Last time we talked about zazen and great compassion, I think. And I'm proposing that the zazen of the Buddhas is great compassion. And I also mentioned last time that what I say can be taken as something to contemplate, to investigate, but not necessarily to follow whole or believe as true. So, again, I start off which are offered to you to contemplate, think about, experiment with, but not necessarily believe. And maybe you can verify them, too, some of the things I say. So... Again, I think already that we're trying to focus on great compassion during this practice period, and also to contemplate how our activities, what relationship they have with great compassion.

[01:18]

Another thing I mentioned last time is how when I first started practicing I thought of practice as what I was doing with other people who were doing what they were doing. And then now I'm more in a position of thinking I'm still doing things as I was before, but I don't think the practice is just what I'm doing. The practice includes everybody. And it doesn't include what everybody's doing, yes. This is also how everybody who's doing stuff, all the beings who are doing things, all the beings who are enacting karma of body, speech and mind, all those beings are in relationship to each other, and all those beings have the same practice. and the same awakening. And each individual has a different practice from other individuals.

[02:31]

But the zazen is how the individual sitter sitter, or walker, or talker, or thinker, the individual being, how that has the same practice as all other beings. And each of the other beings, the way they have, the way they're engaged in the same practice and same awakening, that's what's going on in Buddha's... So it includes every individual being who is a karmic being. They're all included. And they're thinking they're doing something. That's included. But what I think I'm doing is not the zazen of the world. the way I'm thinking and the way you're thinking, all that together as the same practice and the same awakening. That's the zazen.

[03:33]

And that also is great compassion. And last, I think it was like Saturday, we had a one-day sitting, and most of you were there. And I talked about, I brought up this thing about Carved Dragons. And while I was at it, I wrote the motor stuff, which can be kind of reflected on. Constructed phenomena, unconstructed phenomena. One being and all beings. Personal practice and interpersonal practice. Social practice, solitary practice, and interactive practice.

[04:37]

practice that has form and color, and practice that's without form and color, and practice that's perceptible and imperceptible. So, the Buddha can, in the world of perception, can appear to be doing things, Like, again, patting somebody on the head or holding a hand out in the world. We can see that. That's a perceptible thing. At the same time, as the Buddha does this perceptible thing, this Buddha is using this perceptible thing to enact, to express something that's not perceptible. Hold the hand out in the perceptible world, and this gesture of the physical posture, that is for the purpose of expressing

[05:58]

That's for the purpose of expressing great compassion. And of course, it works really nicely if the hand is offered with gentle care and generosity and so on. But it's not just my doing what I think and I want to be compassionate, but it includes that. It's also a prayer to great compassion. These words are for great compassion. They're also just me talking and me thinking I'm talking, or me thinking that... Not even me thinking. It's thinking that I'm doing this or that. So another way to do this is of car, This is a side of karma, body, speech and mind karma, our carved dragons.

[07:07]

But I'm offering the possibility that you would, for all your karmic acts, you also offer those karmic... you offer those karmic activities You offer them. You do them, yes, and you offer them to great compassion. You do them, and you offer it to meditation practice. You do something, anything, and you use that thing as an opportunity to the Buddha mind, which of course is the mind of compassion. Okay, so, also, Agent Roshi, Linda, asked last time about the Ark.

[08:20]

Something about the Ark. From my early days, back in the 60s, practicing at Tassajara, having a good time, but also kind of wondering what I was doing, I often thought, what am I doing here? I mean, all right. So I'm digging. I'm sitting in a cold zendo. That's what I'm doing. And I did think sometimes, it's strange for a person my age to be spending his life this way. But that's what I came for, and I'm doing it. And I thought that practice was what I was doing, maybe trying to practice too. So where's the art from there to another understanding of what's needed in the practice, or what's going... Another understanding of what Buddha's practice is. Not actually think at the beginning, when I sit in a zendo, I am...

[09:24]

I am doing Buddha's practice, the practice of Buddha. I didn't think that. I wanted to be like the bodhisattvas I heard about, but I thought that this person would become a bodhisattva. And that's what I thought. I didn't think that the training would be training myself to offer my personal practice to the great bodhisattvas, for the Buddhas. I didn't think my practice was an offering to great compassion. And again, there's different kinds of compassion. You can have carved dragon compassion, constructed compassion. Again, like karmically, I have hands and I use them, and I can use my hands as a constructed gesture of compassion.

