And unsurpassed penetrating Good morning again. Good morning. My name is Greg Chang, and according to this plaque here, I'm the abiding teacher, along with Linda Gowling-Roshi at Berkeley's End Center. Not for much longer. Linda will become the abbot and I won't be sitting up here as one of two abiding teachers anymore.

[01:20]

Is anybody here for the first time? Hey, welcome. Welcome to Berkeley Science Center. Why don't you tell all of you and turn to somebody next to you and say hello. Change a few words. I would more than once ask my teacher, Solzhen Mo Weissman, Hey, I'm going to give a Dharma talk. What should I talk about? And he would always say the same thing. He would say, what are you practicing with? So this morning, my talk is going to be a little more on the personal side. I'm going to talk about what I'm practicing with.

[02:23]

And it's kind of inspired by following on from a check-in residence meeting last Tuesday. So I live here, Linda and I, we live here above the community room in 1929. I love being a resident here. And every Tuesday night, except for the first Tuesday of the month, we have a resident meeting. And in each meeting is somebody to do a check-in, a rather extended check-in. You know, it could be, I don't know, up to a half an hour, I think. That's all right? Yeah, yeah, just a resident. I think mine was, Not too long. But there's a couple of themes from it, in particular. That is what I'm practicing with. One is noticing my aging body. Noticing the effects of age. Impermanent surroundings, you know?

[03:24]

And practicing with that. What the changes are. And there is, I mean, I talked about a few things, but also my anger and frustration and bewilderment about what's going on in this country right now. So that's a couple of major themes. While I was talking about aging and really noticing, I don't have the same energy I used to have. I mean, that's very obvious. But, you know, we create these cherished ideas about ourselves. One of which is, I have a lot of energy. I have access to a lot of energy. Sojourner Mosheiros used to say, I really like your energy, and you have to work with it.

[04:27]

Pump the brakes once in a while, pal. Not my problem anymore. But, you know, so how is it now? How am I dealing with that? While I was talking about this in my check-in, I happened to mention, yeah, maybe I should read Sue Moon's book. This is getting old. And I was giving this to Helen. She reaches behind her and just, this one? I'm really enjoying this book. It's great, she's a great, funny, I'm impressed with her kind of sad too. It's really good reading, yeah, and it's helping me sort of dealing with that, dealing with my changing energy. Since it became public knowledge that Linda Gallagher will be the next Abbott of Brookley Zen Center,

[05:35]

a number of people have come up to me and they're like, so how is that for you, Greg? Like, are you okay? Are you gonna be okay? She's gonna be like, was that gonna be like for you? It's so sweet. So very sweet. I was saying this to my dear friend, Abbott of San Francisco Zen Center, Mako Volka, who we practiced together for years. and she knows me very well. So I said that to her and she just laughed at her. Oh yeah, that's going to be a big problem for Greg. No, no. As a matter of fact, she's kind of perfect. Especially with, as I'm practicing with, how I'm changing, how things are altered going forward.

[06:36]

Yeah, a really, really good dharma position, Sojourn Roshi would say. It's a very good dharma position for me to support Linda Gallien. And just things like in the beginning of the lockdown, my last Tassahara came to the city. She was president of San Francisco Zen Center at the beginning of the COVID plague. I just, I made that my dharma position at that point. So very comfortable for me and feels appropriate. Yeah, so classically in Mahayana Buddhism, which Zen is a part of, we talk about realms or we even mentioned that If you were here for Oreoki breakfast, we chanted that as part of our liturgy.

[07:38]

The six worlds, we say, I think, in breakfast time. The six worlds. So the six realms are historically the usual deal. Heaven, and then the Asuras, which is like the realm of the jealous gods. They got everything, but they're dissatisfied for some reason, you know. I picture the asurians like running around with cell phones and laptops and just, buy, buy, sell, sell, you know. Satisfied really, even though they have it all. And then the human realm, that's us, and the animal realm, and the realm of hungry ghosts, also never satisfied. And the realm of hell, hell. The human realm, where we are right now, all of us together, is often referred to as the Saha Loka, which means Saha World, or World of Endurance.

[08:45]

That's where we live. In Buddhist cosmology, we are located in the Saha, the World of Endurance, which Sojourner Roshi used to say, it's just the right amount of suffering. you know, the Goldilocks of suffering, if you will. It's, you know, probably difficult, extremely difficult, but extremely difficult to practice in hell where you're undergoing unending torment, right? And also probably extremely difficult to practice in heaven where you're assaulted with assaulted with all this bliss. Who can think about practice? I'm just bathing in all this bliss. I won't say impossible, but probably very difficult to practice under those circumstances. So Saha world is just right.

