This Very Mind Is Buddha - Understanding Birth And Death

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SF-00042
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Sunday talk.

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a few weeks ago
red tension answered sanderson and i were invited to japan
to attend a small conference with the on school
on
how to proceed with translating japanese buddhist texts
to america
buy american scholars and practitioners
and it is a very good conference and
the sort of school is seems to be willing to
finance
our scholars and practitioners to do translating
and
one of the things that came out of that was that we want to
read translate all in the liturgy
that we do have the chance that we do in america
so that all the zen centres will have some common
liturgy so if you go from when said centered of another
they'll be channeling the same thing unless they choose not to
there are no as in police
so people are afraid to do what they want that we would like to come to some common translation and the more we translate the more the deeper we get into the meaning of what is a chance are
so that's one side of the project the other side of the project is that the scholars will be financed to
translate
zen master dogen show began xo
ah within a space of five years
and they will produce scholarly translations
which will be an aid to teachers and common translation which would be
a more thinner volume
for the general public
and so that's i'm very optimistic about that and the hundreds on something that we will see how it develops in the future
but one of the things that japanese school wanted us to
translate particularly ah
was a
something called the she shogi
show you
is it was put together in eighteen eighty eight
bri
the abbot of ag in the habit of so gg the to head temples and the soto school in japan
and it lays out in five
points it leaves out five points for the which they feel is are the fundamental points of soto zen
and they gleamed this material from zen master duggan's show braganza which is
his great work
the meaning of buddha dharma
which dog and if you don't know it was the
thirteenth century a founder of our school in japan
and he's considered a great philosopher in japan but philosophy is not what he was doing
the scholars and the world are resurrecting the game
as a philosopher
and they
criticize the
the soto school is being too
practice oriented towards in a dogan was a practitioner and or whatever he wrote with for practitioners on how to practice and the meaning of zen practice but many scholars in the world see dogan as a great philosopher
so there's a two camps of how
when she's appreciated
ah so this

bringing together practitioners and scholars to do this translating
i think it's a very good thing and the scholars will
now get feedback from the practitioners and practitioners will be fed by the scholars
so it's a kind of mutual coming together which is very rare actually
and as the scholars do they're translating they'll have seminars with the send students because instruments are the reading public
so anyway
this show he
the five points of their soto zen
is very important for the soto school in japan
and it's never been very important for us in america
because the five points don't mention doesn't
when
the japanese teachers came to america thirty years ago or so thirty five years ago would be more
a to bring soto and to america
their message was doesn't
main point was sitting zazen and so when you can do is insane or in america zazen is what you're presented with
but in japan during the meiji period which was doing eighteen eighty eight
the government
turn the monks out of the monasteries
and this was the beginning of
the temple system in japan as is it is today
where the monks take to get started take care of family temples and the monks were made to marry in her family's
so it became more family oriented and more oriented toward lay people and in japan
monks it doesn't and lay people do other things
but so the santos school turned into a kind of church for laypeople
and zaza was minimized
most of the temples in japan small temples have a little zendo but people rarely sit in them
so
when the shoe shogi was produced
it included many points the five really good points of dog is teaching but didn't include doesn't because it was meant mainly for a lay people
who were not sitting zazen
so
japanese
people are then school it's very important and so but it wasn't so important for us because the main point of our practice of doesn't but i think it is important and i think it's important for us to know it it is no at these points are know what
the school felt were the five main points on the against teaching so i'm going to target a bit about
show you

the first point to have shogi is that we should clarify the meaning of birth and death
that's the most important fundamental thing for everyone
birth and death is
two inevitable
facts for us
the fact that we can't do anything about our birth
and we can't do anything about our death apparently
this is the realm of
ordinary understanding
but and buddha dharma we must understand what birth and death really are
look deeply into the nature of birth and death
in order to find our way

