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. Stories to tell you today. I don't know how many I will tell. My first story is that I'm a storyteller. And I could say the next story or part of that story is I think you're storytellers too. But you can just take away I think and since I'm telling you stories I don't have to tell you I think these stories. I'll just tell them they're stories. So all living beings, all living beings are storytellers.

[01:03]

I would also tell the story that we living beings are addicted to storytelling. And I looked up the word addiction and I found an etymology which is one of the Latin words which leads to the word addict or addict is addictus and I think the past participle is I forgot anyway it means to give over to give oneself over to and the definition of it is something like to to devote time to devote time attention or oneself to devote oneself time and attention habitually compulsively

[02:56]

So, in other words, if we would devote time, attention, and ourself non-habitually, that would not be quite the meaning of addiction or to addict. That would just be to devote. It's the habitual part. And I tell the story that we are habitually giving our time and attention and self over to storytelling I'm not resisting that today I'm just these stories are flowing out of me and and it's my habit and so on however there's another story which is that by hearing stories this addiction to storytelling living beings can become free of the addiction of storytelling they can be they can tell stories or not tell stories free of the addiction and compulsion to tell them

[04:24]

The normal situation for living beings is that they are aware of the consequences of storytelling and the consequences of storytelling is that we are confined by our stories and the confinement goes with the compulsion to reiterate the confinement by telling more stories. All of our problems, all of our suffering in life are the consequences of this storytelling process. All of our problems exist within the cognitively constructed enclosure of the stories that our minds are involved with. and I have a whole bunch of stories.

[05:43]

I think the next part is like layers of sort of the same story. Here's a story. The story is that we have living beings who are addicted to storytelling and who are entrapped in the compulsion to continue and entrapped in the worlds created by stories. That's a sentient being. Sentient beings are like that. Sentient beings, however, can become what are called enlightening beings. And enlightening beings still are living within this enclosure and still operating with the habitual pattern of telling stories. And they become more and more willing to admit that they're telling stories and become aware of their telling stories And by becoming more and more intimate with the storytelling, they become more and more free of the addiction to storytelling and the consequences of the addiction to telling stories.

[06:57]

And they become what are called completely enlightened beings. And they don't have to be Buddhist to be entirely enlightened beings. We call them Buddhas... But Buddhas are not necessarily Buddhist. So any person of any background who becomes aware of their stories and becomes free of them completely is a Buddha. And then the Buddhas, the way they are, they are basically this freedom. They... they emanate teachings to living beings to help the living beings become aware of their storytelling, become intimate with their storytelling, and become free of the storytelling and the consequences of storytelling.

[08:04]

One more layer of the story is sentient beings can become enlightening beings, bodhisattvas, and they become enlightening beings, bodhisattvas, when in their storytelling consciousness, in the consciousness of telling stories, when a story arises like this, I wish to live a life which is devoted to the welfare of all beings. I wish to... I wish to develop virtues which could be used to benefit beings and also which can create a freedom from my storytelling so that I can become more and more and finally completely helpful and not just benefit living beings but liberate them.

[09:17]

When that story arises in the mind of a living being, This is called the arising of the thought of enlightenment or the spirit of awakening. It's the wish to realize full virtue, complete virtue of complete wisdom and compassion in order to benefit beings. And if this living being takes care of that story in karmic consciousness, they become an enlightening being, they become a bodhisattva. And then if they continue and continue and continue, they become Buddhas. So the story is all living beings who are trapped in the addiction to storytelling can become bodhisattvas and become Buddhas. And as bodhisattvas, they can help other sentient beings become bodhisattvas and become Buddhas.

[10:22]

And they can all, as Buddhas, they are fully, they fully realize the fruit of the practice of caring for the stories compassionately until the stories are perfectly understood and completely liberated. That's one story. Now here's another layer of that story which goes a little bit more into the into how this simple process of living being to enlightening being to Buddha goes. Here's a little bit more to the story. It's basically the same story going over in more detail, but also as I go over it, I'm actually relating to the story of it. I'm relating to this story, and in some sense, not exactly deepening the story.

