love and kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity are, they're a support for our practice, you know, in various ways. So, I think I said last week, there are many lists in the polycanon of both positive or beneficial qualities and then hindrances. And these, the positive qualities have this double side to them. They're both the qualities of a Buddha or Bodhisattva or an enlightened being or someone who's in a state like that. It's an expression of wholesome mind. But they're also practices that we cultivate in order to move ourselves into that space. So it's kind of an enactment ritual. Like Titan Dan Leighton talks about Zazen itself as an enactment ritual, like you're just putting yourself physically in the body of the Buddha, like just being there.

[01:11]

And we have Rohatsu Sushin coming up in a month or so. And that's kind of putting ourselves in the space that the Buddha was in before he awakened. You just put yourself there. Just like, go there. So it has this double side. But the structured practices like this are really meant as a support. And the Buddha often talked about, you know, the teachings are a raft to take you from this side across to awakening. And you don't have to carry the raft with you all the time. So when it's not necessary, you can put it down. So if you're doing metaphraises and that's helpful, great. And when it starts to be extra, you can let go of it. You can do the radiation, you know, radiating, you know, as Peter was talking about. I studied Tibetan Buddhism for several years, and I remember meeting one teacher who said, basically,

[02:24]

you can just go directly to awakened mind, or you can aim at that. And if you can do that, that's great. Then that's all you need. But if that's not available to you, then there are foundational practices that you can go through to kind of build the ground. So this is a way of building the ground. Personally, I'm so grateful that I had some grounding in Vipassana insight practice and Tibetan practice before coming to Zen. because I had a very unhappy mind, and leaving me alone with that mind for extended periods was just, was not a very happy thing, and I didn't know how to get out of it. But having these more structured practices, and some of them physical and some of them mental, were just really, really helpful, and having some sense of, like, progress, so to speak, was useful. You said, if it feels extra.

[03:24]

Yes. Could you give us some examples of what that would look like or feel like? And to dial it back if you do have that experience? Yes. So I could start out doing metaphrases and then I could start being like, oh, well, this is a little better wording. And then I could just get caught up in better wording for it and start elaborating on that rather than just staying with Something very simple. Staying with the feeling of it. Basically, for me, if I'm getting in my head, I think for most people, if you're getting in your head, if you're thinking about rather than focusing on the experience of, from the inside, not the outside. How is this now to be doing this? What's going on in this moment? So I thought I would do just a short... So I want to say there are two of the ways that I am familiar with for doing metta practice.

[04:38]

One is by using phrases, which I think is what many people are familiar with. You know, may I be peaceful, may I be at ease, may I be free from suffering. And then... what's been called like a radiation practice to radiate love and kindness or compassion. So I thought I'd do a little bit of a guided instruction for radiation practice, which I came across a part of it and I went, ooh, this is just like in the metta sutta. So you'll see where that part comes and then I'll say the metta sutta at the end. So you can just sit comfortably and I'm going to say some things and you can just, follow and see how that is. And this is a more structured way of doing or of evoking what I mentioned last week that Sojin said, when someone said, where and how do you do metta practice?

[05:44]

And he said, that's the only practice I ever do. And he spoke of radiating metta from his hara, he said, or love, or you could say light. So to arouse within yourself this attitude of compassion or metta. You might use a mental image of a person or an animal or a particular object, a crutch that evokes that feeling that helps you connect with it.

[06:52]

And then when your mind is filled with compassion, to pervade the world with it, first in front of you, extending compassion in front of you, and then to one side of you, And to the other side. And behind you. And then in the four intermediate directions. And then above and below.

[08:09]

In the Metta Sutta, it says, suffusing love over the entire world, above, below, and all around without limit. So let one cultivate an infinite goodwill toward the whole world. Suffusing compassion. over the entire world in the ten directions without limit. Thus, one cultivates infinite compassion toward the whole world. This radiation may be something very soft and gentle, It doesn't have to push out in any way.

[09:22]

Just allow the light to shine in all directions. It doesn't matter how far the light is able to shine right now. practice is just of removing any boundary, of allowing it to be boundless. Okay, thank you. Any questions or comments?

[10:34]

Hi, Marlee here. I did want to appreciate that last instruction on not needing to push or Yeah, or because I often find that these very formal Ramaphihara practices can really kick up the gaming idea, can really hit that like, well, not much happening, I gotta push more. And it's a great reminder that often is the most helpful when you are not pushing, but still returning to it. Someone online? Yes.

[11:37]

Yes, hi. This is Mary. Thank you. My mind has been going back to the days that we sat vigil in the hospital room with Hazan last year and how much of a leap of faith it is to know that just one's presence is sufficient in a situation like that where there are machines going and there's activity and there's non-response and that that confidence that one's presence is enough is feels for me it feels

[12:42]

like an important learning. I mean, it's not something I've learned for all time, but that idea of not pushing, I guess I'm keen off of what Marley just said, that there's the feeling of that one is not doing so much as one's allowing or being or just being. And that that is enough, that's the leap of faith for me. Thank you. I think for me, a piece of it is also having the trust in my own practice that I can hold that, that I can hold... what's happening or the suffering of another person, that I can stand it, I can stand to be with it.

