Well, we were bringing up the issue of the arc from solitary practice to social practice. the art from here to there. And then, so it's art from carved dragons to real dragons. Is that familiar? It's also the art from constructed.

[01:06]

Okay. and from human agency to beyond... You could say, agency beyond human agency. And imperceptible. And conceivable, inconceivable.

[02:27]

And from coherent to incoherent. So some of the things that have come into my life that have taken me on this arc from solitary to social, And before I go any further, I just want to say that this is solitary practice, carnal practice, constructed practice, human agency practice, and perceptible practice, conceivable practice. And maybe I'll add also conceivable liberation. There's great virtue, and there can be great virtue in solitary practice. But then there's also the issue of going beyond it.

[03:39]

Not by rejecting it, but by doing it wholeheartedly. wholeheartedly, wholehearted solitary practice, I would say, spontaneously goes beyond and becomes soul. spontaneous, wholehearted, carved dragon practice spontaneously goes beyond and becomes the real dragon practice. And so on each of these, when they're done wholeheartedly, they transcend themselves Okay? So those kinds of activities make the arc from solitary practice to social practice. Practicing by myself, not just practicing all beings, but the practice of all beings.

[04:44]

So the practice of me then wholeheartedly becomes the practice of all beings. And the practice of all beings is all beings are doing the same practice. There's empty seats here and there. If you'd like to sit, there's a seat here. So generally, in terms of my own experience, inputs that impressed me to about how the solitary practice becomes the social practice is the story of Bodhidharma.

[05:56]

A picture of Bodhidharma, I'll hang it on the bulletin board, but the bulletin board, the blackboard, But the whiteboard is too thick for me to put my little hook onto. Did somebody come here and hold this picture? See the picture? This is a picture of Bodhidharma. This is a picture of Bodhidharma in a cave. And this is his second ancestor coming to ask him to study with him. So that's a picture by, I think it's by Sesshu. And this picture, it's kind of hard for you to see from the distance, but you can see his face somewhat, right?

[07:04]

And then around him, which is hard to see, is kind of a soft halo all the way around him. So the edge of his robe is kind of a gray... Around that is a little soft halo around the line which makes the end of his robes. I appreciate this... Because Bodhidharma, to me, looks so soft. Hold that as long as you can. If you come a little closer, then we won't see something reflecting. Oh, I see. Here's a statue of, probably a statue of Avalokiteshvara.

[08:16]

This statue is very heavy. So, as you've heard before, Bodhidharma had a conversation with China. It's part of the legend of our tradition. That's part of the creative imagination of the Zen school. And I'm not comfortable. If you're tired, I'll take it. Thank you. You can hold it like that. Pardon? Pass it around if you're comfortable. I know I'm not. So this is in the dog sound room.

[09:19]

You can go and look at it any time you want. It'll be there waiting for you. So, this is Tachyavaka Venteshpar, and the emperor of China had a conversation with Bodhidharma, a very important conversation in the history of our country, setting an example of student-teacher interaction. Then Bodhidharma left the emperor's place. The emperor wasn't able to, you know, merge with the teaching that Bodhidharma was giving. And went far north of the emperor's capital and sat at Shaolin, which means little forest, for nine years. And so it's a

[10:19]

Sometimes I've imagined Bodhidharma sitting for nine years without getting up. But I also can imagine Bodhidharma sitting. He was basically at Shaolin in a cave, sitting for nine years, facing the wall. That's what he was. But he also ate and went to the toilet and stuff. And some people say he also did Tai Chi. So a lot of martial arts school come from the legend that bodhidharma is such an exercise which they're doing. And I heard that the emperor's teacher said that bodhidharma was avalakiteshvara, the bodhisattva of great compassion. So now I'm asking you to imagine that the Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of great compassion, is sitting facing a wall.

[11:34]

What that bodhisattva does, that bodhisattva listens to the cries of the world. So the bodhisattva is sitting in the cave, listening to the cries of the world. While gazing, you could sit... While looking at the wall, you could also say, practicing wall-gazing. So wall-gazing is the practice he was doing in the Kedi. So Avaleche Chattopadhyay is doing this practice of wall-gazing while listening to the cries of the world. And this bodhisattva sitting in a cave for nine years, listening to the praises of the world, that listening to the praises of the world, it gave rise to an ocean of blessing and happiness beyond emotion.