[11:27]

The story may become more complex, but I hope to become more intimate with the story, and I hope you can too. Now, I think on Tuesday nights here, the abbess of Green Gulch, Linda Ruth Kutz, is teaching leading a class about vow precepts and and the precepts are connected to a vow and so and this vow is connected to a wish to benefit beings precepts are practices which help take care of the vow to benefit all beings, and the vow to benefit all beings arises from the wish to benefit all beings.

[12:36]

And the wish to benefit all beings can arise in a living being. You can wish to benefit all beings, and then you can intend to benefit all beings, you can intend to You can intend to live for the benefit of all beings and the liberation of all beings. And then there's a next step where you actually go through a process of committing to that wish. And then you go through the process of practicing the precepts to take care of that wish so that wish develops into Buddhahood. Does that make sense? many people wonder where does that vow come from and where does the wish yeah where does the vow come from and where does the wish that the vow is emerging is developing from where does the wish to liberate all beings come from and so here's another story living beings are living and telling stories in a

[13:59]

impulsive way and every story that they tell is what we call an action of thought and if you say it out loud of speech but you know your whole body is involved you know your body posture as you tell the story and the voice that tells it and the thought that's expressing that's being expressed those actions of body speech and mind are involved in the storytelling and all those actions have consequence and the consequences create a cognitive enclosure which living base think is their world I I wrote this little story a little kind of schematic of this story on this piece of paper and then it was stapled It's scratch paper, scrap paper, waste paper, recyclable paper.

[15:03]

So I'm recycling it. I'm writing on the back of this. And I turn it over to take out this staple. And it says on the other side, CommonDreams.org. I thought, how appropriate. And then I thought, well, maybe I'll read a little bit more. And it said, and this is written by Reb Eka. It says, every minute of every hour of every day, you are making the world. You might as well do it with generosity and kindness and style. I thought, again, how appropriate. Rabbi Eka said that, wrote that. Part of the world we live in is... Well, part of the world we live in, part of the cognitive enclosure we live in, is shared and part of it's not.

[16:29]

The part that's not shared are our individual sense organs. The parts that's shared are the colors, sounds, mountains and rivers and oceans and all living beings in their... grasses and the trees all that stuff is our shared dream I've seen the consequence of our of our shared dream is the shared consequences of our dreaming we make the world together we do make the world together the physical world and the way we sense it is is not shared that's our individual embracing of it that's another story So living beings are living in this constricted version of life. Our life is not actually enclosed in a world.

[17:31]

Our life is, I would say, whatever I say is a story, but I would say our life is not confined, is not what we confine it to be. life is not our story about it and our life is not just the consequences of the stories about our life and it's no other than that either so living beings are living in this enclosure and they're uncomfortable being enclosed there's something contradictory to their nature But also there's something not contradictory to their nature that they have created this enclosure. So we are enclosure makers and it's our nature to feel uncomfortable with the consequences of our work. And we are crying in that enclosure. Sometimes we go... Like a little baby.

[18:34]

Sometimes we make other sounds, but we are... we are actually crying out for help. We're making the world and then crying out in the world we make. And that cry is heard, that cry touches the enlightened beings who live with us. That cry touches the wisdom which is the fruition of working with these stories completely thoroughly which we call enlightenment or Buddha when we cry out in this world like right now I'm crying out I'm speaking I'm in the world the enclosure of stories and every story I tell is a cry it's a request to be met by enlightenment

[19:38]

If I tell a story about enlightenment, the Buddhas hear that as an invitation to the Buddhas. If I cry out in pain, the Buddhas hear that as an invitation to them. And they always respond. And we have the nature that we have... It's part of our nature to create this enclosure and it's part of our nature to be able to receive the response of the cry from our nature, from our world that we're creating. And when the response from those who have become free of this enclosure comes to our request in that interaction in our story world, in that interaction, this thought of, yeah, that would be totally cool to live for the welfare of all beings and to develop the skills in order to be able to live for the welfare of all beings.

