Someone in this group had a, if you excuse the expression, very powerful experience sitting here today. And this person said to me, thank you for providing this space for such profound sitting. And I said, you also are providing this profound space. So thank you, all of you, for making this space where people can have profound experience. Thank you.

[01:05]

Sometimes you can see, you can see here, or you can hear from others, that there's some kind thoughts arising. Like, it would be wonderful to be kind to all those people. It would be wonderful to help those people. I'd love to help those people. To me, that sounds like a kind thought. Now, there's also the possibility of having thoughts like, I don't want to help those people. I don't want to be kind to those people. Such thoughts also can appear. Maybe you've seen them in consciousness

[02:36]

or hear about them from other people. Speaking of the kind of wholesome and kind thoughts, they are wholesome, kind thoughts. And they are opportunities to express the Buddha mind. However, because they're such nice thoughts, many people think, well, that's good enough. It's good, yeah, but they're not just good, they're opportunities to express the Buddha mind. Now, unwholesome thoughts, they're unwholesome,

[03:46]

but they are also opportunities to express the Buddha mind. And in some ways, it may be easier to see that a cruel thought is not the Buddha mind. Because it's not. But it's an opportunity to express the Buddha mind. And with this particular thought, at this particular moment of a thought of unkindness, that particular thought, when it expresses the Buddha mind seal, the entire phenomenal world becomes a Buddha mind seal. Cruel thoughts aren't really what we call spiritual thoughts.

[04:54]

They're just, you know, mean, selfish, yucky, harmful thoughts. But when somebody expresses the Buddha mind seal, they become the Buddha mind seal. And when they're used to express the Buddha mind seal, the entire world becomes a Buddha mind seal. And of course, people often miss the opportunity for these unwholesome thoughts. They miss the opportunity to use this opportunity to practice the Buddha mind. It's called a missed opportunity. The wholesome ones, again, people think, well, they're wholesome, that's enough.

[05:57]

But if you don't practice using them for the opportunity of expressing the Buddha mind, you're missing turning the whole world into the Buddha mind. Plus, you also become, at risk of falling into and attaching to the wholesome mind. When you use the wholesome mind to express the Buddha mind seal, you don't attach to it. When you use unwholesome minds to express the Buddhist mind, you don't attach to it. When you don't attach to unwholesome stuff, they don't do any harm. When you don't attach to wholesome stuff, they turn into Buddha. So some people are really wholesome creatures.

[07:02]

They're just wholesome, wholesome, wholesome, but they don't use their wholesomeness to wake up all beings. But some people are not wholesome, and they use their wholesome to wake up all beings. And they also wake up to, it's not their unwholesome, it's just a phenomena to wake up with. It's just a door to the truth. Just like wholesome things are doors to the truth. But they have to be treated properly in order to open. Compassion towards unwholesome thoughts, compassion towards wholesome thoughts, dharmadawas. Everything is a dharmadawa,

[08:04]

but if they're not treated with great love and compassion, somehow we don't get it, or it's not gotten. And one can go into some detail about relatively unwholesome thoughts, which aren't really mean, like wanting people to get hurt, but a lot of people say, I have this thought that I'll never be able to express the Buddha mind seal. I won't be able to. Or, only in very special situations would I be able to. Or, I'm inferior, how could I possibly, and so on. These thoughts occur quite frequently, they're not really exactly mean, they're just more opportunities. I cannot express the Buddha mind seal is a thought,

[09:08]

which I just spoke in English. That language, that thought, is an opportunity for what it says cannot be done. Nobody can express the Buddha mind seal. That's a really good opportunity for expressing the Buddha mind seal. I can do it, but she can't, it's another opportunity. She can, but I can't, that's another opportunity. She's better than me, she's less, not as good as me. These are examples of opportunities for expressing, displaying the Buddha mind seal. Raising the banner, Buddha mind. I can't practice, Buddha mind. I can practice, Buddha mind. You can practice, Buddha mind.

[10:12]

You can't practice, Buddha mind. All thoughts, all thoughts, all verbalizations, all postures. Okay? Now, it's a matter from now on of training, training at that, noticing, oops, I got tricked by that one. Oops, I really thought that I couldn't practice at that moment, but now, the memory of the thought that I couldn't practice is a great opportunity for practice. Who is that down there? Huh?

[11:17]

Is it an enemy or a friend? Two friends. Two friends. Are they coming for the next sitting or? Oh, two friends, oh my God. Two friends. This is called getting upstaged. I don't mind. Here comes Abhi, here comes Abhi, and here comes Abhi, and guess what? Enlightenment. Abhi and enlightenment. Enlightenment. Please, please, please bring Bodhi in. Bring Bodhi. Bring Bodhi. This is Bodhi. Bodhi. Oh, we're trying not to scare you. You look a little worried. Oh, you're giving me, you're looking at me, that's good.

