Good afternoon. I hope you're all OK. It's been incredibly smoky today. I think the air quality was off the charts. So I hope you're sheltered well. And I think it's clearing a bit. It seems like it here anyway, a little bit of a breeze. So let's start with a few minutes of sitting, and then we'll turn toward the transmission of light. Good evening again.

[08:06]

Thank you for coming. Last week and the week before, I began discussing this text by Zen master Keizan Jokin, who is the third generation descendant of Dogen Zenji, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan. His masterwork, The Transmission of Light Zen in the Art of Enlightenment, consists of 53 stories. And it begins with the one about Shakyamuni Buddha that we talked about last week, who at the time reportedly said, the time of his own awakening, said, I and all beings on earth attain enlightenment at the same time. So this is very good news. So the work has already been done for us, right? And if we think so, that's the problem. And if we don't think so, that's the other problem. So for that reason, it seems to be a really good idea and recommended for us to learn a bit more about what enlightenment actually means so that we can know what it means that we've already gotten.

[09:11]

We already know it. We already have it. So the second story in the transmission of light is the passing of this teaching to Shakyamuni Buddha's successor, Maha Kashapa, also known as the great ascetic. His name Kashapa means a drinker of light. Apparently, as you may have seen in the story, if you had a chance to read it, that as a little boy, light came in to where he was laying, I guess, and went into his mouth. So he was a drinker of light and apparently a very serious child, as he was as a grown up as well. So I wanted to go through the story a little bit. Just I pulled out some of the what I think of as being the most relevant parts of the story. The first part being the koan portion. of chapter two and the first sentence here when the buddha raised a flower and blinked his eyes maha kashapa broke out in a smile the buddha said i have the treasury of the eye of truth the shobol genzo in japanese the ineffable mind of nirvana these i entrust to kashapa so this is the first dharma transmission and

[10:25]

In this action, Mahakashapa becomes the first Zen ancestor. So he's received from Shakyamuni Buddha the transmission of the Dharma. And how that happened or what that means is kind of mysterious, as you may already have realized by reading this chapter. So Kashapa was famous as the most severe of the ascetic practitioners of his day. He wore a rag robe. It was actually the robe that the Buddha had worn. And Kashapa, who had some wealth, As a young man, he was from a well-to-do family, and his family married him, hoping he would give up his ascetic ways to a lovely woman who had a lot of property. Turns out she also was an ascetic. She had no interest. Neither one of them had any interest in starting a family or being physically intimate with one another. So they supported each other's practice. And eventually, in seeing various things happening, horrified them like watching little insects being eaten by birds pretty much like Shakyamuni as a boy as well when he saw at the agricultural festival various animals being harmed you know the oxen were being whipped by the farmers and the birds were eating the little creatures that were torn up by the the plow and it made him really upset so he Shakyamuni Buddha before this is when he was still a boy went and sat under a

[11:51]

tree, a rose apple tree. He left what was kind of a party, the king and everyone was there to celebrate the start of the agricultural season. He went around the corner and sat under the shade of a rose apple tree. And this meditation is actually called the rose apple meditation, very significant later on in the Buddha's journey to enlightenment. And while he was sitting there upset, he became very peaceful. He just found himself falling into a very tranquil state. And much later on in his own search for enlightenment as a man, as a grown man, he remembered that time when he was a boy, probably 12 or 14, and that experience under the rose apple tree. And reflecting on that, he said, this is the way. This is the way. So he returned to some experience that was very pleasant and that also came along with some thinking and some reasoning. It wasn't just kind of a blank out. meditation state. So anyway, Kashyapa and his bride both had these same tendencies.

[12:55]

They were just horrified at the little animals being harmed. And so they took monastic robes, mendicant robes, and they left the land and they traveled. So Kashyapa had a very nice robe. You know, they had quite a bit of wealth. So he gave that robe when he met the Buddha, he gave that robe to Shakyamuni Buddha. So Shakyamuni had this very nice robe and Kashyapa took the rag that Shakyamuni had worn. So he wore a rag robe and he was extremely emaciated. He ate very little. And the other monks looked down on him. He was kind of unpleasant to look at. And so the Buddha always had him sit next to him, share his seat as he gave talks, which thereby raising his standing in the community. Clearly, this was someone that the Buddha greatly admired. In fact, we do a very similar thing when we have a practice period here at Zen Center. The person who's invited to be the head student, usually someone who's been practicing for quite a while and oftentimes ordained, not always, but sometimes they've been ordained.

[14:02]

And this is one of their ordinations. You know, the first ordination is when you receive your robes, you shave your head and you take the Buddha's precepts. And the second ordination is this shuso ceremony. where the community basically is questioning you. At the end of the practice period, there's a shuso ceremony and each person asks the shuso a question and the shuso is seated through the entirety of the practice period next to the teacher. So the times I've had a shuso when I've led a practice period, there's a special ceremony where they're given a seat next to me, which is quite nice. So we begin to share during meals, we share servers we share various other things sitting there it's very sweet actually very very sweet so the buddha always had kashapa sitting next to him when he gave talks and then one day at the assembly of 80 000 monks on spiritual mountain the buddha raised a flower and blinked no one knew what it meant and so they all remained silent except for maha kashapa

[15:14]

This is very famous. This is the Zen transmission story. The Buddha twirls a flower, blinks, makashapa, smiles faintly. He isn't the greatest addict, so faintly smiles. It's not really a grin. It's just a faint smile. So there follows a recounting in this chapter of the secret seal of approval. It's passed on to Mahakashapa by his teacher, a meeting which a ceremony that we still perform again to this very day in a red chamber at midnight. There is a very formal ceremony that's quite special. It doesn't happen so often here, but every now and then a teacher is giving Dharma transmission to their senior student. And I don't know how many of you have been to Green Gulch Farm, but here the Wheelwright Center is emptied and red curtains are hung around. So all anyone in the community sees is this illuminated red room.

