I actually gave you a list of the hundred diamonds, which you may not have noticed. We recognize it because it has, on the left-hand side, the mine garments. It's not the E-284. It's not the 75. It's the 400. Yes, three pieces, three pages of diamonds.

[01:04]

One is the 85, which is both sides. One is the 75, which opens up, makes light. And one is the 100, and it says right at the top what it is. So, so far, although we skipped over a few categories. I said that I wanted to talk about the mind dharmas and the dharmas that are interactive with mind, which are the good and bad dharmas, basically. Wholesome and unwholesome. And now I'm going to skip to the six unconditioned dharmas, which is at the end. It's the fifth category. There are five categories. Yeah, non-created elements.

[02:05]

These are from three different books. The Roman pictures are a little different, but non-created elements. Non-created elements means unconditioned. So far we've been discussing conditioned dharmas. Dharmas which arise through conditions. The alaya-vijnana arises through condition. Although it seems like there's something called the alaya-vijnana, it only exists because of the dharmas. The dharmas create the alaya, and the alaya creates the dharmas. They create each other. They condition each other. The interactive dharmas, which are the wholesome and unwholesome dharmas basically which we just talked about this morning are interactive with consciousness and they actually create consciousness and consciousness creates them except that the alaya is the creator is the creator principle

[03:29]

which holds the seeds of all of our activities, thoughts, feelings. It's interesting, it says before time. Before time. When does time begin? Good question. When does time begin? Well, time begins at birth. Some people say time begins in the womb. But that's an interesting question that the whole government is confused about. So when does birth in the sense of entering into what we call our worldly life begin? Because it begins with time. But time is existence.

[04:35]

There is no time without existence, and no existence without time. Although, there is timeless existence, which excludes past and future. Timeless existence is the present, except that you can't catch it. So we're stuck with that. Except in that moment where there's a dustness. So the moment of dustness is time That's right. So let's talk about the unconditioned dharmas. So the fifth category is the unconditioned dharmas, of which there are in general six, six unconditioned dharmas.

[05:52]

Unconditioned empty space. Unconditioned extinction, which is attained by selection. Unconditioned extinction, which is unsettled. I'm sorry, unselected. Unconditioned, unmoving extinction. Unconditioned extinction of feeling and thinking. And unconditioned true suchness. Those are the six categories. Now, when we look at these categories, this is a kind of scholarly way of looking at things. Whenever I see categories like this, like the ten bumis and so forth, they have a kind of idealized basis, but when you think about it, and you practice zazen, you can see that these unconditioned dharmas are pretty much present in zazen.

[07:08]

But the explanation, if you didn't actually have that experience, the explanation would seem very idealistic. Unconditioned empty space. I'm going to read this, and we can discuss it as we go along. Empty space is basically unconditioned, so there is no need to describe it as unconditioned, because it's not really describable. In other words, empty space is empty space. What is meant by empty space? You know, if we think about the sky, we think the sky is empty space. But actually, that empty space is conditioned. So it's a different kind of empty space than the sky.

[08:10]

Empty space is basically unconditioned, so there's no need to describe it as unconditioned. Because you can't describe it as unconditioned. But if you look at the sky, we'll say it's empty of what we consider objects. Then when a bird flies across the sky, then you see the sky. But when something passes by the screen, when the screen is empty in the movie house, You don't have to describe it. There's nothing to describe. But when the movie's on, the screen becomes alive. But the screen is always there. But that which moves describes that which is still. So Dogen says, I realized that the snow makes the mountain.

[09:16]

The bird makes the water, the bird makes the empty sky, the fish makes the water, the ocean. Empty space is that which enables everything to move. Without space there would be no change or movement. But here, the unconditioned refers to one's ability to contemplate empty space as unconditioned. It means to be able to illumine the view and view the five skandhas all as empty. Then there is no mark of self, no mark of others, no mark of living beings, and no mark of a lifespan. basic Buddhism, that there is no mark of a self, no mark of others, no mark of a living being, and no mark of a lifespan.

[10:28]

So the word mark, in the Heart Sutra it says, all dharmas are marked with emptiness. They do not appear nor disappear. So mark means a characteristic. The mark of fire is heat. The characteristic of fire is heat. The characteristic of water is wet. The characteristic of earth is solid. And the characteristic of air or ether is empty. So that's the mark. So the characteristic marks of all are skandhas. He said it means to be able to illuminate and view the five skandhas, forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.

[11:32]

It's all empty, as it says in the Heart Sutra. Then there is no mark of a self, because a self appears through the marks of the dharmas. And then no mark of others. No mark of living beings and no mark of a lifespan. And so Buddha says, he gives these views. He says, there is no mark, or view, you could say. I think view is appropriate. Because when you say there is no self, it means there is no view of a self. View means idea about it as being something. So to see all dharmas as empty is to see them without a self, without a view of a self.

