Hello. To sit up here, it's very interesting. It's a gift, actually, that you give to me. So I can sit here and just kind of, my eyes can gently, you know, view the people who are sitting here, and you're terrific, you know, it's really neat. Each person different, you know, some of you I know very well, some not at all, but it's really terrific. Okay, I got mine, thank you.

[01:02]

Somebody said, I had a lover one time, a long time ago, we were together for a number of years and they left me afterwards, but in leaving they said, you can never, now you can never say that you haven't been well loved, and it was such a tremendous gift, because actually that's true, you know, so no matter how badly I feel or what I go through, there's always that truth in my life. The reason I mention it is because I'm going to talk about self and other today, and I keep, as I reread what I write, I keep saying the self, and I want you to know that when I say that, what I really mean is belief in the self. Words are really important, and I want to clarify that. I'm not going to say that there's no self, or that the self doesn't arise, it arises,

[02:15]

but the difficulty is we believe what we think of as the self to be solid, real, separate, and important. So, words are really important, and in fact I was going to start my talk today with some really nasty ones, you know the ones I mean, the really bad ones, the ones that hurt us, you know. So I'm not going to say them. Who said that? What is the idea you have of yourself that you're the most protective of, that you don't

[03:20]

want anybody to know about? Those kind. And then I was going to say, after I said them, I was going to say something like, you know, what actually do we think we said there? They're just sounds, right? But we really invest something in them. And it's important, the main thing I want to say today is that it's really important to know that we invest them with something, that's the real key. The words, whether they're there or not, is not so important, but that we invest them with something, that's really important, thank you. That's really important. And in fact, I'm studying Vasubandhu on the side, we're going to study it during the three-week

[04:20]

intensive that we're going to do later in August, and this is what he calls the accomplished. This is it, this is the accomplished. It is to know the difference between something arising, a word, a concept, an idea, and our imputation of substance on that thought. Do you understand that much? Yeah? Do you? Is that a difficult idea to get? Some yes, some no? I can expand that later, not today. But I do have a quote for you. Here's my quote of the day. Reality... Oh, by the way, I wanted to tell you that my name is Tia. I made an agreement with a group, the Saturday Sangha, that I was going to do that. I just remembered. This is the quote of the day.

[05:20]

Reality is the leading cause of stress for those who are in touch with it. Should I say that again? Reality is the leading cause of... This is a headline in the newspaper. It turns out that reality is the leading cause of stress for those who are in touch with it. Anyway, it's July the 4th, and it looks like it's a lovely day, and so what is freedom anyway? Huh? Right? This is one generation's idea of it. It's pretty. I'm going to read it. You'll remember these words. You learned them an element ago. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political

[06:28]

bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not bad, huh? There are some things that are wrong with it, but actually not too bad for their time. This is another person's idea, the Buddha.

[07:31]

Monks, all is burning. And what is it that is burning? The eye is burning. Visible forms are burning. Visual consciousness is burning. Visual impression is burning. Also, whatever sensation, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of greed, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, griefs, with despairs, and so on. The ear is burning. Sounds are burning. Ear consciousness burning. The nose, the tongue, the body, the mind. Monks, those who see this, become calmed, non-attached, and through non-attachment become liberated. So, political freedom is freedom from the other,

[08:39]

and individual freedom is freedom from belief that there is another. It's kind of subtle, but significant. So, today we celebrate the birth of our country, which was founded on the principles of freedom, except for Native American Indians, African Americans, and women, right? And probably, if there were other people who were different, they would have excluded them too. But still, it was not a bad idea. And it's our job, isn't it, to fulfill that promise, and we keep working on it. But it isn't easy. The reason it isn't easy is because where political freedom, and it's important,

[09:44]

political freedom addresses the other, basic, the other, it's going to take, I believe, personal liberation to really cut at the root of the problem. This is my opinion. But I think it's kind of true. Because when I was at Tassajara, I was at Tassajara for a really long time, and we used to get the newspaper every week, maybe, if we were lucky. And by the time we got the newspaper, the date was way old. And it turns out, week after week after week, year after year after year, it made absolutely no difference. The news was the same. It was absolutely the same news. And it was sad. It's the same news, different names, different countries, different situations, but the same thing was happening. People were being hurt out of hatred, and a lot of people were getting things out of greed.

[10:49]

And the whole thing was based on delusion. And the delusion is believing, now get this, believing in the illusion of separation. It's all based on that. So, we have to really address it, and Buddhists are the people who are addressing that in particular. So, what about ignorance? Ignorance is the main condition for, I think, the suffering in the world. So, ignorance comes from the word ignorare, ignorare. It's Latin, and it means to not know or to disregard, to disregard. That's what we do. We disregard the truth of our connection with everything.

