This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Once again, I have been presenting stories of face-to-face transmission, stories of Zazen. enacted between human beings. Stories of relationships which are demonstrating zazen. Demonstrating the Buddha mind seal. Demonstrating body and mind dropping off. And then, I think maybe day before yesterday, and also yesterday, the issue of the fierce fires that are burning in this world, fires of ecological and global disaster scale, and also disaster at a personal level, where people...

[01:33]

are suffering so much they want to kill themselves as a way of coping with the pain so we have all these flames that we're living in and so I share the vision with you that Buddhas all Buddhas are sitting in the middle of fierce flames turning the Dharma wheel they all live in the middle of all the flames of suffering of the world and they sit completely still and they're very active in that stillness turning the Dharma wheel transmitting blessing to all beings who are also sitting in the middle of all the suffering.

[02:46]

Everybody, each of us, is sitting in the middle of all the suffering. Buddhas are the fruit of training. allows one to sit still in the middle of all the suffering we're all sitting in the middle but our training may not be complete or sometimes it's quite complete for the moment and we can sit still but then the next moment we may try to get away from our position our true position our dharma position which is sitting in the center of the universe of suffering that's our dharma position each of us has that dharma position and seshin is a time when we can actually train to fully accept our dharma position

[03:59]

And what may be hard to believe is that when you fully accept your dharma position, your eyebrows raising, your frowns, your smiles, your hand gestures, your body, everything about you transmits the dharma, transmits wisdom to the flames, out into the flames. out into all the beings who are sitting in the middle of flames. And this transmission encourages them to sit in their Dharma seat. They might even think, if she can sit still in the middle of those flames, maybe I can too. If she can sit still and be alive in those flames and smile and wish me well, and exude that kindness from that center in pain, maybe I could do that too.

[05:12]

Buddhas are doing that. They are transmitting encouragement for everybody to sit in their Dharma position. In other words, they're transmitting encouragement to sit zazen. story I often tell is a story of seeing a motion picture which I believe was filmed in the 60s so I saw this motion picture of a fire and in the middle of the fire was like a mound a dark mound which looked maybe like a person sitting in the middle of the flames a person who had set himself on fire And the mound was sitting still. And I thought, well, it's just the charred remains of this Buddhist monk who set himself on fire. Otherwise, I couldn't imagine how the mound would stay upright.

[06:21]

I thought it would fall over. And then it did fall over, which made sense to me. And then it sat up again. I guess an arm reached out from the mound. And pushed the body upright again. And then I was astounded. The person was still alive. And still wishing to sit up straight in the midst of the flames. As a demonstration of I will die for peace. To end this war. Please stop this war. That's how important it is to me. And I thought, how can a human being do that? And I don't know what I thought, but maybe I thought I think they have to train a long time to be able to sit upright in those flames. So it is normal, I think, to find it difficult to believe that if you can sit in your diamond position in this pleasant valley in the midst of your flames and in the midst of your pain about the flames of the wider world, that if you can sit there and be that way, that the way you live from not sitting saves the world.

[08:10]

It doesn't put the flames out. As far as I can see, they haven't been out since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, but there has been a transmission of this practice so that some people find a way to be peaceful in the midst of the flames without complaining or blaming other people or taking revenge on other people for these flames and transmitting generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligence, enthusiasm, tranquility and wisdom, and doing this for the welfare of all beings and showing that again and again, it's hard to believe that that could be so. But that's my proposal, is that our practice is to sit and transmit the practice.

[09:12]

to others who will receive it and sit and transmit it to others who will receive it in the continuous flames. In the continuous flames of pain and also the continuous flames of the causes of the pain. unskillful behavior the unskillful thinking that gives rise the unskillful karma dash thinking that gives rise to these flames the practice goes on in the middle of that and once again each of us is sitting in the middle but we have relatively relatively realized commitment

[10:13]

that's sitting in these flames. But we're all sitting in the middle of them. Whoever's outside is welcome to come in. Who is that? It looks like somebody with a top knot. I wonder who it's going to be. Welcome. Welcome, whoever you are. Come in to the Zendo. It is a top knot. Please have a seat in the middle of suffering. The best seat in the house. Each of us has the best seat. Our seat. Now, these stories, these stories of the transmission of the practice that we've been going through for the Indian ancestors, now we're at ancestor number seven, maybe, or eight.

