Again, Zen meditation is the seed and fruit of enlightenment. Zen meditation is the seed, the sprouting of the seed, the stem, the flowering of enlightenment, the fruit of enlightenment, and from the fruit comes more seeds for further germination, sprouting, flowering, and fruiting. This is a particular view of Zen meditation.

[01:01]

This view of Zen meditation is that it includes the whole process of awakening, of enlightenment, and also that enlightenment is something that has fruits, and the fruit of the enlightenment is the practice of the flower, and it is the practice which is the seed and cause of the flower. So it's a total process, and yet living beings may be participating in different aspects of the process at different points. So we can delineate the whole process of enlightenment into different parts,

[02:04]

but we also understand that it's actually a whole process, and the whole process could be called Zen meditation. Some people think that you do Zen meditation, you attain enlightenment and liberation, and that's it. But this view is that you practice Zen meditation, you realize enlightenment and freedom, and then you continue this Zen meditation from a place of freedom. I also said to you when you were sitting that this enlightenment process is living in stillness and silence. That's where it lives, and you can almost turn it around and say living in stillness and silence, that's enlightenment.

[03:19]

But maybe it needs to be stated that living in stillness and silence for the welfare of all beings is the Buddha or the Buddha's enlightenment. The Buddhas live in stillness and silence, but Buddhas are the welfare of all beings. The welfare of all beings is living in stillness and silence, and if you live in stillness and silence, or if there is living in stillness and silence for the welfare of all beings, that either is Buddha or you are living together with Buddha. I heard a little snippet of an interview, and I think the interview was of a magician,

[04:36]

a man named Mike Nichols, and I think Mike Nichols is the director of a play that's going on in New York called Death of a Salesman. And I think I heard him say that Arthur Miller understood that most of us are living in lots of different places at once. And then he said that the more disturbed we are, the more we are living in many different places, and I would say also times. And you could say when you're disturbed you're living in many places, or when you're living in many places you're disturbed.

[05:41]

And there's things that appear to us that challenge us to believe that it would be appropriate to actually be in the present, where you are. Like I was saying last week, that it would be appropriate to be looking at a chimney coming out of the top of a building in Berkeley. Appropriate, did I say appropriate? Appropriate to what? Appropriate to being awake. Appropriate to living for the welfare of all beings. And appropriate to not being disturbed. Appropriate to being at peace. And this kind of like being present in one place, the place you are, in order to do that you actually need to be there without holding on to being there.

[06:56]

So it's not a rigid unwillingness to go someplace else. It's a willingness to be where you are without attaching to where you are. It's not attaching to where you are so that you won't be disturbed. It's being where you are because you have heard a teaching that if you go to many places rather than where you are, if you think about where you came from and where you're going, whether it's okay to be here, if you think of other times and places other than here, you may be disturbed. You will be disturbed. So, I'd like to relate this point to what I raised last time, which was that in order to care for the aspiration for enlightenment, in order to care for enlightenment and the aspiration which matures into full enlightenment,

[08:02]

and which blossoms into benefiting beings, in order to care for that, we need to train. So one of the ways we need to train is we need to train at being present. Lots of stuff is going on, and in the midst of all that's going on, can we train ourselves to be present in this, well, tremendous change, tremendous flux. To be present, to do something so simple and unadorned as to be present and available, to train this aspiration, to be present and to care for this aspiration. I was recently in New York City. I was in the part of New York City called Brooklyn, rather than, for example, Broadway where they show the plays. I was in Brooklyn, and when I was in Brooklyn, I remembered the name of a TV show I saw when I was a kid,

[09:28]

and the TV show I think was called The Naked City. And in the beginning of the show or at the end of the show, I'm pretty sure at the end or maybe at the beginning, they said, there are 8 million stories in The Naked City. This has been one of them. Or, there are 8 million stories in The Naked City. This will be one of them. The population of New York, I guess, was 8 million. The number of people, they weren't counting the rats. The number of humans in New York has been around 8 million. So, at any given moment, there's 8 million stories. In what? In The Naked City. The city is naked, but it has living beings in them, and they all have stories. Can those living beings, could they have the story that they wish to live for the welfare of beings, and then could they accept the nakedness of the situation?

