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. Not only are Buddhas those who are enlightened about delusion, but this delusion of independent existence is the main cause. of craving and attachment. And craving and attachment are the basic cause of suffering and entanglement in life. Generally, the Buddhist tradition is concerned with living beings and is concerned with their suffering.

[01:00]

And it transmits the understanding that the suffering and entanglement of living beings is based on attachment and craving, which are based on delusion. The work, and it is kind of hard work, is to encourage the mind to pay attention and to study suffering, the attachment at its base, and the delusion at the base of attachment. look at what's happening and study it and it's hard for living beings often unless well trained it's hard for them when they see some pleasant scene to remember to study it to look at what delusion is there in this pleasant scene

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And equally hard, or more hard, difficult, is when we see a horrible thing. When we see, for example, humans being cruel to each other or humans being cruel to animals. When we see something like that, it's hard to remember and be mindful. Not just to see it, but to study it. So that you can understand it. so that there can be freedom from this horror. And also freedom, you may not care about it, but freedom from pleasant things too. Because even pleasant things, if we're attached to them, they're suffering. I'm trying to remember the time whatever I see I'm trying to remember to study it for the sake of understanding it and that is a basic agreement among all I think pretty much all the students of the Buddha way is to study our experience in hopes that

[04:04]

will come through this study and in the tradition called the great vehicle the Mahayana the emphasis is actually put on studying and understanding experience studying and understanding suffering and delusion for the freedom and happiness of others focusing on the freedom from suffering of others actually helps the study. It's possible to have more courage to do this difficult work when you realize it's not just for yourself. For example, if you're looking at your children and they seem to be happy... you might think, well, it's sufficient to enjoy their happiness.

[05:08]

That's enough. I don't have to, like, understand what's going on, too. But actually, the proposal is that it's good not to miss any opportunity to understand delusion. Because even while we look at our happy children... There may be delusion there. There probably is. And what's the delusion? The delusion is that the children and their friends exist separate from yourself. And that delusion is innate in sentient beings, in living beings. Humans and non-human living beings innately misconceive their experience. and think that what they're experiencing is separate from themselves. This is a delusion. We are not experiencing something separate from ourself. When we experience others, we're actually experiencing ourself, our own version of others.

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So if we're looking at a happy scene, That's wonderful. But we don't take a break necessarily from the practice of enlightenment. So that when a horrible scene comes, perhaps we don't take a break then either. And we continue to study. A basic principle here, a principle of freedom, a principle of reality, is that total immersion goes with total transcendence immersion and transcendence are partners immersion in suffering attachment and delusion is essential for transcendence from delusion attachment

[07:30]

and entanglement and suffering and there are many teachings about how to immerse ourselves in the delusions and attachments and sufferings of the world in order to help the world become transcendent of itself. There are early teachings in the Buddhist tradition and there are later teachings. And among the later teachings are the great vehicle teachings. The great vehicle teachings are the teachings for those who wish to study their experience in order to help other beings become free of suffering.

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It's also called in Sanskrit the Mahayana, the great vehicle. At the beginning of the year, I committed to study my own delusion, my own attachments, my own suffering, and to share this study and in after a few months of the year I turned attention towards a text called the could be called the summary of the great vehicle could also be called embracing the great vehicle or being embraced by the great vehicle and this text gives teachings on our mind gives a teaching of our mental processes and shows how delusion and attachment and affliction arise and it also teaches studying this process develops freedom from it and realizes if you just use the expression

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complete, perfect enlightenment. In the early teachings, it was stressed that all of our experience, all of our experience is all the things we experience are impermanent, ill, or characterized by impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not having an independent self. And students were encouraged to be mindful of what they were experiencing and focus

[11:02]

on what they're experiencing until they could see these three characteristics of their experience. And by seeing these three characteristics, they would become liberated from delusion and suffering. In the great vehicle, these three characteristics are also recommended for attention but a more radical focus is that all phenomena are none other than our mind that everything we look at is a construction of our consciousness to learn how to remember that teaching whenever whatever you're looking at to remember you're looking what you're seeing what you're experiencing is a construction of your mind to learn how to remember that teaching to be encouraged to remember that teaching

[12:29]

to remember that teaching is essential for complete enlightenment. And it's not just to remember the teaching and then without being engaged in this experience and this experience. It's remembering that teaching and studying it and seeing things with the aid of that teaching while being completely immersed in your experience. Or I should say, immersed in experience. Just to hear this teaching and think of it is a start.