[20:52]

I actually totally want to liberate all beings, even though I have no idea how to do it. I would like to learn the practices which accomplish it. That thought arises in a storytelling mind. And that thought is the conversion of the touch of the response. The response is not the words. The enlightened ones don't say, live for the welfare of all beings. The enlightened ones are those who have taken care of that thought for a really long time and they've totally gone beyond that thought. story they've realized liberation from all stories including the story I wish to live for the welfare of all beings when they really become fully endowed with the ability to live for the welfare of all beings they're free of that story about it and they and then they speak to us from that place beyond words they speak to us but not with words they speak to us with reality

[22:03]

And then when the reality touches us in response to our request, this thought arises. And then, again, if we take care of this thought for a long time, we become bodhisattvas. And if we take care of that practice for a long time, we become Buddhas. The Buddhas send Dharma to us And we make the Dharma the Buddha sends into, quotes, Dharma, unquote. And the Buddhists don't say, don't do that. They say, fine. And then they send us instruction about how to deal with what we made out of the teaching. So somehow they sent the message. And so now I want to say that this teaching that the teaching that they sent about, what do you call it?

[23:07]

Well, this teaching, perhaps I should have said, this teaching is particularly for those who are firmly and sincerely committed to the welfare of all beings and who are committed to practicing the precepts to care for that wish and that commitment. Because the teaching that what we're dealing with all day long is our storytelling or that everything we're dealing with is actually just a mental construction, then some people might say, well, then it doesn't matter whether I live for the welfare of all beings because they're just mental constructions. It's not that living beings are just mental constructions. It's that All I know about living beings is mental constructions. For me, there's nothing but mental constructions.

[24:17]

It's not that you are a mental construction or that I am a mental construction. So. I'm devoted to living beings. And if I feel that that's not important when I hear this teaching, then I should probably stop listening to this teaching and go back to see if I can find that devotion to living beings again. So I have said a little bit about this, now I say it again, that part of the teaching for those who wish to live for the welfare of all beings and who wish to give their life over in a non-habitual way, eventually, to the creation of a fully transformed living being

[25:50]

Buddha part of the teaching for them is the teaching which I have somewhat suggested to you of what's called the dependent co-arising of well up to pinnacle rising of experience of our life and also dependent co-arising of our stories and so this just the the simple the teaching is is the elucidation of the process of dependent co-arising of our world of our of our mind of our storytelling in hopes that this elucidation of this process of dependent co-arising will liberate us from this process of dependent co-arising that the study of the elucidation of how our mind and arises with the world and the world arises with our mind how our body arises with our mind and our mind arises with our body how the world arises with the body and our body and minds arises with the world these stories and the elucidation of them is given in hopes of liberating us from these stories from this body and mind

[27:19]

from the world which arises with the body and mind and in this story it seems like there's not really a beginning to this story but there is the story that based on the results of storytelling the results of storytelling support more storytelling and someone might say which started first the results of storytelling or the storytelling it seems like well most storytelling must have started first but when you just said that the storytelling is supported by the results of past storytelling so there's no beginning to this process and there's no end to this process but there is liberation from this beginningless and endless process where when we tell a story there's consequences And right now, the consequences of all our past storytelling is present now.

[28:20]

So our past is present now. My past, so to speak, our past, actually, our past is present now and is sponsoring the current storytelling. I'm telling stories. You're telling stories right now. You're telling a story about the world now, and I'm telling a story about the world now. And these stories we're telling right now are supported by all the stories we have told. And also my stories right now are supported by the results of your stories. Your past stories are supporting my present storytelling. The results of your past stories are supporting my present storytelling. And the results of my past storytelling are supporting your present storytelling. And the results of my past storytelling are supporting my present storytelling.

