Thank you. I don't want to get paper out of a book, because this is so true, but I don't want to stop talking to us. It's just a word for me. I never got to serve right away, but she's a snacking straight again to me, and I've been brought it ready to be one-on-one. It didn't make this summer and debate me, but I don't want to give it to me, but I don't want to give it to me, but I don't want to give it to us, and I don't want to give it to us. I don't get to see the end of this, too. To do the great manward with his self. I hope he will be about all of us to taste the truth of what I hope is to stop us all of those memories.

[01:23]

I hope this is so bad about us, so we're going to share with you in heaven, for a faith in God's mind. Yet in heaven, this is so great, but you need to make my head to our head. If you need to come up with a thousand and if you need to come up with us Good morning. I wanted to acknowledge the situation that we woke up to this morning, that we became aware of this morning, of the situation in the world with warring beings.

[02:39]

including the government of this country. And I didn't want to avert from saying that, acknowledging that, having that in the room. And at the same time, I do not want to turn our Dharma talk into a political statement or veering in that direction. However, with eyes wide open, knowing the consequences for beings, for the earth, and the unknowns, I can imagine that there is fears, anxieties. anger, all sorts of emotions arising and really dharma talks, all dharma talks are meant to bring up our practice and how we meet this world, how we meet our world in a way that does not further suffering and that can turn

[04:14]

with wisdom and compassion. So when the Buddha gave dharmatogs, one of the things it says about the purpose of dharmatogs is for the sake of peace. Giving a dharmatog giving the teaching, sharing the teaching, is for the sake of peace within and without. And out of compassion, out of compassion for all, one brings forth the Dharma, the teaching. And so I dedicate this talk to that purpose. And may all those who hear it, who are in the room today, or those online, be encouraged to practice with whatever unfolds.

[05:27]

And we know of the unspeakable horrors of war. And may our practice upright in the midst of that, like lotus in muddy water. The lotus blooms with its roots, not in clear water, does not grow in clear water. It grows in muddy water. So thank you for hearing that opening statement. a number of plans for what I wanted to talk about. One is a very brief, what's called way-seeking mind talk.

[06:35]

Way-seeking mind talks are given often by the head student of a practice period and also new students who come to a practice period are sometimes invited to give a very short talk title of which might be How I Came to Practice, and it's called Ways Seeking Mind Talk. And I wanted to take this occasion to say a few words in the light of a Ways Seeking Mind Talk because today will be my last Dharma talk that I'll be giving as a resident of San Francisco Zen Center and Green Gulch because In about a little over three weeks, I and my family, my husband and I, will be moving to Enzo Village in Healdsburg, which is the Zen-inspired senior living community that's been created.

[07:44]

And we are packing and... getting ready for this move. I may be invited to give a Dara talk after that, but as a resident, this will be probably my last. So my history with Green Gulch is unique in that when we I say received, but anyway, when George Wheelwright III, who owned Green Gulch Ranch, sold it to us at a very, very low price after talking with the abbot at the time, and Tatsy Richard Baker, and Trust for Public Land, Huey Johnson, and other beings, we were able to be fortunate enough

[08:48]

to receive this property. We did fundraise for it, but it was at a much lower price than you can imagine for all these acres. And that was in June of 1972. And in June of 1972, I had just graduated. I was living at Zen Center. in the city, city center, and I had just graduated as a transfer student in the Department of Italian at UC Berkeley. I just graduated that June. And I was looking for a job to earn money to go to Tassajara because there was no way to earn by a work study program. We didn't have those. at the time, so everybody paid to go to practice period.

[09:49]

And I had just found a job in Ghirardelli Square at a candle shop. It was like, perfect job. And that afternoon, after I got the job, and I was going to go back the next day, I think she was president at the time, Yvonne Rand, Some of you know her. She is very close to Suzuki Roshi. She was very involved from the beginning years at Woodside Center, passed away just a couple of years ago. She called me into her office and said, we have just gotten this beautiful piece of land in Marin County. And we need some people to come and be there this summer. Would you be willing to do that? And I think part of it would be I would pay less to go to Tassajara was the compensation.

