I might begin by just saying that the word koan can be understood to mean reality or ultimate truth. More could be said about the etymology of the word koan, but that's where I'd like to stop tonight and just say that when a koan is offered, when something is offered as a koan, it's like this thing is offered as an example of reality.

[01:53]

And after it's offered, after you receive it, then you can contemplate it to see, well, how is this reality? The koan doesn't say that other things aren't reality, like the stairway and the ceiling, or a person. But if you present a person or a stairway as a koan, then you're saying, well, here, look at this as reality. How is this reality? So some koans, many koans, are stories. I mean, they look like stories. They're a narration. Often an interaction between a teacher and a student in Zen. But some of the stories are just, for example, the Buddha giving a teaching. Not much of a story.

[03:00]

Some of the koans are Buddha giving a teaching, or even a teaching given by the Buddha. So sometimes we talk about the old stories, the old koans, the old cases, stories of things that happened in the past. Last week I gave a koan, something that's often called a koan. It's the 24th example in a book of koans, a collection of koans. And I passed it out to you tonight. And there's one, two, three, four, five ways that the koan is translated to start. So this story starts with a monk asking Feng Shui a question.

[04:09]

And there's five translations of that question, that Chinese question. In the center I chose one of the translations of the teacher's response. I was moved to offer you this koan because it's a koan about springtime. It's a koan about flowers. And this is a class in springtime flowers. Koans as springtime flowers. One way to look at these questions is as an instruction about how to study koans or koan. How to study a koan. The question is like an instruction about how to study koans. The question isn't like an instruction about how to contemplate reality right before you.

[05:22]

So the question is saying, how can you avoid, how can you be upright? The question is about how can you be upright and not lean into silence or stillness? Excuse me. How can you not lean into silence or stillness or speech? How can you sit still without leaning into stillness? How can you be quiet without leaning into silence or speech? That question, I say, is like an instruction. But you could put it as an instruction. When you're contemplating reality, when you're sitting in meditation, avoid leaning into silence or speech.

[06:34]

Avoid leaning into vagueness or habitual thinking. Don't lean to the right. Don't lean to the left. Don't lean forward and don't lean backwards. And don't lean up and don't lean down. Be still without leaning into stillness. Be silent without leaning into silence or speech. One might say, all day long, don't be fooled. Be awake. All day long, see if you can not lean into silence or speech.

[07:42]

Try to be upright and not lean into your habitual thinking. And if there's no habitual thinking, try not to lean into that. So the monk asked, well, how can you do that? How can you not lean in any direction? How can you not be caught up in ordinary thinking or get caught in vagueness of not speaking? And the teacher demonstrates. I always think of Hunan in March. The partridge is singing among the hundred fragrant flowers. This is the teacher's demonstration of uprightness,

[08:51]

of speaking without leaning into habitual thinking, of speaking without leaning into vagueness. So, how wonderful it would be if we always practiced this way. And this is the way to realize, this is an instruction for realizing, the koan, for realizing reality with what's happening now. Also last week, I kind of compared

[09:55]

leaning into silence can be like a, what's the word now for a contemporary popular phrase that's come up now, a spiritual bypass. To use sitting silently as a way to avoid being human, as a way to avoid your habitual thinking. That would be like leaning into silence, dissociating. So, being grounded in your body moment by moment, being grounded in your mind moment by moment. How is this reality?

[11:04]

I think I could introduce the next koan a little bit later and give you a chance to express yourselves if you wish. Or offer some expression if you wish. Yes, Sase? Well, I'm curious on the instruction on the setup of this koan. It strikes me as it's coming from the perspective of our own dualistic thinking about not being this or not being that. And I was imagining a bodhisattva approaching this koan and perhaps from a different perspective of not a hereditary, contradictory type of approach, but rather transcending while transgressing.

[12:29]

Transgressing while transcending. So the bodhisattva archetype is coming back with the transgression from a place of transcending. Is that an appropriate way to imagine this koan? Is that an appropriate way? When you ask that question, are you transgressing or transcending? Aspiring to both. Aspiring to both, I think, accomplishes one of them. Would you give me a koan in the spring? You're welcome. Thank you.

