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Cultivating Joy Amidst Everyday Uncertainty

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Talk by Marc Lesser at City Center on 2020-03-21

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The talk discusses Dogen's essay "Instructions to the Head Cook," highlighting the guidance on integrating daily work with spiritual practice and finding freedom amid uncertainty. Emphasis is given to cultivating the "three minds" – joyful mind, grandmotherly mind, and great mind – as practical and profound responses to life's unpredictability. The speaker relates personal experiences as a head cook to Dogen's teachings and touches upon the transformative potential of meditation practice for realizing interconnectedness and letting go of self-concern.

Referenced Texts:

  • "Instructions to the Head Cook" by Dogen: Central text for understanding the integration of work and Zen practice, advising spiritual approach in mundane tasks.
  • "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" by Shunryu Suzuki: Mentioned for the concept of constantly crossing to the "other shore" towards true awakening.
  • Poem by Rainer Maria Rilke: Utilized to express the idea of unfolding and revealing oneself beyond the stories and constraints of language.
  • Poem by Dong Shan: Invoked for its guidance on embracing change and sitting by the fire of life's endless transformations.
  • "ZBA, Zen of Business Administration" by Marc Lesser: Referenced in discussing the intersection of Zen practice and business life.

Other Works:

  • Mention of Thich Nhat Hanh: For the practice of sitting with a half-smile as a means of cultivating joy amidst difficulty.
  • Reference to Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey": Used in discussing resistance and the call to adventure in personal transformation.

AI Suggested Title: Cultivating Joy Amidst Everyday Uncertainty

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Transcript: 

And a half week intensive at the Zen Center called Zen and Work. And little by little, and then all at once, everything began to change. Now, I think we are all in an intensive. And I think maybe we've always been in an intensive. It's just more obvious now, more pronounced now. The rules are different. But the rules have always been a bit strange. The rules have always been made up. And now we get to see it and feel it in a different way. And I'd like to stay with the theme of this intensive Zen. and work, which has been focused on an essay by Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, 800 years ago.

[01:12]

And in particular, I want to focus on one line from an essay that he wrote called Instructions to the Head Cook. And this line is, do not see with ordinary eyes and do not think with ordinary mind. I think it's amazing that Dogen wrote these instructions to the head cook, that it's a practical, poetic, deeply mystical manual. for how to run a Zen monastery kitchen, how to integrate work practice with the practice of waking up, and most importantly, his guidance on how to find real freedom in the midst of the challenges posed by change, by lack of control, by confronting empty cupboards and

[02:27]

Wholeheartedly finding a way to make do with whatever circumstances we might find ourselves in. What to do when you only have wild grasses to cook our meals. And not to get too excited when you have more expensive ingredients. In other words, these instructions to the head cook could have been entitled, Instructions for dealing with uncertainty, for confronting climate change, for working with inequality, or how to live with the coronavirus. Instructions for how to live our lives, however we might find them. Dogen recommends as a way to live.

[03:30]

Pay attention to the details. Be thorough. Slow down. Know what is needed and what is in the way. Encourage yourself with complete sincerity. Have you measured correctly or not? Do not assume that another person's functions, or neglect your own duties. Those who had shortcomings yesterday can act correctly today. Who can know what is sacred and what is ordinary? Put what is suited to high place in a high place and what belongs in a low place in a low place. Let go of comparing mind. Let go of comparing mind. And this line that i mentioned earlier do not see with ordinary eyes and do not think with ordinary mind perhaps this is one of the gifts of this time and not to underestimate the pain and suffering that is also happening all around us but the gift of

[04:48]

not seeing with ordinary eyes and not thinking with ordinary mind. Suddenly, nothing is ordinary. And in a way, we can appreciate the ordinary. And noticing for all of us, do we have what are our biases? Do we have a bias for action? Or do we have a bias for worry and fear? Or do you have a bias for connection, a bias for savoring the ordinary, turning the ordinary into the sacred, the sacred into the ordinary? And at the end of this essay are what have become somewhat famous instructions where he says, in performing your duties, you should maintain joyful mind, grandmother mind, and great mind.

[05:51]

This is somewhat, I think, both practical and sophisticated concept. This idea that we can bring a particular view, a particular attitude, a particular mind to our activities, to any activities. The mind of joy, the mind that can appreciate everything. A grandmother mind, the mind of unconditional love and great mind or wise mind or equanimous mind. The mind, he says, is like a great mountain or a great ocean. Again, these mystical, practical instructions that I think are surprisingly relevant to our current upside-down, unexpected, unpredictable world.