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Hearing this teaching now is changing your mind. Hearing this teaching now is transforming my consciousness. But I also must pay attention to what's going on in particular here at the same time. And paying attention also transforms the mind and encourages further attention to experience. And paying attention to experience transforms the mind so that it will be more enabled to continue to pay attention to what it's experiencing. And again, what is it experiencing? Whatever it's experiencing is impermanent unsatisfactory and doesn't have a self but also whatever it's experiencing is a conscious construction in order to let these traditional early teachings into our into our mind

[15:15]

and let them change our mind so that our mind becomes free of delusion in order to let this later teaching of conscious construction only into our mind so that we actually realize it so that we actually become in accord with the reality the reality of what? of delusion Coming in accord with the reality of delusion liberates us from it. In order to do that, we need to be very kind to our moment-by-moment experience. In order to study and immerse ourselves in our experience, we need to be kind to our experience moment-by-moment experience. Anyway, in a moment, and then hopefully again.

[16:20]

But for now, just now. And for now, just now. With the prayer that we will become continuous in our attention to now. And now I'm paying attention, and I wish to be kind to what I am paying attention to. I'm paying attention to experience. I want to immerse. I want to be immersed in my experience where I am immersed. We are immersed in our experience completely. But do we practice that? And the answer is many answers. One answer is no. Another one is a little. Another one is I would like to learn how to practice the reality of my immersion in my experience. In order to be immersed in my experience, I believe I must be kind to my experience.

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And if my experience is summarized as anxious or nervous, embarrassed, ashamed, afraid, angry, jealous, confused, confused, embarrassed, anxious. If such words apply to my experience, in order to be immersed in this and become free of it, I must be kind to it. Just as I often say, if you saw your grandchildren, and they were confused and frightened, wouldn't it be appropriate to be kind to them rather than be angry at them for being confused? If they had delusions, for example, if they had the delusion that they were ugly and they were suffering because of that delusion, and they thought not only were they ugly, but they were separate from the other children that they were playing with,

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were beautiful or ugly and you saw them suffering you could see their suffering from delusion wouldn't it be appropriate to be compassionate to them the same for ourselves and it's not just to be compassionate to be compassionate but also to be compassionate to fully enter our suffering and thereby become intimate with our delusion and then again compassionate to our delusion and the basic way to be compassionate to our delusion is to be generous towards it be careful of it be ethical with it be patient with it And the fuel for practicing these three dimensions of compassion towards our affliction and our delusions, the fuel for it is courageous enthusiasm.

[20:09]

Enthusiasm. Enthusiastic enthusiasm. Engagement, enthusiastic aspiration to immerse ourselves in our experience moment by moment. Enthusiasm, joyful courage to live completely in this moment in order that all beings could be free. Courageous to encourage courage in others to dare to live in their difficult life. To be enthusiastic about learning how to be present when we are experiencing irritation and affliction from outside and inside.

[21:17]

and how do we develop this courage for this enthusiasm to immerse ourselves in our present moment of experience so that there can be freedom for all beings how do we do that well to get extent by thinking we're thinking all day long but This is a particular type of thinking. This is a type of thinking to develop courage. And there's many ways to think which can develop courage. And there's many ways to think which don't seem to develop courage. For example, let's see now. I do not want to pay attention to what's going on is a way to think. It's not worth it.

[22:36]

It's too hard. Or even if it's worth it, I'm incapable of doing it, so I'm just going to, like, not pay attention. And I'm going to try to get away from what I'm experiencing. I'm going to think of other things, like, for example, yesterday and tomorrow. That will help me get away from now. Pretty soon this will be over. Pretty soon this will be over. Pretty soon I won't have this experience anymore. And this one, and this one, they'll all be over soon. I'll be dead soon. This is a way of thinking which might not develop enthusiasm for immersing ourselves in our experience. every moment we've got an experience to be immersed in for the welfare of all beings so one way that beings who want to work for the welfare of all beings one way they think is they think with correct intention

[24:01]

one would be able to practice generosity and ethics and patience and enthusiasm and tranquility and eventually wisdom steadily with intention, one would be able to practice these enlightening behaviors. One would be able to be kind to what's going on now and be enthusiastic about being kind and be calm with what's happening and come to actually understand it. Once again, one could with correct intention for the welfare of all beings cultivate these virtues practice compassion towards this moment and become this moment and study how the teachings apply to this moment and understand

[25:28]

I now would like to commit. I now want to practice that way. I want to practice with correct intention and do these practices and realize the steady application of them. This is a way of thinking to inspire, to stimulate courage, the courage to do the difficult work of being completely engaged with our experience. Not just to be engaged, but to be engaged so that all living beings can be free of suffering. Somebody, some bodies have to learn this and practice it and teach it so that beings in all the different kinds of suffering in this world can learn this and practice this and be free.

