I vow to taste the truth of the Tathāgata's words. So this is concluding session here, starting with... I had written down book 21 and 22, and you have the text, right, for 21? Yes. So, I think I've gone over here, you know, sort of the repeated format, haven't I? About how the Buddha is invited to one of the heavens and there's always eulogies there and so on and so forth, and ultimately it ends up with the Buddha surrounded by some bodhisattvas. One of them comes forward after all this preparation and teaches a list of ten things, in this case it's the ten practices, which I don't know whether you noticed, but they're basically the six paramitas plus, with four added, because it has to be ten, right?

[01:22]

Because ten means everything, infinity. Each one of them is given a little different twist, so they're not called by their usual names, because as we've seen throughout the sutra, it takes traditional teachings that we're familiar with from many, many other contexts that we know very well in slightly different ways, and it sort of turns them in the direction of the cosmic and the all-embracing and all-inclusive spirit of the sutra. And it does the same thing here with these ten practices. So as usual, one bodhisattva called Forest of Virtues. Because these ten practices, you know, there's three pure precepts that we know about from the ordination ceremonies are

[02:23]

have to do with conduct, all karma. The first one is to avoid all evil, and the second one is to do all good, and the third one is to, it's either given us in the old schools to purify the mind or in the Mahayana schools to save all beings, which are considered to be the same thing. Saving all beings and purifying the mind are the same, just a different way of looking at one phenomenon. Anyway, to avoid all evil means to undertake the practices of restraint, to stop oneself from doing those things that are unwholesome and create difficulty. So that's a matter of restraining oneself from doing something. That's the first one. The second one is the opposite of that. It's encouraging oneself to do something that will create virtue, which is called wholesome roots in this sutra.

[03:29]

Whenever you create virtue, then you're sowing seeds which will definitely bear fruit in the future. So you have to do that. But you also have to practice restraint so that you don't sow seeds in the future of nastiness. So, actually, the vision of this sutra is a situation in which one can see with the omniscience of these Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, one can see the incredible amount of unwholesome roots that have been sown in the past by a mass of sentient beings who have not been practicing restraint. And then undertaking the project of starting from here and now in my life and in your life, as much as possible, practicing restraint so that we won't sow those unwholesome seeds, and also practicing

[04:31]

all good, so that we will begin sowing wholesome roots, so we can, the ideas will turn all that around. Even though we can't see the beginning of the unwholesome roots, it's possible, starting now, with the spirit of this sutra, we can actually, by every, in other words, by practicing good, even in a thought, even in a tiny gesture, we can turn all that around. So, one of the primary ways of practicing good is the ten practices. These are wholesome practices to accumulate good, wholesome roots. And there are many other practices, but for the bodhisattva path, the ten practices are, in a way, one, maybe one of the primary, maybe the primary way of accumulating wholesome roots, accumulating goodness. So therefore, it's very appropriate that the bodhisattva who's teaching this is called Forest of Virtues. This is a wonderful image of a forest of incredible numbers of virtuous deeds that will be helpful in the future.

[05:38]

So he is greeted by an infinite number of Buddhas everywhere who are also named Forest of Virtues. They inspire him. They pat him on the head. Remember that? They pat him on the head. He goes into a concentration. because no teaching is ever given without first entering into the samadhi characterized by that teaching. Because I think I talked last time about absorption and how the formula for how you master a teaching is you study the teaching, you memorize it, you internalize it, you practice it in your life, and you also meditate on it to the point where you achieve the sign of the teaching, you achieve the vision of the teaching. It's not something that you read about in a book. It's something that is as real to you as your fingernail. So he does that. He enters into this concentration, comes out of it, and begins teaching the ten practices.

[06:40]

So the first practice we know as the practice of giving, the first of the six paramitas, is the practice of giving. And here, in the spirit of the Avatamsaka Sutra, it's the practice of giving joy. Second is the practice of morality, as we usually, shila, paramita, or restraint or morality. And here it's called beneficial practice. And when we talk about each one, we'll look at how they twist it or turn it a little bit in the spirit of the sutra. The third is usually called patience. And here it's called the practice of non-opposition. The fourth is usually called the practice of energy, or virya-paramita, energy or zest, sometimes called zest. And here it's called the practice of indomitability. Fifth is usually called meditation.

[07:42]

Here it's called non-confusion. Sixth is prajna-paramita, of course, wisdom. And here it's called good manifestation. And the seventh, and these are the ones that are late, the seventh through ten are a late addition in the Mahayana. Other alternative lists give these as number seven, skill and means. Here it's the practice of non-attachment. Eight, as vows. Here it's the practice of that which is difficult to attain. Nine is called powers. And here the practice of good teachings in ten is called, usually given as eloquence. And here's the practice of truth. So these restatements of them, they are the same list, but just restated, given a twist in terms of the sutra.

[08:43]

So I was reflecting on this first one, the enlightening being's practice of giving great joy. It's really kind of amazing here in this large paragraph at the end of page 455. When great enlightened beings cultivate this practice, they cause all living beings joy and delight. In any place there is poverty and want, they go there by the power of will to be born nobly and wealthy so that even if every single moment countless beings come to the enlightened beings and say, O benevolent one, we are poor and in need, without sustenance, hungry and weak, worn out and miserable, on the brink of death. Please pity us and give us your flesh to eat so that we may live. If that happens, if many people in poverty-stricken people come forward and say that to the enlightened beings, they would immediately

[09:48]

give it to them to gladden and satisfy them. Even should countless, hundreds of thousands of beings come begging in this way, the enlightening beings would not shrink back, but would rather increase even more in kindness and compassion. Indeed, because sentient beings all come seeking, the enlightening beings seeing them would become more joyful and think, I have gained a fine boon. These beings are my field of blessings. They are my good friends and benefactors. Without my asking them, they come to cause me to enter into the Buddhist teaching. So the reason I bring this up is because I'm imagining, you know, us sort of taking this to heart, you know, and sort of helping people or something going on, doing beneficial action, and then, you know, more people come, and we would get all upset, you know, we would think, my God, you know, what am I going to do? But these Enlightened Beings, it cheers them up. The more people there are in need, and the more these people ask for it, the more joyful the Enlightened Beings become. So this led me to reflect on, you know, What possible benefit is there in our reading about these seemingly impossible attitudes?

