Sunday Lecture

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sinclair to you
remember to set your clocks

people are gringo here they told me that no one knew until about nine o'clock this morning
oh excuse me a few new ha
ah

well it's easter sunday

and so interesting to me that
if we look at the roots of the words were some of our
holidays
we find out the they go back a long way
and the route to us and the word for easter
comes from hours
ah which means to shine
or shining
and
teutonic people in north central europe
named a goddess
s drawn
and a strong was the goddess associated with the dawn
the time or the day
on light came
restaurants holiday sacred or holy day was at the vernal equinox
the spring equinox which is just passed

so that
it is peculiar to our language group
i think we share the
very deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for the light
and the energy associated with the light
with
all life forms on the planet
and probably most
human cultural groups have some kind of a holiday
marking this event
this time

the symbol of the egg also it goes back
very far from me the the egg with its shell
of course is associated with all life on the land
because it was only when
reptiles and birds discovered how to make shells over their eggs
let the entire lifecycle of a species was able to be ah
enacted on the land before that it was in and out of the water
so i feel some gratitude towards the land itself at this time of year and i think it's wonderful that green gulch has a garden practice
period
many of you are involved in
actually working with that direct contact with the earth
with the warming of the earth
and the light
when i talk about a missed
that's related to buddha's enlightenment
and buddha the word buddha itself means to awaken or to come into the light
at the time
ha
buddha decided
to sit
until he had resolved all of his questions and doubts
the story goes that this made the evil one mara
ah a little worried
somehow just the idea of someone resolving their doubts got the evil one stirred up
some kind of a threat
so mara first sense demons
to frighten
this wisdom being was who was sitting with such sincerity
see if he could shake him
so the demons came and and shakyamuni
the shock his family
hermit
stay there
so the demons gave up and left and then morris and his three daughters
ah
one was named desire
and one was named
distraction
and one was named confusion
and
they tried to
disturbs shocking when he is sitting
but he continued sitting resolutely insane all this before
and finally marla himself decided to come onto the scene and he brought his entire retinue
i think maybe the best contemporary image of mara that i can think of right now with the darth vader
so you can imagine darth vader coming in with his
but his cohorts
and the issue at hand was
whether
where they're shocking mooney had a right to be where it was
what gives you are right like gives you the right to be here
they challenged is very right to be sitting on that spot and then wisdom seat
and shakyamuni was all alone
it seemed
and all of darth vader's cohorts made their statements about out great darth vader was
and
when it was shocking mooney's turned to respond
he had no one to speak for him
and so
he quietly reached out and touched years
so this pose of touching the earth is
actually quite common and buddhist art sculptures and paintings
because there was a connection
the earth responded
there is trembled
say oh yeah this is my friends

and the earth remembered that for countless lifetimes this body software shakyamuni had
given
his life for compassionately
to assist
to benefit all other beings
and this person had no separation no distance between
ah his own being and the lives of of other beings of the earth itself
so naturally the earth responded
at that mara or darth vader
realize that
this was too big
they felt like the odd man out and had to go back into his
background positions
and then at that point shocking money was able to really settle deeply into his meditation which continued through the night and the next morning with the dawn
he woke up
he realized exactly where he was

so it's it's wonderful to see how we have this
interconnection
with our compassionate action
and our ability to be clear to have a clear mind to have wisdom
when each of us takes a seat
sitting on our cushion or on our chair
this was a wisdom seat
wisdom in the sands of direct realization of being exactly there
but oftentimes we experienced some distance
from our wisdom seat
or not sometimes sure that we we do have a right to be there

a friend of mine had an experience
recently which
demonstrates one one aspect anyway of
a finding your way back to
your wisdom position
and i'll call him
but only use a real name because
i haven't asked him if i could tell a story on him
but so i call him
jackson ben jackson
and
and one of our local universities he wanted to get into the graduate program and
part of the process of acceptance was to have an interview
and he'd gone through the preliminary steps or as a meeting he had to go to and and then he went in for his interview
and here is immediately confronted by very large woman
and he went up to the desk and he said my name's ben jackson and i'm here for my interview and she said oh you're not the ben jackson that was at the meeting
you're not the bench you're not the ben jackson i mean i've got ben jackson on the list but i know you're not the been jackson that's than the preliminary stuff
is he said well well i was at the meetings i didn't see you
well ben as kind of thing about
ah
women anyway
and even particularly intimidated
it it just was just kind of stumbling around there and he felt suddenly like the rug and pulled out from under enemy had he began to doubt himself whether it was in the right place you know
so so basically he just kind of stumbled around and went out the door and
started walking back to his car and as he walked back to his car he began to kind of listen more deeply to that exchange
and and he suddenly realized that
this person was actually and secure
the person who is confronting and was actually
kind of nervous herself and defensive and now she'd put herself in a position where
it was very hard for it back down
so he went to his car and he got a few papers that related to what he was doing and went back in and if he went back in with a whole different feeling in this time he said
when they went right up there and he said everything's gonna be all right

and then it sort of your few other things and she's she immediately changed her posture although she of course couldn't admit that she'd been wrong
and he said and i'll just as he said well i'll just go ahead and have the interview anyway
and and
she really couldn't say no to that because he wasn't fighting her
so he went ahead and had his interview and when she came out when he came out she at that point and on enough time and labs as she turned around and use it you know i remember you
a

