where are they? I don't see them out here. And they wanted their goat carts and their deer carts and their bullock carts. And he gives each one of, he didn't have any goat carts or deer carts, but he did bring out the great big bullock. What's a bullock? A big ox, big white ox. A big cart, bullock cart that he brought out. Not only one, but one for each one of them. They all got the same big beautiful cart. And he said to his children, all my children I give equally. I love them without partiality. And I have these boundless possessions that I can give and I just want to give them the best so that each one can ride on the great big cart. And they're going to get this big giant cart that's,

[01:04]

they describe it, it's got railings and little bells and rosy covered cushions. They really describe this cart in a lovely way. And they all get one. They all got what they didn't expect. They didn't all expect to get this and they all got this big one. So I think that's basically the parable. So one of the first things that the Buddha asked when he's done telling the story is did the Buddha tell a falsehood? Did the Buddha lie? Which comes up, you know, did the Buddha, is that lying? Did the Buddha lie? What do you think about that? He did give them carts. It's true. He gave them carts, but not what he said he gave, not what he promised, but he gave them something, right? Yeah. One of those did and he did, but he didn't think, depends on how you

[02:06]

want to look at it. Technically he did, but you know, the spirit of the precept and everything, like when the Germans lied about the Jews being hidden, I mean, when the residents lied about hiding Jews and the Germans and stuff, it was a far better thing to lie for. So it really, it's not a precept, it's a merciful act. So when we speak falsely for the reasons of compassion, you're saying that's actually following the precepts, the deeper meaning of the precepts, rather than sticking to the literal. So there's lots to say about this parable. I happen to have this book, which I brought with me and hadn't had a chance to look at, which is Master Hua, from the Ten Thousand, City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and there's a volume on just chapter

[03:07]

three, thick, where he goes through line, word by word, line by line, like I just opened it and the railings, the little red railings around the ox, around the bullet cart are mean, I mean, there's meanings, he says in the commentary for every single thing. The railings are dharanis, that you are guarded on the sides by dharanis. And I haven't had a chance to look more deeply into it, but I think every little thing, I'm interested in what the rosy cushion means, but the bells and the, what is it figuratively and poetically describing, symbolically, what is it describing? So how do we understand this parable that it's a wonderful, or I don't know if you call it wonderful, it's a story, it's a memorable story, you can remember the story, but what is in it for us? How do we understand the meaning of the story? So, which, you know, after the parable,

[04:15]

the Buddha goes through, the meaning of the different things. So in the parable, the great elder is the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha in this case, I think, the World Honored One, and the kids are us. And what is the burning house? Samsara. You know, this, what do you think about that? This, what looks like getting out of samsara, is that, how does that sit with you? What looks like getting out of samsara? Renunciation? Acceptance? If it's samsara, it's also alive.

[05:20]

And there's also the arrogance of the Mahayana. If you look at the cards as the Vishravaka, the Pratyekabuddha, and the Buddha vehicles. Well, it's the Buddha vehicles that we all want to be on. But it's like, am I being tempted out of my life by some promise of red railings and rosy cushions? You know, my image was of actual vehicles, like, you know, the go-kart, my little Subaru, you know, instead of a pickup, you know, fancy cushions and stuff. And I was like, what's the temptation? I think this is a really important point, actually, this parable for this, the, you know, the teaching that samsara and nirvana are non-dual, right? So if we understand that somehow we're being lured out

[06:31]

of samsara, well, I thought samsara and nirvana were non-dual. What's that all about? I thought we weren't into, you know, getting off the wheel and getting away from the life of suffering and the life of suffering beings. And so, I think this is an important point, that the burning house or what looks like a dilapidated house is how we see things before we really understand. It's before Buddha's knowledge, I guess they say, it looks like that. It looks like that and we're not even paying attention, you know? And it catches up eventually, the fire does come eventually, even while we're playing, it's like, gee,