[12:51]

It did, and it does. So it did back then, and it still does, bodhisattva of great compassion. For a bodhisattva of great compassion, not the, but now a bodhisattva of great compassion, listening to the cries of the world, that listening, bless them. And I think for many of us, how does somebody sitting in a cave hear the cries of the world, and how does that help all the suffering beings beyond heaven? But that's the proposal of the Bodhisattva. That's the proposal of that image of Avalokiteshvara sitting in that cave, that the bodhisattva is not cut off from the body.

[14:00]

The bodhisattva is doing a solitary personal practice of making a body in the cave, that's a particular cave, a particular perceptible being who does that so wholeheartedly that the practice goes beyond and includes all beings. And that's like one of the prime examples of Zen bodhisattva practice. and many Zen students who aspire to be bodhisattvas feel confident that sitting in the Zen-do is helping people who are not in the Zen-do. They may not even feel confident that it helps the other people in the Zen-do. But I think some people feel, I can see how me sitting there helps the other people in the Zen-do at that time. It helps the people

[15:01]

all over the world. And I don't see it either. How it helps the people in the Zen world and how it helps people all over the world is imperceptible, inconceivable. So I do my human agency wholeheartedly My human agency is transcendent and enters and joins the practice, and the practice of all beings and the practice of all beings comes into my agency, defined by it. Yes, so these are proposed as two examples of a being of great compassion. Although he is standing in this particular posture, Bodhidharma is civic.

[16:07]

And I think I told Saini of that. I was in Paris, I believe, in the middle 80s of the last century. A museum called Musée Guimet. And they have a wonderful collection of Buddhist art. And one of the things they have is a statue of Avalokiteshvara in a cave. Now, this Avalokiteshvara has, I believe, maybe a lotus in her hand, and a vase, which is pouring compassion out on all beings, on the heads of all beings, right?

[17:13]

In this statue, Avalokiteshvara, Peshpa is sitting in the cave with her hands in the middle, you know, meditating. and there's a shelf on either side of her, and on one shelf there's a vase, and on the other shelf is the lotus blossom. So Avalokiteshvara, you could say, is taking a meditation break. That's why I would say, really, it shows that when Avalokiteshvara sits in a cave, a puncture is played on the ground, it's unattended. So, for my first thought, that all-powerful teacher is taking a meditation break from her great activity. I don't see it that way. Now I see that her meditation is her great activity. Her sitting cross-legged is reaching out to all beings, and all beings are still reaching out to her.

[18:22]

She includes all beings, and all beings include her. This mutual inclusion, however, is imperceptible and inconceivable. So part of our practice is perceptible. You know, when you're in the center, people are perceiving you. They perceive you sitting at your seat. And if you're not at your seat, they perceive that you're not there. And they wonder, they perceptibly wonder, where is that perceptible person? Where is the imperceptible person? I'm looking at it. Where is the perceptible person? What happened? That's why I need you to write down on the teaching pad where you can perceptibly fall. How could the Buddha even tell us this is so if it's completely inconceivable? The Buddha didn't even tell us that all this is so if it's inconceivable and imperceptible.

[19:25]

Well, the Buddha has an inconceivable mind, Buddha is the inconceivable way of working together, and the inconceivable way of working together, and talk. You talk through people like you. You can speak. So the Buddha can tell us about... The Buddha is like space. The Buddha is invisible. However, when beings call out, the Buddha can respond to each individual. And if they want to speak English, the words of Buddha can come in English. If they speak Chinese, they can come So this space can respond to what beings need. If they need to see a hand or to hear some words, the Buddha does that.

[20:30]

If they need silence, the Buddha has silence. Inconceivable also means that this great compassion can be whatever they need. But basically, great compassion is not just inconceivable, So I wrote, this is the arc from solitary and social, but also there's a return from social, from being social. So it's really a circle. It's an arc from here to here, but after being here, it's an arc back. So from the imperceptible, beyond human agency, it goes back to human agency. And it can be walking, but it can also be some sound in the air coming to a human, something that can relate to a human being.