[10:42]

Could they just be present wherever they are? And that requires training. And last week I mentioned that the training exercise, which is called the First Pure Bodhisattva Precept, it's a training of being present. It's a training of letting go of all those things that make us feel like, that challenge us to be present. All those things that make us feel like, I can't be here, I have to go someplace else. I have to look at Betsy. I can't be present. Or, I can't be present if I look at Betsy, rather than, okay, I'm looking at Betsy, and I wish to let go of being distracted when I'm looking at Betsy. Just the simple situation, the naked situation of being almost not even able to say, Betsy, but I'm here looking at her. To train to be that way.

[11:54]

And I mentioned that this precept is a precept that has, you could say has two sides, or you could say that the two sides of training to be a bodhisattva, the two sides of training in enlightenment, are called the lay side and the monastic side. Both the lay side and the monastic side have this precept of giving up distractions from presence. Both lay and monastic sides of the bodhisattva path have the precept of presence, the training in presence, the restraint of distraction from being present. They both have that, and that practice, that precept unites the two sides. But in the monastic side, you might be looking at different things, you might be hearing different things, you might be meeting different things, which you're trying to be present with, than if you're on the lay side.

[13:16]

But in both cases, the practice is basically the same, it's just that the forms that you're being challenged by are different. And a lot of people would say, the monastic forms are not so difficult to remember that the name of the practice is to be present. Because the monastic forms often are signs on the wall saying, be quiet. Or signs on the wall saying, birth and death is really important, don't waste time. But even in the lay situation, you go into people's offices and they have things posted on the wall like, think, or be here now. People try to make reminders wherever they are, whether they're in a monastery or in a business setting or in a house, people post things around to remind themselves to be present.

[14:18]

The first bodhisattva precept is to be present. Now, the first bodhisattva precept is to be still and quiet. But there are different situations in which we are trying to do that practice. It's so simple. And when you start practicing it, when you actually get into it even a little sometimes, the forces of distraction, the images which don't say, be present. Those images which don't say, hey, be present. The images which don't say, it's okay just to look at a vira. No, the things that say, you know, there's somebody more interesting to look at than Fran. You can look at her for a little while, but you should look around the room to see maybe there's somebody more interesting.

[15:32]

Those images or those ideas which say, you know, there might be something more important than what's happening here, those are the results and they're forceful results of our past distractions that make it hard for us to actually do something so simple as to be present. One of the common images that comes, common ideas that come to somebody who's starting to be present is, this is boring. This is a waste of time. I'm not getting anything out of this. These are the forces which challenge or challenge or deny the value of being present.

[16:39]

And sometimes they make us feel like, well, yeah, it is boring. I probably should do something more interesting. This is such a waste of time just being present. And then, of course, then we start being in many places again and we're disturbed. If you want to be a presence for the welfare of all beings, then it may be that you need to train at being in one place at a time. Take one step at a time, one breath at a time, and be silent and still all day long.

[17:55]

Aspiring to enlightenment includes aspiration to being still. Any feedback to me or to you or to us that you care to offer? Yes, Vera?

[19:06]

I usually stay in the same place, but I really thought in some ways what she did was intelligent, because she didn't seem to waste time when she thought something wasn't interesting. But then maybe what she did was stay very present in each place she went to. It's possible that she did. It's possible that she did, and it's possible that you didn't go anywhere and you were present there. I think if we're present we can be open to the possibility that somebody else is, too. If we're present we can open to the possibility that someone else is present. And we don't even have to think of them to be open to that possibility. And we're actually in accord with everybody else who's present when we're present.

[20:15]

We're present together when we're present. And the people who aren't present, we're also there to witness their distractions. And to be present for them being distracted. Like watching children run around. And on some level they're receiving instruction on being present. But they are not yet necessarily interested in it. And some children are present, but they're attached to being present. So again, I'm saying that really being in one place includes not overdoing that.