[13:38]

Yes? For me, something that comes up is, I could be silent, but the mind's kind of going with thoughts. You could be silent, but the mind's kind of going with thoughts? Yes. As someone pointed out recently, if the mind's going, there must be stillness. Stillness. And if you're quiet, there must be sound. Without sound, quiet is inconceivable. So it's happening at the same time, really. Happening at the same time, right. It's not an either-or situation. It's not either-or, except if you think it is.

[14:48]

Then, in some sense, if you think so, then you're living in the either-or world. But if you don't think that way, it's not really. And even if you do think that way, it's not really, except that you think so. So I don't deny that we think that way. I just deny that the way we think is reality. These daffodils are beautiful. In fact, they're stunning. Did they come from somebody's garden? In the process of answering that question, don't lose sight of the koan. They just speak silently to me. Are these from somebody's garden?

[15:51]

Is it a garden of timeless spring? Does anybody know what the atomic weight of argon is? Pardon? It's 39.95. What? The atomic weight of argon is 39.95. I think you can contemplate it as a koan. I believe it's inert. It's inert, isn't it? Like helium?

[16:55]

Yes, Sonia. You look like Dick Nixon. One... I was thinking about what it would be to transcend. And I wrote a little bit on the side, which would be like to live moment by moment with no regret. I saw that if I was regretting, I would be kind of leaning and looking back. I thought, what would that be? Just live with no regret. Not so, not so, and just keep going. I kind of feel like this koan is not saying living with no regret. I think this koan is saying don't lean into regret. It's not saying no regret. It's saying don't lean into regret.

[18:00]

Okay, ready? How can you avoid transgressing in either way? You heard what the ancient Zen teacher's response was. Wasn't it lovely? But your response could be, boy, do I regret what I did yesterday. I've been constantly thinking of, in a regretful tone, eating that hamburger. That could be your... You could be a Zen master and give that as your example of your reality of not leaning into regret. Working with regret in that way. Now somebody else could say, in response to the question, how can you avoid transgressing in either way, you could say, I'm not going to lie. I have no regret. It just happens to be that's who I am. I've got no regret.

[19:04]

Or another one is, I'm totally self-concerned. I'm always thinking about me and whether I'm appreciated and whether people love me. Could a Zen master be like that? They could. It could happen. You could dial in selfishness and self-concern into the Zen master. But if they're a Zen master, they know how to be that way without indulging in it, without leaning into it, fully expressing it, and therefore not transgressing into that kind of habitual thinking of, am I getting a good deal here? So it's like, how can you not transgress? And it doesn't mean it's got to be eliminated. You can be surrounded by these challenging, you can call them other things,

[20:06]

but they're challenging thoughts. Challenging thoughts of self-concern and challenging thoughts of dissociating from self-concern. Challenging intentions to try a strategy of getting away from self-concern Surrounded by that stuff and not getting caught by it. You're good at that. You were talking about spiritual bypass. Yeah, I think one of the questions is, how do you avoid? Was the word avoid used in one of the questions? No? What you were saying is a spiritual bypass as a way to avoid

[21:10]

Yeah, right. You could try to avoid habitual thinking. And one of the ways to avoid habitual thinking is to be quiet. I guess what I'm thinking is, if I have a habitual thought, then it's not wholesome. Let's even take a wholesome. You can have a wholesome habitual thought. Like, I want to help everybody. I want to be beneficial to everybody. But it's like you're caught in the habit of that. But for me, then maybe being quiet might be medicine. It might be medicine. Exactly. It might be medicine for that habitual thought. It depends on whether you're trying to get away from it or whether you're just trying to take some medicine.

