WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 Here is one of a series of talks by spiritual 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:06.480 leader Lola McDowell Lee, spanning two decades 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:10.380 from the early 70s through the 90s. Lola was 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:13.599 a Zen Roshi, whose Rinzai lineage included Dr. 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.440 Henry Plotov and renowned Zen master Shigetsu 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.039 Sasaki. Lola was a religious scholar as well 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.280 as an ordained Christian minister. While the 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.019 talks are focused mainly on Zen and Buddhism, 00:00:27.339 --> 00:00:30.820 Lola drew on many spiritual traditions, including 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:35.240 those of Jesus, Plato, Lao Tzu, the Hindu Vedas, 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:49.679 Meister Eckhart, and Gurdjieff. The Prime Minister, 00:00:51.700 --> 00:00:57.520 Kho Tu, and he lived in the Tang dynasty. was 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:02.759 an outstanding statesman. He was a distinguished 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:09.519 general and he was one of the most admired national 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:16.920 heroes of his day. Now his fame and his wealth 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:22.140 and his power and his success didn't distract 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:28.829 him from his very keen deep interest and his 00:01:28.829 --> 00:01:36.790 devotion to Zen. Regarding himself as a very 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:42.769 plain and humble, devoted individual, he very 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:46.010 often visited his favorite Zen master to study 00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:51.030 with him. Now he and this Zen master, they seem 00:01:51.030 --> 00:01:55.069 to get along very well. The fact that he was 00:01:55.069 --> 00:01:58.049 a prime minister seemed to have no influence 00:01:58.049 --> 00:02:03.170 on their situation, you know, this association. 00:02:05.629 --> 00:02:09.550 There was no noticeable trace of politeness on 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:14.090 the part of the Zen master, or nor was there 00:02:14.090 --> 00:02:16.889 any of this vain loftiness on the part of the 00:02:16.889 --> 00:02:22.430 minister. The association seemed to be purely 00:02:22.430 --> 00:02:26.819 religious, that of a revered master and teacher 00:02:26.819 --> 00:02:37.939 and an obedient disciple. One day, however, when 00:02:37.939 --> 00:02:41.759 he was paying this usual visit to the Zen master, 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.879 this general, this prime minister, he asked a 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:49.520 question. And he says, your reverence, how does 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:59.719 Zen explain egotism? And suddenly, this Zen master's 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:06.479 face turned blue. And in a very haughty and very 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.879 contemptuous tone of voice, he said, what are 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:16.240 you saying, you numbskull? And this really unreasonable 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:21.919 and very unexpected defiance so hurt the feelings 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:25.960 of the prime minister that this slight sullen 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:28.960 expression began to creep over his face. This 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.819 little bit of anger, you know, showed. And then 00:03:32.819 --> 00:03:34.860 Zen Master, he then smiled and he said, Your 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:44.479 Excellency, this is ego. This is ego. It's a 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:48.699 big problem. Our ego function is a very basic 00:03:48.699 --> 00:03:51.939 problem, and much more so than most people realize. 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:59.039 To function in this world, we need the ego. But 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:03.939 to discover what we truly are, then the ego is 00:04:03.939 --> 00:04:08.340 the biggest stumbling block. Now during, now 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:11.680 next week, starting next Sunday night, the week 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.439 of seshin, you know, we're gonna have no talking, 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:19.620 no communicating with one another except in emergencies 00:04:19.620 --> 00:04:22.519 and very dire circumstances and so on and so 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:27.339 on. So there will be lots of opportunities for 00:04:27.339 --> 00:04:34.680 you to perceive egotism. Really. You know. And 00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:36.759 that's part of what these rules and regulations 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:40.180 are for. So you can observe yourself rather than 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:43.100 observing the other guy. You can observe yourself 00:04:43.100 --> 00:04:46.819 in reaction and your responding and so on and 