This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Once upon a time, there was an elephant... who sat and did nothing all day. They often lived in a small house at the top of a curling road. And the road curled away and away, down and down into a green valley. And at the bottom of the curling road there was another little house where a butterfly lived one day the elephant was sitting doing nothing at all looking out the window of his little house and he saw somebody coming somebody coming up and up

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hurling road. And he wondered who it might be. He thought, is somebody coming to visit me? And as he looked more, he saw it was a butterfly coming to visit him. And the butterfly got closer and closer. to the elephant and the elephant became more and more excited about the butterfly coming to visit. And the butterfly came finally up to the elephant's little house and went up to the house, to the door of the house and walked up the steps to the door and with its wings gently touched the door to knock.

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and said, is anyone here? But the elephant didn't say anything because the elephant was so excited that somebody was coming to visit her. So then the butterfly knocked a little louder. Hello, is anybody here? But the elephant couldn't answer because the elephant was so happy that some butterfly was coming to visit him. And then the butterfly loudly said, is anybody here? And tapped the door a little harder. And finally, the elephant said, I am. And the butterfly said, may I come in? And the elephant said, yes. And the butterfly went in.

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and saw the elephant. And the butterfly said, who are you? And the elephant said, I'm the elephant that does nothing all day. And then when they were both inside the elephant's house, it started to rain and rain, and the curling road became wet. And the earth started to smell really, really beautiful and sweet. And the elephant and the butterfly could smell the wet earth. And they felt safe and happy being together in the house. And the trees alongside the curling road also smelled how beautiful the earth and the trees and the flowers were. And the birds along the path were all so happy to see and feel the rain.

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And then the rain stopped. And the elephant said to the butterfly who came to visit him, he said, do you love me a little? And the butterfly said, no. No. I love you a lot. And the elephant said, I'm so happy. I think we ought to go out of this house and take a walk together. For now the rain has stopped. And the curling road smells so beautifully. And the butterfly said, Yes, but where shall we go? And the elephant said, let's go away, down and down the curling road that I have never gone on before.

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So the elephant put his arm gently around the butterfly. Laughter And guided the butterfly down the curling road all the way to the bottom. And there was, what was at the bottom? A house, right. Whose house was it? It was the butterfly's house. And the elephant said, is this your house? And the butterfly said, yes, this is my house. And the butterfly said, why haven't you ever come to visit me before? And the elephant said, because I do nothing all day. But I'm very happy to be here with you now. And now that I know you live here, I'd like to come to visit you again if I may.

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May I? And the butterfly said, I'd be very happy if you came to visit me again. So after that, Every day the elephant came down the curling road to visit the butterfly. And I forgot to say that at one point the elephant kissed the butterfly. But I don't know how the elephant kissed the butterfly. Like this, maybe. Wow. That's a big nose that elephant has. Look at that nose. Wow.

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So then they loved each other forever. And... That's the story. So if the children want to go with the elephant, the elephant can show you how to go to the Green Valley. That once a woman dreamt of a white elephant and it seemed that the dream was an indication that she was pregnant and later this woman had a son who became the historical Buddha and later when the historical Buddha realized and discovered the middle path

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He taught four noble truths. The truth of suffering, the truth of the origination of suffering, the truth of the cure of suffering, and the truth of the path to freedom from suffering. This teaching could be compared to a medical view of the human situation. The first is the symptom, dissatisfaction, stress, dis-ease. The second truth is the cause or the diagnosis of the disease. The third is the prognosis.

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And the fourth is the treatment. The symptom is suffering. The disease itself is ignorance, misunderstanding of our experience. Misunderstanding of our experience, misunderstanding of the phenomena we know. And this misunderstanding can be cured. When the misunderstanding is cured, the craving based on the misunderstanding and the clinging based on the misunderstanding and the way to... The way to freedom from misunderstanding is a new understanding, an understanding of the reality of our experience.

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So in this picture of human life, one could say that the The disease is a disease of misunderstanding. It's a problem of our mind, our consciousness. In the early teaching, the Buddha told people that phenomena are impermanent. And not self. And not ill or not pleasurable. He didn't really say the way things were. He more like said the way they weren't. Happiness does not come from phenomena.

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And we... have a mind which sees things as permanent, as substantial. So the Buddha taught things are not substantial, they're impermanent. Things that looked like they have an independent existence, a self, Buddha said, no, they don't. And if we can see things this way, we cure our misunderstanding and thereby remove the cause of disease. In later teaching, a new kind of practice was articulated as the great vehicle. And in the great vehicle teaching, the Buddha is represented as teaching that all phenomena

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only conscious constructions. All phenomena are actually mind. All impermanent phenomena are actually what the mind sees when it looks at itself. It's not saying the way things really are. It's saying the way we see things. And the way we see things is by the mind looking at itself however the way the mind appears to itself is it appears to itself as though it had objective reality the mind looks at itself and sees itself as an object that exists on its own and when And when this vision of independent existence arises, there's craving for it and clinging to it.

