Zen Meditation as Bodhisattva Vow

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During this course, we will study the bodhisattva vow, to see how the compassionate intentions of enlightening beings generate, work, and play with the mind of enlightenment to promote peace and harmony among all beings. We will explore ways to reinterpret and reinvigorate these timeless vows to meet the problems of our contemporary society in a beneficial way.

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coming back to the beginning to remind you that the kind of that description of her series of meetings or something like a zen meditation as bodhisattva vow
and
some people go to zen centres and they want to practice and meditation and instruction they get
is like
how to sit upright and then sometimes or is instructed about them following their breathing
and they
and so they do sit upright and take care of their posture and follow their breathing or
or they don't follow their breathing but they think if they could sit upright and follow their breathing that they would be doing zen meditation
and
so that's a common understanding of zen meditation is at its
for example to sit upright or stand upright a walk upright be aware of your posture be mindful of your posture and maybe also be my fault your breathing
and i hesitate to say that's not zen meditation
but what i'm proposing to use that actually zen meditation is a practice
that grew up out of the
the universal vehicle
have the buddhist tradition
there it's a practice
of those who wish to attain enlightenment for the welfare of all beings it's a practice born of that seed
that vow to realize unsurpassed awakening for the welfare of all beings
that's the seed of
have enlightenment
and
so there is a tradition to teach meditation in such that is to teach meditation which is founded on that seed and which cares for that seed
and developed that seed
into the enlightenment of all beings into an into an enlightenment of all beings
for all beings
or enlightenment for all beings of all beings that's another
that's what i think his zen meditation as taught by the
i'm so called ancestors of the tradition
they may have also taught people to follow their breathing they may have also taught people to pay attention to where they were walking
who
not waste any water
they may have type people not to waste a leaf of grass they may have taught people not to throw up a piece of paper on the ground
they may have topic for many other things
but i propose to you that whatever they were teaching
they were actually trying to show people
how to develop this thought of and like this and this enlightenment thought
so by bringing people's attention to caring for water
they were hoping or are hoping that beings will discover
in the process of caring for the water
the wish to care for all beings in the best possible way which entails
supreme awakening in order to do so
that they will discover this thought and then they will continue to care for water
or whatever
with that same spirit
and they will be not be there will not be trying to get anything from water
or from a leaf from a piece of paper
i mean they may be they may be wishing to do that but that's not the meditation the meditation is to care for things without trying to get anything
to care for things
without trying to get anything
the care for things for the benefit of all beings and the benefit of all beings is not getting something
it's not you getting something is not other people getting something benefit is not getting something
benefiting beings is to free beings
from trying to get something
zen meditation is is
is that wish actually it's that wish
to benefit all beings and to a cane enlightenment for the welfare of all beings is that wish and then it's also the ongoing care that wish until that wish turns into what is wished for
until the wish becomes supreme enlightenment
for all beings
that's what the zen which has taught by the zen ancestors if that's what zen meditation is and that meditation is pretty much the same thing have the realization of that wish
it's the realization in the practice or the same so as i said it also at the beginning of a low-key touch bar and bodies start by asked the buddha
ah
bhagavan why do you say that body suffers
progress
on the path to enlightenment of all beings by means of great vows
why do you say the bodhisattvas produce great follows why do you say the boys up as carry out great files and then i torture what the buddha said i wanted to say again that
i've looked at for us asking but that the buddha says that what bodhisattvas or about is their bot progressing
to the realization of buddha not themselves by themselves progressing to boot not then trying to get buddhahood for themselves but to progressing towards the realization of buddha
which is not
excluding anybody there
progressing towards the realization of a buddha which includes everyone
they're carrying out the wish to benefit all beings they're producing the thought to benefit all beings that's the way they proceed
then practice is that way proceeding is and meditation is the way of is carried out
by way of this great bar these great vows it is produced by way of the valves it produces a great foul it cares for a great file it realizes a great fall
k
ha i told you somebody destroyed before but anyway and can tell you again that i i was attracted to zen because of hearing of stories and bud
so called zen people
zen
practitioners zen monks
when i heard some of these stories
there were stories about the way these people behaved about the way they related mostly to other humans but sometimes towards things inanimate things like
rocks or something or water but mostly the ones that really got me most i think where the way some people related a some humans related to other humans and when i heard these stories i said i want to be like that i want to be like that person
