Good evening. I have a couple of things to say. One is the bowing mat goes a half inch from the altar. The half inch space should be half inch space between the bowing mat and the altar. You may think that's picky and picky. But there's very little space between the time and the mat. So it needs as much space as possible in between the time and the mat. You understand what that means. What I'm saying. So when you adjust that, please try to remember that. The other thing is that I seem to have a pulled muscle or something is very painful in my leg. And for about a week. And so actually sitting this way is more comfortable than sitting in a chair.

[01:07]

But if this gets uncomfortable, I'll have to stop and sit in the chair. So we've already had four classes. Three, four, three, three, three. And they're all together. So we have two more, one tonight and one next week. So I want to cover Mr. Holmger. In the book I gave you some material, I think it was there, yeah, some material of Holmger, of his practice instructions from cultivating the empty field. And next time, I want to talk about Master A. Jones' immersion in The Treasury of Light, which appears in a book called Mindy Blind, translated by Thomas Cleary.

[02:19]

It has a wonderful picture on the cover. These wonderful Chinese statues You can't see it from there, but are in the Kansas City Museum. I've never been there, but that's where they are. They're quite beautiful and made by someone who understands. So before we start, though, I want to know if we need to, we'd like to review anything that we've talked about this far. I want to introduce Dov Yen's ko-myo and Mr. Uman's koan, which sort of opened up our discussion of our study.

[03:23]

we talked about, I read you the story of Nisarjan, Nisarjan, and there was like the story of the first part of his life before he was, when he was blinded and his experience of being blind and his experience of seeing the light as a blind person, which was quite moving. I think everybody was quite moved by that story as an experience. So I'm wondering if we have any questions about any of those things that we studied before. So, tonight we're going to talk about Master Hongjue, Monshi Shogaku in Japanese.

[04:38]

This is a biographical note that I have. Hongjue lived in the 11th century. and was a predecessor of Dong Yan's teacher, Liu Jing, at Man Tian Dong in China. And he was very well regarded in his time. He was one of the most well-known and highly regarded Zen masters at that time. And he was the proponent of what he called Silent Illumination Zen.

[05:39]

So, you know, there are two sides, two main schools of Zen. One is Koan study, 7th Illumination Zen, which Dogon called Shikantaza. Shikantaza means just sitting. There was a contemporary whose name was Da Hui. Da Hui was also a very well-known teacher in China at that time. And these two teachers were maybe the most well-known, possibly. And Da Hui was a kind of critic of Hongjue, because he was a Dharman descendant of the Linji school, the Rinzai school.

[06:44]

And Hongjue was... As someone described it, Rinzai school is, at least in Japan, Rinzai school is like a general moving his troops, whereas the Soto school is like a farmer So we're in the farmer's school. As a matter of fact, I've always enjoyed farm-making gardening myself. And in my practice, when we were at Dwight and Anne, I spent a lot of my time cultivating my little farm. I've always thought of, this is kind of why I like lay practice.

[07:49]

I've always been a kind of proponent of lay practice, which I feel, ideally, would be farming as I've been. Cultivating the ground and raising food and and with Zazen as the fundamental thing, and all of that activity being an aspect of Zazen. But, you know, we all have jobs and whatever, you know, but we do cultivate our gardens. As a matter of fact, you know, everyone's work, everyone's daily activity is cultivating your garden, even if you have no flowers or no plants.

[08:50]

So, how we take care of our surroundings, and how we relate to our surroundings, and how we become one with our surroundings. This is all in the run of thought then. So this is somewhat the characteristic of Hunger's silent illumination. When I think about this, I think about a mandala. A mandala has a center, and from the center of the mandala radiates out from the mandala. And the center of the mandala is the original face.

[10:00]

So each one of us actually is a living mandala. When we find our true center, We are truly a living mandala and we radiate our energy in all directions. So in the Platform Sutra, 6th Patriarch has this wonderful poem which I sometimes read to you. The master of the Dharma is like the sun in the sky, in an empty sky. radiating light in all directions. Hohenjoer doesn't use the term modeler, as far as I know, but he simply expresses himself in this way. So I did give you some... you may find the

[11:01]

The last time for the previous one, for example, the next one on the same page. But you know, I think so. So what did I do? I didn't have one of those. I know some of you were worried at the beginning of this question. Well, that's what we're working for. Before. Yes. The bright, boundless field, right? Yeah, the bright, boundless field. So I'll read that, and then we'll talk about it. He says, the field of boundless emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. You must purify, cure, grind down or brush away all the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits.