the second point
i'll come back to these points and is going to mention the first second point is the fact of repentance
and it's very important to
acknowledge our shortcomings
ah as practitioners
and to seek the help of all the buddhas and ancestors
i know that
one time somebody
several times somebody is come to me and said you know i thought this then was something different but it's just like the catholic church
sorry
in some ways it is
but i think repentance is the come back to that
the the third point
is
important the importance of following precepts taking the precepts the sixteen precepts and following the precepts
as a way of life
and
acknowledging or realizing our affinity with all the buddhas and ancestors
this is a very important point
now the point of connecting
and the fourth is the vow to save all sentient beings
and buddha dharma saving all sentient beings means to help everyone to realize their own nature
to bring everyone to enlightenment
before even were enlightened ourself
it's important to be the doorman
to open the door to let others pass through and then when everybody's path through will come through
and the fifth point
ah yes constant practice
and gratitude
constant practice meaning there's no no such thing if you're a student is instant there's no such thing as a time when you're not practicing
and
freely
if you really understand but practices than you have a a heart of gratitude
and gratitude actually is a sign of enlightenment
to feel gratitude for all the people that have come before you and for your present situation no matter what it is
ah there's another point and that is the point of
this very mind is buddha
to realize this very mind is buddha
to to understand the meaning of birth and death and to realize this very mind is buddha or the two main points
to understand who you are and what you are and

what your possibilities are
this mind is buddha means that you have the same mind as shakyamuni buddha
and when you have enlightenment you are shakyamuni buddha
so ah
i'm going to go back to the first point
clarify any kind of clarifying clarifying the meaning of birth and death
i think we have to define our terms
in
what we mean by birth and what we mean by death
by birth if you say something is born in bodhidharma it means something comes from nothing
and when you say death it means that from nothing from something
i you come to nothing
so
in bodhidharma we say no birth and no death
within birth and death dogan says is a buddha
buddha means in this in this sense means no birth no death
we've just continuous process of life itself
birth and death
our continuous with each other
it's like
the foot before and the foot behind in working
we take one step
two
death
the next step is into birth
next step is it a death
what this
birth and death and like two sides
a line
which has continually moving
so something doesn't come from nothing something comes from south some from something this is a fundamental buddhist understanding something comes from something
everything has a cause
it's this simple
ah understanding of buddhism everything comes from something
so we say
basically there is no self
no self doesn't mean that it's not something existing
chris there's something existing all here as something as somebody
but the somebody is also not somebody the somebody is a process
which has been going on forever
and will continue forever even though forever is don't take it literally
so we say no birth and no death but there is a process and the process is determined
by our actions
and those actions is called a karma
and whatever we do produces
the conditions for the next moment or for the next lifetime or for the next whatever
everything is the result of something else
so all of us sitting here are the result of something
the result of all the karma of our ancestors
we are our ancestors
we've always been here
we didn't just appear now
although yes we did just appear now
even though we just appeared now we've always been here
we've always been here in our parents and grandparents in all the ancestors
we are
our ancestors and we are our future
we better be careful
so people say all
if buddhists don't have a deity
what about morality
well there's no greater cause for morality than a law of karma
hmm
so
life is continually becoming
continually
transforming
and
there is now
separate entity called myself i just depend on everything what i call myself is as tick nine ounces
i am made up of all the things that i am not
because it one the things that i think i'm not
i am
i am the sunshine
the water
the air the earth
you know this body is not mine
even though i call it my body
i say
i'm breathing but actually reading it i am being breathed
it's not something that i do it says something that happens
if you try holding your breath for a while and you'll see what i mean
the blood ran through the veins
has nothing nothing to do with you
each one of us is breathing
the same air
just contemplate that for a moment
well feeding on the same subsistence
all subsisting on the same error
hey delicate
would we eat our way through the world and leave a trail behind us
like earthworms
but it's not our it's not something we do relationally will you do get hungry and we choose our food so there's some choice yours choice
and so we are these beings that have choice
feelings
perceptions
thoughts mental formations consciousness and form that's what we are and without any one of those five we don't really exist
but we do have some choice and some way to direct this mass of ah
the stream these five streams of what we call myself