sometimes we have
we have to make a bridge

and sometimes we need to
fine
a way to return
to our place
returned to ourselves

i think the first key
ah
is to stop
and begin listening

one of the reasons that were sometimes feeling separated is simply because things have changed last time we checked in things were one way and now suddenly they're different
sometimes we're simply dreaming were thinking of something else and when suddenly something pulls us right back
we're not quite ready
to be in the present
we wish it was a little different
for some of us that happens every morning or not quite ready to for today already

sometimes were involved and very elaborate ways of
fooling ourselves are deceiving ourselves
we're playing some kind of a game or were involved and we think we're going to win if we do this we do that
i like the phrase it that the many of you probably saw the movie war games and i like the phrase of the
the conclusion that that film or the the computer remember this is a computer that's capable of learning
this computer finally runs through all the processes and possibilities of the the war games scenario and comes up with the conclusion
strange game professor the only winning move is not to play
how about a nice game of chess
but sometimes that's the case
we find in our lives that the only winning move is to stop playing the game

i like if you were to take a few minutes quietly with me to stop and listen

this sit comfortably and then listened inwardly first start with hearing your own body
well you have any joy
well you have any pain

and then listen outside your body
simply become aware of those around you
the sound of the birds

see if you can hear the sound of the bird without even thinking bird
simply hear the sound

huh
hi i just want you to realize how beautiful
it is
hey
okay so that was system couple of minutes
they may have experienced something changed for you
and it's not that you really did anything except that you became aware
and this this simple choice to become aware is
one of the most fundamental factors of waking up of enlightenment
and you can choose to do this any time
they don't necessarily have to sit down
so the first the first act is to stop and become aware
there maybe that's to stop
then listen
and then you can begin to respond
very directly and and simply was some clarity
and this we call compassionate action
the respond simply because you here
because you are here and because you here
an agenda we have the figure of manjushri the bodhisattva a bodhisattva representing wisdom and clarity
and the rest of us are
representing the counterpart to manjushri have a located fire
the bodhisattva of compassion
the do have to work together
by you're listening by your compassionate response
it began to feel at home
and you begin to feel that you really have a right to be where you are
sometimes it's a very simple thing like cleaning your room
i don't clean my room after a while there's really no room for me in it
i i feel like
the spaces and cared for
and somehow i don't quite fit and not quite happy but as i begin to tended to take care of it
and i realize it i
actually belong there
so if you're in a situation where you're not sure that you belong they feel a little awkward
consider stopping listening and seeing where you can do to take care of the immediate situation
often as some very simple thing that you can do
sometimes you've already done it by stopping and listening

then finally compassionate action as complete sense
is completely integrated action or you no longer have a sense of yourself as separate from the situation
he simply respond without some feeling of doing anything good
it's also fine to have a feeling of doing something good and my driving workshop last weekend someone's someone said she'd like to you and let other people go ahead of her because she got to be the good guy
that's a good feeling and
sometimes
that's sir
quite helpful however if you always stop and let the other person go ahead sometimes it gets awkward to sometimes you need to be ready to let the other person be the good guy

so this in mind
i'd like to read it
spring pong
written by real cons there was a soto zen monk in japan
and
see that
two hundred
two hundred years ago
so here it is with no mind
blossoms invite the butterfly
with no mind the butterfly visits the blossoms
when the flower blooms the butterfly comes
when the butterfly comes the flower blooms
i do not know others
others do not know me
not knowing each other we naturally follow the way
so this not knowing each other
it doesn't mean that you should
try to be ignorant
it simply means that you shouldn't hang on to some idea some mental conception
of who someone is

so it's a very friendly not knowing
even though you you've been with someone maybe a long time emmy in an intimate relationship they've been together for years
still it's the not knowing if you're ready to admit that you really don't know
this person
then there's room for a fresh experience
and there's room for that person
to emerge
maybe be complete in a way that they weren't before
so then you're ready to do kind of
unusual things helping each other out
like lemon pong and his daughter
lemon pong was an old chinese
but us laymen
oh
at a two children one point it decided to give up everything so i took his his belongings out on a boat and into the bay and sanctum
ah so these are because me so much trouble i don't want anyone else to have this this misery
so he felt he was very free this wandering around china and selling baskets is visiting a zen temples
and one day he was walking across a little bridge with his baskets and he stumbled and fell down flat on his face
in his daughter who is coming along right behind him

course layman paul knew this was kind of crazy so i looked around he said
i'm glad no one's watching us

oh my goodness
well remember
remember that
compassionate action
is the basis of your wisdom seat

compassionate action means basic
healthy
responsiveness other people
that means being considerate
it means being ethical
did you have some doubt about your action if you feel like
gee if this gets audited i don't know

then
that's something to pay attention to
because it all comes down to very very small things are no big things as many many small things that we do

when you take care of all the small things they don't you take your seat you sit down when you walk you can just be there and meet anyone
you can meet the demons

they can be darth vader

and there's no enemy
so be careful how you conceptualize if you begin to say something about someone in your own mind that set yourself apart from them
if you stop and look at that you realize it
you're creating a division
and then you've become a little more restless
and can't stay there on your wisdom seat
so enjoy this process
butterflies flowers
fog and mist
birdsong
have a beautiful day