[29:25]

And the results of your past storytelling are supporting your present storytelling. Quite a few people have walked out of this talk today. And I don't know, I have a story about why they left. But it's more like a story of a possibility of why they left. I don't really believe this story. But when one starts to contemplate dependent co-arising of our storytelling, one becomes in touch, so often, with how giddy, how giddy the storytelling consciousness is. Whether you're meditating on it or not, whether you pay attention to your storytelling mind or not, it's still giddy. But you may not notice it. Or you may notice it.

[30:27]

But if you pay attention, you become more aware of how giddy it is. And giddy means to be excited to the point of disorientation and distraction. We have Our storytelling mind excites us and distracts us. It distracts us from whatever. We have this expression, a gourd in the water, if you push it down, it spins around. A diamond in the sunlight has no definite shape. Even a greatly cultivated person, like a sentient being who has become an enlightening being, even an enlightening being is turned about in the stream of words, in the streams of storytelling. And so one might feel disoriented and kind of nauseated or sick, seasick, as one becomes aware of the turbulence of the mind as you meditate on it.

[31:42]

Becoming seaworthy is an essential skill. So you can learn to ride the waves of your storytelling mind and stay upright and alert. And somehow, if you're intimate with the distracting power of storytelling, you can be more and more not distracted. still I imagine many people may have walked out because they felt spun around by this talking about how the consequences of my past storytelling are supporting your present storytelling and vice versa we are reciprocally together you and I and you and I with the mountains and the ocean We are making the mountains and oceans and the mountains and oceans are making us.

[32:48]

The mountains and oceans which are the results of our past thinking, our past storytelling. So someone said to me recently who was meditating on this dependent co-arising, she said something like, as I meditate on this dependent co-arising of this consciousness, of this Arising supported by past storytelling. Resulting in supporting further storytelling that process. I I start to feel. All alone. Which again is not so pleasant to become aware of. But this storytelling. Isolates us. We are born storytellers and therefore we are born exiled from each other and exiled from the world.

[33:58]

We're not really that way, but our mind makes it so. And as you become more aware of how your mind exiles you and how you're born that way, it's not easy to look at that. In order to study this storytelling process we must practice the bodhisattva precepts of compassion with the storytelling and with the feelings of alienation and aloneness that occur that arise in this mind-created enclosure. Being kind to that feeling of being alone is essential in order to become free of the feeling of being alone, the way, say it this way, the way we are not alone, the way we are not alone, and I can say it another way, the Buddha way that we are not alone is unknowable.

[35:04]

But we are addicted to knowing. So we make the way we're not alone, which is unknowable, we make it knowable. And when we make it knowable, we feel alone. We are not alone. And the way we are not alone is not knowable. We are not alone. That is actually our life. Our life is our life. You could say our life is the way we're not alone. That is our life. You could also say our life is not alone, but actually our life is the way we're not alone. But the way we're not alone is inconceivable and unknowable. Nonetheless, it is the way we are. Not alone. But we are addicted to knowing we have trouble living with a life

[36:13]

of not being alone that's unknown so we have equipment we have a consciousness we have an imagination we have a storytelling power and then we make a story of how we're not alone but when we make a story of how we're not alone we feel alone and then we make a story of that and tell somebody there is no way we are alone We are only alone by imagination. But the way we're not alone is not by imagination. It's by freedom from imagination. We are actually free of imagination in a way that we don't know. And to enter the freedom from imagination, the freedom from storytelling, we must... I say, I have the story, that we must... be very good storytellers.

[37:17]

We must be very aware of our storytelling and the teachings about, and all the stories about storytelling and the consequences of storytelling. We must learn to be intimate with the process of how our stories appear to work in order to become free of the appearance of how they work and enter into the actuality of how they work and enter into the actuality of how We are not alone of how we are born together, all of us and each of us, with the whole world. And by being kind to this process, by being kind to this enclosure, we can become free of it. And so we have, in the Zen tradition, we have many stories where students and teachers come together and look at the story together with the possibility of by studying the story, they will become free of the story and that they will eventually be able to do the same study of all stories in their daily life.