[10:34]

I can use the hands to give... as an expression of gentle care of somebody. It can go towards me. I can give myself a gift tenderly and give you a gift tenderly. And that's a nice, that's a constructed, wholesome practice. The great compassion, however, is unconstructed. The great compassion is zazen, right? And zazen is... Not just my effort to be compassionate, not just that, also all beings' effort to be compassionate. And also, all beings' effort is the same for everybody. And again, Part of the arc to this position I'm offering you is, for example, to read the Fukan Zazengi, which we also read.

[11:40]

And also to read, in Vendôwa, there's a description of Buddha's Samadhi. Buddha's Samadhi is presented in the Vendôwa. And at the beginning of one of the main sections in Bendo Law where it's presented, which we have in our chat book, Self-Receiving and Employing Samadhi, is a concentrated awareness of how we're all working together. It's a concentrated awareness that we have the same practice and the same enlightenment. That's the section where that appears. And that thing about In each moment of zazen, the practice of the person and all beings is the same. That's towards the end. At the beginning it says, when you sit upright and express the Buddha mind, seal, Actions. While you're sitting upright, you have a physical posture.

[12:43]

That's an action. You're thinking something, or if you are, whatever you're thinking, and you're talking in an zendo. You're being silent. That's the way you're talking. That's a karmic act. Now, you use those karmic acts at your place as opportunities to express the Buddha mind, which is not karmic, and embraces all karmic beings. Buddha is the same practice and the same awakening as all beings. And you can't see that. It's imperceptible. You can't get a hold of it. And also you can't get a hold of your own karma either. But it's very easy maybe to see you can't get a hold of things that you can't see. But even though you can't get a hold of great compassion, you can make everything you do an expression of it.

[13:47]

You can make everything you do a way to relate to it. So, of course, if I reach over here and pick up this box relating to this box by a karmic act, but I feel like I need to also remember that I'm picking this up and setting it down to express Buddha mind. And I don't have to do it It is the way I did it, and the way I did it is now used to express the Bodhi mind, to express the sameness of all beings. This is used to express great compassion. So part of the arc was reading Phukan Zanzingyi, and Phukan Zanzingyi It actually is an instruction about the ceremony of sasana, and you can see part of the ceremony.

[14:59]

You can perceive your body sitting at your seat. You can perceive your body eating formally in zendo. You can perceive yourself chanting. You can perceive your karma of doing those things. And that's good to do that. And you can also be mindful that all these things you're doing are in order to realize great compassion. They are offered They offer to realize great compassion and they are also offering to great compassion. So we realize great compassion by paying homage to it. That's a way to realize great compassion.

[16:05]

I'm a karmic being and I can pay homage to the Buddha mind. I can pay homage to great compassion while I'm doing whatever I'm doing. And the text says, when you do that, when you sit upright and then you, in that, through body, speech and mind, you express the Buddha mind, the whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha mind. The sky turns into a lake, So when we are sitting, and we offer our sitting as an expression of Buddha mind, that expression, in that expression, in that expression, the whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha mind. All beings become the Buddha mind.

[17:08]

And the entire sky turns into enlightenment. So I personally would like to make every action I do an expression of the Buddha mind. I would like that. And I also remember that that's not just for me, because if my body, speech, and mind, karma, carved dragon, are given to that purpose, it realizes the real dragon. which is everybody realizing awakening and freedom. The Vendôa was one of the pillars that holds up the arc. Another one is Fulhan Zazengi.

[18:10]

And Fulhan Zazengi, it says, The zazen I teach, or that I teach, is not just concentration, jhana. I think it says learning meditation, but that's meaning the practice of concentration. The concentration I'm teaching is not just concentration. It is concentration on using every moment as an expression of the Buddha mind. That's the concentration. That's the zazen that Jogi's talking about. And he says that that is not just concentration, and of course concentration is included, that concentration is... What's the word? totally culminated emancipation, totally culminated freedom.

[19:18]

And that moment then is used to integrate that total emancipation with all the actions of all beings. But also in the Fukanza Zenki, before he gets into that one, he gives instructions about how to carve a dragon. He says, you know, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink moderately. These are karmic acts that he's recommending. Sit upright, don't lean forward or backward, right or left. He's giving action, how to carve a dragon. When you arise from sitting, do so quietly and slowly. In a dignified way, just sit down. These are instructions for karma in the Fukon Zazen-gi.

