Q. If we are constantly changing, is there anything that we know that doesn't change? A. No. Nothing. Nothing. If there is something pointed out, what it is, you cannot say, this doesn't change. That is our understanding. For you, there may be something that changes and something that doesn't change, but that is not true with Buddhism. Everything changes, including Buddha himself. Q. If we are constantly changing, what gives continuity to being the same person?

[01:11]

A. Continuity. Same person. Q. What gives the appearance of being the same person? A. Continuity. Continuity is like some current. Continuity we say, but that continuity is like something, some thread. You may think this world consists of long, long threads, like this. Continuity will be the thread, you know. And that thread will be, if you draw like this, will be a big ball.

[02:13]

That is, our world may be. That is not our understanding. So we say, as Nishida said, if we understand our world, this unfolding of the truth, we will lose one side of the truth. The one side of the truth is, what is the relationship between A and B, you know. There is no relationship. If this world consists of long, long threads, this is just one thread, it means the unfolding of one truth, you know. Just thread.

[03:19]

What is the relationship between A and B? This side is missing in this understanding. So when we say everything changes, it means that we are related to everything, you know, this way. And we are related to future, to the future being, past being. So this is rather difficult to explain, you know, how this world consists of. And your question is, you see, when you ask that question, your understanding is based on

[04:21]

this world consists of long, long threads, but it is not actually so. This kind of lecture is for the training of our thinking mind to get, to be free from our thinking mind. And to utilize thinking mind fully, we study this kind of thing. Did you understand? What I want to say is, you are still, you know, stick to thinking mind. And there is something, you know, which I should explain. Your question is based on the understanding of unfolding of the truth about this reality.

[05:37]

The reality is something which is not possible to explain, but it is. If we say, you know, we are part of reality, you know, that is also a mistake. As you said, you know, as you said, if we are a part of it, you know, what is the relationship between you in this moment and you in next moment. We don't know what to think, what to say. That is right.

[06:47]

And we don't know what to say is the last one here. Say something. No. We say, if you say something, you will get satisfied. And if you don't, you will get satisfied. That is true understanding. I find it very hard to listen to the balance of my thinking mind and my heart. And if I just maybe count what I am reading, I don't hear anything. If I use my thinking mind, I find in my eyes, I start, I have some question, and I start following that, and I lose, I lose, I lose the lecture again.

[08:07]

With thinking mind, yeah. This is, you know, the training of our thinking mind. And if you give lecture like this, it will be good training. Following the thinking mind and giving freedom to thinking mind. That is how you give, how you make teisho. Teisho means, you know, does not mean to give you some idea, but to give good suggestion to the reality. That is, te is to. This is it, is teisho. Roshi, if everything is always changing, would that not mean in effect that nothing ever changed?

[09:25]

Well, would not that, if everything is always changing, then nothing is changing. Then there is no change. If everything is always changing, the change would in effect cancel the change, making nothing change. If everything is always changing, then nothing is changing. Because everything is changing, nothing changes. Yeah, that is right understanding. So this is just game of the world. Everything changes. It means nothing changes. Everything changes. Nothing changes. But if you, because you see just one part of it, it changes.

[10:33]

If everything is changing, one big fall, big thing is not changing. Something is always there. But it is changing. But not spreading a parameter, sutra says, doesn't increase, doesn't decrease. It doesn't be tainted, or it doesn't be... It will not be pure, or it will not be pure.

[11:36]

And this is actual. And there are two ways of listening to the lecture. One is to listen to it as an exercise of your thinking mind. And the other is to know our practice precisely. How much we have, how much freedom we have from thinking mind. So, if you are disturbed by my lecture, there is something. That is, it means you still stick to some idea, some way of thinking.

[12:56]

So, how I answer to that question is to find out what kind of thinking mind he has, and explain his own thinking mind. And let him realize his thinking mind is not always right. So, he will give up his own thinking mind, his way of thinking mind which he always, always stick to.

[13:44]

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