Having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning. I hope all of you are doing well and have found safe shelter for yourselves and your loved ones. I'm sitting at my home at the moment as I have been for about three weeks now, along with 50 other nearby residents of Greengolf's farm. So far, we are doing fine as we continue taking the best care we can of ourselves and of each other. The birds are chattering and the kids have been running around and oh my God, there's the cherry tree in my garden. that is bearing the full weight of her spring blossoms right now outside my window. This morning, I'm going to begin my talk with a story from the Book of Serenity, a collection of 100 koans first published in China in the 13th century.

[01:09]

This story is called The World Honored One Points to the Ground. As the World Honored One was walking with the congregation, He pointed to the ground with his finger and said, this spot is good to build a sanctuary. Indra, emperor of the gods, took a blade of grass, stuck it in the ground and said, the sanctuary is built. This story came to my mind as I was gazing at that overburdened cherry tree. And it has much to do with the condition we're all finding ourselves in right now. That is the condition of making this spot of ground into a sanctuary. And although it may sound like a bit of magic, I have come to feel that magic is just what we're all needing right now. You know, a bit of magic. The kind of magic that makes our eyes open wide in awe and brings kind smiles to our faces.

[02:11]

I've been watching many things these days, not only out my window, but on my computer and on the television. My partner Karina and I take turns sharing with each other the most heartwarming stories that we can find, those videos that are coming in from all over the world. I'm sure you've all seen many of them. There was one I saw the other day of about a dozen or more young Italians in perfect harmony singing inside their little boxes. a lovely old Crosby, Stills, and Nash tune called Helplessly Hoping. There are videos of nurses dancing, doctors singing, nearby neighbors howling and clapping in honor of the givers and the helpers. So the sanctuaries are being built, and as always, it's the givers and helpers, and I might add on behalf of those here at Green Gulch, the farmers and the sitters who are placing their offerings, those tiny blades of grass, carefully onto the ground. The very same ground that is bearing each of your own weight right now, as it always has.

[03:15]

So what offering might you be making at the place where you're sitting right now? You know, we each have a chance, especially in this time of crisis, to open ourselves to a new understanding of this all too precious human life. A new understanding of our relationship to one another and to the entire world. All of it. Pangolins, viruses, bats and snakes, carrots and tofu, chickens and cows. I've heard it said that we are what we eat and that what we eat may make us very sick. It's also true of what we drink, breathe, wear and think. All of it. I've always been grateful that the teachings I've learned from the Buddhist ancestors don't leave anything out. They cover the entire ground, a sanctuary. Each spot of earth, each living being, endeavoring to find the best way for this species to live here in harmony with others.

[04:20]

There's an old Zen adage that there is no place on earth to spit. And yet there are many ways to address the question of how to build the sanctuary as there are persons to build them. In fact, of all the like-hearted teachers in the world, They've been telling us again and again the answers to those questions, not only now, but throughout all time. The better way to live. For many, it's prayer. For some, music and ritual. For others, the awesome stillness of tranquility practice. For us Zen folks, I prefer to answer all of the above with the added sparkle of wholeheartedness. I can't think of another time in my life when this opportunity for understanding ourselves has been more readily available to us than right now. We really are in this together, and we really do have time on our very clean hands. How carefully and wholeheartedly I take care of myself now as always is the only means I have to take care of you as well.

[05:27]

As with much of the Buddha's teaching, what he is demonstrating through his body, speech, and thought is that very same wholehearted engagement that arose for him with the realization of himself both in and as this miraculous world. At which time he reportedly said, I and all beings are awakened at the same time. There is no one and no thing existing outside of myself. To exist is to exist with all others, for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. I've often thought that the ordination vows in the Buddhist tradition are closest to the vows of marriage. It's just that there are quite a few more people, plants and animals, that one has promised to cherish. In order for us to actualize our vows, whether as marriage or as Buddhadharma, we need to find ourselves. to know who we really are and what we have come to this spot of birth to do.

