I say that all Buddhas and all ancestors who uphold the Buddha-dharma have made it the true path of awakening to sit upright in the midst of the Bodhisattva Samadhi, the Ancestor Samadhi, Samantabhadra's Samadhi. Thank you.

[01:21]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[02:52]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[04:20]

Thank you. [...]

[06:22]

Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the whole Great Assembly. Welcome Basia. Welcome Rosie. Welcome Margie. Welcome to Karin.

[07:26]

Welcome to Rosa. Welcome Carol. Welcome Sarah. Welcome Cynthia. Welcome Warren. Welcome Gay. Welcome Sandra. Welcome Mayte. Welcome Brent. Welcome Michael. Welcome Anu. Welcome Fran. Welcome Kim.

[08:30]

Welcome Amanda. Welcome Barbara. Welcome Deborah. Welcome Daniel. Welcome Scott. Welcome Martin. Welcome June. Welcome Kevin. Welcome Jack. Welcome Karen. Welcome Barbara Joan. Welcome Jeff. Welcome Tony.

[09:37]

Welcome Susan. Welcome Dale. Welcome Marjorie. Welcome Mom Fred. Welcome Christian. Welcome John. Welcome Michelle. Welcome Linda. Welcome Maytu Radiant Ocean. Welcome Ranigan. Welcome Kevin. Welcome Breck. Welcome Jeff. Welcome Angela. Welcome Lynn.

[10:43]

Welcome Catherine. Welcome Justin. Welcome Jim. Welcome Karen Yuki. Welcome Jim rider. Welcome green. Welcome Catherine. Catherine Burke. Welcome Linda has. Welcome Sonia. Welcome Lori. Welcome Charlie. Welcome john. Welcome Charlie.

[11:46]

Welcome Jackie. Welcome Tracy. Welcome. Welcome john Ying. Welcome Vivian. And welcome Rob. I want to say how sorry I was that to hear and see that a number of you could not get into the meeting last week. And I'm really delighted to see that some of you could not get in last week here this week. So thank you. Gay and Amanda for making this happen. And I hope nobody's waiting out in the virtual realm that can't get in.

[12:57]

So. I begin by saying. That in this assembly. We have been. Recognizing all the people in this assembly. And you may have noticed that this is just the same as in the sutra. The sutra does the same thing that we do do the same thing as the sutra. I, I want this, these meetings I want this assembly. To be. An enactment of the assembly of the sutra of the assemblies of the sutra. How about you.

[13:59]

How about you. We in this assembly we have been learning and meditating on these other assemblies. And. And I also want to acknowledge. That starting last June. We there was a forming of an assembly to study this sutra. And that assembly was the Noah boat assembly. And some of you were there. So that's the first assembly that we have gathered to study the sutra. This year. Then. Other assemblies were formed.

[15:02]

Assembly and assembly of senior Dharma teachers. At Zen Center. An assembly of post you so. At Zen Center. An assembly of intermediate residents students at Green Gulch. Formed an assembly. And now this assembly. And more assemblies are projected to be opened. Also Sunday talks to Green Gulch is another assembly. Where we studied this sutra. Where we meditated on this sutra. And there too I'm sorry that some of you. Came to the Green Gulch. Online assembly. Some of you came in person to Green Gulch. And some of you came online and couldn't get into the first meeting. I'm so sorry about that too.

[16:03]

The power was out at Green Gulch. The power. But the second one I think you could get into. And there's another one coming up. At the end of this month. So that's another assembly. And then in January. We will open another assembly which will be the January intensive at Green Gulch. And then in February. We'll open an assembly in Houston, Texas. And then in June we will open an assembly in Brooklyn, New York. And then in the fall. We will open an assembly. At Green Gulch for the fall practice period. So. Again. We're enacting the sutra of opening assembly after assembly. To look at the assembly. To meditate on this sutra. And in all these assemblies at the center of all these assemblies.

[17:07]

Is the great unsurpassed awakening of the Buddha. The Buddha is surrounded by assemblies. And we surround the Buddha's great awakening. And we will discuss how this is so. Day after day, week after week. Hopefully for quite a while. Also, I just want to briefly thank Linda Hess and Maite. For bringing us back to the very beginning of the sutra. And noting that the Buddha sitting at the site of awakening. Sitting on the ground at the site of awakening. That the ground was firm. And adamantine.

[18:08]

The Buddha sat on the ground. Which was firm and stable. And the firmness and the stability of the earth upon which the Buddha sits. Is also the stability of the Buddha's samadhi. And then. In this very settled. Firm. Undistracted presence of the awakening. Then there arises in the same place. This almost inconceivable display of appearances. All kinds of flowers and incense. And canopies of jewels. And oceans of colors. All this arises with this stable earth. And the Buddha sitting at the site of awakening. So thank you to Linda and Maite. For noticing this from the very beginning.

[19:12]

This resonance between profound settledness. And magnificent displays. Of joyful appearances. And again. We go over and over until we learn. Deeply what this is about. So once again. The first chapter. We came to sort of the end of the first chapter last time. But I also want to a note. That the first chapter. Goes through all these different categories. 40 categories. And for each category of being. Has infinite innumerable members. And then for each category. 10 of the leaders. Tell us. About what the 10 leaders know.