[10:58]

And I jumped at the chance to come out here. So five of us came out to Green Gulch June of 72 to kind of homestead. the land and that some more people came and the French intensive gardener French intensive method gardener Ellen Chadwick came and began the garden and all sorts of things happened but we were the first group of five and I'll just say their names Bill Lane and his girlfriend Sheila Ulysses Lowry Todd Grant, I think, Todd, and me. And Green Gulch at the time, if you can imagine, this building was here. It was the barn because George Wheelwright raised prized bulls and there were cows and bulls here wandering around.

[12:04]

And also there was horse stables and he had leased some of the acreage. to a farmer who put all the acres in iris, purple iris. So there were some acres of iris, and that was about it. So those of you who know Green Gulch, the dining room, the Wheelwright Center, the guest house, the gardens, the gardens as you walked onto the beach, and the farm, and the farm office, and there was none of that. It was just land with cows roaming about. And I lived in the house that was called the main house, and in the room that is now the student lounge. The Zendo was the living room of that house, and that is now what was the Zendo is the bookstore.

[13:08]

The Welcome Center bookstore was the first little Zendo. And throughout the summer, more people came. People had come out on Sunday to do work. And I can't quite explain the enormity of this receiving the third of San Francisco Zen Center's campuses, you might say. There was Tassajara City Center and now the Green Gulch Farm. And part of the covenant of Green Gulch Farm is to continue farming and to be open to guests. So hikers and guests coming through using the trails, that's part of our covenant with Mr. Wheelwright and also the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, GGNRA, which we are...

[14:12]

within were a private inholding of the GGNRA. So, the enormous beauty of Green Gulch and the care and everything you, so much of what you see has been, was created and brought to life by students. who lived here, and with the help of donors and many, many people who visited over these 50-some years, right? Was it 72 to 2025? And just part of my way of seeking mind tough, I did leave in the fall to go to Tassajara, September of 72, and was at Tassajara for about five years, then the city center again, and then moved out here in 1993 with my family.

[15:16]

My husband, Steve, who's sitting in the corner, and our kids went to Mill Valley Schools. And yeah, so I've been here the second time around since 1993. So in this, thinking about leaving and moving to the Zen-inspired senior living at Enzo Village, I wanted to share with you a kind of practice difficulty that I realized I was in the midst of. It was a little hidden from me. Just recently, actually, in the last month or so, and I've known we're going to be moving for years, actually. We were slated to leave summer 2025, but people have been there for the last two years.

[16:19]

And what I noticed about my own practice, embarrassingly, so I'm acknowledging this and admitting this to you all, all of you, is that I was kind of clinging and a little bit grasping and kind of sticky feeling about leaving Green Gulch. And even with the gratitude of Zen Centers, this is part of our retirement benefit to be supported at the senior living. But what... And I felt that as well, so it was kind of both. But this part of me that was kind of, not that I did it outwardly, but inwardly kind of whiny and clingy and sticky and eh, like that. And I kind of got in touch with it, you know, like, oh, the ocean and the fog and the Han, the soundscape and the

[17:32]

bells and all the students. And practice here, et cetera. And I realized that I was not being upright and I was not practicing in the way that I want to practice or would recommend anyone else to practice. And there I was caught in this and not really seeing it clearly. And once I saw it, this clingy, sticky thing, I realized this is not how I want to practice or live my life. And there was a kind of turn in relation to the Dharma, the Dharma that teaches impermanence, non-abiding self. There's nothing to grasp. Everything is flowing and changing.

[18:35]

And to live with that as the reality of your life without leaning and sticking to is how I want to live. Not that there isn't great appreciation for the life here and wonderful memories, et cetera, et cetera. But this, what is happening now is we're moving July 16th. That's it. And can I practice with that, with fullness and energy and non-clinging? And once I saw it, and I think this is part of the power of awareness and clear seeing, whether it's insight, I wouldn't go that far, but maybe it was kind of an insight, but seeing is and feeling kind of not upright, like our Zazen posture of upright sitting.

[19:39]

In the Zazen instructions, it says, neither leaning to the left nor to the right, nor forward nor backwards. That's not just in Zazen. That's a life admonition, uprightness. And once I saw it, it was... something really changed internally and externally, and I could feel a different kind of energy arise, and let's do this. Let's do this completely, thoroughly, not leaving out or disregarding a single thing. That's happening. Or looking back at nostalgia, sentimentality, that's all. I mean, those are okay, somewhat, but to be caught in that was something that I wanted to let go of. Not that I even wanted to.

