mention some things, and what could they possibly have been? Just like that, you know? I just turned it on, I had it, and now it's gone. You know what I mean? Amazing. The thoroughness of it is what is astounding to me. It's so completely gone. It's like a blank slate. It had something to do with... a kind of an attitude of, let's see, what could it have been? Oh, well, maybe it'll come back. It used to come back all the time. I could count on it coming back, but now, you know, not so sure. Where's Josh? You must tell me someday about how the mind works. And if we have billions, if we have billions and billions of neurons and stuff like that going on out there, why is it with this chemical change that's happening that the amount of what seems to be the amount of neurons or whatever it is that I'm dropping, I mean the speed at which, how can that be if there's so many up there that I would lose that many so quickly?

[01:19]

They're confused. Well, with that attitude, we can proceed with the day. Great. Well, do we take those kind of chemicals instead of the hormones or what? There are some things, but they're all... But somebody told me if you take some stuff, then your brain thinks that it doesn't need to develop its own because that's not what happened. You'll tell me later. No? Right. Well, you know, that's the most interesting part of it, that I think I told you guys the other day that this is really, it really puts you in touch with life because it puts you in touch with the lost, you know, the leaving of the life energy.

[02:21]

It's fascinating, really fascinating. Awesome, you know, it's really amazing. And it's so clear that you are not your body. Your body is just going on all by itself. It's taking you along for this ride. I read somewhere, somebody told me, I don't remember, that as they were dying, the last thing that they said before they were dying was something like, this is going to be really interesting. It would be great to die with that attitude, you know. Okay, where could we get in? Oh, I want to... Actually, I wanted to start with whatever it was that I forgot. But in lieu of that, I'm going to start with this. I wanted to just go, you know, we're going to talk about 20, 21, and 22 today, Parakalpada, Paratantra, and Parnaspana.

[03:23]

And hopefully we can just clarify just the definitions of those three. If we get into their relationship, that'll be, you know, something else. But I did want to say that to go back to 19, what I wanted to say was that the point in this case, I think, that is being made is the fundamental basic practice, which is that the mind the way it transforms brings with it a kind of tendency to grasp, that grasping. And it manifests itself in, ultimately, in suffering. And that if we watch, simply watch the grasping and settle, be able to settle there, that's one of the ways of cutting the wheel.

[04:32]

I said this, I told you this before. You know, I actually forgot what I was going to say. Just start to laugh. Well, maybe it'll come to me if I read to you from something. All right, then I'm just going to start. I'll just read to you, and maybe it'll come back to me later. What I brought to read to you today is from the Sutta Napata and Buddha, again. And it's about ignorance, the basis of suffering, ignorance and grasping through assuming a kind of solidity, or we can say substance, or inherit an existence, or reifying something.

[05:32]

All of those words, for me anyway, the way I'm talking about it, mean basically the same thing, that we are confirming a kind of separation and... solidity or inherent existence where there is none. Thus have I heard. This is a little short thing on the origin of suffering, origination of suffering. Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying in the eastern park of Magaramattu's estate in Sivasti. One evening on a full moon day he was sitting in the open air with all the monks gathered around him. He saw that they were silent and so he spoke to them. Monks, he said. It sometimes happens in this world that things are said concerning skillful states, distinguished and liberating statements that are made to lead to full awakening.

[06:40]

Now monks, why should you bother to listen to those statements? People may ask you this same question, and if they do, you should answer them like this. It is for the purpose of knowing two things as they have come to be. The first insight is this. This is suffering, and this is what causes it. The second insight is this. That is where suffering stops, and that is how you get there. One insight is that grasping is the basis of all suffering. The other insight is that by the complete cooling and cessation of all this grasping, there is no more arising of suffering. There are many kinds of suffering in this world, and all of them grow from the same source, grasping. When a person knows no better, she gives way to this grasping, and slowed and dulled, she goes through one misery after another.