[20:15]

The one leader of each group of 10. Tells us what the other 10 knows. And the first verse. Of the sutra. Is for sublime. Oceans of sublime flames. Tells us what the Buddha body is. And then ocean of sublime flames. Tells us what all the other leaders. Of his realm. How they see the Buddha. And then we go through all. We go through. All the different categories. In the assembly. And. 10 of the leaders for each category. Of infinite beings. Is named. And their understanding. And their vision of the Buddha. Is. Some.

[21:16]

In verse. Then at the end of that chapter. The world shakes in many different ways. And quakes and jumps and soars. And crashes and so on. The world. Is very. Joyfully jumping up and down. And then. These bodhisattvas. And all the leaders. Of the worlds. Of the ocean of worlds. The ocean of worlds. All the leaders produce. Boundless. Inconceivable. Offerings. The ocean of worlds. The ocean of this assembly. And then all the other oceans of worlds. The leaders of all those realms. Of all those different types of beings. Produce. Inconceivable clouds of offering. From the ocean. The clouds of offering come up.

[22:18]

And rain down on the assembly. Which produces more clouds of offering. Which rain down on the assembly. Everyone is joyfully. Not everyone. All the leaders are joyfully producing these offerings. And the offerings are rising up into clouds. And raining down on the joyful assembly. Just like here. And this is the environment. Which sets up the next chapter. Book two. Okay. You have the kind of like. Ecological. Environmental condition. Of all this amazing generosity. Of giving and receiving all these offerings. They're not just being offered to the Buddha. They're raining down on the whole assembly. Including the Buddha. And there's no place that these offerings do not reach.

[23:23]

That's the picture. And now. Are you ready for book two? Here's book two. What's book two? Well book two is. At that time. It starts out with at that time. What time? At the time of this. Inconceivable. Display of generosity. And receiving gifts and giving gifts. In that situation. At that time. All the leaders. All the leaders. Of all the different categories. And all the leaders of the bodhisattvas. They form. These thoughts. And these thoughts. Are. I believe 18 questions. I thought it was 21. But made you corrected me. I think it's 18 questions. So this.

[24:26]

All the leaders who. Who have been making these offerings. In the midst of the process. Of offerings. Coming up and raining down. In that very dynamic. Radiant realm of generosity. All these leaders form these thoughts. And the thoughts are 18 questions. And they're all questions. About the Buddha. For example. They say. What are the. Acts of the Buddha. What are the vistas of the Buddha. What are the stages of Buddha. What are the empowerments of the Buddha. What are the fearlessnesses of Buddha. What are the Samadhis of the Buddha.

[25:26]

What are the invincibilities of the Buddha. What are the sense organs of the Buddha. What are the minds of the Buddha. What are the lights of the Buddha. What are the halos of the Buddha. What are the knowledges of the Buddha. What are. And so on. They have all these questions. They all have these questions. Who has these questions. The leaders of all these assemblies who are making the offerings joyfully, they also joyfully ask these questions. And then they say, please, World Honored One, explain this to us. And then they go on and say, and also, all the Buddhas have explained many, many oceans, oceans, oceans, oceans. The Buddhas have explained oceans. What kind of oceans? They have explained the oceans of worlds, the oceans of sentient beings. The Buddhas have explained the oceans of Buddha's liberation, the oceans of Buddha's mystical

[26:27]

displays, the oceans of Buddha's teaching, the oceans of the Buddha's names, the oceans of Buddha's lifespan, the oceans of Buddha's vows, the oceans of bodhisattva vows, the oceans of approaches of bodhisattvas. the ocean of aids to the way of all bodhisattvas, the ocean of vehicles of all bodhisattvas, the ocean of activities of all bodhisattvas, the ocean of emancipation. The Buddhas have explained all that. Please, World Honored One, explain this to us. Okay, get the picture. They all have these questions and they all in their minds together beg the Buddha to explain all this. However, this is all in their minds. They're not saying it out loud. Is that clear? Then the next thing is, all these leaders who have produced all these gifts, right? These

[27:39]

leaders who have produced this boundless, inconceivable clouds of generosity, then what they do is they get the gifts to start speaking. So, we have these clouds of offerings and then the offerings start speaking in verse. And the verses are basically reiterating all the questions that they wanted to ask the Buddha. And also, the sounds, the voices in the offerings ask the Buddha to teach. So, in the offerings are these verses coming out with all their questions and all their requests of the Buddha to teach. I'm laughing because the thought comes to my mind,

[28:43]

the Buddha is not exactly stupid. So, the Buddha kind of gets it. The Buddha kind of understands because they've been doing all these offerings and they've been thinking these thoughts, but now they're getting their offerings to speak for them so the Buddha understands what they want. They want the Buddha to teach, respond to all the things that they're interested in, about Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. All of these leaders are interested in learning about Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And then the next thing that happens is also kind of amazing, is that the Buddha doesn't start talking yet. They're asking the Buddha to teach. How does the Buddha begin teaching? The Buddha begins teaching by sending out light from their teeth. The other translation

[29:48]

says from between their teeth. Anyway, these lights are coming out of the Buddha's mouth. And in these lights are all these wonderful teachings. In the lights, have all these teachings in them. And also, these lights not only are visible to everybody in the lotus, treasury, ocean of worlds at the site of our Buddha. This light also illuminates other world systems where there's other Buddhas. So, the Bodhisattvas in those other assemblies can see the Buddha in this assembly being asked by the people in this assembly to teach.

