I vow to tell you the truth. I vow to tell you today's words. Morning. Well, yesterday, I was... No, it's not on. Yesterday, I was scheduled to give one of the talks at the Peace March at the park. But when I got there, I wasn't on the schedule. So I didn't talk. So I'm going to give it to you. I was, the talk, you know, is two to three minutes.

[01:06]

So, you're lucky. So I had to condense it all into two or three minutes. So I don't want to give you the whole talk because much of it is, you would think is political and you'd be right. So, being Sachine, you know, I don't want to disturb your mind. But I will talk about some parts of it, which, you know, when I showed it to my wife, and she said, well, you know, the first part is political, and the second part is more dharmic. She said, I think it should be more dharmic. So I went back to the drawing board, but it's still pretty political.

[02:12]

So I just will talk a little bit about, or talk about some of the points and expand on some of the points that I made. I was a little disappointed, actually, that I didn't have a chance to give this talk that I've been working on. So, that said, in looking at it this morning, I saw that there were three messages to George Bush that he's not paying attention to. One message is from Jesus. The next message is from 9-11. And the third message is from people all around the world and all the nations of the world, almost.

[03:21]

So these are three messages that are not being paid attention to or acknowledged. Mr. Bush says, when I have a problem, I ask Jesus, what would you do? But it seems more like he's ignoring the message. And it seems like he's paying more attention to Mars, the god of war, which I think accounts for the large number of Martians running the White House. So if we look at, you know, what is the message of Jesus? It's more difficult for a wealthy person to get to heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

[04:35]

If you gain the whole world, Or what profits you if you gain the whole world and lose your soul? And love thy neighbor as thyself? These are all wonderful koans, you know. There's so many places where most religions agree. But it's really just common sense, you know. It's not even a religion. It's just how to have common sense. What you sow is what you reap.

[05:39]

This is the law of karma in Buddhism. So I didn't have to say anything Buddhist in my talk. I didn't say anything that came from Buddha. Simply, kind of an appeal to George to look at what he's actually saying, what he's actually giving to people, what he's actually espousing and saying he's doing. So it's kind of a message, I think, in that sense. Look at what you're doing and I think for all of us we should look at what we're doing. How are we conducting ourselves? So in Buddhism it's just simply greed, ill will and delusion. The three poisons. Greed, ill will and delusion.

[06:42]

And it's the same for Christianity as it is for Buddhism. Especially you reap what you sow. It's the law of karma. If you create ill will, then that ill will comes back and hits you. And this is the second message that is not being observed. There's the message of 9-11, which has been reacted to by revenge and we got hurt for no reason. You know, it's obvious that we invented, or not invented, but we created bin Laden

[07:44]

We created all the enmity that's directed toward us. The world is a mirror for our actions. And if we want to know who we are, just look around and see how people respond to us. If you want to know what you're really like, look at your friends, look at the criticism you get, look at the way people respond to you, and then you'll see how you are and who you are. So we read ourself in the actions and the faces of those around us. because our life mirrors us.

[08:53]

But we're not really looking in the mirror or paying attention to what we see. And the third message is the whole world sees us as we are, and we can't see ourselves as we are. That's a real pity. We cannot see ourselves as we really are, but the whole world sees us as we are. And we're getting this big message, but we ignore it. So Mr. Bush is getting a lot of praise for being single-minded and not wavering and not looking around. This is called staying power or whatever, but it's more like

[10:04]

Stubbornness. Stubbornness is the downside of perseverance. Perseverance is the upside of stubbornness. And George Bush sleeps every night without any conscience. This is the most troubling of all. Whereas Mr. Powell says, oh he, George Bush says, I sleep like a baby every night without waking up.

[11:18]

And Mr. Powell says, I sleep like a baby too. I wake up every two hours screaming. Anyway, so I do have some positive things that I said. There's another one, another quote from Jesus who says, let the one who is without guile cast the first stone. Let the innocent person cast the first stone. You know that story? And pride leadeth to a fall. Pride, you know, People say, I am so proud of what I did, and I am so proud of our this and our that.