[20:40]

I let go of it once I saw it and got in touch with it. And what a relief, you know, really. I wanted to read this poem by the poet... Naomi, she have nigh, which I just came upon. I'm going through papers and things. I have a folder of poems I love. This is called Fresh, which really spoke to what I just talked with you about. To move cleanly, needing to be nowhere else. Wanting nothing from any store. To lift something you already had and set it down in a new place. Awakened eye seeing freshly.

[21:41]

What does that do to the old blood moving through its changes? Fresh. move cleanly, needing to be nowhere else, rather than looking back like, uh, wanting nothing from any store. Actually, we have had to buy some stuff from some stores, but I think of that as, you know, sometimes you don't think, you don't know You're not looking for anything. But you start looking and seeing the advertisements that come through your phone or whatever. It's like, oh, gee, I could really use a new pair of boots or whatever it is. And where the wanting comes up with just seeing something.

[22:43]

You didn't think, I really need some new boots. These are, no. Wanting nothing from any store. To lift something you already had and set it down. in a new place definitely is happening. Awakened eye seeing freshly. Yeah. What does that do to the old blood moving through its channels? So this reminds me of a Zen story about one of our ancestors. It's a short story. You could say it's a koan, but it's more like a Zen story, which are teaching stories. That's why they were passed on. And this is about our ancestor Dungshan, Chinese Zen master, Zen teacher, who was, we chant some of

[23:49]

his teachings, and he was practicing with a teacher named Nam Niran. And when Dung San took his leave from this teacher, Nam Niran, that teacher said to him, make a thorough study of the Buddha Dharma and broadly benefit the world. So Dungshan's about to leave on pilgrimage to go to another teacher, which was a practice to visit different teachers. And this teacher said, make a thorough study of Buddha Dharma. That's the teaching of the Buddha, the teaching and truth of Buddha's way, Buddha Dharma. Make a thorough study of Buddha Dharma and benefit, broadly benefit the world. And Dung San said, I have no question about studying the Buddha Dharma, but what is it you mean by broadly benefit the world?

[25:01]

I get it that I should study and teach probably Buddha Dharma, but what do you mean broadly benefit the world? And Nanyaran, his teacher, or this particular teacher, he had different teachers. in the lineage of his teachers, but this is another teacher he studied. So Nan Ran said, in answer to this question, what is broadly benefiting the world? Not disregard a single thing. Not to disregard a single thing. disregard is to, you know, regard is to look again. Not disregard, not skip over, not avert from a single thing. This is broadly benefiting the world. So in terms of this change in my practice life and the life of all my relational, my relational field,

[26:18]

these changes to not disregard a single thing, not leave out a single thing. And that includes things we appreciate, things we don't appreciate, things we're drawn to and love, things we are afraid of and don't like. Don't leave out a single thing. This is how you broadly benefit the world. And I feel like part of what was happening was I was leaving out a lot, actually. So how do we practice without disregarding a single thing, leaving out a single thing? And I think all of our practices speak to this. All of the Buddha Dharma speaks to this.

[27:21]

The Dharma is not go to the things that you like and give pleasure as the only thing. It's remain upright whatever arises and meet that. Suzuki Hiroshi in a talk that he gave in 1971, which I was present for because I remember this couple of the things from the talk, but it's also, I reviewed it, of course, it's all online in the archives. He was talking about when we sit, Zazen, bubbles, bubbles come up. He used the word bubbles. And these bubbles are often things that we've been successfully or not so successfully averting from or disregarding or distracting ourselves from or not wanting to see or look at or bring up or talk about.

[28:31]

And there's bubbles of... It might be actions that we're not very proud of. It might be ways that we got angry and feel... that was not merited, and that we hurt someone's feelings, or many, many things will bubble up from the past, and these problems, or bubbles, he called bubbles, and also in the talk he called problems, and these problems will come up, and these problems, bubbles, Our success in averting from them often has to do with distractions, keeping busy, literally running from or doing things so that they won't come up, that we keep them under wraps. But as soon as we sit down quietly, no distractions, just the wall or a pretty simple space that we're sitting in, up they come.

[29:44]

They bubble up. And what Suzuki Roshi said about these problems, and this is what I remember from that, he said, the problems are our zendo. The problems are our zendo. Rather than the problems are these things we're trying to get rid of, disregard, get out of, get away from, blame somebody else for, or whatever. Instead, the problems are our zendo. This is the zendo. This room we're sitting in. The problems themselves will train us, will help create and polish our life and fashion us into beings that can meet our life completely. If we're kind of running away all the time, distracting ourselves, keeping on our phone as many hours as we can during the day to keep.