[09:47]

Just the right amount of suffering. You hear a lot about suffering in Buddhism. Dukkha in Sanskrit. Dukkha. which could be like a real kind of true. Something is off. Something is all right. It doesn't feel so good. I don't like it. And this is because, you know, in the very first Dharma talk, the Dhamma Chaka Pavatna Sutta, which is very fun to say in Pali, probably because we call this the oldest teaching called the Pali Canon, because that's the first language that Buddhist texts were written down in. Later on, Sanskrit, they're both dead languages, but Pali came first. So the oldest teachings, we call that the Pali Canon. In Pali, Dhamma Chaka Bhavatna Sutta means setting in Dharma.

[10:52]

And it was Shakyamuni Buddha's very first Dharma talk. after he attained enlightenment, as we say, so to speak, woke up. He met with these five ascetics that he'd been practicing with previously, who kind of, when at that time Siddhartha Gautama, before he was a Buddha, he began to doubt all these extreme ascetic practices. He was like, I don't know. And so the five were like, get out of here, you lightweight. They didn't want to practice with him anymore. And Buddha discovered, actually, the first thing he talks about in the Dhamma Chaka Bhattana Sutta is the middle way, practicing not going through his dreams. And then he goes on to talk about the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

[11:54]

and some other choice things, which has been referred to as the Buddha's elevator speech. And this very fine book by Thich Nhat Hanh, which is a great book of Mel's, by the way, he came back to this book over and over and over again. There's a splendid English translation, Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma, And... What's the name of the book? Oh, I'm sorry. It's called The Heart of the Buddhist Teaching. Did I not mention that? I'm so sorry. Thank you. The Heart of the Buddhist Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh. Yeah. Here, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering. Birth is suffering. Old age is suffering. Death is suffering. Sorrow, grief, mental anguish and disturbance are suffering.

[12:58]

To be with those you dislike is suffering. To be separated from those you love is suffering. Not having what you long for is suffering. In other words, to grasp the five aggregates to the self is suffering. Okay. You know what I love about that short list? That's it. It's a short list of what suffering is, the main points. They all have to do with every body in here is a body. We all are bodies. Zen practice is body practice. Body, body, body. And AI hasn't changed any of that. These teachings are relevant today than they ever were because bodies are still bodies. I think, I don't know, I just really like that.

[14:00]

Some people think, you know, you read about these obscenely wealthy tech industry, the vaporware economy, as I call it, you know, hoarding billions of dollars. And what am I going to do with all this wealth? I'll live forever. Yeah, that's ridiculous. I'm going to take all these potions. You know, the Taoist alchemy, they were really obsessed with living forever. And I understand that in this summit meeting, there was a hot mic moment between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the leaders of China. Russia, you know, where they were getting more organs and infinite transplants and just living forever. Being dictators for ever. Or what about uploading your consciousness to the cloud?

[15:06]

Yeah, I'll do that. I don't buy any of it. It's more like more dukkha. Just like, I can't face this, so what do I do? I have unlimited wealth. How can I use it to... So sad. So sad. We're all gonna die. And as Suzuki Roshi pointed out, that's actually a good thing. If you lived forever, that would be a big problem. But... It's difficult, you know. The three marks of existence, another list. There's so many lists in Buddhism. Dukkha is the second. And anatma, no self, is the third. But the first and foremost, which is like everything comes from that, impermanence.

[16:13]

Everything changes. If you don't understand anything else about Buddhism, good for you. Just sit outside. But you might want to remember everything changes. Everything is always changing. At this moment, we are . Everything is changing all the time. Sometimes things change very quickly. Sometimes things change quickly in a big way. Pandemic, that's a pretty good example. Felt like that happened overnight. All of a sudden, we were all sheltering in place. Staying six feet away from each other. Y'all remember that? Feels like a dream. Guess what? COVID is still around. So sad. But wow, what a big change that was.

[17:14]

The whole world changed really quickly. And another example that's very alive for me at the moment is that in the past six months, all of a sudden, living in a fascist regime. How did that happen? It happened really quickly. All of a sudden, there's masked thugs without any identification, just yanking people off the street. stuffing them in vehicles without license plates, cars nobody knows where, without any way of tracking them in many, many cases. Gestapo and military in city streets in LA, DC, you know, military presence and they're just getting started, you know, they're just getting started.