[06:31]

We need to account for ourselves morally and ethically, first and foremost in our own eyes, and then in the eyes of others. You know, how am I doing? This is a great question to ask ourselves, to ask our families and our friends, how am I doing? So here's a story about when the Buddha was asked to account for himself by a Brahmin by the name of Dona. who had been following the unusual marks left by the Buddha's footprints, footprints inside of which was the image of a wheel with a thousand spokes, complete with rims and hubs. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. When the Brahmin caught up with the Buddha, he asked him, Sir, are you a heavenly angel? The Buddha said, No. Are you a Brahmin, like me, perhaps? No. How about a water spirit? No. Well, then for sure, you must be a very special human being. No.

[07:35]

Then, sir, what indeed will you be? The Buddha replied, I am awake. This is also a very good question to ask ourselves now and then throughout the day. What indeed will you be? And if you answer, I am awake, which I suggest you do, what is it that I am awake to? You know, what do I see and smell and hear and think? Are my thoughts kind? How about my feelings? Are they angry, sad, lustful, confused? Am I afraid? And what am I afraid of? Recently, during a talk by our resident senior Dharma teacher, Reb Anderson, he asked the students if they had any questions or concerns. Many people mentioned how they were feeling. I'm afraid. I'm sad. I am grieving for the world. In answer to their concerns, Tenchan Roshi told us how he practices with his own feelings. First, he welcomes them, starting with his abdomen, and then follows those feelings up into his chest.

[08:40]

He called this practice dana paramita, the perfecting of wholehearted generosity. And then he said, I practice ethics with my feelings, shilaparamita, meaning precepts. not killing those feelings or lying about them, not blaming others for them, and most of all, at the core of the Buddha's precepts, not separating myself from the suffering of others. In other words, not being alone. And then he mentioned the third paramita, perfecting of patience or forbearance, kshanti paramita. I've often heard it said that the sitting practice that we do, along with everything else, is kshanti paramita. the settling of ourselves onto a single spot of earth with an upright posture, an open mind, and an open heart. In the Buddha's teaching, awakening is about relationships, ongoing, intimate, life-affirming relationships. Each of those relationships, in turn, is the whole of our existence.

[09:45]

As when the Buddha himself declared, the entire universe in the ten directions is the true universe. human body. So it might be helpful for all of us who are now living more or less in isolation to remember what the Buddha was doing during the time he spent seemingly alone under a tree. This teaching from the Pali Canon is an accounting of the Buddha's journey to awakening, those last few weeks, perhaps even hours before he glanced up at the morning star. I think it's important for us as meditators to have a basic understanding of meditation as it was taught and practiced from the earliest days of our tradition, which of course starts with Shakyamuni Buddha and what he was doing there under a tree. The reason the young prince came to sit there in the first place had to do with a recollection he had of a time when he, as a young boy, quite by accident, entered into what came to be known as the Rose Apple Meditation.

[10:47]

an experience he recognized as a gateway to liberation, and so he entered there. I thought of a time when I was a boy, when my shocking father was working and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose apple tree, quite secluded from sensual desires, secluded from unwholesome things. At that time, I had entered upon an abode in the first meditation, jhana, which is accompanied by thinking and exploring. with happiness and pleasure born of seclusion. I thought, might that be the way to enlightenment? Then following up on that memory, there came the recognition that this was the way to enlightenment. Why am I afraid of such pleasure that has nothing to do with sensual desires and unwholesome things? Then I thought, I'm not afraid of such pleasure if it has nothing to do with unwholesome desire. And so he ate some solid food, boiled rice and bread.

[11:50]

What's most interesting about the descriptions of the actual experience the Buddha was having during the ramp up to his final liberation was a refrain that he continuously repeated at each step along the way as he entered into deep concentration states that led to tranquility and then from tranquility into the inside practice. that led to his awakening to the true nature of reality, bodhisattva. The refrain was, I allow no such pleasant feelings that arise in me to take power over my mind. I allow no such pleasant feelings that arise in me to take power over my mind. So we too are warmly invited to enter into explorations of our own capacity for tranquility practice and insight practice. while keeping this critical refrain at the forefront of our efforts. It could even be a sign that we post on the gateless gate coming off of Highway 1 as one drives down into Green Gulch.

[12:55]

Alongside its corollary, I allow no such painful feelings that arise in me to take power over my mind. In other words, whatever arises as objects of our awareness, whether demons, armies, viruses, or dancing humans, We are instructed by the Buddha's own practice to remain at our seat, clearly aware and unmoved by the power of Mara, the master of illusions. This is the ancient path discovered by the Buddha and from him to us, a path, as he said, which is enlightenment itself. And so in that final hour on viewing the morning star, the Buddha said, this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. Knowing thus and seeing thus, my heart is liberated. Ignorance is banished. True knowledge arisen. Darkness is banished. And light appears, as happens for one who is diligent, wholehearted, and self-controlled.