[20:26]

They're also instructions for the ritual, because the ritual is in the Zazen-gi, The gi is ritual, so they're instructions for karma and ritual. Of sitting upright as a karmic act, but it's also a ritual act, which is this karmic sitting, this posture, is offered to great compassion. I'm using this carved dragon to relate to. which is always here. And so remembering that's always here and making all of our temporary actions gifts to that. And not just for you, the one who's giving your karma to this mind of Buddha which is beyond karma, but it helps everybody else join it.

[21:32]

And that's imperceptible. It's imperceptible. But the Fukan Zazengri, if you might check it out, it's giving karmic instructions and then it's saying, and this practice is beyond hearing and seeing, it's not within reach, of the perception. And he also says, don't be suspicious of the truth. When you're doing these karmic acts, like crossing your legs, I'll cross my leg, and here it goes. When I do that, don't be suspicious of the real dragon. Which could be also said, when you cross your legs, get ready for the real dragon. Get ready to receive the real dragon, which is invisible and which illuminates all of our visible actions. It illuminates and liberates. So my karmic actions are offered to great compassion.

[22:42]

I'm just simply missing out on what needs to be done. My karmic life needs to be there. But I also need to... It also must be an expression of great compassion. Great compassion is being underutilized, under-realized, under-welcomed. So, Fukanzawa Zenki and that part of the Bendo-wa, And it took me a long... Our translation says, equal the wholeness of practice, equal the wholeness of enlightenment. So, that's nice, because when you sit, your particular action is your particular action, but the zazen of what you're doing there is the wholeness of what you're doing and what everybody else is doing. But a more literal translation...

[23:46]

is more surprising. Each moment of zazen is equally the same practice and equally the same enlightenment as the one sitting in all beings. Each moment of zazen is equally wholeness of practice and wholeness of awakening. Wholeness means nobody's left out, everybody's included. That's what zazen is. So those two texts were part of what gradually opened me up to a new perspective on what I was doing, even though I have continued to do things from the beginning of this time. And I don't intend to stop. I just aspire to make all my karmic acts offerings Now, I didn't bring it up yet, but now I'm going to do it. There's a thing called Samantabhadra's Ten Vows and Practices.

[24:52]

Okay? So, this set of ten vows was offered by a huge avatamsaka citra. And Samantabhadra is the along with Manjushri, is the prototypic expression of bodhisattva practice. And Samantabhadra, at the end of the huge sutra, where he's given us lots of teachings, great teachings of the sutra. And almost at the end, he offers his ten vows, which are ten practices. He vows to do ten practices. He commits to do ten practices. And he commits to doing it moment by moment. So again, these ten practices can be applied to your sitting.

[25:55]

So the first practice is... So I'll just say it first. Number one, pay homage to all Buddhas. Number two, praise the virtues of all Buddhas. Number three, make offerings to all Buddhas. Number four, confessing your lack of, for example, being careful with your karma and your lack of being mindful to make all your karma, paying homage and making offerings. So that particular vow is number four, and it applies to any shortcomings of the first three practices. And it also applies to any shortcoming in any practice.

[26:57]

And it's number four. Number five is to read not just in the Buddha's virtues, but in the virtuous practice of other sentient beings. And you can do your own too, your own self too, but Rejoice in the merit of wholesome practice. So when sitting, part of wholehearted sitting is that we notice, we become aware of our shortcomings. And so part of what I offer then is when I become aware of my karma, Then I offer, in that moment, I offer the practice of homage, praise, offerings, confession and repentance.

[28:02]

I do that as an offering to great compassion. or as an unfoldment of bodhisattva practice of great compassion. Then next is to rejoice. Rejoicing with this body and mind, rejoicing is a way to enter the same practice and same enlightenment of all beings. And then requesting teachings from the Buddhist is also What? It's a gesture. Like in English or Chinese, you request. But the request is not just a request, it's also an offering to the same practice and same enlightenment of all beings. The request is an offering to Zazen.