[30:54]

And yeah, I think maybe it's time to take a little break and see if you get the picture of the beginning of this book too. It's a very dramatic situation. The beings thinking these thoughts in unison, making these requests in unison in their minds, and then getting their offerings to speak for them. And then the Buddha understands, and the Buddha sends back all these different kinds of light. Again, inconceivable, innumerable lights of so many kinds. For example, light rays of flowers, of jewels illuminating everywhere. Light rays producing various sounds

[32:11]

adorning the universe. Light rays draping subtle clouds. Light rays showing the Buddhas in ten directions, sitting on their sites of enlightenment, making mystical displays. Lights displaying umbrellas of clouds of flames of all jewels. Lights filling the universe without impediment. Lights rays adorning all Buddha fields. Light rays setting up banners of pure diamonds. Light rays adorning the scenes of enlightenment where the hosts of Bodhisattvas are assembled. Light rays with subtle vibrations intoning the names and epithets of all Buddhas. These lights are doing this. This is the way the Buddha begins the teaching. So again, I think that maybe if I

[33:19]

give more, I will lose your ability to follow. So maybe now is the time to take a little break. I'm bringing this, the dramatic events, and there's more to come in this chapter. Just take a little pause here and see how this assembly is feeling about this appearance of the Buddha. This manifestation of the Buddha through light coming from the mouth, through many, many kinds of light coming from the Buddha's mouth, illuminating the entire universe. Okay. There he is. I feel inspired reading this, but I tend to get lost in all of the appearances.

[34:36]

You get lost in all of it, yeah? I am lost in all the appearances. Yeah. Me too. I wanted to add something that I believe, even a conviction relating to your introduction in this course, that I feel Zen opens up all scriptures, not just the Buddhist scriptures. That's my faith. Yeah. I totally agree with you. And the other way around. All the scriptures tell us how great Zen is. Because, you know, we have this little thing we're doing right here, this little Zen thing,

[35:45]

which is to be here, deal with this, share it together, right here and right now. And that opens up all the Buddhist scriptures and all the other scriptures. But they also tell us how great this conversation you and I are having right now, how great it is. This conversation is not just you and me talking. Yeah. And the sutras tell us that. I was inspired by a couple of sessions ago by someone, I think, whose name is Karen. And she talked about wanting the devotional element as well as Zen. She distinguished those two things. And I think in our conversation over the years, I've tended to point at the flowers falling. And your

[36:45]

response has been playful and instructive, maybe to bring me back to the place that we recognize the flowers falling. I remember in a dōkasan, I was maybe trying to sell you on truth of desireless divine love. You were trying to sell me on divine light? Love. Divine love. Okay. And then as I was leaving my seat, you said, Jimmy, may you be free from desireless divine love. And this conversation between what I think Karen was trying to offer between Zen and devotion is, I feel like the task of my life. And another thing you say is, it's not Zen and devotion. It's our devotion to Zen that wakes us up

[38:01]

to divine love and helps us be free of it, which is divine love too. So, devotion to Zen or devotion to divine love, we enter it and then go beyond it. This is the samadhi that we're working up to. I'm glad you're still here. I'm glad you're still here too. And I have a wish that I find the introduction to this sutra by Thomas Cleary to be difficult. Maybe one... You mean his writing? His writing. And the translations of the commentaries? I'm just talking about his introduction. Maybe one of the fruits of this assembly will be some written something that makes this sutra more available to others.

[39:08]

That's what I'm here for. I'm taking us on a journey into the ocean of this sutra and trying to make it available to whoever is willing to come along and continue with me, even if they feel lost. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. I only have a copy of this online. I don't have a hard copy. So I think I'm a little lost on exactly where we are. I've read through the first chapter and the second

[40:16]

chapter, and I'm starting on the third chapter. Am I in the right place? Right now, we have just started... And actually, they're not really called chapters, they're called books. So we have just started book two. Okay, good. At the beginning of book two, are all these bodhisattvas and world leaders have these questions and have this prayer that Buddha will respond to their questions. And then their offerings speak their questions. That's at the beginning of book two. That's where we are right now. We're on the first few pages of book two. Is there a page number there? Well, it's page 1-7. Let's see, it's page 1-50.

[41:16]

1-50. 1-50. It starts with 1-50. Okay. I don't know if I'm there or not. In the copy that I have, the one that I downloaded, is the translation by Cleary, but I think he calls it chapters. And that's why I got thrown this chapter in the book. Well, here it says book two. Book two. Okay. So maybe when he's in his introduction, he calls them chapters, but they're actually not. They're called books. Okay. I will look. I will look some more. Thank you. I love the radiant exuberance and the joyfulness. And I can get a little lost in it, but it's quite beautiful. So thank you for bringing it right here, right now. Deeply appreciate it. Good evening.

[42:27]

Good evening. I, as you might know, I like to pivot around the words and images and see what comes, what other things come around them. And tonight, again, I feel a little touched by the word light and light coming through the teeth, which I think I feel you're doing, coming through the teeth. To me, the light is I use light in order to be able to see. And I wonder if we could say innumerable awarenesses. And they have innumerable ones because there's innumerable beings. And this light brings awareness or understanding. So I'm kind of using light as awareness, the innumerable awarenesses that come through this light in the teeth.