[12:38]

As Buddha would say, there is no mark of a self, no mark of others, no mark of living beings, and no mark of a lifespan. Essentially, Dharma is rolling along from beginningless time. Dharma is rolling along in a series. So you may say, well, I cultivate and have a little skill. I always sleep sitting up and never lie down. In Master Wah's monastery, they built boxes, kind of like a steam box. And the monks, not all of them, but the ascetic monks would sit in this little box with a chin rest, and never lie down to go to sleep. This is a kind of ascetic practice that was practiced by some Chinese monks.

[13:44]

Maybe Sekito sat that way. Never laid down for 40 years or something to sleep. I heard that the Sufis never sleep. Somehow they live in such a way that they never go to sleep. That's just what I heard. Who knows? So I always sleep sitting up and never lie down. I only eat one meal a day. But if you still know that you sleep sitting up and never lie down, then you still have not reached unconditioned empty space. In other words, if you have a view, I do this. This is what I do. Then you haven't reached empty space. long as you have a view of a self that does something. So, even if it's extreme asceticism, if you still know that you eat only one meal a day, then you still haven't reached unconditioned empty space.

[14:49]

If you know that you cultivate, then you haven't reached unconditioned empty space. Because unconditioned empty space means that your self-nature is like empty space. Your body is like empty space. What you contemplate and cultivate is like empty space, devoid of a mark of a self, or a mark of others, or a mark of living beings, and a mark of a lifespan. When you reach that state, then when someone punches you, it's just as though they were punching empty space. This is a kind of extreme view, right? Just think of what it would be like to punch empty space. Empty space wouldn't put up any opposition at all. Empty space certainly wouldn't hit you back. What he's talking about is flexibility. He's talking about flexibility of I think what Siddhartha would call soft mind, yielding mind.

[16:01]

It's like grass. When the wind blows, the grass bends over, and then when the wind's gone, it starts back up. But when you have a very stiff, rigid like a tree or something that's opposing the wind. Well, if it's strong enough, the wind would just wipe it out, right? And topple it over. And we try to build stronger and stronger edifices, both physically, mentally. We build these mental edifices to keep out the... to protect our surroundings. Best protection is no protection. So, this is like empty space. There's no rigidity at all. That doesn't mean there's no backbone. So, if you can cultivate so that you get to be like empty space, then nothing will be able to bother you.

[17:14]

And that is the meaning of unconditioned empty space. He says, unconditionally. This is his view, right? But it's also not just his view. I always tell you this, but you never think it is very interesting because you hear it every day. It's just, everything's okay. If you can really have it, that everything is okay, then you're like empty space. I'm not like empty space, although people always ask me, How are you?" And I say, oh, I'm okay. You always say that. But I wouldn't claim to be like empty space. Because empty space contains everything within it. It's like, empty space is like Big Mind. Suzuki Roshi always said, you know, you should do everything within Big Mind. All of your activities should be done within Big Mind, which contains everything, and is like empty space.

[18:15]

Questions? So just to go back to what we were talking about earlier, to clarify, this is not the same as Aliyah, right? No, this is not the same as Aliyah. Aliyah... I think that could be a confusing point. No, this is more like... Unconditioned times more like viral China. If you look at this diagram, I think this is. Yes. with esoteric Buddhism.

[19:25]

Shingon, which is the same as Latin. The Tibetan school is the Japanese version of Tibetan Buddhism, which is called Shingon, or Hatso. And if you look at the center of this mandala, Vairocana Buddha is the center of the mandala. So when we have our meal chant, we say homage to the Vairocana Dharmakaya Buddha, right? So Dharmakaya Vairocana Buddha is emptiness. And all of the consciousnesses are surrounding... Emptiness is the source of the 8 consciousnesses. So, we have... If you look at the diagram, and then look at the explanation, in the center, the 9th and Immaculate Consciousness is the sum of the first 8.

[20:38]

This means salvation. That's vairocana, that amala consciousness, which is a step above store consciousness. Because store consciousness is still a conditioned dharma. All the inconsciousnesses are conditioned dharmas, except for vairocana, which is unconditioned. And all of the unconditioned dharmas are more like vairocana. They're not subject to conditions, but in the midst of conditions. So empty space is unconditioned, but it's unconditioned in the realm of precondition.

[21:40]

Very often, if you look at the When people talk about unconditioned dharma, they talk about extinction. And it doesn't mean extinction. It means extinction of the causes of suffering. It doesn't mean the extinction of life, although it borders on the extinction of life. Even life is considered a defiled dharma. The reason why it's considered a defiled dharma is because it's a cause of suffering. That's the only reason. So anything that's a cause of suffering, any dharma that's a cause of suffering, is a defiled dharma. So, life itself is both defiled and non-defiled. And it has an aspect of defilement just because it is.