[29:02]

Then asking Buddhas to stay with us. Again, same thing. It's using, would you please stay? That's karma. Would you please stay? Or thinking, would you please stay? Or writing a letter, would you please stay and help us out long term? This karmic act is offered to Buddha. We're not just trying to get Buddha to stay. We're using the request as an opportunity to give. give great compassion, and receive great compassion. And the next practice is to do all the infinite number of practices which Buddha is doing, And you do them, you vow to do them, and if you ever do do them, you do them as karmically, you also simultaneously offer your karmic attempt to do a Buddhist practice or Buddhist practice.

[30:09]

You make that offering and so on to Buddhas. And the ninth one is to accommodate and be of service to all sentient beings. The service starts, the ten practices start with being of service to Buddhas, and it comes almost to the end of being of service to all beings. So it's recommended to start to buddhas, making offerings to buddhas as getting us ready to make offerings and be of service to every single living being, every single moment. Every interaction is an expression of great compassion. Every single moment is an expression to do the bodhisattva practice of accommodating, according with all sentient beings. And the last one is a dedication.

[31:12]

It's also a prayer. We pray that all these practices, the merit of all these practices, we pray that it will help all beings join this practice. So those ten vows are another part of the arc to take me from seeing Zazen and Zen practice as something I'm doing by myself, to take me to another understanding without the least bit of disrespect for my years of karmic carving. Because karmic carving is a sentient being that I want to accord with. And everybody's karmic carving of the practice is essentially being, I want to be of service to. I want it to be service to all the carvers, including when I'm carving and when I have been carving.

[32:13]

Carve practice. That's part of the deal. Practice, moment by moment. And then off of that carving, to all beings, and offer the merit of it, and pray for that. That's another support for this arc. Another support for this arc was reading Dogen's Dschung of his memories of his time with his teacher in China. So this book, this journal, it really does seem like he wrote it later in life. He did not write it in China, but it's a piece of his conversations with Ru Jing. And in one of the conversations, Ru Jing says, basically, when you sit, make that a gift. It's actually no addition.

[33:20]

Just sit, and then make the sitting. Each period, start at the beginning of the period, I offer this sitting to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And you can add as much as you want onto that list. Someone said to me recently that... This is kind of... I don't want to do it, but I have to do it. We can think of Zazen as a prayer for the welfare of Josh and Zach and Gemya and Linda. But the problem is, if you say those names, you're leaving a lot, you can't get all the other names. I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. You can sit... And when you sit, you can say, I'm offering this sitting to Josh, as a gift to Josh.

[34:26]

That would be fine. But the problem is, you left the rest of yourself. So I want to offer this sitting to the Buddhas, which means I offer it to all beings. Everything said to do that. And I thought, wow, I hadn't thought of that before. And since that time, I've been trying to remember his teaching to Dogen. When we sit, some of the ancestors suggesting that we make our sitting practice an act of generosity, which is sort of one of the main practices of great compassion. Can you remember that? I'll stop talking in a minute and you can bring up the questions. Another part of the arc is that teaching from Ru Ji. Another part of the arc is the teaching of what's called spiritual communion.

[35:35]

In the Chinese way of saying it is kano doko, which request and response, and that doko is crossing paths. It's a mindfulness that everything we do can be a request for great compassion. And every time we request great compassion, Great Compassion meets us, and it doesn't even come in the next moment. As soon as the conditions for me to request Great Compassion come up, the response of Great Compassion comes with it. ...pillar in the arc, that everything we do is calling for compassion and being mindful that that inquiry, that request, is simultaneous with the response. Another thing just popped my head.

[36:54]

Case 21 of the Book of Serenity. Somebody's doing some karma. He's karmically sweeping the ground. And his friend comes up to him and says, you're too busy, you know, carving. You're too busy. You're too karmic. And the one who's being accused said, you should know, or almost like there's somebody who's not busy. Yes, I am karmic. I'm not disagreeing with it. But you should know, and I want to know too, I want to remember. While I'm doing these karmic acts, there's somebody, always my companion, compassionate one, who's not busy, but always totally engaged in an incredible engagement without rushing or being busy. You know,

[38:03]

And one more thing before I let Nathan speak of his question is that Dogen said, don't be suspicious of the unconstructed, suspicious of the real dragon. Don't be suspicious of a practice without form. Don't be suspicious of a practice without form and color. In another place he says, don't be suspicious and also but love the real dragon. But love doesn't mean like. Love means enter into a loving relationship with the real dragon. you can't see, who you can't see, but who is always there. Dogon also says, when leaping off into this practice of venerating the true dragon, he also says, in addition to don't be suspicious of it, he said, in this space, there's somebody there.