[22:12]

So you can be with the thought uprightly. We practice silence but we don't practice silence primarily for people to dissociate from their life. We practice silence as medicine. You take the medicine and hopefully you can look at your habitual thought. We practice stillness with our habitual thought so we don't cling to it. Then we're free of the habit. So silence and stillness are good medicine to take along with habitual thinking. We come together here and we sit silently and still taking the medicine of silence and stillness to help us be healthy with any habitual thought that might be going on. But we also have this instruction here just be aware not to use this silence as a bypass, as an escape

[23:13]

from your problems. Use it as medicine to help you work with your problems and help other people work with their problems. If I'm asking the question how is this morality? How is this reality? Did you say is it upright? That would be another example. You've got the question now, how is this reality? There's a koan called how is this reality? When you get the koan how is this reality? Then you look at that koan and say how is this reality? When you say how is this reality? That speech could be speech and you could be going into habitual thinking when you say how is this reality. How is this reality?

[24:15]

You could be saying that while trying to get how it's reality. The other way is you could be saying how is it reality as a way of spiritual bypass similar to being silent. You could look at some pain or some difficulty and say how is this reality as a way to space out. You know what I mean? You could have a problem and use the expression how is this reality as a way to separate. So you have to learn how to say how is this reality as a reminder of being balanced and check to see if you're balanced between those two ways of leaning. But the question does sound good. Well, as you were talking there seems to be different ways of approaching practice that you're talking about. Like one is sort of holding it at a distance

[25:15]

how is this reality? And one is sort of entering into the practice of how is this reality? Yeah, so the question how is this reality is actually Amanda just gave us that question, right? So I would say now you've given us all this question plus you've also given it to yourself and I would suggest that that question would work well if you and each of us are really grounded in our body and mind. That question could be used as a way to distract ourselves from just being here with this body and this train whistle and these lights and these people. That question sounds like a good question but that question should be grounded or you should already be grounded before you ask questions like that.

[26:17]

Can it also be a means of grounding? It could be a means of grounding. If you say, okay, I've got a question here which is both a means for grounding and a means for realizing reality and not attaching to my ground. So you need to be grounded in order to receive a teaching which will help you not hold on to your ground. Most people are clinging to their ground but although they're clinging to their ground they're not really grounded in their ground. They're clinging to their ground but they're not saying, okay, I'm totally willing to be here. Because totally willing to be here would include letting go of holding on to your ground. So people are kind of here holding on to kind of here. The question, how is this or what is reality

[27:18]

could help you actually be more present. But if it's not serving that function of helping you be more present and more grounded then you better already be completely grounded. Then you don't need to be more grounded. And then that question can help you let go of attachment to your ground which you have completely embraced. And letting go of the question too. You don't have to hold on to the question when it does its job. So we need to be grounded before we aren't attached to things. We're already attached to things but we're not necessarily completely grounded in our attachment or what we're attached to. But when we're well grounded or completely grounded in what we're attached to then that question can finish the job

[28:18]

and realize that we're not attached to this thing which we're totally engaged with. Maria? Well, what you said I was thinking about when you read the poem I guess my guess is the first part of the poem is setting up what the situation is. And there's a man there who's saying, well this is how I do it so you might want to try it out and see how it fits. And then he gives a poem because a poem actually kind of morphs to what each person's situation is at that moment. It's not stuck in the semantics of the words. And he's talking about spring

[29:20]

which just gives a snapshot of what spring is. And it's like a full on action property. But no one thing is trying to make spring happen. It's kind of like argon. It's full on participating except it's interacting we're breathing it in and out it's just not fusing with anything. It's not, yeah, I mean that's what argon is. It's like argon. Did you know that the atomic weight of argon was 39.95? I did not know other words pointed at me. I was not even aware I was wearing this. I forgot. But it is this, when you look into it, this is something that repeats itself

[30:22]

over and over and over and it's sort of asking us to be noted that this is actually a reoccurring and a new experience. That this element living things have been breathing in and out of the same molecules since the beginning of the formation of the planet. Yes, it's always springtime and it's always fall. So it's possible that each one of us could respond to this setup with our own poem of the moment. And the poem might not sound like a poem

[31:23]

but that would be the way we wholeheartedly, poetically expressed ourselves. I'd like to move on to the next koan without abandoning the previous koan. So here's the next koan. So the monk asks the monk asks Tenzin Zenki That's my name. Hi, Tenzin Zenki The monk asks Tenzin Zenki Speech is alienation. Silence is vagueness. How can we transcend? How can we be free and transcend both?