[22:42]

So we say, life is suffering. That's the first noble truth. So it says here, the ninth consciousness is the means of salvation. Yes. Could you say something about what's meant by salvation here? Yeah. Salvation from suffering and confusion. That's what salvation is. Buddha said, I only have two things to teach. Suffering and its its cause and its end. That's all I have to teach, is suffering and its cause and its end. That's all there is to Buddhism. But there's all this literature that tells us about it. But that's really the simple fact. When you narrow it down to its essence, That's what Buddha is talking about.

[23:45]

But then, you know, we say, well, he's talking about this and that and the other thing, so... But that's the essence. And then there are all these, you know, explanations. Does this differ from what we would call Buddha nature? You mean the... The mind consciousness? The mind consciousness, yes, is Buddha nature. But you can't pin down buddha natures. You can't pin down vairagyana either. But vairagyana is a representation. So as a representation, you can say that vairagyana is the still point. Vairagyana is the still point. And then all of the activity emanates from vairagyana. So vairagyana is unconditioned still point. everything has buddha nature, so why not vairagyana?

[24:47]

Vairagyana is exclusively buddha nature. But buddha nature, dharmakaya, essence of mind, there are many appellations. And if I said vairagyana is buddha nature, that's okay, but You use each one of these appellations according to how you're expressing something. So I wouldn't express Vairagyana as Buddha nature right here. These are just names. Could you give an example of how you would use Vairagyana and how you would use Buddha nature? Well, not right now. Surgeon, I noticed what's in the center of fiber time.

[25:54]

If that motor is our cousin, that's it. Yeah, that's very interesting. This is called cosmic. And the mudra, yeah, and I was just thinking about the vairagyana. This is the mudra. Vairagyana is right in the middle, right at the center. And this is the center of our solar complex, our solar system. So in Japan, Vairagyana is like the sun Buddha. Adi-Buddha is the Sun. But they don't use the term Adi-Buddha, which in Buddhism is another kind of system, like Bhairavachana. But it's a Sun-center. And the Sun is a representation as well, because Bhairavachana is beyond the solar system.

[27:00]

Varacana is the sun, and this is the center. And it's right here at the center of our body, between the roots and the tree. The legs are the roots, and the body is the tree. And the mind is the mind-dharmas. And this is rupa, and this is mental. So, the 8th, the store consciousness is... I forget what the word sapient means. It has to do with knowledge. Yeah, knowledge. So the store consciousness, which will lead to knowledge, like a great number, what they're talking about here is, which I haven't gotten to, is when the consciousness, the eight consciousnesses, when they're purified, they become the four wisdoms.

[28:13]

But I'm not ready to talk about that yet. So the store consciousness is the East, which is up on top. The seventh consciousness, Manas, which is the passionate mind, The thinking mind is to the south, and the sixth consciousness, mano vijnana, which discriminates between the fields of sense, is to the west. And the five consciousnesses are taken as a group. are taken as a group, and that's the north. And then we have Avalokitesvara and Manjushri as bodhisattvas, and Maitreya and Samantabhadra as bodhisattvas. I don't know if you can rock that. So the four Buddhas are like a cross, and then the four

[29:19]

Bodhisattvas are kind of in between. That makes eight consciousnesses. So, Vairagyana is the ninth. So, Vairagyana is both form and emptiness. Vairagyana is like the source. But given Vairagyana's seat, Vairagyana's seat is the still point, or the source of light. Vairagyana is called Buddha of infinite light, or radiant light. In the Tibetan tradition, these would also be known as the five Buddha families.

[30:22]

It could be the five buddhas now. Which each of us has a certain tendency towards or some blend. It's a kind of typological system. Some blend of these abilities and qualities. Yeah, I think that's right. I haven't studied that. Tetsu can study that a lot, yeah. Mysore Roshi's people are related to that. That's right. It's also, you know, when we do dharma transmission, the hanshi, who is the teacher, sits on the seat and says, I am now Bhairavachana, doing this ceremony, seated on a throne of a thousand petals, Each petal contains a Bodhisattva, or a Shakyamuni Buddha.

[31:28]

So, there's quite much wrapped up in his sotras in Kirigami. So this is how he talks about I said, can you think of anything that is not an empty space? There is nothing that empty space rejects. It never gets upset with you and says, you there, who are part of my empty space? You got it so dirty. How could you have gone to the toilet there? I'm in my empty space of duty. There's a koan, you know, the whole universe is the eye of a monk.

[32:30]

Where will you defecate? That's a koan. How can you have gone to the toilet anyway? So, there's no place to go, but you have to go. Oh, he talks about pigeons. How am I going to get there? If we are to really discuss unconditioned empty space in detail, there should be a lot to say. But you should always contemplate empty space, so that you have no mark of a self, no mark of others, no mark of living beings, and no mark of a lifespan. Then you will unite with everything. So if you don't have these discriminations, then you'd be one hole.