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:52.120 so on. Now because you know many people And I 00:04:52.120 --> 00:04:54.899 don't know how many of you here do this, but 00:04:54.899 --> 00:04:59.000 many people live with the notion that the ego 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.740 is a little something that hides in here and 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:03.579 picks its head out every once in a while to get 00:05:03.579 --> 00:05:07.639 us into trouble, you know. And then of course 00:05:07.639 --> 00:05:11.860 others, they think about this ego as this myself, 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:18.139 this myself that I'm dealing with every day in 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:27.230 every way. And it's not getting any better. Could 00:05:27.230 --> 00:05:35.810 this myself be the ego? Could it be? Then I jolly 00:05:35.810 --> 00:05:38.550 well better find this real self or this true 00:05:38.550 --> 00:05:45.050 identity. But then comes the question, how? I 00:05:45.050 --> 00:05:50.250 am so caught up in this world, in this pseudo 00:05:50.250 --> 00:05:55.769 self, In this ego, this myself, I don't really 00:05:55.769 --> 00:06:00.730 know where to look. All I see is myself. I don't 00:06:00.730 --> 00:06:05.569 know how to look. How does one seek the self, 00:06:06.189 --> 00:06:16.870 the true self? Well, let's say, take a child. 00:06:16.930 --> 00:06:21.069 Child is born. And a child is born without any 00:06:21.069 --> 00:06:26.689 information, objectively speaking. It's very 00:06:26.689 --> 00:06:30.310 wise, but it has no information, and it certainly 00:06:30.310 --> 00:06:34.129 doesn't know that it's wise. He has no information 00:06:34.129 --> 00:06:38.889 about himself. And because of this, we say he 00:06:38.889 --> 00:06:43.769 is born tabulo rasa, with a clean slate. He has 00:06:43.769 --> 00:06:48.459 no information in his mind. It's being questioned 00:06:48.459 --> 00:06:52.480 today that this tabula rasa is not true. You 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:57.899 know, that he's being born with tendencies, so 00:06:57.899 --> 00:07:02.379 he's not pure. You know, he's not all this clean. 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:06.000 But when you, if you really study the thing, 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:09.100 there is nothing in the psyche. There is nothing 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:13.480 in the mind. There is no content to consciousness. 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:21.269 It is his body. that responds, you see, at the 00:07:21.269 --> 00:07:25.029 beginning. The mind has accumulated nothing as 00:07:25.029 --> 00:07:29.509 yet simply because he is not aware of himself 00:07:29.509 --> 00:07:38.050 and he has not met other. Also, the first thing 00:07:38.050 --> 00:07:44.750 he becomes aware of is not himself. No. He becomes 00:07:44.750 --> 00:07:51.139 aware, first of all, of other. Food comes from 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:55.180 out there. It doesn't rise in him. It comes from 00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:58.220 out there. Bath comes from out there. He gets 00:07:58.220 --> 00:08:01.579 clean from out there. Love comes from out there. 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:05.139 And as the eyes begin to focus, you know, the 00:08:05.139 --> 00:08:09.240 eyes move out. The hands move out. Everything 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:13.480 is out there, you know, other than me. Other, 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:15.540 it's other, only he doesn't know, this is all 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:20.300 his world at this time, you know. The tongue 00:08:20.300 --> 00:08:26.459 tastes, the ears hear, the nose twitches with 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:33.360 aromas, out there. Our senses move out, always 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:40.090 out, and so we are caught out there. We are born 00:08:40.090 --> 00:08:43.610 into this world and it is for us a world out 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:51.990 there. A world seemingly out there. Then little 00:08:51.990 --> 00:08:56.529 by little he becomes aware of a person. Later 00:08:56.529 --> 00:09:02.070 on he will call her mother. Little by little 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:06.090 he becomes aware of his own body. You know he 00:09:06.090 --> 00:09:10.460 looks at his hand. He girdles with it, and oh, 00:09:10.659 --> 00:09:13.700 and that's something, but it's not his. It's 00:09:13.700 --> 00:09:17.080 out there. It's other to him. You know, but it 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:23.480 is such a tremendous discovery. All through this, 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:26.480 you know, little things happening, he chewing 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:29.919 on things, and then it hurts. You know, sometimes 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:32.200 he hurts himself with the things he chews on. 00:09:32.659 --> 00:09:37.379 But little by little, he begins to be aware of 00:09:37.379 --> 00:09:41.340 himself. He becomes aware of others and then 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:45.080 in contrast to other he becomes aware of me. 00:09:48.980 --> 00:09:52.539 Now that's the road we've all come. Other and 00:09:52.539 --> 00:09:59.440 then me. Now for a long, long time this baby 