[32:26]

Tenzin Zenki said Buddha said Buddha said Buddha said So I give you this koan which is the lineage or you see down at the bottom it says Tenzin Zenki said Can you see at the bottom where it says that? Tenzin Zenki Daisho So I give you this list of names which is sometimes proposed as a lineage A lineage is also proposed as a lineage of teachers and students. It's a lineage also sometimes called

[33:31]

a lineage of succession. This is a lineage of succession which has my name at the bottom. There are other lineages of succession that don't have my name at the bottom. You may notice there are some other notable figures in the lineage like Shakyamuni Buddha is on there. Feng Shui is not on this lineage. He's in a different lineage. So here's a lineage koan. Is this real? Is this a reality? So I offer you this koan and at the bottom I wrote How about you? And again

[34:36]

that expression I offer for a couple of reasons but one of the reasons I offer it is that it echoes with another story. Another koan. Another story about reality. The people in this story are in our lineage but they're in a collateral lineage that's not being chanted here. I take it back. The people are in our lineage. Not all of them but some of them are in our lineage. One of the people in the lineage which you can find in the 33rd Yeah, the 33rd? The 36th. Anyway, somewhere in the middle of this chart

[35:39]

it says Yakusan Igen Daisho 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. On the 11th line in the middle it says Yakusan Igen Daisho and before that it says Sekito Gisen Daisho. So Yakusan Igen Daisho was a monk who lived in China a while ago and he studied Buddhist teachings a lot and he was particularly concentrated on practicing ethical discipline but he felt he was just not realizing the koan. He felt like he wasn't realizing the truth. He didn't regret his practice of ethical discipline

[36:45]

but he wanted somebody to help him I think you could say find the upright way to be with ethical discipline. So ethical discipline is like being grounded in your body and mind taking care of your body and mind is part of being ethical. But he wanted some instruction about how to do this practice in a way that was balanced that wasn't leaning into speech or silence. So he goes to see a teacher named Sekito Gisen and he says would you please teach me reality. I'm practicing ethics but I don't see reality I don't realize the truth. And Sekito Gisen says being just so won't do. Not being just so won't do either.

[37:49]

Can you hear me Nancy? Being just so or not being just so and being just so or whatever won't do it all. How about you? Yagasanyi again didn't understand. And he asked Sekito to explain more and Sekito said no but you can go see somebody else named Matsu Master Ma Go see him. So he went to see Master Ma and he told him about the previous talk I just came from Sekito

[38:51]

and Master Ma said sometimes I make him lift his eyebrows and wink sometimes I don't make him lift his eyebrows and wink sometimes lifting the eyebrows and winking is good and sometimes it's not. How about you? Sekito Yagasanyi understood reality at that time. How about you? So this koan, this list of names

[39:53]

is kind of a story. It's a story which has lots of stories hidden in it. I told you one of them just now. For many of these names in here there are stories about them relating to the previous generation and relating to the next generation. So somebody may say someday Tenzin Zenki said to people How about you? There may be that story. So this is a story. It's a story which is said to be reality. How is this story reality? For you, how is this story reality? Is this your story? Or my story? My name is on the list

[40:53]

but your name is on the list as you. So all you get is you. I don't get you, but you do. But I gave you you, and don't forget it. Of course a lot of people helped me give you you but still I'm one of the people who gave you you. Just a second, could you wait a minute? But you gave me Tenzin Zenki. Thank you. Yes, miss? What are the Chinese names? Sekito Gisen is Shirto and Yakusan Igen is Yaoshan It means medicine mountain.