so this transformation is constantly going on and
ah
for buddhist practitioner we should be careful not to waste our time
but to really make big effort to understand what we are who we are where we're going and ah to take care of our life in a life around us

then a dog and talks about
released through repentance
all of us without exception or
making mistakes
i'm putting our foot in where it shouldn't go
kidding off the track repentance means actually i looked up the the root of repentance means paying can if you'd like it up an etymological dictionary
it comes from the from the route pain
yeah and it means to
i feel bad about pain
remorse about pain and to do something about it
when as a painful feeling because of ah not living up to ourself
and that's painful and we feel remorseful and so we
express that and ask for help from the universe
the universe actually supports us
and we ask for help from the universe
by
acknowledging
a false
and then we can turn around and become whole again
so it buddhism when we talk about
not so much about sin but about ignorance

the ignorance but through ignorance wig do the wrong things
so
ha
turning around and letting go of ignorance
and getting back on the path so we're always falling off the path if you've ever said says him now you know you're supposed to
ah sit with a good posture and breathe and not think too much
not do any volitional thinking
how about thoughts are always there
but you know no matter how hard you try you always drifting off
but then when you catch yourself it come back
that's repentance seasons is a kind of repentance
kind of returning to wholeness
after you split off he returned to wholeness so continually letting go and returning to wholeness so repentance could be something that you do sometimes when you do something bad but it's also continually a continuous power
ss are letting go and returning to wholeness
so dogan has a little formula here much i read

he says that the essence of repentance is as follows

even though the accumulation of our past bad karma is so great that it forms an obstacle to practicing the way we beseech the various enlightened and compassionate buddhists and ancestors to help free us from karmic retribution eliminate all obs
chuckles in the practice of the way and share with us their compassion for it is through this compassion that their merit and teaching fills the entire universe
in the past buddhas and ancestors were originally just like us in the future we shall become like them
all our past evil deeds were the result of beginning this greed anger and ignorance products of our body speech and mind all of these we now repent
that's pretty simple

so you know when we don't acknowledge
then
everything that we don't acknowledge becomes an impediment or wait
that holds us down keeps us back
so when we can do that than we have pure practice
which helped ourselves and which also helps others

the third point is precepts and enlightenment
if you follow a buddhist path
to connect with buddhist path to we say buddha is the perfect teacher dharma is the perfect teaching and sanga is the perfect life comes at the first three
we're not exactly precepts but they're refuges
another were you know we say i take refuge in buddha i take refuge in dharma i take refuge in saga
there's another way to say that
i returned to buddha i returned to dharma i turned to saga which means

to come back to ourself

yeah another way to say it is i am one with buddha i am one with time i am one with saga
refuge is okay you know it's like a safe place
so any of those three ways i think you're okay
and then the three pure precepts
failing to do
to do it is good
and to avoid what is evil
and to ah
devote your life to helping our beings those are three pure precepts share more general
and then the ten prohibitory precepts
not to kill steal so far
so living by these precepts is very important
this gives us a touchstone for our life precepts are not commandments
but ah
touchstone for how to behave
how to review our life
not to practice literally always
but ah

every the precepts are very deep
and are many ways to understand precepts
so just to understand preceptors rules was not enough
we have to be able to understand precept in a way that i was deeper than rules and allows us to make decisions based on the actual the way things actually are
the first precept says
don't kill
don't take life unnecessarily
but life the nature of life is that it's always being taken
buy everything
everything is feeding on everything else
oh buddha as described it as the law of the fishes the big fish with the little fish which eat the little or fish and so for it
so ah at this very moment we are killing something so to speak
and something is killing us so to speak
in the process of transformation
so what does it mean not to kill
it means it in a moral sense
to cherish life
not to kill over agreed or over anger or through delusion
what does a horror
in past years
no many flies tassajara
during the summer
certain season when the flies are really thick
and so used to sit out fly traps
that lowered the flies into a gallon jug
memory for these fly buzzing flies
and then we take them and burn them
before we burn them we chant the heart sutra acknowledging that we have to do something that we don't really like doing i want doing and we acknowledged
has to be flies
but we can't tolerate them
ah
in such concentrated numbers
so that it's not something we want to do or like doing that we have to do it
but when we do it do it acknowledging life acknowledging something
so precepts of many sides and not just literal meaning literal meaning is one aspect
but fundamental meaning is much deeper and every act that we do what we by moment is based on precepts but it's based on how do i act in this moment and what is precept you know
if you'd take it literally
you may get you may actually be transgressing the precept
whereas if you do it with some circumspection ah
it will help you
this is a problem with a fundamental
religion
we get so fundamental that we think that every word that was written down is the literal word of
the lord
what to be followed
which is a big mistake