[12:11]

Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness. So this is like the center of the mandala, your center, your mandala. The brightness of the emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. So you don't have to search for it. The third ancestor Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srimad-Bhagavatam says, you don't have to search for it, just let go of opinions. Just let go of all opinions. And this is what he seems to be saying. The field of boundless emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. You must purify. Purify means to not fall into duality. Not to fall into duality is what Hiroshi, in his introduction to Zen by Beginner's Mind, that Zen is not so difficult.

[13:17]

Zen is difficult, but not because it's difficult to sit Zazen. It's difficult because it's hard to keep our mind pure. It's hard to keep our practice pure. fall into duality, not to succumb to duality, to dualistic thinking. You must purify, cure, grind down, brush away all the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits. So, conditioned responses. So, we are creatures of habit, and we create habits all the time, and as a matter of fact, it's pretty hard to exist without creating habits. But, how we experience ourselves moment by moment, in a non-habitual way, is awakening.

[14:35]

problem with being attached to our conditioned responses is that it's very hard to respond with a clean, pure mind because the conditioning always gets in the way so it's very hard to see when our conditioning is responding how to actually find that pure place which is our original self, not clouded by habit patterns. Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness. Utter emptiness has no image. Upright, independent. Independence does not rely on anything. just expand and illuminate the original truth, unconcerned by external conditions.

[15:46]

Accordingly, we are told to realize that not a single thing exists. In this field, birth and death do not appear. The deep source, transparent down to the bottom, can radiantly shine and can respond The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. The whole affair functions without leaving traces, and mirrors without obscurations. Very naturally, mind and darkness emerge and harmonize. An ancient said that non-mind embodies and fulfills the way of non-mind. embodying and fulfilling the way of non-mind, finally you can rest. Proceeding, you are able to guide the assembly.

[16:49]

With thoughts clear, sitting silently, wander into the center of the circle of wonder. This is how you must penetrate and study. So, wander into So what can you say about this? How is it that he's not creating a duality between the unconditioned and the conditioned, or between non-duality and duality? Well, listen to this. In this field, birth and death do not appear. the deep Source transcends down, transparent down to the bottom, can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. So, each speck of dust means getting down to the very bottom and yet responding to conditions.

[18:06]

Similarly, I'm interested in his use of apparent habits. Apparent habits. Apparent habits. So we have a way in which we relate to our habits that make them somehow seem like they're separate or to be gotten rid of. But when we grind and polish and whatever away, they are just our habits. They're nothing more than that. They'll still exist. They're still the relative. We deal with them in a way that's unencumbered. We deal with them in a way that's unencumbered. Because we deal with them in a way that's unencumbered. What do you mean by that? I know what you mean by that. What I mean is that we don't add anything extra to them. We just see them for what they are. We don't judge, we don't react, we don't try and push them away.

[19:10]

We respond appropriately to them because we see them just as they are. Just parent habits. We don't believe that we are those habits or that we're forever stuck in those habits. We just know that they arise sometimes and because of our conditioning they tend to arise more than other things do sometimes. And if we're in the circle of brightness, do they catch us or no? I'd say not. I'd say from the circle of brightness, you see them. And they don't catch you. They don't catch you. What do you mean by catching? Well, I can see the words he uses are they don't leave a trace. They don't find your vision. You know, they don't catch us. We don't catch them. They can't catch us.

[20:14]

Please. They can't. We can only catch them. There's a if you I think the next sentence in the next sentence or the sentence after. the deep source transparent down from the bottom can radiantly shine and can respond unencumbered to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. So it's not that specks of dust don't arise, but exactly that you don't become a partner with it. Not that it doesn't become a partner with you. So this is like being in the world without being attached. being able to, because we have touched the bottom, we're able to go through, to proceed, responding but without being caught.