[41:54]

So again, this is a story and this is also Zen history. This is Zen his story. Is this your story? Is this your his story? Is this your her story? Are you on the story or not? Does your story about your life put you in here? Are you inheriting this lineage? Are you part of this story? If not, what do you need to be part of it? If you are, how so? How are you part of this story? How is this your history? How is this your history? And if it's not, how is it not? One of the things about a story

[43:01]

that someone observes as stories are circles. They usually go back and connect to the beginning. These lineages, the last person in the lineage in these lineages when we write them out in our tradition, the last person in the lineage goes back to the first person. The line that goes through the last person which came from the first person goes back to the first person in this lineage. If this is your story, then you connect to the first person in the story. In this case, not even connecting to Shakyamuni Buddha first, but you connect to the Buddhas before Buddha in this lineage. Do you connect

[44:04]

to the founder of this lineage? Does your life go back and complete the circle to the founder in India? Does your life go back to even before the founder of India? So this is a koan I'm giving you. I'm giving you some auxiliary questions to go with this question, with this koan. I just have lots of questions about this koan, but I want to stop now for a little while and give you a chance

[45:04]

to tell me if this is your story or not. King? Yep. Definitely. And that reminds me of another story. Remind me to tell you that story, okay? I might even tell it tonight if he reminds me at the right time. Yes, King? Yes, King? Sekito wrote the Sandokai, right. Yes.

[46:06]

Well, I think I do see what you mean and the answer is no. Right in the light there's darkness. Another way to say it is right in the thinking there's not thinking. But don't try to think of the thinking as not thinking when you're thinking. Don't try to avoid the thinking in order to get at the not thinking. So in that analogy of light and dark, thinking is the light in this case, the light of discriminating consciousness. So right in that thinking there's not thinking. It's right there. But don't try to see the not thinking in the thinking. And vice versa, right in the not thinking there's thinking but don't try to see the thinking in the not thinking. You should realize

[47:17]

well in this case you should realize the way to integrate the two or harmonize the two. Sandokai means the harmony of differentiation and equality, right? Or thinking and not thinking. Because when you're thinking you're differentiating, you're making differences. And in not thinking there's no differences. Everything's the same when you're not thinking. So it isn't that you try to not think to get through. That's just taking one side again. That's just taking one side again. Well, it's a long story. Are you ready for a long story or would you rather have a long story later? Okay, it's a long story. And some of you have already heard it

[48:20]

millions of times. It starts like this. Once there was a rabbi and his name was something like Bal Shem Tov. Is that right? Bal Shem Tov. He lived in your home country probably, right? He lived in Poland. He's considered, I think, the founder of Hasidism. Is that right? Bal Shem Tov. A great Jewish mystic. How many people heard this story? Which one? Very good. Which story? Which story? And that's part of the story. Bal Shem Tov, as he was dying, he gathered his main disciples,

[49:23]

senior and junior rabbis, and he said, I want you people to do this or to do that. I want you to transmit this teaching and take care of this teaching. I want you to take care of this practice. I want you to take care of this teaching. And then when he gave all these teachings out, he said to the youngest disciple, and I want you to travel around Europe telling stories about me. Because there's quite a few stories. How many people heard this story? Yeah, poor Timon. When I heard Bal Shem Tov assigning this, at first I thought, how arrogant to send out a disciple to make you famous all over Europe.

[50:28]

I want you to travel all over Europe telling stories about me. At first I thought, kind of selfish. But then I thought, oh, this is a koan. This teacher is not afraid to sound selfish and self-promoting. So he gives this assignment to the student. And the student thought, what a lousy job to give all these other people these highfalutin assignments to teach. And I'm just supposed to go around and tell stories. But as the story goes, when Bal Shem Tov gave you an assignment, you did your assignment. If you're his disciple, you do the assignment. So this guy started traveling. And he traveled to Germany, to France, to France, Spain, Italy. And finally, after doing it for quite a long time, he thought, well, I think I did it enough.

[51:31]

I mean, that was enough. I don't know how long he did it. Years? Decades? Pretty long time, in my impression. And then he decided to go back home to Poland. Now, at what point did I say it reminds me of a story? Do you remember when I said that, King? Does anybody remember at what point I said that reminds me of a story? It reminded me of the story when King said, could it be my story without me knowing it? Could this be your story without you knowing it? So he went around and told the stories of his teacher, and he was on his way back to Poland, and he heard a rumor,

[52:33]

I don't know how he heard this, but he heard a rumor that there was a very wealthy person in Italia who offered a considerable amount of gold for people telling him stories. So the guy thought, well, maybe I'll extend my trip a little longer. So he made his way to the home of this very wealthy person who lived in a big Italian palace. Have you heard the story before? How are you liking it so far? Not too much. It's too slow. Are you getting sleepy? I have something else I want to talk about. Ah, you're trying to be patient. You're struggling with patience. You didn't agree to this long story.