[12:22]

Pride is a prime ego builder. We should have confidence. It's nice to have confidence, and it's good to feel some satisfaction in what we do. But pride is extra. Pride, walking around, strutting around with your chest out, showing off your accomplishments, or, you know, showing off, or creating a self. Pride is a big self-creator. And pride leadeth to a fall. So, pride swells one up to the point where the foundation is smaller than the body. And then, boom. So, there will be a fall.

[13:24]

There will be fallout. So, I'm addressing people who are in opposition. And I said, let us realize that our opposition is not in vain. People all over the world are voicing dissent We are the counterforce that brings the whole process into question. It may seem like our protest is falling on deaf ears, but it's not really so. They say we're not paying attention. But if you're not paying attention, there's no need to say we're not paying attention. We must give voice to our conscience for the sake of our conscience. just to continue without being attached to the results of our work will have a far-reaching effect, even though we may not see the immediate fruits of our labor. If you are a person of peace, what else can you do but work for that peace?

[14:24]

The world can only be conquered through love and kindness. Love begets love and violence begets violence. Maybe, you know, conquered may not be the right word, but we say love conquers all. So in that sense, that's the right word. So the feeling here is you don't do this work for any particular purpose. It looks like this is a time in the world where people need to come together to do something, but it's always that time. It's just that there are certain times when it seems more relevant than at other times, but it's always there. you don't just come out for peace when there seems to be a big problem, but it's something that you're always working for.

[15:36]

And so you simply respond without being attached to some specific goal. You're attached to some specific goal And it seems you're easily discouraged when things don't go the way you want them to go. So, the United States is the most powerful nation, has an obligation to provide a benevolent, compassionate and wise influence in helping the world come together in a harmonious union. This country is the melting pot of the world. We have been a great experiment. We should set an example. Let us not squander what we have left of our believability." People actually all over the world are losing faith in the American ideal. It's become, come into question, actually.

[16:41]

There's a lot of doubt now about America as the leader in some way. This has been a great experiment. This is where all the nations meet. It's no longer a tribal country. We eliminated the tribes that were here, but still, most countries are more tribal than America. And so this is, it's been the experiment where all these cultures come together and in a dynamic way and with a lot of problems, but still, because of our original laws, have been able to meld with each other and influence each other and create a new kind of society, which is always being undermined.

[17:57]

And it's necessary to keep to continue to keep revitalizing and reminding everyone of what our original purpose is. Because there are always people that want to take it over and create a monarchy. Just think about how a sincere apology to the nations for whatever suffering we have knowingly or unknowingly caused them could affect and influence the whole world. Imagine George Bush or anybody in its position acknowledging our shortcomings, acknowledging our failures, acknowledging our weaknesses, and asking people for forgiveness for what we've done to them. That would change the whole world. A simple act could change the whole world in the way they think, in the way everyone thinks.

[19:04]

It's a real turning point right now. And everyone, the nations are finally, because they have to, questioning whether or not war is a valid way of solving crises. So, this would be the consummate act of courage and setting an example, influence others to follow suit. You know, if the president went to Korea and actually talked to the people, you know, and went to Baghdad and talked to Hussein, imagine him going to Baghdad and talking to Hussein.

[20:07]

Something would have to come out of that. Because we alienate people. Well, we alienate people on purpose. That's the problem. Because if we didn't keep people alienated, we wouldn't be able to sell our weapons. A sad fact. You can see it in the streets. We can't even pass a gun law. And it just extends throughout the whole world. We are the biggest merchants of weapons in the world. And we just, you know, keep people mad at each other. Here's the way it works. Vengeance and vendetta. You hurt me, so I'll hurt you. And the people standing on the sidelines are all, it's like a cockfight, you know, they're betting on who's going to win.

[21:14]

And people supplying, you know. So someone gets really angry and vengeful and someone comes along and says, here, puts the weapon in your hand. And then they go to the other side and say, here, put the weapon in their hand. And they watch them fight. And then they keep needing more and more weapons. And the people on the sidelines just keep feeding them more and more weapons. And they have to keep paying for the weapons. So they go into debt. And they go into debt to buy the weapons. And then they keep using the weapons to create more chaos, which creates more weapons, which creates more debt. And then they're indebted to their debtors. And it's like the company store. And then they're enslaved by debt, they're enslaved by weapons, they're enslaved by vengeance.

