Something quite strange. Isn't this the jade machine? Weaving... The jade machine weaving... weaving it all together. The seals, of course, are usually jade. So this jeweled mirror samadhi is another way of saying what I was saying in a more casual way, the somatic message. At one point, Dung Shan was making an offering to a memorial service for his teacher, Yun Yan.

[01:10]

And this person said to Dung Shan, You rose to prominence in Nanchuan's community. Why do you make your offerings to Yunyan? He said, I do not venerate Yunyan for his great virtues. Or for the Buddha Dharma. I venerate Jñāna because he refused to reveal the teaching to me. So, you know, this practice of, on the one hand, being sealed by the jewel,

[02:11]

mirror samadhi and the other hand venerating your teacher because he refused to reveal the teaching to you. Want me to start again? Yeah. This quality or dimension of receiving, being sealed by the jeweled mirror samadhi And you added the last part? Okay, thank you very much. It suggests that a certain amount of time has to be spent together, practicing together. Now, it doesn't have to be... I mean, I didn't tell you the story of Shan Lin to mean that it has to be 18 years.

[03:35]

Of being asked, what is it? Mm-hmm. But some time is necessary. And it's really not so much time together, though that helps. You need a sort of patch, as I said, where you kind of begin to make a connection, deep connection with someone. And it's not necessarily about talking. You may feel a deep communication with the blue sky or the green willow tree.

[04:38]

Or the blown rhododendron blossoms on the black water of the pond. So at least a kind of connection is established. which even if you don't spend a lot of time with your teacher, you feel a connection for some period of time. And this in itself is... takes some time to, or it's a kind of skill, you know, or it takes some time to get a feel for.

[05:57]

Now, of course, it depends, this also depends on how you're practicing. And there's quite a few different ways to present the teaching. You can present it, as some teachers do, as a practice emphasizing mindfulness, compassion, morality. And how you relate to others and your society. Of course, this is important to me. But I just assume, my tendency is to assume you're all moral and compassionate.

[07:00]

I can't imagine otherwise. And it seems a little demeaning to me to say, now you guys be compassionate. But I need to understand better how to teach, too. Now, another way is to emphasize understanding. And that's the primary way I taught for many years. And on the whole, I saw most people beating their heads against invisible walls. Hoping for understanding. Where are you now that I need you?

[08:12]

That sounds good. Maybe I should learn that phrase and just say it. I like chanting, trying to chant the Hertz Sutra. Probably should say Herdaya Sutra, but anyway, Hertz Sutra. And I'm gonna study it and figure out what it all means. I promise. I promise. No, no, I promise. It's interesting. And I thank all of you for working on the translation and for Christian for doing this final, this most recent version. We discovered that we'd given so many away last year. And Ulrike told me, she said, I told you not to give all those away. And I said, but I'll remember to bring more from America.

[09:35]

In German, right? And she said, you won't remember, and I didn't. So then... She could say anything. Anyway, so then Christian showed up and had printed enough for all of us. Thank you very much. It was very considerate of you. Hmm. Now where was I?

[10:35]

Now we've done all that. Your main teaching was that understanding. Understanding. So then I slowly, I've begun to emphasize more and more the craft of practice. For a lot of reasons. Partly it's because of you. And I'm deeply touched by your willingness to try these things out and try to bring them into your daily life. But I also recognized how much craft had to do with my practice with Suzuki Roshi. Because Zen is not just an enlightenment teaching. We can also talk about a Zen culture.

[12:01]

It's a teaching about a being in the world. And a being with another who is no longer other. So when I looked at, you know, every now and then I'd stop and say, what is Suzuki Roshi teaching? And my answer was, mainly he's teaching attitudes and teaching Zen culture. Now I can take this pretty flower here.

[13:07]

I can have many attitudes about it. I can feel it's beautiful. Or ordinary. Or I could feel it's mine or not mine or something like that. Or I can feel that in some way it shares a presence with me. Mm-hmm. In the sense that, as I said yesterday, if the leaf is shaped by the medium of the air,

[14:08]

And further, everything that appears in space is structured by space itself, the medium of space itself. What space makes possible? Again, I've talked to it as about more like a layered, L-A-Y-E-R-E-D, a layered space. So you could also say that if each of us is conscious and intelligent, if there is consciousness in the world, Then there's consciousness and intelligence because this multiverse or universe makes it possible.

[15:20]

So in some way, if we're intelligent and conscious, the universe in some way is intelligent and conscious. Of course, it manifests differently. And this also emphasizes Samantabhadra, the primordial Buddha. And in this sense, we're talking about, again, presence. This flower has a presence. And in a religious person, it's presented as a nimbus, a halo, an aura or something. And I'm sure that the insects flying into this would feel its presence.

[16:29]

Now, The fruit of our intelligence, our energy, our courage. In Buddhism, the realization of all of it is considered to be presence. Emptiness is experienced as presence. And emptiness is not just some kind of philosophical generalization.

[17:35]

It is also experience. And when I said the other day, the sky does not cover us, the earth does not support us, This means absolute freedom. You're no longer in the world, you are the world. And this arises also through deep faith in yourself. Deep respect for yourself. I mean, we're not talking so much about faith in the Buddha or the altar or something like that. The altar is only a way to teach you that you are the altar.

[18:38]

Every Buddha, every Bodhisattva, every ancient ancestor, every lineage teacher had deep faith in themselves, deep respect in themselves. And every time I say himself, I realize how deeply I want women lineage teachers. And every time I say himself, I realize how deeply I want women lineage teachers. Both Suzuki Roshi and I felt that if Zen is really going to continue, the lineage needs to be both male and female. And another aspect is all is a questioning state of mind.