[11:51]

We disregard it. It's such a small word for such huge consequences, you know, just to disregard it, like, I don't have to notice that. But, I mean, the consequences are enormous that we ignore that. But we ignore it for a really good reason, and the reason we ignore it is because the mind naturally makes separation. It's not our fault, it's not anybody's fault, and it isn't bad. It's just the nature of human beings. The way the mind works is it makes duality, makes for self and other. And again, the problem is that we believe that that separation that we sense is true. It really is true. There's a me over here, and there's a you over there, and we're separate. It's completely bullshit, you know. The way the mind works, and this is again Vasubandhu,

[13:07]

so I'm kind of practicing on you what I'm going to be saying later, so excuse me, but the way the mind works is there's an organ, our eyes, ears, nose, whatever, a sensing mechanism located somewhere around one of what we call organs, and then there's a field of activity like light, particles of light, waves, particles, and it touches, it contacts this receptive event, and then out of that arises consciousness. Okay, so far so good? How's that? Is that too much? But you got that part? And then what we do is, naturally, this is just a natural event, what happens is the next step is a totally mental event having nothing to do with what just happened. Okay, out there, it's a totally mental event,

[14:11]

and what happens is we take this kind of image, sense image, and we reflect something in our mind like a concept, actually that's what we do, reflect, a concept. We look all around, and it's not like we look all around, the mind does it. It pulls out what seems to be a relevant concept like blue, and then it makes that concept out there, and as soon as it makes something out there, you get a self, which is not so bad, it's kind of neat the way it works. And then we believe that what's out there, now here's the thing, here it comes, okay, we've got a self and we've got an other, and then I want that, and I don't want that. I like that, and I don't like that.

[15:12]

I want that out there to think a certain thing in a certain way about me, and I don't want that out there to think a different way about me, right? This is my territory, it's not that person's territory, and I'm right, and because that person thinks my territory is theirs, I don't like them. Do you see how it begins to work? It's really simple, and we're completely tied to it. Now, the sad thing about it is that when we feel separate from something else, we can hurt that, because it isn't us, and that's really a problem. So, on the news a couple of weeks ago,

[16:22]

there was a person who was in Texas, who was severely beaten, unconscious, I hope, and then tied to the back of a truck and dragged to his death. And we can't forget that person. We can't forget that event, and we can't forget that man. It's really important to remember that person, because that couldn't have been done unless the people who did that felt really separate from that person. So, the way we remember, and we must, is whenever we feel separate from anything, and this is Buddhist practice, this is like you vow, this is what you vow to do.

[17:23]

If we feel separate, and the way you feel that is you kind of feel like a contraction, right? It's a physical thing. You feel just a little bit contracted and a little bit defended. When that happens, we renounce that. We renounce believing that that's true. We have to do that. We vow to do that. That's our vow. We vow to renounce separation for ourselves and for everything else. We have to do that. And not just in emergencies, not just in emergencies, but all during the day.

[18:24]

You know, it's odd talking to you in a way, because I know that what I'm saying, it's kind of, you know, I know that the people I'm talking to believe the same thing I bet, believe the same thing I do. You all, I mean, That's kind of why I want very much, this is just an aside, but I want Buddhism to be neutral, because everybody should sit, I think. Everybody should consider deeply this illusion, this delusion, our belief in separation. Not just people who tend to be soft around this issue in the first place, but people who really question it. You know, we have to really speak to everybody. Anyway.

[19:37]

A while ago I went to a three-month retreat in Bari, and it was kind of fun. For three months you don't talk to anybody, you just sit all the time, and there's nobody, there's no input coming in, so what you do is, the stuff that goes on in your mind is the only kind of entertainment that you have, so for the first, and you definitely want entertainment, so for the first, like, however long it takes you, you review your whole life, your whole life comes up. So, and then eventually what happens is it kind of, your whole life, and it's a very interesting review. I wrote, I took notes at one point, and I wrote down all the people I knew and what was good about what I thought was good about them, and what I thought was, you know, not what I thought, I don't mean that, but what I thought, like, who they were. That's what I tried to write down. It was kind of interesting. Anyway, after all that was finished, you don't have very much left except the mind that is our inheritance, which is a very wide, empty, you know, event.