[21:27]

But what's caught is not somebody catching us, we're catching There's an old Hasidic story. This guy comes to the rabbi and says, Rabbi, Rabbi, how can I get rid of the evil urge which is always chasing me around? He says, just stop chasing it. The evil urge is not chasing you. You are chasing it. Could I try another way of saying encumbered? Try catching. She tried catch. I'm wondering if it's what I do when I get kind of obsessed with maybe a habit of mine, usually a negative judgment about it, a spreading about it, and thinking that I have to

[22:31]

I have to vanquish it, a big emotional burden around some aspect of my burdened personality. So if you're unencumbered, you can see it. And I'm wondering if an example of it would be, you started out today by talking about the half-inch of King Matt and the altar, and saying, you may think that's picky. maybe it is, but I heard no judgment about yourself, about being picky, about maybe being picky, maybe it is, but I'm wondering if that's, is that related to this? I'm not burdened by a few things such as being picky. Okay, but maybe, I was just trying to think, maybe it's your habit, you have this thing that you really want to be a half inch away, and it's important to you, And that's OK with you, that it's important to you.

[23:35]

And you might instead think, oh, I shouldn't be so picky. I don't think that, though. Well, that brings up, to me, the opposite thing. Because you may have some habitual, quote, things that you might call false. And then if you just go around saying, that's OK for everything, all of your, quote, false, then maybe that's going off in a direction where you're very self-indulgent or something, that may not be positive. Right, that's right. But if you think that that's picking, I'm not going to deny your truth. I don't think that's right or wrong. Okay, well that's about me, it's not about your habit anymore, so maybe it's not a good example and I shouldn't have brought it up. There are habits that are beneficial and habits that are not.

[24:41]

But mindless habit is what he's talking about here. Mindless habit. In other words, without really investigating deeply, we respond to something on the surface We respond to something without really knowing what it is we're responding to or how we're responding. We just respond through a kind of half-truth. Well, the only way you can be encumbered by those kind of habits is by remaining unaware of them. That's right. If you're aware of them, aren't you immediately unencumbered? No. Okay, maybe I have to take an example of my own life for that, but I felt it doesn't come up. I wish there was an example for that. Well, here's an example. We know somebody. And we all know somebody.

[25:58]

And then this person has certain characteristics which we respond to. And maybe they have certain characteristics which help to create a conditioned response in me to that. Right? So whenever I see so-and-so, I go, oh, that's so-and-so. He's always like this. Right? But that's my conditioned response. My true response would be to not have that, to not always think that's the way this person is. Otherwise I never give that person the opportunity to change in my eyes. Okay, so if you see your response to be unencumbered by it is to let it go. Yes, that's my response. What is that? What's actually, what am I actually facing here?

[27:00]

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's, that's the kind of like, you know, getting an unconditional response. It's like, instead of just I don't know what that is. I don't know. So, I don't know is like unconditioned response. Even though I know. Even though I do know. I don't let myself fall into, I do know. Even though I know, I don't know. And that's what gives me the opportunity to respond to what's really there instead of what I think is there. And it's going to happen. Otherwise, I can't free myself of the other person. So what is this thing, even though I know, that you know? Yeah, that's that first part. I love that. Well, when I say, even though I know, I mean, I think I know. Sense of that. And, nine times out of ten, what you think will happen, will happen.

[28:08]

But there's that one opportunity when it won't. And you have to be open to that opportunity. So, to always be open to that opportunity. Because when we respond, we also change that. The way we respond has an effect on the other person. Maybe ten years from now. I don't know. Nancy? I was just going to say, what if the sangha had quite a few somewhat demented, compulsive people who just insisted on making that zabaton snug up against the mat? And then every time, you would move it back patiently. It just kept happening month after month after month, day after day.

[29:16]

Guess what? You know my life. This is the story of my life. So, you know, I'll give fifteen people a lesson in how to raise the altar. And they have to do it the next day and the next week. It's the same as it was before. But this wears down my condition.

[30:24]

Before you came in here, I noticed that the map was crooked. And so I leaned forward and straightened it, so I got only 50%. Yeah. But that may be all you need. No, that's half of what you need. I meant you. Oh, except me, yeah. Well, I appreciated the fact that it was straightened. I did. Next time, 100%. See, the thing is, like, you know, When I look at the altar, I want everything to be, because this is the center of our mandala. Even though it's at the end of the zendo, typically in a zendo, the altar's in the middle.

