivot
that activity is the activity of buddha's that activity is the activity of buddhist the way you support the whole universe and the way whole universe support shoot that's buddhists activity
the way you pervade the whole universe and the way you are the pervaded universe that's buddhists activity
that's
the work of the buddhist house is that function which the buddhas are not in control of it they're not operating that
dynamic pivot
they are doing that
and we are to it is what we are doing it is our life our life is the activity of all buddhists that is what we mean by zazen
and buddhas
and sentient beings
buddha is completely include
all living beings
and buddhas are included by all sentient beings
all buddhas are included in youth
and you are included in all buddhas but you're also included in all other sentient beings
all of us are included in each of us
and each of us is included in all of us
there's a pivot and that function is zazen
that practice that function is our practice and that practice is our buddha that practices are enlightenment so we all have the same practice and the same enlightenment that's the pivot
because i have included by the whole universe it's not like i i'm here plus the whole universe the whole universe completely fully accounts for me i'm nothing in addition to that can the universe is nothing in it
addition to me
this is the pivot

the chapters called faith and understanding this is
and up this is a statement
have faith on the sutra
the story is a statement of faith
that we wander away from our home we find our way back we have trouble accepting our whom we go through a process of recovery and reintegration and then we're back at home and we never really were the slightest bit separate from our family but we thought we were because we thought we went away but we really didn't
it's a story say it's a story of faith that we are in buddha's home and that all buddhas are included illness and practicing with us all buddhas are practicing with us right now
and all buddhas are practicing with everybody right now so the all practicing with each of us
and all of us are practicing with each of them
there's the pivot that thousand that way were practicing together is awesome
of the buddha's there's other kinds of sitting meditation this is a sitting meditation of the buddha's
another principle here is that the more you are yourself
the more you become not yourself
that's the pivot
it's not that the more you become yourself the more you become nothing
it's that the more you become yourself the more you become
not yourself
the more you become yourself
the more you become liberated from yourself
how the way the
the universe is saved and liberated from suffering
is by somebody who realizes this pivot
by being completely themselves and realizing
not their self it's not realizing that you are not yourself it's that by being yourself you realize not yourself
which is already going on each of us being ourselves realizes all the not ourselves
and you are being yourself completely and you are realizing everybody however
we have to practice that
we must return to that we must remember that and receive that because this pivot is given to us because the pivot is how we are a given thing we are given by the whole universe and this given us is also given to us so every moment we can
received this
that's what this essential activity this pivotal activity of are buddhist every moment it is being given to us that's what we are and we are giving it back every moment
however if we don't remember this than we forget it and will forget it were wandering away from it which of course we can't
but because we think we can forget it because we think we can it almost as like we succeeded and then it's almost like we get into big trouble and then it seems like buddhism justice you know
very ritzy place
like a says in the song of the precious mere samadi because there's the base
because there's a degraded there's jewel pedestals and fine clothing
when you're actually at home you don't really look at you it's not when you're really home you do your parents are not really sitting on lion thrones with jewel pedestals and in covered by very precious pearls take gesture can just you there's just you
there aren't even best or worst snow that's going on but when we wander away then shut then our home looks very very very treasure like and fantastic and special and we we can be afraid of it it's not really that way it's just that way that that that's a pivot
the more we wander away the more home seem special
we have any
we have to shovel that
and there will shovel let were sick okay if that's the way it looks fine but then it doesn't look like that when you
if you're really into shoveling done
you don't really see jewels anymore
harden
so
ah that is
that's
kind of another dimension of introduction to
they were caught the essential the pivotal activity of all buddhas the active pivots of all ancestors
which is the design of the buddha's and the zazen of the ancestors and we said we use that word
so when they set there sitting
is a statement of faith that the sitting
pervades our universe and the whole universe pervades the sitting and therefore this sitting is not sitting
and not sitting is the city
so when i sit
i pay attention to what's going on
i'm really pay i i i give myself it's not it's not like ah
a required payment but i had but somehow it is required that i give my attention to do what's going on
and what's going on may seem like
business as usual
the business of the house
buddha's work okay i'm sitting here in the buddhist house getting myself to boot his work i'm remembering where i am where am i in buddhist house
and i'm receiving
the work of buddhist house and i'm practicing the work of buddhist house i'm sitting here and i'm practicing buddhist house work what is housework
and i'm and this practicing buddhist housework is transmitting buddhist ups work
that's my aunt does i have faith and as my understanding
and i have wandered away i think i have wandered away and now i'm back
and if i wander away i will come back i vowed to come back
when i'm home i bought into the the work and if i wander away i've ah to come back and i might even vow to admit i got distracted sorry
i forgot
then you're all supporting me and i'm supporting you
i forgot to be myself completely
and realize who i am
now one more thing i'll say
which is as i often mentioned this place is called know abode
and that expression comes from the diamond
a perfect wisdom scripture
where the buddha says that bodhisattvas people who are on this path should have a mind that doesn't dwell anywhere
doesn't well
in anything or on and or or dwell on anything
this pivot
this place where you include everything and everything completely includes you that place is non dwelling
so we call this phase know about what is best rock a big also be called non dwelling
not abiding
he can also be called the pivotal activity of buddha's
to the buddha's work is the work of non dwelling bodhisattvas learned
to do the work of non dwelling
which again means to take out what's happening so thoroughly that you don't dwell on it
and if you don't
fully the engage with what you're doing you very well my dwell on it and if you find yourself dwelling you may also find yourself not fully engaged and then you can admit that and repent that and try again
to develop the faith that where the understanding comes is in faith in non dwelling in where you are and what you are and what you think and what you feel
but the way to not dwell is not by pushing the things away
by rejecting the dung shoveling but by fully engaging them
fully becoming them and realizing
not them
so and when we're sitting we have the opportunity to practice non dwelling this is our nature we have an opportunity to practice our nature
but our nature is not the slightest bit different from
the way we are appearing to ourselves and others right now
i haven't
an appearance here to clock
and i started to talk today with you a little early
in hopes that buddha would soon be here
in hopes that this buddha's pivotal activity would soon be here for all of us
i would like now to see if you're ready to to do
to enter the house and join the buddha's work
what you of course have already been doing your whole life but i'm asking you now are you willing to realist in your life of buddha is activity