[11:01]

What are we supposed to do with that? Are we supposed to feel guilty that we are not like that? Are we actually working to actually have that attitude? How could we even imagine ever having an attitude like that? I mean, the sutra's full of this stuff, right? But here, just for some reason, it particularly struck me. What is the, you know, what are we doing here? What are we talking about in all this? So, I think that, as I was saying to Kit earlier, I've been reading this sutra for a couple of years now, it does start to sort of work its way into your system after a while. And you do start to actually believe it. But here's how it works for me. Here's what I refer to this as the two-step program.

[12:04]

because it's tricky. In other words, how do you work with something like this, realistically? What do you really do with it? And I feel like the first step in the two-step program is awareness. It's actually a three-step program. The first step is awareness, in that one is aware, realistically and honestly, of what one's attitudes actually are. sentient being in need is coming toward you, asking for help, and your feeling is, oh Jesus, get out of here, I really don't want to see this person, and I really have nothing to give that person, and it just ruins my day. You have to be aware of that, and truly, really and truly embrace that, and see that that is the way you feel, and honor that completely, because to feel guilty about that, or deny that, or try to have an avalanche of rationalization to cover over what you actually feel won't be helpful.

[13:15]

So that's the first thing, is you have to be aware of what your actual feelings are. But then, so maybe we know about that, right? We know about that. That's the first step. And I think as practitioners of Zen, we are aware of and we're accepting to a great extent of that, whatever it is that arises within us. From Zazen, we get to be very accepting, I think, and honest about what arises within us, and really notice the whole thing, and not freak out about it, but just be with it. But then the second step is something that we may not, from our Zen lineage, may not emphasize as much, and that is that while we see what it is that actually arises within us, we have an aspiration that we get from the Sutra. In other words, and this is what's happened to me over the course of a couple years of reading the Sutra, I actually have developed an aspiration to make an effort to, even though I have a long way to go, to be

[14:30]

giving and to save beings and to act for the wheel of beings and so forth, like the sutra says. I actually have that aspiration, I have found. I can really see that unless I have such an aspiration and cultivate such an aspiration, I'm going to have a very narrow and circumscribed sense of what my life is, and I'm going to suffer. So actually, I have that aspiration not only because I'm a nice guy, but also because I see that it's very helpful to my life to have such an aspiration. So I actually do try to cultivate that. So even though I see what actually arises within my heart, at the same moment seeing that, I also remind myself of my aspiration. So I may right now be too tired to act like this bodhisattva, But I do want to, and I'm clear about that, even though right now I may not be able to do it. This is my aspiration. So I have a practice then of not only being aware of what arises within me, but also reinforcing my aspiration.

[15:38]

So you asked about the beads. That's another aspect of the beads, or anything that I might do, from putting on my robe to various practices that I undertake. really, I see them as ways of reminding me of my aspiration, because if I don't make an effort to remind myself of my aspiration, I'll forget, you know what I mean? And I'll have more mundane or selfish activity in my life. And then, maybe the third step, it's not really exactly another step, but the third step is to be willing to keep doing this two steps forever without particularly worrying about or even concerned about the results. In other words, to take on this extent of this kind of a vow and say, yeah, well, this is what I'm just going to do, you know, is I'm going to be aware and I'm going to have this aspiration

[16:40]

And no matter how much I'm able to realize the aspiration, it's so infinite that there's always much, much more. And obviously, even in one lifetime, I can't hope to realize this kind of path that I aspire to. But nevertheless, that doesn't discourage me. I really see that that's what I want to do. So that's my idea of how you could actually work with this. And the sutra itself, As you read it over and over again, for over a long period of time, it begins in this odd way to actually seem very real, and really makes sense, that one can have such an aspiration. And furthermore, that such an aspiration is really the only way to go, the only way to be happy. It sounds guilt-producing to me. Well, that's the tricky part, because I wanted to suggest that in the step one and the step two, that you just, that's why you don't think about results.

[17:45]

You don't expect that you're going to be, that you're going to have and realize this aspiration. You realize, you understand that in your whole life through you're going to be short of that. But that's fine. That's part of the three-step program, is you understand that. It's okay when you see how it is with you really. There's no reason in the world that just because you don't have the ability to be kind to all beings, even though you aspire to do that, there's no reason why that guilt should be produced out of that. Guilt is an old habit that's extra. It's not necessarily true. In other words, to say that I can't have a large aspiration, because if I do, it'll only make me feel guilty, is to really sell short what your practice can be. So that's something that you have to find a way to accept where you actually are at, and at the same time have an aspiration that's very noble and heroic, like the sutra

[18:56]

tries to get us to have. And I've realized that we have a habit of feeling guilty over, because of that, you know, when we have such an aspiration. But it's not necessary to feel guilty. Yeah. Well, it's always interesting to me to, where is the devotional quality in our practice? And actually, Zen, really, it's, we don't think, usually in Zen, of a noble heroic aspiration. Usually in Zen, we think of devotion to the present. And the devotional aspect is to just exactly what comes up with no gap. But one wants. It's so un-erotic. And somehow I keep wanting something more. See, I think that the present that is pointed to in Zen practice, to me it's really clear That doesn't mean the present, I mean, the present of past, present, and future.

[20:03]

I mean, it often says, you know, there is no such thing as the present, or the present can't be touched, or the past and the present are the same, and all kinds of expressions indicating that when we talk about the present in Zen, we're talking about the timeless present, which is the arena of the sutra here. So I really think that the Zen teaching about the present is just a stripped down and simplified version of all of this. And really, we don't notice it much or talk about it much, but so much of what we do in our practice is focused, for instance, on the altar. The altar is really a kind of physical enactment, image manifestation of this this sutra and other Mahayana sutras like it. When Kadagiri Roshi used to come to Green Gulch every year for a number of years, I was his jisha.

[21:09]

And after a couple of years, I noticed that every time I handed him a stick of incense at the altar and he offered the incense, he was mumbling something under his breath. So I finally asked him, you know, what are you saying there when you put the incense in the bowl? And he said, well, there's a verse that you recite when you're offering incense. So I said, well, would you tell me what it is? And he said, well, I only know it in Japanese, so I'll send you a translation. So sometime later, I got a translation of it. And I've been using it ever since. And so this is Soto Zen practice, right? And we just don't know about it. The verse goes, shila-vimoksa-samadhi-incense is the first line. And vimoksa is liberation, release. And in this case, it's an aspect of wisdom, right? Because it's usually shila-samadhi-prajna is usually the three divisions of the teaching.