[21:32]

And so our sitting, when done wholeheartedly, transcends itself, and then after transcending, it comes to a perceptible sitting again. That's why, even after realizing great compassion, we still may put bodies in the center without people. The commentary on this conversation between Bodhidharma and the emperor in the Voluquith record focuses mostly on the conversation that they have. And the story is also in the Book of Serenity, but the Book of Serenity emphasizes more the practice of Bodhidharma after leaving the emperor and sitting in a cave. The first one shows how great compassion works in conversational, perceptible conversation.

[22:42]

The second one shows, the verse commentary on the same case, shows how the imperceptible activity of bodhidharma in the cave is in conversation with all beings. How does it go? I'm not doing the whole thing, but just the part that he... Silent and still. He sits coolly, bowed in. In silence, he completely brought forth The true imperative. Another translation is, in silence she completely brought forth the... What's the word?

[23:50]

The true decree. What is the true imperative? Guess what that might be. Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi. Yes. Anything else? Great compassion. This is not just a test, but yes, Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi, but also the decree is great compassion. So, in the cave in stillness, bringing forth the true imperative of great compassion. This is not easy to understand, but if you sit nine years practicing wall-gazing, it's more or less guaranteed that you will . I wouldn't fact that gazing at a wall, I would say. practicing wall gazing. And so this means that this bodhisattva of great compassion gazes like a wall does.

[25:03]

She doesn't mess around with the situation. She doesn't meddle with the situation. She just regards it as it is. A gazing on the wall, practicing the gaze. which is to guard everything with impartiality like space. Impartial. Everybody gets great connection. And there's no messing around. However, there is a great function beyond human agency which liberates beings inconceivable. there is also conceivable liberation. So coming from great compassion, like the Buddha, he taught some of the students a conceivable form of liberation. That was the early teaching, where they had a conceivable form of liberation.

[26:09]

They understood the Buddha's teaching, and the earth trembled, and celestial music came, and it was great. Everybody got to sleep. It was encouraging. And then there's a liberation of going beyond that one, which Bodhidharma is emphasizing by sitting in that cave. So beyond human agency is also called great agency, which is not only free of human agency, but illuminates all human agency. And so we sit for nine years or more in the Zendo together, and we could understand what we're doing is we're doing the practice of Avalokiteshvara, a.k.a.

[27:18]

Bodhidharma. And again, the Avalokiteshvara in that statue I told you about and the Avalokiteshvara in the Lotus Sutra, I feel, are very much like just sitting. The one is literally a statue of a sitting great compassion. But all bodhidharmas, I mean, Avalokiteshvara, Observing all beings with eyes of compassion, that's the job, and that job is an inconceivably great and wonderful function. So that's another thing that is in the arc of my practice, from practicing by myself to going to a practice which is not just practicing by myself with others, to the practice of all beings, including me.

[28:44]

And then coming back from there to my individual practice with people. But I want to bring and invite the practice of all people, the practice of this person. And the invitation is issued in silence and stillness. I don't necessarily say, Avalokiteshvara, please come and use this body here. I mean, I do sometimes, but not there. Sit there quietly. But the message to Avalokiteshvara is, you're welcome to use the opportunity of this life to help people. to use this life to uphold great compassion. And once again, if we are wholehearted about our human action, if we are wholehearted about our carved dragon, it naturally goes beyond itself and becomes the real dragon.

[29:56]

The agency of great compassion. And those ten vows of Samantabhadra are giving us an idea of what wholeheartedness is like. So, Samantabhadra made these vows, and I see these vows as his or her giving us a feeling for what wholeheartedness is like. So all those ten would apply to any action that we are involved in. And it says that in the sutra. Whatever action you're doing, make it these ten practices. But I've been talking for quite a while, so maybe to... I actually thought, what I just said in those ten practices, in those ten vows of Samantabhadra, I saw them today as a play structure.

[31:14]

Those ten practices are like a play structure, also called monkey bars. is better because play structures can be for monkeys and humans and gibbons and birds and snakes and dragons. It's a play structure. In a way, it's like miniature golf. measure golf so that you can open, so that by doing all the different exercises, you can open to inconceivable golf. Yes. Yes. Can you hear me, brother? I called those ten vows, which are the vows to do ten practices, I called that a play structure.