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And there again is dis-ease, stress, and so on. Maybe the little boy who was crying earlier, maybe he was upset because he thought the elephant was going in the wrong direction or he wasn't going the direction of the elephant. thought the elephant existed objectively out there separate from him. And this is the way things normally appear to children and it's the way they appear to all unenlightened beings. And so we may be able to see that things look like that to us, that it appears that, for example, other human beings who we meet and live with, that they appear to be existing separate from us, outside of us.

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Really. Really. that it's not just an appearance, it's a reality that they're out there separate from us. If we can see that, we are actually able then to look to see, do we really believe it? And what does it feel like to really believe it? maybe even identify the stress that comes when we really believe that humans and nonhumans that the environment we live in seems to be existing as an objective reality what is that like can we detect the stress the fear and anxiety that comes with that vision

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believing that appearance whether we can see this or not we we can still see things we may not notice that we think they're separate but we can notice them probably and If we apply practices to phenomena, we can come to a place where we become able to enter the reality of what we're seeing. in the great vehicle these practices are called great vehicle practices or Bodhisattva practices starting with basically practices of compassion towards what we're experiencing practices of compassion towards the phenomena we are knowing

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And by practicing compassion, even while we still misunderstand what we're looking at, even while we still think that other people are separate from us, even though they appear that way and we believe it and we're stressed by it, we can start practicing compassion even before we enter reality. There's many, many practices that we can apply to every experience. we can bring benefit to this life which we share to this life which looks like we're not sharing sometimes either way we can bring benefit to it by these practices and again the first practice of compassion is

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So now I'm imagining and sharing my imagination with you. I'm imagining a life of practicing generosity towards every experience. Towards every feeling I have, towards every idea I have, towards every opinion I have. to every judgment that arises in my mind, and then also to practice generosity towards every being that I meet, every door, every tree, every human, every non-human. This is the first practice in the direction of entering reality. And again, prior to entering reality, This practice can bring benefit to oneself and to those we're interacting with, or to one's inner experience and towards other beings.

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This generosity moves us on the path of benefit and leads us to actually enter the reality of our relationship with our experience of all beings. And again, generosity towards our experience means that we actually say thank you very much to whatever is given to us. That we see that whatever we're experiencing is being given to us to practice compassion with. being given to us to practice compassion with and eventually to enter the reality with this experience.

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The reality which will be an understanding which is freedom and peace. An understanding that is a way of life that is liberation from suffering. The next aspect of compassion is ethics. To be careful of all the relationships that we're generous towards. We're not only generous towards things and welcoming them, but we're careful of them. We don't just open the door and close our eyes. We open our doors and we pay attention. Careful, gentle, careful. diligent attention to the experience that we're practicing with. This is the next aspect of compassion.

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And then we practice patience. So these three practices of compassion, generosity, ethics, and patience, we practice with all phenomena if we wish to enter the reality. the great vehicle, if we wish to enter the reality of the path leading to the cure of suffering. The next practice is a practice which is both a wisdom practice and a compassion practice. It is the practice of being now enthusiastic about practicing generosity, ethics, and patience, and being enthusiastic about practicing concentration and wisdom.

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Because we understand that compassion towards the world, even while we do not understand it, brings benefit, and this compassion sets the stage for concentration and wisdom. And the concentration sets the stage for the wisdom, and the wisdom is what actually brings this new understanding, which is liberating all beings. It's wisdom that is the liberation of all beings. In wisdom, in reality, beings are liberated. But we must be kind to the world of bondage in order to enter the world of liberation. In addition to being generous and careful and patient with everything, now we are

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enthusiastically devoted to be very calm and relaxed and flexible with everything alert now developing relaxation with what we're being patient with flexibility and in this openness to everything in addition to generosity, ethics, and patience, in this openness, we're ready for new versions of what this might be. Open to ideas about our ideas. Namely, all of our ideas about everything are just conscious construction. That's all we know. And we're even eventually open to giving up our ideas about ideas.

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A long time ago, a simile was used for the process, for this process of awakening. And the simile is that of a magic show. And the magic show is, one, in this story from ancient India, India is a place where they have elephants. The historical Buddha grew up with elephants in his life. And so... In ancient India, and I don't know about modern India, but in ancient India they had magic shows where magicians would perform magic creations, magical illusions. And one of the things they would magically create was elephants. So the image is used of a magician who does something to create the appearance

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an elephant to an audience of people some of whom are not magicians some of the people who are not aware of how this illusion of an elephant disappearance of an elephant was created and when they see the appearance of the elephant they think it's a real elephant and They feel amazed and perhaps even frightened, but still glad they paid the price of admission because it's so exciting to see a real elephant suddenly appear in front of them. But the magician does not see a real elephant. The magician sees the form of an elephant. does not believe it's a real elephant.

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The magician knows that by using certain materials which are not a real elephant, the appearance of an elephant can be created. And therefore the magician is not afraid or attached to the appearance of the elephant. When an enlightened person would look at this magical show, they would see the appearance of the elephant. The unenlightened person looks at the show and sees the appearance of the elephant.