[16:14]

It's quite dramatic, actually. And then only the people intimately involved in the ceremony go inside to the red chamber where a number of special things take place. It's actually quite a powerful thing. And this is a transmission that's come through many centuries to us that we've been learning. It's very complicated. Something that we've received and hopefully will be able to continue passing along to our descendants. So this ceremony of Dharma transmission took place secretly. And then this is some of the things that Kezan has to say to us, the reader. So a lot of what Kezan's talking here, he says you. And when you do this and when you do that, he's talking to us as the reader of his words. In his case, probably it would have been monks reading his or listening to his lectures. Leaving aside the raising of the flower for the moment, everyone should clearly understand the blinking of the eyes.

[17:18]

Your talking and smiling and Kashyapa's breaking into a smile are not different at all. You're talking and smiling and Kashyapa's breaking into a smile are not different at all. You, that means us. Once you come to know your inner self, you will find that Kashyapa can wiggle his toes in your shoes. The treasury of the Eye of Truth is entrusted to oneself and therefore you cannot call it Kashyapa or Shakyamuni. There has never been anything given to another. And there has never been anything received from anyone. This is called the truth. So now we're looking at what we call the ultimate truth. Non-separation. Non-duality. Nothing outside. No one outside. Just you. As the Buddha said, the entire universe in the ten directions is the true human body. So that's the kind of vision that Kezon is sharing with us in this story.

[18:24]

If you study the way sincerely and investigate it through in every detail, the flesh on Shakyamuni's body will still be warm and Kashyapa's smile will be renewed. The flesh on Shakyamuni's body will still be warm. Whose body is that? Beginningless and endless beyond the passage of time, the transmission of the treasury of the eye of truth will still be there. Right here. Then this assembly... That'd be us. Must be the assembly on spiritual mountain. While the assembly on spiritual mountain must be this assembly. Exchange through time and persons. There's no separation there. Not through time. Not through individuals. Not through assemblies. It's just one continuous connection. Then this is... The Buddhas have only appeared and disappeared depending on your diligence or lack of it.

[19:27]

It's just because you do not understand yourselves that the Buddha passed away in olden times. Since you are children of Buddha, how could you kill the Buddha? So get to work on the way and meet your loving father. Old Shakyamuni Buddha is with you all the time. Whatever you are doing, he is conversing and exchanging greetings with you. never apart from you for a moment. If you never see him, you will be remiss. And even the hands of a thousand Buddhas will not reach you. I have some humble words to point out this principle. Again, this is Keesan Chokin. This is his little verse at the end of this chapter. Know that in the remote recesses of the misty valley, there is another sacred pine that passes the winter cold. Know that in the remote recesses of the misty valley, There is another sacred pine that passes the winter cold. So this is a tribute to asceticism, ascetic practices.

[20:29]

Rev Anderson wrote a book some years back and he was asking us what he should title it. And we were throwing around some different ideas and we ended up suggesting Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains. Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains, a tribute again to ascetic practice, which For any of you who've ever gone to Tassajara or contemplated gone to Tassajara or satsashins, this is asceticism where you really set aside all of the other kinds of activities for time. And you basically just enter into the flow of a monastic schedule and just the silence and the stillness of being in a single place, the sound of rain, the temperature in the room. all of your experiences of the day are very much about your senses and there's not a lot of requests being made of your intellect which is such a nice relief nobody wants you to do anything nobody wants to hear from you you know you get a real break from all of it know that in the remote recesses of the misty valley there is another sacred pine that passes the winter cold so years ago

[21:43]

I took a number of students, Jukai students, who had taken precepts from me, the Bodhisattva precepts. We went on a field trip to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, which if you've never been there, it's an amazing, wonderful place. It's just chock full of Buddhist art. So we began in the room that contains the oldest pieces, which are all made of stone and date back hundreds and hundreds of years. Quite wonderful to be able to see them. So in the Chinese art, so it's basically set up by time and also cultures. So Buddhism started in India and the Himalayas, and then it moved into Tibet and China. So there's rooms for each of the places where the Buddha Dharma traveled. And so when you go into the Chinese area section, it's these marvelous statues and art pieces. So right there on the entryway were these three, a trio of standing figures, quite wonderful.

[22:44]

They're, you can't see my hands, but anyway, probably two feet tall or so, very beautifully carved. And the center figure is Shakyamuni Buddha. They're standing together. And on one side is Ananda, who's the next Dharma transmitee. He's chapter three. And then on the other side is Mahakashapa. So these are the primary figures of the very earliest sangha, the beginnings of the Buddhist sangha. So I was, you know, Ananda, who's known as the guardian of the Dharma, is the one who the Buddha, who was his attendant. He was the Buddha's attendant. He was also his cousin. And he went with the Buddha everywhere. Now, he was very, very well liked. He liked to play with children. He was a little bit overweight. And he... He really liked talking with the nuns and the village women. He liked women. He liked children. And later on, he gets severely criticized by Mahakashapa for his affections and his eating habits.