[43:31]

And I wonder what you think about that, or how to, if inserting that makes works. Go right ahead. That's fine. This light is wisdom. And wisdom is a kind of, is Buddha's awareness. Which is, the light is transmitting. And light is transmitting the wisdom. You receive the awareness. Wisdom is transmitting the light. It's just this sutra is emphasizing that wisdom is light. Wisdom is light. It's not just something that somebody's thinking. It's a radiance. And you can't get a hold of it, but it illuminates. So you could say that the Buddha emits from their teeth awarenesses, wisdom from the teeth. And it's a light. Because it illuminates.

[44:34]

And also the light can talk. It's an awakening. I'm trying to think of lots of words around that. I think wisdom is slightly different from awakening. Wisdom is the illumination of awakening. And it's the illumination which awakens. Yeah, maybe I'm, maybe I hear what you're saying. And maybe I'm taking this offering that comes, the light that comes from the Buddhas and receiving it as awakening or illuminating over here. I'm still in self and other. Maybe once received, it awakens. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Reb and everyone.

[45:46]

Kind of following up on what people have been talking about. I guess I wanted to talk about the beauty of the Sutra and ask about, I mean, it's extraordinarily beautiful. And if I, you know, if I push away the beauty, then I get a little frustrated that it's so ornate. But if I just relax into it, it's so beautiful. And I feel like I kind of lose myself in a good way. I mean, sometimes I spin out, but sometimes it's just relaxing into that beauty. It feels to me like that's a wholesome thing. And, you know, I know beauty is considered a trap in some ways, but here I feel like it's an invitation. And I wondered if you could say something about that. I don't think beauty is a trap. I think grasping beauty is a trap. I don't even think evil is a trap. It's grasping it that's a trap. I don't think you're a trap.

[46:58]

Grasping you is a trap. So falling into it, losing oneself in it is okay. I would say, I would say okay, is kind of like adding a head on top of it. Yeah, okay. Okay. I think if you're lost in it, if you're relaxed in it, that's the way we should be sort of with everything. What we do here is we sit upright and then get lost. So like I sometimes say, someone gave me a compliment one time that you're like this, and you're ready to go like this. Yeah. So if you're disciplined and present and upright, then you can relax and be lost and awaken.

[48:07]

And also, if you're disciplined and upright, you can let go of everything and open. And that's where, that's our responsibility. Not to get rid of, but to let go of. We don't just lean over and let go of, we sit upright and let go of. There are tons. We're devoted and let go of. We're devoted, for example, to our posture and we let go of. Okay. Which means we sit upright in the midst of the samadhi. And that's where the awakening is living. So there's devotion, there's discipline, and there's letting go. There have been times when I felt slightly intoxicated by the beauty of this scripture.

[49:18]

And I feel like that's what you're saying is that's sort of not upright. No, I wouldn't say that. Well, I guess being intoxicated is maybe to grasp it. But being intoxicated is not the same as just relaxing. That's right. Yeah. So being upright is, you know, is being present and devoted. When you're present and devoted, you can let go. And you can be attached to being present and devoted. And then being present and upright, you can be intoxicated. It's not that being upright and devoted is intoxicating. But attaching to it, attaching to being upright, you can get intoxicated by uprightness. That's why being upright should be totally devoted to being upright and ready to let go of it.

[50:24]

And if you let go, if you're attached to that, then you become intoxicated to letting go. But actually, when we are fully devoted to being upright, we spontaneously let go. If we're fully devoted to being upright and we hold on to it, then we intoxicate ourselves by gripping our discipline. But some people like to be intoxicated, so they hold on to their discipline, and they do get really high on their discipline. Right. They hold on to their devotion and get high on it. That's not the end of the world, it's just missing the point. So at those times when I think I might be getting a little intoxicated, I feel like it's time to stop, to close the book and take a rest. Not quite stop, come upright. If you feel like you're getting intoxicated, sit upright.

[51:26]

Or stand upright. Or walk upright. Bring yourself back to your discipline and your devotion. You're not devoted. We're not saying to be devoted to intoxication. We're devoted to being disciplined, upright, and also devoted to letting go of that. So that's not a time to take a break, it's a time to try to come back and sit upright again. Yeah, okay. And then you will let go. You'll take a break from that by being upright. Thank you. That really helped. Thank you for your offering. Good evening. Greetings. So yeah, I am going to say something about the light,

[52:31]

but that conversation you just had with Yuki was all like, it feels like I'm breaking away from that, but that's okay. Yeah. You could say you're letting go of that. You could say, yeah. But, you know, I was thinking a little bit while you were talking to her about what I was going to say about the lights. You know, I'm not, nobody's perfect. Okay. So yeah, I have the book here in front of me. I hadn't read it before you started tonight, but you read out part of that paragraph about all the different ways in which the light is described. I was thinking that Indians are so extravagant in their imagination. Oh my God. So different from Japanese. And so I wanted to mention, I mean, from the prose, right, of Dogen or somebody like that. And this morning I was in a little group of people, reading group of people who are students