[18:16]

Yeah. The co-opting and coercing on mass media and universities, et cetera, et cetera, narratives and museums telling us what we should and should not read. These are classic. Yeah. So, in a way, I feel like, why was I so surprised? I'm a little embarrassed that I'm so surprised at this. It's terrible. And I think it's difficult to face up to something so terrible, such a horrible, you know. The memory serves publication of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Once Upon a Time, which Sue Moon was very involved in, this publication, by the way, it's called Not Turning Away.

[19:26]

That's a good title. Not Turning Away. It's hard. It is hard. Yeah. There's a big sort of, I think it's kind of to just like normalize things. We want things to be normal. We want things to be regular. So we get used to things. One thing I really love about being a resident here is I have a warm, dry, safe place to sleep at night. I think about that all the time. I used to say that a lot when I lived in Tazahara too.

[20:29]

Tazahara was so close to the element. There's a huge storm, it's like, oh, you know, I don't know, it feels more present and it feels so grateful. I'll never stop feeling grateful for having a warm, dry place to sleep at night. warm, dry, and safe. And living in Berkeley or I think any city in the United States, you see people who don't have warm, dry, safe place to sleep at night all the time. There's that nice old gent with the dog right outside Eastern Supply or maybe over by The Walgreens, you know. He's usually around. The sweet guy, you know. That's all the homies got. And you see us all the time, you know. I don't think. Not that anybody here is like walking around Berkeley being outraged all the time.

[21:35]

Because you can't. You can't sustain that, you know. So what happens is we just sort of like No, that's the way it is. That's the way it is. We accept it. Normalize it. A bunch of orphans are smashed out of their beds in the middle of the night and whisked away. Do we say, that's just the way it is. I don't have answers. I don't have the answers. Like I said, this is kind of a personal talk. I'm just talking about what I'm practicing with. How do I need this? How do I not turn away? ...in impermanence. Usually people, often I think, you know, they say, I need you, therefore dukkha.

[22:41]

You know, like, ah, it's changing. This is changing again. Oh, I don't like it. You know, oh, this. My late mother-in-law. She used to say all the time. If it's changed, it must be bad. I think that's pretty normal. But, you know, if things can change quickly, and they can, I also have to believe that things can change quickly for the good. I do believe that. Although this country's sort of original wound, the legacy of chattel slavery and racism still endures, the actual Confederacy only lasted four years. Things change.

[23:41]

And I do believe that the arc of the moral universe is and that it bends toward justice. Have you heard that one before? I think you'd be forgiven for not believing that. I wouldn't blame you a bit. Show me some evidence. Well, maybe I have to believe that it's really law. that bends towards justice. I do believe that. But as I've said before, that arc of the moral universe is not going to bend by itself. And that's where we come in. That's where we come in. Great teacher, May Lee Scott, who was a very important practice leader to me in my early years at Berkeley Zen Center. wrote this beautiful peace prayer, which we now chant as liturgy on the regular basis at Berkeley Zen Center.

[24:53]

And towards the end, she says, may I know that my peace and the world's peace are not separate, that our peace in the world is a result of our work for justice. So working for justice, you know, how do we do that? Well, there's lots of ways, many, many ways. If you are on the Berkeley Zen Center listserv, you get lots of . Our Tonto, great Zen teacher, Susan Marvin, regularly sends out little lists of small actions you can take. Lori found a bunch of white satin behind the community room kitchen, the porch right over there, where we put stuff you want to give away.

[25:58]

And somebody was giving away like all this white satin. She says, I can use this to make a sign for the freeway overpass. Nice. A lot of members and supporters of Berkley Zen Center are involved in and very motivated. Direct action, non-violent direct action. Any things that we have been part of separately and as a Sangha. the spring practice that Linda and I led together. We studied the Lotus Sutra. That was a lot of fun. And just some wild imagery in the Lotus Sutra.

[27:04]

And in chapter 15, this pretty thing happens, which is, Some of the Buddha's disciples are a little concerned about, you know, how will the Dharma be upheld and maintained? I don't know, you know, and I'm not sure if we're adequately resourced to continue your teachings in this Saha world. The Buddha says, don't worry about it. We got you covered. We got you covered. We have all these Bodhisattvas, underground Bodhisattvas. They've been waiting just for this moment. And then all these... amazing uh golden color you know the lotus is just so full of beautiful visual images they come springing up out of the earth from underground thousands and thousands millions uncountable bodhisattvas yes how can we help they're there how can we help that's us in case you didn't get that when we were studying the lotus

[28:10]

We mentioned that in the spring practice period. Those bodhisattvas springing up out of the earth, that's us. We're the people we've been waiting on. That's very tasty water. Yeah. Thich Nhat Hanh. I love this book. Susan Roshi loves this book. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. In here, Thich Nhat Hanh kind of has a little bit of fun with how much historically, because the Buddha indeed talks about suffering a lot.