[23:50]

So anyway, they're funny pairs. You have this really skinny Mahakashapa on one side, the great ascetic, and you have this nicely shaped Ananda on the other side. Ananda means joy. So the contrast there is quite something. And then there in the middle is Shakyamuni Buddha. So if you've ever joined our chanting and morning service, when we do the Buddha ancestors, Buddhist ancestors, they start with these three. So Shakyamuni Butsu Dayosho, Makakasho Dayosho, Ananda Dayosho. So these are the pronunciations of Shakyamuni, Mahakashapa, and Ananda in Sino-Japanese. So as I was reflecting on this trio, I thought that together they represent very nicely three of the 16 Bodhisattva precepts. Some of you know those and some of you may not be so familiar with them, but there are 16 Bodhisattva precepts. The first three are the refuges. I take refuge.

[24:53]

I go for refuge in the Buddha and the Dharma, Buddha's teaching and the Sangha, the community. And the next three are the three pure precepts, which are considered to be a summary of all 16. And the three pure precepts are avoid evil, do good, and purify your mind. That's the earliest iteration of those pure precepts. So I'm looking at these figures and I'm thinking, well, that's a perfect depiction of those three pure precepts. You know, avoid evil, that's Mahakashapa. Just don't. And then Ananda, do good. He's the kind and friendly, joyful one. And then Shakyamuni, purify the mind. And then the three of them together save all beings. This balance of the three is how you offer the teaching and the wish for the awakening of all beings. So the idea of asceticism, of avoiding evil, basically refers to a wise and at times somewhat severe restraint.

[25:57]

regarding actions of our body, speech, and mind. So some of you may know the story of Angulimala, meaning a thousand fingers. And Angulimala began his life as a gentle baby boy whose name was Ahimsa, meaning not harming. And due to a regrettable prediction at his birth, and also later on a jealous teacher, who thought he was flirting with his wife. The other students who were jealous of Ahimsa, because he was so good, told lies about him, tried to undermine the teacher's confidence in him as his first student, kind of like first chair. And then he made some very bad choices. His teacher said to him, I can't enlighten you. I can't give you the credential of enlightenment, Ahimsa, unless you bring me A necklace with a thousand fingers. So this is like... When Ananda hears this, he faints.

[27:01]

And I was like, what? But then, unfortunately, he recovers and goes off into the woods and begins killing people to get their fingers. So he's gone totally mad, obviously. So the Buddha hears about him and he tells the townspeople, I want to go meet this... serial killer and they say no no no don't go in there he's dangerous you can't go in the forest anymore and buddha said no no i want to go meet him i want to talk to him so the buddha goes into the woods and angulimala sees him and he's very excited because this is his last finger he only needs one more to get a thousand so at this time his name is now angulimala meaning a thousand fingers so angulimala starts chasing the buddha is that you know He chases him and he chases him and he chases him. And the Buddha just keeps walking. And Angulimala can't get any closer. No matter how hard he tries, he's running as fast as he can. And he doesn't get any closer. And the Buddha just keeps walking along. So finally, Angulimala falls to the ground and yells out, stop, stop.

[28:06]

And the Buddha turns to him and says, you stop. You stop. which he does and this is the beginning of Angulimala's ascetic practice you know subsequently he ordains as a monk and travels with the sangha until one day they come to a village where he had murdered a number of people and the village people stone him to death so this is the karmic retribution for his past actions which he has completely accepted and therefore his mind is at peace at the very end of his days So basically asceticism supports a practitioner in not getting carried away by their thoughts, you know, by their perceptions or by their feelings, what the Dalai Lama calls the pathological emotions. There are pathologies of attachment and extreme forms of greed. I've got to have that, you know, like this Angulimala.

[29:11]

There's pathologies of revulsion. You know, I've got to get rid of that. And both of these are grounded in pathologies of delusion about the true nature of reality, that there's something to get, there's something missing, that you don't already have everything you could possibly wish for, you know, the sun in the morning and the moon at night. So that being the pathology, primary pathology, the one that creates this delusion about the true nature of reality, is that belief in a separate self, is this solid belief we have in me, in myself. Selfishness, self-centeredness. We have words to describe each other that way. Very selfish. Narcissist. I think that's pathological narcissism. It's a horrible disease and destructive because narcissists have no idea they ever do anything wrong. It's just all about you. You're to blame. So this is a hideous pathology, narcissism.

[30:15]

we all have it to some degree you know it's really a matter of where on the spectrum are you so the basic delusion which we all commonly perceive and therefore believe is that there really is a self right here and that there are things in persons out there which clearly are the cause of my problems you know and it has been quite well documented that extremely bad behavior flows from that mistaken belief that's just stuff to read the newspaper it's all about this belief in the self and how it either does or doesn't get what it wants by precept violations. You know, killing and stealing and lying and cheating. It all basically comes out of a belief in a separate self. I'm going to kill the other. I'm going to steal their stuff. I'm going to sexualize them or lie to them. I'm going to slander them. It's all about what I'm going to do to them. All the precepts are a wise restraint, are basically ascetic, ascetic practices that, no, I will not kill.