[38:41]

So both... looking at traditional stories that have been transmitted to focus on and to study together, to take that study also to the story of getting up in the morning, of talking with each other, of telling people that you're in pain, of listening to other people tell you they're in pain, and so on. To learn to be kind of these stories, order to become free of them I'm gonna say something now which I hope doesn't isn't too disturbing but it might be a little disturbing but I'm I think it might be helpful too I don't mean to disturb but I'm aware it's a little dangerous what I'm gonna say So what I'm going to say is that... This is a story, though.

[39:48]

It's a story I'm telling, right? The story is welcoming is the beginning of our business here. Here in the Zen temple. Wherever that Zen temple is, welcoming is the beginning of our business. In other words, our business here... in this temple, is to welcome each other. That's a beginning. That's not the whole story. I'm just talking about the beginning of the story now. So I wish to join that business, which I just said a story about. I wish to welcome you all. And there are other people here, and all of you may be like that, that you wish to welcome everybody. I don't know. But I'm just suggesting that the beginning of our business is not our only business.

[40:52]

It's the beginning of our business is the practice of welcoming. And then there's many other businesses we have. But at the end and the end of our business is liberating and completely enlightening all beings. That's the end of our business. And there's all kinds of virtues between welcoming and perfect wisdom that we also is our business. But I just thought I'd start with welcoming today. And someone came to tell me one time recently that they want to practice in this temple as much as he can. So he comes to the temple and he says... he sometimes doesn't feel welcome. So you go to a temple that some people say it's beginning business, it's first business is to welcome people.

[41:57]

You go there and maybe you think, oh, they're going to welcome me, or maybe you don't, but you want to be welcomed whether you think they're going to or not, which is a perfectly healthy wish. It's not good to expect it though. But you might expect it, and I would just say, you just did something which I said is not so good. So to go to a place that's called, you know, I don't know what it's called, it's called the Zen Welcoming Center, and to walk in expecting that they're going to welcome you, I would suggest be aware that that's a story, and be kind to that story, but don't believe that they're really going to welcome you according to your ideas. So this person says, I go to the Zen Center, but I don't feel welcome. And I said... I said, we're totally here to welcome you. However, I understand you may not feel that way. And I said, you may be surprised to hear that I sometimes don't feel welcomed here also.

[43:00]

And sometimes the way I might not feel welcomed is that I might go into a room and Not everybody in the room turns towards me and says, welcome! Like if I go into the dining room for dinner, people just keep eating. Mindfully, of course. They're eating for the welfare of all beings, of course. But they don't necessarily turn and say, just in case you're not sure, we're welcoming you. We welcome you. They don't necessarily say that, so I might think, I don't feel welcome. But sometimes it's more... It's kind of more gross than that. Sometimes people actually say, they actually seem to be like going out of their way to show me that I'm not welcome. Like I come into a space and they actually like get out. And then sometimes I ask them, are you trying to avoid me? And sometimes they say, yes.

[44:03]

In this temple. And at that point, I don't necessarily say, Are you, like, welcoming me with this, trying to avoid me? Is that the way you're welcoming? I feel like it's maybe enough that I found out that they are actually trying to avoid me. Right here in whatever you want to call, right here in Zen City, people look like they're trying to avoid me, and I ask them if they are, and they say yes. And then I say, thank you. when I ask them. Sometimes I wait for years before asking them, by the way. Sometimes they avoid me for a long time. And then finally I say, I have this fantasy that you're, I have this story that you're trying to avoid me. And the person says, yeah, I have an aversion towards you. And then they also say sometimes, they say, and I'm meditating on that. I'm wondering about that, what that's about.