[22:15]

That's the story of what's happening in the Middle East. It's totally run by vengeance, weapons, and debt. And then we can just, whoever is, whoever receives the payoff controls the situation. And that's us. But just think about turning that over, turning the tables by, if someone could actually apologize, someone could actually create, want to create a situation where weapons could be eliminated.

[23:20]

It'll never happen, but we should always think about that as a possibility. Never give up on that as a possibility. So imagine the Israelis and the Palestinians forgiving each other. Forgiving each other and embracing as brothers and sisters. That's the only way. There's no other way, actually, that that situation will be solved. They can make fences, agreements. Nothing works. Nothing works. The only thing that works is forgiveness.

[24:25]

And this is It's also the message of Jesus that is being ignored. It's also the message of Buddha, but we don't have to say so. So to accomplish this, we must lay down our nationalistic egos and our religious egos. We must see ourself in others and others as ourself. Heaven and hell are right here on earth. We create heaven, we create hell. We have the six worlds. The world of heaven, the realm of heaven, the realm of hell, the realm of hungry ghosts, the realm of humans, the realm of fighting demons, and the realm of animals.

[25:36]

And within each one of these realms is the Bodhisattva. And the Bodhisattva is our way-seeking mind. But we certainly create hell all the time. We're creating a terrible hell and bringing a lot of people down with it. But love conquers vengeance. And don't say we don't have a choice. So as we embody the light of peace, sanity, and compassionate action, that light extends in all directions and has the power to move others. Lighting up this corner of the world, as we are doing today, will touch others all over the world, encouraging those who know, as well as those who know just enough, as well as those who just need a little encouragement to come forth and know that they are not alone.

[26:49]

You know, we have this chauvinistic attitude about our nation, and we also sometimes confuse the nation with the government. There was a sign I saw yesterday that said, the nation and the government are not necessarily the same thing. I love this nation, but I can't stand this government. So, laying down a national ego means to see all the nations as equal. And laying down our religious egos is to go beyond religion. Ultimately, there is no religion. You know, once Suzuki Roshi was asked about wearing his robes, you know, somebody said, well, how come you wear those funny robes, you know, like look like a dress and, you know,

[28:12]

He says, well, you know, this is the role I have. And he said, it would be okay with me to take off my robe, because in the end, when there's no more need for Buddhadharma, then I can take off my robe, and I'll be happy to do that. So I would hope that we get to the point where there's no more need for Buddhadharma. I think that's the goal of Buddhism, is that there will eventually be no more Buddhism. No more need for Buddhism. But we won't see that point.

[29:16]

But we should work for that point. We always do work for impossible things, like saving all beings. Wow, I'm going to save all beings. That's a good koan. Do you have any questions? You spoke of the three poisons, greed, ill will, and delusion. And I agree that George Jenner's... Yeah, I think he's definitely deluded and has been for probably forever. But I'm not sure that... Can greed or ill-will exist without delusion? Because if I'm greedy about something, isn't that because I'm deluded?

[30:19]

Well, the three of them are connected. There are actually nine within greed. Well, greed doesn't necessarily include ill-will. And ill-will doesn't necessarily include greed. It's true that delusion is the basis, but still it stands by itself as one of the three. Within greed is delusion, and within ill will is delusion, but delusion stands by itself as well. I think so. You mentioned that pride goes before a fall, being proud of your children. Would you redefine that as being confident in your children or something in order to not confuse words?

[31:26]

I would not feel proud of my child if he did something. What do you call it? I would call it, I would feel happy. Happy for them? Yeah, I would feel, it would make me feel happy. you know, if there was some wonderful thing that would make me feel happy. But I would be very careful not to feel pride. Pride, in a way, you know, pride kind of sets up a, can set up a distinction So let's say this, there are times when you may feel it's fine to be proud of something, right?