[31:18]

I will not steal. I will not lie. I will not sexualize. I will not intoxicate myself or anyone else. And so I will not slander or brag or hoard or hate. So this is the fundamental commitment of the Bodhisattva precepts. While we're waiting to have the veil of illusion lifted, that there is no separate self, that you are myself. You are the beloved. The world is the beloved. know how grateful and amazing to be alive when all of that kind of awesomeness you know dawns on us then there's no wish to harm or to take or to lie you just want to you know kind of natural to want to give and help and be kind and generous you know so it awakening is a natural turning away from self-centeredness toward other toward the other So when the Buddha held up the flower and Gashapa smiled, it was this knowing of non-separate self, of connection to the Buddha and to the flower and to the sky and to the other monks that resulted in this silent transmission between himself and his teacher.

[32:25]

No separate self, no separate teacher, no thing in here and no thing out there. Just a smile, you know, a warm hearted smile. so in english this word asceticism is derived from a greek word referring to the training of athletes for the olympic games which is basically a form of strenuous exercise in fact there are a number of other familiar words that carry much of the same meaning referring to the kind of effort that one must make to learn traditions involving ritual or craft or athleticism art it's discipline the words religion and yoga both mean to bind or to commit, religio is to bind, yoga is to yoke, to join oneself to that which you hold as valuable and as true. The word discipline means to learn or to train. And even the word study originally meant to apply oneself with painstaking zeal.

[33:28]

So this is a great effort, you know, great effort. As Bruce Lee famously said, you do not rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training. So, of course, there are extreme versions of asceticism, many of them familiar to us through the practices that the young prince Siddhartha undertook in his initial quest for freedom from suffering. He nearly starved himself to death. He lived outdoors. He didn't bathe. He didn't cut his nails. He held his breath until he got terrible headaches. And then he engaged in long hours of meditative trances. It was this rose apple meditation that actually rescued him from this asceticism. You know, after trying all of this for six years, and none of it really broke him free of his suffering. He was still feeling like a separate self, and the world was still outside there. He remembered the rose apple meditation. And he said, that's the way. That's the way.

[34:30]

So he took some food. He bathed. He cut his hair. cut his nails, and he sat under a tree and meditated for seven days. So when he had been a yogi way back, not many people know the story of how Shakyamuni Buddha came to be. It's a really wonderful story that's from the Pali Canon. And in Okumara Roshi's book, Living by Vow, he recounts this story of this yogi by the name of Sumedha. And Sumedha was a very gifted yogi, and he has superpowers, he could fly, he could do all kinds of stuff. So he heard now this is eons and eons and eons ago, you know, other planetary systems somewhere way out there in time and space. So he heard about a Buddha coming to visit where nearby where he lives. So Sumedha wanted to help get ready for the Buddha's visit. So he went to town, he flew into town, and literally and

[35:30]

offered to help them get ready. And they'd had some rainstorms, and so some of the road had been washed away. So Sumedha, they were so excited, they said, Oh, great, Sumedha's here, he can put the road back together very quickly. But Sumedha said, No, no, out of honor of this Buddha, I want to put the road together with my own hands, just my human strength. So he started doing that, but he didn't finish. So when this Buddha, Deepankhara was the name of this Buddha long, long ago, when this Buddha arrived, He came before the road was complete. So Sumedha, who had long dreadlocks, put his hair down in the mud and put his hands down like that and offered his hands to the Buddha to lift him up over the mud. So this is exactly why we do our bow. This is the kind of bow we do. If you've seen any of the formal bowing that we do during service, we put our head down. and it's called a five-point bow, our knees are down and our hands are flat and open, and we lift the Buddha up over our head in a gesture of respect, based on this ancient story.

[36:38]

So Sumedha, when Deepangara Buddha looked down at Sumedha and saw his sincere face and his deep intention to become free, Deepangara Buddha said, you are going to become a Buddha, you know. The way you are, the way you're practicing now, you will be a Buddha. And then he said, and your name will be Shakyamuni. So this is where Shakyamuni Buddha came from. And then he went through many, many lifetimes before he was born on planet Earth, you know, 2,500 years ago. He was, all of the stories of his incarnations are told in the Jataka tales, which are really sweet. And oftentimes children are told Jataka tales in Asia that they know them that way we know, you know, fairy tales. So there are many of them. Some of them are quite wonderful. I would recommend you look at some of them if you have a chance. So Sumedha is the one who said, I am determined.

[37:44]

He made this first vow, which is called the Bodhisattva vow. I am determined to practice until I have become enlightened so that I can help the most number of people. to wake up so his vow was to become a buddha in order to benefit the greatest number of people i am determined and that determination shot through you know millions of eons of time and place until he was able to land here on planet earth little baby boy named siddhartha so so the buddha too you know while he was the young prince still he had he didn't remember where he came from he didn't remember who he was but he had that determination you know that came with him through time and space so he was determined to break the hold on his mind and this belief in a separate self a self that was terribly terribly estranged from the universe that surrounded him as it is for probably most of us most of the time

[38:45]

until that quite ordinary day when he gazed at the morning star and realized that he was not separate from the star or from anything else and he was free he was buddha he woke up and yet it was these severe practices that by which the buddha realized what he came to call the middle way the middle way so there's a path between that he described between the extremes of sensory deprivation, asceticism, like Makashapa on the one hand, and indulgence in sensory pleasures or decadence, a little bit like Ananda on the other hand. So these are the two extremes, asceticism and luxuriating. And the Buddha said, this is not the way. So in the Buddha's very first sermon, the very first things he said after he was enlightened to the five ascetics, who he'd been practicing with before he'd went off by himself. He gave his first sermon, which is called the turning, setting in motion, the wheel of the law.