[33:34]

One hole. W-H-O-L-E. Have you ever been in one like that? Well, the closest I've come is Ricky Roshan. So no mark of lifespan is recognition of inference? Yes. Well, a lifespan means from the time you figure you were born until the time you think you're dead. That's a lifespan. And you think, well, that was my life. But actually, life itself, if you identify with the self, Then you have a lifespan. But if you don't identify with the Self, then there's just one thing after another. So, you know, the Diamond Sutra says, you should vow to save all sentient beings.

[34:47]

Bodhisattva vows to save all sentient beings, even though there are no sentient beings to save. That's the Diamond Sutra. So, that's a comment on no mark of living beings. Even though there are no living beings, you vow to save them all. You vow to save all those deluded people who think they are individuals. Yeah, that's what's called salvation in the Dharma. You know, I mean, you can help people in various ways, But according to the Dharma, the way to help people is to save them from their delusions. And so, then it talks about, it goes, unite your virtue with heaven and earth

[35:55]

unite your light with the sun and the moon, unite your order with that of the four seasons, and unite your good and bad luck with the ghosts and spirits." Then he talks a little bit about ghosts. He says, when you are like that, then however great and virtuous nature of heaven is, the virtuous nature of heaven is, your virtuous nature is just that great. However great the virtuous nature of earth is, the light of the sun is really bright, but your light is just as bright as the sun is. The moon is also bright, but your light is as bright as the light of the moon. That's what's meant by uniting your light with the sun and the moon. Then he says, spring, summer, fall, and winter are the four seasons. If you cultivate so that you are just like empty space, then when springtime comes, you have the same kind of representation of spring. of spring come to you, in the same way you represent all the four seasons as they occur, and in the spring the myriad things come into being, in the summer the myriad things increase and grow, in the fall the myriad things are harvested, and in the winter they are stored away.

[37:06]

You can reignite your order with that of the four seasons, which is reminiscent of Joshu, Master Joshu saying, spring, summer, fall, and winter. And if you don't waste your time on superficial things, you have the best days of your life. Well-known quote from Gilshan. So I'm going to talk about goats. But Suzuki Roshi used to talk about ghosts, but not, you know, a little flying. He said, my wife used to watch the television program about ghosts, you know. But he said, ghosts are those beings who have no place to land.

[38:11]

It's not like people like some creature in a white sheet. It's like those beings who have no place to settle. That's a ghost. A disembodied spirit. So, in some sense, you know, we're all ghosts. We settle here and there and protect ourselves in various ways and make ourselves comfortable. no matter how comfortable you get it, that becomes uncomfortable. Then you have to find another way to get comfortable, and then that becomes uncomfortable. So to actually find true comfort is to be relieved from our suffering.

[39:14]

The ghost suffers because they can never find a place to land, to really settle. So when we feed the hungry ghosts on Halloween, we're actually feeding ourselves as well. We're all hungry ghosts. So then he talks about the unconditioned extinction which is attained by selection. And this is a little bit tricky. It's not very long. He says selection means choosing, right? But you say, if it's selective, it seems to me it should be conditioned, shouldn't it? Because you're selecting something, and then it's a thing. Yes, the selection is conditioned. At the same time, when the extinction is reached, then it is unconditioned. So, you decide something, and then when you reach what you have decided to reach, then you've reached the unconditioned.

[40:18]

So that is why this dharma is not considered to be a conditioned dharma. The first ninety-four dharmas were all conditioned. It's only these six which are unconditioned. When one reaches extinction, which is attained by salvation, extinction of suffering, One has no body, so that can be considered unconditioned. And then down here it says, Bodhisattvas of provisional enlightenment sever one portion of ignorance in order to certify to one portion of enlightenment. The enlightenment they certify to is directly proportionate to the amount of ignorance they cut off. That's unconditioned existence which is attained by selection. So, it seems like little by little, you know, you make an effort to cut off certain defilements which lead to the extinction of suffering, little by little.

[41:34]

But this extinction by selection would essentially be the Arhat path, right? Well, it seems like it, because... Where they're practicing, and it's not the Buddha path, but the Bodhisattva path, they just, they're looking for extinction, the extinction of rebirth. Yes. That's right. So, by... See, the Bodhisattva path, the Buddha path, the Bodhisattva path, is to find extinction within non-extinction. This says that number 99 is the Arhat though. Yeah. So he has to possess the Bodhisattva as a provisional enlightenment. So provisional means tentative, or one thing at a time, not complete.

[42:42]

So, unconditioned extinction, which is unselected, is divided into two categories. The two divisions of unconditioned extinction, which is unselected, in other words, which is absence of conditioning factors, and original purity of the self-nature. With the first kind, the required factors for conditioning are not present. This state of unconditioned extinction, which is unselected, can sometimes be expressed by ordinary people, or those of the two vehicles, the Arhat vehicle and the Chakrabuddha vehicle. The other kind is that of which bodhisattvas of actual enlightenment certify. And then there is the unconditioned unmoving extinction. Unmoving refers to cultivation of samadhi of not moving.