it didn't say in no stories that that they were you know when they described it
the way this person related to other persons it didn't say and this person was very calm
and this person was a very happy and this person was very three didn't say that
now you could say they probably were calm happy and free
but that isn't what struck me as
just the way they were was the way i wanted to be i didn't want to be that way to get happiness for me
course i knew that if i was that way i would be happy but that wasn't what i was thinking of i wanted to be like that i wanted to be like a bodhisattva
oh
has america one of the stories that
turn me towards then was a story written by toward a mg this is tories envy his teacher's name hawkins mg so one of the stories that turned me towards zen was a story of how coins mg where he was falsely accused of being the father of a young girl in his village and he was
was severely insulted and criticized for something he didn't
and he didn't do
course he was involved in the world that were happened but it was not his unique contribution and he was blamed and harassed for this
it didn't say he was happy that people were doing this to him i didn't think he was happy that people were attacking him falsely
i didn't know i kind of pie probably was experiencing some pain around this
the pain for the girl who is lying paint for the parents who were attacking and some pain for here hadn't had experience in heart harsh treatment
but the way he responded was he said is that so to this kind of treatment
and i didn't think that that was pleasant situation i just thought it was really a great way to respond
i kind of like
if i'm attacked
and accused of something that i didn't do all by my lonesome and hated and reviled if i'm attack i want to be able to say whole okay that's what's happening
then the truth came out and she told her parents such him he wasn't a father then they came back and praised him heavily
and he took care of them that hey what it was baby to carry the baby for two years also then they came back and said thank you very much your great blah blah and they did that to him and he says always that so
and then again i thought yes that's the way i wanna be when you're loading on the praise just just go okay
so want to be that way
but i didn't and i knew of course that if i was that way i would receive happiness and fearlessness etc but i wasn't thinking about that i just wanted to be that way in this life
that was my there's that was about the our rose and me and response to hearing that
i want to be such a person
i hadn't really heard many stories about the buddha that time shakyamuni buddha
so the first people to turn me on to the bodhisattvas whether then then stories and ten monks
now that story although i didn't really tell it
very well it's a story that lot of people can relate to like i could now i'd like to talk about something that's not an easy to relate to
this isn't a story about a zen monk this is a story about
hey a celestial body sought from overlook you want to bother loki test for his pals
this bodhisattvas called samantha of hydra
so i've lucky touch for from means the one who listens to the cries of all beings smart of hydra means universal goodness
it is one of the great bodhisattvas
and
one of them in the biggest i think the biggest my hyannis scripture is called the flower diamond scriptures and he's kind of the central body that huge scripture
and
and one of the main
questioners in the sutra
if name's suda has to be a boy young kind of
young boy was traveling around named pseudonym and he questions many great body surface or his questioning some pedro and he says to some onto pedra oh great sage pray explained to us what course we should follow
from paying homage to the buddha's
two turning over
our own merits to all sentient beings
so he's referring their too
ten vows and these ten bars are called the ten vows of some month of hydra
a traditional zen altered by the way in asia is to have shakyamuni buddha and i'm i'm on one side
wonder if you body sad for the bodhisattva for wisdom and on the other side someone to hydro bodhisattva been two hundred bodhisattvas the body start for a practice
have lucky test far as the bodhisattva of compassion
so someone to powder is being asked this question about these ten vows which are called the ten miles of semantic hydra
because of this particular scripture the i'm bringing up but these ten bouts are not just have some entendre
they could be your ten bows
or not
and these in some ways these ten bows even one of these valves may be more difficult to relate to than the story of hoc wins mg being a cute falsely accused and saying is that so
being justly praised and saying is that so it may maybe destroys the strain may be more difficult to relate to but i'd like to
i'd like to share this with you i think it might be good for the world if you listen to this
and meditate on it and by the way meditating on this is zen meditation
people don't usually think that then meditators would ever even hear what i'm about to tell you not to mention memorize it not to mention
write it out
by the way this book is one of four
books
in which a friend of mine rode out the lotus sutra in the lotus sutra it says it recommends
what is it recommended lotus sutra you already know something's the largest he recommends what does it recommend
be upright what else
be honest what else he saw right what else
yeah and what else flexible flexible yes and what else
right was sitting right the lotus sutra it says that but didn't tell you and that's what it says it also says you don't really say that actually it kind of implies a kind of recommends it because it says if you practice that way and you missed one more point besides those four points he brought up those for think what
i'm honest but there's some of this there's a situation which has been recommended what is the situation