[29:14]

And Thich Nhat Hanh says, it's not all suffering. That's not actually the heart of the Buddhist teaching. It's not just suffering. Even though a lot of commentators and a lot of sutras and sastras following up Buddhist commentary, you know, they seized on that. Chit Nhat Hanh points out that also in many places throughout the Pali canon, Here's some more fun words in poetry. The Buddha talks about jishta dharma sukha vihara, which can be translated as dwelling happily in things as they are. Does that sound familiar? Doesn't that sound a little like Suzuki Roshi, always talking about things as it is? Happily in things as they are. And I think that's what we all want.

[30:18]

You know, it's very difficult, very difficult. If you look around, you see a lot of things the way they are, make you unhappy. Difficult to dwell happily in things as they are. When you see so much injustice, if you're affected by that. And I think a lot of us are deeply affected by that. Another thing I said in my residence meeting check-in was I kind of take solace in the fact that billions and billions of dollars are being spent on mass media and propaganda to get us to numb out and just accept It's horrible.

[31:22]

And if you're feeling crummy, you can take solace in the fact that it's not working. Good. But we all want to be happy. We all want to dwell happily in things as they are. So, how do we find this new way? is really a big question. I cherish moments of joy, I would say. For example, part of being a resident is doing night watch. Every resident takes it in turn the end of the night, or rather the beginning of the night, when basically there's nothing else going on here, just to go around and make sure everything's locked up, that lights are on, that are supposed to be off, that are supposed to be off, everything that's locked up is supposed to be locked up, is locked up, and just walking around and checking on all that.

[32:39]

Takes a little while actually, especially if you find something unlocked. Or if that light at its entrance is not turned on, then I have to come in the center. which means turning off the alarm and so forth. It's kind of fun, actually. So last Monday, Lynn and I did this on Monday evenings. I was doing this and the sun was almost down, setting over the Pacific. The light was so beautiful. So beautiful. It really touched me. And I came out back to Russell Street. I looked down on Russell Street and there was this dose of watering, just standing there watering something. And I looked across the street. There's a woman walking her dog.

[33:40]

She's really happy about something. She really, really looked happy. I think she's just happy being with her dog on such a fine evening. I thought, yeah, dwelling happily in things as they are, you know? Just the preciousness of that moment. Like, okay, okay, you know? I don't have to be a sublet all the time. Actually, that's a really not a good idea. That's like very bad for your mental health. I'm so grateful for this practice. I'm so grateful. I'd like to say by Zazan Instruction in five words, stay present for whatever arises when we sit.

[34:50]

Teacher Leslie James has said, you take a mini vow. I'm not going to move. I'm not going to get up and walk out no matter what happens, no matter how uncomfortable I am, no matter how mentally distressed I am, no matter how disturbed I am, whatever. I'm just going to stay here for the next 40 minutes or whatever it is. It's really powerful. It really, really is powerful and it trains us. to stay present for whatever arises in life, not churning away. In the full moon ceremony this morning, my favorite part is where the Kokyo leads us into taking refuge in the Triple Charter. I take refuge in Buddha. Okay, I'm not going to do the whole thing.

[35:56]

It's beautiful. And I do take refuge in the Triple Treasure. In particular, this morning, I'm thinking how much I take refuge in Sangha. In particular, this Sangha. It's so important to me and I'm so happy that we exist in this way, that we practice in this way. that we support each other in this way in what are challenging times, very challenging times. You know, my mom, it's quite amazing to say this out loud, but my mom was a young woman during World War II. That's why I really am old. She told me once, we thought the world was coming to an end. I bet.

[36:58]

I bet. Yeah. Here's Thich Nhat Hanh again. Excuse me. We've been quoting Thich Nhat Hanh up to this point, but I am going to now. He says, this is in the foreword. or the opening chapter, I guess. Yeah, it's the first chapter. First chapter, it's very short. Entering the Heart of the Buddha. He says, I grew up in a... There was destruction all around. Children, adults, values, a whole country. As a young person, I suffered a lot. Once the door of awareness has been opened, you cannot close it. I'm going to read that one again. Once the door of awareness has been opened, you cannot close it. The wounds of war in me are still not all healed.