[39:52]

So this is also known as the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma. And the very first sentence of this very first sermon, he says to the monks, these five monks, new monks, newly ordained monks, there are two extremes that ought not to be cultivated by one who has gone forth, which to... There is devotion to the pursuit of pleasure and sensual desires, which is low, coarse, vulgar, ignoble, and harmful. And there is devotion to self-mortification, which he had done, which is painful, ignoble, and harmful. The middle way discovered by the perfect one avoids both of these extremes. It gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to peace, direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to nirvana. And what is the middle way? It is the Noble Eightfold Path. That is to say, right view, non-duality, right intention, to live for the benefit of others, right speech, right action, right livelihood, how you live your life, how you take care of your responsibilities, right effort, diligence, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

[41:04]

So that's the Eightfold Path. It's a way of life. And the Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths. So there's suffering, first noble truth, cessation of suffering, second noble, causation, cause of suffering, suffering, cause of suffering, which is wanting things to be different than they are, basically. I want things different than they are is causing my suffering because they're not going to change just because I want them to. The third one is the cessation of suffering. And the fourth noble truth is the path leading to the cessation of suffering. And this is the noble eightfold path. It's a way of life. And yet asceticism, as represented by Mahagashapa, remains a very important part of the Zen training program. And the question being, to what degree and to what end, which is always a good question for us. What's the middle way when it comes to asceticism? So this is true throughout the history of Buddhist tradition, but it's also true in many other religious traditions as well.

[42:08]

How far do we humans need to go? And more importantly, perhaps, go where where are we going you know that we aren't already arrived as is being told to us by Kazon in this wonderful book so before I go any further I wanted to ask you all if you have some thoughts you'd like to share or something you'd like to say be very happy to hear I have one other thing to share with you which is from Rev Anderson's book being upright he talks about this issue of you know, coming to understand correctly the truth and how we come to the truth, using the example of the aesthetic practices. So, but how about first, if any of you would like to say something or ask something or just say hello? Anybody can raise their blue hand from the participants window, or if you want to just raise your hand in the video feed, I can also find you and unmute you.

[43:18]

Bill. Hi, Bill. There you are. There we go. Hi, Fu. Thank you for your talk. You're welcome. I think I misunderstood. Initially, I believe you were saying that Kashyapa had the rose apple tree meditation. Shakyamuni Buddha. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And then I had hoped that you might recommend Jataka Tales or Jataka Tales. Yeah. Specific book maybe or author. Yeah. Well, there are a lot of children's versions that I've seen. Well, they're in the Pali canon, so I don't think it would be hard to find them if you, you know, typed in Jataka tales. But there are some that I find to be very inspiring.

[44:23]

The one I particularly found like really transformative in my own early contact with Buddhism was the story about how the bunny got in the moon. which was um briefly uh there's these four friends who are practicing the holy life and they're in a little bit of a competition to see who's who's the holiest there's a rabbit and a fox and a deer and i forget the monkey a monkey and so um uh indra the god the kind of one of the big gods to test their practice comes down in the form of an old beggar And he hobbles into the forest and they see this old beggar and they're like, oh, God, we have to help him. So they're kind of racing around to see who can help him the most. And so the fox goes and steals some food and the deer runs off and gathers some, I forget what, something, some grass maybe to make a little seat. And the monkey gathers some grapes and the bunny has no idea what to give the old man because he doesn't eat grass and the bunny has no skills.

[45:35]

He can't. He has no hands, so he can't go get anything. So finally, the other three have built a fire for the old man to keep him warm. So the bunny hops over to the fire and jumps in to offer his own body for the old man to eat. So there are two versions of how this story ends. The one I prefer is that the old man turns the flames into a bed of flowers. And so when the bunny lands in the flowers, he's not harmed. And then to honor his sacrifice, Indra takes a mountain range and he puts the shape of the bunny up in the moon. And so in Asian culture, they talk about the bunny in the moon. They don't see the old man in the moon. In fact, you can see the bunny in the moon. It's really better than the old man in the moon by far. You can see the haunches and the curved body and the ears. It's quite... clear, actually, once you catch it, you're like, oh, my God, it's a bunny. So that's the story of how the bunny got in the moon.

[46:36]

And I remember hearing that during a someone told it during a full moon ceremony when I was living in the city center. And it just I just burst into tears. I thought, that's it. I don't know what else to do. I'll just throw myself into the fire. I just, you know, I just give myself what else have I got to have anything. So, you know, that's that's that impulse to want to be somehow of use. I think we all have that impulse. I just want to do something. I don't know what to do. So I found that to be a wonderful story. And there's also ones about when he was a monkey. I told one the other day about when he was a king. And he came back as a king. And he had a very special elephant that he called his elephant trainer to bring him the elephant. And the trainer said, oh, he's run off to the forest. And the king got very angry. And through the... elephant trainer out. And the elephant trainer said, well, don't worry. The elephant's well-trained. He'll come back. And the king said, I don't believe you. And he threw him out. And then the elephant came back and the trainer said, I told you he's well-trained. And the king said, I am ashamed.