[13:45]

And that could be very helpful to other people because if you can be there, it helps other people be there and then they don't have to protect you so much. We're so tied together in invisible ways. So for somebody to show up, it helps the other to show up too. It works both ways, all this. You know, these Prama Viharas, they are classically, the way they're taught, people speaking of the far enemy and the near enemy. What's antagonistic to the practice? And what looks like your friend, but isn't really your friend.

[14:46]

So last week, we talked about metta, maitri, loving kindness. The far enemy is hate. It's hatred, right? All that going around. Way too much of that going around in this world right now. And the near enemy is... like a kind of clingy kind of affection, a neurotic kind of needy affection. Maybe you have a better word for it. And they can be different things. You see even really old commentaries, they have different takes on it. So with Karuna, compassion, our enemy is cruelty. Intention.

[15:47]

Intending to hurt. Cruelty. Typically, I say the most often near enemy that you would hear is pity. It might look like or sound like compassion, but there's an unequal relationship. There's separation there. I pity you because you are really a mess or hurt, whatever, you know. Oh, what a shame. That poor, poor person. I guess they just don't know. Whatever it is, you know, pity is the near end. because it sets up a separation. And then, you know, that's not helpful.

[16:50]

I would say there are different possibilities in these lists. So what came up for me was, for me, the near enemy of compassion is fixing it. I'm going to fix this problem because I know better. I know what you need. I don't know. Maybe that's something to do with my male conditioning, mansplaining. I know what's needed here. I'm going to fix it. And 99 times out of 100, I could not be more wrong. And like pity, fixing sets up. A separation. There's an unequal dynamic. I'm better than you. I'm smarter than you.

[17:50]

Noblesse oblige. That's not helpful. That's not helpful. It creates a kind of a barrier. This attitude of fixing can be a kind of a barrier. that holds you back from really being helpful in an effective way. So that's some thoughts I had about that. And I think it's very often the case that if our practice of karuna, if our practice of compassion is tinged by these near enemies, as I said, it makes it more difficult to practice compassion effectively. And it can lead to a very common phenomenon that people in the helping professions talk about a lot, which is called compassion burnout.

[19:00]

I can't do this anymore. So people in the helping professions, they need to be sure to create stability for themselves because they can't offer it to others. And so, you know, Suzuki Roshi talked a lot about keeping our practice pure, which is, you know, maybe that doesn't resonate so much with a lot of people. What does he mean by pure? You know, but just not adding something extra. Not adding something extra. Just like Mary said, allowing. Allowing these qualities of the enlightened mind, these qualities of the Buddha mind to just flow through us and stay out of the way as much as possible. And if there's not so much about my story, what I'm getting out of this,

[20:11]

What a good person I am. Because I really am. I'm a good person, darn it. You know. I'm going to prove it. You will know. What a good person I am. Trungpa Rinpoche, the very famous Tibetan teacher, teased his students a lot. He said, you always want to be the good guy. You always want to be on the right side. And he was practicing no signs. There are no signs. just in due practice, without anything extra. And then, I think you're less likely to experience compassion burnout. There's no residue, or very little residue. Yeah, so I'm aiming for less residue in my practice of compassion. I guess I would say, yeah. Mike. So I need some help with this, and I'm curious what your responses would be.

[21:28]

So in Dogan, I'm not sure where, and we have many translations by people in our own Sangha, there are places where he says in reference to who are missing or misguided or astute. I'm not sure who he was referring to, but he says, we should pity them. And that's the word that's used in the translation. I realize these are just translations. These people are really careful when they translate these things. I remember reading that and part of me was like, that sounds kind of arrogant. But then part of me was like, yeah, but maybe he's got something there. And I'm just wondering if you're familiar with those statements, and yeah, how do you reconcile that with what you just said, which I believe also is true, and it can be a separator. Yeah, I would say Dogen is a human being too. If you read a lot of Dogen, if you read a lot of the Shobha Gensel, you'll run across passages where he's just, he goes on a rant.

[22:37]

Ranty Dogen. Yeah, yeah. right in the middle of the beautiful Mounds and Water Sutra. He goes off. So he has strong opinions. That's all right. He's allowed. His way of speaking, I think probably pity is an apt translation. You're right. I mean, I agree with you. When I say you're right, I mean 10 minutes I agree with you. That the translators are very careful. So I'm sure that that's the right choice of words. Okay. Maybe he should have just said, I'm good enough. Not we should have good enough. Maybe so. So we've got Peter Oaks. Hello, Peter. Hi. Hi. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'd like to echo the word allowing.