[32:30]

Play what? Play structure. Play structure? Yeah. And that occurred to me. It was actually before I was talking, I was playing with that structure with somebody today. Well, my question, I guess, could those be the ten precepts? Could they be? Well, they definitely could be, once you transcend them. Yeah. But I don't know if you could playfully make that up. Map one onto the other. I'm having fun playing with them. Yeah, go right ahead. Is that enough for tonight?

[33:33]

Yes? Quick question about the cave where Rebecca was. Is there an actual cave? Now, if you go to China, they have an actual cave for you to visit. I do not know if actually there's evidence that that cave was being used in the sixth century by a person named Bodhidharma. But I think there's a number of places that have presentations that, this is the place so-and-so did such-and-such. So there's these stories, and then lots of people found those interesting stories, so maybe people thought, we should make a place that corresponds to the story. So we went to visit the founder of our tradition in China, a particular school called Soto Zen, and we know stories about him.

[34:55]

So we found a place where you can actually find the bridge over the stream where he had his enlightenment experience. And it says on the bridge, this is where he met it. But was that bridge there? And, you know, et cetera. But there is a cave, and it's a long hike up to the cave. I mean, it's got stairs built in. And there's the cave. This is the cave. And it's over the top of the cave. This is the cave where he sat for nine years. Yes? The vase on the table next to Ahuja Jihara upright or on its side? I don't remember.

[35:59]

I think it was. I don't remember if it was upright or on its side. I don't remember. I think either way, it's upright, easier to recognize as a vase. It's on its side. It might still be pouring out the compassion. I don't remember. But it definitely has a little shelf there with the vase and the flower. It was a wonderful meeting between me and the statue. Yes? I was going to ask if basically the ability to act with great compassion by staring at is related to the other-poweredness of all actions. How everything we knew was all other-powered. In a way, what just popped in my mind was that, again, not so much gazing at them, but gazing like a wall.

[37:02]

The way a wall doesn't meddle with what it's looking at. That's the way bodhidharma... While bodhidharma is listening, bodhidharma is listening to those things like a wall listens to them, hears them, impacted by them, responding. not doing anything with them. So that's the way he was practicing that practice. However, that way of being, when it's wholehearted, becomes not his power. It becomes other power. So this is kind of like other power over here. Other power is kind of... It's not mine. It's all being itself. There's a relationship. These two sides are in communion with each other. The card dragon is in communion with the real dragon. It's like in the story. The person who likes card dragons and takes care of them, that pair up with the card dragon and try out some real dragons.

[38:07]

But they're already there. It's just that if you don't put up a card dragon with a real dragon, you might not think you want to visit her. We might just be with us, but not necessarily knocking them down, etc. So, if we go beyond our personal practice, we realize the practice of others. The practice of others is our personal practice. But what always comes is, But if you don't do the Cog Dragon part and do it wholeheartedly, and doing it wholeheartedly means let it go, you don't realize that the Dragon is all. So some people say Zen is like self-power and pure and other power.

[39:09]

Here, like, this particular school of communication between the two. So Zazen is not just the unconstructedness, also how in the unconstructedness all the constructedness is resonating with each other. So it says in the text, you know, this Buddha activity is resonating from the rocks and tiles and the wind, resonating with the awakened ones and resonating from the awakened ones to the ones who are less mature and back to that. That interaction is awesome. Abby and Randy and maybe Ann. Can you speak more to

[40:23]

wholeheartedly, in the way that you used the word. I think you said letting go is one piece of it. I would say letting go is a natural result of wholeheartedness, is you let go of what you're wholehearted about. The result. It's the same thing as wholehearted and letting go. It's the same. You're still holding on to it, you're not wholehearted yet. If you burn something and you've got some energy for holding on to it, you're not wholehearted yet. You're holding back a little of your heart to hold, rather than also anything, to whatever you're doing. So nobody owns it, as when it's all burning out, you don't own it, frankly.

[41:28]

You give yourself entirely to it, so that it's not ownership, so that it's not going to hold on, and that's the whole heart of the Receptor. Just something I picked up from being here, it's the idea that there's a focus on these figures that really sit for years on end, and also this lineage being very practiced and not just being solitary and not working amongst, but I wanted to talk about that kind of comparison. Well, one way to understand the emphasis on work practice is the emphasis on whatever you're doing. You use that activity to enact, to embody solitary practice in communion with soul practice.