[13:57]

But I allow no such pleasant feeling as arises in me to gain power over my mind. So these stories and these guidelines for practice give us the answers as soon as we ask them, inquiry and response coming up as always together. Here's another story about a Zen master by the name of Baijong, whose own awakening was brought about through the help of his teacher Matsu. In this story, Baijong breaks free from seeing and more importantly, believing that the world is outside of himself. Once when Great Master Matsu and Bai Zhang were walking together, a wild duck flew up. The Great Master said, what is that? Bai Zhang said, a wild duck. The Great Master said, where did it go? Bai Zhang said, it flew away. The Great Master laid hold of Bai Zhang's nose and gave it a twist. Bai Zhang cried out in pain.

[14:59]

The Great Master said, when did it ever fly away? From that time on, Bhaijang was intimate with himself and the world, just as all the Buddhas and ancestors have been, that is, as not separate or outside of themselves. Breakthrough is the experience of coming to that understanding of no separate self. Therefore, it's natural for us to explore some of the ways that these stories show us, first of all, how breakthrough happens, and second of all, what precedes it, and third of all, what follows it. So question number one, how does breakthrough happen? So that's the big question. Historically, the answer was through the elimination of the hindrances that are blocking us from seeing what is already right before our eyes, those clouds of illusions covering the moon of awakening. These hindrances or kleshas are well known and in early stages of the Buddhist tradition were the primary topic of study for those aspiring to awakening.

[16:03]

Klesias are mental factors that disturb the mind, such as greed, hate, delusion, pride, and skeptical doubt that then lead to the unwholesome actions of body, speech, and mind. So I was wondering how many of you might have already heard the story of Byron Katie's awakening. As she tells it, at the age of 43, suffering from addictions and depression, she woke up on the kitchen floor in her own vomit, asking herself, what am i doing here great question great kohan what am i doing here what are the causes and conditions of the present moment early buddhists focus on renouncing the hindrances thereby purifying their minds in order to realize liberation a result of a lengthy process of purification and later buddhism awakening is viewed as equal to wisdom which in turn is equal to the realization of the non-dual nature of reality, of the ultimate and relative truths.

[17:08]

In other words, that this world, the relative world, the mundane world, and that world, the Buddha's world, are not two. They're not even one. This realization came to be called the realization of suchness, as in, just this is it, just this moment. just this person, just this blessed spot of ground. So in answer to question number two, what precedes awakening? And question number three, what follows it? In Zen Buddhism, suchness is both preceded by, revealed in, and followed by, the seemingly mundane or meaningless events of our everyday life, such as noticing the way the wind moves across the grasses, or the glitter of light reflected in a window. Zen stories make a lot more sense when we realize that the teacher is pointing out a familiar object that the student has been overlooking again and again, such as the nose on their face, or the cypress tree in the garden, or raised fist, pebbles striking bamboo, a monk being told to go wash their bowls, or nowadays our friend's faces on a computer screen such as they are right now.

[18:26]

I think it's important to remember that each of these teachings, whether it's a tweak of the nose or a blossoming tree in the garden, is given as medicine for the suffering of our world. And different kinds of suffering call for different kinds of medicine. In the story of the Buddha's awakening, suchness, non-duality, is recognized as the perfect seeing of the morning star. The story of the transmission of the Buddha's realization to Mahakachapa took place at the site of a flower. being twirled in the Buddha's hand. So just what is it that they are seeing? So I'd propose that in that moment, they are seeing the very same thing that we are seeing right now. That reality is both wondrous and beautiful, the ultimate truth, and at the same time, that its patterns are fragile and transient, the relative truth. So where is the star now? Where did the flower go? Where will I go? Where are you going?