[43:48]

This kind of unmovingness is original and basic stillness. It is not the kind of non-movement attained by the no-thought samadhi. He explained it as a no-thought samadhi. Therefore, this is an unconditioned dharma. I hope he didn't talk about those samadhis. This is the unconditioned extinction of feeling and thinking. With the previous unconditioned dharma of unmoving extinction, one is reborn in the heavens of the form realm. With the attainment of unconditioned extinction of feeling and thinking, one is reborn in the formless realm. When one attains this dharma, one's mind is not moved by suffering or pleasure. There is no concept of what's meant by suffering or what is meant by pleasure. One is not shaken by either of these states. This sounds like Zazen. I mean, if you really sit Zazen, you're not bothered by any of those things.

[44:52]

It's not like we people who, upon encountering a state of suffering, can't stand it. And upon encountering a state of pleasure, want to pursue it. That's called aversion and attachment. Attachment to aversion and attachment to grasping. which we are continually dealing with. For example, when you hear somebody say, ah, here's something that shouldn't exist in this country, I don't want to go there. Anyway, that's basically what it is. And then there's unconditioned true suchness. What is true substance? You say, I've heard this explained before, this one's basic Buddha nature, which is also called nirvana, and also known as the treasury of the thus come one, that's appellation of Buddha. It has many names. That's true suchness, isn't it?

[45:56]

And he says, yes it is, but you still don't recognize what it is. And if it weren't that, you would recognize it even less. What's that? It is non-falseness and non-inversion. Being non-false and non-inverting is being thus. Thus unmoving, clear and clear, and constant and bright. In order to know true suchness, we must first know about the three natures. The three natures. Paratantra, Parakalpita, and Paranuspana. The nature pervasively calculated and attached to. This is strange. It basically means the nature of imagination. The nature of imagination, which is called the delusional nature. In other words, it's kind of like disembodied imagination.

[47:01]

It's not that there's something wrong with imagination, but it's imagination which is not based on reality. Views, basically. Like excessive daydreaming? Well, it could be excessive daydreaming. But it's views based on... they're just dreamed up, with no connection to reality. Dreaming has no connection to reality. Daydreaming, or just making views, actually creating views. Then there's the nature that arises dependent on something else. That's called the dependent nature. Dependent nature realizes the interdependence of things. And it's actually a kind of in-between.

[48:07]

It has a provisional reality because it's realizing the interdependent nature And the perfectly accomplished nature, parinirvana, which is the enlightened nature, which transcends both of those other two natures. Those other two natures are dharma-bound. So we living beings have these first two kinds of inner inversion. Whereas true suchness, which is the third one, is the perfectly accomplished real nature. Suppose you are walking at night. This is the common stereotype of the snake. You know about the snake?

[49:08]

You don't? You've never read anything? Basic Buddhism! The snake! thought you had spotted a huge snake on the road ahead. You're like, oh God, there's a snake. You might let out a yell, oh, that's a really long snake. It's several feet long. How horrible. Seeing a snake in the distance like that is the nature, pervasively calculated, the nature of imagination. You think it's one thing, but it's not. This is happening in your imagination because you don't know what it is. And you think it's something else. It's a mistake. A mistake. A snake. Yeah. So seeing the snake in the distance like that is the nature that a pervasively caught stranger can attach to. It leads to you being terrified and deciding, oh, a snake, I've got to get out of here right away.

[50:14]

So you're running back down the road and you overtake a person who had earlier passed the same spot and you were approaching when you saw the snake. And the nature pervasively calculated and tapped you. The person asks you, why are you running? You just came along that road. Didn't you see the big snake back there? Reply. Where, said the other fellow, why don't we go back and see where it is, and we can beat him to death. So the two of them go back, but when you get there, it's no longer a snake. It's turned into something else, a piece of rope on the road. That it's not a snake is the nature that arises dependent on something else. So considering it to be a snake, you start with the nature pervasively calculated and attached to.

[51:19]

Imagination. Now it becomes the nature that arises dependent on something else. Basically it's a piece of rope. So the nature pervasively calculated and attached to was false. Imaginary. However, the nature that arises dependent on something else also turns out to be a distortion. For in fact, the rope itself is made out of hemp. So the dependent nature sees the rope as a construction. It's constructed nature. First, it's imaginary nature. and sees it as its hemp, which means its true nature, before it's made into something. Yes? Seeing its true nature is like emptiness, right?

[52:45]

Because it's the essence of seeing, the essence of mind, or emptiness. So those are the three natures, basically. And there's a lot to say about them. So the perfectly accomplished real nature stands for true suchness. True suchness is non-false and non-distorted and non-inverted. And that's what it is meant by when it is said, people who have perfected their self-cultivation have already ended all falseness and have already exhausted all inversion so that they are not upside down. That's perfectly accomplished real nature, also known as true suchness.