[22:15]

So, shila-vimoksa-samadhi-incense The radiant light of the Buddhas, so the little glowing tip of the incense, is the radiant light of the Buddhas emits throughout the Dharma worlds. Exactly! This light is being emitted throughout the Dharma worlds, not just here, not just now, but everywhere and throughout time. Then the next line is, homage to all Buddhas in the countless directions, just like here. Lines of Buddhas coming everywhere, impinging on this stick of incense, and we're paying homage to them, venerating the Buddhas in the countless directions, permeates into, the last line is, permeates into seeing and hearing and manifests nirvana.

[23:20]

permeates into seeing and hearing and manifests nirvana. So this radiant light of the Buddha's and our homage that we pay permeates into seeing and hearing so that our senses are actually perceiving this radiant light everywhere. And it's manifesting nirvana right here in the so-called And so all of that we evoke in offering a stick of incense. And that is the sense, whether you say the verse or not, this is the deep sort of sense of offering incense. And if you do it a lot, there is this feeling that you get if you do that a lot, in service and so on, chanting. After all, why do we do service at all? When we do service, it's in this arena that we're doing it.

[24:26]

Producing wholesome roots and offering them up to all Buddhas, ten directions, three times, and all that stuff. This is heavy, mystical stuff, right? Even though it's not presented that way, it really is. In particular, our style of Zen is very much, I feel, has this as a background. That's why it's so interesting to me to read the Sutra. because it adds a whole realm of dimension, and like you said, the erotic warmth that I feel is behind the things that we do, but it's just not explicit. So, although there's a difference in style in a way, anyway, perhaps maybe I'm interpreting our practice through the light of this sutra, but I think it's an interpretation that, for me personally, is an important one, and also that our practice bears that interpretation. I don't think I'm making it up. You can look back historically and see very clearly that some of the early patriarchs of Chan were masters of the Hawaiian Sutra and so forth.

[25:31]

There are different lineages of Chan and Zen, and some are more than others involved with this sort of teaching. And I do feel that Soto Zen is quite a bit involved with it, because Soto Zen, you must know, has a much bigger influence from esoteric Buddhism than Rinzai Zen. That's why Soto Zen is much more involved with ceremony and ritual, much more than Rinzai Zen, because there's an influence of Shingon on Soto Zen. And Shingon is a tantric, Japanese tantric school, and this sutra is I feel inspiration for a lot of the tantric spirit in Buddhism. So I think it's really there in our practice. And I really think that it really, especially now, I don't know why especially now, but I feel that way, especially now, it's important for us to see that, I think, and bring that side out in our practice, it seems to me.

[26:39]

So anyway, that's my little speech about the three-step program. And I want to encourage you all to take seriously this aspiration. I mean, it's lunacy, right? I mean, from the standpoint of the ordinary way that people think, it's lunacy. That's the reason that people say they can't help anybody, though. Because if I helped one person, I mean, You know, it's why the cities can't take care of the homeless, because if they provided a single thing for them, then all the homeless of the whole country would come there. Right, right. Yeah, well that's what I mean. If you think that way, then, right, you can't do anything. But there's one part of the Sutra that says, you know, you take care of one person. It'll say, taking care of one person, so all people. purifying one world, so all worlds, you know, it says. So, I mean... Is it saying that by virtue of saving one person or helping one person, other people are helping?

[27:54]

Yes. Well, it's both. It's both. It's saying... As opposed to checking out how much less person you're going to... Yeah, it's saying you can't... First of all, in taking care of one person, you are taking care of all people. And second of all, taking care of that one person, then you take care of another person, and you take care of another person. But if you think about it logically and rationally, as government people do, it doesn't work out very well. It's totally hopeless. If you think about rationally using computer models and stuff like that, think about the state of the world. It's definitely statistically the case that it's totally hopeless, that the planet is doomed, the species is doomed, and the ozone is going to... Not necessarily at all. I mean, look at Mother Teresa's example. She just started taking care of people on the street. She didn't have a house. She didn't have money. She just started taking care of people. Yeah, but I mean, it's only a few people compared to how many people were starving.

[28:56]

working the way she did. And now, the consciousness of the fact that that's possible has permeated a large portion of the world. She's a very famous person, and her life is a tremendous example. Yeah, but that's exactly the point that I want to make, that she didn't figure out how to do that by computer modeling and statistics and rationally. But geometric progression is on her side. So yeah, so what I'm saying is exactly that, that only through a kind of aspiration like this, and a kind of spirit like that, is anything going to happen. It's not going to happen by sort of figuring out what seems to be possible according to extrapolating from present statistics. But if you think that way, in the ordinary way about things, then there's no hope, you know, there's no way. Why do you think the flesh is a body? I mean, they're not just helping, they're saying the flesh of the body. Is that because that's the ultimate giving?

[30:01]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's illustrating how selfless they actually are. They completely give of themselves. That's why the flesh of the body, I think. There's that garden at one of those Japanese temples that has the six stones. The five lion cubs, or tiger cubs, I guess, without a mother, and the monk sees that they'll die, and he just lays down and eats them. In this garden we have two larger stones for the monks, and then the five smaller stones, and it's got the gravel around it. I didn't know that story. I've seen that garden, but I didn't know that there was a story behind it. Yeah, well the Jataka stories are full of tales like that, of the Buddha's past life where he appears as a rabbit and offers his body to the hunters who are hungry and so on. And I think it's somehow, there's a certain edge to it for us as Westerners, maybe because

[31:10]

We have a different viewpoint of the body, I think, than what would have been common in Asia. So it feels a little strange to us. But I think it's meant to express a kind of zenith of selflessness and of giving, of everything, giving of everything that one could possibly give. I think there probably were various cults, though. based on some of the stuff in the sutra. And I'm sure that you can find somewhere a practice of people lopping off their arms and heads and things like that as an expression of their faith and devotion, which seems really strange to me. I mean, I wouldn't encourage such things, but I'm sure that was done. Is self-immolation, which is around us, That definitely is an aspect of this.

[32:13]

That happens frequently, not in our part of the world so much, but one does hear about it, read about it, see about it, see it on the TV. Well, I mean, of course, we all know about it during the Vietnam time, but is it done lately? It was done lately. I heard about it on the radio. It was in either Asia, I think it was in Asia again, Was it done as it was at that time, as a political protest? As a political protest, yes. Yeah, no, there's no question that the monks who did that were doing that out of this kind of spirit as a kind of ultimate offering. You remember the kind of amazing way that they would burn themselves up calmly and without any sense of they were entering into some kind of samadhi doing that. It was quite extraordinary.