[07:02]

Again, I think it's always been upside-down, unpredictable, upside-down world. We're just seeing it now through less ordinary, eyes and less ordinary minds. And this time, this time and Dogen's words make me really appreciate our zazen practice, our meditation practice. And I think that these three minds that he is suggesting are meant to be cultivated, embodied, during this time of our sitting practice? What does joy, to explore, what does joy feel like in the body? Where in your body do you feel joy? Can we cultivate joy? Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh suggests sitting with a half smile, slightly

[08:13]

just lifting the edges of our lips, not as a way of avoiding or suppressing pain and suffering and difficulty, but to find and embody the practice of joy right in the midst of whatever uncertainty and challenges we face. And grandmother mind, right? the mind of acceptance and unconditional love? Is it possible to love ourselves, to cultivate self-love? I'm getting to see a lot of grandmother mind in action these days. A few months ago, my baby daughter, who's now in her 30s, moved in with us, with her baby boy, and seeing my wife as grandmother.

[09:23]

And I noticed that every time the baby is in her presence, this grandmother mind just lights up with this incredible sense of acceptance and unconditional love and love. openness, receiving, a sense of receiving. Even if his face is covered with food, smushed banana and avocado, it doesn't matter. There's just this receiving. This is, I think, grandmother mind, the mind of receiving whatever is there. And in our meditation practice, practicing, embodying a great mind. This image that Dogen talks about is the mind of a, like the mind of a mountain or the mind of ocean.

[10:23]

Or the mind of the mind that is free and empty and ready for anything. The mind that feels that there's nothing lacking. The mind that embodies change and impermanence the mind that sees that this breath this moment right now is actually new is actually fresh we don't have to make it up and it can be um it can be this great mind i think can be can feel lonely and stark and at the same time can cut through our separateness and aloneness and see that we are connected beyond anything that we can possibly conceive of, can cut through the illusion of separateness. And of course, Dogen, I think Dogen wrote this fascicle, these instructions to the head cook for many purposes,

[11:40]

But in some way, he was applying it to our work practice and the sense that there's no difference between our work and our Zen practice, our spiritual practice. And these instructions are quite personal for me. I was 29 years old when I was... asked to be the head cook at Tulsa Haro. And I got really great training from the, I had been the assistant to the head cook who at the time was Tia Strozer and worked, I was trained by Tia for a year. And then I had a fabulous assistant. My assistant was Gil Fronsdale for the year that I was the And even these days when I see Gil, he'll sometimes call me boss in a joking kind of way.

[12:49]

And it was in the kitchen, especially in my role as Tenzo, that I experienced work as practice and practice as work every day, aspiring to practice. care of the people, to take care of the food, to produce exceptional healthy meals. But most of all, I felt like this was a way to practice with joyful mind and grandmother mind and big mind. And this was in the midst. The Tassar kitchen was a pretty often a difficult, demanding, unpredictable place. Sometimes we were short-staffed and sometimes there were too many people in the kitchen in the summertime. Sometimes ingredients that we thought had been delivered on the town trip truck were actually not there and we had to improvise.

[14:01]

I remember my first weekend as the head cook. It was actually a special weekend with many additional guests, and I learned that I did not order quite enough vegetables and had to improvise. I remember we had, particularly, I had maybe over-ordered cabbage and needed to find great uses for cabbage, needed to make do. with whatever we had on hand, had to be much more responsive and creative. And everything about living at Tassajara was a lesson in responding to change, responding to impermanence. I have this memory of during a torrential winter rainstorm when we thought that the Zendo and all of our cabins might be washed away.

[15:05]

that there were about 60 of us who all gathered. We walked up to high ground and stood with our umbrellas open by the gate to Tassajara, wondering if there would be any buildings to return to. And I remember the summer when there were ravaging fires. And this was the summer that I was the Tassajara baker, where we had to evacuate Tassajara. And I can picture as we were driving up the Tassajara road, this wall of fire approaching from the west. And I was in a vehicle with my baking bowls, and flour and ingredients that we took out to to Jamesburg, the house on the other side of the 14 mile road and somehow ordinary life continued in the midst of this kind of extraordinary time.

[16:07]

And this, my experience of being the head cook also showed me how humbling it can be to work as a leader. It made me aware of my need to be more clear in how I communicate. my need to be a better listener, my need to have more courage and skill in facing conflict and working with disagreement, working with conflict in a way that I had very little experience and learned so much that both increased my own confidence and my humility. And most of all, I felt like this training and this experience of being the head cook, and I think much of what Dogen is talking about in these instructions are the practices of selflessness, the practice of effortlessness, and the practice of timelessness.