[53:35]

You didn't know it was going to be this long. There's more to come. Can you practice patience a little longer? I could stop now. You did interrupt me. You interrupted me by going, I'm not going to just interrupt. Maybe if I yawn, he'll... Yes, whoever you are. Are you Bibashi Butsu Daiyosho? Who are you? Ah, you're Embarrassed Daiyosho. Anything besides interrupting me that you wanted to do? What? This thing can happen in installments. Believe me. You can wait until next week for the rest. Or you can hear more. Let's hear from Tracy now. I'm kind of in a little backwater.

[54:39]

Backwater is fine. Thinking about koans. Who says something is a koan? Who do you have to be? I think you just made this up. She thinks I made this up as a koan. I wouldn't say that I made it up, but I would say the statement that this is a koan was constructed. I don't think I do anything by myself. As you may have heard. This was created and proposed to you as a koan. And I put in how about you at the bottom. And also calling it a koan at the top. This has never been seen before in the history of Zen practice. And that's a characteristic of all the other koans

[55:44]

is that they're fresh springtime flowers. Always. And part of the questions I was going to ask you about this koan is that this koan, this lineage, people often say that thing is made up, that lineage is made up. Now did I make the lineage up? Well, maybe I was back in China when they made it up. But this lineage did not exist in China because the Japanese and American people weren't there yet. But the Chinese part, people say the Zen Chinese people made this lineage up. So I'm a successor in this lineage. So yeah, I do make this up. And I make it up and on top of making it up, I call it a koan. So this is about, Zen is about playing make-believe. That's what it's about.

[56:45]

Being Buddha is about playing make-believe. Make-believe you're Buddha. Make-believe you're a Zen master. Now you're already, some of you I've heard, I'm not accusing you of this, you've told me you're playing make-believe that you're a sentient being. You're playing make-believe that you're a woman, or a man, or a Zen student. You're already doing it, so I'm here to support you. So yes, I am part of the make-believe of this lineage, of this koan. That was a much better answer than my question, but I still want my small question. Is that your story? Can you do something? What do you want to do? I want you to say, can a TV repairman make koans? It doesn't have to be a horse or a monkey. That's what I'm trying to understand. For the TV repairman to make koans, he has to be in this lineage.

[57:47]

He doesn't have to know. He doesn't have to know. He has to be in this lineage, which is some other lineage of koan creators. Koans are not just something that somebody makes up. There's something that makes up in the people who are the lineages of koan makers. Now, of course, everybody is in this lineage, so anybody can make a koan. I don't think anybody can make a koan. I just gave it to you. Maybe 40 years from now, maybe after I put all my life, my thought, my heart, my image, maybe one day. Today at Tai Chi? That's your story. That's your koan. That's your koan that you're telling right now. That's a koan. Is that reality what you just said? Yeah. See, now we've got reality.

[58:53]

She just made a koan after she said you couldn't. But I agree, it may take quite a few years before you get to change your name from you to A-S-S-I-A. Then we write that in here. But then we change it actually to, instead of being that, we give you a new name. Yes, it takes a while before you get to have your name in here with a daioh show after. But you get your name written in here after you make many koans. Where does the circle break and start? The circles do not start. Because in order to be able to make this koan I had to reach a certain level of wisdom, knowledge, whatever people want to call it. Yes. So what? When does a person have the right to state that something

[59:56]

that she chooses to be a koan is a koan? Oh. You just did it already. And I support you to do that. You said what you said was reality. So you said what I just said is a koan. And I support you to do that. But now that you've said that, now we can talk about that for a while and see if you're attached to that at all. If you're attached to it, you don't get to have your name in here. But you can say, I don't believe I'm attached because I don't think I'm a koan. So if you're not attached to your story that this is reality, yes, if you're not, then that's lesson number one. And there'll be several more lessons before you get your name on here. And at the end of the lessons we have a special ceremony. And after the ceremony, then if you become the teacher of a community,

[60:57]

then you get a daisho after your name. So it will take a while, except for a few more lessons like this. Okay? And another part of it is you have to be patient. Shall I go back to the story now? Yes. Is there time? Please. If we stop at 9.15, I think there'll be enough time. You're not going to rush me. I just can't be rushed in telling this story. It's just not possible. You can go back to Italy and the palace. As you can see. Now we're back. Actually, we haven't got to the palace yet. So he goes to the palace. I said the guy lives in a palace. Are we done with this instruction? Are we going to do it again next week?