[42:37]

A busy practice is to be sleeping with un-busy practice. So, there's a funny story of somebody sleeping on the ground, and his friend says, you're too busy. You should know there's one who's not busy. So, when we're busy in work, So I'm going to call this into question. Are you properly hearing the dizziness? And the one says, do you know of that there's one who's not dizzy? And there are two moons. There are two moons. The one is solitary human construction. And the one activity of our beings. So two moons, and the first one raises the blue and says, which moon is this?

[43:47]

Is this the basic moon or the un-basic? This is what the un-basic moon is targeting in every aspect. So in a zendo, that's the way it is. But we also wanted to say that it's not just in a zendo, but utility between constructed and unconstructed, between constructed sitting and unconstructed sitting. It's not just in a zendo, but in all utility between constructed sleeping and one that is not constructed sleeping. just so that one harmonizes this Buddha activity, all the activities. I wonder why Avalokiteshvara wasn't a sleeping Buddha. He wasn't a sleeping Buddha?

[44:51]

Yeah. I think sometimes I'm lucky to have started depicting something. Have you done any green-up proof? Yes. About that eye? No, this part right here. Can you believe? Yeah. Have you seen anybody's wheelie here? That's a depiction of our work. That's a lot of people. Sweety around here. So during surgery, we give some people the chance to be sweet enough to touch them. And the other people, they do it for cleaning up. Other people have it vacuumed enough to touch them. Right? And also, there's paintings of, you know this, that's a painting of breaking passion, something. and emancipating that might be called into question about being too much caught up in human activity.

[45:55]

And most of the kids want to be caught up in human activity. And it happened. So remember, pray compassion while you're doing Siddhi. Or, you know, just understand that there's one who's not constructed in the sleeping, right there with the constructed one. The thing I'm thinking about has to do with the ancestors. It has to do with... between the solitary and the social, between unconstructed and constructed. I have this feeling and that's verified quite frequently in my book, that there is a divine kind of presence that is bending towards, that has lots to do with... I mean, you could even say that the energy of the Buddha is looking for anybody looking.

[47:16]

So, I don't know, it's not in there, but I... You say something of the Buddha's, the energy of the Buddha? Yeah, the air, the vibration. You say looking? Reaching, bending towards. Well, I don't know about bending towards, but definitely looking. The Buddha's looking at himself. There is something. But eyes of compassion. But, I mean, the reason is because to let go and to be wholehearted. I think it might require the ancestors to be a part of it. That's right. The transition from constructed practice to unconstructed practice is the transition from doing it by myself and doing it with all of the beings. So doing with all of the beings is taking to wholeheartedness.

[48:22]

I can't be wholehearted by myself. And when I am, with the aid of others, wholehearted, then I realize that others have been helping me be wholehearted. Before I'm wholehearted, I might think, I'm doing no good. And there was still some possessiveness of my great effort. But the others are here. They're here all the while. And I mean the ones that are hidden, that aren't here, but are here. I don't understand the difference between what you're saying and what I just said. You said you mean all beings, the living beings in the world, or all beings in the world, but I mean the unworldly beings, the ones here that are perceived. No, I mean all beings, including those. You do? Yeah, all of them. Whatever, anything that has any beingness is included. Including the beings who are very mature in practice called Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, all of them are practicing with us all the time, and with their support, which is always there, we can be wholehearted.

[49:34]

And when we're wholehearted, we realize that they were helping us be wholehearted. And again, the Buddha's activity is not just over there, it's the pivoting between over there and here. And that activity is pivoting between human activity, human karma, conceivable activity pivoting between that and the other side. They're pivoting all the time. And the other side of all beings is helping me be wholehearted in my small way. But being wholehearted in my small way frees me of my ... enter into the big way. The big way. The Mahayana. Linda. I also have a doll that I got made that I call Ava, you know, that I could hold.

[50:48]

You know, she's soft. That was really kind of hard. And I've been at times inspired by and by the things you're talking about. And right now, you know, I seem to feel most of the time all day you're just really tired and pain in my body and heart. I set myself up the stairs and I go to the Zendo, but I don't really want to, or I don't know if I really want to. And where is that inspiration? I don't even know. Do you know what my question is right now? Well, I heard you. And you kind of did ask me a minute ago. You said, where is the inspiration? Yeah. Or is that sort of a feeling I had about avokiteshvara, something I made up?