[21:21]

And being aware that things have just changed and we now have another opportunity being given to us. So it's a dynamic presence. A dynamic presence. Yes? Well, why do you speak of stillness and silence? I mean, that has kind of a mood to it. Is it because are we saying something about our language when we talk about stillness and silence? I'm using language to talk about stillness and silence. And I guess I imagine that you could hear what I'm saying and make language out of it.

[22:26]

That you could make images out of what I'm saying. Linguistic images out of what I'm saying. I imagine that. And then I imagine that might help you imagine your way into stillness and silence. In other words, you might be able to imagine your way into not being distracted from whatever language is before you. And you could also imagine your way into understanding that you can have language before you in such a way that you feel like you're in several different places at once. The story in front of you is not naked. It's dispersed.

[23:29]

But you can recover from a story of dispersion. You can be present with a story that before you felt dispersed by. You can notice that you feel distracted and dispersed and be present with that. And then you're not in several places at once. You're in one place with this appearance of dispersion. Rather than perhaps a story of being in a bunch of different places. I have a story that you're present. I have a story that you're present.

[24:36]

And I wondered when you moved quickly and put your hand on your ear if you noticed any difference. Yes, Laurie? A couple of weeks ago she heard something that resonated with this class and she's been thinking about it. You've been working with that. What I heard was two lines of a crime show I was watching. You have the right to remain silent.

[25:42]

Anything you say or do can and will be used against you. And when I heard that it really stood out for me. And I've been saying that to myself when I've been in situations where I've kind of had to say something. So that just comes to my mind. Do you remember? You have the right to remain silent. I agree. You have the right to remain silent. Now what about anything you say can be used against you? Do they say can and will? But they don't say anything you say or do can and will be used to support you.

[26:50]

They don't say that? They don't say that. The first part I think really you can take literally. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be held against you. I know but I just thought can be held against you. But will? I think that's not true. I mean maybe that's not true that everything you say will be held against you. I don't know if they're able to hold everything against you.

[27:52]

But maybe the people who are speaking know how to hold everything against people. It seems like pretty difficult to hold everything against a person. But that you might hold it against them, that seems reasonable. I think they're maybe just saying that to warn the person to be really careful. The next time. So can and will. It affects you whatever you do and comes back.

[28:53]

Or they can come back differently depending on what happens or whatever. But isn't it also everything you don't say and do can and will be used against you? Yes. Maybe so. We have a lawyer raising his hand. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Or there's also the statement, if you speak you get 30 blows and if you don't speak you get 30 blows. If you speak you deserve 30 blows and if you don't.

[29:54]

So in a way maybe that's a kind instruction to tell people you are in a predicament. Be careful. Be very careful. Be silent and still. They don't say that, but in a way they're telling you, you can do it. They're saying, you can be in a Zen meditation session now. You have the right to practice Zen and we're here to remind you of that. That's really quite kind of them. And how often do we remind ourselves that we have the right to remain silent? How often do we remind ourselves of that? How often have you told yourself that today? That you have the right to remain silent.

[31:00]

Even though some people say, speak, speak! What? Not everyone agrees that we have the right to either be or remain silent. It's interesting that some situations like that where we're really in a predicament, people say that to us. Yes? He didn't actually write that book. He gave talks, the talks were recorded and transcribed, and they made it into a book, and the name of the book is, You Have to Say Something. He might have said that at some point, but he didn't write that book. He might have actually written the statement,

[32:02]

You Have to Say Something, I don't know if he actually wrote it. He did write out notes for his talks. Yes, he said, You Have to Say Something. You have to say something, and you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to remain silent when you speak. And that right is the right, when you're doing that, for the welfare of all beings. Yes, Marian? The workshop is training people to be present?