[07:45]

Do not create it for yourselves. Use your knowledge to see how suffering begins and develops in attachment. One insight is that ignorance is the basis of all suffering. The other is that by the complete cooling and cessation of ignorance, no more suffering is produced. In the world, substance is seen in what is insubstantial. They are tied to their psychophysical beings and so they think that there is some substance, some reality to them. But whatever be the phenomena through which they think of seeking their self-identity, it turns out to be transitory. It becomes false for what lasts for a moment is deceptive. Whatever there is which is said to be existent, the delightful, enticing and pleasant forms, sounds, tastes, odors, tactile sensations and thoughts, these are all agreed upon by the world to be happiness.

[09:04]

In your world, these things are thought of as pleasures, and yet, when they cease, they are thought of as sufferings. It is dark where they are trapped. It is pitch dark for the blind and crystal clear for the wholesome. Did you get that? It is dark where they are trapped. It is pitch dark for the blind and crystal clear for the wholesome. For those who can see it, there is light. But if you are blind to the teachings of the way things are, if you know nothing of the path, then you will not be able to make out anything, though you may be right on top of it. This teaching about the way things are does not become a force of full enlightenment for someone who is infected with desire. For who else can justifiably reach this state of full understanding except for those beings of distinction? Who else has come to understand this state and dispersed all the forces of confusion? This is what the Buddha said on that occasion.

[10:07]

The monks were full of gladness and joy when they heard these things. Indeed, some 60 monks let go of all clinging and grasping right away during this talk, and they were freed." So in my opinion, the text that we're reading here is pointing to these things, pointing to specifically how it is that we create naturally the illusion of self and other in separation, how our mind naturally grasps on to the projection of externality, and in that grasping reifies self. substantializes, solidifies that dichotomy. And in that grasping comes aversion. Yes? . Yeah, you can say that.

[11:25]

I kind of tried to make a kind of a simple thing here based on settled attention. This is kind of necessary. This is necessary. The first thing that we have to pay attention to, and I've said this before in class, but I just want to say it again because until we really are able to settle and still the mind. There's no sense bothering with any of the rest of this. There's no sense even looking at self or habitancies or anything else because what actually happens is when you begin to get close to this self that is trying so hard to help us, really. When you begin to get close to seeing how it really works, if your mind is not really settled, it will just toss you into whatever deluded event it's running at that time that you're trying to watch. So I really want to emphasize, before you do any kind of meditative investigation or meditative anything, you have to first make sure that the mind is present and settled.

[12:37]

Now, I also want to say there is nothing that I've read in Soto Zen instructions about meditation that say anything about steps and stages, investigating, you know, looking at this, that, or the other thing. It's all always about simply letting go of any kind of grasping, total grasping. non-dualistic being of life. That's our way. I've never read anything that Suzuki Roshi said ever that said anything else. So I just want to say that, okay? Because... I love that way. Anyway, so the mind has to be settled and attentive first. Calm, open, relaxed body. And I put down lightness and happiness.

[13:41]

I don't know, maybe for some people that can arise. Certainly that is written that with that kind of settled attention there is a lightness and a kind of happiness that can arise. We must note, here's my note, that thinking does not make our life better. And I've been trying during class to make a distinction between the kind of thinking that our mind does that it's good at, recipes, mathematics, buying plane tickets, certain kind of analysis, logic, that kind of stuff, building things. It's good at that. It is not good about understanding directly, really deeply understanding what life is about. In terms of relationships in your life, even making decisions, I would suggest that you really pay attention and find out whether or not the constant round and round and round and round of thinking and trying to make it better and analyzing she did this and he did that and I should be this.

[14:47]

All of that stuff is not helpful and it doesn't work. And when are we going to get it? To rely on the mind in that kind of way simply doesn't work. And to sit there hour after hour after hour and hear this stuff going on round and round and round, basically maybe you have variation of maybe five different tapes that you're listening to. That's it. It's not creative. It's redundant and boring. And when it gets boring, that's a step in the right direction. When you finally are sick and tired of hearing it, you will not, you know, keep it going by, yeah. Mm-hmm. But you know, if you're really present, you will see exactly that. Because right before that happened, you'll be right there for the one right in front of it.