[19:28]

They're in the famous epithet of the Buddha as the Tathagata, the thus come and thus gone one. We sentient beings believe in the separation of ourselves from others. Mahavishapa, the great ascetic at the twirling of the flower, saw non-separation and he smiled. I've often wondered why the Buddha chose the great ascetic as his first disciple. when he had his cousin and loyal attendant, the joyful Ananda, also close by his side. And then it occurred to me, as I stood looking at the three standing statues of our earliest ancestors at the Asian Art Museum, that we need to start with the practice of renunciation, of giving up those thoughts and actions that lead us around and around in the wheel of habitual suffering. As great teacher Pema Chogrenman said, renunciation means to renounce that which doesn't work. So once we've broken through, broken free from old patterns, then we can find the joy and peace that comes from the pleasure of simply living, whether by ourselves or in the company of others.

[20:39]

These Zen teachings of awakening can be found in a wonderful collection by Kezan Jokin called The Transmission of Light. In the commentary to the story of the transmission of Dharma from Buddha to Mahakashapa, the great ascetic, it says this. If you study the way sincerely and investigate it through and through in every detail, Kashapa will be able to appear in the world today. The flesh of Shakyamuni's body will still be warm and Kashapa's smile will be renewed. Once you come to know the inner self... you will find the Kashapa can wriggle his toes in your shoes, that there is no other person than you. So I'm going to end this morning with another lovely teaching that I was reminded of when COVID-19 came to town, causing all of us to take shelter from each other of all things in our homes. This is a teaching from the Pali Canon called a discourse on knowing the better way to live alone.

[21:44]

and I shared it with the Green Gulch residents maybe a week or two or three ago, but then who's counting? This teaching was given to monks who lived separately from one another by choice and studied themselves and the Buddhist teaching with all their might, as we are being given an opportunity to do here for a while, if not for the rest of our lives. This translation is by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. from the Pali Canon, and it's recited regularly at Plum Village practice centers around the world. Thus have I heard. One time when the Lord was staying at the monastery in the Jedha Grove in the town of Savati, he called all the monks to him and instructed them, Bhikshus, to which the Bhikshus replied, we are here. The Blessed One then said, I will teach you what is meant by knowing the better way to live alone. I will begin with an outline of the teaching and then I will give a detailed explanation. Blessed one, we are listening.

[22:46]

The Buddha then taught. Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past is no longer. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is in the very here and now. The practitioner dwells in stability and freedom. We must be diligent today. To wait till tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it? The sage calls the person who dwells in mindfulness night and day the one who knows the better way to live alone. Bhikshas, what do we mean by pursuing the past? When someone considers the way her body was in the past, the way her feelings were in the past, the way her perceptions were in the past, the way her mental formations were in the past, the way her consciousness was in the past, when she considers these things and her mind is burdened by and attached to these things which belong to the past, then that person is pursuing the past.

[23:58]

Bhikshus, what is meant by not pursuing the past? When someone considers the way his body was in the past, as well as his feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness were in the past, when he considers these things, but his mind is neither enslaved by nor attached to these things which belong to the past, then that person is not pursuing the past. What is meant by losing yourself in the future? When someone considers the way their body will be in the future, their feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness will be in the future, when they consider these things and their mind is burdened by and daydreaming about these things which belong to the future, then that person is losing themselves in the future. Bhikshus, what is meant by not losing yourself in the future? When someone considers the way their body will be in the future, their feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness will be in the future.

[25:04]

When they consider these things, but their mind is not burdened or daydreaming about these things which belong to the future, then they are not losing themselves in the future. Bhikshus, what is meant by being swept away by the present? When someone does not study or learn anything about the awakened one, or the teachings of love and understanding, or the community that lives in harmony and awareness, when that person knows nothing about the ancestors and their teachings, and does not practice these teachings, then thinks, This body is myself. I am this body. These feelings are myself. I am these feelings. This perception is myself. I am this perception. This mental formation is myself. I am this mental formation. This consciousness is myself. I am this consciousness. Then that person is being swept away by the present. What is meant by not being swept away by the present?

[26:11]

When someone studies and learns about the awakened one, the teachings of love and understanding, and the community that lives in harmony and awareness, When that person knows about the noble ancestors and their teachings, practices these teachings and does not think, this body is myself, I am this body. These feelings are myself, I am these feelings. This perception is myself, I am this perception. This mental formation is myself, I am this mental formation. This consciousness is myself, I am this consciousness. Then that person is not being swept away by the present. Bhikshus, I have presented the outline and the detailed explanation of knowing the better way to live alone. Thus the Buddha taught, and the Bhikshus were delighted to put his teachings into practice. I hope all of you continue to stay healthy and to do your utmost to practice together in safety and respect. The health and safety guidelines have been made for us as offerings with the highest regard for our well-being.