and the fourth one is too
to save all beings
before
re enter nirvana the bodhisattva vow
now you know before fundamental truths or buddhism or beings are subject to suffering this life is is a life of italy's are suffering as we know
in the reason is biggest reason for are suffering is
craving
frustration through craving wanting to much life
wanting to much
i'm something of anything are expecting something to be a certain way
and it doesn't work out that way
and that there is a way
third one is that there is a way out of that
the way to be free from are suffering
not free from pain free from suffering
and the fourth is to follow the path of buddha
because the foreigner will truth
and i bodhisattva vows are the vow the first wow
ah is a response to the first truth
i vowed to save our big
from suffering
and confusion
that's the first bodies up about
the second one is
vowed to let go of
craving
her delusion
which is really difficult
even though it's difficult we make the effort anyway
so i'm making the effort is most important part
not a matter of failure or success
it's a matter of making the effort
cut in the effort he will realize your true life
i the third is too
study
the self
study the the way and the fourth is
am
before it is to practice the dharma
so the fresh will note to help save or awakened with all sentient beings is the body the main goodies up about
it means that you put everyone else
before yourself
but you don't forget yourself he also include yourself so we have two two sides of practice one side is we practice to develop art
ourself to a to understand ourself and the second is good practice to help everyone else
and does actually goes to and the same but there are two different aspects are the same thing
so enlightenment is lack of selfishness
so helping all beings to enlightenment is really body sutras
practice
so we say bodhisattva vows to save all beings before
entering nirvana
but that's already enlightenment
s the of enlightenment
excuse me of an enlightened person
even though you don't know your own enlightenment
if you truly have this vow and make that effort you're expressing enlightened understanding
and sometimes we don't know our own enlightenment it's like standing in the middle of the of a pond and sending ways the water
enlightenment it's not so difficult
continuous practice that's difficult
to have pure practice that's difficult
so
no need to really it's important to raise the thought of enlightenment
and to have that in front of us but what we actually work on his our practice
if he ever on
spend too much time worrying about enlightenment you get further and further into delusion
so best thing is just to do the work
never mind the result
if you do the work the enlightenment is right there the meaning of shogi is ah
practice is enlightenment and enlightenment as practice
but if you go out to try and catch the enlightenment
you can't do it won't work
you can only do the practice
dig the holes
clean the toilets
do the grunt work
that's the practice never mind the result while you're doing that the enlightenment is right there
but if you try to recognize it or catch it
it's not there

and the fifth one is a constant practice and gratitude
continuous practice means not just sitting zazen on the cushion
but in everything we do we carry
you're washing dishes how is this practice how do i practice in this situation
just wash the dishes
few just sit doesn't just wash the dishes you just walk from one place to another
without expectations you just do what you have to do
we're not thinking about reward a result
you just
a practice with the precepts
you just practice non-duality
one of the
yeah in our vow you know when we may
vow of
modi side with well
their dog and names for
practices that we should pay attention to
making offerings are giving our generosity to give
material things to give spiritual things and to give yourself to give yourself is
enlightened practice
continuous
giving without a thought of reward
and
the second one is loving words
giving encouragement to people
speaking in a way that is
not offensive
and
when is where he he mentions an example it's good to talk it in a nice way about a person when they're not there
huh
often we talk about when we talk about people it's and or not there
it's usually to say something
that they wouldn't like to hear
so when we do talk about people and they're not there
how do we do that
i'm and benevolence
miss her
to be kind to people no matter who they are even your enemies
hey hard to do
and the fourth one is identification identification means to realize that you and others are not different we will no no we see the differences
even know ah
you are you and i mean
i still did it where we are the same
ha to see that