[39:21]

Something's present. So the real dragon and the I get along fine all day long. Karmic activity, karmic karma is going on all day. And that karmic karma is getting along very well with the practice of all beings in the same way. The problem is, if we attach to or love too much the real dragon, that may hinder us from realizing that if we attach to the carved dragon, that interferes with us realizing that the carved dragon, in other words, whatever you're doing, is on intimate good terms with the real dragon. So we should honor our carved dragons moment by moment.

[40:25]

But don't attach to them. Don't attach to them. Be intimate with them and not attached to them. Being intimate with my carvings and not attached to it. And again, Sankarishi goes even further and says, you should let go of your carved dragons. I agree, but the way he said it was kind of like, you should throw your carved dragon out the window. But I think what he meant was, you should be really good friends with your carb dragons. Be really good friends with your carb dragons. Don't like them, don't dislike them. But if you do like them, that's another karmic act, and you should be friends with that. That's another carved dragon that you should be kind to. Being a carved dragon, really, I'm not attached to them. And in that way of carving dragons, where I'm wholeheartedly engaged and not attaching, that's when this wonderful relationship between the carving...

[41:34]

And the beyond carving is realized. Even though it's always there, we have to give ourselves completely to carving dragons and let go of the carving. And let go of the dragons that have been carved. So it's not that the carved dragon is not as good as the real dragon, it's just that they're always And realizing how they're working together, that's great compassion. That's awesome. And think, okay, I'm just going to hang out with this imperceptible, same practice and same enlightenment as all beings. You should be respectful of it and intimate with it. And then you realize how wonderful it is to carve dragons. Don't skip over the card dragon and try to go hang out with the real one. But also, don't forget the real one.

[42:39]

So this is another start. Okay, so now we call on Nathan. Objects of compassion, like in a lot of loving-kindness practices, they say... Did you say, does it help to have concrete... Objects of love or compassion. I think that's where we start. We have a concrete object of compassion. And we have a concrete idea. Our mind is carved in an idea of what compassion is, and it's also carved in an idea of the person, the beings that we're offering it to. So there's a carved dragon version of great compassion. It's not great compassion, though. It's a carving of it. And we don't need to do those carvings of compassion and great compassion.

[43:45]

We sort of need to Otherwise we wouldn't be able to deal with the teaching of great compassion if we're not willing to deal with this other one that's often called sentimental compassion. Compassionate towards you per se, which means I'm compassionate to you as you appear. I'm not getting into exploring what you might actually be yet. I'm just offering kindness to who I think you are. I'm offering what I think compassion is. That's carved dragon compassion. And it has problems if we attach to it. If we attach to the carved dragon, we get in trouble. But to do the card dragon and be doing it, then we realize the relationship between it and the real dragon.

[44:46]

So we do need to try to listen to people, pay attention to them, give them our attention, and respond to them, respond. and try to do it according to what we've heard and what we think compassion is. Yes, that's the first type of compassion. But you could right away, while you're doing that one, you don't have to wait to do great compassion. Great compassion can see beings. It doesn't think the beings are the way they appear. And it looks at the way beings appear. It's like, that's the way you appear? Well, I wonder who you are. And the who that you are is the who that's in the middle. I wonder how our great compassion But I still pay attention to how you appear and honor that.

[45:47]

And one of the ways we honor it is by joining our poems to the appearance of beings and bowing to them. Yes? I definitely feel like there's been a shift in the air and there's some Buddha here. Today I definitely felt that And I guess my question is, when things are interpersonally relating, and when things are interactive, and when things are between each other without form and color, it seems as though, and even though it's imperceptible, that there is a manifestation of its presence that has perceivability. Now maybe you could say, oh, that's imagined, or it's vibratory. No, you can say that. So the perceptible manifestation of the imperceptible great compassion is us here, right now.