[12:24]

Wow. Welcome to no abode. We supported you. And we will continue. So, now Bodhi, when he gets a little older, when she gets a little older, she won't think, I wish I'd started practicing early. My mom took me to no abode when I was three months old. I can't complain. So fortunate to come to a one-day sitting at three months. Is there anything you want to tell us, Abhi?

[13:32]

I was really grateful. Yeah. She was, she was conceived in the night when I was three months old. Oh. She smiled at me. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Well, thank you very much for coming to visit, Bodhi. We're very happy to meet you finally. Yeah. Thank you for bringing her. Well, this is just great. I didn't even know she was pregnant. She was dying. Did you say you conceived her when you were sewing?

[14:41]

So I was going to India, and we were doing a kitchen book, and I was having a really tough time. And then I hooked the cycle when she was, the egg that became a little bit, actually it was the only good one that I had, and he tried, when I was sewing with that girl. She's a good one. And Bodhi. When we think of Bodhi, that thought is a good opportunity to express Bodhi. It's the same as everything is a good opportunity for

[15:55]

generosity, ethics, patience, energy, concentration, and wisdom. Those things are Bodhi. And they all can be expressed with any phenomena. And they all are expressed with any phenomena. But without remembering that, we don't see it. We don't realize it. When the Buddha woke up, the Buddha saw it. Everybody, all living beings, which means every state, which means every condition of life, fully possesses the Buddha's wisdom and virtues. In other words, fully possessed Buddha. But because of attachments and misconceptions, they don't get it. So we possess the wisdom and virtues of Buddha,

[16:58]

but then these thoughts come up like, you can't practice, and we fall for it. So we don't realize we need to train so that nothing fools us away from our, what the Buddha sees us as. And the Buddha sees us. You're just like me, but I also understand you don't get it. And I'm teaching you how to realize that I'm just like you, and you're just like me. I do realize that you're just like me. You don't realize you're just like me. And I'm just like you when you don't realize you're just like me. But I also realize that you are just like me, and you don't, but you will. You cannot avoid it. It's coming. The dance goes on.

[18:00]

Yes? No. What can be met with recognition is not realization itself. So, if you see any realization going by, that's okay. Because when you see a realization, that vision you're having of realization is not realization itself. However, the vision of realization is an opportunity to express realization. For example, by saying, that was a lovely vision of realization that just went by that wasn't realization. That was so fun, not getting caught. And also not being caught by not getting caught. And so I can be totally caught. Being totally caught, opportunity. Being a little caught, opportunity.

[19:05]

Not being caught, opportunity. Whatever all sentient beings... It means whatever. Anything in the universe is the opportunity. Yeah, it's just like... Inconceivably, unspeakably, unstoppably, unavoidably, inconceivably, unthinkable, wonderful. And even this person is an opportunity. Yes? Yeah, I wasn't. Produce. And I put my bags in this empty box.

[20:13]

And no sooner had I done that, I was on the phone, this woman like literally attacked me. Like she came so close to my face and said, move your bags while I was talking. I said, I'm on the phone. She said, I don't care, move your bags. And I grabbed my bags and she got really close to me and I thought... I was so angry. I was so upset with her. And in my head I called her a few names, to be honest. Yeah? Okay, we got you. But later I... You know, today I was regretting my reaction to her. And I felt like I needed to give her compassion because obviously she was hurting. The thing that... The question that I have is at those moments when somebody really pushes your buttons...

[21:15]

Yeah? What do you use not to revert to, you know, your habitual negative patterns? Well, you just did reverse. You just did. You did revert. You said, push the buttons. No, but yesterday I... I'm just saying. You said, when they push your buttons, how can you not revert? Well, that's like saying, when you revert, how can you not revert? When your buttons are pushed, how can you not have your buttons pushed? Well, the way you not revert when you do revert is by being completely compassionate with revert. Then you realize, oh, that's not revert. That's how you do it. When the buttons are pushed, this is an opportunity to express the Buddha mind seal.