[11:34]

These stories I could see as stories about people, Maybe a teacher who has learned how to sit in her seat and not try to get away. Really accepting her position at the moment. And a student who's pretty accepting of her position. Who's still in the middle of all suffering and they meet and they converse and in the conversation the student settles completely the conversation is you know not at the level of the student you know running away from the monastery it's at the level of they're here they're courageous but there's a little bit of wiggling maybe in their mind some subtle wiggling

[12:46]

Some subtle thinking that there's something other than this that is the Buddha way. They don't quite believe that their job is to completely accept all suffering in order to liberate all beings. But pretty much they do. So this conversation just adjusts a little bit and boom. Finally they're completely present with all beings. So Valerian said, I thought Soto Zen is, I heard Soto Zen is gradual enlightenment, but these are stories of sudden enlightenment. Well, you could tell the story that these people in the story evolved gradually for a long time, trying to accept their position. And now they're pretty much almost there. And they accept their position with help.

[13:48]

And when they accept their position, then immediately that is, that is Great Awakening. You could say it's sudden, but basically it's in that instant that they accept their position. That is enlightenment. When a sentient being accepts their position as a sentient being right here and now, that's what enlightenment is. And that is in a moment. And it maybe takes a long time to practice like that. So you could say the enlightenment is always sudden. That it's always sudden that you're where you are and accepting where you are. That's in a moment. And you could say it takes a long time to be able to do that. And in the next moment, you may be able to accept being who you are again.

[14:50]

And that's another great awakening. And so on. Every moment that we're who we are completely, that's precisely what is enlightenment. And we don't get to that place by ourself. We get there with the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And also there's Often, at the moment of settling, there's often a helper. Did I say often? Always. We do not find this place by ourself. Shakyamuni Buddha, everybody in the universe helps Shakyamuni Buddha. He's kind of an exception in a way that he has so much help. But really... it's the case always that the whole universe helps the person but sometimes it helps the person with another person right nearby but always everybody's helping us take our seat because our seat is determined by everybody because our seat is in the middle of everybody so everybody supporting us to be where we are and sometimes there's a person there who we're

[16:16]

having a conversation with. So conversations are a big part of being able to accept our position. So are you ready for another story of our ancestors? Are you ready? Yuki's ready. So I'd say we have Shakyamuni Buddha, he's not considered an ancestor, poor guy. He's just a Buddha. Then we have number one. We have number one. We have number two. We have number three. We have number four. We have number five. We have number six. And now we have number seven. Vasu Mitra in Sanskrit. So there's a very famous Vasumitra in Indian Buddhist history and in the Zen records it doesn't say that our Vasumitra is that Vasumitra but it might be, I don't know.

[17:30]

So the Vasumitra that's very famous is who lived about the same time as this Vasumitra would have lived was like we say the president of the Abhidharma convention and at the fourth great council of Buddhism which was held about maybe too long after Buddha but was held about you know 400 years after Buddha died and at that meeting various interesting compilations of Abhidharma material occurred and the leader of the meeting was Vasumitra so Vasumitra is name in our lineage and we have some stories about this Vasa Mitra and today I'll tell you one of the stories about the naked Vasa Mitra and the neck one of the stories about the naked Vasa Mitra is that he always wore clean clothes you always work work clean robes

[18:39]

another thing about him was that in the village where he lived he he walked around with a wine vessel I guess pretty much all the time he walked around with a wine vessel singing or whistling and people thought he was crazy So that's the beginning of the story of Vasimitra. Also, he wouldn't tell people his family name. So here we have this person who, I don't know, maybe he was pretty good at accepting his position at the center of all the suffering in the world and he...

[19:46]

had a wine vessel with him and sang songs. And he was pretty present for his life in the middle of suffering. But he could sing. And he could, I guess, keep living with people saying that he was crazy. So, Michaka or Mishratka is traveling around. Remember, he was the one who had like 7,000 wizard disciples. 8,000. 8,000. Sorry. 8,000. So I don't know if all 8,000... converted to Buddhism when he did but anyway he kept traveling around singing his song side by side with lots of disciples and he was traveling in northern India did I tell you that Vasumitra was from northern India he was so his village was in northern India and Mishraka was traveling around with his group of students teaching at various locations in northern India

[21:15]

And they came to this village. And when he got to the wall of the village, he saw this kind of like these golden clouds above the village. And he said to his approximately 8,000 attendants, there's somebody in that village who is a great being. and they will become my disciple and receive the transmission of my Dharma. Let's go in there and see what's up. So the village, I guess, got inundated with all these people. And guess who comes by? Vasu Mitra comes walking by and sees Michaka Meshaka, and he goes up to him, and he says, you know what I have in my hand?