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:10.330 me, that is other and me, I and thou, The awareness 00:10:10.330 --> 00:10:15.029 of me in contrast to awareness of other, this 00:10:15.029 --> 00:10:24.730 is a reflected awareness. First, he is aware 00:10:24.730 --> 00:10:27.309 only of his mother. He's not aware of what he 00:10:27.309 --> 00:10:30.850 is. He's aware of his mother and what she thinks 00:10:30.850 --> 00:10:40.720 about him. Because of the mother he is in the 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:46.940 contrast If mother smiles if she appreciates 00:10:46.940 --> 00:10:50.240 the child if she says to it you are beautiful 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:54.200 And if she hugs him and kisses him the child 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:58.799 feels very good about himself If she ignores 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:02.320 him it doesn't think much about him the child 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:06.879 doesn't feel good about himself So either way 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:12.679 though Loving, lovingly attentive or ignoring, 00:11:13.419 --> 00:11:18.240 the ego comes into its own. It reflects. There 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.779 is a reflection in us. Through appreciation, 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:25.679 through love and care, he feels he is good. He 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.940 feels he is valuable. He feels he is of some 00:11:28.940 --> 00:11:32.639 significance. And something like a center begins 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:36.940 to build. And this is the reflective center. 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:45.720 what others think. And if a mother is sharp, 00:11:47.899 --> 00:11:53.179 she will observe her child to find out something 00:11:53.179 --> 00:11:56.440 about herself, because that's all he's doing 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:03.139 for a while is simply reflecting her. She has 00:12:03.139 --> 00:12:06.820 to be very objective to do this, of course, which 00:12:06.820 --> 00:12:10.009 most women aren't. A man can be much more objective 00:12:10.009 --> 00:12:14.549 than a woman. Now if someone thinks the child, 00:12:14.610 --> 00:12:16.789 if the mother thinks that the child is of no 00:12:16.789 --> 00:12:21.610 use, and nobody appreciates him, and nobody smiles, 00:12:22.889 --> 00:12:27.350 this is also what is reflected. It is what we 00:12:27.350 --> 00:12:35.889 call an ill ego. It's sad. He's rejected. He 00:12:35.889 --> 00:12:39.909 feels inferior. He's worthless. That's what his 00:12:39.909 --> 00:12:44.509 center then reflects. So if we go too far in 00:12:44.509 --> 00:12:49.509 any direction in the treatment of a child, the 00:12:49.509 --> 00:12:52.889 ego becomes ill. You can become too attentive 00:12:52.889 --> 00:12:56.129 and you can ignore too much. And either way, 00:12:56.450 --> 00:13:02.429 this reflection becomes ill. So mama walks just 00:13:02.429 --> 00:13:05.509 a very, very fine line and it's too bad mothers 00:13:05.509 --> 00:13:12.909 aren't trained. that this is the case. And then 00:13:12.909 --> 00:13:26.350 pretty soon father enters a picture and well 00:13:26.350 --> 00:13:34.110 the same thing happens all over again. The father 00:13:34.110 --> 00:13:41.899 supports the child, loves him. Or he rejects 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:45.980 him. Usually the father says, well, I want to 00:13:45.980 --> 00:13:49.340 rear a strong, affectionate, valuable human being. 00:13:50.179 --> 00:13:52.279 And he sets the kid on the chair and says, shut 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:59.080 up. You know, strange things we do. But anyway, 00:13:59.179 --> 00:14:01.179 first the mother. In the beginning, the mother. 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:05.860 The child must learn to know his mother. And 00:14:05.860 --> 00:14:10.509 then the father. Now when we begin in our later 00:14:10.509 --> 00:14:13.610 years when we mature a little bit and we begin 00:14:13.610 --> 00:14:19.190 to try to find this true self Same thing first 00:14:19.190 --> 00:14:24.450 the mother We learn to know the mother then through 00:14:24.450 --> 00:14:28.750 the mother the father can be approached We live 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:33.250 in the mother Just as the child lives in the 00:14:33.250 --> 00:14:38.340 aura of the mother and her influence We live 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:41.519 in the mother because we are after all part and 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.720 parcel of nature and the great mother she's called, 00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:51.779 you know and For a child mother is the beginning 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:54.820 Whether you take it on a personal level or we 00:14:54.820 --> 00:14:58.519 take it later on when when when the person begins 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:01.500 to look This is the beginning mother is the beginning 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:06.639 Then, as a child grows up, however, with his 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:09.919 reflective center, others begin to enter in and 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.460 his world grows and grows and grows and it becomes 00:15:12.460 --> 00:15:19.000 very complex because he discovers others do not 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:24.120 think alike. They all seem to have different 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:28.940 opinions. How can this be? They have likes and 00:15:28.940 --> 00:15:32.919 dislikes and they don't, they're not compatible. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:41.779 So it's all very complex. And now this ego, very 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:47.200 complex. Because all of these opinions are reflected. 00:15:48.279 --> 00:15:56.799 And it's all reflection. It is an accumulation 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:04.850 of phenomena. The accumulation of phenomena, 00:16:04.850 --> 00:16:12.230 it is a by -product of living with others. If 00:16:12.230 --> 00:16:17.690 a child lived totally alone, he might never have 00:16:17.690 --> 00:16:22.389 any ego to any great extent, but he would remain 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:30.529 quite animal -like. And of course, never having 00:16:30.529 --> 00:16:36.470 developed this reflective ego, he could never 00:16:36.470 --> 00:16:46.330 come to know the true self. That real true self 00:16:46.330 --> 00:16:52.190 can be known only through passing through this 00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:58.370 ego, passing through the pseudo self. So ego 00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:04.079 is a must. We have to know other. Then we can 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:07.480 know me. Then we look at other within ourselves, 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.140 because this is all reflection. And then from 00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:18.440 that reflection, again, now to an I. First we 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:24.200 have to know what is not true. We have to learn 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:28.799 to meet it. We become aware that we're living 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:34.630 a myth. and that we live in an illusion, a reflection, 00:17:35.509 --> 00:17:39.950 and we learn that we do have deluded minds, as 00:17:39.950 --> 00:17:42.529 sharp as we may be and as sharp as we may think 00:17:42.529 --> 00:17:46.089 we are. We still have, you know, it's a deluded 00:17:46.089 --> 00:17:50.130 mind, you know. But through a discipline, if 00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:54.329 you come to know the false is false, then suddenly 00:17:54.329 --> 00:18:02.230 truth opens her eyes and she smiles on you. Now 00:18:02.230 --> 00:18:05.509 let's say this child becomes an adult. He's a 00:18:05.509 --> 00:18:07.589 mature person. Now he wants to know something 00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:11.829 about himself, really. And he begins to question, 00:18:11.829 --> 00:18:14.609 you know, this whole thing where he finds himself, 00:18:14.690 --> 00:18:17.569 this world. And he says, what am I doing here? 00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:25.529 Who am I? And where did I come from? Where am 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:29.769 I going? And he's told he will find the answers 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:36.569 to these questions. in religion. So he begins 00:18:36.569 --> 00:18:40.890 to look around for a suitable religion, usually 00:18:40.890 --> 00:18:46.289 suitable to what he already thinks. And so by, 00:18:46.349 --> 00:18:48.069 you know, in a way he kind of tricks himself. 00:18:49.950 --> 00:18:52.950 He's looking for an easy way. He doesn't want 00:18:52.950 --> 00:18:57.359 any conflict. And there being more than 300, 00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:01.559 I think it's pretty close to 400 religious sects 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:05.220 in the world, which is going to be most valuable 00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:07.839 out of them. Besides, we don't really have time 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:13.700 to look, do we? Through that many. So, now within 00:19:13.700 --> 00:19:19.740 the realm of science, scientists more or less 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:23.190 look at things in a similar manner. So they have 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:26.789 said that science as such is one. It's divided 00:19:26.789 --> 00:19:31.390 into all its many aspects, like biology, anatomy, 00:19:31.789 --> 00:19:35.130 neurology, astronomy, physics, astrophysics, 00:19:35.650 --> 00:19:40.349 you name it. But all of this is under an umbrella, 00:19:40.650 --> 00:19:46.869 which is called science. And science has been 00:19:46.869 --> 00:19:51.779 looking for, well, in the Western world, since 00:19:51.779 --> 00:19:54.779 the Ionian days in Greece, you know, looking 00:19:54.779 --> 00:20:00.880 for a fundamental matter, a fundamental source. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:07.500 And they finally, you know, came upon the atom 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:10.339 theory that there was, they finally found an 00:20:10.339 --> 00:20:12.420 atom and that couldn't be divided anymore, so 00:20:12.420 --> 00:20:16.700 that was the thing that held for a long time. 00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:19.819 But when we come now from turn from science to 00:20:19.819 --> 00:20:24.670 religion, with these almost 400 sects all looking 00:20:24.670 --> 00:20:30.069 for a fundamental truth? Are they? Are all of 00:20:30.069 --> 00:20:32.369 these nearly 400 sects looking for a fundamental 00:20:32.369 --> 00:20:37.369 truth? Then we begin, you know, we look around 00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:39.950 and we finally realize there are sects and there 00:20:39.950 --> 00:20:47.569 is religion. See, truth also is one and truth 00:20:47.569 --> 00:20:53.140 is universal. And so that if one looks at it, 00:20:53.259 --> 00:20:58.579 that the source is one, then religion becomes 00:20:58.579 --> 00:21:08.000 one, one religion. Meister Eckhart belonged to 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.420 this religion, the Buddha belonged to this religion, 00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:15.839 Jesus belonged to this religion, to religion. 00:21:17.259 --> 00:21:22.779 Muhammad, Ramanuja, Narajuna, Bodhidharma, Chuang 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:28.539 Tzu, Lao Tzu, Rinzai, Dogen, Hakuin, Zenji, you 00:21:28.539 --> 00:21:39.819 know, and then we've got Jikuen, Kugai, and Tianli. 00:21:41.779 --> 00:22:04.289 Yeah. To religion as such. There is a fundamental 00:22:04.289 --> 00:22:12.109 source. There is a fundamental truth. And the 00:22:12.109 --> 00:22:18.529 great traditions hold to it. And the little sects 00:22:18.529 --> 00:22:23.950 vary from it. The traditions all have different 00:22:23.950 --> 00:22:26.750 approaches and with a few of them you have to 00:22:26.750 --> 00:22:30.769 get way inside before you can even see that what 00:22:30.769 --> 00:22:35.089 they're approaching is similar to something else. 00:22:35.829 --> 00:22:41.549 But under all, or overall, there is this everlasting 00:22:41.549 --> 00:22:45.349 light. And it is the light that lighteth every 00:22:45.349 --> 00:22:57.309 man. Never mind the buttons or the bows. You 00:22:57.309 --> 00:22:59.410 know, the sects have divided. Should you tie 00:22:59.410 --> 00:23:03.829 your shoes or should you button your shoes? What 00:23:03.829 --> 00:23:05.930 difference does it make? You're wearing shoes 00:23:05.930 --> 00:23:12.890 at all. Jesus was crucified on a cross. It was 00:23:12.890 --> 00:23:19.930 a very large, heavy, wooden cross. And not too 00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:24.210 many years later, there were bishops around the 00:23:24.210 --> 00:23:28.029 Mediterranean. and in Rome and in Athens, wearing 00:23:28.029 --> 00:23:34.089 gold crosses around their necks. This is society. 00:23:37.930 --> 00:23:42.450 This is what it can do with man's search for 00:23:42.450 --> 00:23:49.869 himself. The difference. We accumulate trappings, 00:23:50.529 --> 00:23:55.049 which we think are essential. So, In a manner 00:23:55.049 --> 00:23:59.690 of speaking, it is our society itself that creates 00:23:59.690 --> 00:24:04.329 or helps to create this ego. It is the ambience 00:24:04.329 --> 00:24:07.109 in which we live. It is the atmosphere in which 00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:11.730 we exist. And this atmosphere in which we live 00:24:11.730 --> 00:24:19.109 is encompassing. And it can be controlled. And 00:24:19.109 --> 00:24:22.809 it can be manipulated. And we are reflecting 00:24:22.809 --> 00:24:28.059 all of this. Have you ever seen a society that 00:24:28.059 --> 00:24:34.299 could manipulate or control the true self? It 00:24:34.299 --> 00:24:43.500 stands aside. Now, this child we're talking about, 00:24:43.500 --> 00:24:53.500 you and me, we need a center. We're not yet aware 00:24:53.500 --> 00:24:58.240 of our true center. We're very busy learning 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:01.720 how to live in this kind of an atmosphere, this 00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:07.240 out there, this world. And when the time comes, 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:11.579 when it is built enough, all of a sudden the 00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:14.599 urge comes and we turn around and we want to 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:21.559 look in here. So the child, you know, as he grows 00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:24.759 up he goes to school. and he comes home and he 00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:28.400 tells his parents he's first in class. The whole 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:31.160 family is very happy. They're hugging and kissing 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:33.380 him and so on. And father pats him on the back 00:25:33.380 --> 00:25:36.859 and says, you are a pride to us. And mother says, 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:41.220 what a beautiful, dutiful child. And it's such 00:25:41.220 --> 00:25:44.039 an ego buildup. Oh, he feels so good and he's 00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:49.119 so satisfied. He can step out into this world 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:54.019 of out there now with some self assurance. with 00:25:54.019 --> 00:25:58.680 some confidence in himself. But if the child 00:25:58.680 --> 00:26:02.059 comes home and he's dejected, and he's not successful, 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:05.039 he's a failure, he couldn't pass, and he sits 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:08.660 on a back porch, and nobody appreciates him, 00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:13.079 his ego is very shaken, you know, and he begins 00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:19.640 to also reject himself. This is now in the reflection, 00:26:19.900 --> 00:26:23.359 he rejects himself. Now we have got a real barrel 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:26.759 of monkeys to overcome. He is rejecting himself. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:35.839 We see these people. They are constantly asking 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:40.079 for attention. Oh, in very subtle ways. We have 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:43.359 learned very subtle ways to do this. This pay 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:47.400 attention to me. This look at me. Just tell me 00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:52.880 I'm okay. And then they have sometimes this superiority. 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:58.259 It's a kind of a stance. In their inferiority. 00:26:58.940 --> 00:27:01.200 They're covering it. And you can see it in the 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:04.180 way they hold themselves. In the way they speak. 00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:07.559 And in the way they don't speak. It's just the 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:12.819 way they hold themselves. It's there. And finally, 00:27:12.920 --> 00:27:15.180 if they've got smarts enough, they wind up in 00:27:15.180 --> 00:27:18.319 Zen. And all that's taken away. Little by little, 00:27:18.380 --> 00:27:23.240 huh? That's what teachers forward, to try to 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:29.980 arrange, if possible, situations in order for 00:27:29.980 --> 00:27:36.740 us to see ourselves. For usually, not always, 00:27:36.859 --> 00:27:40.920 but usually, when people see themselves, they 00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:46.259 will drop the contents of the psyche that they 00:27:46.259 --> 00:27:53.940 don't like, that they have looked at now. And 00:27:53.940 --> 00:27:57.099 they realize they're simply reflecting family 00:27:57.099 --> 00:28:01.579 and society. And in dropping that, in seeing 00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:04.859 it and dropping it, it allows them to become 00:28:04.859 --> 00:28:09.920 a real person, you know, an individual responsible 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:15.420 for himself, to himself. Which, after all, you 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:19.559 know, is a mark of maturity, isn't it? This responsibility 00:28:19.559 --> 00:28:24.579 for oneself. And sometimes this is the problem 00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:28.579 between husbands and wives. A man can be very 00:28:28.579 --> 00:28:31.660 successful in the business world and he works 00:28:31.660 --> 00:28:33.779 very hard and he has very little time to give 00:28:33.779 --> 00:28:38.140 to his wife. And she thinks she's not getting 00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:43.119 enough attention. There always seems to be something 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:49.160 more important than me. And so she feels rejected. 00:28:55.420 --> 00:28:59.220 Sometimes, nowadays, it's the woman who succeeds 00:28:59.220 --> 00:29:02.140 and the husband doesn't know how to act with 00:29:02.140 --> 00:29:05.519 this reversal of roles. You know that she is 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:09.259 more important out there than he is. And this 00:29:09.259 --> 00:29:13.440 is difficult for some men to deal with. He begins 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.400 to ask for attention, just as if it were the 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:19.880 opposite, she asks for attention, which is done 00:29:19.880 --> 00:29:24.289 very subtly. but very often leads to arguments. 00:29:26.250 --> 00:29:29.589 You know, it's like one time our monk, you know, 00:29:30.190 --> 00:29:32.450 our monk that we dump all kinds of things on 00:29:32.450 --> 00:29:36.549 this monk. He and his wife had been at a cocktail 00:29:36.549 --> 00:29:41.650 party. And as we all know, the beverages served 00:29:41.650 --> 00:29:45.069 at a cocktail party sometimes loosen the tongue. 00:29:47.150 --> 00:29:51.009 You know, inhibitions are dropped. The sensory. 00:29:51.180 --> 00:29:55.220 has disappeared for a little while. But they're 00:29:55.220 --> 00:29:57.259 going home and they're walking along the road. 00:29:57.460 --> 00:30:02.960 So this monk says to his wife, darling, has anyone 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:07.160 ever said to you how fascinating and how beautiful 00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:14.519 and how wonderful you are? This made her feel 00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:19.609 so good. You know, she was so happy. He had never 00:30:19.609 --> 00:30:24.069 ever said anything like this before. And she 00:30:24.069 --> 00:30:30.250 knew she finally had his attention. So she looked 00:30:30.250 --> 00:30:37.190 up at him through her lashes and batting her 00:30:37.190 --> 00:30:44.529 baby browns. Very coyly she tells him, I wonder 00:30:44.529 --> 00:30:49.140 why no one has ever told me this before. So the 00:30:49.140 --> 00:30:51.980 monk looks at her and he says, well, then where 00:30:51.980 --> 00:31:09.480 did you get the idea? Bless her heart, huh? Well. 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:20.380 So we have a center. which society has given 00:31:20.380 --> 00:31:26.460 us. We've acquired it. It's shaped for us. We 00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:29.940 have a notion of who we are because of others. 