[26:44]

I am proposing that suffering beings cannot become free unless they do this hard work. engaging with what they're experiencing and understanding it so not only do we have this work this wonderful work to do but we need to cultivate the energy and courage to do it so part of the work is is encouraging ourselves to do the work or being encouraged to do the work and the encouragement comes from thinking about the work and thinking about it and thinking about it until you feel the courage to practice it eventually the courage to practice it no matter what's in your face now if a kind person is in your face

[28:01]

encouraging you to be kind to yourself, you might say, oh, okay. I'm horrified at what I just did and someone said, well, how would you like to deal with that? Could you be friendly to that horror? You might say, well, yes. But if you're feeling horrible and then someone comes up and engages you in a painful way, it's pretty difficult to remember to be kind to your horror and to them. I heard stories almost 50 years ago of a person who, when he was attacked and insulted unjustly, was able to fully engage with that insult and that attack. Calmly, generously, carefully engaged. patiently received the attack and then he was praised later when people found out that he was unjustly accused and then they praised him and he did the same practice with the praise and when I saw that I said I would like to learn that that would be really cool and I've been trying to learn it for the last almost 50 years and

[29:30]

And I do not regret one moment when I've tried to learn it. I haven't always remembered, but I never regret being generous with experience. With my experience of my mind. Which takes the form sometimes of you. Sometimes you're my mind and sometimes I'm my mind. But you and I for me are my mind and I and we are for you your mind. Today I'm trying to encourage myself and all of you to compassionately engage to compassionately immerse yourself in your experience your body-mind experience moment by moment one way to encourage is what the thinking I just proposed what was it again do you remember if beings practice these six perfections of the enlightening beings generosity

[30:56]

ethical carefulness, patience, and enthusiasm, and concentration, and wisdom. If they practice this, they will realize enlightenment. And the fourth one on the list is what is being practiced when you think about practicing all six. And I commit to do these practices moment by moment. And this commitment will come to fruit as enlightenment. And all enlightened beings have done this same practice. And they all said it was difficult to learn. And if I'm having a difficulty learning it now,

[32:01]

I'm just like the awakened ones were before they were completely awakened. But remembering this teaching and wishing to practice it is enlightenment. It's just not complete yet, but it is enlightenment. It is the functioning of Buddha's wisdom and compassion to think about doing these practices and to wish to do them and commit to do them. That's one thing type of way to stimulate the courage to live wholeheartedly so that you can become free again the principle is total immersion in X leads to transcendence of X total immersion and transcendence go together in this situation for living beings living beings who shrink away from their life are stuck in their life.

[33:07]

So how can we stimulate the courage to not shrink away from life? Not shrink away from insult. Not shrink away from cancer. Not shrink away from heart attack. Not shrink away from seeing horrible suffering of others. Not shrink away. Not like it or dislike it. Totally embrace it. How can we do that? We have to talk ourselves into it by thinking about how good it would be if we didn't shrink away. To teach others how to lovingly enter the total world of all living beings who are suffering. another stimulant, just to give you another example of a way to stimulate the courage to enter into experience.

[34:15]

In innumerable, in innumerable, uncountable There are innumerable, unimmeasurable human beings who are attaining complete enlightenment every moment. For example, on this planet, Right now, there may be a human being who is attaining perfect enlightenment right this moment. But there might not be on this planet even one. But in the innumerable Earths, in innumerable world systems, there are innumerable human beings who are attaining enlightenment. And this thought, it has been recommended in ancient times as a way to encourage us.

[35:33]

to do the practice so that somebody and so that innumerable somebodies will attain complete enlightenment and liberation and somebody told me recently that he heard this recommendation and when he heard it he felt discouraged This is a thought, this is a way of thinking to stimulate courage. And on some of your faces when I said that right now innumerable human beings are attaining enlightenment, I saw some kind of flutter on your eyebrows. It's like, really? What are you talking about? Such fluttering in the eyebrows is welcome. We want to totally be immersed in any skepticism about that statement.

[36:43]

But it's not so much that you say it's true or false, although you might. It's more that you think it. And you might think, I wonder if it would cause any harm if I think that innumerable human beings are attaining enlightenment right now. Will that harm anybody? When you think about whether it's harming anybody, at the same moment you might think innumerable living beings are attaining enlightenment while I wonder if that's true. I'm not sure, but I had this feeling that Buddhas, that enlightened beings, actually don't just think innumerable human beings are entaining enlightenment right now.

[37:47]

They don't just think it, they actually see it. They're seeing beings enlightened right now. And they have unlimited courage to work for the welfare of others because they see this wonderful thing. And when we think that way, we're thinking like Buddhas. And if we have a thought wondering if it's true or false or if we think it's false or if we think it's true, still, to cultivate this thought may give us great courage of a Buddha. Not denying all the suffering in the world, but thinking of something to generate courage in the middle of the suffering. Not denying the suffering, but saying there's something good to do here in this suffering. What good thing could there be?