[51:52]

How do I...? Can you open the doors as much as you can tolerate? The feelings that you have about Avalokiteshvara were not made by you, but you and everybody else made these ideas of Avalokiteshvara. Once again, it was a noise. The feelings that we have about Avalokiteshvara are not made just by me alone, but made by me in concert with all beings. I have ideas of Avalokiteshvara in my consciousness. It sounds like you do too. statues of Avalokiteshvara appearing in your consciousness. And you didn't make those statues all by yourself. They were made by you in concert with all beings. But there they are, the ideas or images of Avalokiteshvara.

[52:56]

So where does the inspiration come from? These images of Avalokiteshvara. The images of Avalokiteshvara are constructed And you can also have the idea that you do the construction, but that's another construction. The way the ideas we have, like Tashkara constructed, is that they happen together with all beings. But we think that they happen like this. So where do we get the inspiration to be wholehearted about this practice? For example, the practice of following a Zen which has all these periods of meditation and work and service and studying. Where do you get the inspiration? Inspiration comes from your aspiration in life. What you aspire to is where the energy comes from.

[53:59]

You practice even when you're tired. It doesn't mean you stop being tired. It just means you can practice when you're tired. Now, the way you practice when you're tired is that you practice with being tired. When you're not tired, the way you practice is that you've not been tired. But if you can't practice with being tired, then probably you should rest. And if you can't practice with not being tired, probably you should rest. Give a rest, does that make sense? your aspiration, that's where the energy comes to practice. So many people have told me they're losing their energy, so they have to go back again and again. What's the aspiration? I aspire to great compassion.

[55:03]

Okay, I remembered it. That was good. I'm glad I remembered. Yeah, that's a truly important domain in life. But I'm still tired. Okay? Where do you get the energy to practice with being tired? Go back to the aspiration. What's the aspiration? The great compassion. Is there some energy there to practice with being tired now? No. Go back to the aspiration. What is the aspiration again? Great compassion. Are you ready to practice with being tired? Go back to the aspiration. What is it again? What's the aspiration? Great compassion. Are you ready to practice with being tired? I'm pretty much as tired as I was when I tried to get the energy to practice with being tired.

[56:07]

But sometimes I'm actually already quite energetic now that I've gone through not being able to practice several times, but realizing that that's what I started to do. Where the energy that has made it possible for me to come this far in this practice period through this much tiredness and pain. And if if you keep consulting your aspiration, the energy you need to wholeheartedly practice when you're tired. When I'm tired, when I'm sick, when I'm in pain, it is possible for me to wholeheartedly practice with that. with the help of it, if possible. Not by changing the pain and the tiredness of the person, comfort and, you know, not tired, and then practice with that.

[57:18]

Although if that happens, some people are. not in pain, have a lot of energy, but they've lost track or they haven't even found the aspiration to practice great compassion with being alert, awake, and comfortable. So that's what this project is to go to see if great compassion is the aspiration and to visit it and revisit it, to recreate it, to reaffirm it, to re-enliven it, over and over by going back to it and back to it. It fills our body with the energy to be wholehearted about walking to the zendo, walking from the zendo, sitting in the zendo, getting up from the seat, bowing to the ground, getting up, working all these activities in pain, those are the things we're being given to practice with.

[58:26]

They're not the practice exactly, they're the being that compassion regards with love and kindness. revisiting the aspiration where it's going to be hard for us to wholeheartedly practice. And even if we have a moment of wholehearted practice, which would be great and would be encouraging, still in the next moment we can be tired again, and again we need the energy to practice with that one wholeheartedly. And Avalokiteshvara is saying, wholeheartedness is possible. And Avalokiteshvara remembers that she wants to listen to the cry of tiredness, the cry of pain.

[59:36]

She has that aspiration, she remembers, and she listens wholeheartedly. But if she doesn't remember it, her practice would get limp, too. And when it gets limp, then we get stuck in this side. But that's not the end of the world, because on this side is where you look for it and find it. OK, now it's probably past 8.30. I'm sorry. Please forgive the oversight.

[60:16]

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