[45:09]

And I say, thank you But I don't ask every time I feel unwelcomed. I'm not saying you shouldn't. That might be really cool to ask every time. You know, as a gift, as a welcoming. And I feel like usually I'm not going to ask that question unless I feel welcoming when I ask it. What do you call it? On the field of the practice, if you don't feel like you want to go out and practice welcoming, sit on the sidelines. And watch the people who are welcoming each other. And then when you feel ready to welcome, go out in the welcoming field. But it is, you know, I think it's almost in our charter of the Zen Center charter practically. We are here to practice Buddhas, compassion Buddhas. We are here to welcome all beings into the Buddha way.

[46:10]

We are here to welcome all beings into the way that we are not alone. However, practically speaking, sometimes we here get distracted by our karmic consciousness. Like a story arises about somebody, like this person is really obnoxious. A story like that arises, that guy is like... Really, it would be appropriate to avoid him. And then you get, and then that story kind of like spins you around and you forget that you're here to welcome everybody, including him. So you don't. And then after a few years, he comes and says, are you trying to avoid me? And maybe then you say, oh, I'm here. Yes, I am. But pretty good. So I understand that If you feel like someone's trying to avoid you, you might actually say, okay, maybe I shouldn't force myself upon them if they are, especially if they tell me they are.

[47:15]

You can welcome them, maybe, by giving them space from you if they ask you for it. They say, please don't come too close to me. And you don't have to ask them, but you can wonder. I wonder if that's their way of welcoming me, to say, please stay away. It could be. You could welcome somebody by saying, please don't come any closer. That could be your way of welcoming. Or, you're just the right amount of closeness now. That could be your way of welcoming. And almost nobody here would, I think, I never heard anybody say, we're here not to welcome people. I never heard anybody say that. But I have heard many people say, I do get so distracted sometimes, I forget to welcome. And sometimes people say, I feel unwelcome. And when I kind of bring that up with people, they say, you know, I'm really sorry. I'm so busy right now. I'm having trouble.

[48:17]

I'm so busy, you know. I'm so giddy. I'm having trouble, like, focusing on helping you, you know. It's hard, you know. Like in the kitchen, if somebody's working with something really hot, and you go over to them and say, please help me. They might say, you know, I'm so excited taking care of this hot thing. It's hard for me to, like... also welcome you. That's the limits of our ability to be upright in this spinning. Even though we really want to be generous and welcoming to each other, still, sometimes we cannot barely remember that. So not everybody in this room, and me being in one included, never gets distracted. Maybe somebody here never gets distracted, but Most of us get distracted from being upright and balanced in this tremendously dynamic storytelling mind. But there could be a story which is the wish to welcome all beings and also to be compassionate to my own forgetfulness of welcoming all beings and to be compassionate to others forgetfulness of welcoming all beings.

[49:36]

That's part of ethics. is to be patient with how slow some people are learning to be compassionate. And not to slander people who are not coming along very rapidly. And not think you're better than other people who are having trouble welcoming you. Well, I'm welcoming you, but you're not welcoming me. Well, that may be the case. But you could say that without thinking you're better than that person. where being better than them is not the issue, it's just that you happen to be blessed with the moment of welcoming, and they're saying they don't want to welcome. So, the more we practice welcoming, here's the story, the more we practice welcoming, the better we will be getting at welcoming, and the more other people will join the welcoming process. say you are welcome here and we want you to feel welcome yeah and we want you to join the welcoming process and even if people don't feel welcome we want you to learn to welcome not feeling welcome but I know it's hard to welcome not feeling welcome and that's a tough one but these enlightening beings

[51:08]

learn to welcome not being welcomed. And of course, Buddhas welcome not being welcomed. There are stories of Buddhas who do these amazing performances of welcoming not being welcomed. And some of us aspire to such unhindered welcoming activity, no matter what. is given they come back with welcoming and yeah but it may happen to you that what's given to you from another person here might not look like welcoming and I hope that you learn to welcome it and it doesn't mean that you don't say I have a gift for you and would you like to receive it And they say, what? Say, what?