[33:14]

In order to keep the person calm, so they don't go into shock, and just be able to relax. They encourage people helping to actually scratch the person from the present, is my understanding, and to talk about other things, maybe talk about their children, important memories, until the ambulance can get there. So, that seems to me like a very different style. I've thought about that a lot, and I'm not so sure about togetherness. I also heard somebody say, that when they were in concentration camps, there were certain things, if you looked at certain things, you would just lose your mind. You'd go crazy. So, when you saw certain things,

[34:37]

you had to think of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Otherwise, if you looked at this thing, this horror that you were seeing, you would just, you would sort of be annihilated by it. Well, I don't think so. I think Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is being present. The thing is that they're saying, when you look at certain horrors, you cannot be present. Almost no one can be present, and witness certain horrors. They're not witnessing it. They're being drawn into it. Certain things are so horrible, that when you look at them, your mind goes in 50 directions at once. Kind of like you blow your circuits. You're not actually there with that thing. And it's so terrible, so bizarre, so insane,

[35:38]

so unusual, that almost no one can be there and witness it. But these trained witnesses, like these women in black, who go around and witness these horror scenes around, they're actually trained at watching horrible things. And they're not telling each other to think of other things. I don't know what they're telling each other. So, I think there is, rather than go insane when you see horror, where your mind just kind of goes off in a million directions at once. So again, I would suggest, the more your mind goes to different places when you look at certain things, the more disturbed you will be. So it isn't that they tell the person to think of 50 different things. They try to focus on actually one thing, like your babies, your mother, your wife, your husband. To focus on something positive, and be present with that.

[36:41]

So here, I'm saying, focus on stillness, but if the person is on the verge of basically fragmenting in innumerable directions and being all over the place because of what they're looking at, or what they're feeling, maybe it would be more skillful to pick some image that they could focus in on and be present with. But I was saying to you before, focus on the image in front of you. And then you're saying, what if the image is really horrible and you can't focus on it? Well then, okay, let's not be attached to that. Let's focus on something else in front of us. Create another image that you can focus on. Well, now that situation,

[37:42]

part of it is my story about what I'm seeing also. Yes. So, you know, actually, you're making a story even if it's a horrible thing. You said, even if it's a horrible thing, but you're making a story that it's horrible. Yeah, and it reminded me of an experience I had when I broke my hip and I was way up on top of a mountain and they had to take me down, put me on a board and take me down on a snow thing and then on a tow and I was in terrible pain and also frightened because I'm afraid of heights. And so I chant, I started chanting and it was that same mechanism that was moving me away from the story of, oh my God, look down there and I'm really hurting to just, I'm here.

[38:45]

Right. And that was, then it was fine. Did you say something to yourself today in something in the neighborhood of you have the right to remain silent? Did you say something to yourself today to give yourself the gift of being present? So, we have this class here to, to help you and part of the reason for this class is to, during this class, to remember that in order to take care of the seed of enlightenment, we do have to

[39:47]

keep training at giving up distraction from being present. Because we all know how to be distracted and there's lots of causes and conditions to be distracted. So we need to train at being present. so did you do that today? And if you didn't, what's your intention for tomorrow? What's your intention for the rest of the night? Yes. So, this is about saying something and not saying something and being distracted. The last couple of days, I've been in a place where there's a large communal kitchen, that you go in there and eat their kitchen. And I've been there many times and I'm pretty familiar with what goes on in there, but I've never been there for the first time. Almost everybody has never seen me before.

[40:50]

So, in general, people are in their way. And it's annoying. I feel like I'm feeling more powerful. I presume there's no one there. There's no one there. So that puts me in this place where I'm full of nothing. But I usually participate in my writing in silence. You do what? Usually, I have a 300 writer a day in silence. I know. But, it was really engaging the other day. I didn't necessarily plan on it ahead of time, but I wanted to come up with something like, if you can't see my writing today, you can't follow me on Instagram, and it just immediately changed for me and the entire situation. There's still people being distracted, misdirected, stolen things, and dropped things. Everybody seems to be more in need. I would, by saying so, change that.