[15:49]

And developing that kind of being present enough to catch it before and before and before, you will know it in a different way. It's much deeper knowing it than figuring it out. In a certain kind of way, that's why psychology is great, to unpeel in that way. But living it differently, it's much deeper. That kind of transformation happens in a different way. We need to have a clear view on how grabbing, I just used a different word, thinking that some of you would respond better to a different word than the word I've been using. But anyway, we have to have a clear view on how holding on causes suffering. And you can see that in your meditation. And sometimes we don't want to let go. Well, that's fine if you don't want to let go. At least know that's what you're doing and enjoy the misery. Yeah, or even in the mind, because the next one is, awareness is always still.

[17:14]

It's always spacious and still, even in the midst of dualistic thinking. Right there. Clear mind of awareness is right there. ... You can't separate thinking and body? So where do you see, where is that, what do you, I don't understand anything. Oh, well, that's okay. You don't have to believe this. I want people to find out for themselves.

[18:14]

So awareness, again, is always still, even when dualistic thinking is happening. What? Yeah. Totally. Totally. Fine. I do not have a problem with it. And thank you for... You know, patience is totally an underrated, this is one of the paramitas, patience and loving kindness. Now, it's true that for a long time, the fact of the matter is that we believe the thoughts and feelings that come up are us.

[19:24]

They're my thoughts, my feelings, and it's true how I'm feeling, Well, that might go on for... Oh. And it's true. We believe the emotion thought. Initially, of course, we believe all that stuff. That's the suffering that's brought us here in the first place. So, of course, we're going to be caught by it over and over and over again. So, from my... My experience is that when we're going through that kind of suffering and we're doing this practice, that somewhere in there, at first we don't even have this because we're totally caught by it, but there might be maybe a glimmer, just a teeny-weeny glimmer, that the person who is suffering, especially if you understand dependent co-arising, which is a great thing to study, even intellectually,

[20:27]

if you have some sense that the suffering of this person was dependently co-risen, you can have a teeny glimmer of just feeling enormously tender toward the person, me, who's going through all of this misery. There is that possibility. And there's a possibility, too, if you allow yourself the space to go ahead and do that while you're caught, just to even know you're caught is a teeny aid. And then you just lie back. I used to think of it as kind of like... if after a while you know your particular tendencies of where you're getting caught and what your particular demon is, what it says to you, and I would be caught by failure. It was a real big one for me, and it was a huge, and I saw it as a demon. And in Tibetan way, they actually, some of these psychological states are drawn as demons, and we have to respect them.

[21:33]

Because in the beginning, they're huge. They're way stronger than our the mind that we're trying to keep present, that habit tendency we're developing. And in the beginning, it's quite teeny. So you have this really teeny habit element of trying to be present in this wide space of awareness, ha, ha, ha, right? And you have this enormous demon. And so when I would get caught by this thing, I would picture my particular demon, which had failure written all over it, And I would picture me as just, you know, like, just like they do in the Tibetan thing, lie down, lay down, on the, you know, lying down on the floor and having my demons smashing all walk, trampling all over me. And for some reason it was kind of helpful because... Because I kind of gave up trying to fight with, you know, you win.

[22:35]

I surrender. Okay. Beat me up, which I did, you know, over and over again. To me, that was kind, to be able to admit to myself that I had just lost that and gotten caught again and felt the pain of it all. And it's also painful in the body, some of those thoughts to me. They actually felt painful. It was like whipping myself painfully. So I just let that be there. Does that make sense? Well, sometimes when I was, you know, when I was... On the other hand, the nice thing about our practice is that when the bell rings, you have to go somewhere. And particularly in the kitchen, that's why I so appreciate the kitchen. Because I could only hold on to my, you know, being a failure for not making the salad dressing, which I still am not very good at. You know, very well, once the salad is gone and I was told to go bake cookies, which I was better at, thank heaven, go bake cookies, I couldn't, it was hard for me in the kitchen to keep remembering that I was really a failure at salad dressing.

