About three and a half months ago, the femur in my right leg was broken. And there was an operation performed, and after the operation I asked the doctor if I'd be able to walk again. He said, yes, you probably will. And I asked if I would be able to sit cross-legged, and he said, I don't know if you'll be able to. So I'm going to call him on the telephone. He lives in Texas and tell him that he did a great job. Someone came and told me recently that he was reading a book

[01:11]

And in the book there was a scene described of the Buddha Shakyamuni, who lived in India, we say, about 2,500 years ago, and he was together with his disciples. And what impressed this person about the scene was that all the disciples seemed to be 100% 100% devoted to the practice of the Buddha's teaching.

[02:15]

And they seem to be really, really and I thought and I said that sometimes it may be the case that when we're face-to-face with Buddha we ourselves feel very awake. When we When we are face-to-face with an awakened one, or the awakened ones, we feel awake and we feel devoted to the practice that is being demonstrated, the practice of awakened presence, of being awake moment by moment, being awake with each thing.

[03:44]

I remember when the founder of Zen Center was alive that if I saw him by himself, to me anyway, he looked like a small Japanese man with a shaved head and priest robes on, when he had priest robes on. And of course, as I knew him more, not of course, but anyway, as I knew him more, for me anyway, he became more and more lovely. No, when I first saw him I didn't particularly think he was that neat, particularly. Well, I did actually.

[05:17]

Because the first thing I met about him was his feet. I saw his feet. I was sitting looking at the floor in the meditation hall and I saw his feet go by and I thought, you know, those feet can teach me something. And then when I met him face to face, I didn't think so much about exactly anything about him, but more about the nature of the interaction. And looking back on it, it was a very lively, awake interaction. I was somehow drawn to pay lots of attention to what was going on. And paying so much attention that I really I was not grasping and did not know what happened. And afterwards, although I felt a little, a little awkward not knowing what happened, not being able to categorize the meeting in terms of, well, that was a good meeting or not, or I did okay, or he did okay, or we both did okay, or I didn't do okay.

[06:34]

I did not really know what happened. And then I thought, well, good. It's nice to be able to meet someone and not sort of like put it in a basket of a good or bad meeting and just face that you met somebody and you don't know what happened or who he was or who you were or how you did or how he did. Anyway, I didn't think, oh, this is a great Zen master, exactly. I just thought he had good feet. But somehow, as I watched him and saw him with his students, it encouraged me because around him there was this awakeness. When we were around him, when we were closely around him,

[07:36]

we were often awake, and somehow I could see, not so much what a good teacher he was, but somehow the Dharma of awakeness was enacted around him. So seeing Buddha, we we sometimes are able to ... if we can actually look at Buddha, it's actually kind of ... if we actually see Buddha, we feel awake, maybe. But if we can't see Buddha, maybe we get I don't know what happens to us when we can't see Buddha. What happens to us when we can't see Buddha?

[08:38]

Oh, we suffer, I think. And then we want to get away from it. So if we can't see Buddha, If we think Buddha is gone, it is sometimes taught that if we are upright and gentle and harmonious and flexible and honest, if we are that way, then we'll see Buddha right now. And then, of course, as we see Buddha, then we feel upright, flexible, harmonious. And it's a reinforcing cycle of meeting. So Buddha doesn't mind appearing in the world, so we can meet Buddha face to face.

[10:00]

But Buddha also wants all beings to be able to see Buddha inwardly too, so that you don't need some special person out externally to remind you to be awake, so that you can always see the Buddha. So even while the Buddha was alive and everybody was, not everybody, but most of the disciples were pretty happy being with the Buddha, the Buddha gave teachings so that each person could inwardly realize the way things really are. And so if we can be awake moment by moment there is the proposal that we have a chance in that wakefulness to understand what we're looking at, what we're tasting, what we're smelling, what we're hearing, what we're touching.

[11:31]

what we're thinking, what we're feeling. In the hopes of promoting understanding We are in a training period now here at Green Gulch, and the topic of study is called Samadhi, and this study is offered in the hopes of promoting realization of this awakeness

[12:32]

in every situation. The study of Samadhi is in hopes of promoting that finally we would be able to live in such a way that everything we said everything we thought, every physical gesture that we make would realize the practices of the Buddha. Every word we spoke would realize generosity and careful attention and patience. and enthusiasm, joy, samadhi and wisdom.