[20:47]

That's our inheritance. It's just empty. And so one day I was walking out from that kind of compound, and it was in the fall, the late fall, so all of the trees were kind of like rich, the end of fall, so the colors were kind of rich and rich golds and browns and all that kind of stuff, and I was thinking about freedom, and a song came to mind, actually, that I wanted to sing a little bit with you. If you know it, you can join in, okay? Do you know this song? It goes... Does that mean it's a quarter to eleven already? Yes. Oh, I have to hurry up. They say that freedom is a constant struggle

[21:50]

They say that freedom is a constant struggle Oh, they say that freedom is a constant struggle Oh, Lord, I try so hard I must be free I must be free They say that freedom is a constant worry They say that freedom is a constant worry They say that freedom

[22:54]

is a constant worry Oh, Lord, I try so hard I must be free I must be free They say that freedom is a constant crying and so on. It's a great song. Anyway... And as I was singing it to myself, I was remembering the wonderful human being and great, great teacher, Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who, when he was teaching, was teaching nonviolence and patience.

[23:56]

And I think that in our own trying to understand with our own working through of our own freedom, we have to do it with a great deal of patience because what we need to do is study and see the arising of the self. We have to really study it. And to study it is difficult because we don't really want to look there. We have to see the dependent co-rising of the self, what it depends on, and how it works. And when it arises, we're uncomfortable, so that's why we don't want to look there. We want to kind of push that away, but we can't. So, when does it arise? It arises when we identify with a point of view and we think we're right, and somebody challenges it, whether the point of view is about something outside of us or whether the point of view is about ourselves. As soon as it gets challenged, we feel uncomfortable, and we're uncomfortable, that's when the self is there, and we have to notice it.

[24:58]

We have to notice when we want others, we demand of others that they live in our dream, and they don't, right? They have their own dream. They want us in their dream, and they want us to be the way they want us to be in their dream. And when that happens and we get uncomfortable around it, that's the self arising, and we have to notice it. And our skill, actually that takes some skill, right? We have to really understand clearly what it is that we're holding to and let it go, which is not necessarily to say that we don't keep doing the same thing, but we can't hold to it as if it's real. That's the delusion. Humiliation is a great place to look at the self. It's a really good thing. Humiliation comes... I still have an opportunity.

[26:01]

I have another ten minutes left. Now think of it. I mean, and I would do it, wouldn't I? Some of you I know too, so I could... Now here's the thing. I wouldn't do it to you. I would ask you to do it to yourself. So for example, why don't you sit and think for a minute of something that would really humiliate you terribly. Like what is your absolute worst fear? What is your worst fear? What is something that would really happen to you that you would just die? You would just totally die. It happened to me, and actually it's a wonderful thing if it happens to you. I'm not kidding. I'm telling you the truth. It's a great thing. Think of something that would really be awful. Like for example, what if you gave a really important party or it was your graduation or it was some event that was really, really important to you and you invited your friends to come, right? And nobody came.

[27:02]

And not only nobody came to that particular event, but you had to do that event over and over and over and over again, and every time it was announced at work meeting that nobody was coming. That's what I mean. An extended, long period of time where you're just crushed, totally crushed. Well, what do you think is getting crushed? Ha, ha, ha, ha. That's the self. And that is so stupid. You don't even need it. It's better if you don't have it. And when it dies, you'll love it. But the process of its dying is excruciating. It's really excruciating because we're invested in it. We're totally invested. It's so sweet, you know. We're completely invested in this complete delusion. We're thoroughly invested in it. We will not give it up. It's excruciating when it's challenged or humiliated,

[28:07]

and yet, when we're forced to die, it is such an incredible relief because then we live in connection with everything. We have energy. We're concentrated. We love truly. We feel connected. We're in the flow of things. We're not stuck. There's no worry. Honest, it's not a bad way to live. And I think the way it is is we have to go through it over and over and over again. And the thing that's great about practice is once you really have gotten that the self is just an idea that you don't have to invest with anything, once you've really gotten that, when the self arises, you don't hold so tightly. You don't defend so much. You don't really identify with the same amount of fear as you did before, because you know it's a lot less painful, ultimately, to be released of the burden of this...

[29:12]

What should I call it? Story. Story. Thank you. Anyway, I wanted to give you a mantra that is a very useful mantra to do when you're getting humiliated. And I wish for you humiliation in your life. Maybe sometime today you'll be humiliated thoroughly and you will die a little death and it will be great for you. And you can say, this is a mantra, you can say this as it's happening. You can say to yourself, Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. Okay? This is a very important Buddhist mantra. Now, remember it. Freedom is just... This is the truth. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.