[23:54]

And for me, therefore, at life. See, I didn't stop at failure at salad dressing. That wasn't true for me then. I wasn't just a failure at salad dressing. I was a failure at life. Well... Yeah. Yeah. It makes you unable to function. Okay, class? Are any of you struck by certain demons? And what do you guys do? Let's have some skill here.

[24:55]

Paul? I think this is what he was saying. and that you do . Yeah, that's an excellent point. When you practice with the smaller ones that you can stay still with, like Not there. Like in our sitting, the idea is to not grasp, not push away. And we can do that with the smaller ones. Like failure at salad dressing, I can maybe hold still for.

[25:59]

And if your mind begins to have some strength with that, then little by little, you can have more strength with the larger ones. That's very true. Anybody else? Yes. Yeah. Good suggestions. Okay. So let's just quickly do this so we can get to the text. So you should just know that this kind of agitation of grasping and aversion is based on ignorance. And the rest of it is just as you keep doing it and the habit tendencies little by little, as you're able to go with the bigger and bigger ones, they eventually...

[27:01]

dissipate and we can live 100% in activity with things just to live. I keep hating to use that word because it's such a shaking word, but just to live is just to live with whatever arises. You're just 100% there for it. And I just wanted to mention too that insights, as we are able to have some kind of stillness of mind and presence, in our meditation, and oftentimes not in meditation, almost more often than not, various insights, big insights, small insights, major insights, not major insights, like happen, and then you... embody them and put them immediately into your practice and then just continue on. Mainly with the attitude of practicing for itself, not for any goal, but already because we are already enough.

[28:08]

Really. Deluded or not deluded. It's really okay to be who we are. So let's go to the text. Number 20, whatever thought through which an object is thought of as a substance, that indeed is fabrication. And I brought many definitions just in case we don't understand. So let me start with the Dalai Lama. And also, you know, everybody can say how they approach this if you want to. You know, we can have that discussion. Let's actually, why don't we do all of them first. So Parakalpada is imagined... Whatever in the mind... Okay, let's just say imagined substance or it's a mental activity, images in the mind that are not... They don't have characteristics.

[29:16]

They're not shown to exist. We can't in any way find them. It is... one of the characteristics of what everything is. We can say that. And the other two are also everything has the characteristic or nature of paratantra, which is that it's dependently co-risen. It depends on something else for its arising. And also everything is ultimately just as it is. which is suchness, or in this case, parinaspana. So I'm going to read a number of definitions that I think will be helpful. Also, you know, there are definitions in the vocabulary that I passed out a long time ago, so I hope you looked at that as well. So here's one definition. Parikalpada, K with a K. Parakalpura is established in the mind, it is imagined, it is purely subjective, without self-existence, without existing from its own side, empirically experienced as truth,

[30:29]

Paratantra, with a T, the T1, is dependent on other things. It's resulting from causality, which arises and is recognized as the subject-object dichotomy. I just want you guys to remember that the pentacle rising can be seen in two ways. In one way, it is in the conventional sense. But in another way, it looks at emptiness. So the characteristic of these things, paratantra, is... Oh, we'll get to that tomorrow, actually. Never mind. We'll get to that tomorrow. Absolute truth stands beyond every subject and object. This is parinispana. And is therefore subjectless and objectless in emptiness. And then, listen to this, okay?

[31:34]

Paratantra is the overlapping of parinispana by an infecting parikalpita. Okay, this I really want you to understand because this is how it was originally presented to me and this is my understanding of it. There are dependently co-arisen apparent meanings. Oh, I'm sorry. OK. Dependently co-arisen apparent things. you know, we see that are here, do arise, do arise.

[32:51]

Okay. What happens is we view these things, but not as they actually are, which is in their essence, empty of inherent existence, we imbue them with this quality of solidity, which is paracalpita. So we view this, I'm going to put paracalpita right over it. We view this as solid, separate, unchanging. How we can do that is amazing to me. But we do.