[13:46]

Through developing samadhi we have a chance to see and understand, in other words, have wisdom, and then with that wisdom we understand in each situation how to behave in a beneficial way. Samadhi is the way to bring the wisdom of the Buddha into our every behavior. Samadhi is a Sanskrit word and it could be translated into English as joining or union, and also could be translated as concentration. And this type of concentration has the definition, its basic definition is

[15:12]

the one-pointedness of awareness or the one-pointedness of thought. So, part of the teaching about Samadhi is that in every moment of awareness there is one-pointedness in awareness. or you can even say that every moment of awareness has a quality of non-duality. So, it's proposed as a fact that in all experiences, when there's awareness of something, that awareness and that something are really one point, even though

[16:13]

almost all the time, human beings think that what they're aware of is separate from their awareness. I see someone looking at the ceiling, trying to understand about that, but maybe just stop there if that's difficult, and I'll say it again, that most humans most of the time have awareness, some awareness, and their awareness is of some object. Awareness is consciousness. Mind are subjects which have objects.

[17:16]

However, there is the teaching that all those minds also have the quality of samadhi, or concentration. Namely, that the awareness and what we're aware of are actually united, not two. They're not the same because, for example, a rock is not a subject. It itself is not aware of things. But human beings can be aware of things or can have awareness and the awareness and the rock in our awareness of a rock there is no separation between the knowing and what is known.

[18:20]

They're non-dual. The non-duality of each one of our experiences is indestructible, always available. and it's a hint, or it's our in-house version of ultimate reality, because in ultimate reality everything is non-dual. But even in conventional life, when we see all these different things and we think they're separate, each one we look at, as we look at it, there's a there's a quality of non-duality in that awareness. But usually, funny thing is, it's not so funny, it's actually painful, usually people feel that there's a sense, there's an idea, there's a concept along with this awareness.

[19:33]

So our awareness has the quality of non-duality, but it is often accompanied by the concept of duality. The idea that the object of awareness is separate from the awareness. This is quite common. And that was the part where some eyes started rolling. But do you see that? Have you ever seen that there was a sense, or that there is a sense now, that the awareness of, for example, the sound of my voice is separate from the sound of my voice? and that separation is what people actually sense and believe in. Can you sense that?

[20:44]

Can you sense the separation between your awareness of the people in this room and the people in this room? Does it feel like your awareness of the people in the room is not the same as the people in the room, I shouldn't say not the same, but is not completely united with the people in this room? Samadhi is the fact that your awareness of the people in the room, or what you see as the people in the room, your awareness of what you see as the people in the room and what you see as people in the room, that is non-dual, that is united, that is concentrated. So how can we realize this concentration?

[22:03]

And there's many ways. I just mentioned five ways earlier to realize this concentration, this one-pointedness of every one of your experiences. These practices of compassion, one of which is concentration, you learn how to tap into or settle into your natural concentration. So concentration is a quality of your mind all the time.

[23:13]

It's only one of the qualities, right. But it's one that we particularly want to develop. There's other ones that we want to develop too, like another quality that's always present is mindfulness, we also want to develop mindfulness. And another quality that's always present is intelligence or discrimination. we want to develop that too. That can be developed into wisdom. So we have within us all the time the raw materials for realization of one-pointed awareness. We have one-pointed awareness, so since we have one-pointed awareness we can develop it more and more. We already have discernment, we can develop discernment. We already have mindfulness, we can develop mindfulness. All these things that we always have, we can develop them all. And of course, we always have constant awareness, and the awareness develops as these mental factors develop. So you have all this raw material, which in fact is an example of what's going on in the world that we can develop.

[24:23]

We can also develop rocks, but Buddhism is not so much into that. Usually we become Buddha and then we help the rocks. But the first part you got, Samadhi is a quality of your mind already, and meditation, which is sometimes called Samadhi, is to appreciate and celebrate that quality more and more. And sometimes the practice of celebrating Samadhi is also called Samadhi. But also the practice of celebrating Samadhi is sometimes called Dhyana. But the character of Dhyana is Samadhi. So Samadhi is used in different ways. And that's used in other ways, meaning the absorption in the great mind of Buddha, the transcendent, inconceivable Samadhis, are also part of what we're going to get into.

[25:27]

But the first two meanings, the first meaning is the nature of mind is Samadhi, part of the nature of mind is Samadhi, and then the practice of celebrating and deepening that sense of Samadhi, becoming absorbed in that sense of Samadhi, is also called Samadhi. So Samadhi is used in different ways. The same word is used for many things. Pardon? Yeah, that's right, that's right. You're welcome. I think Catherine was next and then Brian. I'm thinking that we have a sense of separation as a way of protecting ourselves. She said we have a sense of separation as a way of protecting ourselves. That may be true, but it's also, I think, I would guess that originally this adaptation of having a sense or an idea of separation was not so much to protect ourselves but more to promote ourselves.