practice all virtues and how do you practice all virtues in the way we just mentioned and what is practice all virtues mean
that's the way your practice and the the proximal virtues means you sit in the middle of the suffering of all beings
that's the place to practice com says so you sit in the middle of all suffering you open yourself to all the varieties of suffering and then in that situation which you have entered this is the practice place which you've now entered that then it tells you how to do it and then it also tells you
although you wouldn't necessarily need this that if you practices where you will meet the buddha face to face right now
okay remember that part in the lawsuit sutra
chapter sixteen
the lawsuit also says does how to practice copy the lotus sutra recite the lotus sutra and dog and says the zen master dogan says in this lifetime it would be good if you copy the lotus sutra at least once so i said that to somebody and she can't beat it
and she gave it to me
and here it is right here this is one of the chapters and she did on every other page swan the blank pages i can write other things in which i did and what did i write i wrote
samantha podres ten vows
for not all the terms like a etc the ten vows are number one
is say no
first of all of this celestial body saatva which could be yours is to pay homage to all buddhas
huh
give homage to all buddhists number two is to praise all buddhas
number three is to
make offerings to all buddhas

number four is to confess and repent
all your shortcomings
critically spiritual shortcomings
when five is it and route five
number five is to rejoice
and celebrate the virtues of others
number six
is too
beseeched the buddha's to stay with us and not go off on any field trips
to stay in the world not don't go to nirvana which they can do very easily don't go there yet stay with us
number seven is to beg the buddhist teach
number eight
is to do all the practices that there are to be done
ah seven had begged the buddhist to teach first get him to stay and then went to get a mere beg him to teach
and eight is to practice all the practices know all the practices that help that help beings lot of
number nine serve all living beings
and number ten
dedicate the merit of all these for all these other vows
take that merit and dedicated to all living beings give it away
all the merit of that those are the ten vows have some on to pedro
in brief
now if you can stand it can you stand it if i going to little detail
kick so
the okay david
k go ahead
who carry on so suit and i says he's asked to is asking someone to potter somehow he knows about these ten
how do we explain how we what course we should follow in paying homage and so on up to dedicating the merit of all is
to all sentient beings
it's my partner says the body sought for replied to suit dinner and said noble minded person
in regard to pay homage to all buddhas one should
think
it's great bodhisattva is instructing this wonderful disciple to think
and again people think that invitation you don't think economically
wipe your mind clear and clean you know
that's fine but you should think of wiping your mind clear and clean
zen meditation is thinking in a certain way
it's thinking
in such a way that jurby you become you go beyond your thinking
you think in a way that takes you beyond your thinking thinking is our problems the problems in life come from thinking so the meditations to think in a way that will go behind our thinking and will realize that are thinking is not thinking
that we realize our problems are not problems or we realize our problem is not a problem
but first of all we have to be get involved with our problem
in order to realize in order to go beyond our problem and realize that our problem isn't a problem we have to be involved in our problem with our problem again roderick
yeah so the great bodhisattva says one should think or yeah one should think it's training him and thinking because thinking is the problem
and the way of and way he died just tell you beforehand he's not going to tell you to keep thinking the where you've been thinking
the bodyshop is not to say one should think like one has been thinking about going to say that he could but didn't there's another scripture word somebody's out but tells people keep thinking the way you are thinking this is called a mean bodhisattva sutra
per person comes and says how should we practice in order to realize buddhahood keep thinking the way you have been thinking that work out really nicely for you
this is the cruel body sought the scripture
now
cause you to teach you a new way to think
ah the way you can teach you the way of thinking of body the bodhisattva vow way of thinking can use your thinking to think of a vow of a supreme extensive great vile so it's going to be kind of a weird kind of thinking coming up here now
but he says if you want to know this is how you should think
and then quotes and this is what you think
with deep faith and understanding and by the power of amount of hundred vows i will see
the buddha as though face to face
think that
you to believe but think that you believe it's think by deep faith
and by the power of this great bodhisattvas bow
and by understanding
i will see the buddha has no face to face as though face to face
in the old days when shocking money buddha was in the world people used to meet the buddha face to face and meeting the buddha face to face he is a key
set up in the tradition those people who understood the dharma when the buddha was around they they they did it meeting buddha face to face so meeting buddha face to face his kind of vape prototypic or archetypal
unavoidable
situation in the tradition you don't get to understand the dharma sort of on your own you've gotta do it with the buddha face to face now
the shock winter boot is not around anymore
but samanta hydrous telling us to think think what by deep faith and understanding and by the power of this great bodhisattva vows i will see the border as they'll face to face