[30:54]

This will not allow us to practice literally with what is, what's arising. This will keep us running. But we can't run forever. There's no such place where you're free of problems or challenges or things that scare us. So to meet our life fully and the problems are our zendo means in the zendo or in our life as zendo, we meet things as they are with awareness, and also with all the practices, the immeasurable practices, but there's many that are named and that we can thoroughly work with to help us and to train us and to meet our life of often suffering and loss, grief.

[32:11]

years. So we take these problems and we allow them to train us. Train is a word we don't maybe use that often really, but Zen center is, and going to practice period, is Another name for it is a training period. It's not a retreat or kind of a, you know, we're just going to relax. And it's meeting our life with an energetic new way, freshly. And when things are difficult, we stay with it. And this turns... just like in the fairy tale, turns straw into gold, spins straw into gold.

[33:14]

Straw, we might think, oh, that's a kind of throwaway thing, or we put it on the floor of a stable to muck up. But that straw, those problems of our life, that's our zendo, and it can turn into the gold of our life. And when we practice that way, we can help Others. We can help others because we practice that way. We know from the inside out. We didn't read it somewhere. Or hear somebody else say it, which is helpful, but it can't just be, well, somebody told me or I read it. We have to do the practice. Take up the practice. So in that same lecture, he talked about falling down seven times, getting up eight, and using, this is an image that's used by a number of teachers, using where we fell down to get up.

[34:25]

We fall down on the earth. Literally, we use the earth to get up. We use our own difficulties, challenges, negative impulses and so forth, we use those as our way of needing our life rather than disregarding, alerting. Don't disregard a single thing, even those things that are embarrassing and that we don't like. We can find a way to practice with them these problems. Problems are, Zen don't. I want to be mindful of the time because I realize I have more things I want to talk with you about. I think we're good for a bit.

[35:30]

So... This last winter, January through the beginning of April, I was at Tassajara leading a practice period, a 90-day. Ango, it's called, which is dwelling in peace. An is peace, peaceful abiding. Peaceful abiding is the name of these 90-day practice periods where you are asked to practice very thoroughly, daily, 24-7. And it's also called a training period. But the name of it, Ango, is peaceful abiding. But peaceful abiding means we're abiding not in something that has solidity, unchanging permanence. There is no such thing. We're peacefully abiding, abiding at ease in the place of non-abiding.

[36:37]

This is a phrase from one of Suzuki Roshi's teachers, who he learned a lot about, one of our ancestors, Dogen, 1200s, Japan, father of this school, or founder of this school. And Nishiari Bogusan was Suzuki Roshi's teacher, Suzuki Roshi being the founder of Zen Center. And he said, abiding with ease in the place of non-abiding. And where is that place of non-abiding? That's right here, right now. Each moment is a place of non-abiding, is a place that can't be grasped, that can't be, as I was trying to, you can't cling to it, You can't attach to it in any solid, non-ending way.

[37:41]

Each moment is dependently co-arising in this universe and cannot and arises and vanishes. There's no moment that you can grasp and have and keep. And how do you abide in with ease or peace in such a place, which is our real life, which is, we may fool ourselves, like, oh, now I've made myself a little nest, and I'm going to abide here, and nobody can bother me. There is no such place. There is abiding at ease in the place of non-abiding, which is right here. So the 90-day practice period, peaceful abiding, isn't, say, permanence, unchanging, solid, but we peacefully each moment abide in this place of non-abiding.

[38:55]

So during this practice period, we studied what are called the four embracing actions of a bodhisattva. And these actions, along with the six perfections which make ten, even though one of them is doubled, are practices for us to take up, to abide at ease in the place of non-abiding. And Is the kitchen going away? Thank you very much. So these practices, these embracing actions are practices that embrace and sustain us. It's also, those of you who have sat sashin, the word

[40:02]

This character for embrace is also part of the word seshin, which means to gather. So embrace and gather practices that embrace and gather beings to practice together. And I'll just name the practices, but I wanted to talk about the last one. The four embracing actions are... generosity or giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and the last one is called identity action. And the identity action for me was the hardest one to understand what that means exactly, identity action. And another translation, these four are very old. They're from the earliest Buddhist teachings in the polycanon, you can find these four.