[27:18]

This is our spot of earth, our time together for real, and a very good reason to live for the benefit of all beings. So we'll now do the closing chant, followed by question and answer. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Illusions are inexhaustible. I vow to enter. Our moral gates are boundless. Unsurpassable. I vow to become it. If you would like to make a comment or offer a question, please click on your participant button at the bottom of your window.

[28:30]

And then in that participant panel, click the raise hand button. I see Terry's hand raised. Terry, where are you? I'm the one with the cigarillo. I don't know why. Ah, there you are. I see you. Okay. Okay. So am I understanding it that it is okay to contemplate the past and the future so long as you don't really believe it? I mean, I just spent the morning before this talk contemplating the past writing in my journal. So I was trying to figure out whether I was, you know, really involved in it.

[29:39]

What's the distinctions? If you could go into that more. Do you remember what you wrote? Oh, yeah. Oh, really? Well, that's good. I was thinking about children's fairy tales. You know, you read these scary stories to kids and then you close the book and you put it on a shelf a little distance away from them. So really, it's about attachment. Okay. You know, how much does that, when you said the word belief, I think it has a lot to do with belief. I really believe these stories, you know. I can find them interesting. I can find them curious. It's like, whoa, I think that's me, you know. But the idea of some kind of objectivity, meaning there's a little bit of distance between this idea, this story, this narrative, and the actual present moment, which is basically inhaling, exhaling. I hear the rain right now. So we want to not get too far off from where we are. And stories take us away.

[30:41]

That's what they're for. So that's okay. We love them. I love stories. I told you a bunch of stories. Yeah. But I hope not to get carried away. I want to be able to always come back to where I am. Okay. Thank you. I don't think I'm carried away. No. Okay. Yeah. Let's see. Zachary. Hi. Hi. Thanks. I had a related question about the same phenomenon, but at a sort of different level. When you say, I'm happy to be where I am, or when you say, I'm back to where I am, I hear the rain, and so on, the only reason you hear the rain, you know, capital T, capital R,

[31:44]

is because of your deeply patterned memory of the past. And the only reason you experience it as something pleasurable is because of the associative content that comes up with that memory. We can't live without memory and the mental formations that come along with memory and so on and so forth. And we don't... We can't respond to the world without the emotional underpinnings that also come with those memories. So where, again, is the place where that turns problematic as opposed to an absolute necessity for life? Yeah, thanks. Well, when you were talking, I was thinking, of course, and I don't remember the first time I heard rain, probably pretty little. We're conditioned. We're conditioned beings, and the Buddha taught that. That's what the Yoga Chara teachings are all about. It's all about the alaya, the storehouse of conditioning, and how whatever's happening right now, like you said, the rain or the memory of it being pleasant comes from the conditioning that I associate rain.

[32:55]

Now, if this rain were radioactive, which it may well be, I'm not going to very long, much longer have an association with it as pleasant. So, you know, we reconditioned. We are conditioned, and then as the present situation arises, we have an opportunity to recondition both for good and for ill. So how we handle the present is basically, as the Buddha said, what we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday. That's true, what you just said. And our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. So our life is a creation of our mind. How I handle the current situation I'm in, how I learn... to manage myself in these conditions is how my future is going to be. Even though I don't know what it's going to be, I can't predict it. But I can pretty much believe that our conditioning and causes and conditions will be much improved if I take care of the present in the best possible way, which, of course, for us means practice.

[33:56]

Yeah. Yeah. And right. So it sounds to me like what you're saying is, that the key is the intimate detail of practice with the past and present and future as they present themselves in this moment. And not so much the question of considering or even having an emotional experience or, you know, et cetera, with any of those things, right? Because the word consider seems very sort of like everyday cognition. It's not, this isn't about everyday cognition. It's about the holistic

[35:00]

approach to dealing with exactly that, the past, present, and future as they present themselves in the moment. Is that what you're saying or something else? I'm not sure I'm saying what you said, but anyway, we could have a longer talk about this. Yes, absolutely. Why not? Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Let's see who we got here. Zachary. Another hand. Oh, yeah, there we go. Annette. Where are you, Annette? It's so funny. It's like a board game. There you are. There you are. Can you hear me now? I can. I can't see you, but I can hear you. Oh, okay. I could. You want to turn on your video? Sure. Okay. So my... kind of question I think really relates to the last two.