[47:39]

I have not trained the thing dearest to me. I have not trained myself that I would indulge in anger. So this is another story. There's moral, it's, they're moral stories, you know, where the Buddha is learning in each of these He's not a Buddha yet, but he's a bodhisattva. He's learning by his actions what's the most skillful way to be of service. Yeah, so they're wonderful. And as I said, there are quite a few of them. So I'll try to find them myself. I don't have a good set. I've got maybe a children's version of them, but I think you can find them pretty easy, Bill. Yeah, you're welcome. Pam. Pamela. Hi. Hi, Fu. Hi, Pamela. I hope this is okay to ask this, because it's less... I guess I'm just grappling with how to apply your teaching to just the right now.

[48:47]

You know, I feel so... just sad and overwhelmed by the air quality today and the fact that you know i can't go outside and take a walk and just i just feel i feel you know just overwhelm and grief of kind of what is going on with our planet and our world right now and i i'm just i'm trying to figure out like how do i i guess the thing i heard that resonated with me is you know, I want things to be different and I'm having trouble continuing to sit with this. And, and how do I like move through this? Cause I just feel so much grief and I feel like I should be accomplishing lots of stuff like while my boys are away, but I just want to like curl up in bed and I don't know. I don't know how to sit with not with wanting it to be different. Yeah.

[49:48]

Well, that's, You know, the only real comfort is that you're not alone. I don't think there's one person in this, what they call a waffle, in this waffle, who probably isn't feeling very much the same things of, I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I feel trapped. And I've been stuck in the same place for a long time. And, you know, and on and on and on. This is not what I want. This is not what I want. So what I want is really the source of my suffering. I suffer what I want that I don't get. And, you know, it sounds simple to say, but it's actually a profound truth. And the Buddha was suffering from wanting what he couldn't get. He couldn't free himself. It took him quite an effort. If we could just snap our fingers and snap out of it and feel just fine with whatever is happening and still contribute, be of help as we can, well, we'd all be fine. You know, it's not that easy. It takes some real diligence and some real effort.

[50:49]

And that's why Mahakashapa is one of the two figures. You know, he is actually putting his life into realization of, it's not about what I want, it's what everyone needs. I want to give what everyone needs as best I can, turning the light of my own self-interest toward the other. So the first of the trainings is generosity. The antidote to selfishness is generosity. How do you give? You know, it's not obvious that that's the way. We keep thinking we got to get. That's our normal. That's all of us. It's not just you. We all think getting. We've been taught to get. You know, we're getters and we're isolates. Individual. Go west, young man, young woman. You know, claim your territory. Have your family. Do your thing. We're fighting about individuality now. I don't have to wear a mask. That's not a, you don't can't make me do that.

[51:52]

You know, it's like, well, that's just crazy. You know, it's like, ah, but this is our culture. So we've been raised, conditioned to be selfish. I mean, it's good for the economy. So we have to be revolutionaries. in terms of our understanding of what we're doing as a culture how we're raising our children what we're thinking i don't know if you any of you seen the race to nowhere but it was a stunning denouncement of education wealthy for wealthy kids they are trained to be the smartest and the best from preschool they're being given all of this motive to to win and to get awards and to go to the best college. They get done with all that and then they can maybe get a job at Google at a computer. The race to nowhere. I've got a lot of those folks come here. And one of these two young women, one worked at Facebook and one worked at Google, very good jobs, very high paying.

[52:53]

And they were looking at our farm apprentices selling vegetables. And they said, how do you get to do that? I say, oh, really easy. It's really easy. We don't charge anything. So somehow we have to deal with a reform. We need a reformation, a cultural reformation. And we have to do it together. We have to help you and you have to help me. It's not a one-off. Your needs will be met when our needs are met, when we've actually transformed our understanding of what we're doing. as a society, what we're doing to each other. And maybe this is our best chance ever to look, you know. What do you really want to do? What's really important to you? Do we all just want to go back the way it was? You know, get back in the freeway, get back in the rush? I don't think so, I hope not.

[53:55]

So it's tough, Pam, it's really tough. And I don't feel like anyone doesn't understand that. I understand that. It's very tough. And the only antidote that the Buddha offered to himself and to us is sit up straight, calm yourself, breathe, and do that for a while until you're feeling better. And when you're feeling better, get up, take a bath, make some lunch. Breathe and calm down. There's no magic there. It's just what our bodies really like to do is calm down. And once you calm your body, then you can see reality much differently. Calm the mind, discern the real. But it's hard. You have to get off the horse. And that horse is very fond of running away with us, the horse of the mind.

[54:59]

of desire, of I wanna, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, you know, out of control. So this is not new. It's 2,500 years ago, the Buddha said the same thing. You have to get off the horse. And no one can get you off, you know. If I could, I'd come over. I'd come over to your house, and I would get you off the horse. But I can't. So... We're all not alone, but we are on our own. We are having to find this ourselves, you know. So, you know, the teachings are all I've got. I've been reading them for 40 years, and I am so glad there's something I can go to. It's my go-to, is this wisdom teachings, the compassion teachings. I wish there was something like magic. I wish I had some magic.