[41:04]

Sometimes they're called social emotions or gathering people, how to take care of people who are practicing generosity, kind speech, beneficial action. And this last one, identity action, another translation of that is everybody's in the same boat. Everybody's in the same boat means all the beings throughout the Ten Directions in this world. And I think to remember this and not forget this while we are in the midst of taking sides and blaming and this war and the horrors of the wars that have been going on nonstop as long as we can remember as well as all the other unspeakable things of our world. In the Buddha Dharma, Buddha's teaching, there isn't these people at fault, these people are not at fault, these are good, these are bad.

[42:19]

We are all in the same boat. All beings. It's nature. Their self-nature is non-abiding, is change. There is no one to grasp. There is no one, there's nothing like that. This is the inconceivable reality of our life together in this world and in this universe, Buddha-verse of billions of of galaxies. So, this identity action to not forget that we are in the same boat. We are interconnected and not apart from all beings, whether you admire them, respect them, or not.

[43:19]

And there's one of our Buddhist stories called the Bodhisattva never disparaging. It's from the Lotus Sutra. And this Bodhisattva's practice was to respect all beings, no matter what, no matter their language or actions. And he would say, you are a Buddha. You have Buddha nature. You are Buddha nature. I respect you. I bow to you. That was his practice, this particular Bodhisattva. And... All the people he practiced with at that time, they didn't respect him. And they'd call him names and say, who do you think you are bowing to us and calling us Buddha? You don't even get out of here. And they'd throw things at him. It says in the Lotus Sutra, they threw pots, potsherds, you know, broken pots. They would throw at him. And he would get far away so they couldn't reach him. And he'd say, I respect you.

[44:21]

I bow to you. You'll be a Buddha one day. This is the bodhisattva, never disparage. And this is a hard practice. If I look at my thoughts and speech and actions, do I respect all beings as, I mean, this is what the Buddha woke up to. All beings, without exception, are completely and thoroughly awakened, except because of their delusions, they don't realize it. This is Buddha Dharma. And to wake up to this Buddha Dharma is our practice life. So this identity action means that this is in the forefront of our minds, that we...

[45:21]

identify that all beings without exception, without disregarding a single being, or a single being as, you know, thoughts or ideas, or they're like beings as well that arise in the world and have power. We're all in the same boat. So one of the practices of... Identity action is called, another name for this in an earlier teaching is called sameness of purpose. So we practice because we're together with all beings. We're not separated doing our own thing. We have the sameness of purpose. And in this, this is identity action or sameness of purpose. And this is the power. This is another way of saying this is practice what you preach.

[46:23]

And this is, I think, why I was embarrassed, you know, to realize I wasn't practicing what I say to others, what I have said on this very seat in terms of that stickiness and clinging. So to come back into upright and practice what I preach, you know, seemed so important. So in this, this is from the fourth century, talking about this. This is a teacher named Asanga, who was a great teacher. So the question is, what is a bodhisattva, sameness of purpose? What is this identity action? And this is the answer. Whatever purpose And whatever root of virtue a bodhisattva here directs others to adopt, he himself or she herself, they themselves should be observed to adopt a purpose and root of virtue that is at least equal or one that is greater than what they're telling other people to do.

[47:41]

So if you're saying to someone, oh, this is the practice, this is... a great practice, one should adopt that same practice if you're telling others, equal to what you're saying or greater. This is, therefore, the bodhisattva's purpose that is equal to that of others in this way is referred to as sameness of purpose. Having perceived the bodhisattva's sameness of person, those other disciples, so you see someone who's talking about something and then that's their practice. You see it. What happens to you is this. The other disciples become firm in their conviction and irreversible with regard to taking up the roots of virtue. So if they hear someone talk about a practice or admonish others to practice this way or encourage or advise or whatever to teach and then see them practice this way, what happens to us is we become irreversible and want to take it up ourselves.

[49:05]

That's the power of this, of practicing what we preach. It's not just teachers. It's being a friend, being a good family member, parent, at work, wherever, if we find this alignment with what we are suggesting to others, encouraging others to do, if we practice that way, the power of that is quite strong. And this is irreversible conviction, firm in conviction and irreversible in taking up the practice. And then they say, why is that? In this treatise, it's question and answer often. And the reason it's so powerful is that the person thinks, this bodhisattva has urged us to adopt. that this Bodhisattva has urged us to adopt this is certain to benefit us and bring happiness because this Bodhisattva carries out the same practice and this Bodhisattva enjoined us to follow and they wouldn't say that unless it brings benefit because they know it will bring benefit and they're practicing the same thing.