[36:03]

And that was in the beginning when you were talking about Buddha's kind of exploration or the question of how sort of a moment of awakening comes, how it can present itself and the remembering of the feeling of the apple blossom tree or whatever it was when he was a child. Rose apple. The rose apple, yeah. And then, so that seems like it's kind of a sense or a deep experiential memory. And I think of some of Thich Nhat Hanh used to talk about that and probably some of his teachings about sort of wholesome seeds and you can experience them to create this is my words, create sort of the environment, the setting, you know, which, and then that's a little bit later you were talking about, I think it sounded like some more words from a teaching sutra or something about not feeling sort of the pleasure of, or being taken away by pleasure or vowing not to do that.

[37:27]

So, Again, I think I'm in that, this sort of in-between world of where we do this sense of wholesome, you know, trying to create a setting of wholesomeness, which seemed like the apple blossom experience. Anyway, if you could just say some more, because there was that idea about not, I vow not to focus on pleasure. So... Oh, I'll never make that vow, I promise. No, no, but I might have misunderstood, but there was something you were saying about that, and I started to feel confused a little bit. Okay, thank you. Yeah, well, non-duality means balancing the two sides of a dualistic proposition. So, you know, we're students of the middle way, between the extremes of indulging in pleasure, which was the Buddha's early life. He was a prince, he had everything he wanted, you know, and the asceticism. which he said, this is not the way either. So neither one of these is the way.

[38:28]

The way is in between those, but not eliminating either side. We don't want to get rid of pleasure. We don't want to get rid of our sobriety and our care and our seriousness. So if we're just always giggling, that's not so helpful. And if we're always sober, that's not so helpful. I don't mean sober, I mean somber. That's not so helpful. So it's finding that middle way where all of your expressions are free to happen, but they're not... They're not excessive. You're not giddy with pleasure. You're not giddy with misery. You're actually basically able to be stable inside your own being. You've found that stable place, which is why we sit. We sit in order to find stability, like a screensaver. So when troubles come, we're able to manage them by welcoming them to a stable situation. Our minds are not... I often use the example of firemen. You don't want the firemen to show up at your house when it's on fire hysterical.

[39:29]

As Bruce Lee said, we don't rise to the occasion. We fall to the level of our training. So basically, we're training ourselves to be able to handle all of these things that are coming. This is a great time for us to see our practice. In action, like, how am I doing, really? I don't want to be in my house all the time. You know, I'm getting kind of cranky and all sorts of stuff. So how am I doing that? Well, maybe I'm going to make some bread. You know, maybe I'm going to do something wholesome with my time instead of, you know, like, I don't like this. So that would be indulging. So really, we're always trying to walk. The path isn't like, you don't walk on one foot. You walk on both feet, and it's a little back and forth, you know. We move this way, we move that way, and that's how we know when we're going too far. Because I've gone too far, then I've got to come back. Okay? That's very helpful. Thank you.

[40:31]

Let's see. Gal? Gal? Where's Gal? Hi. Hi. Hi. Let me bring the volume down a little bit. It's good to hear that everyone is staying safe at Green Gulch, and I hope everyone maintains safety and good health in the whole community. What seemed to come to mind is for a minute, you were maybe talking about the transmissibility of karma. So kind of like... flattening the curve of negative karma and accentuating the curve of positive and kind of like the, maybe the transmissibility level, even if you impact more than one person positively, if that works exponentially, it just kind of struck me, kind of the power of that.

[41:34]

So thank you for that image. Thank you for sharing that metaphor. I remember saying years ago that I thought The Zen Center was basically a self-replicating virus, you know, that we want people to copy what we're doing, not to all come live here because there's not space, but basically, you know, steal this way of life, you know, take it and spread it as far and wide as possible. And so, you know, not a literal virus, of course, but the idea of self-replication. Some of us who are old enough have been through this before with the HIV epidemic. I remember being at a work meeting when my friend Miole, we were new students there, and he said something about this disease that was hitting gay men. And he said, this is a disaster. And I thought, oh, I bet he's exaggerating. And that was my first hearing of AIDS. So we're just hearing something right now, and it's going very fast.