[33:13]

So that then the precept of not killing had somehow been transcended? Yeah. I don't know. I think one could discuss that question ethically about the precept. It would be a deep discussion, but I'm sure that that was their understanding. Maybe your words are good. The precept was transcended and this was not an act of killing. It was an act of offering. It was a wholesome act. But one could certainly debate that. So there were all kinds of things that we might find odd or unsavory that came out of the sutra. I know there's a chapter, the next chapter is ten inexhaustible treasuries. And I read a paper, a scholarly paper, about how one temple in China, in the Tang Dynasty, set up an inexhaustible treasury.

[34:18]

And it was this incredible, from the Sutra, you know, they took it literally, and they actually set up a big storehouse. Did you hear the story? No, I can only guess. They had people you know, with the faith and devotion that this sutra, teaching of the sutra generated, they, people were coming to the inexhaustible treasury and making extravagant offerings. They were, you know, selling all their stuff and bringing all their gold and silver, and they would bring it in wheelbarrows, you know, to the inexhaustible treasury, and they would pile it up, you know, pile it up in huge piles, and there was catalogs of the kind of stuff that they had. And there was no accounting was kept. There was no Nobody wrote down what they, they just dumped it in there. And then other people who needed stuff would come and they would take it. And can you imagine, you know, what a scene. There was this whole thing happening. People were coming in with wheelbarrows full of furniture and gold and money and different things.

[35:22]

And other people were coming and they were taking away stuff and people were coming and bringing it. And none of it was written down. There was no control over it at all. And it must have been a real madhouse, you know. It went on for years. Before it was... Well, finally, it's very amusing. In the end, what happened is the monk who was in charge of it took most of it, stole it, and left a little poem or something that said something like, Well, human nature is corruptible. That's a great teaching, eh? What did you expect? Or something like that. That was the lineage that went on to Rockefeller. But anyway, I think that in China there were a lot of like incredible kind of cult-like things that happened, you know, cults of different, like there was a particular mountain, you know, and this doesn't particularly have to do with the sutra, but there was a particular place where the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was said to reside on this particular mountain.

[36:31]

Old people would go there and they would hurl themselves off the mountain to their death as the final act of faith in the certainty that they would be reborn into a good situation if they did that. That's why I'm glad that we're doing Zen and that we're not exactly keepers of this sutra and totally gobbling up the teaching of this sutra whole cloth. I'm glad that it's a background part of our tradition and not so much a foreground part, because I think it could drive us really nuts. Anyway, so you sort out the wheat from the chaff, I suppose. So that's all about the practice of giving joy. The second one is the practice of morality, or here called beneficial practice. This is because in Mahayana Buddhism the reason for restraint is not because we're trying to be good,

[37:46]

or because someone told us to follow the rules, it's because the practice of restraint is beneficial to all beings. They have no attachment to anything but just firmly uphold pure conduct, thinking, as I maintain pure discipline, I shall surely get rid of all bondage, the torment, upgraving, oppression, slander and disturbance, and will attain the impartial truth praised by the Buddhists, And with that truth, I can save all beings. So, it's interesting here. Therefore, it says here, they do not conceive even a single thought of lust. One of the things that we're restraining ourselves against is lust. They do not conceive even a single thought of lust. Their minds are as pure as Buddha. The only exception is in terms of expedient means to teach and transform sentient beings. yet they still do not relinquish the determination for omniscience.

[38:51]

So I uncovered some time ago a really interesting sutra in the Ratnakutra Jewel Ornament, or whatever it's called, Collection of Sutras, which is a Mahayana version of the precepts and stuff like that. And this is a typical one where it actually will say that these rules can be transcendent, as you said. They can be transcended when it's clearly for the benefit of beings. The point of morality is to prevent evil or unwholesomeness from arising for the purpose of helping beings. Sometimes you can help a being by what looks like a transgression, and that is permissible. So that makes a nice feeling of flexibility and reasonableness, but on the other hand, of course, it can be easily abused.

[40:00]

Again, another deep discussion, and he'd be here. Enlightened beings do not afflict a single sentient being in pursuit of their own desires. They would rather die themselves than to do anything which would afflict a single being. And all of these ten practices in their statement here in the chapter, they all include a passage, they all conclude actually with a passage, just like the one we have here on page 457 on the bottom, this last paragraph. After they describe to you the practice that they're talking about, Then, at the end of the description, it'll say, here enlightening beings also form this thought. I should follow all the enlightened ones, detach from all worldly actions, fulfill all qualities of Buddhahood, so on and so on and so forth. Actually, this isn't what I was looking for.

[41:06]

Anyways, somewhere in here it always says, it concludes with the idea that I should do this for the benefit of all beings, but that's not where it says it there. The third one is the practice of non-opposition, and this is the practice of patience. Here enlightened beings always practice tolerance and forbearance, being humble and respectful, not harming self, others, or both, not stealing or causing others to steal, not being attached to themselves, to others, or to both, not seeking fame or profit, So patience usually means, in particular, patience with others, so you don't get angry. And if people are attacking you or taking away what you feel is yours, you're patient with them. Even if countless beings should come to them, and each being should produce countless mouths, and each utter

[42:18]

countless words, unpleasant words, unwholesome words, displeasing words, undesirable words, words which are not those of the benevolent or the virtuous, words which are not those of wisdom, words which are not in accord with sagacity, words which sages do not approach, detestable words and unbearable words. Even if they abuse and revile the Enlightened Beings with such speech, and furthermore, if they had countless hands bearing countless cudgels with which they attacked and injured the Enlightened Beings without relenting for immeasurable eons." So this is really, should Enlightened Beings encounter much such torture, their hair standing on end, their life about to end, they form this thought. If my mind is disturbed by this suffering, then I have not mastered myself. I am not self-possessed. I do not understand myself. I am uncultivated. I am not properly stabilized.

[43:20]

I am not of peace. I am careless. I give rise to attachments. How can I enable others to attain purity of mind?" Then the enlightening beings also think at that time, since beginningless time I have dwelt in birth and death and experienced its pains and vexations. And thus reflecting, they redouble their efforts, purify their minds and attain joy. They skillfully tune and concentrate themselves, and themselves able to abide in the Buddha teaching, they also enable sentient beings to attain the same condition." So this is hard to swallow, you know. I'm reading on page 458. But I think it's really the truth, you know. I think that there comes a point, and this is sort of somewhere around in here, there comes a point where we say to ourselves, well, I didn't sign up for that.