and here now it gets even more unusual in the past in the present and in the future so i'm not i'm going to meet the buddha now can also want to meet the buddha in the past and the future and also by the way in ten directions
throughout the realm of dharma and the realm of space throughout the infinite universe equal to the total sum of dust motes in buddha fields that's where i'm gonna meet the buddha
but you can cut it done if you want to pursue at the beginning just cut it down to
i'm going to see the buddha face to face just period stop there and leave a other parts on if you wanted for a while and then when you're ready then start thinking about doing a past president future and then throughout the entire universe that you're going to do this
and then think there was this is what he's been your main structure to think this
with all the virtue of my body speech and mind i shall pay sincere homage to all of them without cessation
hey i'm thinking okay i'm thinking
i'm going to
meet the buddha as your face to face and then i'm made all these buddhist throughout the universe as though face to face and i'm going to pay a sincere homage to all of them without and i'm going to do that without and
then come back again to know where i'm i'm going to wear and how am i going to meet these people i'm going to meet him on in every particle of dust throughout the entire universe
which would include every particle of dust in berkeley
and particles of dust can also be understood as every thought
if you see a particle of dust you actually you're having a thought of the particle of dust
if you see big chunk of dirt you having a
a thought of a chunk of dirt can see a mountain that's a particle of dust your know it at that moment that moment of part in every moment of thought with everything you meet each and every thing you meet each and everything you experience every thought of experience in each one of those throughout the entire universe
gonna meet the border and k that's the basic setup now do you do
what's that i mean what did for smart podres say that you could do at the time what pay homage since patient sera homage to every one of the buddha's
now it turns out that to in every one of the particle of dust there's a buddha and actually there's infinite buddhists in every particle of dust
and then and then you what he's recommended thinking it to think i shall pay sincere homage to them without end
in each and every buddha land i shall transformed countless bodies
and with each body i shall give my veneration to incalculable buddha's through infinite domains equal to the total number of dust motes in those domains
my homage will be ended when the realm of spaces ended but since the round with spaces boundless
so will my homage to buddha be ahmed be boundless likewise if the spheres of beings ended our ended the karma's of living beings are and the sorrows or living beings and the passions are living beings are ended than my homage will be ended
but has there it has all these things are endless so
will be my homage to all buddhists moment after moment without interrupting body bodily vocal and mental actions without becoming weary
this is what's the monopod of hydra instructed pseudo now
about the first how hot practice the first bow so this is like
wow of
zen meditation also
there's nothing about getting anything here
he's just about basically whatever experience you're having and also in addition to whatever experience you're happy be aware that whatever experience you could have and in all your experiences in every single one of them
there are infinite buddhists there and you're gonna meet all of them face to face and
give them your sincere homage
an homage also means as commission before it's basically you're sincere homage to the buddha's is i want to be like you
i wanna be a person like you i wanna be a skillful wise compassionate patient generous honest blah blah person
and again in every action
in every posture in every vocal action in every thought every one of those
i'm gonna think this

i should i should i stop now and you actually do one more vow when you say
more one more
hey
the second one then what second one was some you took notes
but praise buddha praise all the buddhas and their virtues
so again novel minded person or you could say noble thinking person
how does one praise all buddhas and their virtues
so to do so one should what
one shared what
why should why
what
notes
one should think want to think a good teacher it's going to be teach you i think think think think think the problem is thinking now we're going to training and thinking to become free of thinking because that's the problem
get you could say also you should karma or you should act gay can our problem is our action so now is teaching a new it act fundamental action is thinking
it's due to its due to our thinking that we suffer it's do or karma that's the problem now we're going to be trained in a new kind of karma called bowing
one should think
one shouldn't can't
quotes
each and every dust particle
i'm a shortness first answer in each and every dust particle their dwell buddha's equal to the number
equal in number to the smallest dust motes in all worlds
gates so in this world how many dust motes arthur the small ones how many either set quite a few right
artist
dust motes dust particles
yeah most particles
so in this room has quite a few dust motes right
so in this whole world that we have there's quite a few dust motes right
getting so in every one of the dust motes
and every one of the dust mites in this world there's buddha equal to the number of dust motes in the world
so in this room there's quite a few dust motes and each one of those dust monsters buddha's equal in number not to the number of dust motes in this room but the not dust motes in in not in this even not even in this world
but does not equal to the number of dust motes