[53:41]

of yours, just about six of us were there. We were reading Zenki from, you know, and there's this line in Zenki about light. And it says, and somebody in our group said, wait a minute, what, I'm just noticing that line about light. So I just want to read it, this line, this being so the undivided activity of birth and death is like a young man bending and stretching his arm, or it is like someone asleep searching with her hand behind her back for the pillow. This is realization in vast, wondrous light. And somebody said, oh, that's interesting, that light, what is that like? And, you know, I don't know about the man stretching his arm, but the reaching behind

[54:42]

your head for a pillow is a familiar koan to me. Is the stretching the arm also in some koan? Anyway, it's just, and then we discussed this light, which is described in such a simple line, you know, the simplest thing, reaching in your sleep for the pillow to adjust it. This is, this realization is in, this is realization in vast, wondrous light. And then I look at this paragraph in the sutra, I say, whoa, look at what the Indians did with light. And I started reading it all over and over and over again. And every sentence is just kind of a trip. As numerous as atoms in Buddhafield, light rays of flowers of jewels, light rays producing sounds, adorning the universe.

[55:43]

So I just feel like we can take this trip, you know, we can just go with it. And our own imagination can be stimulated. And it can be fun. Like, we don't have to get heavy duty about it. And it's not, I don't think we get the sutra's feeling if we just say, well, light is wisdom. Well, wrap it up, put it on the shelf, light is wisdom. No, there's all these different lines. Okay, I'm done. Okay, and so I thought what you just did was, you kind of showed us how Dogen's way of talking, of saying, reaching behind your head for the pillow in the night, that simple human act is the wondrous revelation of the light.

[56:46]

That's kind of the Zen thing. Is to take some simple act and make that be this inconceivable light. And also, that's the same again, Zen unlocks that thing to show you that it's not just that, it's also you're reaching behind your head. And, and Yun Men, the ancestor Yun Men said, okay, hearing about this light that you just told us about in the sutra, Yun Men says, you all have light. Each one of you, it actually says, it says person in Chinese, person, person. In other words, each person. In other words, each Linda, each moment. Another translation is each moment, you are the light, you embody the light.

[57:48]

And then so again, well, what is it? You know, well, it's this thing you just talked about from the sutra, but also, it's the front gate, it's the kitchen pantry, it's the zendo, it's you. So that's the Zen response to this. To bring it, to show it, and then also to have the sutra tell us what we're doing at the front gate. It's not just what we think it is, it's all these amazing things which the Indians are telling us about. Yeah. So you're having us read the Avatamsaka Sutra with all this extravagant, sensual imagery, you know? And exciting, it can be exciting. So what does that add? I mean, we're all Zen students.

[58:50]

What do we get that's different from reading this Indian sutra? Well, we might get over our idea of what Zen was. Like we might think Zen's not this. It's not this. This description. And so if we think that, this sutra's kind of like opening our mind a little bit to that our practice of sitting upright isn't just what we used to think it was. It is actually this incredible, inconceivable light. Got it. And this light is our simple practice. You've done it again.

[59:55]

I am taken back to the January intensive of Zoom, when you did Zoom for the first time. That's an intensive. On the Lotus Sutra. And it was pretty dark then. And it was a gift. And it was very adorned in this way. And the echo of the light is Dr. King said, darkness cannot take out darkness. Only light can do that. And then it's echo again. Oh, Zen has it too, of course. Of course. And of course, the Indians have with the drums and the music and the elephants or whatever it is. So thank you, Linda, because that was a very visual. But I don't know how the timing has come.

[61:04]

I'm very grateful. You don't know how what? The timing, how it comes. Like these offerings that the assembly gathers. Yeah, I don't know either. But here's one story, okay? One story is I just turned 80. And then as I turned 80, I thought, well, I have a little more time. What should I do? Where should I invite people to go with me? And I thought, well, why don't I invite him to come with me someplace I haven't gone before? Why don't we go into this oceanic sutra where we haven't gone? Because, you know, we don't know how much more longer we're going to have. And we've never gone there before. So let's all these Zen people go into this oceanic radiance of this sutra. Let's go places and look at things we haven't been looking at before.

[62:08]

So that's one story about why I have thought of this in real life. Maybe it's time to go to this particular new place and invite all my Zen friends to come with me. And if some non-Zen people want to come too, fine. Hopefully many, many non-Zen people can come. May we touch. Maybe there's some people who will bring their non-Zen people with them. And may the light come out of our teeth. And may the light come out of our teeth. Which, you know, may it be so. May it be so. But still, I don't know how this is happening. That's just one story. I like it. I do too. Rosy. Yep. Well, what I noticed when you got to the Dogon that Linda Hess

[63:17]

so wonderfully brought to us, that all of a sudden there was the body. You were speaking of embodied light. That we are all bodies of light. Or we are all embodying the light. And for me, that went with what you said she offered earlier, right at the very start of book one, or maybe it's book two, where the Buddha's sitting on the ground. And so, here we have the ground. I mean, this is what our usual Zen teaching practice is. Not all the fireworks, or light shows, and motions of them, and everything. So, I love it that these are coming together this way. That what happens inside us when we're sitting upright, embodying as best we can the light, it comes through all.