basically
we have the same characteristics and the same
human nature
but usually were divided i superficialities
and ideologies
so maybe the hardest thing you know his identification but very important
if nothing else in this world
you should work on identification
with others
maybe most important thing
we get split off through religious beliefs
economic beliefs
ah
ideologies
and then we want to kill each other
oh
that's what dogan cause delusion we live in the world of delusion
we don't know how to
reconcile
so constant practice and gratitude
i remember when i was first learning
practice bag in the sixties
and how difficult thousand was i can desires in
and my legs hurt
come at becker and i didn't know how it's gonna get through you know so many periods as as him
and my teacher just kept insisting
i don't move
don't know if you don't move you will understand
if you don't try to escape you don't understand
so i just did what he told me even though it was really painful but then at some point
i just broke through and i was so appreciative i just wanted to i remember walking down the street and wanting to run back to the temple and bow down before him
so that's
feeling of gratitude
i just notice from my teacher but for of the ancestors all the people who had before who handed doneness helped us to have this practice
we wouldn't be here none of us would be here today if it wasn't for the practice of everyone that went before us
so when we bow to r cushion he bowed to everyone in went before us
and then when we turn around a bow bow to everyone existing
so gratitude very important and the ties us together
and with continuous practice
one last thing is
i'm
this very mind is buddha
don't get the end of this dog said he puts in in
this very mind is buddha it means
we had the same ability as buddha
the ancestors would just like us
we have buddha mind
if we only allow myself to read it manifest
buddha mind will manifest
if we just allow it to it's already there
so practice
buddhist practice zen practice with the practice of letting go of the hindrances
it's not a matter of accumulating anything it's not a matter of
gaining something
a developing something
it's mostly letting go of hindrances letting go of greed
ill will and delusion or ignorance
which are like a cloud
however the sun
when the cloud moves the sun shines forth it's just always there
that we don't see it
but this buddha mind is always there
waiting for our discovery
taking off the cover

so these five points
i actually have very important points for our practice
plus season

thank you very much
the tansy
ah
study
out
okay he a christian is am
ah
why is it and why is it to the a circular school in japan once as to do
tuesday
but it's not just the social governments as diligently
we want to do the translating
because
a
you know when you translate into your own language
but when you're translating into someone else's language
even they get it right
it's it's not the same
so ah we know it's important for americans to be able to translate into english or american public american readers
because translating is also interpreting is no no way that you can translate without interpreted and
so
when a japanese scholars
translate they interpret
and the language is is such that
it's
it's frustrating
so ah we can interpret
and we know about what we mean when we speak it so
hmm
well there are several translations that that none of them are really that good and i
and then there are noble attempts but my feeling has always been that there are many translations and they should be because there's no definitive translation is something that's impossible actually to have a definitive translation is something
so each one you know add something to the body in translation
so i'm happy
in that way but the scholars want to do a scholarly translation which
red zone
he's like a backbone translation for other people to work off of
forgetting is very good idea
so that when you teach or if you want do it a translation
ah your own translation you have this backbone you know answer you know that and teachers always translate
i are very very free with their language when they teach
and scotland you know cringes when they hear the zen masters
interpretation
because we couldn't master we use the
translate very freely and ah
so but but it paid if we have know the scholarly translation which is and backbone and
annotations and and in various references and and different ways of expressing the same thing and you can be ready for that is it as a touchstone you can be have some assurance that what you're saying even though was deviating same thing
so expression is really important literal is important but expression is
ah you know it's like a jazz musician has
there's the tune and then you take off on a to express a national express it in your away but it's the same tune
so i think it's important this
i may be misremembering i think it was when we were discussing the three point that you alluded to dualism has something to avoid a come and gone from and i wonder if you want to talk about
well ah
yeah you know duality is where we live
this is the world of actuality
and a world of duality is the world of town discrimination
and discriminate discrimination means to divide to discriminate means to separate one thing from another so we live in the world of separation but the world of separation is also the world of oneness
the parts are parts of out something
so in in our
usual way of saying things
we see everything in and in a dualistic way good and bad right and wrong you and me this map but actually all those divisions are divisions of one whole piece of something
and we don't see the the hall
so and we don't always realize the oneness or wholeness of her life and so we tend to become infatuated are fooled by the divisions with the and so we say instead of seeing myself as the universe i see myself as
isolated from the universe
so duality is the way of either i sing only the dualistic as take your things we isolate herself
so ah
the word alone
and has no two opposite meanings seemingly opposite meanings
fundamentally alanna means at one
but unusual way of a concerning the meeting of alone is isolated