in worlds he quoted a number of dust motes that's how many buddhists there are in each dust mode
you've been encouraged to think
in every dust mote that there's is extremely large number of buddhism there
so that would lead you to be very respectful of dust motes now if there was one does mote in every if there was one buddha never just more than the you might think that's enough for me i'll be good it as much from now on that isn't my says here it says that in every dust mote there are many many many buddhas in each test mode
their dwelling there
k yeah
this is a boy this is a great bodhisattva who thinks it would be good for your health if you want to know how bodhisattvas practice what they do they think like this
they think like this for example why they're doing other things for example why they're serving all beings as number nine right one of their valances they're serving all being so while they're serving every single being
including all the little beings to the size of dust motes they're serving them while they're serving them they're thinking that in this being that i'm serving his tiny little being or this big being who has many does motes in every one of these dust motes is a large number of buddha's
we're starting with
praising the buddha praising the buddha at this point praising the buddhists like or boot as i i heard that they're really great and wonderful new wisdom and compassion all kinds of other virtues
but i'm being told to think about them being in every single particle
a lot of them in every single particle
and surrounding each one of all those booties in every dust particle are an extremely large number of body ciphers
they're almost surrounded by bodhisattvas
they're also always surrounded by all sentient beings but that's not mentioned here

this is tuning in
k the praising buddha where do you look
at every single particle how many are there
many many surrounded by many bodhisattvas gay then
now that i'm
looking at whatever particle it is i shall apply my profound thought and insight to fathom
as if they were facing me as if i was is if the buddha's were before me face to face
and i will sing praises to these buddhist now
i will sing praises to the boys now that i'm meeting them in this way i'm thinking i will do this
this is zen meditation
but since it's so on such an unusual way to think about the world
as every dust mote having innumerable buddha's not too many people are ready for this kind of zen meditation
so may take us awhile to get ready for it because this is a very
well this is an amazing way to relate to every experience
where the previous one now have you experienced we're going to feel like i'm going to think about meeting the buddha in every tiny experience and meeting many buddhas in every tiny experience and then praising the buddha's
come on every tiny experience
and we're gonna do this with a great in an eloquent tongue more eloquent than those possessed by the maidens of heaven
each tongue a mini ah
boundless oceans of voices
each voice emitting boundless oceans of speeches all proclaiming the ocean like merits of all the buddhas
ten you without cessation throughout the realm of dharma in infinite universes my praise will be ended when the space and when this realm of spaces ended when the realm sphere of beings are ended when the karma sorrows and passions of all beings are ended but since these
the realm of space even to the realm of the sorrows of all beings are endless there will be no end to my praise
this is the second wow
which we practice by thinking in this way
now i've also given a class here
more than once but not too long ago on what we call ginger call on some of you were here
meditation on ganji call on it's a facile by the zen teacher dogan
but tonight i would say that the word ganji ah could be translated as
the universe realized or the realized universe
the topic of meditation and soto zen is ginger call on the topic of meditation and soto zen is the realized universe or the universe realized
that's a topic of zen meditation in the sort of school
realized were realized where whereas the universe realized
video
right here
when lydia
right now this experience
realizes the universe the universe is realized through this experience that's it we meditate on
this experience
is the entire universe manifesting as this experience
this experience is the manifestation of the whole works
of the entire universe and of the working of the entire universe that's the meditation it's the same as this experience in this experience in this experience are innumerable buddhists
and how do we relate to the universe
be realized
in this experience well one way is first of all we pay homage to the buddha's
which are dwelling in this experience
we pay we praise the buddha's which are dwelling in this experience and so on this is the way we meditate it isn't just a in your kind of like
it is intellectual because we're thinking but it isn't it is it isn't just okay this is the universe met realized now this this this is this is the universe realized i wasn't just that it's also i wanna be like the ones who have realized
the universe right now
i want to be like the ones who have realized the buddhists who are existing in every particle of dust for all beings throughout the universe i want of i want to be like them i want to be such a person
so when they attacked me i can say oh king
is this happening
when they praise me the same and i want to praise
the universe
they realized through this isn't exactly that i'm praising the people
or my experience i mix i'm praising the buddha's which are dwelling in every aspect of every person
the buddha's were practicing together with every person who are living in every person i'm praising them
but they're inseparable from the person so of course you have we have to be very kind like tories and he says
i look at the form of the universe
all is a manifestation of the mysterious truth of the to togheter in any event in any moment in any place none can be other than the marvelous revelation of glorious light