[30:22]

Okay? When all of these things that you think are so important that you're holding on to are finally, usually, I'm sorry to say, have to be ripped away from us, right? And we have nothing else to lose, we can finally actually stand up as who we really are. It's ironic, but true. So, I'm going to read you a little bit and then end. Two things that I think are good. Sometimes people say that freedom means doing whatever we want to do. In this way of thinking there's no connection with anything. There's just a feeling of getting something. When we have some idea of what we want to get,

[31:28]

we can't really appreciate what's in front of us. And what's in front of us is actually who we are. See? Because if there's nothing over here being defended, if there's nothing, no idea that we have to keep redoing, if all this is sort of... just sort of... melted, like the witch in The Wizard of Oz, I'm melting, melting, yay! Then what's left is, gosh, that's interesting, who's that over there? Who's that person? Who's that person? What's that person going to do? It's just like, gosh, did that really happen? Does somebody really think that about me? Wow, far out. Maybe it's true. Gosh, I'll have to think about it. So that's a real taste of freedom. True freedom.

[32:28]

And when that happens, then there's no struggle, right? And there's no worry or anything like that. It's like a very flop-dog kind of practice. It's just being thrown into the present moment. And what a relief. And then we live, we can try anyway, best we can, to live our vow, which is to live for the benefit of all being. Right? To bring harmony to everyone, free from hindrance. Right? Doesn't that sound familiar? I was going to read, but I'm running out of time, so I was going to read a real pretty Navajo poem. The Navajo people, for some reason or another, they really have this thing about beauty. Did you know that? They do. They make beautiful things all the time, and they have a poem about beauty. It's a really nice poem. Should I read it? Okay, I'll do it quickly. It's, In beauty may I walk,

[33:31]

All day long may I walk, Through the returning seasons may I walk, Beautifully will I possess again, Beautifully birds, beautifully joyful birds, On the trail marked with pollen may I walk, With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk, With dew about my feet may I walk, With beauty may I walk, With beauty before me may I walk, With beauty behind me may I walk, With beauty above me may I walk, With beauty all around me may I walk, In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, Lively may I walk, In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, Living again may I walk, It is finished in beauty. Isn't that lovely? It's really great. And, of course, they had a beautiful earth to walk in. We do too, but,

[34:34]

I don't know, you know. It's difficult, isn't it? I grew up in Los Angeles and I was there in the early fifties and in the early fifties it was paradise. And I went to Europe, I went to, I went to Africa to live for a year and when I came back, actually I was gone for more than a year, about two almost, and when I came back, my brother and I, my brother drove me to Simi Valley which was where we used to go to camp every summer and it was all, you know, built up and I just sobbed, sobbed and sobbed and sobbed because I had just come from such, you know, where the earth is dominant and it's another way that we are not connected, isn't it? That we, that we, oh, I don't need to tell you all this, but I drive a car, right?

[35:41]

Anyway, here's the end. Each one of us is beautiful. Does everybody believe that? I hope everybody believes that. I really do, because it's true. Each one unique and wonderful and we long to stand up as who we really are and this is one of the great things about a teacher-student relationship because the gift of that relationship is the so-called the teacher person that you sort of allow to be a teacher. They want you to stand up as who you are and they, at least you sense that they know you and you want them to know you really completely. I remember the first thing that really struck me about Suzuki Roshi was that I felt like he knew me thoroughly and accepted me totally to the depth of how I think he knew me. And that's what, and that person, the teacher,

[36:48]

the so-called teacher, they want you to stand up thoroughly to really be who you are more than you want to be who you are because you want to be safe. They don't want you to be safe. Anyway, it's a gift and a great thing. And this is what the Buddha studied. He studied this life. He studied self and other. He studied this relationship. Usually when we talk about life there is always a somewhat self-centered idea that it's always about my life, which it is. After all, we're studying the self, right? My life has got to be the most important thing and that's what the Buddha did too. But the life that Buddha understood as his life and the life we understand as my life are a little bit different. And that's the key. What the Buddha understood as his life

[37:49]

was that his life was the life of everything else. All together. All together just living one life. Each of our lives is at the same time the life as a whole. And that whole life is my life. To live life in that way is freedom. That's real freedom. Not belief in our stories. Not belief in our trying to get this, that or the other thing. But living a life free of all that, completely in connection with everything else and letting everything else come forward and tell you who you are. That's freedom and that's a beautiful path and that's the path that we are walking. That's a path with heart. That's a Buddhist path. And we're going to take that path

[38:55]

into July 4th. And I hope that in our celebrating of freedom, political freedom, that we also remember to include this individual freedom that is so important to the well-being of ourselves and everybody else. So, have a nice day.

[39:26]

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