other understand the scriptures that death
cataract
she
kind of they couldn't know buddhist literature is not so much interested in and kundalini are when she of course
yeah cheers
i'm chinese and japanese and so we talk about the horror
and i you know as being the center of our energy
and there are some books
but
not features mostly you know commentary are
i guess the book called horror
that came out a long time ago and that a lot about our hero you know about haven't packed especially japanese and maximize about chinese but
relate to horror as the center
of energy
but and
matt napa
christian meditation you know we talk about she
and about when you breathe you know reprieve breathe from the she from the horror
chasing his breath
casa and from breath and breeding and where the percent in are rising and falling in the lower abdomen
ah is this is the center central point you know and all of us the whole body centers around that and all of our movements sitting around this point just below the navel
so when you sit as in you sit with at energy focused
attention focused on as she's spot
and down when you move you move from and with that is the center
but we we don't have much literature talking directly about that
rent is important an important aspect
ah she a key
i didn't call i see a key

the place where you should be always centered
yeah
yeah to direct your attention or when he said you know bermuda
it is here
and the you pay attention to your breathing as the re raising and lowering of your abdomen
so when you inhale lower abdomen expands and when you exhale at contract
and that's why it's so and your mood or is also here so all of the attention is really here and this is where half the base of your spine so when you hold it back straight this is the the other side is that a abdomen is
yeah your main support your foundation
sets the center point between your legs and everybody
at his product
prana best by far my first well
ah ha d me sit in one
whenever you
ha
when when we sit in zazen an opponent is
and i completely open and were completely open to life force
and so are completely and fully alive can hopefully without hindrances
mrs know as as and is called total exertion
it looks like rest
and it is it's total ease within total exertion
so and it went when we sit were completely should be ideally totally
ah
i'm totally city so there's there's nothing no part left out
and i am a total exertion shown sitting up straight you know and balancing kidding about keeping ahead and top of this spine so that is complete balanced and
effort to hold you up straight by just enough the more you can balance and the more you're open to my life partner my first fills your being and
it is completely unhindered so that's what makes you feel good
even though your opinion makes you feel good because you're completely open and in know hundreds of course there's still hindrances that
it's possible to go beyond the hindrances
hinders the fear or hundreds of
the dualistic thinking dualistic thinking his biggest hindrance in thousand because we set up what we like against that we don't like
for instance
painfulness
ah we don't like the painfulness and so we set up a hindrance
and as long as we don't like it or like it
we can't be completely opens
so to be completely open is just accept everything exactly the way it is
and that's the elimination of suffering
suffering
is largely caused by not accepting what is happening
by not being able to accept the painfulness of my life actually write as painful
you know
if we can't accept the painful necessary like may become suffering
so it's important to be able to accept this is one of the biggest lessons of zazen is to be able will accept painfulness right
without discriminating it
when i think i like it or i don't like it of course in our life you know we have likes dislikes
that's the dualistic aspect of our life which we have to live with that we can also it's also possible to ah
go beyond the duality of our life and accept the painfulness are alive and a pleasure
without discriminating it
and so then pain there's pleasure nor then pleasure there's pain and i saying that we should be masochistic
and that's something else as normally within pleasure there's pain it was in pain and pleasure so
it is always constant transformation
so it can be completely open to our life
and to accept the suffering of my life also
but most suffering is caused by
i'm not being able to deal with our pain
accept not wanting our pain cause they don't want a pain who wants paint
what we have to accept it because it's there
and the more you try to get rid of it the more you suffered
admittedly a kind of unfortunate
yes
to say well how has a good point you know there's one sentient beings to say
now that you can deal with and as this one
you know so ah
salvation in look in a buddhism means to get beyond great to to understand the meaning of birth and death
so that you're not caught by
person death
he not in a ah
no doubt dog and says
within birth and death is ah there's the buddha within birth and death has also nobody was engrossing death match i want to keep it simple
ah
birth and death is is a synonym for delusion
we have the appearance of birth and death