[53:49]

But this true suchness is still not real true suchness, but false. For if you know it, it still can't be called real. So knowing it means like describing it as something, giving it. As soon as we name something and describe it, you've lost it. Especially the true nature. There's a knowing that does not limit or create a definition just as there's knowing that does. That's intuition. Because intuition means knowing without having to go through the process of thinking. You would know through direct contact. without going through a process. Yeah, without going through the process of discriminating.

[54:51]

So anything that's discrimination means dividing. As soon as you give something a name, you've discriminated it. But then, you know, discrimination is necessary and dividing is necessary. So this is why we have this, this, this. Everything you say on this side is contradicted by this side. Good brings up, you ban. If there was no evil, there wouldn't be any good. If there was no good, there wouldn't be any evil. And then we say, well, we should make the world good. Great. Except that when something exists, its opposite comes up as an equal force. That's why we live in this world of opposites. And that's why, how do you bring those opposites together so that it's not good or bad? The only way to really resolve conflict is to not fall into good or bad, or right or wrong.

[56:06]

And you see all these conflicts that are going on, they're all into good, bad, right, wrong, you and me. So this duality is what keeps us, you know, but we have to live in the realm of duality. We cannot, but we have to live in the realm of duality with enlightenment, which means even though that duality, where's the oneness of the duality? Because we have two hands, but the two hands are attached to one body. The only way that we can do that is for the two hands to realize that they're really one body. And empty. In the bargain. So it sounds like this true suchness is polluted by the conscious mind. Yes, that's correct. Consciousness divides.

[57:11]

And then self arises. Self arises. That's called pollution. But, you know, we live that way. We have to accept that. We have to accept the pollution. That's not we think that being averse to pollution is purity. But actually, the pure exists within the impure and the impure exists in the pure. So I think this is called wiping. So is this the same as I mean, we can make we can make all the discriminations we want just so long as we're not attaching Absoluteness to them. So the pollution is only really pollution when we're too attached to our view, but making discrimination is not necessarily... That's right.

[58:22]

Discrimination is not right or wrong. We have to discriminate at every moment. Like I have to make a choice at every moment. So what is the basis of our choosing? Choices are based on self. then our choices are creating karma which enhance the self and which keeps creating more karma. So to say annihilate means not to suppress but to be aware in such a way that our choices are based on not self, rather than creating yourself. Well, I think we have to keep that view, because as soon as you begin to postulate not choosing between purity and impurity, and you make them a kind of sameness, then

[59:31]

that has some rather drastic and dangerous implications. That's true. But then I think about, lately I've been reading the books of Moses, as we were talking about. The fundamental thing that happens at the beginning of the book of Genesis is dividing. Dividing light from dark, dividing water from land, but without It seems to me that we have to abide within that dividing. I think this is what you're saying, we can't keep from dividing or discriminating, but how do we abide within that? That's right. I just want to say something first. This is akin to, in my view, biting the apple of the tree of True.

[60:36]

Good and evil. It gets back to the snake. Well, yeah, the snake. That was a real snake. But then we lost our innocence because we divided into duplicity. The Garden of Eden was the land of non-dualistic purity, but then we fell into impurities of good and bad, and division, duality. That's because God was naive and didn't know doing exactly, and thought that he could somehow keep them from doing it. Yeah.

[61:36]

Well, the problem is that God is fallible. Earlier this afternoon I was shopping at the mall, and that's the Sheen shopping line. And all of a sudden, there's someone there from work. And she was with her daughters. And she said, hi. And then she said, are you here all by yourself? And I just kind of stopped. And I mean, it was probably a split second, but it felt like there were a few seconds there where I was pondering how to reply to that question. Because it was like, well, you know, But then I realized that she was speaking of one particular being because her daughter was in Jake's class last year.

[62:39]

So she wants to know if Jake was there. And I'm sure all that happened in a split second, but I also felt like She's probably thinking, why can't I answer that question? I had to discriminate and say, I had to answer the way she was thinking of it. And that was very real and valid. That's right. So when you get in that situation, I don't know. It was good and good. I was thinking during all that time. It was just kind of like, it just kind of caught me. So I can say in retrospect what maybe was going on. Yeah, it makes you stop and think. That's good. Great example. So he says,

[63:42]

Real true suchness is that basically there isn't any true suchness. Real true suchness is nothing at all. There is no sameness and no difference. There are no dharmas and no non-dharmas. This is just the basic substance of every single dharma. Just as water has waves, but the waves are not the water. The basic substance of water is water. The true suchness is the basic substance of all dharmas. If it were not for true suchness, then dharma would not have a physical substance. It's like the rope. The rope takes you such that you can't. True suchness is not just one and yet it is not dual. It is not not-dharmas and it is not not-non-dharmas. It is not identical and not different.

[64:44]

That's not-dharmas and not non-dharmas. That's real two suches. And the sixth unconditioned dharma, which is called vairagyana. So those are the six unconditioned dharmas. And it's five. When did we start? We have 21 minutes. Okay, so then he talks about what is meant by there being no self. As you remember, in the beginning of this study, Bhagavan says, as the world honored one has said, all dharmas have no self.