[56:00]

No magic. Just love. Love is magic. You know that. You got those boys. Lisa. Hello. Thank you. Oh, hi, Lisa. Hi. from someone who has been reading the teachings for 40 years to someone who has not and is just starting to read more of the sutras and the primary teachings. How do you do that? Because there's so much, there's so dense. There are so many references that are not part of our culture. How do you start to dig into that? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I started with the first sermon when I realized I was really confused, which is why I like to bring it up all the time and go like, have you read the first sermon that the Buddha gave?

[57:09]

It was given people who never heard a thing about Buddhism, right? There wasn't any Buddhism. So he gave this talk to these young men and they were like, huh, that's interesting. And then he kept talking and one of them got it. And he goes, oh, I think I get it. And so Buddha named him the one who knows. He said, oh, your name is now the one who knows because you got it. And so then the one who knows would go into town and get food for the other four who didn't know yet. And he'd get them food and they kept listening to the Buddha and studying what he was saying. And then one by one, they each got it until there were five awakened disciples. So then there were six. That was the Sangha. These five ascetics woke up and the Buddha was number six. And that was the beginning of the Sangha. So I think everyone who's ever devoted themselves to this way has had the same experience you're talking about.

[58:10]

Like, what are they talking about? You know, I'd listen and I'd listen and I'd listen. I just like, I don't know what they're talking about. It's easier to know. when it comes into Western terms, if you will, but to read, you know, I got the copy of the Transmission of Light, and to read it, and then to hear you talk about it, I said, oh, yeah, that's what it says, but for me to get it myself, it doesn't happen. No, you need help. Yes. I need help. I have a teacher. You know, if I get confused, I go, Rab, I don't get this. What's this thing, you know? And I've called him a lot in my 40 years. And I call him less often just because I'm beginning to get the hang of it. You know, I've got a lot of books here, you may see. I've been spending a lot of time trying to get it. And some parts of it are really simple, like non-duality. You're not separate. You're not separate. You and I aren't separate right now.

[59:12]

I see you. I see you. You see me. We're not separate. There's nothing separate. unless we think so like oh no you see me i do and it's wonderful and and that non-separation is the key to what he called awakening non-duality not two there aren't two of us here there's just one of us here conjoined right now temporary we don't want to be conjoined to anybody permanently Even those wedding ceremonies, we say that, but God forbid you want to be glued on to your partner like all the time and get off of me. So we're not conjoined. It's all impermanent. But when it's happening, when we see the star, when we see the sky, when we see the waterfall, when we see the tree and the bird, it's completely us. That bird is me when I hear it. That's me. That's me. And then it's over. I can't have it. I think the pain is we want to hold on to things. You know, we want that union to last.

[60:15]

And that's our suffering. It doesn't last. Impermanence. There's three laws that Buddha said, and you don't like, you're not going to like them. There's the three facts of life. Impermanence. Nothing lasts. This beautiful unions don't last. No self. Nothing to get for yourself because you don't have one. That's really tough. And suffering. Which is what we're all talking about. There is suffering. Because you don't get what you want. And you're going to die. Who likes that? What? Me? So yeah, the facts of life, we don't like them. So we do everything to avoid them. Everything this culture is about is avoiding the facts of life. And the Buddha said, if you stop avoiding the facts of life, you'll be much better off. You can start to relax. Oh, yeah. Nothing lasts. No permanent self. And there's suffering. And that's true.

[61:19]

We get hurt. We get sick. We get old. That's right. That's true. So we're voting. The Buddha was voting for the truth. He was saying, let's just deal with the truth, folks. That's hard enough. Let's not get into all those stories. Let's not make things up. Because what's happening is already fantastic. It's miraculous. It's beautiful. And it's awful. And you can't get rid of the awful. And you can't just keep the beautiful. So you have to deal with all of it. Straight up. And we're all in the same boat. I mean, we're on the same boat. Lisa, you're in my boat. I'm in your boat. And we're all paddling around. And we're going, how are you doing over there? You know, one time I had this image of this little flotilla of individual boats and we're all paddling our best we can. Some people are going really well and some people are turning circles and we're all just going like, how are you doing? You doing okay? Yeah, I'm okay.

[62:21]

Okay, let's stay together. Don't drift off. You know, that's Sangha. The Sangha is we stay together. And then when we're sad, you've got someone to talk to. Or you can give me a call, like, I don't get this passage, Fu. This is really crazy. It's like, okay, let's walk through that. We love to be asked. That's why we're in this business. It's so fun to be asked questions, and I can go look it up or call my teacher or whatever. I'll get you an answer. I promise I will. Hello? There's a question from the chat. I've often wondered if we had to deviate extremely away from the middle path in order to understand or even grasp what the middle path is. Staying the path sometimes feels like I'm frozen and not really trying.

[63:24]

Did you read that again? I was just looking for it, but I don't see it. Oh, no. They sent it to me. Oh. So I'll say it again. I've often wondered if we had to deviate, if we had to deviate extremely away from the middle path in order to understand or even grasp what the middle path is. Staying the path sometimes feels like I'm frozen and not really trying. Well, well, then that's not the middle path. That's stuck on one side. You know, I like to think the middle path is kind of like a highway and You know, we're walking on it. We're not riding fast cars. And one side is in one extreme of whatever extreme you want. There is something. The other side, there isn't something. Or I like this and I don't like that. And it's all about duality, right? If you just think duality, you'll have 99% of what the Buddha said and taught. Non-duality. Duality is human language. There is something or there isn't something.