[44:32]

There were a number of reasons why I decided to come here and do this practice. Up until now, it's all seemed quite reasonable. But when I hear this, you know, I'm not so sure anymore. And this definitely challenges my understanding of what it is I'm trying to do. And I don't know if I can really buy that. So, then this happens, you know. I mean, I think that we do come to points like that where we encounter something, you know, we go step by step. If we didn't like the practice and the teaching, we wouldn't show up in the first place. So we like it, it seems to suit us, and it seems to give us what we need, so we show up and we do the practice. And then, inevitably, we come up against something like this, it may be this sort of thing, or it may be something else that we don't like, and then we are faced with the prospect of either saying, okay, well I quit, or now I have to stretch my concept of who I am and what I'm doing in order to incorporate

[45:39]

this, and that's usually when we have a difficult time, we go through a hard period. But then again, if we never encountered something like this, that sort of shook us up and forced us to go beyond our pre-cooked ideas, then we would never become more enlightened than we were when we started. So I really think that this is exactly true. that even when somebody's really nasty and has infinite cudgels and sitting us and saying nasty things to us that really make us mad and upset that we actually have to find a way to do the three-step program. We have to say, okay, well, I really hate this guy and I'm going to punch him in the nose and I just did punch him in the nose and I should have done that because I have this aspiration. If I really understood the nature of my body and mind and the nature of his body and mine, or her body and mine, and what it really was all about, and where I really was at, and who I really was, and who they really were.

[46:44]

If I really knew what that was about, I would not be having these feelings, which are the product of my ignorance. And I think that, you know, we really have to think about that, because that's where it's at. Because as long as we, and after a while, it becomes more and more, at least this is my experience, it becomes more and more difficult. Because what do we do when somebody hits us and we hit them back. We explain to ourselves and everybody who will listen why it is that they deserved it. Right? Why it is that it's right that we did that to them and why it is that, well, we really were doing it for their own good or whatever reasons we have. We are justifying, you know, it all. And it becomes more difficult as time goes on to do that. When you, you know, get upset and mad at somebody, even though it's entirely their fault, that doesn't make any difference. That's nothing to do with it. somebody comes up and does something to you unprovoked, that has nothing to do with it. What it has to do with is how do you understand and react to a situation that arises in front of you regardless of what the causes of it are.

[47:52]

And I think that we have to take this to heart, at least that's my understanding, my feeling about it. Everybody is, after all, you know, if a little baby comes up to you, right, and, you know, while they're eating. Takes a bite out of your leg. Yeah, takes a bite out of your leg or throws their food on your shoe or something. Of course you don't like it and immediately you react. But you say, oh, it's a child. Of course I'm not going to, you know. Even after you've throttled them a minute, you stop yourself and you say, geez, what am I doing? This is a child. The child doesn't know any better. How are they going to know not to do that? And if you're the parent of that child and it's a good day, you can even be amused or not get upset about it. And that's the way it is with everybody, right? That's the way it is whenever anybody's doing something. Even Mr. Saddam Hussein and Mr. Bush, George Bush, are children, basically, who don't really understand what they're doing.

[48:59]

They have no idea how it is that they should conduct themselves in this world that we live in. They just don't know. And they're acting as children, doing what comes naturally to them. So we have to be patient, very patient with that situation, even though we may have to do something. Who knows what we have to do that may be a strong action. I don't say that we don't do something. But in the doing of the something, I think there has to be a sense of understanding that people don't know what they're doing exactly. If we understood thoroughly. The nature of this world and of these people and of ourselves, we would not be upset with them. We would feel a lot of patience. What is the nature of protection or preservation? How does one defend oneself? Should one? There's this Sufi saying, you know, praise Allah and tie your camel to a tree.

[50:01]

Where is that line? Well, this is another one. We're getting into all these deep issues tonight. This is another one like that because, you know, if you meditate on what the Sutra is telling us, and also on the teachings of emptiness, it's clear that there is nothing to protect, and that there is no reason to protect anything. So, And there are stories of masters who would allow themselves to have their heads cut off and things like that. But again, we have to apply the three-step program. Are we really that wise at this point? Do we understand ourselves enough to truly have nothing to protect? Or are we somewhere short of that and do we realistically have to take care of ourselves There's also the issue of preventing someone else from harming us or someone else.

[51:11]

And therefore, it's bad for them, right? The person who kills somebody else suffers from that act. And so if you can prevent that act, whether it's you they're trying to kill or somebody else, That's a positive thing to do. And there is a role for resistance. Yeah. And I think, as I say, this is a complex issue. There's a lot of discussion and it's also personal and situational, but there certainly is a role for resistance. So anyway, that's the Enlightened Being's practice of non-opposition. The next one is the practice of indomitability. And this is all about energy, as usually the Paramita is. Here the Enlightened Beings cultivate various forms of energy. It lists many of them. And it talks about, once Enlightened Beings have perfected these practices of energetic effort, if someone should say to them, can you pass countless eons enduring the pains of uninterrupted hell?

[52:25]

for the sake of each and every being in countless worlds, cause those beings to each meet countless Buddhas in the world, and through seeing Buddhas attain felicity and finally enter extinction without remainder, after which you yourself attain unexcelled, complete, perfect enlightenment, can you do that?" They would answer, I can. And if it got harder and someone said, there are countless oceans, you should drain them drop by drop with a hair tip, There are countless worlds. You should shatter them to atoms and count each and every drop of the oceans and atoms of the worlds. And for that number of eons endure incessant suffering for the sake of living beings." So that's a lot of suffering to endure for the sake of living beings. Even if someone should ask you to do that, you would have that much energy. You would be able to say, And you would only be more joyful, feeling profoundly happy and fortunate that they had attained such a great benefit, that they could enable the sentient beings to do that.

[53:38]

And there's all this, there's wonderful teachings about, you know, being grateful for suffering when it comes. And like in the one about patience, there's a teaching about, Shantideva talks about, you know, nasty people, the ones that you have to be patient with, because they're so nasty and impossible to get along with. He says, nice people are a dime a dozen. Most people are relatively nice, so they don't challenge your ability to practice patience very much. So if you happen to find one who's really nasty, you know what I mean, it really is a challenge. That's like gold, that person. It's really a treasure. It's really precious. You have to look high and low for such a person. If you happen to just by chance encounter one, you should really praise them and be really happy because they're causing you to surpass yourself and go beyond your present capacity to practice patience.