[22:28]

And Meshaka said, that vessel is not a pure vessel. And... Batsumitra takes the wine vessel and places it in front of Mishraka and formally bows to him and pays his respects. And then teacher says to the student he just met who he has predicted will receive his Dharma who he says is a great being he says to the student is this vessel my vessel or is this your vessel and Vasumitra

[23:44]

was thinking about that and then Mishraka said if it's my vessel then It is your original inherent nature. If it's your vessel, then you will receive Dharma from me. And Vasumitra completely settled into being Vasumitra and realized great awakening. That's the main story.

[24:54]

It goes on, but I'm going to stop there with that main conversation which helped teacher and disciple completely be teacher and disciple. Helping each other completely be still in being completely themselves and thereby completely awaken to the Buddha's to the unborn nature of all things. That conversation promoted the realization of the unborn nature of all being, which, as you know, we dedicate the merit of the bodhisattva

[25:56]

confession and repentance ceremony to the unborn nature of all being. And that's sort of the story for today. I just wanted to mention one other thing, which is not the story. And again, the story goes on, but I just wanted to mention that when we, I often think when we chant the ehe koso hotsugamon, which again means the mon, the verse, for arousing the vow. So that verse is to arouse the vow. Bodhi? Dogen used that verse to arouse his vow.

[26:58]

And we use that verse to arouse our vow. So in there it says, by revealing and disclosing our lack of faith and practice, doesn't say and, but anyway, our lack of faith and practice, or our lack of faith practice, or our lack of faith in practice, various ways, but it says faith practice, by revealing our lack of faith practice or faithful practice before the Buddhas, melts away the root of transgression by the power of this confession and repentance. So the way I understand that now is that by the power of this practice, the root of transgressing from the practice melts away the root transgressing from the practice however it doesn't eliminate all the transgressions in the universe it doesn't eliminate the flames of suffering it eliminates being trans being transgressing away from or being distracted from sitting in the middle of all

[28:27]

evil and suffering. So this practice doesn't eliminate the flames, it eliminates the root of running away from them and denying them and trying to manipulate them. It eliminates the transgression from our position in the middle of the universe. But where we're sitting still is surrounded by all beings. It doesn't eliminate all the beings. It eliminates running away from our responsibility. That's the way I understand it. And one other thing that pops up is Buddhas, what do they do? They give up their attainment. Is that how we say it? They attain Buddhahood. and then they leap beyond it. They attain Buddhahood and give up the attainment.

[29:32]

That's what Buddhists do. They don't hold on to their attainment. They do have attainment, and then they give it up and attain again by giving it up and give it up, always going beyond. We don't have these Buddhists who arrive and stay in attainment. We have Buddhists who arrive and leap beyond. So I now, if you wish to offer something, you're welcome to do so. And I'll put on my hearing vessel. The Chinese character is like wine, then has a character which means instrument.

[30:33]

equipment so that character depending on what it applied to if it's applied to wine it could be a vessel so it could be a bottle a cup a goatskin you know it because it just says it's wine equipment so now I'm putting on my hearing equipment yes questions for you. When I heard the story that you told today, what came up for me was that it was an awakening and a sobriety story. When you introduced it, it gave me this sense that the origins of the story might or must even have something to do with

[31:47]

The village, yeah, a guy drinking around the village who meets a great teacher who helps him awaken to being able to deal with the world. Thank you. In his sober mind. Yeah. And perhaps through that, a greater awakening to the interconnectedness of all beings. But I had a fear also come up that maybe that is taking something from the story by, I don't know, like imbuing some of my own cultural values onto the mythological objects, you know, like the vessel of wine, the wine carrying vessel. And I was wondering if you had any thoughts about that, about bringing my cultural mythology and mapping onto these stories. I think if you're aware that that's what you're doing, that could be quite useful.