[64:25]

That's dual. Light and dark, right and wrong, boys and girls, men and women, up and down. Our whole language is about dualistic propositions. Buddha said, that's just, you're making that up. There's not those two things don't exist. You'll never find them. You know, I remember just like, what does it mean I'm a woman? What does that mean? I can't find it. It's not my existence isn't like woman. you know i mean if you could tell me some characteristics or something and i go oh yeah that's something about men well that man or all men or you know it gets very confusing very quickly when you fall into the dualistic assumptions as though they're true you start to look and you can see well that's not really the way it is so we study dualistic thinking we look at our language that's one reason we stop talking and try to stop thinking so much because then you enter into the realm of non-dual meditation where you're quiet and you can't cut the world in parts when you're quiet, when you're not thinking.

[65:28]

So the middle path is the opposite of stuck. It's free. It's flowy. You're on the river, the river and the road. You know, we paved the river, made a road, but actually it's a river. We're not things. We're flow, impermanent, constantly changing. No self, no abiding self, just flow. of light and change. And air quality has gotten a little better this afternoon. It was really terrible earlier. It's changed. It's always changing. Pretty soon it's going to be night. It's going to get dark. Winter's coming. It's going to cool off, thank God. So, you know, always things are changing. And so patience is a really important quality for us. When we're feeling stuck, just stuck could be okay if you sit upright. and really see what stuck's all about. Is this stuck? Am I breathing? Am I loose?

[66:30]

Am I relaxed? Where's stuck? Can I find it? I propose you can't. And that's unstuck. So, you know, the Buddha said, look closely, explore your notions. Look really deeply at what you're thinking to see if it's true. And he made a bet that you'll never find it. You're thinking the world is not what you think. And that's our freedom. It's okay to think, but don't make it into a thing. Don't make it into, don't reify. Reb said to me, this is basically, Buddhism is an anti-reification campaign. Stop turning things into things. Stop making things out of nothing and nothing. Open the hand. Open the mind. You're already free.

[67:32]

That's what Kazon's telling you. You're already free. You guys are really just like, wake up. Come on. You can do it. You know, it's already here. Just relax. I wish you the best. I wish you all the best. I know these are hard times, just scary times. A lot of people are scared. That's what I hear most. Scared of this election, scared of this horrible virus. You know, this and the weather. I mean, my God, what is there not to be scared of? So I think it's okay to be afraid. But, you know, what the Buddha did when he was afraid was he sat And he waited for the impermanence of fear. Fear as well is impermanent. It doesn't last. You can't hold it. You know.

[68:33]

It'll come back. But it'll go. So I wish you all the very, very best. There's a holiday coming on Monday. I don't know what we're all going to do. Not much. Stay out of the smoke if we can. Huge fires everywhere. My daughter just emailed me to say, she lives in Los Angeles, 115 degrees in Glendale. I don't even know what that number is. I can't even imagine. Anyway, she's okay. So you all be well. Take care. I hope I'll see you next week. And we'll do... Chapter three, Ananda, joy is my fave. Thank you very much. Anybody can unmute themselves if they wish to say goodbye. Thank you, Fu.

[69:34]

Goodbye. Thanks. Thank you, Fu. Goodbye. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you. Bye. Thank you, Fu. Goodbye. You're welcome. Bye. Bye. Happy anniversary, you two. A sudden change of plans with the weather. We're not doing our little event. So we're here with you today. It's nice to see you. And I hope the smoke. You guys have fire getting near you guys. It's not near, but the smoke is coming this way. Very, very dense. It's worse. We've never seen it this bad. Oh, yeah. We just had that this morning. It was 190, which is a huge number for air quality. Ours was 503. Went off the charts. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. You used to be wearing those N95s, right? We have an air filtration system in our house because this has happened before.

[70:37]

Oh, my gosh. So we have perfect air quality inside. Okay, good. We're coming to your house. We're happy to be here with you today. Yes. I'm nice to see you both. Thank you. See you next week. Good. Goodbye, everybody. Oh, before I forget, ah, everybody's leaving. Heather had a, caught up in the last question. She had that video that the disparaging monks. Anyway, I posted the link in the chat, and so I think you will all enjoy it. Is that it? Is that it? Yep. It's in the chat. Oh, that's great. That's Alan. Fabulous.

[71:38]

How do I stop it? There's a book. Call the load. I just want to put it on my desktop top. Oh, that didn't work either. Okay. Bye. Bye. Bye. Well, Elisa, Peggy, Heather. Y'all good, Foo? I am. I want to get that thing on my desktop. I can drag it, right? Can I just drag it over there? Just click it. Click it. But then what do I do? Because it just starts playing. Well, what do you want to do with it? I want to drag it. I want to save it. Oh, I got it. I got it. I think I got it. I think I put it in my... I can email it to you also. Okay, that'd be great. Okay. Helpless and hopeless.

[72:39]

So glad you're there, Jenny. I have an extra brain in the back of my hand. Okay. Bye. You take care too. All right. You too. Am I going to see you again? Are you gone now? Not tomorrow. I'll be here for the week anyway. All right. I'll see you in the cloud hall. Yeah, for sure. Good. Your quality is good. Yeah, that's right. Okay. Let's hope. Yeah. All right. Well, have a good night. You too. Okay.

[73:12]

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