[41:51]

Right. You have the right to speak, too. Yeah. Yes. During several sessions of this class, you have presented the six practices of the Bodhisattva. Yes. I think they're called the paramitas. The what? Paramitas. I guess they're called the paramitas in Theravada. Oh, yeah, probably. Paramita is Sanskrit, and maybe paramitas is Pali. I think so. Yeah, maybe so. When I was in Thailand, and when I've been in Vipassana scenes in America, they have sakta, truthfulness,

[42:53]

and maitri, metta, loving-kindness, and they have upekka, equanimity, adhikana, determination or resolution, and nikema, pronunciation. Those seem like fine things. Why, what would you say to someone that's operating on that list of ten and not the Mahayana list of six? I would say that the ten are included in the six. In the Mahayana, there's also ten, but the last four are actually just kind of auxiliaries to the first six. What are the last four? They are skill and means, vow, powers,

[43:54]

and knowledges. I think that the first one, skill and means, applies to giving, ethical discipline, and patience, and the powers apply to energy, and the oh no, the vow, excuse me. I think it's vow, powers. I think the vow applies to the energy or enthusiasm, and the power applies to concentration, and the knowledge applies to wisdom. The six paramitas include loving-kindness, compassion. The six paramitas are six dimensions of wisdom and compassion, so they include compassion, and they're actually an analysis of compassion. And they include loving-kindness,

[44:57]

they include upeksha, equanimity. Equanimity is included in concentration. The six can be unfolded into infinite practices, but the teaching is that usually, no matter what you can say, we can find a place for it in those six. Mahayana Buddhism is definitely founded on loving-kindness and compassion. Yeah, that seems clear. One sort of said that all the Buddha's teachings can be, I guess this is, you know, in the old scriptures, that all the teachings can be included in the Four Noble Truths. I think it's interesting to see reflections of some teachings in other teachings that got me thinking of those terms. I think in my personal practice, on my wall, I have a list of all 11. I think it's jnana that's not

[45:58]

included in the Theravada list, and then the five that are both listed in the five. For me, having all 11 of them spelled out, I find, creates some sort of inspiration. Great. That's what I believe. I think you're supposed to. You're right. At least today you are. Yes. Is your name Dharmabhanner? Dharmabhanner. Dharmabhanner. Do you see the Dharmabhanner? I do. I see Dharmabhanner. I was, we were just talking about the run-up to remain silent, but when I reflect back on my life, what strikes me is that, not that I was silent, or not that I should have kept my mouth shut at times, I remember many times when I should have actually kept my mouth shut,

[47:10]

but what really strikes me is the times that I didn't speak when I should have, you know, to, uh, offer words, you know, words of comfort, or, you know, to speak a truth that was needed. That's what I remember. You regret not having said some helpful things that you could maybe have said. You have the right to remain silent so that you can say the things you want to say.

[48:10]

You have the right to be in a place where you can speak the truth, the beneficial truth. Or it would have, yeah, you might have been able to, and you might be able to in the future if you're really there. Also, if you missed a chance and then you're quiet again, that might help you see that you missed your chance. If you make a lot of noise after you missed your chance, it may distract you from that you missed your chance. Yes. So, what determines that point when one is, you know, I feel like a clothing, when there's a thing in danger or something that is hard to take, there is clothing, and then there is a safe environment.

[50:10]

But here, there is openness, and one feels safe and open. At what point do I stop clothing? And then it goes from a bud and it starts to open. And the lotus, it opens, but then it opens, there's a first opening of it, but then usually the lotus will close at night. It usually opens in the daytime, and there's a day in which it opens, and then it closes at night. It usually doesn't just open once in one day and then drop its leaves.

[51:11]

It could, I guess, in a storm, that the lotus might open and the wind is so strong that it blows the petals away, that could happen. But if the weather isn't too severe, the lotus will close at night. This is the lotus flower. Now, it's representing enlightenment. So, it's opening, the flower opens in the daytime and closes at night. Then it opens in the day and closes at night. And you're saying, what determines when it won't close again? The thing that determines when it won't close again is when the petals fall. Once the petals fall, it will not close again. What determines when the petals fall? The maturity of the plant. So, even enlightenment, you could say, will open and close, and the closing is not all bad.