[64:26]

I remember you're telling us, open your eyes when we're in Sashin. Open your eyes. How many eyes? I mean, all of a sudden, I remember thinking at that moment, sometimes when you say that, oh yes, all the little cells. I mean, all the little infinitesimal tiny eyes that we can, you know, and light comes through our eyes too. But your teaching, and the Buddha's teaching, we have to come through the sounds, the voice, which is embodied. Our voices are embodied. Our voices are each one different. And all these musics, I just think of the whole assembly. Every assembly is just starting to make even more sense to me. Somehow, when I'm speaking about it, I'm going on and on.

[65:30]

But what do you say? I agree with you. And I celebrate what you just said. Thank you, Rob, for continuing to inspire and open up, even expanding even more. All you've given to us, all the, certainly given to me. I might be your big sister in this body, but you've given so much to me. I feel that you are the grand, grand, grand whatever. That's a good one, grand whatever. Thank you. Like the grand vizier. Yeah.

[66:32]

Michael. Good evening, Rob, and great assembly. Good evening, Michael. I don't usually ask many questions, but I feel quite compelled at this point to make sure that I'm kind of on the right path. So if I might ask for just a little guidance in the way I'm seeing this sutra in the scripture. The assembly of these, the upright sense of Zen seems to be the embodiment in a way of the sutra in this very first book, the first part of the first book. So what I kind of see is this gathering of these not quite yet enlightened, but very close to being enlightened beings, witnessing the light of the Buddha and being able to be together in that way.

[67:49]

And the thing that triggered me was you mentioned that maybe this was chanted. And I thought, oh, they've been enchanted in a way to have these great appearances of things that they couldn't necessarily have conceptualized beforehand. So something about the assembly has allowed the thinking processes to kind of maybe turn off a little bit. So we're not kind of always logically thinking about solid earth, but yet we're kind of arising of it. But out of that solid earth, like you said, like having a devotion to that in the discipline that suddenly these appearances arise of great things that we couldn't possibly really even imagine, which I kind of would think of maybe that is the kind of sense of enlightenment. And it's something that's kind of beyond thinking. And so what I'm, I think I may have mentioned this before, I kind of struggle with this

[68:52]

kind of idea of being in a concrete world in reading a sutra, but then being enchanted by these paragraphs and the way they describe all the things into maybe a slightly different way of thinking where there is this inconceivableness that I wouldn't be able to necessarily recognize in my concrete thinking. So I'm shifting into this sense of Buddha-ness in a way, I think. And that's where I guess I think I'm getting, oh, Michael, I'm not sure about that. So that's my question. Is there a shift between kind of like a concrete thinking world and then into something that's maybe nonlinear, more incredible, not incredible, but incomprehensible in that thinking? That would allow the, I wouldn't be clinging to these thoughts and I feel what Buddhism is or what Zen is, to maybe be able to be more open to the experience of it, like being

[69:58]

in the assembly, like sitting in the assembly, and then having these arising of the appearances or the appearance of enlightenment. And that's just the first book. So am I going on the, is that somewhat the right path to approach the second book or? You said, is there a shift? Yes. And I'm not saying, no, there's not a shift. But what I would emphasize is, and you said like a shift from thinking to something else. Thinking concretely in particular, yes. Is there a shift from thinking concretely to something else? Yes. So I would, what I'm emphasizing tonight is not so much a shift from a concrete thinking. For example, concrete thinking that you're sitting upright right now.

[71:00]

A concrete thinking that you're here with me. Mm-hmm. Not a shift from that, but a devotion to being upright with your concrete thinking. Not fixing your concrete thinking, just being upright with it. Not fixing your posture and making it less concrete, but being upright with what it is. Mm-hmm. And then if you really are being devoted to your concrete presence, you're ready to let go of it. And if you let go of it, you naturally open to what's right in front of you, which is, you know, far beyond our concrete thinking. But we have to be with our concrete thinking wholeheartedly, respectfully, devotedly. And if we're really wholeheartedly right here with what's going on, we don't hold on to it.

[72:04]

We let go of it. So we're upright and we let go of it. And then what is beyond our concrete thinking comes and liberates us. The Buddha's with us. But if we're not devoted to being upright, we can't let go of our situation. And so we don't see the Buddha right in front of us. So we have to be devoted to being, in your case, Michael, this way. And in your wholehearted devotion, you won't be holding on to this concrete thinking or trying to get rid of it or shift out of it. Trying to shift out of it is another concrete thinking technique. Yeah, okay. Which I'm not saying wrong. I would just say, be devoted to that and be upright with that. Whatever's going on, you can be upright. You can sit upright in whatever's going on.

[73:07]

And then when you're wholehearted about that, you can let go of it and dive into the light. Spontaneously. I feel the wisdom from between your teeth. Yes. Thank you.

[74:23]

further into the sutra. Are there no more questions? Oh, there's a yellow hand. Good evening, Red, and good evening, Jiayin. Hey, I'm noticing that when you're describing all these different kinds of beings and they are realizing the Buddha becoming Buddha, the enlightenment of Buddha, and then they were all like in awe and be enthusiastic and wanting to learn everything and ask a lot of questions as offerings. And a thought came up in me that says, well, if you didn't know what is Buddha, Buddha's appearance, how can you be so excited? And I'm just like studying that thought in my head, realizing, oh, there's an assumption here. You need to know what is Buddha before you get

[75:28]

excited about Buddha. And obviously, these beings are, they're not like that. They are excited, and they want to learn more. Yeah, so I wanted to hear your, whatever you can tell me about this thing that I'm noticing in me. At the end of the first book, we have all these, all the leaders of all these different groups, these huge groups, 39, 40 types of huge assemblies, and the leaders of them make offerings, and they're really full of joy in making these offerings. And these beings, leading up to the conclusion of book one, these beings have already been able to know something about the Buddha. But how did they know something about Buddha?