[38:06]

There are nights I lie awake and embrace my people, my country, and the whole planet breathing. Without suffering, you cannot grow. Without suffering, you cannot get the peace and joy you deserve. Please don't run away from your suffering. Embrace it and cherish it. Go to the Buddha, sit with her, and show her your pain. She will look at you with loving kindness, compassion, and mindfulness, and show you ways to embrace your suffering and look deeply into it. Yep. That's the way I want to practice. Not turning away, but knowing that there is joy to be found in this saha world.

[39:06]

Again, he said, if you're not finding joy in your practice, maybe you should be doing some other practice. Joy can also be resistance. It takes a joyful effort to persist my Kalian aware, as Miley Scott said. And I am slowing down. I am fully committed to this joyful effort of you. And that's my Dharma talk. Thank you very much. Hi, all people on Zoom. Charlie Ware.

[40:13]

Hey, Charlie. You should play Krivich. Remember Krivich? One time years ago, I used to come here early for evenings as in. And Charlie and I would play cribbage for four or five minutes for an hour. Good memories. Now I'm just, okay. I don't want to look at myself. There we go. Fixed it. So we have time for questions. If there are any questions or comments. Thank you, Greg. You're welcome. I appreciate the, you talk a lot about gratitude and joy, and I appreciate that. And I also notice you talk about, we're about the same age.

[41:15]

Aging things are startling, interesting, curious, and baffling, dumbfounding. Keep going, keep going. and then things that are happening in the world. I think that I'd like to hear you talk about, it seems like your sort of track when you're presented with something is to just sort of find the joy. And I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit more about getting older and realizing, oh my gosh, I can't do that now. I have to have someone help me. And sort of there's a little bit of maybe sadness that comes, or when we hear something about the next thing, this fascist position we're moving into, and we hear about, oh my gosh, they did this now.

[42:18]

And there's a weight for me that comes with that. And I'd like you to talk more about rather than look to the gratitude, look to the joy, or go out and take an action. I want you to talk just to say a little bit more about that space when we have that feeling that is not joy and it's not happy and we just need to be there with that and make the room for something else. To just hear you talk about that space right there rather than here's joy, here's happiness, here's relief. Yeah, well, I'm going to push back a little bit, Dean, because I don't think I just default to that all the time. I do think that it's important to not succumb to despair and dread.

[43:20]

Yeah, I do think that the joy of being born in the saha loka, in the saha world. I'm just joking about joy. The advantage, the opportunity, you know, what Sozin called just the right amount of suffering is that we have the opportunity to practice great kshanti, great patience and forbearance. Or, ah, wow, thank you, Kai. You know, I keep coming back. Thich Nhat Hanh, he said he didn't like to translate that word, you know, kshanti paramita, one of the six paramitas, the practices of a bodhisattva, practicing great patience and endurance, you know, in the Saha world.

[44:23]

He prefers to translate it as inclusiveness. He says, to bear, very difficult to bear, you have to make your heart bigger. He says, he lies awake at night sometimes and just embraces the whole world in the suffering. That's what I'm talking about. So, yeah, no, I don't think I just default. Hey, hey, hey, you know, really, Pollyanna-ish, you know, don't worry, everything's going to be just fine. We don't know that. However, I am open to it. I am open to it. Just as things can change rapidly for the worse, things can change better. And if we lose sight of that, I think that's a mistake too. Yeah. So I'm not going to come down on either side, you know. Sotun Roshi would always be said, hold up the other side.

[45:27]

Hold up the other side. So I think it's a question of finding the middle way and going forward and persisting. Yeah. Thank you. Great. I was sort of caught somehow, and I don't really know my opinion, when you talked about normalizing and accepting yeah and sort of the relationship between those two for you yeah yeah well as i said i'm talking about what i'm practicing with this is you you kind of pointed to it right there that's the koan that is the koan yeah um it's tempting to numb out It is tempting because our nervous systems aren't built for this. Our nervous systems are peacefully abiding in things as they are.

[46:33]

That's our birthright. So I'm quite often sad or frustrated about being thwarted And maybe that speaks to your question a bit too, Dean, because I'm like, I find moments of joy and I'm, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But, yeah. We can't pretend. As Orwell said, the parties, final and most important instruction was to ignore the senses. Ignore what you're seeing and hearing. What you're seeing and hearing, this is what's really happening. That's insanity, right?