zen master talking
this is his meditation this is and his meditation is his vow his vow is is meditation he's meditating on everything is the manifestation of the glorious light of the truth
taking care of senseless events taking care of each and every being
with kindness no matter what they do to us
play praise or blame
we take care of every thing in this way nirvana is right before us and we give it away
this is invitation this is
this ten teachers bodhisattva vow
one could learn how to think this way if one
read this and
read this and recited this and wrote this and recited his and wrote this pretty soon you would notice that you are thinking this way and this would be hum
zen meditation this would be bodhisattvas the body sought the way of carrying on this is the way of progressing towards buddhahood or this is a way
because these valves can be put many different ways
so
that was a lot i wasn't it
i mean not seem like a lot
but i'm glad you listen to this and give me feedback
and ronna thank you for the flowers run brought these flowers for you guys and in in you know how many buddhas are in there so watch out
yes run
remind your ruined palm off
the sun is a spark that happened in the sky so that immense universe in his high this like
yeah said this man
rain
yeah
it's like that
ah the galaxy with him
meditate on the galaxy with him in your own heart there's a galaxy and the start that the to little tiny spot in his heart you have
this gazillions of buddha's in your heart
hand in everybody else's heart
any other response you care to
offer
yes come your name again
how does

yes

no no this story came after i'd been studying then for quite a while i think if i'd heard this distort a first bot i heard the i don't know if i would high would have heard this but if somebody was telling the story verbally wish you know people were not walking around minneapolis back in the sixties talking like this i didn't run in
anybody that was
if somebody was talking like this i don't know if i would have paid attention to them for very long
that's why the zen sorry was better because it was shorted and more accessible then then because of that zen story i wanted to be like the the person's and story and then i found out that the person is in-store wasn't like that just by luck he had practiced trick he had been trained how to been
trained he was trained to zen meditation that's how i became a person like you he was so i thought me if i trained as zen meditation i would become like him
in southern i've started to practice and meditation
and then after years and years i ran into this the sutra which is not very popular because it's so extensive it so it's so much what it should be that an almost no one wants to see it or listened to it but
here we are ready to hear tonight and i don't know if this were to turn any of you on to practice but now that you're turned on here it is
to extend your vow you all have a wow this is to make your vow extend this to make your vow expand is to make your vow unlimited because and meditation is not meditation
ah i should say not it is meditation on the universe within your heart
it is meditation handheld the universe is manifested has every
particle of experience in each moment
yeah you're making if i was out of my imitation of you
i can understand that you would have a face like that or some other kind of face
this is strange stuff we don't hear this kind of thing
every moment but you could start hearing and every moment you could actually walk around
thinking like this
maybe not tonight but maybe tonight
you could be thinking like this have to class
or not yes
jennifer
and eight years
trying to find some pretty
my own work
yeah put it into your own words right and where i'm hearing
my story about
if i constantly
i
i contemplate that the air in every dustman
pay homage
tell the buddha and i just keep this contemplation going i imagine that would probably happen
is there a be
obstacles that will come in the way his practice and as i continued contemplating and looking at those different
you point out for have sadly actually able to see that
the
the buddha pay homage to are actually me that i would actually we will see you
see myself or see mention nature
that's possible but until you said that i was agreeing with you when you said the buddhas are you i thought ah
the buddha's aren't you
i don't think so
i think that there's innumerable buddhas in every pore of your nose
the buddhist art me are you the buddha is
the infinite buddhists are around you and me and around every little particle of you and me
put his heart
that kind of think buddhas are the way we're all related their the realization of how we're all related they aren't any one of us but they dwell on in each of us and each of us each of us deserves respect and part of the reason why each of the sisters who deserve respect
texas because infinite burrus existence
and beings a tiny little beings that live in us
also deserve more or less infinite respect and devotion
not because they are buddhists but because infinite buddhist live in them and live around them
so i'm thinking i'm hearing the word and myself inseparable inseparable yeah your inseparable from buddha's right there's no buddhist separate from you know know you separate from buddha's but we don't want to identify with buddha and we do not want to decide if i would most people who does identify with buddha
that's not good because you can't you have no life aside from buddhist they totally penetrating you totally surrounding you and they're totally surrounded by you
and bodhisattvas were total and destiny we are with each other to and the way we are without which with each other is buddhas
we're not even just booted the way we aren't that were buddha's the way we are with each other