[42:36]

And it's affecting all of us. It's not some subset of humans that we can blame for something or another. So I feel like in some ways, this is a much more egalitarian opportunity for the humanity to feel compassion for itself. Very ripe times for Buddhist teaching. I remember last time I saw you, Gal, was at the Wheelwright Center. I think that was the last time I was in a group setting, perhaps. I'm very close to it. You take care as well. Dilip. Dilip, is that correct? Am I saying that right? Oh, yes. Hi, this is Dilip. Dilip. Food, thank you for the talk. I read this rose apple tree suta and I have always thought about it and...

[43:39]

kind of like one of the most unlikeliest of Buddhist teachings, especially from the early literature, simply because it kind of reminds me of someone writing their journal of something that happened in the past and embellishing it. And I can see the sutta as like a teaching device, but somehow that part of me never... allows me to, that understanding never allows me to connect with the sutta. So I understand your difficulty with it is? So it almost feels like the Buddha, I'm sorry, I had a kick in saying this. It almost feels like the Buddha was like going back in the past and embellishing some of his childhood story, just to make a point.

[44:42]

Well, I guess that's what teenagers do, isn't it? Yeah. Well, you know, I've forgiven him a lot of things before he woke up. I used to have trouble, you know, when I would talk about the Buddha's home leaving. He left his wife and his child. You know, I still have trouble with that. And then I thought, well, he wasn't enlightened yet. So, you know, I think we all have to work through our own places where we get kind of a little bit of like, well, I don't like that. I don't like how long it took women to be, you know, welcome into the Sangha and so on and so forth. So it's pretty hard to get through the sutras without finding a place to get stuck. And I certainly found many of those myself on Mahayana sutras as well. So I think mostly I, take the wheat with the chaff, so to speak. You know, I let the parts that inspire me inspire me and the parts that don't, I sort of skip the page. So you're welcome to do that too.

[45:50]

Thank you. You're welcome. I don't see any more little blue hands. Oh, I do see Marcia. I see your blue hand there. Marcia. Yes. Thank you for your talk. You're welcome. You mentioned watching out the window, that we're watching out the window, watching others, watching what we see. So in this particular situation, how do we touch others? How do we practice in a way to be able to touch others but still being relegated to watching out the window? Well, if you mean literal touch, don't.

[46:51]

I didn't think you did. So if you mean psychic touch, I think looking at you right now makes me happy. And seeing the names of people that I know and care about is making me very happy. I felt that way with each of the... the meetings that we've had. Yesterday I saw people I haven't seen in years who came on a Zoom seminar with Reb who live all over the place now and some who are sick and getting old and not well. And it was wonderful to see my loved ones in this limited way. So I'm finding a great deal of inspiration myself from the fact that we even have this technology. It would be a really different thing if I couldn't get the news. I didn't know what was happening. I wasn't getting advice from anyone. I didn't have access to food or a safe way to get food. So there's such a gift coming to us from the helpers and the givers. What's his name? The wonderful, my favorite.

[47:52]

What's his name? Won't you be my neighbor? I've got him on my window. Oh, yeah, Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers, you know, Mr. Rogers, you know, apparently when he asked his dad about, you know, what do I do when I'm scared or what should I do when I'm afraid or in trouble? He said, look for the helpers. Find the helpers. And I feel like the inspiration that's coming to all of us, I would imagine, is from the people who are helping each other, you know. playing ping pong out the windows in New York and singing songs out the windows in Italy and firemen driving up to the hospitals in New York with their sirens and screaming gratitude to the healthcare workers. For me, it just gives me goosebumps to feel the helpers at work right now. So I think we have to look, and I don't think you have to look far. to find the love that's just completely being expressed.

[48:56]

And certainly the other parts are being expressed too, but I just hear that as the usual ignorance, and I don't pay much attention to it. I don't want to ever pay much attention to it. As Jesus said from the cross, forgive them, Lord, they know not what they do. So I feel I can offer that same thing. You don't know what you're doing, people, when you speak that way, when you're hateful. So we practice, Marsha, and someday maybe we'll be able to pass each other and stay high and not worry. I hope so. Hope we make it through. Hope you all do. Yeah, sure. Phyllis? Phyllis, oh. Hi. Hi. Do you want to turn on? I have to move to get a better visual.