[47:37]

So it's important that we don't let go of trusting our senses and critical thinking. No, I actually liked that juxtaposition. I like the idea of it as a co-op. I think that is a good way of putting it. Thank you. So we have, excuse me, Deborah. No one can see me. I just didn't know what to do. What's up? I see you. You can see me. So first of all, thanks so much for your talk. I've been trying to work with what you're talking about, and I, sits on Zen and I just get like this, almost paralyzing awareness. And I don't have an action step. I sit with the not knowing of what to do. And you don't always talk about that. It's almost like I'm waiting to understand how I'm going to respond, or waiting for it to arise.

[48:45]

Does that make sense to you? Well, maybe that's something to talk about during... I haven't talked with you. No, no, no, no. Talk to your sangha. Oh, my sangha. Yeah. Okay, sangha. Shoray. Thank you for your talk, Ray. Listening to your talk, I was thinking about the realms. I sort of understand the realms as one way we can understand how our own mental states take us through those realms. And last month I was in a pretty bad period of some changes in my work and that was sort of a koan for me. it was really hard to practice. I sort of thought like hell realm. One way I understand burnout is my body is not resourced. My body is actually operating off of lack and it's painful and control the conditions that sort of require that persistence despite lack.

[49:58]

So that was like a colon for me. How do I practice when it's this hard? I did have a few moments where I think because of Zazen practice, I could see, like, here's the hell realm, and can I look at it, can I shift so that I'm in the human realm? Like, is this just enough suffering versus I'm just being pulled over? And I'm just curious if how you relate to those difficult states or what you would say in response to when your conditions just aren't right? They're not conducive to the personal being. Yeah, yeah. Great question. Really great question. You know, in Tibetan iconography, you know, mandalas, the Kalachakra shows like representation of reality. You see the six realms, like six slices of pie, right?

[51:02]

In a circle, there's these six wedges and very detailed painting, you know, like all the torments of hell are like over here in the hell realm. And here's a bunch of cute animals running around, chasing each other, killing and whatever, you know, in the animal realm, et cetera, et cetera, hungry ghost realm. They all be skinny, skinny necks and never satisfied. These giant bellies can never be satisfied, et cetera. Quite often, in such mandalas. You'll see they paint a little Buddha in each one. There's a little Buddha in each one. Sutta Roshi loves to say, hell is just another place to practice. So, I was careful in the beginning of my life. Difficult, not impossible. Difficult, not impossible. Challenging, challenging. Well, there's nothing wrong with challenging.

[52:04]

Part of what it means to me personally to take refuge in the Triple Treasure is to remind myself that I'm actually more resourced than I think, than I think. If I get caught in the five aggregates of clinging and my problems, my situation, whatever it is, which is very easy for me to do, if I'm lucky, I can remind myself That's practicing right mindfulness.

[53:09]

It can be translated as right remembering. I remember. If I'm lucky, I remember. I remind myself. I'm more resourced than I think. And then, you know, I turn to somebody for help. Frequently hurt. But, you know, it's the beauty of being in community. So, I got you. I got you. So maybe one more question, I guess. Oh, definitely. Or we could stop. Yes? You're next. Sorry. Hi. Hi. So one thing that kind of helps me was shared with me from a sixth grade girl who had come from another country where many of her family had been burned in villages and stuff, a poetry workshop.

[54:13]

And she said what helps her get through the moments is doing things that make her heart grow. And so I think the idea of compassion, I talked to her about this, she said it felt like it pulled her enough place to think of joy. Sixth graders. And so she said she prefers compassion and then to be compassionate to herself when she is feeling joy. But she said joy with a small J, not a capital. She said that's too much because then you can feel guilty. So she said but to feel compassionate and happy or joy with a small j is being able to still feel compassion, being able to feel, not being numb, because she felt numb for a while.

[55:16]

And so that's where she started the poetry workshop. They had to draw their poems. That's her instruction. And you could use some words. So I think that idea of compassion that feel fortunate to still feel connected so that when I see, I don't think that for a lot of people on Earth right now, that they have just enough suffering to be okay. I mean, there are people that . You know, the children in Gaza and other places, and adults. So I think to have compassion to be able to feel the joy of being in community here and with the people we love, that feels like a blessing. And so I try to find words that work better for me. And so compassion works, blessing works.

[56:21]

I think we all have to search for how to feel and picture things in a way where we can still a positive influence. Thank you very much. Two things very quickly. I would say that your friend, your sixth grade friend, was exactly doing what Thich Nhat Hanh says about how to practice great kshanti, patience and endurance, cause inclusiveness, growing your heart.

[56:54]

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