00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:42.940 This is not direct experience. Then there is 00:31:42.940 --> 00:31:48.500 a center with which you were born. It's given 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:58.059 you by existence. Nobody shapes it. To know something 00:31:58.059 --> 00:32:01.839 within this center that has been given you is 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:08.460 direct experience. Now, in order to see into 00:32:08.460 --> 00:32:12.720 this, to have this direct experience into the 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:17.769 center given you, The ego center, the one shaped 00:32:17.769 --> 00:32:23.349 by society, must be displaced somehow or overcome 00:32:23.349 --> 00:32:29.710 for a period of time, be it one second or one 00:32:29.710 --> 00:32:34.589 minute or two minutes, enough to allow you to 00:32:34.589 --> 00:32:37.470 peer into the perceived, you know, into the depths 00:32:37.470 --> 00:32:45.180 of this center. And one glance of this direct 00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:51.299 experience will tell anyone how little he really 00:32:51.299 --> 00:32:57.140 knows about himself. Ego -wise or any otherwise, 00:32:57.640 --> 00:33:04.200 any otherwise, how little we really know. Being 00:33:04.200 --> 00:33:10.000 born in this world at a certain time in history, 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:16.059 in the history of humanity, We all partake of 00:33:16.059 --> 00:33:22.880 a certain background. The way the religionists, 00:33:23.779 --> 00:33:28.980 the sex, and the scientists believe. It all forms 00:33:28.980 --> 00:33:32.420 our background, and we hardly ever recognize 00:33:32.420 --> 00:33:36.160 it as background. But it is the background in 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:41.779 which we grow up and which we reflect. And from 00:33:41.779 --> 00:33:45.519 this background, that we do not even cognize. 00:33:45.539 --> 00:33:47.619 We don't say, oh, that's the background in which 00:33:47.619 --> 00:33:52.079 I live. How often have you said that? No. From 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:56.500 this background, we fashion our lives. We fashion 00:33:56.500 --> 00:34:01.960 how we live. And man, by and large, at this point 00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:05.240 in time, seems to be quite satisfied that he 00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:11.579 rules the earth. And he also feels he's a much 00:34:11.579 --> 00:34:15.500 better off than his predecessors. After all, 00:34:15.539 --> 00:34:18.619 what did they know? They didn't really know about 00:34:18.619 --> 00:34:22.219 atoms. Not really. We know much more about them. 00:34:22.219 --> 00:34:24.340 We know that the atom is divisible. They didn't 00:34:24.340 --> 00:34:32.179 know that 2 ,500 years ago. Man has lived, man 00:34:32.179 --> 00:34:35.579 as such, has lived through many ages. And there 00:34:35.579 --> 00:34:40.039 was a physicist And he classified these ages 00:34:40.039 --> 00:34:45.599 and he called them the magic age and the mythic 00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:50.300 age, geometric, medieval, infinite, and mechanistic 00:34:50.300 --> 00:34:55.559 ages. And he called each of these ages a mask. 00:34:57.059 --> 00:35:01.000 It was a mask of the universe. It is how man 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:04.219 sees the universe at a certain period in time. 00:35:04.380 --> 00:35:08.349 It is his mask, this background. The universe, 00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:14.550 he said, we don't know. We know the masks. And 00:35:14.550 --> 00:35:18.190 his name was Harrison, this physicist. He says 00:35:18.190 --> 00:35:21.130 that starting way, way back with a sort of a 00:35:21.130 --> 00:35:25.929 speculative and maybe fictional account of the 00:35:25.929 --> 00:35:31.690 magic universe. And it existed like hundreds 00:35:31.690 --> 00:35:35.550 of thousands of years ago. Now scientists are 00:35:35.550 --> 00:35:39.769 putting it back that far. When homo sapiens, 00:35:40.489 --> 00:35:49.110 that's wise men, we began to acquire advanced 00:35:49.110 --> 00:35:53.289 linguistic skills hundreds of thousands of years 00:35:53.289 --> 00:35:59.869 ago. The magic universe. An animistic world. 00:36:01.010 --> 00:36:04.510 That is, we endowed everything with an anima. 00:36:04.869 --> 00:36:08.199 That is living. And that is living. And that 00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:13.539 is living. We endowed it with a livingness. But 00:36:13.539 --> 00:36:17.739 to them, all livingness, the things, they were 00:36:17.739 --> 00:36:23.440 vibrant with spirits. And the spirits were motivated 00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:27.679 by thoughts and by feelings of human beings. 00:36:28.340 --> 00:36:31.679 So that a human being could stand beside a bush 00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:35.480 and say bloom to the spirit that was inside. 00:36:35.789 --> 00:36:40.190 the bush would bloom or It would say to another 00:36:40.190 --> 00:36:45.210 bush die and the bush would die The spirits were 00:36:45.210 --> 00:36:53.090 motivated by what man thought and felt seen The 00:36:53.090 --> 00:36:56.489 thing of the world they lived in you know spirits 00:36:56.489 --> 00:37:01.389 everywhere in everything, huh? Hosts of spirits 00:37:01.389 --> 00:37:07.039 pervading our world And their laws conformed 00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:09.559 somewhat to ours and their rules and regulations, 00:37:09.659 --> 00:37:13.699 you know, and they also had very primitive social 00:37:13.699 --> 00:37:19.860 codes, these people. And now this Mr. Harrison 00:37:19.860 --> 00:37:24.639 said in this book that he left out the mystical, 00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:28.039 because in the magic world there was not this 00:37:28.039 --> 00:37:34.039 mystical thing that we have today. But he said 00:37:34.039 --> 00:37:38.800 this magic applied simply to what originates 00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:45.480 in the human mind as to what activates out there. 