[20:03]

What is it? Who is speaking? What are you hearing? What is appearing before your eyes? And this kind of questioning isn't to undermine It's to free you of attitudes. No, the sky does not cover us, the earth does not hold us, means no attitudes. But this... No attitudes arises through studying attitudes. If I view this as a presence not so different from my own presence, this is an attitude. But you're practicing with attitudes in the sense that you're bringing all your different attitudes, which usually, because they're not through, are tying up your energy and conflicting with each other.

[21:27]

The Eightfold Path begins with right or complete views. And that's views or attitudes. This is what I mean. So you are finding those attitudes like uncorrected mind or unfabricated mind which are most inclusive until finally all your attitudes are consonant and resonate and support each other. Now, many of our attitudes are concretized in the physical way we do things. How we do things physically.

[22:43]

That's why this Zen culture is so important. How we actually do things. How we stand, walk. why so much of Zen practice is embodied in the culture of how we do things. Because if you have conflicting or inaccurate attitudes embodied in your physical activity, They are in a kind of concrete, they're in the physicalness of it. And they will also imprison your mind. So to say, the sky does not cover us, the earth does not support us, is an attitude, a view.

[24:04]

But it's a view which says, no views. And this practice of no views or presence is Samantabhadra, the primordial Buddha. So if you can keep developing and then eliminating your views through the questioning of what is it, what is it? Like when a baby is born, even though everyone knows babies are born, it's so, what is it? It's not unique, but it's so special. Or it's not special, but it's so unique.

[25:22]

So this state of mind is also everything that appears before you appears like a baby just born. This is an attitude that... is the lineage of the Buddha ancestors, in which there's freedom and ease and stability that arises from, initially the root is faith in and respect in yourself. And courage, and it takes courage to live in this world at your most fundamental state of mind without attitudes. So we study the world through our views.

[26:25]

And we study the world through Zen culture, how we do things. And this is also the... When this starts coming together, you begin to have the Sambhogakaya... body of joy and bliss. And while there's concepts of Sambhogakaya as being a body only a realized Buddha at a certain level can obtain, etc. This practice is about you. And you already know these experiences to some extent. When you have a deep ease, even for a few moments, this is the Sambhogakaya.

[27:45]

And when you feel completely free, Again, the sky does not support us. The earth does not cover us. I'm testing. Sorry. This is the freedom and joy also of the Sambhogakaya body. Now what's interesting is this presence and Sambhogakaya dimension of our existence, this presence and Sambhogakaya dimension of our existence is not, while it's the fruit of our intelligence, courage and so forth,

[28:54]

It's the most universal dimension of being. It may well be that Dr. Barry, sitting on the lawn up there, hopefully near or always near Angelica, is completely blissed out. In the psalm, what do you call it, the psalm, psalm, dog, kaya, body. Hey! So the presence that a dog lives in, probably more naturally than us, doesn't have the force in the world that a realized person's presence has.

[30:07]

Because the human brain and body and everything, we're clearly the most complex thing anybody knows about. I mean, you are, whether you like it or not. Okay, so what I was saying is, so now I'm trying to teach Zen, emphasizing Zen culture and the craft of practice. And, of course, also realization or liberation. But I'm convinced if you do develop this inner culture, and you observe the world deeply, you observe your situations deeply.

[31:29]

And you develop this faith in yourself and stability. I am sure you will realize liberation. Now this may be what I call baby mind. We sometimes have to disguise To live in this world. But it can be.

[32:30]

It's possible and it can be your treasure. So I'm teaching. As I said, I trust what I'm doing, but every now and then I have to step back and look at what am I doing. And I'm trying to teach for those of you who are practicing in your life. And I'm also trying to teach for those of you who practice is your life. And I don't say one is better than the other. We support each other. The Sangha is made up of such differences. And third, to some extent, I'm teaching for those of you who will help others practice.

[33:32]

Or who will be teachers yourself. And many of you could be teachers. You have to have the commitment and we have to create the opportunities here. And I think we have to help each other. Just as I want you to help me find out how to teach here, you have to help each other in your practice. I don't know whether it's the heat, but my legs are giving me a harder time than usual this session. Now, I think I'll try to stop in a moment. But there's a few things I want to say that relate to the Sangha and to...

[34:42]

our practice together. That might be helpful. And usually it's said that there are three kinds of compassion. And the first is compassion for the ego of others. This may be one of the most difficult forms of compassion. This is first. Compassion for the ego of others and compassion for your own ego and the suffering that arises. And the second is compassion for the stuff, the physical stuff of others. Your body, the needs of people to eat and so forth. This may be a particularly good, lively occupation then for doctors and physical therapists and so on.

[36:30]

Those people who particularly have the skills to express compassion for the stuff of us. But it also means compassion for the five skandhas and the eight vijnanas. So it means that compassion, in English, means to feel together. I also could say compassion is to be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes without leaving your own. So in this sense of compassion you feel, well, let me say the third one.

[37:46]

The third form of compassion is for what can't be seen. The Buddha nature of each person. Their practice. So in that sense you might see somebody who you can expressing to you their suffering. And you have compassion for their suffering. And at the same time, you can see that with a slight change in attitude, they would be joyful and not suffering. So you also have compassion for this slight change in attitude or this thing which can't be seen in which they would be enlightened. Or freed from this kind of self-torture.

[38:55]

Or confusion and so forth. Anyway, that's... And where we practice this is primarily in the Sangha. Being, in a way, train yourself to be aware of people in terms of their skandhas and vijnanas. Also to see their ego. And your own. And also to know, as this koan says, to know the golden wind or the pure breeze.

[40:03]

To know the circle around the rhinoceros. Or the presence of each of us. or the present and present of each of us.

[40:22]

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