[32:48]

If you do that without being aware that you might be doing that, I think you're not as centered. But I think part of what Buddhism needs is people to interpret these stories from unprecedented perspectives. Like, for example, from recovery perspective. It doesn't say that he was a drunk, but he could have been. It could have been like he was sitting in the middle of suffering, but he had one thing that he was doing, which is kind of slightly knocking him off center, is this wine bottle, which may or may not have had wine in it. Like my granddaughter has these little cloth zebras which she takes with her most places. And she uses them to help her stay in this world.

[33:51]

She puts them in her mouth and rubs the soft texture and she can be here. It's a little bit of a tranquilizer that she carries with her. And maybe his bottle was a little bit of a tranquilizer in the middle of suffering. And then he used that that bottle that vessel as a centerpiece and the teacher said this is not a pure vessel this is not this is not pure thing to use to be in your position but and so then the teacher uses the thing which is not pure he uses the impure thing which this guy carries with him Yeah. Which could be seen as his one last or his main addiction that he carries with him.

[34:53]

He presents his addiction to the teacher and the teacher uses the... And the teacher says, this is an impure thing. This is an addiction. But they then use this addiction as the pivot of the story. Is this addiction yours or is it mine? And then they... So that interpretation that this bottle represents the way he came to sobriety and that in sobriety he was able to be completely present, that perspective, I would say, especially if you know that you just brought a perspective, is necessary. And we need to understand that all perspectives are equally valid. And none of them should be attached to because the other ones are valid. So we shouldn't hold this one, but we might bring this one. So today you brought that one.

[35:54]

Thank you very much. And now you can not hold on to that one. But it sort of points to, again, to look at the story and see we bring our addiction to the teacher. The teacher says, is that addiction yours or mine? And then we think, whose is that? Is that my pacifier or Is that my addiction or is it the teacher's? And then the teacher says, if it's yours, it's this way. If it's yours, if it's yours, then you must receive the Dharma from me. If it's mine, then this is your original nature. Thank you very much. Thank you. Can I ask one more question? Yeah? Is this an addiction? No. Well... In the transition that you offered at the beginning of this lecture, in my mind, I drew a comparison that named the little girl threatening suicide a product of spite and conceit, whereas the monk's self-immolation is great activity.

[37:08]

And I was wondering if you could say more about that, because I don't feel... Like that example I used just recently, about 14 years ago or so, when my grandson was here, and he was kind of angry about being separate from his mom. Anyway, his thing he was doing was a little boy doing that, but he was allowed to do that. And then he could see what it was. So it's not so much for me to judge the teenage girl, but for me to observe her with eyes of compassion and she can wake up to what she's up to. And the same with the monk burning. It's not for me to say, that's great activity, but for me to watch with eyes of compassion and for he and I to wake up to what it is.

[38:12]

So I'd rather not judge it. Obviously, he did an amazing thing, but maybe he was, I don't know, sitting there thinking, this is really going to impress the people. You know, Walter Cronkite's going to just be really impressed. He might have thought that. I don't know. He might have said, I'm the greatest monk in all of Vietnam, or whatever. Or he might have just been self of no self, of self, no self. I don't know. And the girl, too, I don't know who she is. But it's for her to say, you know, I can now see that I'm just angry and trying to hurt my parents. That's what I'm really up to. And this is really not going to do me any good. It's for her to see that if that's the case. But I think I want her to. I pray for her to be able to fully occupy her position which might temporarily include the thought, I'd like to kill myself to get out of here.

[39:18]

Even that thought, I could say now, that thought is an impure vessel that she's been carrying around. And if she brings that vessel, I'm thinking of killing myself, to the teacher, the teacher can say, this is not a vessel that's going to work for you, really. And the teacher says, if it's you, Is that your vessel or my vessel? Is this thought of suicide your vessel or my vessel? So I think that even if that thought is a spiteful thought, and even if it is an impure vessel, we can use an impure vessel to realize a pure vessel. So, yeah, that's the way. For me, that's the point, is not to judge her, but... use whatever she brings, and not to judge him, but use whatever he brings. And what that monk he brought inspired me to learn how to be able to sit through flames.

[40:21]

And if she comes, she inspires me to be with her and not fall into judgment of her, but just let her know that I'm here watching her and listening to her so she can watch herself and listen to herself. And if she listens to herself wholeheartedly, she will wake up. But the karmic consciousness is a hard place to listen because it's very giddy. It's so active that we get distracted. So it's very hard to really listen with this tremendous activity and excitement going on. But this is what we're trying to learn. story and I really enjoyed also and Dylan shared about Belange and I was wondering if you could tell a story about a woman practitioner.