[38:49]

Oh, well, we could understand his cause and become free of it. And do that to help others learn how. And I need some courage, so maybe I'll think about it. Beings attaining enlightenment right now. Maybe they'll develop courage. I'll try that. Another one. Here's another one. One more. It's two parts. One is the mountains and rivers and the great earth are born together in each moment with each living being. This teaching is kind of like saying that whatever you're experiencing is a conscious construction. The sun and the hills and the ocean and all living beings that we see are born together right now with each of us.

[39:58]

With each of us, a world is born. In each moment, a world is born together with us. The world is not there before us or after us. It arises with us. And all enlightened beings are practicing together with each of us. And one ancient master said, if you hear this and it doesn't make sense to you, Just keep thinking about it until it does. This practice, this potential practice, we have the potential to fully live our life is what's being said here. Living beings can be completely living beings.

[41:05]

They have that potential, but they need to train. And it's hard for them to do the training long enough and wholeheartedly enough to completely accept being themselves. All Buddhas have learned how to do this. They've learned how to completely immerse themselves and thereby completely transcend themselves. And the transcendent Buddhas, the ones who have learned how to completely be themselves, are practicing together with each of us right now. They have sent us that message. The ones who have completely immersed themselves in their lives and become free have sent us the message that they have completely immersed themselves, they have realized enlightenment, they have realized transcendence, and they are here. to support us to do the same practice. This kind of courage and engagement, then if we hear the teaching about our delusion, it really has a place to pervade because we're here.

[42:25]

If we're half here and the teaching comes in, it's half received. If we're totally here and the teaching comes in, it's totally received and our mind is transformed into understanding of delusion. This is a teaching about delusion. If we receive this teaching completely, we will understand it and when we understand it, we will be free of what the teaching is about. And Buddhas are those who have received this teaching, understood this teaching, understood delusion, and thereby transcended it. It is also asked in this text that we're studying, it's asked, well, who gets to understand this teaching?

[43:30]

And it says, well... The ones who listen to it a lot. So you're listening to it now for about an hour. I've been listening to it for more than an hour. And I intend to keep listening to it and listening to it and listening to it so that there will be a lot of what you might call permeation of this teaching. in the mind. And I also wish to do it so that other beings' minds will be permeated by this teaching of the nature of delusion and the nature of its transformation. So I'm offering it here. And I'm offering it tomorrow night here at Green Gulch. And I'm offering it in Berkeley.

[44:31]

And I'm offering it in Watsonville, and I'm offering it in Los Angeles. Wherever I go this year, I'm offering the teaching of how to study our delusion, how to immerse in experience and study the experience in order that all beings can be free of delusion and the suffering which arises from it. free of delusion and the craving and attachment and suffering. Delusion, misconception, craving, attachment, suffering. Misconception, craving, attachment, suffering. Round and round it goes. And as I say, where it stops, nobody knows. It doesn't stop. It won't stop. unless we immerse ourselves in the process and it's not an easy process to immerse ourselves in because it is it is uncomfortable it is unsatisfactory but there can be a great enthusiasm in the middle of it that if we would totally engage it we would be able to understand it and free all beings from it

[45:59]

I just thought of a song. But unfortunately, I don't know this song very well. But maybe some of you do. I also just thought that some will criticize me for singing such an old song. This song predates me hearing the story about the man who was insulted and received the insult generously and kindly. I heard that story even before that. It's probably from the 50s or 40s. I think it's from a movie called The King and I. So I don't know this song, but anybody who does know it can come and stand by me and help me. Do you know it? Do you know it? Getting to know you? Do you know it? Do you know it, Salah? Anybody else know it?

[47:11]

60-year-olds. Well, this is a song, actually, I think, sung by a tutor, a female tutor. It goes something like this. Getting to know you Getting to know all about you Getting to like you Getting to know you like me. Getting to know you. Getting to the light, but nicely. You are precisely my cup of tea. Getting to know you. Getting to know you. and easy when I'm telling you getting to know how to stay and if you notice suddenly I'm high and free easy because of all the wonderful and new things I

[48:37]

Learning from you day by day. I hope you won't be offended if I make a little footnote to that song. When we say getting to know you, the you I'm talking about here is yourself. The you I'm talking about is delusion and craving and attachment and suffering. And we need to sing a song and sing it strong and sing it all day long. We need to joyfully get to know these facets of our experience, and then we will be bright and breezy, and we will be happy, and we will learn things all day long in that joyful getting to know these difficult phenomena of our daily life.

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

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