[17:26]

I think these are three core practices that are useful right now in whatever situation we're finding ourselves in. To reduce our own sense of self and self-concern and worrying so much about ourselves and to expand our viewpoint. To let go of extra effort. Especially now, I think this is a great time to be asking and noticing, what are we doing that's extra? What really matters? What's really important right now? And to notice our own effort and to play with effortlessness as much as possible. And this is also, I think, a great opportunity to play with letting go of clock time.

[18:35]

And being so, our lives, I've been noticing that being traveling less and being in my car less has changed or is shifting how I think about time. is actually in some way allowing me to play with what it's like to not be quite so time concerned and time driven and the joy of just being out in my garden or just writing or just sitting meditation and setting a timer and not thinking about time not Not worrying about when this period started or when it will be over, but just sitting. I wrote a book many years ago called ZBA, Zen of Business Administration.

[19:45]

And in the first chapter, it's entitled, We're All Zen Students and We're All Business People. We're all Zen students in that we are all born, we will all live our lives alone and with others, and we will all die. There's no avoiding. This is Zen. Zen is the practice of what does it mean to be human. And we're all business people. We all have to contend with money and work, whether we're doctors or lawyers or teachers or business people or whatever our work is. There's no avoiding being a business person. There's a passage from this essay that I, many, many wonderful passages, and I highly recommend taking a look at this Dogen's instructions to the head cook.

[20:54]

And there's a passage in which he meets a head cook, and he's having a dialogue in which he's instructed by this head cook who says, to study the words, you must know the origin of words. To endeavor in practice, you must know the origin of practice. And Dogen asks, what are words? And the Tenzo responds, one two three four five and dogen asks what is practice and the tenzo responds nothing in the entire universe is hidden and then dogen in this essay shares a poem through one word or seven words or three times five Even if you thoroughly investigate myriad forms, nothing can be depended on.

[21:55]

Night advances, the moon glows and falls into the ocean. The black dragon jewel you have been searching for is everywhere. So beautiful, beautiful poem by Dogen. Nothing can be depended on. Night advances, the moon glows and falls into the ocean. The black dragon jewel you have been searching for is everywhere. This line, nothing can be depended upon. And the previous line where he's asking what is practice, that nothing in the universe is hidden. Nothing in the universe is hidden reminds me of one of my favorite poems by Rilke, in which Rilke says, I want to be with those who know secret things.

[23:06]

I want to unfold. I don't want to stay folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie. And I want my grasp of things true before you. I want to describe myself like a painting that I looked at closely for a long time, like a saying that I finally understood, like the picture I use every day, like the face of my mother, like a ship that took me safely through the wildest storm of all. So I love these instructions by Dogen and Rilke, right, to be that everything in the universe is revealed, that this is practice, or to stay unfolded. I think especially in these times are like perhaps, you know, sometimes calm, but sometimes like the wildest storm of all.

[24:09]

How to prepare for and meet this storm. And his instructions, Rilke's instructions for how to meet the storm are to be with those who know secret things. To be with those who are practicing, who are appreciating the mystery of our lives. To stay unfolded, to live as though nothing in the entire universe is hidden. To practice being transparent, vulnerable, being willing to discover ourselves in the midst of this storm. To study the words, you must know the origin of words. This is, I think, the practice of not being caught by words or caught by the stories that we tell ourselves, the stories about who we are and what is happening, what happens when we open, when we let go.

[25:17]

Yeah, I sometimes, one of the examples I like about how easily we are caught by words is like when I say the word waterfall, we immediately think that we know what a waterfall is. And it's helpful to have words, but there's no such thing as a waterfall. It's some change in a... river or in a creek where water is going from one place to another. And to see it and appreciate it, this beautiful, amazing change of elevation that happens in a creek or a river. Every waterfall is completely unique, completely different. And the way it was yesterday is different than it will be today. So not to be caught and fooled by words.

[26:25]

And by nothing can be depended on, I think he means to let go of depending on anything extra, everything that separates us, to not lean on what we don't need to lean on, and instead to trust in our own bodies, hearts and minds, to trust in our profound connection to others and to life, to trust in our way-seeking minds, this deep aspiration to find our own alms, our own freedom, this deep aspiration to help others. And our ability, our profound ability to transform pain and loneliness into joy and love.