[42:07]

Well there's so many So I thought of, first I thought of like a famous Zen master female. Then I thought of Suzuki Rishi Oksan. Then I thought of my daughter. Which one do you want to hear? Do I have to choose? No, you don't have to choose. I just asked you which one you wanted to hear. You might not choose. I've heard stories of Moshan, but I don't know. I'm curious who it was. So... I need more for me. You want me to tell you each one to see which one you want to choose? So anyway, there was a group, I believe, of 17 monks who were

[43:24]

who were traveling to visit the great Zen master Yangshan and they got to Yangshan and they're waiting to see him and they they were having some debates about some Zen stories I think the one they were debating was the one about where the two monks are arguing about whether it's the flag that moves or the mind that moves. No, no. Whether it's the flag that moves or the wind that moves. And the sixth ancestor, who's on his way to visit the fifth ancestor, hears the monks and says, it's neither the wind nor the flag, It's the mind. And they're discussing this.

[44:25]

And in a nearby room, I think her name was Miao Xin, she hears him talking and she says basically, silly boys, it's neither the flag nor the wind nor the mind. They're all deeply encouraged. And I think maybe they say, would you be our teacher? And I think she says, I'm not the teacher here. Go away. Could you talk a little about your daughter as well? So we're at a beach. We, me, And my daughter's mother and a close friend are at the beach.

[45:28]

And the friend's son is there. And my daughter's there. And the children are naked. And they're eating strawberries. And my daughter points to the little boy and says, what's that? And his mother said, that's a penis. And then the woman points to my daughter and said, what's that? And my daughter said, it's a strawberry. Maha Prajnaparamita. You're welcome to ask for more on another occasion. Because, like Sam, I have to ask for more without grasping at more.

[46:42]

Exactly. We need to learn how to ask for more without trying to get anything. You know, like, would you please become Buddha without trying to get the person to become Buddha? I have a question about the story you told yesterday about Jutaka and Mishraka and this abandoning the small stream and I can't remember the word that you used was it?

[47:50]

Immediately return or suddenly return. Give up the small stream and suddenly return to the great ocean. So if you look focus on it a little bit more it's like giving up the little stream and like you don't have to do anything more just give up the little stream and giving up the little stream you suddenly return to the so I think that suddenly is important that you don't have to like give up one and then do another giving up the little you return to the great but you have to recognize that it's little you have to recognize that you're Anything you recognize is little. All the things we recognize are little streams. And when there's nothing against them, it's just that they're calling to be released. As soon as you release them, you return to the great ocean and realize the unborn Buddha mind.

[48:54]

is any term that you recognize? Let go of everything you recognize. If you recognize a face, let go of it. If you recognize a pain, let go of it. If you recognize a pleasure, let go of it. If you recognize Buddha, let go of it. If you recognize peace, let go of it. Anything you recognize is a small stream, a version of We're not fighting that. We're letting go of that. And you can't let go unless you're kind. If you want to let go, you have to be kind first. Be kind to your pain, then you can let go of it. First love it, then you can let go of it. But love doesn't mean like or dislike. It means let it be. And then let it go by letting it be. And suddenly,

[50:05]

the real world. dealing with this.

[51:31]

Okay. Self, no self. Self, no self. And in a certain point, I can kind of experience that even my emotions or my reactions seems not to be mine. Like I don't choose they just kind of happen like through this this this whatever is this and I don't know if I have a question it sounds like an observation yeah yeah and I I think your observation is good please continue your observation it seems to be revealing new possibilities in consciousness new perspectives like maybe the self doesn't own what's going on yeah maybe what's going on doesn't own the self a lot of possibilities are opening up to that to the situation because you're what you're you're studying the self you're studying the self

[52:59]

And you're studying where it lives. And you're studying the things that are going on in the neighborhood of the self. And how the self relates to the neighborhood. Yeah. And you may be remembering old ways that you thought the self related to the neighborhood. But now maybe some new possibilities are arising. And maybe you're not really attached to these different stories about how the self is relating to the environment. Yeah, it's kind of like seeing myself as a third person. Yeah, it could be almost like that. Or self could be this. And maybe this doesn't own what's going on either. And yet there's a this with a that.