[22:17]

Bring on the compassion. Not... And compassion doesn't get rid of the button being pushed. It so loves this button pushing that it realizes no button pushing. But not by getting rid of the button pushing. And another button is, how can I avoid getting my buttons pushed? That's another button that's been pushed when you say that. But that's another opportunity. So there you are in whole foods nirvana and this person's coming up to you, close, the buttons are getting pushed oh, this looks like a job for the Buddha mind seal. Wow. And then the whole phenomenal world becomes that Buddha mind seal. But it's also possible to get somewhat distracted

[23:21]

or you might have already been distracted before they came up. So if you're already distracted, they'll just come play right along with that. But if you were practicing lettuce, opportunity for Buddha mind seal, carrots, tofu, opportunity, opportunity, opportunity, then all of a sudden, zoop, in the face, then you might get distracted. But if you're on the beam, then you get distracted. If you're off the beam, then you just continue to be off the beam until the time comes when you realize, oh, yeah, right. This is my big opportunity. I didn't think it would happen this way, but this is, now we have these stories of awakening where we realize this button getting pushed is the greatest moment in the universe right now.

[24:25]

When you go into reaction. When you go into reaction, totally into reaction, you're totally into reaction because you're totally compassionate to being totally in reaction. And that's exactly where Buddha is. Buddha's not shrinking a little bit away from this reaction. Buddha is totally this reaction. So what happens when you feel guilty and badly about your reaction? That usually is another reaction, which again, you can be, that's why confession and repentance is to help you feel totally bad about what you did. Instead of, what do you call it, lukewarm bad. When you totally feel bad about what you did, you're free of it. When you're lukewarm about it, you just, you know, you just keep leaking away

[25:30]

like you're walking wounded. So we have to bring all this compassion, which is the same thing to say, Oh, once again, this is a job for expressing the Buddha mind-seed. Oh, this is a job for superwoman. I've been waiting all day to get challenged, and here it is. It's been sort of easy, but I was doing okay, and now comes a big one. Okay, here's the big test. All right, thank you. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And may I kiss you right here in Whole Foods? We're so close, why not? Yeah. Would it be sexual harassment if two ladies kissed in the produce department? Well, it depends. But it's not really sexual,

[26:34]

it's just I want to kiss you, to express my gratitude. You tested me right to the limits of my Buddhahood. Yeah, thank you so much. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you, you know, which is often what they say in the Zen stories, you know. I wouldn't be able, but thank you for pushing me to this point. I finally stopped resisting you. I finally stopped resisting that you're the best thing that I ever met. Even though you were so close, maybe I was kind of missing the point here. But then I woke up, that you, you know, like they say, when the moon hits your eye like a big piece of pie. Okay, I get it, I get it. Okay, I understand. Finally, there's no way to get away from this pie. Thank you. I love you. Now, you wouldn't do that, would you?

[27:38]

What? If you were in Whole Foods. Do what? If somebody did that to you. Well, I can't kiss people in Whole Foods. I'm prohibited from kissing people, which I accept, you know. But I can say, I can get down on my knees in Whole Foods. That's allowed. And I can bow, just as long as I don't bow too close to people. That I'm allowed to do. And they're allowed to pick me up and take me out and put me into, you know, whatever they do with people like that. And I'm allowed to keep saying, thank you, thank you, thank you. But I can't kiss people in the produce. The world's not ready for that yet. Maybe someday, but not yet. But I have a lot of other, excuse me, tricks up my sleeve. There's a lot of tricks in these sleeves,

[28:41]

which are allowed. And they're basically all just, you know, great compassion. And you have the same option. But it's hard when they come up to you, all of a sudden. Many Zen texts say, if someone suddenly, you know, comes up to you and says, if someone suddenly, what would you say? That's repeated. If someone suddenly, what will you say? What's the answer? Well, there's books full of answers. But basically the answers are, hey, I'm here for you, man. Are you ready for me? That's basically the answer. I'm here to serve. So willing to serve.

[29:46]

You said one time that when people meet you in the produce section, oftentimes they back into the produce. Yeah. Yeah. Not so much in Mill Valley, but in certain parts of the country, if I go into the produce section, people usually start backing away. What is this person doing here? What is this? Is this some kind of science fiction thing? What is this? But they're kind of used to me in Whole Foods in Mill Valley. They kind of go, oh, yeah, I read. It doesn't mean that, no. But it means you're in the process of learning to practice even when you don't get it right. And also when you do get it right.

[30:46]

But getting it right isn't the point. The point is, when you get it right, that's an opportunity to express Buddha mind. It's not an opportunity. It's like, you know, put your right in an empty box and take it out of the store. That's not what it's about. It's like, okay. It's now coming to the bewitching hour. Thank you so much for providing another day for us all to sit together. May our good health continue so we can keep practicing together longer. I just had this funny thought of, I feel sorry for you when I'm not around anymore.

[31:41]

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