[32:27]

But that doesn't do away with the fact that pride leads to a fall. Pride leads to a fall, but that doesn't mean that you cannot be proud. of something. You just have to be careful that it doesn't lead to a fall. If you take something as absolute, if you take a saying as absolute, then that leads to a fall. You have to understand the meaning of the message rather than just taking something literally, completely literally. You have to get to the meaning of the... to what the message of that means, right? So it's not necessarily always true that to be proud of something is... Nothing is always so. It's just, okay, yeah. Right, right. Another way of saying that is like, you could feel proud for a moment, but to strive for people to be proud of you,

[33:40]

it's kind of delusional and also not a good direction? I would say not being attached to pride. Not being attached to that. When you mentioned that pride sets up distinction, or is a distinct, you know, that you're proud of a distinction, are you talking about pride that kind of sets up the world of opposites or comparisons? Is that the kind of pride you're talking about? Well, that's one kind of pride, yeah. The other is simply setting up an ego. Simply setting up, creating a self. In the ordinary world, it seems like a good thing. Because in the ordinary world, it seems okay to be proud of your accomplishments or whatever.

[34:45]

In the Dharma world, accomplishment is okay. Not accomplishment is okay. You know, things are just what they are without adding something to them, without adding some kind of self-builder. Yeah, John? a talk by a rabbi who I believe was from a temple in Berkeley. And one of the things that he said and asked the audience to join in was he offered prayer to both President Bush and Saddam with the intention that they open their minds and

[35:47]

There was talk yesterday about nonviolent resistance and also training on nonviolent resistance, and in the event that war is declared, shutting down San Francisco and probably other cities. I'm just wondering what your feelings are about that, and is that impeding on rights of other people to go to work and earn a living? I think one has to decide what's the most important thing in the world. It's very interesting, you know, you see these pictures in Europe, you know, bombs dropping and soldiers fighting in the streets and people calmly going about their business at the same time, right? So I'm sure that if the city was shut down, people who needed to go about their business would still go about their business. you know, but if some people feel more of an imperative than others and those people who go about their business would suddenly be faced with the fact that there's something going on here, you know,

[37:26]

which maybe they're not paying attention to. So it would cause a problem. But that's the point. Yeah. In my own life, I know that one of the most violent expressions of my ego, one of the strongest expressions of my ego, from that really powerful sense of self to something like... An epiphany. I'm serious.

[38:29]

I'm absolutely serious. I'm absolutely serious. It's like you rise up into a totally different state. You just let go of all that stuff and become a new person, a whole different person. It's like rebirth. That's the only way. You know, when Moses was leading people out in the desert, there were the old people and the young people. And he made this decision. He said, the old people will go and fight this war and the young people will go off. and create something new. That's very interesting, because he let the old people finish off the old business, and then the young people started the new business, even though it became the old business. That's kind of like letting go of the old and doing something completely new.

[39:36]

So how do you let go of the old business? You just have to rise up above it. It's like totally opening up to something that you're so attached to. And it's like the next blow has to be given, and then the next blow will come. I don't even read the paper. I just look at that part of the paper. I just, 10 Israelis killed, 10 Palestinians killed. Every day it just goes back and forth. You can predict it. It's like, you know, it's so boring if it wasn't so tragic. But the only way to stop that is to just stop it. just stop that next blow. Somebody has to stop the next blow. Every time they have a peace thing going for a couple of weeks, it looks like the negotiations are going, and then somebody, you know, throws in something.

[40:38]

And then everybody gets all upset and they start it all over again. They cannot let those acts move the peace process, but they always do. And so people have their limits, You know, it's very difficult, but it's really the only way. It is for people to have a... be reborn in a different mindset. What are the causes and conditions that make for an epiphany? Letting go of... you know, actually allowing love to predominate. I mean, you know, selflessness. Well, I've had epiphanies. I can think of one particular one, but it wasn't something I was consciously thinking about.

[41:43]

I need to let go or I need to sort of bring warmth as opposed to in the grace of God or what have you. So when we think about what can Bush, what can Bush do, or Saddam, or these various people, it's like, we pray for a miracle, but it's like, I have a desire to like, want to lay some kind of practice or some kind of formula or something to allow this epiphany to flower or manifest? Well, I think, you know, there's a lot of pressure in the world for that. And that, I think, there's another kind of grassroots feeling of that, this not one person or something, but just coming from everywhere.