[54:01]

So then, what's the self? That's a question that has arisen in the same place where there's a self. So there's a self and there's a question, well, what is this self? And then there can also be, thank you for the question. a nice one. Part of studying the self might involve, well, what is it? the last question it rose in me is the self of no self the same thing as deluded self?

[55:48]

nope it's it's the home laver it's body and mind dropping off self can you say self of? self no self is the pivotal activity of all Buddhas. I might be remembering wrong. I remember several days ago or maybe yesterday you talked about the self of no self. Maybe I did, but I think it's better to say self, no self, self, no self, self, no self. That's the pivotal activity of all Buddhas. That's the home lever. That's the mind that doesn't or cease deluded self is usually self is delusion so self delusion no self delusion self delusion that's the pivotal activity of all buddhas is that also the pivotal activity of all sentient beings

[57:11]

But Buddhas realize that, pivotal activity, and sentient beings are not so sure they want to sometimes. They don't necessarily want to be there in that place because self, no self, they maybe say, wait a minute, what will happen if I let self be not self? Will I lose my identity? Will I lose my heart? Will I become a zombie? Will I become a criminal? Wait a minute. I don't want to be there if there's that possibility. But self, not self, is whatever you are is really whatever you aren't. And whatever you aren't is a lot of bad stuff. So you might not want to open to that. But all that bad stuff is not stuck there either, because it's not that.

[58:17]

So all sentient beings are there too, but they have relative levels of willingness to accept that. Buddhas are completely accepting that. But before they completely accepted it, they didn't completely accept it. They had some reservations. Even Shakyamuni Buddha tells some stories about being kind of ambivalent. about his life. He saw some old people one time and he thought, yuck. And then he said, he was really embarrassed. He said, how can I have aversion to these old sick people? I'm going to be that way soon too. But he had some hesitation to open to them. He wasn't yet Buddha. He was the Bodhisattva. And bodhisattvas are sentient beings. And they could have some... Bodhisattvas can be actually completely willing to be sentient beings.

[59:28]

They can be, but sometimes they are not ready to be a sentient being. They want to be something better than that. Of course, that's a sentient being. The bodhisattvas can actually be just as good at being sentient beings as Buddhists are. But some bodhisattvas are not so good at it. They have other things that they'd like to work on besides accepting their life and suffering. But they're still pivoting at the center of the universe. They're still pivoting between self and the universe. They're still the universe meeting itself. giving rise to itself as you. That's still the case. But are you willing to give up the small and open to this big thing that's going on here of the whole universe working through you? But it is whether you're open to it or not.

[60:33]

So the pivotal activity is unhindered. It's just like missing the show or not. And I was talking to someone about, like, if you're a college professor and you're in the college classroom and you're teaching wholeheartedly, you've got some authority. You know? You can show people what it is to be completely a college professor. But if you leave the room and go out into the hall or into the toilet and start giving lectures, people just, you know, will call the police. LAUGHTER know you have no authority when you leave your position but if you go in the toilet and you're just a user of the toilet you've got authority but you're not giving lectures you're just using the toilet and and if you really do it you know the whole world is really inspired

[61:39]

You know, the whole world is like, did you see the way she washed her face? Did you see the way she flushed that toilet? It was like awesome. And there's a story about a monk who woke up seeing another monk going to the toilet. the monk was not like giving lectures so whatever position you're in as ascension being if you do it wholly there's a pivotal activity I mean completely it completely is wholly but we have to train because we're sometimes a little bit too much there or not enough there and Buddha means already completely there

[62:42]

That's what it means. And then because you're completely there, you're not completely there. You're not stuck in completely there. You're completely there, not completely there, completely there. But that's the way we are too. But we have to practice it. Otherwise, we're walking around some place where we have no authority because we're not in our gama position. And a lot of college professors go home from work and then they go home and have dinner with their family and they give lectures at at the table you know and the family they just go there's this is so silly you know you you're not the professor here you're a diner here so the professor goes home and eats the dinner and says thank you it's delicious there's authority there But he's not teaching Abhya Dharma at dinner.

[63:44]

But he might try. But that's not appropriate. He's not in his position of being at the table with his family. So it doesn't help people. It shows people a bad example, namely not accepting the responsibility of being a diner, of being a professor, of being a child, a parent, whatever, a Zen student. But the pivotal activity is always there. But you have to accept the responsibility of the moment, otherwise you'll miss it, which is suffering. For more information, visit SSCC.org and click Giving.

[65:04]

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