[27:29]

And to cultivate the mind of joy, the mind of love, and the mind of connection. And this line at the end of this poem, The black dragon jewel you have been searching for is everywhere. Reminds me of something that I spoke about recently of this statement by Suzuki Roshi in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. It's in the chapter on generosity in which he says, the purpose of our lives is to cross to the other shore. the purpose of our lives is to cross to the other shore, to find our own true home, our own true freedom, to cross from greed, hate, and delusion to a life of heartfeltness, a life of humanity.

[28:39]

And then he says, but the secret, the secret is is to realize that we cross this shore with every step or with every breath. I think this is another way of talking about meditation practice or Zazen practice is to try on and embody with every breath what is it like to actually be fully awake, fully alive right now. Can I appreciate this breath, this mind? So often we're searching for something, searching for something outside of ourselves. When I was in my early 20s, and I spent a few years living at Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm, and one of my teachers was...

[29:42]

a man named Harry Roberts, who was a Yurok Indian trained shaman. And Harry used to talk about how his teacher would select students. And one of the tests that his teacher would give was he would say to his potential students, go find go find 10 plants. So they'd be standing out in a field. I have this image of Harry's teacher standing out in a field, and his teacher would say, go find 10 plants, 10 different plants. And anyone who moved, who went away, would apparently not be accepted as Harry's teacher's student. It was the ones who stood in place. and looked down right where they were and could identify 10 plants. So the sense that Suzuki Roshi is saying, and the secret, the secret is to realize that we cross over, that we can find real freedom.

[30:58]

We can find real joy, love, and peace. big mind, wise mind, right where we are, that this is the secret. And right now we have the opportunity to stand still, to stay still, and in a whole different way, to look at what is there right now, wherever we are. I have to say I'm a little disappointed, but I'm also pretty happy with canceling my crazy travel schedule to not be going anywhere, to really not be going anywhere, to be appreciating my home and the local trails in ways that are helping me to not see through ordinary eyes or ordinary mind.

[32:02]

One of the exercises that I have done many times in a corporate setting, I've done this at many Google locations and other corporate offices to try to get across the idea of what does it mean to not see through ordinary eyes or ordinary mind, I would suggest that people just look at your hand. And we can all, if you're, I would invite you to just look at your hand. Just notice hand. And again, even our language, like, is this your hand as though this hand is separate from you? What a strange, But can you right now see how extraordinary this hand is, these fingers, these lines?

[33:18]

And maybe your own judgmental mind immediately arises. Why are my fingers so fat? And just be able to laugh at ordinary mind. But just see for a moment if you can. just appreciate and savor the awesomeness. Like, who made this? Who made this? Where did this come from? And how has this changed? And how will this change? So, you know, just as a very simple example. And everything is like this. Everything is like this when we allow ourselves to practice savoring, savoring the miracle of being alive, the miracle of being here right now. This, I think, is the gift of sitting still, being more still, the gift of our confinement, not seeing with ordinary eyes and not thinking with ordinary

[34:35]

mind, the gift of encouraging ourselves with complete sincerity. And I want to end with just a short verse by Dong Shan, who was the founder of Soto Zen in China in the sixth century. And it's a poem that I think goes so well in our current times. And he says, not being caught by it is or it isn't. Do you have the courage to be at peace with it? Everyone wants to leave the endless changes. Everyone wants to leave. the endless changes. But when we stop bending and fitting our lives, we come and sit by the fire.

[35:42]

When we stop bending and fitting our lives, we come and sit by the fire. So I think this is an incredible time and opportunity to notice our own wanting to escape from change, and there is no escape from change, but we're all in this together. The fact that we and everything are actually changing with every moment. This is one of Dogen's great teachings, his teaching where he says, do not think that firewood becomes ashes. Firewood is firewood and ashes are ashes. These are separate, completely separate events. And when we stop bending and fitting our lives, we come and sit by the fire.

[36:50]

So I want to, I have this maybe habit and reputation for breaking the rules. when I have done my talks in the Buddha Hall at Zen Center. And I'd like to go ahead and maybe continue that reputation. Let's see. I'm looking at a message from Joshin. Ah, too many people for breakout rooms. Sorry. So instead, I'd like to open it up for anyone that would like to make a comment or ask a question. It would be lovely to interact with you. I'm feeling a bit, it's a bit lonesome here in my home office and all of you are, you've been so quiet, so muted.