[52:22]

Because, as I mentioned to you, insects go inside the flower and hang out there at night and protect it from the cold, by being inside the flower at night. So, the closing is not a bad thing, it's part of the maturing process. And it will keep opening and closing until the petals are too weak to close anymore and fall off. At that point, we're getting closer and closer to the maturing of the process. It's not so much showing the wonder of enlightenment, but doing its work. So, patience is what leads to the flower in the first place. But it isn't like you're patient and then you enter into reality and realize enlightenment,

[53:26]

and then you're not patient anymore. There's no need for patience. No, the practice of patience goes on even in enlightenment, and even in the fruits of enlightenment. The patience is going there. As a matter of fact, patience is part of the fruits of enlightenment. So, if there's opening and closing in your practice, in your life, if it's a good opening, there's patience with the opening. But maybe the opening doesn't need patience. Maybe it's the closing where you need to be patient. And then if you're patient, there'll be more opening. And maybe again, maybe you have no problem with opening, so there's no test, so there's no need for patience, so then you have closing. So, the patience keeps going on through the whole process. It's not like Buddhists need enlightenment to be realized, and then there's no more, excuse me, need patience to be Buddhists. They do need patience, but it's not like then there's no more patience practice.

[54:29]

Because patience doesn't just mean with difficulty. Patience means with the reality. Patience with reality. That's so dynamic that even Buddhists have to be patient with reality, have to endure it, have to forbear how dynamic and intense it is. Even Buddhists are still effortful. It's still a kind of exercise. They're enlightened, but they're working out, too. They're complete, they're fully developed, but now their development is the way they're working with the situation, which is, again, these six perfections, these six perfecting practices. The patience and the ethics and the generosity and the enthusiasm and concentration and wisdom

[55:34]

are the way of engaging with beings. But still, it's kind of maybe quite uncomfortable to have closing going on. Hmm? So, what was your question about fear? That's often the case, yeah. However, closing doesn't always happen when there's fear. When there's fear, there's often closing. Like the darkness of the night, the lotus closes. Maybe the lotus gets, maybe it's afraid in the dark. Yeah, so, sometimes there's closing to the fear. But these practices of presence,

[56:36]

in terms of generosity, is the first step towards opening to fear. And then, if you're open to fear now, if you're gracious with fear, well, then be careful of it, because fear is something where you can easily start closing to, so you need to be careful. Not rigid, but be careful now, now that you're open to fear, be careful to see if you can continue to be opening to it. Because, again, it's a dynamic thing, too. It may show you more and more challenging faces. Okay.

[57:45]

Okay. Okay. Any other offerings tonight?

[59:36]

Yes? Simon? You speak about the importance of lineage. Yes. In some way, I can see that in practice. I don't have ideas, or I don't understand why that's so. I wondered if you had ideas about why that's so. From the right to remain silent, I say, yes, I do have ideas. Yes, and I think I mentioned last week, too, that the precept, for example, the first pure precept for training the mind of enlightenment,

[60:40]

the first pure precept for bodhisattvas, is the precept that I've been talking about tonight. And using the forms of your daily life as opportunities to be present is a way of speaking about this first pure precept. And I mentioned to you that this precept, in practicing this precept, it's a precept that you receive. I told you about this. Or I heard about this. And I was told about this. I received this precept. I didn't make it up myself. I didn't think, well, I'm going to practice bodhisattva precepts, and this is the one I want to do. I received this precept. And then I endeavored to try to understand it correctly.

[61:45]

So this is an example of a lineage, because I received the precept from a place where the precept was previously received, from a place where it was previously received. So these are precepts. These are training methods which nobody made up on their own, but everybody received them as a gift from someone who received it as a gift. So there is the idea that we need to receive these, so there needs to be a lineage. Otherwise, I don't know what you can call that, but we can be solipsistic about the practice. So that's the first way that I thought of, what I sort of meant by that this precept is something we need to receive. And I'm saying that I've received this precept.