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The appearance is there for both. But the unenlightened person thinks that it's really objectively there, and the enlightened person does not. The unenlightened person is kind to the illusion of the real existence. They will enter the reality that is freedom from that illusion.

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when they enter the freedom from that illusion, they continue the same practice that they were doing before. They continue to practice generosity, ethics, patience, concentration, and wisdom with everything that appears. So it's the same practice before and after. Understanding that what we're working with is only mine. In this Zen tradition, we use the word sitting meditation or Zazen for this whole process.

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Meditation practice is this whole process of welcoming, being careful and patient, being concentrated, undistracted, flexible and wise with whatever is coming. And then from that place to continue that practice until all beings are initiated into the process. And in the middle of the process is this practice of enthusiasm.

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It's the practice of enthusiasm for the practice of meditation. Is there a feeling of joyful interest? keen interest in giving our full attention to every experience and to make that attention, to offer that intention to be compassionate towards every experience, which means, of course, every being we meet. Is there enthusiasm to meet every being with complete unlimited compassion. Is there? And if there isn't, then the practice is to go and find a place where this enthusiasm comes from.

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And the place this enthusiasm comes from is the aspiration the enthusiasm is the wish to be enthusiastic. And where does the wish to be enthusiastic come from? Well, it comes from contemplating what life would be like if we were able to meet everything with complete compassion. And then also to think about what is life like when we don't meet everybody with complete compassion? What is life like when we give compassion to some situations but not others? What is life like when we're up for practicing ethics with some situations and not others? What is life like when we're patient with some difficulties and not others?

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What is life like when we're not concentrated and distracted and tense and closed? What is life like when we're ignorant? Thinking about that and thinking about what it's like the other way, the energy for practice starts to be created. here we are live here in this room together and it's an opportunity to think about to think about what you wish to devote your life to I just saw somebody who I have this idea that this person is a mother and I thought This mother probably wants to devote her life to the welfare of her children.

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Sometimes I ask mothers what their aspiration is in this life. Aspiration, by the way, means a wish, a great wish. And often mothers say, I wish the welfare of my children And then sometimes they say, and all beings. But they sometimes say, actually, I must admit, I wish I think of my children first. And then I think of all beings. Entering reality is as I said before something that's possible because of practicing compassion and once entering reality the practice of compassion is thoroughly facilitated and unhindered in order to fully practice compassion we need to enter reality before that our misunderstanding somewhat deters the full function

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So the question is, do we wish to develop the complete compassion of enlightened beings? Do we feel we really want to do that starting now and for the rest of the day and perhaps beyond? This afternoon, or it's not even afternoon yet, for the rest of the morning, do we wish to meet every being, inwardly and outwardly, with great compassion. For the sake of entering reality and continuing this practice unhinderedly. Do we wish to do that from now until noon? That's not so long. Only one more hour. Or not even an hour maybe. For the next Less than 60 minutes, do we wish to practice compassion towards everybody we meet?

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Do we wish to be devoted to each person we meet? Do we wish to practice compassion towards everything we feel, everything we think? And again, there's a teaching which says, everything you feel and think is all beings. everybody you meet is what you're feeling and thinking they're not separate there's nobody that's separate from your feelings there's nobody this separate from your thinking all your thinking is inseparable from all beings and if you wish to do that practice for the next hour, then I might also ask, would you like to do it for the afternoon?

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To take this practice and do it wherever you spend the afternoon. And then would you like to remember and practice it in the evening? Would you like to spend the rest of this day practicing compassion towards The magical show. The magical show will go on whether you practice compassion with it or not. The magician is nonstop. Elephants will appear. Children will appear. Trees and curling roads will appear. No problem there. And there may be also the appearance of the reality of these things. that they really exist. Whether that belief occurs or not, the appearances will continue, and these appearances are all opportunities for great compassion.

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And this great compassion leads to wisdom, which leads to great compassion, which leads to wisdom. If we want, we can spend we can use we can offer our life for that purpose for the rest of the day so I asked myself that coming to visit me up the curling road is somebody coming to see me and do I want to practice great compassion with this whatever this is I do I want to I aspire to

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When the founder of Zen Center was getting old, he wasn't really very old, but anyway, when he was quite close to his death, he said he was getting old. And he said, now that I'm getting old, I can't sit up straight anymore. But I can try. So if you ask me, are you practicing great compassion right now? I'll look and see, and I might say, I don't know, but I want to. I really want to. I don't change my mind about that. Or my mind changes and it keeps coming up with the same answer.

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I want to. I want to practice great compassion towards everything that's given to me. I want to. And I can try, even though I'm getting old and having trouble sitting up straight. I can try to sit up straight, not just to sit up straight, but as an act of generosity, as an act of ethics, being upright, Sitting upright as an act of ethics. Sitting upright as an act. Standing upright as an act of patience. As an act of being present in this world. For the sake of Buddha's wisdom. Being calm. For the sake of Buddha's wisdom. I can try. For one more hour. one more day.

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How about you? How about you? What do you want to do with this precious day in the Green Valley and over the mountain into the next valley? How do you want to offer your life How do you want to relate to the magical show that the mind offers? Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support.

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For more information, visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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