[33:51]

This is how we behave. We think that they're graspable, so we think that they don't change. We overlay these apparent, totally fluid, unseparate, changing processes. We cut them out and we paste on them a solidity that they don't have. Paranespana is simply dependently co-arisen, apparent things. And that's it, without paracalpator, or actually knowing that this is what we do. Okay? And the way it was originally taught to me was like this, like a big heart, kind of like,

[34:59]

knowing that these, that this, the penalty arisen things, you know, do arise and knowing that we do impute substance to them, but knowing the difference is the accomplished, is, is, uh, is suchness, actually. It's clearer in the end over there. What it says is that the mind reverses or reverts back to its original clarity and is able to view things just as they are, which includes viewing them as knowing that we see them also with the imputation of solidity. without being bothered by it. So let me read you some more definitions. I'll read you, I don't know.

[36:01]

Oh, here's the Dalai Lama. Here's the Dalai Lama. All things and events possess three principal natures. Dependent nature, which one's that? That is the interplay of various specific causes and conditions is said to be the basis of a phenomena's existence. Upon the basis of this dependent nature, we project an independent reality onto the phenomena. Which one is that? This imputed nature is what appears to us as real. Got that? Some people don't have this.

[37:07]

That's okay. Not a problem. Just don't grab. Finally, the ultimate nature of a phenomena, which one is that? is the negation of this imputation, namely the phenomena's emptiness. This is from the book that you were just reading. That's what that is, Dalai Lama. Could you hold up that book? What was it? Yeah. So let me read it again because this is exactly what I think Vassalbandha is saying, although lots of people, we have lots of opinions. You know, it really is true. There are really lots of opinions.

[38:08]

For people who are interested in pursuing this, on the Internet, there is just an incredible amount of information and discussion about all of the stuff that happens that is about Yogacara understanding. I think it's really interesting just to get in there and kind of muck around in it because it helps, you know, keeping going it over and over and over again. helps, you know, clarifying your understanding, our understanding. Yeah, there's one that's really a neat website that is an actual symposium, a yearly, so they have a yearly symposium of Yogacara question. And the one I got one of these off of was from the topic of the seminar was external objects, yes or no? You know... And the paper I got off of this, this guy seems such like an arrogant guy.

[39:11]

I guess it's what they do in academia. It would be frightening to me. But he talks about it like he's making a comment on these other people's papers. And then he says, John, he's talking about Hopkins, you know. He's saying, and this is, you know, and he talks in this familiar way. And basically he's saying to the guy that, well, you misunderstand this and this and this, you know. It was just amazing. Let's see, but I printed it out without... I copied it to another thing and so I didn't... It's not... Yeah, I don't have the website, but I can easily get the website. I have a ton of those pages at home off of that very website. Could you remind me and I'll get it for you? Just knock on my door. Did I get it from this one? No, I didn't bring any of them. So let me read the Dalai Lama ones again because I think it's really clear. Anyway, this symposium thing is really terrific because they have one every year, and every year they pick out, like one year it was the three natures, and then they have all of these papers written on the three natures, and, you know, they don't agree with each other.

[40:22]

Page 103. I'll read it again. He's talking about the sutra unraveling the thought of the Buddha. This is the Samdi Nirmocana Sutra. He gets this from. And this is what he says. All things and events possess all three principal natures, although, you know, when parinaspana is there, the parikapita is, the imputation is not necessarily seen. Although I was just talking to Reb yesterday and he didn't say that. He said it's always there. So I thought, that's interesting. No. Yeah, I put in all because that's what... All things and events possess three principal natures.

[41:28]

Dependent nature, that is, the interplay of various specific causes and conditions. Upon the basis of this dependent nature, we project an independent reality onto the phenomena. This projection or this imputed nature is what appears to us as real. That is to say, we impute, you know, solidity and separateness and unchangeableness and inherent existence. That's what we impute. That reality we impute, we reify concepts. That person is blah, blah, blah. I am blah, blah, blah. This is not an intellectual study. This is to help us to wake up. We do this with all concepts. And we see everything conceptually.