[50:32]

And They will not say this. So the Bodhisattvas see you practice the same thing, and they won't say this to someone who's not practicing what they preach. You yourself are not living as someone who has adopted virtue. Why do you believe that you should be the one who urges others in such an extreme manner to take up virtue, or that you should be the one who teaches others and instructs others? Rightfully, you are the one who should be taught, instructed, and corrected by others. So instead of thinking that, which is for those who don't practice what they preach, they say, because you do, you know it benefits. I see, and I will bring it, I will practice it myself. So this is called sameness of purpose.

[51:36]

And this, the power of that, I think I've seen that. There's stories of Suzuki Roshi, one where he arrives at a place where he's supposed to give a lecture. He came early a day before, and he showed up at this hall, and everybody at this little Dharma group were washing windows and sweeping and dusting, and he said, what are you all doing? And they didn't recognize him. They said, there's a Zen master coming tomorrow. And we're getting ready. And he took off his traveling outfit, got a broom, and started sweeping too. This helps us become irreversible and encourages us in wanting to practice too. So this is my vow and my... wanting to be in alignment with that, not hypocritical.

[52:42]

And when I'm not, and there are times when I don't do what I feel is the right thing to do, like practice is going to community work. I haven't been practicing going to community work these last weeks, and it feels out of alignment. It's not encouraging to others. I acknowledge that. Yeah. And these practices help us to abide at ease in the place of non-abiding. Each moment is a place of non-abiding and when we practice in this way, in alignment, we become at ease. We're not hiding anything. We're not wishing, hoping people won't notice this, that, and the other.

[53:46]

We totally acknowledge our life. Admit and acknowledge our life. So for Q&A. Okay, so I'll end there, and you have a chance if you'd like to ask some questions. Anybody online?

[54:51]

No? Oh, there's a hand. Okay. Thank you for the talk. Early on in the talk, you mentioned that sticky, whiny feeling you had, and you said that when you became aware of it, you were able to transform that, and there was that energy. And I've noticed sometimes when I'll have sticky, whiny feelings, and I'll become aware of what's happening, They don't necessarily always go away, and I'm just sitting there with them.

[55:54]

Can you speak a little bit about that, maybe? Yes. Yes, that is what happened with me, and I don't think that's necessarily magic bullet kind of, excuse me, image, a kind of magic potion. Once you're aware of it, it will dissolve or something. I don't think that happens all the time. However, this time it did. I think sometimes we need to unpack it more, talk with someone else, look at what's going on. And I think I may have been doing that for a while before it emerged in this way. So, yeah, I think to be aware of it and to admit it and acknowledge it and also to see, to ask, who is this helping?

[57:06]

Is this a benefit? Is this a benefit to me or anyone around me? And from that, you can see I want to let go of. acting, thinking, speaking in that way. But it may need more work. Yeah, definitely. Thank you. Thank you. When you were speaking about, oh, can you hear? Is this good? Could you start again? I couldn't quite hear. When you were speaking about the problems in our life being the zendo, from what I understood, it sounded like we want to confront our problems.

[58:19]

and be there with our problems and see that, I don't know. But then what I was thinking was, I have been trying to solve my problems a lot by being with them. And I wonder if that's what you mean, because I feel like you're probably saying something different. Yeah, I didn't say salve. And this is another Suzuki Hiroshi story where he said in a sashin, you may have heard this, it's a famous one. He said, the problems you have now. And there was a pause and everyone thought, you know, we'll vanish like...

[59:21]

snow and sunshine or something. But instead, he said, the problems you have now will be with you for the rest of your life. And everybody burst into laughter, I think. So I think the difference between living, meeting, understanding, having compassion for being kind and gentle with these, that it's not solving in the way like, okay, we're going to get rid of, we're going to do what needs to be done to them. It's gone. It's a different relationship with the problems, I think. And it's a kinder or more in relationship rather than get out of here, get out of my life, and I'm going to do something to make sure you get out of here. It's different from that. It's meaning and understanding and grieving, maybe.