[76:31]

Well, they know something about Buddha by receiving the power of the Buddha. So even we, I don't know anything about Buddha, but I received the power of Buddha, and through that relationship of being present and open to this gift of the Buddha, I can see the Buddha, not by my own power. And when I see the Buddha, I'm happy, and I want to make offerings to the Buddha. And when I make offerings to the Buddha, I'm more ready to receive the Buddha's teaching, the Buddha's power to see the Buddha. And also seeing the Buddha is like seeing vast, empty space. It takes a lot of faith and trust, right?

[77:33]

Yeah, there must be a lot of faith and trust in this assembly. Thank you, Rick. Thank you. So we just talked about these lights coming out of the Buddha's teeth, and how

[78:36]

amazing these lights are. And then the next thing that happens is that these lights, in tone verses, and the verses that the lights in tone are praising and teaching us about the Buddha. They're teaching us about the universal illuminator, Vairochana Buddha, who is the Buddha who has just awoken in this ocean of worlds at the site of enlightenment where we are now present in this world. And so the next thing that happens are basically probably one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, as usual, 10 verses celebrating Vairochana's great ocean of knowledge, which shines forth from his face for all to see. Now awaiting the gathering of the masses,

[79:49]

he's about to speak. Let's go hear him. So the Buddha, upon request, is going to give teachings. So how does the Buddha start? By giving this psychedelic cosmic light show. And then the lights in tone verses, and they tell us about how great the Buddha is, but the lights also say to who? To beings in 10 directions. The lights say, hey, guys, you should come soon, like right away. Come on, the Buddha's going to teach. So the beings in the Buddha's assembly in this world have asked the Buddha to teach. The Buddha has sent out these lights. And then the lights don't just go to the people who have made the request. The lights go in 10 directions throughout the universe.

[80:54]

So the beings all over the universe can hear the Buddha, can hear the light, excuse me, the stanzas, the songs in Buddha's light. They can hear them. And the lights are saying, come here to this, to that world, where this Buddha is about to teach. The Buddha is still not teaching other than giving this light, this amazing light. And the light is teaching us about the Buddha, but it's the light that's teaching. The Buddha's not really saying anything. The Buddha's light is talking. And also the Buddha's light says to beings throughout the universe, you should come soon and hear what the Buddha's got to say. Okay. And then kind of straightforwardly, then the bodhisattvas and other beings in 10 directions,

[81:58]

they do come. They do come. All these bodhisattvas come. And then the sutra goes through, starts in the east, usually starts in these situations, like in the Lotus Sutra, start in the east. So they come from the east, like the sun comes from the east. They come from the east and it describes the coming from the east. And they come from the west, it describes the coming of the west. And they come from the north. And they come from the south. And they come from the northeast. And then they come from the northwest. And they come from the southeast and the southwest. And they come from above and below. So it describes all these great an assembly of beings from throughout the universe come and somehow nobody gets crowded out. And they join this huge assembly and now beings from the 10 directions are now, have come to this assembly where we are now. So that's the next major dramatic development

[83:08]

and it takes a few pages to describe the coming of all of these groups. And maybe if you read the description of the coming of the groups, you will enter the samadhi of this sutra. And then in particular, after the describing of the coming of the groups, on page 159 of Cleary's translation and hard copy, comes a very important paragraph which starts out, after having seated themselves, those bodhisattvas each produced from the pores of their body, from the pair pores of their body, they produced lights of various colors of all jewels.

[84:11]

So this is a big event here, folks. We've got all these bodhisattvas coming from 10 directions because the light in the Buddha's mouth has invited them to come. And now they're here, right? And then these bodhisattvas give off light from all their hair pores. And this next paragraph is basically demonstrating everything, everywhere, all at once. So that paragraph is, I mean, do you have pages on your, yeah, it's page 159. And, you know, somebody could read that paragraph to us. It's, again, that paragraph is describing a fractal, holographic, psychedelic, everything, everywhere,

[85:15]

all at once, universe of the sutra, which is being demonstrated by the light coming from the pores of the bodhisattvas who have come to hear the Buddha. The bodhisattvas' lights are creating this event now. So we could conclude by having somebody read that paragraph to us, maybe slowly or fast, I don't know. But this is one of the most amazing events in Buddhist literature, this paragraph. Anyone want to give a try? Okay, and you could join me in the highlight, if you read. Meichu has her hand up. Yes, Meichu, oh, Michelle and Linda. Yes, Michelle and Linda, I see you now. I see your yellow hand, Michelle and Linda, yeah.