[42:29]

We know everything conceptually. We know that conceptually. We know this conceptually. We know points of view are concepts. Idea of self is a concept. Can you see how fundamental this is? Okay? We reify concepts. That's what we do. We impute a reality to them when there is none. Finally, ultimate nature of a phenomena is the negation of this imputation, namely the phenomena's emptiness. So dependent co-arising, which is emptiness of apparent things which do arise without the imputation of reality or solidity or inherent existence or substance to them is parinaspana or suchness, things just as they are.

[43:32]

What? Dependent co-arising, paritantra. Yeah, C. C. C. More trustworthy? Yeah. You know, in terms of practice, I'm not so sure that I would say trustworthy. I mean, the body does have feelings that may or may not conform. I don't know if conform is a good word to use, with reality. But the body does store all of the consequences of the mind's misunderstandings.

[44:34]

of true nature, let's say. And the way that we transform, the process of this kind of transformation happens, I think, through the body. And the way that I think that happens is because the energy of those karmic events, when held, when grasped, is held in the body. And when we re-walk through those karmic events, when the energy of that comes back up, and this is all a physical event, and we sit still in it, then that energy is released and that grasping is subdued and the mind can release, can let go of that holding. That's how I experience it. Yes, right.

[45:42]

The tendency to grasp is, I think, part of the nature of mind. I think that's what it says. Yes. What I mean is, here you're saying that the inference of collective behavior is stored, carried in the mind, but the theory versus the idea of each and every one of them can also be called the repository of all the seeds. Mm-hmm. Well, Thich Nhat Hanh says that Alaya is actually in every single cell. That's how he talks about it. So, I mean, how that, you know, how to point to it. There are lots of hands happening here. Okay, I saw. Okay, now wait. Okay, wait. So, Jim and then Julia and Gail and Andy and then Mimi. Can you wait? No, she can't. Go ahead. I just want to say, and it's following up on what you're saying, maybe the problem is that it's trying to demarcate what the mind is going to find and that's the problem.

[46:58]

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, that does go back to what you were saying. So now should we go around here? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right. . Yeah, I don't want to make a separation of mind and body. I'm just trying to point to a certain kind of thinking that is not helpful. Okay.

[47:59]

Andy? Mm-hmm. Yeah, the not helpful. Yeah, right. Did we get everyone? Gail? . Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Not better. Right. Totally. Exactly. Yeah. That's exactly right. No, that kind of thinking, right.

[49:10]

Thinking is manas. And manas is what in the ultimate, you know, when we get to the ultimate thing, it's manas that's going to, that is, I hate to say this kind of stuff, is not functional anymore. That's the whole point. Did you have your hand up? . Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. That's great. So I did want to read from Thich Nhat Hanh a little bit, although I didn't get to these other definitions. But I think the definitions of them maybe are not too hard to understand. It's the relationship that's difficult to understand. And I think...

[50:11]

Tomorrow what we're going to do is we're going to go over how these three definitions also are essence-less-ness. That's tomorrow. So can you study that a little bit before we get to it? Otherwise it will be really confusing. Essence-less-ness. Essence, that's got about six S's in it. S-E-S-S. S-E-S-S. Right? The next one. Twenty... What? Twenty-one? No, not twenty-one. Twenty... Twenty... No. Twenty-three, yeah.

[51:20]

So we have to go a little more today. Wait a second here. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We can't leave yet. Just a second. We have to go further. I can't read about meditation yet from taking a hug because we're not done today yet. We have to do at least 20, 21. Okay. Can you hold on a little bit more? Is that all right? Okay. We'll take a peek at... Let's see, what did we do here? So 20 is parakalpata with a K. 21, a dependent self-nature is a thought that has arisen depending upon conditions. So in other words, that's paratantra. And then when it says the absence of the one prior to it is always the accomplished, that means the absence of parakalpata... But on paratantra is parinaspana. That's what that sentence is about. Are you there?

