In our practice, there are two sides that we need to pay attention to. One is our own self-cultivation. And the other side is how we treat each other, how we interact and relate to each other and our surroundings. When we first come to practice, usually our intention is self-cultivation or some some way to deal with our problem.

[01:09]

Either some kind of personal problem or the problem of birth and death. The problem that we face is the problem of birth and death. And all of our small problems come down to this dissolve into this one problem. But when we engage in practice and gain some maturity, then our practice is no longer just for ourselves or just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of everyone and everything. And when we've reached this point where our practice is no longer just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of every being and everything, then we've reached some maturity.

[02:23]

It's called maturity in the practice. So sometimes First, we practice for ourselves. And then when we gain some maturity, we practice for ourselves and for others. And then when we gain great maturity, we just practice. And both ourselves and others are included. I want to talk about the side of practice, which is after maturity. But you don't have to be, you don't have to wait for maturity to practice them. There are what I call the four ways that bodhisattvas benefit beings.

[03:29]

four ways that bodhisattvas lead and encourage beings. And the first one is called giving or generosity. The second one is called a kind speech. Kind speech. The third one is Beneficial Action, and the fourth one is called Identity Action. The first three are not so unusual. The fourth is a little bit unusual. Identity Action, realizing that everyone and everything is myself. First one, giving, has two sides.

[04:45]

On the one side, on the one hand, giving is to give something to someone. To not withhold. To give a material gift or a spiritual gift. so-called spiritual gift, which is like teaching for presenting the Dharma. My talk is a kind of spiritual gift. But this kind of giving is one side, and a gift doesn't have to be something big or expensive. One time someone asked me, how can I reconcile with somebody? I have this problem with this person, and I don't know how to reconcile with this person.

[05:56]

So I said, just give a little gift. Some kind of gift. This is not my own idea. way of action in the Buddhist community if you have some problem with someone and you don't know how to deal with it or how to get through an impasse because either you have your own stubbornness or someone else's stubbornness or inability to give that's the other side of giving is to deal with Yes, give way. Then you can give a gift. It doesn't have to be very much. It can be a piece of paper, or, as Duncan said, a blade of grass, or a small flower.

[07:07]

something to express to yourself when you can't express yourself. So this is one side. The other side of giving is to be able to get in, to acquiesce, to let go of our grasping, to our opinion. or our idea or our emotion. We love to hold onto our anger. Anger is a wonderful defense against letting in either enemies or friends. So the other side of generosity or giving is to be able to give up.

[08:11]

So, actually, the light work of the Bodhisattva is giving up. That's maybe the most difficult thing, but also the most rewarding part of our lives. to be able to give up, always giving up, and say, well, what do I have now? What's left after giving up everything? What's left? Our usual life is life of acquisition. How much can I get? This is the opposite of the life of Bodhisattva, the life of the Bodhisattva. how much can we give up? So giving up goes with the generosity of giving because if we're always giving up, we don't have any problem with just giving because we realize that nothing belongs to us anyway.

[09:27]

And what can be given up is not something that we have to begin with. So as we continue to If I will give everything up, what do we have left? Where is the essence of our life? So, these are two sides of giving. One is sharing, and the other is giving up. and the more we can give up anger, delusion, greed, and the various restates that cause so much trouble, the more happiness we can introduce into the world.

[10:42]

things we take care of. We say this belongs to me and that belongs to me. And so it is. And we are the caretakers of whatever it is that so-called belongs to us. So we should take care of those things. Take responsibility for the things that help us. And belong to us. Belonging to us is just a way of thinking. I remember at Casa Haro, during the summertime, we don't let people sleep out of the flats. A lot of hikers come to Casa Haro and they want us to sleep out of the flats. So one time I was fired up, And there was a grand belligerent hiker who said, if this is God's country, how can you tell me not to speak here?

[11:58]

And I thought, well, that's independent. I think he's right. But on the other hand, we're taking care of this place. We say this is our place. So what does that mean, our place? And yes, you're right, this is God's country, but we are taking care of it. And part of taking care of it is not to let people see here. So how we take care of everything with generosity and giving out and still retaining a sense of what correct living is an important part of the practice.

[13:12]

The next bodhisattva way is kind of speech. How we talk to each other. How do we make someone feel loved, accepted, comfortable, and open? It's so easy to close people down, put them together off, and offend, and turn away, and create bad feelings, and separation. So speech can either bring us together and unite us, or we can turn us away from each other, and it becomes essential. And it's just words. The power of the word is enormous, because words express ideas and intentions and feelings.

[14:23]

concerned with speech. And our actions, we say, your body, mind, and speech are three divisions of our interacting with the world. We interact with the body, through our thinking, and through the way very important to think about what we say and to always maintain a level of speech which contributes to peacefulness and harmony in the world. Because it's our responsibility to maintain that kind of attitude It's a peaceful attitude in the world.

[15:39]

So for a voting sound cloud to fall into bad speech patterns is not so good. But we always find ourselves doing this. We talk about people behind the backs. We criticize people. But some of this is necessary, but difficult. when someone finds out that we said something about them to someone else. It's definitely uplifting. I think that if we say something, criticize someone in some way, we should also think about the other side. but what is a wonderful quality about this person.