but we're not buddha you are not not buddha were inseparable totally intimate with buddha and also with each other and jennifer also said she imagined that if she started to do these practice she would experience some obstruction or hindrance or something obstacles yeah of the
one two three four i think the fourth one the fourth of our is about confessing your obstacles
and that you confess your obstacles then you'll be ready to like appreciate other people
who
do and do not have obstacles but sometimes if we don't appreciate our own obstacles we aren't very appreciative of other people who are obstructed
so yeah part of the the fourth practice is
which maybe we'll get into later is the practice of confession and repentance of our shortcomings that is a practice which great bodhisattvas
there are devoted to it's not like what they to be shortcomings to brag to confess they do
they've got they've got everything so do you guys shortcomings and you can work like that can be part of your part of so part of zazen and part of den meditation is to confess shortcomings should confess and repent shortcomings as part of zen meditation
that's part of appreciating how the universe
his manifested right now in this experience
and a by the way if anything is left out let me know
good night
any other
friend
kind of a comment here
time to

yes

has your
her experiences
the term
yes

yeah right

which
yes
that's right
well
you don't have to go through the whole process you can just practice giving so you can regard all beings as gifts to you every person as a gift to you can also regard every experience you have if we thought you have as a gift to you but also you can make every thought that you have and every person you
you meet you can make everything into gift
by giving the experienced to itself
by really totally supporting everything that happens to be what it is
it's decided
i thinking
you don't have to know you can just you can just look at something or look at somebody and really just
stop there is very simple
and don't try to get anything from them
but give them give them your complete attention
and let them be what they are and realize that that is a gift do that as a gift like right now i'm talking to you and i can like to let you be the person who's saying what you're saying and looking like your look
you're not actually the person who looks like you look to me but i still i want
to make you into a gift i want to make my relationship with you into giving
that's it if i want to that's enough
if i feel joy at having this generous relationship with you i'm getting into it if i don't feel joy i'm not really quite wholeheartedly into it but when i get wholeheartedly into how you are a gift to me how i'm a gift to you how our relationship as it is is a gift both of us
how i'm actually not just letting you be there which i am but i'm making that relationship into a gift to you
and i make our relationship a gift to both of us
and that to me that's that's one of the ways training in this vow
how of living for the welfare of beings
so giving is the first practice you do once you're devoted to the welfare of beings to first practices giving
and if you don't see how people are gifts you can keep trying to see other gifts but usually the best way to see the somebody has to gift is to make them a gift

if you don't see it make him a gift they don't see it does make it that way and if you don't see if you can't do that then see how letting them be what they are is a gift understand that that is the basic thing of giving is to not just let people be at the are but realized that is a gift
you are supporting them but
practice that you are generous with everybody
i am generous with everybody but if i don't practice being gems with everybody i don't understand that i'm generous with everybody
everybody's generous with me but if i don't realize how generous with them i might miss that their generous with me some people can see that people are generous towards themselves but they don't go generous towards the person that can happen to
but it's more common the other way portions in markham is quite common the other way that you feel generous towards someone but you don't think they're generous towards you
if you get more into how your generous with them
you'll see that their generous with you but you can't but you and your actually you are already into being generous towards people but unless you practice it you do not realize it
we are already generous but if we don't practice it we don't realize it we are already the home of many buddhas
the recipient of buddhist compassion but if we don't practice it we don't realize it
we're already living this vow and if we don't practice it we don't realize it
and the more you practice it generally speaking the more you realize it
including that the more you practice it the more you notice that you have obstacles
but there's a practice for that which you can't do and as you notice the obstacles
and bodhisattvas enormous obstacles
because they practice noticing obstacles
and then they realized obstacles and then they realized the practice and so on
so
if it gets too complicated just giving this the simplest in a way
because it's just basically giving everything a big field and let em and paying attention to it and letting it do its thing and then again but the next moment and the next moment it's not trying to get anything it's actually just letting things be as a gift letting people be as a gift that in pain
mean be as a gift letting pleasure be as a gift
until you feel joy and then you know you're into it and then when you get into it that way then you start to see all
i didn't see that someone so was a gift before but now i do i thought they were causing me some trouble
i thought they were insulting me
but if i let their insult be as and and really make it a gift then i realized their insult as a gift they're always were generous with me even in their stinginess
hey so ah it's nine fifty thank you very much
nine fifteen is a gift