[46:57]

This is a perceptible manifestation. But, okay, but then would you, but I would restate it would be in the body of... quality of relationship that is different than that is... Okay, so we could have a moment where there's a quality of presence that's different from some other presences. Right. We could have that. That's fine. Then use that one. This one that you said has a certain quality. And that's the one you got to express great compassion. That's the one. The ones you used to have, which shifted away, that's been a shift away from those, those were also equally, equally opportunities for great compassion.

[47:59]

the same practice and the same enlightenment as all beings. So when you've got a state that you think, this is a good state to use to offer to great compassion, this looks like a really good state. Well, great. So... Express zata. Use it to express great compassion. And then gradually open up to all the ones that you didn't think were worthy of such offerings. Get ready to realize all of them were. Because everything that karmic beings do can be used to express ... including the ones where we just didn't think they were possible or we forgot. I guess I just say that because tuning into that is ... I'm not disagreeing that all the ordinary moments where I was having ... Being compassionate to what was arising or opening to somebody I had difficulty with.

[49:05]

I'm not saying they're not also equal. I'm just saying that in terms of motivation and faith and like, things accrue. Yeah, so before you're ready to do this practice, you're not ready. Even though you can later see that all the times I wasn't ready for practice was the way I was practicing. But at that time you couldn't see it. We understand. But now maybe you do. And then the more you do it, now you do it. You realize all of them in the past were also good opportunities, but you didn't believe it. You lacked faith that this was an opportunity. But now, this particular moment, you do have faith. This is an opportunity. Great. And work with... And you will wake up to the same practice and the same enlightenment of all beings, including all beings in the past and future.

[50:12]

So, now we got one. Work with this one. Another one. Work with this one. The more we do this, the more... No exceptions. Linda? If possible, I'll ask you two questions. I've been asking myself how to, by practice, to great compassion or to whatever. So I actually won't howl. So one thought that comes up is just to ritually say something, like a mantra I offer. Or another one is just to sit there with a question. What is it to offer this practice? I got that question. And then at that moment, that question could be used perfectly.

[51:16]

For me, that's a lovely opportunity. Great compassion, ask that question. Make that question a gift. And again, as I've often mentioned in Mahayana Sutras, when the bodhisattvas ask questions, the Buddha often says, That's a great question. And you asked that for the welfare and happiness of many beings. You're not just doing it to get me to say something. You're making your question an offering. So your question that you just raised, you can make that an offering to the bhujans. And they want you to. They want you to offer all your questions. And also they want you to be aware that you just made a generous offering And they're very happy that you gave them the question. Would you be happy if I gave another one? I think so. So you said in an address before that when one has an experience of awakening, the whole phenomenal world awakens together.

[52:30]

and I had some understanding for a moment of what it might feel like to the person in question, but I was imagining this. So there's somebody in the world with a hand raised to hurt somebody. Yes. And at that moment, I have an awakening, and I see where they were. and I feel that the whole phenomenal world is with me, and that hand still comes down and hurts that person. How is it that the whole world has woken up? So, here's a hand, and so right now I've got something to offer, an action with this hand. Now, if this hand does something, this karmic activity of this hand does something kind, I want to make that, whatever that gesture was, I want to make that an expression of the Buddha mind.

[53:39]

If he does something unkind, I want to make that unkindness an offering to Buddhas. I'm not saying you should do something unkind, but if I ever do anything unkind, I would like to make this an offering to Buddhas. Which is then, that's number three, right? Offering to Buddha is what? Offer what you've got. If what I've got is meanness, that's what I offered to Buddha. That's not a very nice thing to offer to Buddha. Buddha wants me to make whatever I am an offering to Buddha. The next one after that, confess that that was mean what I just did. I wasn't saying that I did the hurtful thing. I was saying somebody there in the world did it, even while I was awakening, and the whole world was covered with light. Oh, so you're talking about other people doing unkind things? Yeah, you said the whole world ... Yeah, but how that happens is imperceptible.

[54:46]

When the whole world wakes up together, yeah, meanwhile the person is doing something terrible. When the historical Buddha woke up and said, everybody's awakened with me, somebody probably was being cruel. And that awakening was for all people, including that person, the awakening is to help that person wake up and be free of ever doing anything cruel. That doesn't mean that there wasn't some cruelty happening at the moment, woke up. And also it doesn't mean that before or after Buddha woke up that the history of all the cruelty of all living beings from beginningless time, that wasn't erased. It was liberated and awakened. That's what I'm saying. And that's imperceptible. But sometimes when we do this practice we feel encouraged to do it again and more wholeheartedly.