[86:16]

I would read it if you- You're willing to read it? Sure. Thank you, Linda. It's a long paragraph, right? It's a big, it's a big paragraph. Yeah. Yeah, I'll take it. 859. Right, okay, so turn up. Hang on to your seats, Great Assembly. Hang on, maybe someone else would like to take it up halfway, but I'm happy to start. You want to pass the baton, that's fine. Okay, see if someone else raises a hand. Okay. Okay. Would you give the page number again? 159. Top of the first paragraph, first full paragraph. After having- I just want to say, this is what happens after all those bodhisattvas come from 10 directions throughout the universe, and they're all there with the Buddha, and now they do this thing with their bodies. After having thus seated themselves,

[87:26]

those enlightening beings each produced from the hair pores of their bodies, light rays of the various colors of all jewels, as many as atoms in 10 oceans of worlds. In each light ray, there appeared as many enlightening beings as there are atoms in 10 oceans of worlds, all sitting on lion's seats and banks of lotuses. These enlightening beings all could enter into every atom of the oceans of structures in all universes. I want to stop there for a second, okay? We have all these bodhisattvas, and now all these bodhisattvas, they're all going to enter into each atom. In all the universes, in all the- This huge assembly is going to enter into atoms in all universes. In each individual atom were vast fields. In each individual atom were vast fields,

[88:29]

as many as atoms in 10 Buddha worlds. In each field were all the past, present, and future Buddhas. These enlightening beings were all able to go to all these Buddhas, associate with them, and provide them with offerings. And in each and every thought instance, by means of mastery of dream power, demonstrated teachings, enlightening as many scientists, sentient beings, as there are atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by teaching, showing how celestial beings die and are born, they enlightened as many sentient beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by explaining the teaching of the acts and practices of enlightening beings, they enlightened as many sentient beings

[89:30]

as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by the teaching of the Buddha's virtues and mystical displays, which stir all lands, they enlightened as many sentient beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by the teaching of beautifying and purifying all Buddha lands, revealing the ocean of all great vows, they enlightened as many sentient beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In any instant, in every instant, by the teaching of the Buddha's voice, which contains the languages of all sentient beings, they enlightened as many sentient beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by the teaching which can shower the rain of all Buddha's, all Buddha teachings, they enlightened

[90:32]

as many sentient beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by the teaching of the light illuminating everywhere in the 10 directions, pervading the cosmos and showing mystical demonstrations, they enlightened as many beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by the teaching of all Buddha's power of liberation, manifesting the body of Buddha everywhere, filling the cosmos, they enlightened as many sentient beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds. In every instant, by the teaching of the universally good enlightening being, setting up the ocean of all sites of enlightenment with all assemblies of all beings, they enlightened as many sentient beings as atoms in an ocean of worlds.

[91:34]

Thank you, Linda. And then, the next paragraph starts. In this way, throughout all universes, adapting to the mentalities of sentient beings, they caused them all to awaken. Maybe you should turn it back on. It's kind of a... They adapted to the mentalities of sentient beings. They caused them all to awaken. In every instance, they each caused as many sentient beings as atoms in a polar mountain who had fallen into miserable states to forever relieve their suffering and caused as many sentient beings

[92:38]

stuck in wrong concentrations to enter right concentrations. Each caused many sentient beings to be born in celestial spheres according to their inclinations. Each caused many sentient beings to rest secure in the state of Buddha's disciples or self-realized ones. Each caused as many sentient beings to serve good teachers and act virtuously. Each caused that many sentient beings to set their minds on supreme awakening. Each caused that many sentient beings to head for enlightenment, to head for bodhisattva stage of non-regression. Each caused that many sentient beings to attain the eye of pure wisdom and see all things impartially, as does Buddha.

[93:44]

Each caused that many sentient beings to abide securely in the powers and the ocean of vows and to purify Buddha lands by means of inexhaustible knowledge. Each caused that many sentient beings to dwell in the vast ocean of Vairochana's vows and be born in the family of Buddha. And each did this for that many sentient beings. And then the next thing is, at that time, the bodhisattvas simultaneously raised their voices within the light and spoke the following verses. And that's on page 160. So maybe next week we'll pick up there and proceed through the rest of this drama,

[94:48]

which doesn't go on so much longer and is followed by more wonderful things. But the first part of chapter two, which is the appearance of the Buddha, this is very, as you see, inconceivably dramatic. And we see Susan with her hand raised, one final yellow hand. Yes, Susan, please. In this state, I now find myself, I can see why if I were to go perhaps meet a Zen teacher and talk about what we are manifesting now, the teacher might say, would you like a cup of chamomile tea with me? And maybe we can go take a walk in the garden now.

[95:49]

Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. Yeah, that's what chamomile tea was made for. To help people in the bodhisattva path to take walks in the garden. Thank you to the great assembly. May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. We vow to save them. Afflictions are inexhaustible. We vow to cut through. Dharma gates are boundless. We vow to enter them. Buddha way is unsurpassable. We vow to become it. And I wanted to mention to you that three people in this assembly

[96:53]

will be receiving the bodhisattva precepts at Green Gulch Farm on November 5th, if any of you would like to come and witness. And those three people are June Riley and Jack Riley and Tony Murphy, Anthony Murphy. So those three people. Timothy. Timothy Murphy. Tim Murphy, Timothy Murphy, also known as Tim Murphy. Those three people will be receiving the precepts. And if you'd like to attend, maybe you could tell Sonia or the Green Gulch Eno that you're coming, so they'll have a seat for you. And also they'll have, what do you call it? Each person will receive a cloud of offerings. Thank you, everybody.

[97:55]

Thank you for your clouds of offerings to this great assembly. Good night.

[98:01]

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