[60:29]

And it doesn't actually solve it, meaning there are things in our karmic consciousness that arise over and over, and we become familiar, we become understanding, And we can then understand other people better who share that, which is a different aspect that I want to thank you for your talk and the historic overview that you have explained and just the image of this being the barn of the former ranch and the cows and the bulls. And also with that much historic perspective and all the changes that you've seen here, and I think of Tassajara as well,

[61:39]

being a real steward of the land and seeing all these changes, to me, and maybe it's just being a tauren in this way, that attachment to place and all the sustainability that's gone on here, it seems like there'd be some stickiness and whininess about, you know, detaching from that. And I think that being attached to it is so unique and important. you know, cheers for the stickiness and whining. Thank you. I think, you know, the word attachment, there's a positive quality to attachment. Like, for children, you must have good attachment-loving relationships or you don't develop various problems, more problems. So there is... a quality, a positive quality to attachment.

[62:41]

And there is also a not-so-healthy quality to attachment. So I'm not sweeping out the positive, loving the land, loving this place, and wanting it to go on and be here for countless generations, for 500 years. Suzuki Roshi's temple in Japan celebrated a couple years ago It's 500th year of being a temple in that place. 500 years of Dharma being practiced at a temple right there. So I do not want this practice to be... It's not treating it lightly. It's treating it in alignment with reality, which is that nothing... is solidly, substantially unchanging. And with great love and care, doing everything possible for the health, well-being, and care of this place and the people and the practice here, do not want this practice to be cut off, want it to last till the ends of time.

[63:59]

And if there is clingy, sticky in there, It won't help. It isn't a benefit. So it's, for me anyway, understanding what's the kind of love and care that is beneficial and what is smothering and detrimental. Yeah. Thank you for your question. Just a comment. Maybe it's a matter of understanding how we're intimate with things. We can be intimate with our clingy, sticky stuff without feeling we have to confront it, get rid of it, run away from it. Thank you. But I think intimacy with problems, that's where I feel I want to be, to be more compassionate with them.

[65:07]

and myself and others. Thank you. Intimacy. Yes, definitely. I think that's a good word to end on. That is super. Would you be outside, Linda? Oh, I can take another. There is another question. Oh, yes. Whatever works for you. It doesn't disrupt the closure, because for me it's like this slippery slope of intimacy with problems and suffering, which, not conflating those necessarily, but slipping into sort of what I've come to think of or come to have heard of as like the spiritual bypass of like, well, there's just problems and suffering, so I'll be intimate with it.

[66:09]

go about my business in a way. Or I'll learn my barista's name and I'll smile and have this kindness that is not trying to solve terms. It can slip into, I guess, the intimacy acceptance relationship and ways to practice with that is what I'm wondering about. Thank you. I really feel like everything is coming into the room. We can't say everything in one sentence, and that is really important. So, yeah, spiritual bypassing. I hope you all heard the question. It's like the combo of bodhisattva and compulsive caregiving. It's like you take, one takes the dharma, but uses it in a way that actually isn't what the Dharma is saying. So you're right. I think kindness, compassion doesn't mean we don't do the work that needs to be done and be resourced enough to be able to do the hard work of meeting these challenges.

[67:27]

And whether that's... And we can call that solving even, you know, over time that can be solving a big problem. So, right, not disregarding a single thing. That includes, we don't want to use, you know, our problems are always going to be here and we'll just meet them with compassion and skirt the hard work that it's going to take to really understand, really get involved in the way we need to. So thank you for bringing that up. Thank you all very much for your attention. questions and comments.

[68:33]

Now we're going to dedicate the merit, dedicate the positive energy that we created here together by listening to teaching, by reflecting on it. It's clear to me that people have been reflecting on the things I've said and by asking questions. This is a room full of positive energy. And our practice is not to kind of hold it, hold on to it, but to give it away. So that's what this next chant is, the dedication of this positive energy to the world. May God bless you.

[69:37]

May God bless you. May God bless you. May God bless you. You should have to be silent when it brings his heart to the world. But I can't get back to my heart, but I can't get back to my heart. But I can't get back to my heart, but I can't get back to my heart. I can't get back to my heart, but I can't get back to my heart. I can't get back to my heart. The beginning is so powerful and enormous, but I have never been aware of what is safe then. The future and the sorrow are very sensible.

[70:38]

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