[65:46]

What are all dharmas and what is meant by not having self? Okay, so then, Master Hoa's commentary on what is meant by there being no self. That's what this is all about. Atman and dharmas. Atman means self, and dharmas means dharmas, the saints. So what is meant by there being no self? Someone says, what do you mean, no self? It's all right here. I'm truly and actually here. So how can you say there's no me? Good question. Or are you just trying to cheat us? That way of thinking is just a case of not understanding Darwin. So if you did understand him, then you would know that there has got to be no self. There are, in general, two kinds of non-self.

[66:50]

The non-self of pudgala. Pudgala means a person. And then there are two kinds of non-self. The non-self of pudgala, or person, no me or mine, and the non-self of dharma, no svabhava, which means no inherent nature. Svabhava is nature. So, no inherent nature means that no dharma has its own substantial ground. Because all dharmas are dependent, except for the non-dependent dharmas. Except for the six non-dependent dharmas. All the rest, 94, are conditioned dharmas. Which means they have no inherent nature.

[67:53]

They're supported by each other. So a dharma can't appear without a cause. And there has to be a major cause and minor cause. So a major cause could be like, I'm angry at somebody. That's a major cause. And then something either I feel like I have to do something to harm that person, or that person gives me a cause, a secondary cause, to put that Dharma into action. So, say the thought arises, and then there has to be some secondary cause to put the Dharma into action.

[69:00]

So things don't arise by themselves, but they only arise conditioned by each other. So, if you're angry at me, and you yell at me, and I react to you, the primary cause is, well actually the primary cause is me reacting, and the secondary cause comes first. or the minor cause comes first because that person is angry at me and I'm retaliating. Retaliation is mine because somebody can't make me angry. They can't. But my choice is to do something. Everything has an example of a primary and secondary cause to make something happen.

[70:04]

So the primary cause is maybe an idea, and then the secondary cause is the impetus for something to arise, given that idea. And then there are tertiary causes, and so many causes for something to happen. But nothing arises by itself. There has to be a reason. for something to arise. So everything arises by some reason. Spontaneity doesn't mean that there's no cause. Spontaneity simply means something arises quickly, before too much thinking. People used to think that maggots arose spontaneously. But then, you know, somebody realized that flies had something to do with it.

[71:10]

So flies are a cause for maggots. And garbage is a cause for maggots. So, there's no inherent... things...farmers have no inherent nature. They're all dependent, so that's called interdependence, right? So pūgala, which means a person, is a Sanskrit word which translates as multiple graspings and destities. An interesting term. That's probably, you know, literal meaning. It comes down to just being a person. So it refers to the numerous comings and goings, depending on the six destinies. The six destinies are the wheel of life, right? Heavenly realm, fighting demon realm, human realm, animal realm, hell realm, how many is that?

[72:24]

Hungry ghosts. So those are the six realms of transmigration that we travel through every day. We find ourselves as a hungry ghost, then we find ourselves as a fighting demon, and then we find ourselves as a kind of animal nature. But we migrate through these fields, actually. depending on how we're feeling, how we're thinking, how we're acting. Sometimes we don't realize how we're acting often, but this is called the field of transmigration, that is, the self that transmigrates through these various... you don't have to think of it as transmigration, that kind of puts it in a funny light, but it's like coming to being, arising, due to causes and conditions in a certain state of mind.

[73:27]

Like when I get really angry at something, my self arises in a certain state of mind, which is called anger, and it has all those possibilities, wrath and so forth. So I find myself in a realm of the world of fighting demons. I want to do something really wrathful. Vengeance and so forth. Fighting. And when I can't get enough, and I'm greedy and can't get enough, then I rise up in the realm of the hungry ghosts. I become a hungry ghost. That's my realm at that moment. So wherever we find ourselves at each moment is actually where we are. And so we move through these states. When I'm not concerned about my actions which are unconsciously hurting people,

[74:40]

and don't raise above the level of the body, then that's the animal realm, and I become just an animal. So that's another world that I might appear in. So we transmigrate through these realms all the time. So that's what it means by six destinies. You know, if you look around us, some people, their modus is hunger ghosts, or their modus is fighting demons. Some people are actually human. But, you know, what... What does a human look like? Well a human, each one of us has the potential to, I don't want to say perfect, but we're born with the potentia as a human, maybe, to

[75:58]

mature ourselves into a human. So, someone who is continually maturing into a human is called a bodhisattva. That's what a bodhisattva means, to mature, to be a mature human being. And some people are at various levels of maturity. And some people It looks like they can't do that. So we look at somebody like, is Hitler a mature human being? Or people who have no remorse, and have no feelings, and so forth. But, as the Nirvana Sutra says, all humans have Buddha natures, are Buddha nature. We act on that principle, even though it may be like the Shingon Scrolls, from which this comes actually, most or a lot of it, does not recognize that all humans have new nature.