[31:27]

If you have space, you know, because with our limited space, the altar's at the end, but it should be in the middle. altar is the center of the mandala. So to straighten out, you know, this is where the essence comes from. So we want to make, you know, and when we straighten that out, it straightens us out. We're straightening it out, but it's also straightening us out. It's not like one way. But to pay attention, to have that mindfulness and that carefulness and that attention to detail, is good for us. And when we do have that attention to detail, then the radiance of the mandala affects the whole window. So there's the center of the mandala, and then there are the corners.

[32:34]

And each corner has a certain kind of and the seat that's over there in the back, and the seat over here. Although, it's not exactly perfect, so to speak. But, so, this is the center, and our practice radiates in the zendo, radiates out from the center of the makala. And so the essence or the light radiates out and our effort, each one of us is a mandala in ourself. So all these energy centers are around the Peruvian and in the center are interacting with each other.

[33:40]

and creating multiple, infinite patterns of life. Ma'am? Oh, this brings to mind a famous art educator that I studied a bit, named Rhoda Kellogg. She studied the art of children in cultures all over the world. and found that at a certain age, around three, they began, just drawing freely, they always would make a manga. And they would want to embellish it gradually, and out of that came the human figure. And sort of corresponding with the child's discovery of self. Yeah, the mandala is the most natural thing, you know, and it's invented by children.

[34:43]

And of course we're children. And every household has a mandala, of one kind or another. Some are better than others. But this is what we're always centered in. and because we're always accessing or being a vehicle for this life energy, which is called light. So, some people are interested in harmony, some people are interested in chaos.

[35:49]

And so I admit, the people who love chaos are the people who love harmony. And we happen to love harmony. And the balance of chaos and harmony As always, in our own language, we are balancing each other out. That's always happening. But this practice is the practice of being a vehicle for light and harmony. Buddha forgave the thought. Let's say, and that's not using the word picky, but let's say that you're wrong. And it doesn't really belong a half-inch, it belongs three-eighths of an inch, and you keep on insisting on a half-inch.

[36:55]

And when there's a question, it's not a question of picking, it's a question of when are you wrong? But, you know, God forbid you're wrong. But when are you wrong? Where are you going wrong? Where am I going wrong? Half an inch is just just means, you know, a certain distance. It's not a ruler, half inch. It's an eye half inch. It's an eyeballing. And it might be different from one day to the next. It's the best way. What do I say? Actually, the half inches makes it perfect. Yeah. Aesthetically, it works. Right. And not only aesthetically, as it were, but practically it works. So, you know, if you build a house, and you lay the foundation, and you're a quarter of an inch off at one end, by the time you get to the other end, you're about three feet off, maybe.

[38:01]

So you have to be very careful how you lay that out. And that's done with This is all eyeball. So this is like training your eye to work with objects, so that each object has its own space, and is not crowded out by some other object, or covering up some other object. So sometimes I'll come in and I'll move the flowers, because they're covering up Samantabhadra. And so there are subtle balances that really make you feel good. And there are imbalances which don't make you feel so good. So, balancing. Balance is part of our practice. Balance is a very fundamental part of our practice.

[39:04]

How we balance all of the things that we work with. and the balance of the constituents of our body and the balance of our mind and the balance of our body and mind. Balance is everything because everything is continually falling out of balance and finding its balance. So this is our fundamental teaching. how to, moment by moment, regain your balance. So by working this way with the centered model of our practice, very important. Do we ever make mistakes? We make mistakes all the time. You must not take a break.

[40:16]

You do. So anyway, there's a lot in this talk. But this is very typical of Hongjie, this talk. He talks about circles. He talks a lot about And, of course, for him, that, then, is the practice of silent illumination. So in a sense, it's not easy to talk about all Zen schools, teaching, or teachers, will say, yes, shikantaza is really the highest form of Zen.

[41:29]

And all the koans, of course, are resolved in zazen. But the difficult part is when we stand up. That in itself is not so hard, but standing up and walking around, that's difficult. That's how we lose ourselves. So, I'll just read this a little bit more. He says, the field of boundless emptiness is what exists from the very beginning. You must purify, cure, grind down, or brush away, or however you want to do it.