[26:28]

I think in the early in our history that the sense of self was more like an advantage rather than to protect ourselves. But it could be also to protect yourself. It certainly is to protect your interests and to promote your interests as an animal. the you are interconnected with what you perceive, but also your awareness and what is perceived, or the perception and what is perceived, are not just interdependent, you know, but also non-dual. They're one-pointed, they're one-point. You never have the perception floating by itself without without the perceived, or the perceived without a perception, right?

[27:34]

There's no such independent perceptions or independent perceived phenomena. Yeah, that's the birthplace of anxiety. That's where anxiety is born, is in that sense of separation. That's the source of anxiety. Well, rocks are non-dual. All phenomena are non-dual. Even opposites are non-dual.

[28:38]

All things are non-dual. So what's the definition of non-dual? Non-dual, a definition of non-dual? Well, one definition of non-dual is they're not two different things. They appear to be two different things, but they really have no existence separate from each other. Sure. Yeah? No, I think you could say all phenomena are integrated. When your belief systems are shaken up, it's anxiety-producing, often, usually, and part of realizing non-duality is to give up your belief systems, let go of them.

[29:57]

and letting go of them is somewhat less disturbing than having them taken away from you. To voluntarily relax with your belief systems, to let go of them, is a little less disturbing than having them taken from you or shaken out of your hands. But sometimes people like are in a place where they really could handle letting go of their belief systems, but they're not letting go. So sometimes Bodhisattvas push them a little bit and knock their belief systems out of their hands because they don't have confidence that they would be able to get along without their belief systems. So sometimes people, before they let go of them, are afraid of what would happen if they did let go of them. Like, would I be able to survive if I didn't have a belief system? Would I be able to eat lunch without a belief system? Would I be able to use the toilet?

[31:01]

Would I be able to sleep? Would I be able to shake hands without a belief system? Maybe not, so maybe I shouldn't let go of my belief system, especially my belief system about me, what I am, and what you are. But still, if you practice Samadhi, someone might come up to you and knock your belief system out of your hands for just a second, and then you're standing there, your belief system has dropped away, and you say, hey, this isn't bad, I'm okay, wow, I can still talk, hi folks! And it's lunchtime, fantastic! What's for lunch? This is amazing, I can talk after I've let go of my belief system. Amazak, speak English!" But when people haven't let go and they imagine letting go, they get scared sometimes. And also, if they've got one and they're not calm and it gets knocked out of them, sometimes they have some big realization because they let go.

[32:05]

And when you let go of your belief system, you can see things beyond your belief system. the reality which the Buddhas are looking at is beyond all of our belief systems and beyond theirs too. So some people, when they get the knock out of their hands, stay calm and see reality and wonderful, wonderful encouragement comes. Other people, when it gets knocked out of their possession, they get shocked and they really withdraw. So teachers have to be careful not to knock people's views out of their hands unless they're ready. But sometimes it helps to jiggle it a little bit. But sometimes people don't even need any help, it just happens without any particular push. But usually you want to push people that are already in Samadhi, because then they won't fall off the edge of the world.

[33:06]

and they can stand the shock of living without holding on to their views of self and other. But if you think about it beforehand, a lot of people do get scared. So if you tell people, whatever you meet, meet it with great compassion. Whatever you meet, don't be rude. Don't grasp it. Don't seek something other than it. say, welcome to whatever comes. In other words, be silent with it and still. And they hear that and they get scared and say, what would happen to me if I wasn't constantly judging things, if I wasn't commenting and manipulating and controlling? They think they wouldn't survive. So they need to calm down more before they can let that teaching come in. However, letting that teaching come in is also calming, so it's sometimes a little bit of that teaching calms you, and then as you become calm you can do more of the teaching, more of the teaching, you're calm, pretty soon you can actually meet things that way.

[34:16]

And then you start to appreciate the samadhi, and then there's a letting go or dropping away of your views of body and mind, and then you have vision of reality. And you have to be very compassionate with yourself, that's why you need to practice compassion to be able to meet things in that way, that they reveal themselves, and also the compassion helps you tolerate the revelation. So again, compassion invites revelation and helps us survive it, because we know how to deal with ourselves. We have great patience to help us deal with a whole new world. Does that make sense? Compassion is the way to revelation, and it's the way to care for ourselves after it. Compassion is the way to wisdom, and supports it after wisdom dawned on us. Yes? Q. When I'm paying attention to different states of mind,

[35:25]

correlate, like anxiety, I can feel anxiety in my body, and then occasionally I'll have a... I'll feel very calm, or I'll feel like I'm in a non-poor, non-choosing state, and it'll also be a sort of correlating sensation in my brain, uses a guide, and you try to tune into that feeling, or encourage that feeling within the body, and then focus down on it. So you're saying that maybe if you have a feeling that you think may be a physical feeling that you think might be associated with non-duality?