[62:48]

I didn't make it up. One might wish that they had, but this precept was not made up. It's from beginningless time, and it's a thing that's transmitted. One could aspire to it once you hear about it, or once it's offered to you, you could aspire to it. So that's the first thing that comes to mind. Do you have further questions about this issue of lineage? I do. Maybe I don't quite understand what a lineage is. Is it something more than you asking something to me?

[63:50]

You could say, is it something more than me passing something to you? You could say, the lineage is that you're more than just you. That's who you are. The lineage is that you're more than just this Simon right here. If we think this is the only thing there is to Simon, if we don't understand that there were Simons before Simons, we don't understand Simon. So the receiving of the precept from the lineage is like an invitation to enter that reality of understanding. Right. It's an invitation to understand that if you think Buddha, for example, if you think Shakyamuni Buddha is the first Buddha, and there wasn't a Buddha before him, you don't understand Shakyamuni Buddha. If you think Simon is the first Simon, you don't understand Simon. So lineage is a way for us to understand

[65:00]

what's in front of us right now, or anything. So again, it's not exactly so much that there's something more than somebody giving me something, but that I'm more than who I think I am, because of lineage. So, Yes. When you give the gift of a precept, you're really giving to the person, you're giving them the knowledge of something that they already have. In the sense that they are more than they are, more than they thought they were. You have this, you are what you are, but you have this gift,

[66:02]

this precept that you can express. Yeah, you're giving them what they already are, really. Which somehow, it's hard to be realized unless they receive something, to realize that nothing was gained. So, we somehow need to receive something in order to realize that nothing was gained. And we even need to want something to learn how to want without trying to get something. So that's another aspect of lineage, is to go to a lineage and want to receive the lineage so that you're freed from trying to get something from the lineage. But some people might stay away from a lineage because they sense that if they would go to the lineage,

[67:05]

because that activates some kind of defilement, you know, they're kind of wise in the sense that they know that if they go to the lineage and try to get something from it, that wouldn't be good. You know, they're right, that's not a good thing to do. But if you don't go to the lineage, you just do it and don't notice it. If you don't go to the lineage and ask for something and find out that you're trying to get something when you ask for something, you don't notice that you're trying to get something in a lot of other places, but you don't notice it. It's not so obvious. So then you don't feel so, you know, greedy. Does that make sense? And that's difficult. It's difficult to sort of see something and you want to go there and you want to receive something, but you'd like to receive it without trying to get something.

[68:07]

You'd like to receive without gaining. And a lineage is a good place to receive without gaining, but your gaining ideas will probably come out in the process until you see them and are kind to them and drop them. But it's kind of messy to sort of see, oh, I'm trying to get something. How embarrassing, et cetera. But if I wasn't around here, I wouldn't even notice that I'm trying to get something, and I'd feel much better about myself. Like, I'm not trying to get anything. I'm not like, yeah. And also you might even feel like, well, I'm going to defile this lineage of non-acquisitiveness. But actually it isn't even a lineage of non-acquisitiveness, it's a lineage of non-addiction to acquisitiveness. Because acquisitiveness is okay, just like non-acquisitiveness is okay.

[69:13]

It's just to be hung up on it. It's a problem. And the lineage that we're talking about here is the lineage of not being hung up, including not being hung up on not being hung up. So that's why you have the right to remain silent means you can speak from silence, from not trying to get anything by your speech. Yes? It seems to me that the right to remain silent could also mean to say, I don't know. When I see the lineage, I can't know the lineage really. The lineage is too big. The lineage is too... Yeah, and so are you.

[70:14]

But I can't know at all. Pardon? I cannot know it all. You cannot know it all, and that also applies to when the it is Fred. You can't know all of Fred either. So lineage is to help you realize you can't know all of Fred. To live in awe of Fred. Yes. That's an awesome statement. Really? Please check out how much silence and presence you accept during the next week.

[71:19]

I will try to notice also how much silence and stillness and presence I accept. And I'll come and tell you what I found out next week. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[71:43]

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