[42:33]

All the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits. Then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness. You know, when you come to Sachine, even though this doesn't really always happen. Ideally, all of your affairs are in order. You don't have anything hanging over your head when you come to Sashim. Of course, that's impossible. It's not impossible, but it's because of our entanglements in our lives. Pretty hard. But ideally, you would leave everything behind, as if you were not going to return to earth again. I remember when I first went to Sokoji with Suzuki Roshi, my first ashim, there was a sign on the wall that said, a matter of life and death.

[43:39]

You must purify, cure, grind down, or brush away, or whatever. All the tendencies you have fabricated into apparent habits, then you can reside in the clear circle of brightness, which is Vazen. Utter emptiness has no image. Upright independence does not rely on anything. Just expand and illuminate the original truth, unconcerned by external conditions. Accordingly, we are told to realize that not a single thing exists. In this field, birth and death do not appear. The deep source, transparent down to the bottom, can radiantly shine and can respond, unencumbered, to each speck of dust without becoming its partner. The subtlety of seeing and hearing transcends mere colors and sounds. The whole affair functions without leaving traces and mirrors without obscurations.

[44:49]

Very naturally, mind and dharmas emerge and harmonize. Mind and dharmas mean dharmas, things, mind and things. An ancient said that non-mind or no-mind embodies and fulfills the way of no-mind. embodying and fulfilling the way of no-mind, finally you can rest. Proceeding, you are able to guide the assembly with thoughts clear, sitting silently, wander into the center I think I gave you another, well I gave you several.

[45:56]

Can you tell me what the next one might be? One of those, one that I gave in your handout. The practice of true reality. The practice of true reality. And after right down this field, this is on this page completely from the bottom here. And what's the name? What's the number of the page? Well, page four. Oh, OK. Nothing. Please. You know, it is. Oh, I know. Page five. Oh yeah. That's what I said. You know, that just happens to be the end of the page. Well, you know, I said that the whole thing is on page five. So if you page five. Yes. OK. I think you start at the bottom of page four. That's when you said it's all at the bottom of page five. Four. Oh, OK. OK. OK. So, the practice of true reality, according to Hung Drip.

[47:04]

The practice of true reality is simply to sincerely, in silent introspection, When you have fathomed this, you cannot be turned around by external causes and conditions. This is called the samadhi of imperturbability. This is one meaning of samadhi, imperturbability. when he said you should always be the boss. He didn't mean you should boss people around. He meant you should sit in the samadhi of imperturbability. Nothing can turn you over. You can't be turned over. If you sit in the lotus position, this is called a triangle.

[48:11]

three-point triangle. It's the knees and the behind. And this is the most immovable kind of sitting position, where you can't easily be pushed over. It's a very stable position. Just to extend that a little bit, when the servers are serving your meal, to the people on the floor, you should always get down on your knees, put the pot down and get down on your knees to serve. If you're just kind of squatting, it's very unstable. So assuming a stable position always is a practice. Always look for a stable position so that you're never off balance. So if you're kind of squatting on your feet and your knees are up and your behind is up, somebody will just come along and push you right over.

[49:14]

So you should be careful how you move your body and the positions that your body takes to be stable. It's very much like lining up everything and stability. So that's this position and it's also the position you take when you do various tasks. And so you're always centered in whatever you're doing. This is fundamental. When you're washing the dishes, you're centered.

[50:15]

When you're sweeping the floor, you're centered. When you lift something, you lift it with your legs. Lifting something heavy, you don't lift it like this with your back. You squat, and take a stable position, take hold of what you're lifting, and stand up. So you have to think about these things as practice. So he says, when you have fathomed this, you cannot be turned around by external causes and conditions. So physically yes, but emotionally and mentally the same thing. Thank you. A moment ago when you said the altar is the center of our mandala and all goes out from there, the thought arose in me, where is this not the center of the mandala?

[51:16]

Where are we in the world where it's not? And so when we're outside the zendo, we're constantly encountering things that are not centered, and yet this is our mandala, and so can you give an encouraging word on how to see things that are so-called askew and centered and imbalanced, and become obsessive and compulsive and try to... Yeah, you know, instead of trying to put out all the fires in the world, just center yourself. When you center yourself, then all the uncentered, seemingly uncentered things around you will find their center with you. That's how you center things. You don't try to rearrange them. You simply center yourself, and then whatever it is that's relating to you will be centered with you.