[37:59]

You've all been so muted. So, I would love to hear from people. So you can click the blue, raise your hand button at the bottom of the, I think it's the participant window. And I'm going to go there now. And I or Joshin will call on you. You could also... Try raising your hand and maybe we could fight, but that would be a little harder. I think we'll figure it out. Hey, Nancy and Miles, how are you guys doing? Oh, we're unmuted.

[39:05]

I unmuted you. Oops. We were just looking through all the beautiful friends and faces and just feeling warmth and connectedness. We've been sitting in the morning in the Zendo, the morning Zendo, and at the end, after we've all chanted... one of my favorite parts of the day is just scrolling through to see everyone's faces and names and see who else is in the Zendo. I've been doing that as well. And there's a certain intimacy about being in other people's living rooms. And seeing other people's altars is really sweet. Having our friends that needed to move away come back into the Zoom meeting. Right. I don't know if you can see in back of me on my wall, back there, that there's like a little painting.

[40:08]

It's an image calligraphy that was done by Huitsu, Suzuki Roshi's son. It's kind of a monk and a frog talking to each other. And the calligraphy says, everywhere you go is your temple. Are there hands up? Joshin, I could use your help here. I have a question for you. Yeah, Tova, hi. Hi, Tova Green. You spoke about grandmotherly mind. And I'm wondering about grandfatherly mind and what it's like for you to be a grandfather and now to be able to spend more time with your grandson. What does that add to your life? Thank you for that question, Tova.

[41:15]

And it's definitely busted my denial of that I'm getting older. I often say that when I turned 60, I had to change my pretend age from 37 to 47. And I have to say, I do revel in my own delusion of youthfulness. And fortunately, I feel like I'm in good health. And... So being a grandfather has, you know, it's powerful. I think especially since I actually never met either of my grandfathers. Both of my grandfathers died before I was born. And I barely knew I had one living grandmother who lived far away.

[42:20]

And I'm... I'm so just appreciating this miracle of my daughter, my daughter's son. And I don't know exactly why, but he seems to light up whenever he sees me. And we've been having a really good time together. And also I'll share that it, It also brings up the potent question, how much of this being's life will I be alive for? And it has a way of highlighting impermanence, and which can bring up a kind of sadness, and at the same time, incredible

[43:22]

appreciation and savoring of this time. Thank you. Hello, Mark. Hello. Mark, I'm dwelling on something you said from one of the earlier talks. Life is one conversation after another. And I'm curious if words are the result of our comparing mind uh what what is a conversation well you know uh yeah there's um uh you know i i've been uh noticing how much um much suffering there is not only in the workplace but in all parts of our lives with conflict and with people in conflict, people angry with each other, people not understanding each other.

[44:35]

And one of my favorite things to teach and to engage people with is to And I think this is, you know, to what I was talking about today was to not see with ordinary eyes and ordinary minds, I think means to let go, to not be so caught by our stories and to use our words really wisely, to use our words to understand more. I'm reminded of a kind of counselor therapist who I many, many years ago worked with. And she was a bit like a broken record to me. She said, Mark, you have to drop your story.

[45:35]

This was kind of marriage counselor dealing with during a difficult point in my own life. long-term relationship. And again and again, she would come back and say, drop your story and just love this other person. And if you don't drop your story, it's pretty predictable where things will go and it won't go well. And so, again, I think in some way, I think this is Dogen's message as well. But I think it takes both. I think there's becoming more skillful in using our words, but I think underneath the words is cultivating our own trust in ourselves. So thank you for that.

[46:37]

Mark? Yes. We have a request from Irene. If you could please repeat the name of the poem and author again. Yeah. Let's see. I read a couple of poems, but I think that one was by Dong Shan. That poem? Or there was also a couple of poems. There was a different poem that was within the Tenzo Kyokan. And... I think that poem was by Zen teacher named Setcho. I can, Joshin, I can send this to you or somehow maybe we can send out these resources to people who would be interested. Thank you, Mark. Thanks, Joshin. Also, we have one other question and then Susan has a question. Great. Kuya asks,

[47:39]

how can we realize that same deep appreciation for the miracle of death? Yeah, I was thinking about... I have to say I love the opportunity of... being able to to do these talks and i uh i spent many days sort of thinking about and preparing this talk and then i threw it out yesterday uh and started again uh which was a which um but so the talk i was going to give was about death and i was um Actually, I'll tell this story about... Some of you may have heard this story of when my mother was here in my home, and it was clear that she just had a few days left to live.