so we sit we can we have the option to just sit
completely
and remember
the pivotal activity of all buddhas and remember
the from the them
the active pivot of our ancestors and to offer our life
the that work to that business
we can be buddha workers in this way and ancestor workers are working buddhists
we can be working buddhas and were working ancestors or we can be the ancestors work
i wish to be the ancestors work
and i think the ancestors would like me to do their work for i should say the ancestors were like me to be their work i am the work you are the work of the ancestors they would like you to receive this work to remember and receive the work of the ancestors
are you ready to have your life right now be the receiving
this of your nature
and the practice of your nature
which is the inheritance of buddha's were put his work is our nature
to credit striker this ring this bell three times and then after three times if you want to
to you can enter the house of the borders
and remember the practice of the buddha's
and receive the practice of the buddha's which they are giving us
and practices and and transmit it right here right now if you wish you are invited to do the practice
ready for my ring the bell now
you know the wait and i'm done the value to start naturally but after the rebels you must decide
whether you're going to accept the job or not

huh
huh
huh
huh
huh
huh
huh

huh
huh
huh
huh
huh
i am sitting here
remembering
the work a bodhisattvas
the pivotal activity of all buddhas
i am remembering it
how about you
huh
this work of the body surface is being offered to us and i'm sitting here receiving it
i'm receiving it sitting here
how are you
huh
hey every moment
receiving it again
this is the moment by moment
business of the buddhist house

sitting here practicing
a functioning pivot of all the ancestors
this is sitting here
inheriting the ancestors business
the ancestors samadhi
this is receiving it practicing it
and transmitting
how about you
huh
my practice
of this work on bodhisattvas includes all of you
each of you include my practice
and the practice of are buddhists
if you are able
to receive this inheritance
and take care of it
this is called the host within the host
the buddha within buddha
huh
huh
huh
huh
huh
huh
huh
what
huh
huh

huh
i pray that this business
how buddhist house
goes on forever for the welfare of all banks
me
the extend to every be

hey the this
how to say
the
to
the
yes

today is unsurpassable
the to the