[52:17]

Well, that seems like good advice and encouragement. And it feels right. So, coming back to the Zen Dojo, At what point do we just let things, the sabbatan, be a little off, or the various things that we are encouraged to kind of line up? It's really inside-outside. Yes, that's very subtle. You do what you can, and then what you can't do, you accept. without discrimination. So a lot of it is just letting go. If we don't let go, we kill ourselves with trying to make everything right. Well, I think I was going to say something along those lines.

[53:24]

Each of us has our own way of viewing what that alignment is. And when I see something out of line, or I hear something out of line, or I have, before I make an adjustment, I look at myself and see if what I notice is that my response to this is putting, is somehow moving me out of alignment, then I tend not to fix that thing that's external. I let it go until a time when I see, OK, then I don't have to invest in this. This is just making things align. If I'm irritated, what that means really, if I'm irritated by it or something's bothering me, then that's precisely the time

[54:28]

You can really bother yourself. Right. It's me bothering me. Way in the back. John. No. Oh, yeah. Hi. In response to what Ross was saying, also, that makes me think that, you know, we need to come here into this mandala, this window and everything. Can you maybe stand up? I can't really hear you. We come into this mandala as a part of it, and things are harmonious and formal, and there's ritual. And I think that when we go outside of the zendo, our job is, this is just an idea, maybe to be our own little walking zendo, our own mandala, going out of there. That is practice, sort of. It's forming a concept that we then carry on. When you leave the zendo, the zendo is extended to wherever you are. That's the practice.

[55:35]

So, that's right, what you say is right. Now there's a gentleman in front of you. And he's sitting in the corner. Someone over here. I was going to ask you, let's go back for a second. In the first one that we read, there is, um, expand and illuminate the original truth. How do you expand... I can get the illumination, but how do you expand the original truth, if it's the original truth? Well, this is some... I don't know. This is where... What I would say was, just let... when you let go, you expand. There's no limit to your boundaries. So we think of this body as a limit. It does have limitations. But actually there's no limitation to our real body, our true body is the universe.

[56:37]

So there's no limit to expansion. But just letting go of what we think is a boundary. He's reading that as expand the original truth. I would read it differently. I'd say just expand. That's you. Expand. and thereby illuminate the original truth. Yeah. I have two questions. Thinking about what's picky, what's an obsessional ritual, I'm wondering whether we think about it not as getting things exactly aligned right, but more as a process of aligning ourselves and getting attuned to prepare for moving into liminal space outside of the ordinary hurly-burly of how things are.

[57:48]

But going into liminal space involves these rituals of getting things so. And the second comment I had was about what is clear and what is pure. It's very reminiscent of the instruction practice in my work, which is being a psychoanalyst, that our practice is to be without mud, M-U-D. without memory, without understanding, without desire? Well, yes. I would say without attachment to those things. It means exactly that. Who you think the patient is that's walked into the room needs to fall into the background. This is a new person, a new moment, a new you.

[58:49]

No mud. But also the same thing, you know, reminded me that every time we do something that looks like the same thing, it's different. It's not the same thing. As we keep saying over and over, there's no repetition. We think, oh, this is just repetition. If you think this is repetition, then that's just mechanical. So as soon as it's mechanical, you know there's just a conditioned response or a conditioned way of doing something. So, when you actually practice what we call ritual, I don't call it ritual, I just call it procedure, to do it in a very relaxed way so that it's always new. As Nuki Roshi used to say, you know, you have to maintain your original mind, your original intention, which is every time you bow, it's different.

[59:51]

It's a whole new thing you're doing. You've never done that before. You did something like that once. But every time, it's a different experience. Totally different. There's no repetition, except as we think that maybe it is. We just put it into a category called repetition. No. I've been thinking this often on throughout this discussion, and it's fitting in again. We've been talking about apparent habits and not taking them too seriously, kind of noting them, but not clinging to them or defending them or whatever. One of the interesting, pleasant aspects of that, it seems to me, is that, and just dropping, Just letting it be, just letting go of it.