[52:08]

And it might be a little difficult to receive this gift. And they say, oh, you want to read it? You want to hear it? Yeah. I just now didn't feel welcomed by you. And they might, they'll have a response. I don't know what it'll be. They might say, thank you very much. It is my intention to welcome you and I appreciate your feedback. And I aspire to be, I aspire to the practice of welcoming you in the future. Matter of fact, feel very welcoming of you right now but they might not say that they might say I don't want any feedback I got a headache so I hope you welcome that but please I welcome you I welcome you to tell me if you don't feel like I welcome you because I'm saying right out my practice is to welcome you that's my I'm I'm I'm devoted to that practice And I don't want to be addicted to it. I don't want to do it compulsively.

[53:10]

I want to do it wantingly. I want to do it because I want to do it. And if you feel like I'm not being welcoming, I welcome you to let me know. But I request that you let me know in a welcoming way. Like, hey, Rev, I got a gift for you. People do come to me and say, I heard you want feedback. Well, I have some for you. You want it? I say, thanks for asking. okay, just a second, let me get ready. And then I get ready for the feedback, for receiving the welcoming, and I appreciate that. That welcoming, that question about whether I'm up for it. And then, if I'm ready, please give it to me. And that's one particular type, and there's many other types which I invite. But that one in particular, very simple. If you don't feel welcomed by me, please find a welcoming way to tell me you don't feel welcomed.

[54:11]

And I am vowing to welcome you're telling me that you don't feel welcomed by me. If you feel like I'm not being generous, I welcome you to tell me you don't feel like I'm being generous in a welcoming way. If you can't do it in a welcoming way and you have to do it in an unwelcoming way, I will try to welcome that too. But I actually would like you to do your best to help me. And if you're not in the mood to do your best, I guess if you were asking me about somebody else, you say, I want to give somebody some feedback, but I don't want to do it in my best way. I would say, well, why don't you wait until you want to do it your best way? And when you feel like, yeah, I'd like to really give them some really helpful feedback, and I really would like to benefit them, even though it's difficult feedback. I really feel I want to help them. I say, well, I support that. If you carefully, gently... generously, patiently offer the feedback. I support that. But if you feel impatient and stingy and mean and angry, then I would say, well, wait until later to give them feedback.

[55:18]

Go sit in the sidelines for a while and watch the bodhisattvas until you feel like, I'll try that too. So I've been talking about our addiction to knowing, our addiction to storytelling, our addiction to storytelling about our life so we have a way of knowing because we do know stories. We can know them. They're a graspable way of relating to our life. And I'm not saying stop it to myself or you. I'm saying let's be really kind to it and aware of it and listen to all the teachings about how to become intimate with storytelling. This is a in a sense, our basic addiction. The other addictions that we know about, the other habits and compulsions arise out of this basic one. They're important too.

[56:20]

And the same way of practicing with them, the same way of practicing with the basic affliction, the basic addiction, applies to the other ones. And there's subtleties, which many people are experts at, of, you know, the... Those different varieties of addiction have various subtleties of how to be kind to them, which I didn't talk about, which is this huge topic, right, about how do you help people who are addicted to this? How do you help people who are addicted to that? Different types of compassion, different forms of compassion to different types of addiction. So like some forms of addiction, it's really good to say, I'm not going to support that. That could be a really generous response to it. Other types of addiction, you might say, I support it. I'm going to support you to do it. As a way to help the person become kind to it and free of it. The agenda of all this work with all the different varieties of addiction, I think, is to become free of them.

[57:22]

Not to kill them, which sometimes people would like to have, where some people are addicted to killing addictions. Not to be mean to the addictions. To be kind to them. more and more profound and unattached ways to relate to these addictions which are which were born were born with born the addiction to knowing to making the unknowable noble because we feel a little uneasy with inconceivable unknowable reality of how we're not alone Thank you for listening to this children's talk. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive.

[58:24]

Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org. and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[58:44]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_95.24