[50:00]

Thank you. I see you. Okay, great. Yeah, through this in a couple of different ways already. Under the challenging circumstances, I was wondering if you could maybe give a few practices. I mean, you were just saying to Marsha, you know, we practice. And of course, you know, There's Zazen and there's, you know, there's listening, there's being present. I just wonder if there are, I don't know, specific things like looking for the joy seems so important. And you've been talking about that in many different ways. It's just, it's hard to be isolated. And it was also helpful to hear you say, you know, we fall to the level of our trading and it's humbling You know, I mean, having emotions is not, you know, it doesn't mean I don't have good practice. It means I'm human and things are hard. But I don't know.

[51:03]

I'm just looking for something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, in some ways, there's so much something out there that it's hard to figure out which of the somethings to pick. I mean, I'm not trying to be trite, but you could start reading Shakespeare. I mean, there are so many somethings that I haven't gotten around to that are beautiful and inspiring. And I don't know if you have music you love, but, you know, really finding those touchstones of our culture, of our art forms and so on, because that's really what and outside. I hope you can go outside. Yeah. Are you able to? Yeah. Yeah. Outside for me, I just I'm like kind of like when you sit the sheen for those of you that have, you know, after that first day, you walk outside and you're like, oh, my God, the grass is green.

[52:03]

You know, it's like you never noticed before the color of grass. So one of the wonderful things about the sitting is it begins to this mention I made of finding those places of awe, those places that bring a kind smile to your face. So I think there's a lot of that coming in. I don't know if you've got, well, obviously you have internet access. So there's a lot of wonderful, inspiring little YouTubes and people are from their homes are sharing lovely songs and so on. You know, right now we're, in some ways we're so lucky, unlike being trapped alone in a cabin in the snow or something where food, we've actually got an abundance of food. of things, light. I was thinking about, wonder if we didn't have electricity, you know? There's so much that we do have to keep turning toward what you have as opposed to what's missing. I think that's a choice, but it's a hard one because the mind wants to go back to the missing part, kind of familiarity in that cycle of suffering.

[53:14]

So this is about breaking the cycle of suffering. And it's mental. I mean, Mara, the evil one, is the master of illusion. It's about, you know, Buddha saw an army. He saw dancing boys and girls. He saw Mara, the evil one, and then they all vanished. How is that possible? Well, he was imagining them. He was just sitting under a tree. It was a lovely day. There was grass and butterflies and there was no army. There was no evil one. He was alone. And when he woke up, he looked around and he was like, what was that? You know, what was I dreaming? So we were dreamers. And sometimes those dreams are nightmares. And so waking up is, I remember telling Mel Weitzman, who I love very much and who's not, he's great, but he's old and he's a little sick. I said to him during a Shosan ceremony at Tassajara, I said, you know, dreams are sweet.

[54:16]

I love to sleep. What do you have to offer? And he said, go wash your face. I was like, whoa, you know, wake up, wake up. So wash your hands, wash your face. And then look for something that makes you feel good. Yeah. And the idea of waking up from a nightmare. I mean, it's true. It's like the more in internal. Andy Lamont has a great phrase. It's the. my mind is a dangerous neighborhood. I prefer not to go there alone. There you go. And here I am alone, you know, like wandering the back alleys of my mind, which is, you know, they're a bit dodgy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's also good to have a flashlight and to check them out and realize that they're transient, that those images are transient. They're not, they're femoral. Nothing's permanent. Not those images, not anything. So. bringing the teachings to bear on your experience is really important too.

[55:18]

Thank you very much. And thank you folks for the hearts and the love. Okay. Let's see. I think we may be. Okay. Well, I feel content. I, I love seeing your names. I was looking at your names before I put my video on, and it was really, yeah, wow, what a sangha. And we're growing, and I think that's wonderful. And I hope you all take care of yourselves and find ways to feel that pleasure and also to bear the suffering, which will be there for us. And stay connected. So again, thank you very much. Thank you, Joshin, for your invisible support.

[56:25]

He's back there behind the screen, like the Wizard of Oz. Bye-bye.

[56:32]

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