[42:49]

It's coming, it's like, everybody's saying, what's going on here, you know? And let's do something a different way. And I think that that's actually rising up and has the power to change things. It's the swing of the pendulum. Whenever you have this force over here that's so strong, another force comes to meet it. It just draws up the other side. I was going to say, metapractice is my understanding of how to create the conditions for epiphany. Yeah, metapractice. That's right, metapractice, absolutely. Epiphanies, usually we have any taste of it on an individual level, but there's one time in recent years that we saw something like that on a political level, and that was in South Africa.

[43:52]

Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is really unprecedented in the history of the world. What did they do? What did they do? Instead of having a harsh and vengeful reaction to the years of brutality that they had suffered, they created a structure in which people could express and acknowledge the hurt that they had received. It was imperfect, but it was an absolutely amazing Just without, you know, in some way suspending judgment and just looking at what actually happened, what's actually happening, that's really important. I thank you for reminding me about the Truth and Reconciliation Committee because I recently heard that there's going to be a banquet dinner for Amy Beale who was murdered at this foundation.

[45:14]

She was murdered while in South Africa working on reconciliation and also some microcredit for very poor people in South Africa at the time of the ending of apartheid. She was working for that. And her family met with her murderers and they are now, they have been working for that foundation to benefit And it's probably one of the many experiences that I hold that up to our image of Mr. Bush, and it's just an extraordinary option. Well, anything is possible. You know, we have to believe that anything is possible, and especially radical things. You know, something can change just like that.

[46:18]

You know, what I was struck by yesterday in the speeches was somebody who talked about how the civil rights happened from grassroots. The protest against Vietnam, the women's movement, that it all came from grassroots. And I was reading an article in the New Yorker about a month ago or so about the civil rights movement and talking about how during it, it wasn't so clear as it was in And it gave me a lot of faith in the reminder of the power that each of us has, even when we don't feel like we are. Well, that's right. It seems like people say, well, what can I do? And they're going to do this anyway. You cannot be swayed by that. This guy that was the ex-president of the stock exchange in San Francisco was protesting with these protesters down in the financial district and somebody came along and said, well, you know, that's okay, but what good is it going to do?

[47:35]

You know, they're going to do what they do anyway. So that's kind of fatalism. And one cannot be swayed by that or disturbed by that. You just have to do what you have to do and not worry about whether it's going to have an effect or not have an effect. You just do it. Otherwise, you get discouraged because you think there's supposed to be an effect. There's always an effect. Catherine. I've been sitting here thinking, you do what you do. I want us to be careful not to make judgments about people who don't do what they do. That sort of sounds like when we say that if people want to stop the city, that peace is more imperative to them. No, they are called to do that particular step of the dance.

[48:40]

And someone else who does not go to the march or who goes on with life is not necessarily being indifferent at all. But it's called to give aid and succor to the person next to them rather than being, you know. So each of us can only practice in order to stay open to what our part is. And I think it's really important not to make judgments about what other people are doing. That's a good point. It seems to me that people who speak the same language have awful times understanding each other. But the world is full of so many different languages, literally, which contain so many different customs. All the thinkings of these people for centuries. And it always strikes me that there's this whole gap already Yeah, that's why, you know, fundamentally, we all speak the same language.

[49:44]

And that fundamental language that we all speak is the one that we really communicate with. And it's not in words, necessarily. And when we tune into that, we know what people are thinking. You know, even though everyone speaks a different language, we know very well through the language of putting your body on the line what people are thinking and how they're expressing themselves, which in a way is more powerful than words. So this is where we have to end. And as far as Sashin goes, I was listening to the rain, you know, during Tsazen and thinking about the rain, thinking about maybe giving a talk about the rain, but

[50:51]

I just want to say when you hear the rain, is the rain out there? Is the rain in your head? If you think the rain is out there, you miss the fact that the rain is in your head. If you think the rain is in my head, you miss the fact that the rain is out there. Suzuki Roshi said, when I was walking with my master, he said, don't walk so fast. When I was walking in the rain with my master, he said, don't walk so fast. The rain is everywhere. So when it rains, just let the rain, let it rain, just get soaked. are none of this.

[51:54]

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