[62:00]

I'm very happy. I happily always think of this koan in March. I have thought of so many interesting things to talk about concerning this koan that I didn't expect at the beginning how much there would be. But now I feel like we can spend quite a long time on this koan. For example, next week, and the week after, and the week after, and so on. I do intend to continue to ask you questions about this koan. You want a little blip? How about you? That's the blip. You just concentrate on how about you. You ask that question all the time. How about you? That's the question which Sekito Gisen asked Yaka-san Igen.

[63:10]

That's what Matsu asked Yaka-san Igen. That's what I ask you. So now you, by asking that question, you are in this lineage. And you can keep saying, what about... I don't think I have anything to say here. It's time to go back to the story. It's time to go back to the story. So he heard about this guy who lives in the palace. So he goes to the palace and knocks on the door. And lo and behold, a rich man opens the door. And he said, I heard you pay gold for people who tell stories about anything. And I've got some stories. And the man said, great, come on in. And he goes in and the man sits him down

[64:12]

at a beautiful table in a beautiful room. And he said, I'm ready, tell me your stories. And the young man says, well, my stories that I tell are about the great rabbi Baal Shem Tov. And the man says, wow, how wonderful, I've heard about him. Please tell me stories about Baal Shem Tov. You know, that's how I'm not rushing. So the young man says, well, do you remember what he said? What did he say? What did he say? Yeah, right. He said, I can't remember any stories about Baal Shem Tov. This is the most amazing thing. I've been telling stories about him all over Europe and now I can't tell it. I don't remember any stories.

[65:15]

This is very embarrassing. And the man said, calm down, just relax, have dinner, go to bed, we can talk tomorrow. So that happens. Next day, they meet again. He still can't remember any stories about Baal Shem Tov. I'm not going to make it. But I'll try to end at a good point. I can think of a good place to end. So I think that he can't remember the next day and the man says, it's all right, no hurry, I can put you up indefinitely here. I really want to hear your stories about Baal Shem Tov. And this goes on for maybe five days, he can't remember, and finally the young man is so embarrassed

[66:19]

and so uncomfortable, he says, I've got to go. The man says, okay, you can go. And if you remember, you can come back later. This is so perfect to end at this time. It's better than telling the whole story. But it's not nearly as good as the whole story. But it's better to stop now, or stop soon, than tell the whole story. Because then you can live with it. People have heard, don't tell the other people. Timo? Who else knows the end? Don't tell! Charlie is going to be posting this talk, so don't make a little comment at the end. So anyway, the young man leaves, leaves the palace, and as he's walking away, he remembers the story. And it's not a very good story.

[67:25]

But it is a story about Baal Shem Tov, and it's also about him. It's his story. And he went back, and he remembered the story. And he told the man the story, and next week I'll tell you the rest of the story. I'll tell you the story that he told the man, the rich man. So it fits perfectly with what's going on here. I just feel like this is a miraculous koan that has been created. I hope you enjoy it. How about you? Be upright with how about you.

[68:29]

And when you say how about you, you're not talking about somebody else. You're talking to yourself. How about you, Amanda? You say to yourself. Which is another koan, one more. The master Zweigan, when he got up in the morning, he would say to himself, Master, and he would answer, yes. And then he would ask himself, are you awake? And he would say, yes. And then he would say to himself all day long, don't let anybody distract you from this. So say to yourself in the morning, Master, and answer, yes. Are you awake? Yes. All day long, don't let anybody distract you from this.

[69:30]

How about you? Don't let anybody distract you from this. That's a gift to you. Thank you.

[69:58]

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