an idealistic mind
tends to believe in birth and death
of course you know we appear and disappear strengths and but we think that that is believing that are birth is the beginning and our death as the end
because we can't see what came before embers and we can't see what's coming after a death so we tend to think that there's such a thing is birth and death by birth and death happened on each moment each moment is a moment of birth and death
ah this particular moment
is ungraspable
because it's a moment of birth and death
there's no middle ground there's no place to grasp it's he as i'm speaking i'm dying
every day
jefferson's who was speaking in nominee i was already dead
this person is speaking now is being born
but it's all happening at the same time so it's just there's no grasping birth or death
the parents if you know you may you may feel that i was born at a certain time
but ah
it's a certain demarcation
you know who your parents came together and both of them
ah had some portion of you and when they get together what you call yourself appeared but even before you appeared you are still there had always been here
we've always been here
but this particular manifestation
seems to just appeared know one with this knows
but the problem is you know of the families that we think this is the best of all possible existences
that's what that's that's our one of our delusions
or maybe it's our insight
this is the best of all possible
just true this is the best of all husband for the same time the next existence that you have you will say the same thing
i'm not i'm not talking about reincarnation
i'm talking about for energy that each one was manifest it becomes some other kind of energy
whatever that is maybe person may be a bird maybe i don't know who knows by energy continues to create coins
so we just happen to feel that this is the greatest form that there is pets our arrogance
so to say beings is to help people realize and what we are
take at face value is not necessarily the way things are
and when we really mean no longer are clinging to this life and not wishing for the next life or just being where we are and accepting that fully and totally as the best of all possible existences
at this moment
that's the realization
nothing to crave for
and each one i was is dealt a certain hand
and that's ah
that's that hand that each one who has dealt with his
the situation that helps us to bring life to life
how we respond to the situation it's clear to us is how we ha
so some people are born wealthy severe bone for some people are born in terrible circumstances other people have been in heavenly circumstance but whatever he has suffered
i don't care where you born the princess suffers right

what part what home
we've always been here but what exactly is that it's always spend electrical
he
we say buddha-nature nature
good in chance
as the ground of being right so the person that was born
is no is is gone
there's only the person is here
although there's some memory some resemblance some semblance a that
then the child
has turned into the man
so there's some transformative process and the child to even remember the child is the child
and a man is the man
and ah you know we say right
steer is an animal but then the state is killed and skinned and chopped chapter be going into meat market and as meat
right it's no longer staring that is not as there is meat
they call me in don't know what it is but
and ah
you know
soybeans i turned into tofu
but if you said to the total you know that you were once soybeans
soybeans would let the tofu would laugh at you say how could that possibly be
i don't look anything like zombies
so sort of like presence or something or there's only this presence
and
this infinite becoming
you are was a child
you know now your man
but before you were a child there was also something and before that there was something that you were
that but you can't identify with it because we identify with herself as a self that's that's the biggest problem
we say i am which is arrogance
according to buddhism to say i am is
true
according to existence but it's not true according to a fundamental reality of life
so it doesn't mean we don't exist but we don't exist in the way we think we existence
the trust soil
yeah everything exists in this moment because of the configuration of everything else in his moments that we think that we we feel as independent
because we can move around
but we're just moving flowers you know flowers are stuck in the ground and they can't move and so they lily life in one spot
and according to the and ah
the and a three way the wind blows and the sun shines in their incomes
they respond to their life and we do the same thing that we can move around
and think ten know
the expenses are suffering
would you kindly and grasping
we all have different sizes different and that
is it is a incorrect to seek to change your approach second
probably the highlight are a negative nice going to get working my way up and out of it the suffering and idea without allies it was that i was dealing with right
the we you know we can choose are suffering whenever i
whenever people someone says i like to get married