[54:42]

And the same with horrible sufferings. When sufferings come, you have to think, what an opportunity this is. And of course it sounds ridiculous and so forth, but it really isn't. I've done a fair amount of work lately with people who are sick and dying. It really is astonishing how often you hear, I mean certainly not always by any stretch of the imagination, but you hear surprisingly often the person will say things like, cancer or AIDS or whatever it is, is a wonderful thing that happened to me. I'm really glad. Of course, the next day they say the opposite, too. It's not like they consistently say that, but in a moment they may say, I'm really glad this happened because I never understood. I was never so happy before. I never had such good relations with my friends and relatives before, et cetera, et cetera.

[55:45]

did I see before, how beautiful this world is, and so on. Because this illness has taught me that. So, actually it's not so crazy. One of the things that's always stuck in my mind is, in a lecture not long before Suzuki Roshi died, he said, no matter how much I suffer, it'll be alright. I mean, this is I remember. And I somehow, I never quite understood that until relating in a way to the sutra, you know that. Yeah. Because somehow, you know, my tendency is always to think of that way I was raised, that, you know, started turning that around. It sounds like the same as eat your spinach because the children in Europe are starving. Yeah, yeah. It has a different dimension, doesn't it?

[56:52]

Yeah, it does. And you see the wisdom of your mother when she told you that. Eat your spinach and feed all the children in Europe now. I often say something like that to myself when I'm suffering. I think, you know, big deal. So many people are suffering all over. There's an infinite amount of suffering. How could I be complaining about this little thing that's happening to me? So, that's the indomitability of the Bodhisattva. is the practice of non-confusion. So it's interesting, isn't it? See, this is the sutra of light and manifestation and doing stuff.

[57:58]

Samantabhadra is the bodhisattva who sits on an elephant and is doing things, being carried forward into the light where he's actively helping beings. So in a way, meditation practice doesn't appear in the sutra. It appears as non-confusion, which in the end, when you think about it, it's as if one side of our practice is the side of moonlight in the semi-dark place where we start sitting quietly Nothing is moving in us. Everything is quiet. There is no suffering, really, or any beings. There's only reality. And then, the other side is, we get up from that place and into the bright world, where things are differentiated and there are many beings, and there's a tremendous amount of things to do and effect.

[59:07]

So in that world meditation appears as non-confusion, as our ability to act and do without getting mixed up. So here enlightening beings perfect right mindfulness or right meditation. Their minds free from distraction and disturbance, firm and imperturbable, consummately pure, immeasurably vast, without any delusion or confusion. And without any delusion or confusion they can understand speech and affirmations and how things work and what to do. And then it sort of walks you through the entire career of a Bodhisattva from the womb, when they enter the womb without confusion. You know, they say that consciousness, when you get reborn, consciousness enters the womb. through the vagina, which is why, as a footnote to that... Jewish people?

[60:12]

No, not Jewish people, but twins. When twins are born, I'm interested in this because I have twin sons, when twins are born, the oldest twin is born second, right? The youngest twin is born first, and then the oldest twin is born second, because the oldest twin went into the womb first, so naturally comes out second. Do you understand? No. I understand the logic, but I disagree with it. Science has a little shaky. Yeah, well this is what it says in the Abhidharmakosha. What do they know? What do they know? Anyway, I thought that was really interesting because... The last shall be first. No, because it's really... I have always felt that my son that's younger, so-called, you know, the second twin, seems to be in a way older, in a certain way.

[61:14]

So that really strikes as really true to me. And it makes perfect sense to me, knowing them, right? I can believe it. Anyway, I don't know. Oh, I brought that up because it says they enter the womb and leave the womb without confusion in their minds. And then it goes on. They arouse the will for enlightenment without confusion, et cetera, et cetera. Then all the way up to they obtain omniscience without confusion in their minds, and then with that omniscience they save and help beings. Appears here, which I thought was really interesting. They enter concentration Abide in the teaching of the sage and meditate on and investigate all sounds, becoming thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of origin, existence and disappearance of all sounds, and come to know the nature of the origin, existence and disappearance of all sounds, having heard them. They do not give rise to covetousness or aversion, and don't lose mindfulness.

[62:17]

So, somewhere I had, for some workshop I was doing one time, I dug up this great passage from somewhere about how sound is the most pure and helpful meditation object, more than a visual object. Much more. Sound has a certain meditative quality to it. It seems to be, of the senses, the one that's most suitable to achieving concentration and mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh has that little meditation on the bell, but I take on the road when I give. I often use, I bring a little bell. If I give a talk to a group that's not a meditating group, like a hospice group or something like that, if I go to give a talk, I usually bring a little bell and I strike the bell. Also with children I do this. It's the only thing that I found that children can actually, have been consistently successful with children. I strike the bell and I say... Recess?

[63:23]

No. I say, listen to the sound of the bell. And, you know, stay with your breathing while the bell is sounding and see if you can tell where the sound of the bell disappears into silence. See if you can just catch that moment, and they really sit there and they listen. And you don't know whether you can or not, exactly. And it's wonderful to do that. And you can always do that. Whatever you're doing, you can suddenly shift your attention from what it is that's on your mind, and suddenly devote your attention to listening to whatever is there. And suddenly you're in another world. I'm sure you all had that experience. You're suddenly in another world. So this is talking about having the awareness of the beginning of a sound, its continuation and its passing away.

[64:27]

So meditating on a sound, and this is of course the ultimate form of all meditation practices in Buddhism. The point of all meditation practices, or at least one aspect, let's say, is to understand impermanence, to have a direct experience of impermanence. Therefore, whatever it is you're meditating on, you want to be able to see how it arises, how it abides, and how it passes away. Whether it's a thought, or a breath, or a sound, or whatever it may be, in the body, sensation in the body, all things have this pattern. And so somehow I think it's quite wonderful that they give this here as a suggestion for us in the section on meditation. Non-confusion. Non-confusion, yeah. Which is the bright side of meditation.

[65:31]

The sixth one is good manifestation, which is wisdom. Isn't it interesting? Here, wisdom appears as manifesting wholesome roots in the world. And these wholesome roots come out of our understanding of emptiness, which is what wisdom always means, right? Cognizing emptiness. Out of that understanding of emptiness comes the wholesome roots, and it's described here as non-acquisition. That because we see that all things have no substance, Therefore, we can't grab anything, so we have no attachment. Seeing that, we instinctively don't attach to things. And out of that feeling, out of that understanding, we can really produce wholesome roots. So we can do a lot of good. In other words, emptiness does good. Emptiness is the fundamental way to do good, is to understand emptiness and have a spirit of non-acquisition. And this is the most valuable thing.