[07:37]

where did my life go, you know? I've got so many regrets. Oh, my gosh. You know, that happens, right, to people? So, but I don't, I think it's important to look at the coming out of the house is not leaving samsara behind, it's completely understanding our life, completely understanding the wheel, turning it forwards and backwards, you know? So, being human, and we do like to play with stuff, you know, we do like to sit in the sun and have a snack, right? So, what are the play things, what are the things that are offered and shown that make us prick up our ears and turn

[08:38]

our attention and say, oh, I'd like to, I'm interested in that, I want to do that, which will help us to see what the burning house, what it looks, to really see what it is. Do you see what I mean? So, I think it can be misunderstood as trying to get out of our life or some kind of transcendence, you know, transcending out of our daily life, and I just feel very cautionary about that, trying to get rid of or get out of, rather than to completely understand. And when they got out in that square and they looked back, I think they, oh, my goodness, that was problematic in there, you know? Yes? It seems like, also to back up a little bit, that he was really careful in his karmic effect on the whole situation by choosing,

[09:40]

by making sure he chose the proper action to make sure that everything came out in a way that his little sufferings as possible could help him. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. This thing about he could have hauled them out by himself, this is also an important point, be dragged out in that, he might have missed a few, but also once they got out, they would have thought, gee, Dad, what would you bring us out, and they would have run back in, because they didn't go out by their own accord. This some other, some other being, and this happens sometimes in spiritual practice, we kind of, it's not by our own understanding, we get charmed, we get enchanted sometimes by teachings and teachers sometimes, and we go places in ways that actually, it's not coming from our own understanding, it's, we're kind of caught in a way, just like this elder

[10:43]

could have caught his kids and hauled them out, but that wouldn't last, you know, because they just want to go back, because the placings they think they want are still in there, you know. I think it's interesting that there is no attempt to put the fire out, and I interpreted that along the lines of what you were just saying, is that there's not an attempt to deny samsara, or to deny the placements, but there is an attempt, it's not about inside and outside, it's about broadening a perspective to say, there is desire, there is samsara, it's not sinful, it's not bad, it's just a delusion, and there's a way of thinking beyond that, which is the courtyard and the ox cart, so to me, it's not about inside and outside, it's about taking the perspective of the burning house and broadening it, and not deny the fire, because I think that was interesting, nobody runs for a fire, in the whole paradise. Yeah, yeah. Broaden the perspective, yeah, yeah.

[11:52]

Rather than to declare something as bad and evil and must be gotten rid of, we can just enlarge the field. Yeah, and to understand, having been there, and when we only had the placements and didn't realize, and then to see it, then you can help other people to see it too, I think, once you see, yeah. But the only way to do that is to get beyond the burning house, to be able to turn around and look at it and see what it is. Somebody here, yes? It sounds like a good thing that the house burned down, that it was indeed rotten and fully permanent. Yes. That that was a blessing. Who would want to save a house like that? Yeah, yeah. You know how all analogies and parables only go so far, you know?

[12:54]

So I think this terrible house of being caught by the desires and cravings and the afflictive mind, which I think this house is, you don't want to really save that, but you want to understand what it is, how it got that way. How come it was falling apart? Why wasn't it being taken care of? How do you take care of a house, you know? So when we understand how a house can be that way, then we can do repairs, help people who live in places like that. How was it that the house caught fire? It doesn't really say. It just says kind of all of a sudden, right? I don't remember who put the match to it. You know, spontaneous combustion? You know, sometimes, like, there are probably old rags under the stairs, oil-soaked rags, and they just...

[13:55]

Yes, because of the possibility. What do you think? Oh, set it on fire himself, the elder? That's a thought. It's just somebody accidentally rolled the wheel backwards. Don't continue to roll the wheel backwards. I think it's interesting that this owner of the house was wealthy and powerful, yet this wealthy and powerful man had a house that was in deep trouble. And the only thing I can make of that is that, really, to his point of view, it wasn't the same kind of problem that it was for the children, and he wanted to bring the children to the point of view that he had, which was the broader point of view, to live in the world, but not of the world. Kind of.