[52:22]

Are you guys with me? Hello? No, I wouldn't go there. Yeah. The next one is a little tricky-ish, but let's do it anyway. You know, this wood one is interesting. Have you been reading it? The last part is kind of, yeah, some of it I kind of don't agree with, but... I didn't bring it down to it. Oh, there's another. Barnaby found another. Did you find this one? Oh, you found it in that book.

[53:22]

Another translation that is kind of interesting. You know, as many translations as we can get. So this translation will be in the back as a Xerox tomorrow. You can share. So this is a little tricky, but let's go there. Let's just do 22. 22 says... Thus, the accomplished, or parinaspana, should be declared to be neither identical nor different from the dependent, from dependent co-arising, like impermanence and so on. When dependent co-arising is not perceived, this too is not perceived, this is what I think it means. It's like... In other words, parinaspana is dependent on apparently arisen things in order for us to be able to say that things are just the way they are.

[54:39]

Do you understand what I mean? Is that kind of clear? So in the same way, there can't be anything called impermanence without there being things that are impermanent, you know? Right? The word impermanence has no meaning unless there are stuff that keeps changing all the time. In the same way, parnespana doesn't mean anything unless there is related to... Yes? Yes. Right. Okay. So then we come to 23... And that one is... Okay, that's tomorrow. We're not going to go there. So that's the non-substantiality. So we're not going to go there. This is enough for today.

[55:40]

And I wanted to read a little bit from Thich Nhat Hanh about the practice Because the most important thing is whether or not this is useful to us in practicing. And I have found it in my practice enormously useful in this particular way. First of all, to know that the way we know everything is through conceptuality. And that when we're caught, what we've done is that we have given substance. We have reified some concept. We are either caught in a point of view, we're caught in an idea of other, we're caught in an idea of self, we're caught in an image of who I am or some idea of what somebody else is. And when we are present enough to know that that has just happened, even when we've pasted ourselves or somebody with this box or color or whatever or substantial...

[56:44]

being and no longer see the situation as a fluid process, to be able to step back from that, even for a moment, and reconsider what you've just done is enormously liberative for yourself and for everybody else that you're relating with. And then once you do that with a level of emotion thought, to be able to then go deeper and to be able to do that whenever the idea, the concept of self arises or other arises begins to be really transformative. So to practice doing this at whatever level you're practicing with, it doesn't make any difference what level you're practicing with that is. Whenever there's suffering or wherever you feel contracted and you feel a sense of self and other, we renounce that And we watch very carefully where we're grabbing onto the concept, how we're reifying it, and allow yourself, if possible, to settle in...

[57:50]

Just be still. Don't grab onto it. Don't push it away. Mostly don't grab onto it. And just try it and see if that helps massage or lubricate the stickiness of the mind. Wherever the mind is sticking, we suffer. It's a clue. It's a really clue. So whenever that happens, know about this teaching. and see if you can put this teaching into your meditation and then into your daily life. It's enormously transformative. It fundamentally undermines our holding, grasping to delusion. Okay? How do we put something like that in our meditation? Well, you know, here's the thing. To watch yourself.

[58:56]

Letting go simply means being present. So as soon as you find yourself leaning toward believing whatever idea you just had was, like for example, how do I not grasp? What I do is I just release my body. That's why practicing with the body is really important because to me it begins there and it kind of ends there. If you can just relax and release, because the holding to me is a felt sense. The sense of separation is a contraction. It's kind of painful. So if you can open that contraction and then just settle into 100% what actually is happening right then, what is arising, that's letting go. It's not an activity. It's just let the mind do whatever it wants to do. Just don't be dragged along by it. And if you do, be patient.

[59:58]

Because you're going to get another opportunity right away. All right? So maybe I'll read you about how we... For those of you who have the Thich Nhat Hanh book, the end of the book is all about the meditation. It's really good and useful. So tomorrow we'll talk about essencelessnesses. Huh? I'll read it tomorrow because it's already 11. We are in attention.

[60:31]

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