[66:34]

And then it gives in here many things about the world is void, silent, etc., etc., all the stuff about emptiness. I have a question. Yeah. Why did they say they enter the transcendental truth which can't be known or understood or known by any worldlings? Well, worldlings means people who are not on the path, particularly. Actually, we sort of ran out of time, so let's stop there with number 7, which begins on page 463. What is the great enlightening being's practice of non-attachment? And let's just read aloud, starting from there. What is the Great Enlightened Being's practice of non-attachment?

[69:11]

These Great Enlightened Beings, with minds free from attachment, can in every successive instant enter into countless worlds and adorn and purify these countless worlds, their minds free from attachment to anything in these worlds. They visit countless Buddhas, pay their respects, wait on them, and present them with offerings of countless flowers, perfumes, garlands, fragrant ointments, powdered incenses, clothes, jewels, banners, parasols, and various other ornaments, all without number. These offerings are for the sake of the ultimate uncreated truth, for the sake of abiding in the inconceivable truth. In every instant they see countless Buddhas. Their minds are free from attachment to the Buddhist places and they have no attachment to the Buddha lands either. They also have no attachment to the distinguishing marks of the Buddhas, and while they see the Buddhas' auras of light and hear the Buddhas' sermons, yet they have no attachment. They also have no attachment to the congregation of the Buddhas and enlightened beings of the worlds of the ten directions. Having heard the Buddhas' teachings, their minds are joyful and the power of their will is greatly increased, so that they are able to encompass and carry out the practices of enlightened beings, yet they have no attachment.

[70:23]

These enlightened beings, who are unspeakably great eons, see untold Buddhas appear in the world. They attend and supply each Buddha for untold eons, never wearying of this. Seeing the Buddhas, hearing their teachings, and seeing the magnificent arrays of the assemblies of enlightened beings, they are unattached to any of them. And when they see impure worlds, they have no urge. Why? Because these enlightened beings observe according to the Buddha teachings. In the teachings of the Buddha there is neither defilement nor purity, neither darkness nor light, neither difference nor unity, neither truth nor falsehood, neither security nor danger, no right path and no wrong path. Thus do enlightened beings enter deeply into the realm of reality, teaching and transforming sentient beings without forming attachments with sentient beings. They accept and hold the teachings, yet they do not form attachments to the teachings. They arouse the will for enlightenment and abide in the abode of the Buddhists, yet they do not form attachments to the abode of Buddhists.

[71:26]

Though they speak, their minds have no attachment to speech. They enter the various realms of life with minds unattached to those realms. They enter and dwell in concentration, but they have no attachment to concentration. have no attachment to Buddha lands, and when they leave, they do not miss them. Because Great Enlightened Beings are able to be without attachment in this way, their minds have no barriers to the Buddha teaching. They comprehend the Enlightenment of Buddhism. They realize the discipline of the teaching. They abide by the right teachings of the Buddhas and cultivate the practices of Enlightened Beings. They contemplate the Enlightened Beings' methods of liberation. Their minds are free from attachments to the dwelling places of enlightened beings, and they also have no attachments to the practices of enlightened beings. They clear the way of enlightened beings and receive the prediction of enlightenment which is given to enlightened beings. Having received the prediction, they reflect on it.

[72:28]

These beings are foolish and ignorant, without knowledge or vision, without faith or understanding, lacking intelligence and action, greedy and dishonest. are covetous and drastic, revolving the flow of birth and death. They do not seek to see the Buddha. They do not follow enlightened guides. They do not trust the Buddha. They are lost and scared, mistakenly into a dangerous path. They do not respect the sovereign and the ten powers. They do not realize that never will they be like any beings. They are attached to the dwelling places, and when they hear that all things are empty, their minds are startled and frightened, and they shy away from true teachings and abide in false teachings. They abandon the love of the human path and enter careless, difficult paths. They reject the ideas of the Buddha and pursue the ideas of demons. They are firmly and relentlessly attached to existence. Thus observing sentient beings, lightning beings increase in great compassion and develop numerous goodnesses, and yet they are untapped. At this point, lightning beings also think, should a single sentient being in each land in the worlds of the ten directions spend countless years teaching and developing and should do the same for all sentient beings, without on this account wearying by giving up,

[73:44]

Furthermore, imagine the entire universe as a heritage area, and a single point that has unspeakably many unspeakable number of genes, teaching, edifying, and civilizing all beings, and also likewise at each and every point of the universe. Never for a moment do they cling to self or entertain any conception of self or possessions. At each point they cultivate enlightened practice throughout the eons of the future, not attached to the body, not attached to phenomena, not attached to recollections, not attached to thoughts, not attached to concentration, not attached to contemplation, not attached to trainable stabilization, not attached to Why? The enlightened beings form this thought. I should look upon all objective realms as like phantoms, all Buddhas as like reflections, enlightened practices as like dreams. Buddhist sermons are like echoes.

[74:45]

All worlds are like illusions, because they are bound by the constants of actions. Differentiated bodies are like apparitions, because they are the power of beings. All sentient beings are like mind, because they are defiled by various influences. All things are limits of their reality, because they cannot change. They also form this thought, I should carry on enlightening practices in all things, in all worlds, throughout space, moment by moment, clearly realizing all truths taught by the Buddha, with precise sense of mind, free from attachments. Those two enlightening beings observe that the body has no self, that they see the Buddha without hindrance. In order to transform sentient beings, they expound various teachings to cause them to have unlimited joy and pure faith in the Buddha's teachings. They rescue all without weariness of mind, because because they are aware that if there are any sentient beings in any world who are not mature or unruly in any way, they go there and take away excruciating methods to transform and liberate them.

[75:51]

By virtue of a commitment and will that remains secure among those beings, various kinds of speech, deeds, attachments, advice and associations, routines, activities, perspectives, births and deaths, and teach them how letting their minds be disturbed and discouraged, and never for a moment forming any thought of attachment. Why? Because they retain non-attachment and dependence. Their own benefit and the benefit of others is filled with purity. This is to all the very enlightened beings. What is the Great Enlightened Being's practice of that which is difficult to attain?