[36:35]

You have a feeling that might be associated with a non-dual function of mind? Okay, like what kind of feeling? It's a sensation from the brain that physiologically feels a certain way. Okay, and you're wondering about using that Kind of like biofeedback or something. Yes. Well, that's another example, right? Well, maybe that's easier to deal with, is that when we're anxious, usually there's some physical side of it.

[37:45]

So, that's how we might know that we're anxious, is that we're, whatever, having trouble breathing. Anxiety means to be choked, so oftentimes people have trouble breathing when they're feeling anxious. And sometimes when people have panic attacks they feel like they're not going to be able to breathe anymore. So even when we cough we sometimes feel anxious, or we feel anxious when we cough, that often happens. So that's an indicator of anxiety, so you know at home, there seems to be anxiety. So it helps you notice that. But non-duality itself is not a thing. When the mind becomes fused with non-duality? Well yes, I understand that we might think the mind is going to become fused with non-duality,

[38:52]

But non-duality is that the mind is already fused with non-duality. That non-duality is that the mind is already fused with non-duality. Duality is that the mind will become fused with non-duality. Okay? Alright? So what does it mean to understand non-duality better if the mind is already fused with non-duality, because that must be what non-duality is. Non-duality cannot be something other than the way the mind already is. So part of non-duality is that enlightenment is not dual with the way we are right now. Now, when we realize that more deeply, you hear that right now, right? That part of the teaching of non-duality is that in the worst, most miserable, seething, overcome frightened state you've ever been in, that state is non-dual with Supreme Perfect Enlightenment.

[40:00]

Okay, you heard that now. So now you're saying, well what if I sort of understand that and there might be some physical correlate to understanding it? It would be every possible physical correlate, right. non-duality does not have a sign, it cannot be grasped, but it can be realized, and it can be realized because it's already so. So when it's realized, does the person change? Yes, they do. How do they change? Well, they become fearless and so on. But their fearlessness is really deep fearlessness, because their fearlessness does not depend on any mind-state. So they can be totally afraid, you could like tune in total fear in the person, and there would be no clinging to it, there would be no confusion that this fear was dual fearlessness.

[41:13]

because the fear would occur in a field of understanding the non-duality of fearlessness and fear. You could tie them up in every form of bondage, you know, and they would look at that bondage as non-dual with freedom. So that would be what they would be able to do, they would be able to look at that and in their bondage, you know, tied up in a ball in every possible way, they would be able to send out the message of freedom to all beings. Even though I'm saying, this one, look at me, I can tell you about freedom, I'm totally, I'm totally, totally, totally, totally bound up. Whereas if you're free, you know, I'm free, and you say everything's free, people say you're free, but I'm not. But the Bodhisattva can be less free than anybody and teach freedom. Okay, time me up a little bit more, see if I get scared. And then you say, okay, I did get scared, but I'm still telling you, you know, I will never, ever, ever stop loving you no matter how cruel you are to me, because of the non-duality of your cruelty and your love.

[42:30]

And so, what state I'm in I'm free of, and part of the way I practice is to be in whatever state to demonstrate that. So usually people think, well not usually, but some people think the way to Buddhahood is to get rid of all these bad states, but really being able to see non-duality of all the bad states is really one of the ways to demonstrate non-duality, not to be in a really nice state and say everything is non-dual. The body is totally transformed in the person who fully realizes non-duality, but it's transformed in such a way, not that it's in some state, but so that it responds in a beneficial way to whatever state arises. So you go up and you spit on a non-dual realizer, and the spit comes back as compassion. You put jewels on them and the jewels come back with compassion.

[43:35]

Rather than you spit on them and they hit you, you put jewels on them and they hold them. No matter what you do to this non-dual realizer, you get back Buddha's Dharma in the most skillful and helpful way, if that's the point of it. But there's no state that this being depends on. So you can do whatever to them, and they also know that anything can be done to them. So the Zen master says, you know, the warrior says, Hey Zen teacher, don't you know I'm a person who can chop your head off with the slightest hesitation?" And the Zen master says, don't you know you're talking to somebody who can have his head cut off without the slightest hesitation? I can also not have my head cut off without the slightest hesitation. In other words, don't you know you're talking to somebody who loves you? And the guy drops his sword and says, I understand, thank you. I want to study Zen.

[44:34]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