[55:47]

We feel like, you know, it's really working for me. Again, this gets into like... The confession and repentance thing is kind of around the bodhisattva precepts. I'm a bodhisattva. I honor Buddha. I praise Buddha. I make offerings to Buddha. And I look at my own karma. I look at myself. The precepts are not killing. The precepts are not stealing. I use these precepts to find out And I find them. And that's following from offerings to Buddha. That's another offering to Buddha. Right after offering to Buddha other things, now I offer Buddha my own, looking at myself through these teachings. It's not so much to stop doing evil things, it's to look at myself and see if I discover any cruelty or any killing. And if by any chance

[56:51]

When I use the precepts as opportunities to look at myself and discover who I really am, my own karma, I might feel really encouraged to just be kind to everybody, no matter what, including those who have not yet learned how to be kind. I just feel, by confessing my lack of kindness, not just alone by that, but as an offering to Buddha, it makes it possible for me to wholeheartedly acknowledge and feel sorry. And that is a great gift to all sentient beings. That protects me being doing the practice. It protects beings. It's an offering to Buddha and protects beings. Some people might not be ready to be up for protecting some beings.

[57:53]

But if they make offerings to Buddha, they gradually find out, that was great, and I know Buddha. They want me to offer confession and repentance of my shortcomings. They want that. And so even though I don't particularly want to, I'm going to do it because they want me to. And I have a promise to do it. I promise to confess and repent. And we do it here ritually. But we don't say that when we confessed our ancient twisted karma that at that moment nobody on the planet is doing anything unwholesome. We don't say that. We say the way that practice of confession and repentance helps us is the way it's helping others. sometimes been not kind in the past. So the way the confession of repentance helps this person who has been unkind sometimes, the way it helps me be liberated through understanding myself by this study, that's the same way it's helping everybody else.

[59:02]

But even with me, when I do that, It doesn't mean I'll never again. It just means that practice makes me more and more hearted that I never want to do anything unkind again. And the way that that works for me is exactly how it's working for other people. And that's hard to understand, but it works the same for them, and the way I'm doing it is transmitted to them in the way that I'm doing it was transmitted to me. What I'm doing is transmitted to unlimited beings, and I have received the transmission from unlimited awakened teachers. And I don't know how long it's going to be before everybody gets completely over being the slightest bit disrespectful of anybody. I don't know when that's going to be accomplished. But I'm up for it. And if I'm not, and I notice it, or somebody else may notice it, and I acknowledge it, and I say I'm sorry,

[60:11]

That makes me more wholehearted about being compassionate. And that's also, that confessional repentance is a bodhisattva offering to great compassion. And it gets into the nitty-gritty, but before getting into the nitty-gritty, it gets into these not-so-nitty-gritty practices. it sounds like, of making offerings to Buddha, but when you actually make offerings to Buddha, or the first one, when you pay homage by bowing, which we do, the bowing we do can be seen as a gesture of respect to the Buddhas. When we do that, we might feel like, I'm not wholehearted about that. Okay, so then go to number four, confess and repent. I'm wholeheartedly bowed to the Buddhas at that point. And the Buddha's like, yeah, when you half-heartedly bow to the Buddhas, it's good that you say you're sorry. That really helps you realize Buddha.

[61:16]

And in the early teachings, there's people going to the Buddha and saying, you know, I wasn't respectful of you. I wanted to be, but I wasn't. I'm sorry. Yep, that's good to say. And when you apologize for not honoring Buddha... that turns the Dharma away. That's what the Buddha said in the Pali Canon, and later there's much more of that. The incredible benefit of wholehearted confession and repentance, and how beneficial, how it melts this practice, it melts away the root of any unkindness. It's not about stopping the unkindness, it's about studying ourself through these precepts and discovering what's going on with ourselves. And that practice, done as an offering to Buddhas, in front of Buddhas, but also as an offering, that melts away the roots of all these cruel things.

[62:22]

We're working on melting the roots of unskillfulness. And again, the way it melts roots in this consciousness is exactly the way it does for others. Anyway, it's time to stop, and I appreciate it. I was happy to receive all these questions, and I was happy to receive all these faces. Thank you for giving me your face. Amen.

[62:56]

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