[76:55]

Here the Enlightened Being is perfecting roots of goodness which are difficult to attain. Invincible roots of goodness, supreme roots of goodness, indestructible roots of goodness, unsurpassable roots of goodness, inconceivable roots of goodness, inexhaustible roots of goodness, independently powered roots of goodness. They have the influential roots of goodness, roots of goodness which are of the same essence as all buddhas. When these enlightened beings carry out their practice, they attain supreme understanding of the Buddha's teachings. They attain a broader understanding of the Buddha's enlightenment. They never give up the path of enlightened beings, and for all ages their minds never weary. They do not shrink from suffering and they cannot be moved by any demons. Under the care of all Buddhas, they fully carry out all the difficult opportunities of the lightning beasts. In cultivating lightning practices, they are religious, generous, and never lazy. They never retreat from the path of universal salvation. Once these lightning beings abide in these difficult-to-accomplish practices, they are able to transmute immeasurable ages of birth and death and everything.

[78:01]

Without giving up the great five enlightened beings, if any sentient beings serve to support them, or even see or hear of them, they all will attain non-regression in the way to an exalted, clean, perfect enlightenment. Though enlightened beings understand that sentient beings are non-existent, yet they do not abandon the realm of sentient beings. They are like ship captains, not staying on this shore, not staying on the other shore, not staying midway, and able to carry essential beings from this shore over to the other shore, because they are always traveling back and forth. In the same way, enlightened beings do not stay in the birth and death, do not stay in their mother, and also do not stay in midstream of birth and death. While they are able to deliver essential beings from this shore to the other shore, where they are safe and secure, and they have no attachment to the numbers of sentient beings. They do not abandon one being for attachment to many beings, and do not abandon many beings for attachment to one being. They need to increase or decrease the realms of sentient beings.

[79:04]

They need to exhaust and perpetuate the realms of sentient beings. They need to discriminate and bifurcate the realms of sentient beings. Why? By inviting beings that go deeply into the realms of sentient beings as the realm of truth. The realm of substance change and the realm of truth are non-dual. In non-dual there is no increase or decrease, no origination or destruction, no existence or non-existence, no grasping and no reliance, no attachment and no duality. Why? Because enlightened beings realize that all things in the realm of truth are non-dual. Thus do enlightened beings, by means of appropriate techniques, enter into the realm of truth and abide in formlessness. while adorning their bodies with pure forms. They understand that things have an unintrinsic nature, yet they are able to distinguish the characteristics of all things. They do not grasp sentient beings, yet they are able to know the numbers of sentient beings. They are not attached to worlds, yet they appear physically equivalent.

[80:04]

They do not discriminate principles, yet they enter skillfully into the Buddha's teachings. They profoundly understand the meanings of principles extensively with sound and verbal teachings. They comprehend and dispatch the reality of all things, yet do not cease these paths of enlightening. They do not learn from often enlightening. They always go through cultivated and exhaustible practices. They clearly enter the bigger realm of reality. It may be like a ginger in a woodland tree's fires. Fires may be limited, but the fire doesn't go out. In the same way do enlightened beings liberate people without end. Yet they remain in the world forever without becoming extinct. Neither do nor do not. We should ultimately end. Neither do nor do not grasp. Neither do nor do not rely. Are neither worldly beings or Buddhists. Neither are there any people or really are these people. When aligning beings accomplish this difficult-to-attain state of mind, it cultivates enlightening practice. They do not preach the doctrines of the two vehicles.

[81:07]

They do not preach Buddhism. They do not talk about the world. They do not expound worldly doctrines. They don't explain sentient beings. They don't say there are no sentient beings. They don't talk about purity or defilement. Why? Because enlightened beings know all things have no defilement and no grasping, do not receive and do not receive. When enlightening beings practice this dispassionate self-extremely deep and all-surpassing teaching, they do not think, I am cultivating this practice, have cultivated this practice, will cultivate this practice. They are not attached to physical or mental elements or their sense of agnanas, sense consciousness or sense data. Why? Because in the realm of truth there are no names corresponding to reality. In the vehicle of listeners, in the vehicle of the self-awakened, there are no real names. In the vehicle of enlightened beings, there are no real names.

[82:09]

In perfect enlightenment, there are no real names. In the world of ordinary people, there are no real names. In maturity, there are no real names. In birth and death, there are no real names. Why? Because all things are non-dual, yet none are not dual. They are like space, which, anywhere in the universe, is one of the vastness of existence, and cannot be apprehended. Yet it is not as though there is no space. Thus do enlightened beings observe all things to be interactable, yet not nonexistent. They see things as they are, without having looked at their past. everywhere they are demonstrating practices of enlightening activities. They do not give up their great vows of civilizing sentient beings, turning the wheel of true teaching. They do not violate cause and effect, and do not deny life, and do not deviate from the impartial truth. Equal to the Buddhas of all times, they do not cut off the lineage of Buddhahood. They do not narrow out inter-empirical reality, entering deeply into the teaching that expository authority is endless.

[83:10]

They hear the teachings of the Master and reach the profound depths of the teachings. They are able to respond skillfully and harbors not fear. They do not give up the abode of foolishness, but they do not violate natural laws. They appear to love the world, but they do not attach to the world. Thus do enlightening things achieve the mind and wisdom which is difficult to attain. Cultivating various practices may increase engineerings for the three noble states of health, gospel, and morality. Teaching and enlightening, taming and civilizing, placing them in the way of the buddhas of all times, making them unshakable. Furthermore, it informs this thought. Beings of the world are ungrateful and even hostile toward one another, with false views and keen attachments, delusions and delusions. They are ignorant and unwise, have no faith, follow bad associates, and develop various kinds of perverse habits. They are full of various afflictions, like craving, mania, and ignorance. This is where I am told to make the practices of my monotheistic spirit.

[84:11]

If people who are grateful, intelligent, wise, and knowing people in the world, I will not be told to make the practices of my monotheistic spirit, for I have had no attraction or opposition to such regimes. I seek nothing from them. I do not seek even so much as a single word of praise. Cultivating lightning practices forever and ever, they never have a single thought of doing it for themselves. They only want to liberate all sentient beings, to purify them so that they may attain eternal manifestation. Why? Because those who live the enlightened lives must be thus, not grasping, not seeking, just practicing the enlightened way for the sake of beings, to enable them to reach the peaceful, secure, earthy shore and attain complete and perfect enlightenment. This is called the Great Lightning Big Safety Crisis. That which is difficult to understand. JINGLE BELLS

[86:00]

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