[77:22]

That's an interesting point. But you feel a little funny about that, but that's the principle, that not everybody has good intentions. If a being is aware of the impermanence of things, the state of mind, of being a hungry ghost, being a fighting demon, all those various, the other five, would that be looked at as being So the human, do you actually, where is that when your bodhisattva is aware of these changing states of mind and they cannot be anything other than this body? When I say human, even though, it sounds like, what I mean by that is a person who is truly

[78:23]

Maturing. Making an effort to mature as a human being. Which doesn't mean those who are not doing that are not human beings. It's a dynamic, it's a process. Cultivation. But it's beyond cultivation actually. It's cultivation up to the point where you can let go of cultivation. Well, I was thinking that because the other five realms are very clearly described, what's going on for them, for that being. And the human realm is kind of, what is that? I was thinking that it was kind of no other than a god fighting a demon. who he goes, all that sort of stuff.

[79:26]

So maybe this dynamism, or this process, or potential. That's right. That's what I meant. You know, like, what could that be, other than the innocent person? You know, like, the one who is not pushed around by conditions. Right. Dean? I think this might be along the same lines, but I'm curious about if the realm that we're in is not dependent on our temperament. Like, in the earlier talk, you talked about that, you know, people, we're not all alike. Some people might be a little, you know, some people might be a little nicer, some people might be a little more popular. But also, I think my question is, does the realm that we're in depend on the decisions we've made about who we are, whether it's conscious or subconscious, or this idea of who we've decided who our self is.

[80:30]

So, to begin with, we're born, if you want to look at the space between birth and death, we're born into this world in a certain condition, into certain conditions. The people in Haiti were born into that condition, The people here are born into this condition and so forth. And then our consciousness meets those conditions. And what we do within the conditions that we're born into, or meet, or transmigrate into, that's the conditions that we create, right? Depending on our dispositions. So, you know, a person can grow up very angry and then they keep creating karma which is perpetuating the anger. You know, where they may have been born into a situation where they don't necessarily have the propensity for anger, but because of their situation and the way they respond, the seeds of anger are watered and then they sprout.

[81:51]

And then they just continue and continue and continue. So, how that turns around is often very difficult. Did that answer your question? Well, yeah, a lot of it. But also what realm we're in comes out of how our consciousness meets our conditioning. And that is fluid. Right, that's fluid. And so it just depends on how we respond to conditions. And that's part of practice. It's sitting, that's it, and then responding to conditions. And the way we respond to conditions is called practice. And you can go any way you want to go. But humans are also born with a consciousness of their genes. Sociopaths. They have really no choice over what their brains have.

[82:57]

Right. So, in the modern, present day way of explaining this is through genes. Genetically, right? The old way of explaining it is through karma. Whether they're the same or different. there's some overlap in what that is. Because, you know, there's the old saying, the sins of the father are foisted or sprouted in the sons to the settled generation. So, you know, because of our ancestors, the genetics gets worked out so that the genetics that they have, we act like they did in some way, right?

[84:08]

Oh, you're just like your great-grandfather, you know, right? Because you have the same kind of genetic makeup as your great-grandfather. But karma works the same way. And I think that what that biblical thing is talking about is the karma that's created by the father somehow influences the genetics of the children. It's complicated because there are other forms of causation in early Buddhism that include the Nidanas, which include karma. To me the karmic aspect of the sins of the fathers has to do with this terrible dynamic that we have of actually transmitting the trauma from generation to generation, which is not the same as something that's genetic necessarily.

[85:13]

It's a different track of causation. Enter into the jade. Oh, yes. And we don't. It's very complicated. Right. And the Buddha said, you know, if you you know, if you try to figure out about the fruit of the causation, it leads to madness and vexation. That's true. But we have to. But that doesn't mean you don't have to deal with it. No, it doesn't mean that. This is getting too far off, but I greenbelt, you know, a couple of years ago, when I was studying a book on a general Theory of Love. It's like cutting edge. Very interesting to study that as well. Line it up with the classic. Yeah. Okay.

[86:21]

I just want to say that although there are those six realms, those are all ordinary people and all creatures. You know, often there's a refrain, the ordinary people, what the ordinary people do, as opposed to what the saints do. But actually, I would rather they say, people ordinarily do something, rather than ordinary people do something. Because if you say ordinary, it makes a class of people that are called ordinary. But if you say ordinarily, people do these actions, that doesn't make a class of people. It just says that people ordinarily do. But not every person that's ordinary, because we're all ordinary. Anyway, so they're also known as the six, those are the six ordinary dharma realms. And then there are the four sagely dharma realms.

[87:23]

The Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, those enlightened to conditions, and the sound hearers. So, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Pracheka Buddhas, and Arhats, basically. That makes ten dharma realms. Anyway, some stuff there.

[87:40]

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