[16:45]

And also, when dealing with a lot of people and evaluating them in a certain way, with exemption, we have to evaluate students in some way. But when you're working with a lot of people, You have to, someone has to evaluate for various reasons. And that's one of the most difficult things to do. So how to evaluate without evaluating? Without putting a value in a person. presidential candidates who aren't talking about each other.

[17:56]

I'm kind of wondering how anyone can possibly create peace in the world. I wouldn't vote for someone who wanted to do speech in the world. And a person who was pretty much in speech in the world would not get hurt in the doors. But nevertheless, for Brody's hot talk, you can't worry about such things. You just have to maintain your integrity. Kind speech. Even to toward an enemy. whether it's a friend or an enemy. It's not the point whether it's someone like you or it doesn't like you.

[18:57]

So, kind of speech has the quality of not being convicted, but not reacting to circumstances. If someone calls their name, then the reaction call them to make that, to retaliate. So speech, in this sense, is speech that is not the retaliation. So that you're speaking from where you stand, rather than standing in the same place as the person who's talking to you. So reactive speech is to become a partner with a person who is speaking ill.

[20:00]

And responsive speech is to be able to respond from your place, from where you are, so that it's not a reaction. Otherwise, there's no way to turn the situation around. We have to be able to accept various blows, various unkind things in order to maintain our integrity. But this is also part of building something as patience. Patience is to be able to accept unkind things without being unkind yourself. practice, this area is maybe one of the most difficult because if you think about it, if you analyze or take a look at the way your mind is working or the way you respond in speech, you can see that you take a lot of your strength and be careful

[21:18]

be mindful about how to speak. The third one is beneficial action. It means that in all of our actions, or all of our activity, hopefully our actions benefit others. And this is the area of selflessness. It also has two sides. One side of our being is self-centeredness or selfishness. And the other side is generosity or identification. benefit of everyone.

[22:32]

Not just for our own sake. This is the maturity of bodhisattva, is to be able to work for everyone. Because when we work for everyone, for the benefit of everyone, it really benefits ourselves. If we only work for our own benefit, we always satisfy We go from one to satisfy to another, when we just try to benefit ourselves. And those people who are great bleeders, or gain a lot through the suffering of others, are really not so happy. They may seem happy on the surface, but actually are not so happy. All people are interconnected. And when we cause suffering in one area and the benefit of another area, it really doesn't benefit because the whole body is suffering in some way.

[23:47]

As I said before, we come for our own reasons, our own personal reasons. And after we find some freedom, then our intention goes wherever we see or wherever we are to benefit whoever is around us and to take care of whatever is around us. The fourth way of guiding sympathy for Bodhisattva is called identity action. And identity action means to realize that each one of us has the same Buddhism and that we're all different expressions on each person, each face.

[25:02]

There's a different expression of the one and the same Buddhism. So we identify on that level with everyone. And our actions, if we realize this, then our actions come from spring from that identity. And we don't get lost in the world of objects. don't get lost in the world of emotions and feelings and delusion. Because we realize that all beings are meaning one being. And it's like a piece of cloth. One large piece of cloth and we fold the cloth this way and all the other corners are affected.

[26:04]

So what shape should this cross be so that it hangs right? And if someone is suffering on the other side of the world, it affects somebody on this side of the world, even though you don't know how. And if the rivers in Japan are polluted, it affects people in Africa, even though you don't know exactly how. And if the forests are cut down in South America, it affects people in the United States, even though you do not know exactly how. entity action means that we take care of everything as ourself.

[27:15]

That our true self extends everywhere. Usually we think of this body and mind as ourself, but our fake self has no such narrow limit. Now Han says, the sun is my other heart. Yeah, the heart that keeps inside of our body. But actually the sun is our other heart because it's the heart of our larger body. And all of the satellites belong to it. for Bodhisattva to open our mind to this kind of understanding.

[28:20]

But not just by thinking it, by actually realizing it. It's not just a thought or a nice idea. It's the way it can go. And through practice, we realize well, how can I take care of the big universe? How can I take care of my whole body? That's a great question. So Bodhisattva's practice is just to take care of what's in front of you. If you take care of just what's in front of you, you just take care of your piece of the cloth. on how it affects, influences the whole clock.

[29:27]

If you try to take care of the whole clock, you will go mad, because probably you will take care of what you're trying to do. I remember Suki Roshi saying, If you try to take hold of the tail of the comet, people will pity you. But, let's take care of your footsteps. In God's hand, we just take care of your breath. And yet, on that breath, is one with the whole universe. Just to be completely present in this situation, in this moment, with our full awareness and full being fully present.

[30:43]

That's our offering to the universe with uprightness and sincerity. of guiding beings for bodhisattva are very plain and evident. It's not something esoteric. And it's not something that you have to learn by reading a book. Although you can learn about it in various ways. But they should just be practiced And it's really the basis of enlightenment. Enlightened action.

[31:57]

And each one of these four contains the other four. So there are actually 16. One is generosity or giving. Three are present. And when time speaks, the other three are present. And through beneficial action and through identity action, And I'm going to stop talking now.

[33:09]

And in a few minutes, those who want to come back for questions, I'm hoping to get there. Amen.

[33:28]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_70.95