well you know it's a choice
because he should you you you wanna be wanna do this because it will give you joy but it will also give you suffering
and you should think it will we usually think of is what kind of joy we're going to have
because let me see our our lover we only think of how joyful it will be and that masks the other side which is is gonna be also painful miserable at times
ah so which you know what kind of pain are you willing to accept what kind of suffering are you willing to accept
as well as what kind of joy do you want queries had to see both sides
because no signs of leader
and sometimes i see people they want to get married and they do get married but it before i know it's not going to work because they're not going to be able to accept their suffering
the suffering that comes with them being together
so but that's hard to do you know because love is blind
this big but anyway yeah question is mike
i think that and sure we should make an effort to relieve are suffering you know why not
ah as much as as possible
what is possible but to think that we're gonna get out of suffering is a kind of delusion because the problem we have
has its various sites and so again into a new situation and love is blind we don't realize what the problems of that situation are going to be but it's so it's okay to move from one situation of another as long as you're willing to read his eyes you realistically see
that will also has its suffering
he may be i'm poor now you know and i have all the suffering it goes with being poor but they may also recent joys the go along with being born
and me if i get wealthy i'll just of i'll enjoy being wealthy but he also have the suffering and being wealthy
i'm having a good position in support if both sides come along with with all those summit
situations are easier and others
so we should always keep working for sure how other people you know if we keep working to help other people
alleviate their suffering it work to alleviate the suffering other people then we'll be able to accept whatever happens to us
but we're only working for our own benefit
no matter how good it is it's in the end and it's it won't help us
the national rate as estate bush repeating about ah
the prison seam stickler on purpose suffers as a starting point
what a
a and informed to hold an italian
tennis hedonism
well added a highly defined a hedonism it does in a book buddhism passing of her joy and pleasure and a pleasure of land for of the happiness
buddhism doesn't dwell on suffering
they had only states the problem
and and the four noble truths the first one states the problem food as the physician
annie diagnosis the problem of the problem you come to the the physician because of your suffering
and as the buddha says
i diagnose your problem as craving
now he could say i diagnose your problem as craving so when she just fulfill all your grievance
kids they have pets just say he dish say he says just gonna have a great time do it everyone you know for filius fulfill your desires
the buddha came second when it came from that from that place
as where he came from he was apprenticed he had everything his father didn't want him to see death he didn't want to see sickness he didn't run as the old age
and they didn't want to see suffering
he just wanted him to have closure he wanted to be hedonistic
so he set him up in a power but all the pleasures that he could possibly endure
the
he lives you know is that i can't stand this anymore
when he went on he went to his probably would not let him see any of these things i met him so he snuck out of the palace
yeah he thought he saw a dead man so what's that
and then he saw a sick man he said what's that and he saw are suffering man iq
an old man right and am ah
renovators problems that we have right and is that i know how this
so he left because he had to get to the bottom of life
so he gave up his hedonistic existence
and if any bad ass
i tried hedonism
in my twenties
yeah it's pretty bad
we read percent
he wanted to let
wanted an attentive to it
yeah
i craved my marijuana every day
i was really in a
you can really be
what whatever you do creates a habit she do something you know if used if a sexual activity creates the desire for more sexual activity which becomes a habit and then it has you thing about
ah freedom is yeah we think that three freedom means the freedom of do anything we want but that's not freedom that's actually being caught by desire
looks like freedom but has been caught by desire for otherwise why not just do whatever you are right i mean
from a child's point of view
this is have fun why why do we have to do anything that we don't want to do because rice to just be fun
you know i had that coming from my child for a long time