[60:54]

One of the pleasant aspects of that is to realize there's no value in being consistent. No need to be consistent. In other words, if one has a kind of habitual response to a particular person, you say, oh, here they come, and they're going to do their thing, and I'm going to get irritated by it, and so forth. And there's no need to do that. You may have gotten irritated the last time you saw them, but there's absolutely no need to continue the next time you see them to be irritated. And in fact, if you see them and you happen to have a wonderful, pleasant interaction with them, there's no need to feel that that was somehow inconsistent or whatever. It's just what's happening now. It's so kind of nice to see. not being consistent or even value being consistent. I think the most important thing is how you stay centered and in the calmness of your mind.

[62:07]

I'm going to go on a little bit. This empty wide open mind is subtly and correctly illuminating. Empty, wide-open mind is subtly and correctly illuminating. Spacious and content, without confusion from inner thoughts of grasping, effectively overcome habitual behavior and realize the self that is not possessed by emotions. It doesn't mean that there are no emotions, but is not possessed by emotions. You must be broad-minded, whole, without relying on others. Such upright, independent spirit can begin to not pursue degrading situations. Not to pursue, that's a funny way. Here you can rest and become clean, pure, and lucid.

[63:08]

Lucid means light, right? Bright and penetrating. you can immediately return, accord, and respond to deal with events. Everything is unhindered, clouds gracefully floating up to the peaks, the moonlight glistening, flowing down mountain streams. The entire place is brightly illuminated and spiritually transformed, totally unobstructed and clearly manifesting responsive interaction like box and cover, or arrow points meeting. So this is from the Sandokai, right? He's quoting from the Sandokai. Like a box and its lid, or like two arrow points meeting. Perfectly. Continuing, cultivate and nourish yourself to embody maturity and achieve stability. If you accord everywhere with thorough clarity and cut off sharp corners without dependence on doctrines, like the white ox or wild cat helping to arouse wonder, you can be called a complete person.

[64:23]

So we hear that this is how one on the way of no mind acts. But before realizing no mind, we still have great hardship. What do you mean by sharp corners? Well, you know, a realized person has no corners. No place where somebody can get stuck. That word again. It's so ambiguous. Stuck? Stuck? Yeah. It's ambiguous for me. Stuck means stuck in motion, stuck in feelings, stuck in mental... Not letting go, not seeing, not letting go. You know, transparent.

[65:25]

Sometimes it should be transparent. It means like, you know, if you get an arrow, you can either hold it or you can let it go through. So if we continually allow things to go through, we don't get stuck. So we carry all this baggage around us, and we live it, because we get stuck with things. We catch them, like we catch a cold. And then very soon, you know, But the practice is really, how do you keep letting go, moment by moment? There are things that we should be concerned with, and be responsive to, and so forth.

[66:28]

But this is not a rule. It's an attitude. When you start making attitudes into rules, then you start thinking about 1, 2, 3, You know, sometimes you do get stuck. We do get stuck a lot. But our attitude, our disposition, you might say, is to respond to things and let go of things. Let go. So that you're always rising up fresh. This is what he's talking about. You're always, on each moment, you're arising fresh and new, because you're dying. Every moment we're dying, and every moment we're rising up new. Letting go, and rising up new.

[67:28]

And if we don't let go, it's hard to rise up new. So we get stale, and we fall behind. And then we start groping our way through life, because we're so burdened So how we not get attached and not get caught and keep letting go. Letting go all the time. That's called renunciation. That's true renunciation. It's just letting go all the time. Not holding on to anger, ill will, or any of those negative emotions or feelings or thoughts. which arise all the time. You know, like I get angry 50 times a day when I listen to the radio. Idiots! You know. I can't think of people criticizing.

[68:30]

Obama gives this great speech, and then all these people are criticizing. He didn't cure us, you know. He didn't solve problems in the world, you know. You know, like these guys are just burning themselves, you know, with all this stuff, because they don't want to change. It's hard to change. Really hard to change. Change has been the hardest thing for people to do. And changing for the better is even harder. I have to add that to Obama. He's really cool. He has all these reins on him that don't allow him to do what he wants. And he's just really cool. A little bit at a time. He's a lot of patience. Pretty patient. He needs a lot of support. He's got a really good necklace for the king. A what? He's got a really good necklace for the king.

[69:33]

Sorry, Jim. We sound like keeping. OK. We have no time. So I will give you something to study. over the week. But that's just the tip. That's just the taste of Hobser. And I would hope that my understanding of class is to help and to just kind of encourage you by just saying something in the long run. So please, you know, keep doing that, sir.

[70:42]

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