[23:41]

in connection with just experiencing one's breath as it comes and goes. This is actually pretty challenging to allow the breath just to come and go. But I think it's a very powerful practice. I wondered if you'd like to comment on that. It's been a huge practice for me throughout my I practiced life. And for many years, I didn't even know what that meant unless I'd been on retreat for some time and something let go, because that was where I held most of my attention. It was in my diaphragm. So finding the space between effort and allowing is an ongoing exploration, really. And I notice there are things that support allowing, and part of that is effort, actually.

[24:51]

In zazen, when I put the effort into being quite upright and aligned, at a certain point, my body finds its place where it is aligned, and of itself, there's allowing. And it lets go. I'm trying to allow, I could just hang out in that space forever. I'm efforting to allow. Something has to shift. So I think there's so many ways to. Thank you. To let that happen. Thank you. And Sue. Hi. Hello. You talked about compassion burnout. And I just went, ugh. I've been asked to do some things that I don't want to do.

[25:55]

And it's like, this could be really fun. I don't want to do it. And I... You know, I guess I'm using my age and some health issues as an excuse. I don't want to do it. And it would be really fun. And that point of allowing that you mentioned, there's a shift that happens when I can allow where I want to do it and I'm able to do it. But I'm really worried about this sense of inability. reluctance. I'm really pissed about it. I don't want to be that person. Like Greg said, I want to be the good guy. And I don't feel that way right now. So there's an image that I saw about compassion of a figure sitting meditation

[27:07]

And this brilliant pink heart, you know, the valentine heart in the center of the belly, it just drew me. It went, oh, you know, compassion. But I feel like I'm having trouble accessing that for myself and for others. That's it. I just wanted to share that and hear any words of wisdom. Thank you. Thank you. It's okay. You know, it's okay. It could be the voice that says, I don't want to do that. That's the voice you should be listening to, you know. It's important to have good boundaries, and it's important to be very intimate with our limitations.

[28:10]

We're not doing this practice to transcend our limitations and become superhuman, levitate, fly through the clouds, what have you. I also want to say, Greg, that sometimes I mishear things. And it's sort of amusing. So when I first understood when you said superhuman, you don't want to become stupid human. That works too. Thank you. I want to thank the Sanatis for loaning us this beautiful Kuan Yin statue. And there's a little story about it because she succumbed to gravity at some point, apparently, and a number of the arms were broken off. Ten of them specifically. And we asked Lori, can we try to fix it?

[29:17]

And I got some crazy blue gel and one arm by arm, one by one. It has got all the pieces, but close. We started gluing it back together. And I just think that's a wonderful image for our practice. You know, actually, Alan's LPs called Everything is Broken, right? And that's us too, you know? So we glued our arms back on, and here she is, actively responding in every quarter with, you know, glued on arms. Just bringing what we got to the fore. To the best of our ability, not overdoing it is, yeah, I highly recommend not overdoing it. You know, the Buddha preached the middle way. That's actually the very first thing he preached.

[30:18]

Practicing the middle way. Not going to too many speeds. Coming back for a century over and over again. Well, and did you have your hand up? I just wanted to say that was great fixing things. Good one, good one. We did. It was a group effort. We had a lot of fun, like solving the puzzle. I was temporarily glued to Kuan Yin because my fingers slipped into the glue. Yes. Intimately connected. Yes. Do we have time for a quick dyad? Okay. Thank you. So we're going to do another dyad on what you are thinking in this moment, your practice of compassion, of Karuna, will be for this coming week.

[31:25]

What might it look like? And it might build on what you did last week or be something different. So two minutes each. So we'll ring a bell at the two-minute mark, and then you can switch. Okay? Go. You can do the same person or somebody else. Okay, not doing nothing. I'm Peter. Hi. Hi, boy.

[32:26]

Honestly, it's a passion for me. of people or things. You're not. [...]

[33:30]

Yeah. A lot of the time, I think it's like, I'm trying. observing to maintain my attention, to maintain my life. I feel like I have some cup of water.

[34:35]

I have an amount of effort. And after that... Great. So we'll just wait a moment for others to come back into the Zoom room and then we'll do the refuges. Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them. Dharma gates are countless, I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.

[35:41]

Things are humperless, I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to rent them. Dharma gifts are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. So we'll meet again a week from today. No. No? A week from today is Halloween. It's in the calendar. It's in the calendar. I thought, oh. I thought that one was going to skip me the answer. I think we're doing it. Yes. Time to confirm.

[36:43]

It's in the calendar. I just wanted to highlight the fact that it is, in fact, on Halloween. So if not many people come, that's cool. We get it. And if you want to come in costume, by all means, please do. Bring candy. No, I'm asking you're bringing candy. No, you're bringing candy. If I bring it, I'll probably eat it all. I will be compassionate and loving and whatever the others you are and share it with everybody. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

[37:29]

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