[48:57]

And she chose to spend these last few days on my living room couch. And... And one of her favorite things in the world was these fruit smoothies. And I made her a fruit smoothie. And as I handed it to her, she could barely talk, but she could talk enough. And she looked at me and she said, I'm trying to die. And you're bringing me these fruit smoothies. And I looked at her and said, it's fine with me, mom, if you die. I just want you to die healthy. And so I think, and I think of the intimacy and the miracle of breathing with her as she was breathing her last breath. And that, especially that, you know, that last inhale and

[50:03]

And when this great mystery... And I think in the very opening of Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, Suzuki Rishi says, you know, if we think that when we die, this is the end of our lives, this is a delusion. And if we think when we die, this isn't the end of our lives, this is also delusion. And I think this is, you know... the great teaching of Zen, this teaching of non-duality, that not one, not two. And I think there's so much that there is to learn from death, just as I was talking about what I'm learning by seeing the shortness of my life when I'm with my grandson. And I think grief, grief, I think, is a phenomenal emotion and teaching, as is joy.

[51:11]

And to see how connected they are beyond our usual stories. Hi, Mark. Susan. Hi, Susan. Hi. So I'm... I'm really turning that Rilke poem about folding. And I've noticed that for a day or so, I was able to, I had a mind or a different mind that felt comfortable. It was for me a comfortable way to deal with not knowing. And then I read something which was more negative than my mind was. And my mind resisted going there. So I felt like this wonderful new mind I had was then starting to fold in on itself to not go to some new place.

[52:14]

So I just how are you working with this kind of shifting? And whether it's comfortable or uncomfortable, I know you're saying not ordinary, right? So all of them are not ordinary, but how do you work with comfortable versus uncomfortable view? Yeah, I was kind of honing in on your word resistance also, you know, and that... I really love in Joseph Campbell's model of the hero's journey that it starts with the calling. What are you called to? What is your way-seeking mind? And that right away, and this is kind of a human pattern of resistance, right?

[53:21]

And to be able to see our resistance, to be able to see where we're folded, where we turn away, where it's hard, where we just want to be comfortable. I just want to be comfortable. And there's nothing wrong. Comfort's a great thing. Of course we want to be comfortable, but somehow to... Yeah. to notice our resistance, to notice we're folded, and to keep opening our hearts. And I think how it's just amazing, even on this sort of magical electronic thing that we have going here, I can feel you, Susan, right now, and your question and your smile and your words. Change me, I'm changed by how our connection.

[54:25]

By the versa. Thank you. Maybe if there's time, maybe another question. I'm so sorry that I couldn't get you all into groups. That was my plan. Hey, Mark, it's Peter in Belfast. Hey, Peter. I practice occasionally with Jean. I put up a question and I guess I'm seizing a little bit on some of the words around the sense that our enforced isolation is a moment of opportunity. And I accept that. And we touched on that actually in an earlier session with Jean and some of the practitioners here around Belfast. And yet I cannot avoid. Just naming that opportunity or recognizing that opportunity as a perspective of privilege.

[55:28]

It's not a choice or an experience that is universal, especially in the context of the. The handling of the virus within the American political system. And the consequence is the economic chaos for many individuals, the unnecessary exposure to the virus as a result of delayed action. So there's just a hesitation around seeing this as an opportunity, given that it's a very particular perspective and one that is certainly not universal, given the economic and social aspects fallout of this for many people who are very vulnerable in american society and many other countries at the moment yeah i mean again i don't at all want to downplay right the tremendous economic social health upheaval and that you know people are dying people are dying from this and

[56:40]

And people are hurting from this. So that's completely what's happening. And to not turn away from that. And it's fascinating. I read somewhere, I forget the exact line, but this idea that that government is evil or bad or that we should get rid of government, which has been, I think, a trend in the United States for the last 40 years. And I think we're seeing the incredible role, both in terms of protecting people, supporting people, compassionate government, I think has a tremendous role to play.

[57:46]

So yes, I think to me, Peter, it's yes. And to not be also submerged by the grief and difficulty and pain, but to, again, without turning away, to also... look for what's possible, what's possible now. What can we learn? What is there to learn from this in completely unexpected ways? Thank you. Well, thank you all. Thank you very much. Yeah, my feeling has been, you know, stay isolated and don't be isolated.

[58:49]

Stay connected. I've started reaching out and I'm going to have my first online dinners this weekend. I find I'm connecting to people that I've never had. I have more time now. Everyone seems to have more time. which is maybe not everyone, but many people have more time. And please use this opportunity to practice. Thank you very much. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them.

[59:50]

Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[60:03]

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