[14:56]

So, the fact that he was wealthy and had this dilapidated house was not so much a problem for him because he had it in perspective in some way, but for the kids who didn't have the perspective, then it was dangerous and problematic. Right. Did the house actually burn down? What does it say? Well, I think the burning of it... 93. Break, split, and topple down. Walls and partitions crumble. I don't know if it ever says that it actually is totally destroyed, but... I just had an upswelling of tiredness.

[16:04]

Tiredness. So I'm ready to stop, actually. What I was hoping to do for the next class, or the next Dharma event, which is, I think, in two days, was to have the parable, you know, I had mentioned this before, acted out. And I was... My idea, actually, there's two parables. There's this parable, and then in the next chapter, in faith discernment, there's the parable of the son that leaves home, the son of the rich person who leaves home and then returns. So there's two parables, and I was... that come one on top of the other. In my mind, I imagined nothing really elaborate, no garden way carts that are all decked out in bells and so forth being hauled in. Or maybe that would be a good idea. But anyway, just maybe a narrator, or maybe the children, the elder and some children.

[17:10]

And would anyone like to volunteer to act out the parable? I'm not sure how many, maybe five or something like that? Okay, just a second here, I want to write these names down. When are we allowed to practice to do this? That's a good question. Should we do it after the day off? Then we have Sashin, that was the... Oh! On the day off time? You know, I... Let's see, when would be a good time? We have one more Tashar week and a day off, and then we have Sashin, right? So if we... I was hoping to do it before the Sashin, and I don't know how much time there is to do it really. It could be, if it were a simple thing, which, you know, just no costumes really, nothing elaborate, or maybe just a hat or something very simple,

[18:13]

then you could just meet together after supper or whatever and work out who's going to do what. That's about the level. I really don't want to, I should say this, I don't want it to be like mid-practice period skits, you know, to go in that direction. More of a morality play, or just a visual rendition of the parable. Simple. That's what I was hoping. A few minutes after lunch might do it. OK, so I saw Jackie and Tova. Devon. Maybe a couple more, I don't know. What do you think? We need some kids, we need a goat. What, what? Can the text be read? Yeah, you could read, readapt it.

[19:14]

Like kind of reinterpret it? Like, I mean, like, do you mean to be deliteral? I think if you stay with the story as it is, but it could be modernized or something if you want. As long as it's, yeah, as long as it stays with it and doesn't go off into a lampoon of it, you know what I mean, a parody, then actually it's a way to show this particular parable. Anybody else, a couple more? Don't all raise your hands at once. All right. OK. Who else? One more? OK, Pru. Good. So, did you all see who each other, everybody saw who you were, Chris, Pru, Jackie, Devin, Tova. Thank you, thank you very much. And one other thing, this is, is that OK? This is something Carol made for a Lotus Sutra class.

[20:18]

Skillful means speak to everyone where they are on the path. You start out with the shravakas. I'll post this. And this is a guy kind of on a, is it a kind of a tractor thing? Kind of a farmer kind of on this. Then you've got the pratyekabuddhas, this lonely child pulling his wagon with a little dog sitting in the wagon. Then you've got the bodhisattvas and it's these pigs that are hauling furniture and they're crying, looks like they've had to leave their house or something. These little pigs. And then it says Buddha draws them to himself and to the ultimate truth. And then on the back, there's the one vehicle and it's this giant kind of a flatbed truck pulled by a horse and they're all on top. You see? It reunites all the disciples and paths of practice into the one great family of the Buddha. I don't know where I can put this where you can see both. Maybe we'll post it. Oh, OK, good. Let's do that.

[21:23]

OK, thank you very much. Is this guitar here to be used? Say that again? Is this guitar here to be used? It's not going to be used today.

[21:32]

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