00:37:46.500 --> 00:37:54.000 This primitive, meaning primary, world that disappeared 00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:01.039 about 30 ,000 years ago. I might say one thing 00:38:03.350 --> 00:38:07.929 Aristotle, he is the father of our sciences and 00:38:07.929 --> 00:38:15.789 so on. He was an animist. He endowed things with 00:38:15.789 --> 00:38:20.170 an anima, a livingness. So it hasn't, didn't 00:38:20.170 --> 00:38:25.110 altogether disappear 30 ,000 years ago. We're 00:38:25.110 --> 00:38:29.349 still holding some of it. I think if you really 00:38:29.349 --> 00:38:33.820 look inside of yourself, you know, you will see 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:37.920 some of this. And then came the mythic universe 00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:41.980 and these magic beings that lived in the trees 00:38:41.980 --> 00:38:45.820 and in the rocks and so on, were all assimilated 00:38:45.820 --> 00:38:50.960 into ascendant beings. They were now ruling over 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:55.619 us from on high. Now some of this still survives, 00:38:56.159 --> 00:39:01.800 this mythic. It kind of reflects our order of 00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:06.260 social life, what they did then. And it rose 00:39:06.260 --> 00:39:10.320 about 10 to 20 ,000 years ago and reached its 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:13.940 most advanced stages in Mesopotamia and Egypt 00:39:13.940 --> 00:39:19.039 and India. And see 20 ,000 years ago, that's 00:39:19.039 --> 00:39:24.179 about the time the Vedas were written. And the 00:39:24.179 --> 00:39:27.699 most advanced expression that this period of 00:39:27.699 --> 00:39:37.750 time had was in the Zoroastrian. We really should 00:39:37.750 --> 00:39:42.309 do a thing on it. Zoroastrian, by the grace of 00:39:42.309 --> 00:39:46.630 Constantine, Emperor Constantine, we didn't become. 00:39:49.469 --> 00:39:56.940 In those days, the cults were many, I think you 00:39:56.940 --> 00:39:59.159 sometimes say they were legion, huh? Many, many, 00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:03.139 many, many. And this man, Constantine, wanted 00:40:03.139 --> 00:40:10.219 desperately to be the emperor. So he and the 00:40:10.219 --> 00:40:12.800 Christians made a deal. See, Christian at that 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:14.780 time was just another little sect along with 00:40:14.780 --> 00:40:19.199 everything else. Zoroaster was a big one. They 00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:21.380 made a deal with him. If he would become a Christian, 00:40:23.190 --> 00:40:27.269 They could altogether overcome Zoroastrian and 00:40:27.269 --> 00:40:30.070 they would make him emperor and this is what 00:40:30.070 --> 00:40:34.949 happened and So he decreed when he became emperor 00:40:34.949 --> 00:40:37.329 that everybody should become a Christian for 00:40:37.329 --> 00:40:47.130 Christians Not to buy our own choice Our choices 00:40:47.130 --> 00:40:50.469 are not always what they seem this is simply 00:40:50.469 --> 00:40:58.219 the background into which we've been born. And 00:40:58.219 --> 00:41:04.300 this background that we have now of this, not 00:41:04.300 --> 00:41:11.300 now, but the mythic universe, we bought at a 00:41:11.300 --> 00:41:15.840 stiff price. The world of what we call matter, 00:41:17.960 --> 00:41:22.389 the rocks and the trees and the clouds, All became 00:41:22.389 --> 00:41:28.409 spiritless. Hmm? It was dead. We live in a world 00:41:28.409 --> 00:41:33.289 of dead matter. Instead of all this vibrancy, 00:41:33.869 --> 00:41:38.969 dead matter. And now out of this then, our world, 00:41:39.409 --> 00:41:42.809 this mask was riven, you know, cut in two by 00:41:42.809 --> 00:41:46.650 the dualists. Good and evil. Soul and flesh. 00:41:47.590 --> 00:41:55.239 Free and predestined. Divine kingship. The tyranny 00:41:55.239 --> 00:42:00.599 of it. The appeasement to the gods by human sacrifice. 00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:06.260 The massacre and the enslavement of nations that 00:42:06.260 --> 00:42:14.179 worshiped other gods. Contolerated. Then we witnessed 00:42:14.179 --> 00:42:21.440 the rise of science. They rejected the gods. 00:42:27.980 --> 00:42:33.039 The development of the Ionian scientists and 00:42:33.039 --> 00:42:37.420 philosophers, Pythagoras and Aristotelian systems. 00:42:41.460 --> 00:42:49.280 Do you think that in this present day, we have 00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:54.219 arrived at the final mask, the final belief of 00:42:54.219 --> 00:43:02.619 this universe, is our modern universe. And we're 00:43:02.619 --> 00:43:06.940 confronted in it with the problems of rocks and 00:43:06.940 --> 00:43:14.659 trees and clouds. But it's coming to be no longer 00:43:14.659 --> 00:43:18.539 dead matter. It's going to be rocks and trees 00:43:18.539 --> 00:43:28.980 and clouds and observer. It all boils down to 00:43:28.980 --> 00:43:36.380 observer. Whatever you see has any meaning to 00:43:36.380 --> 00:43:43.260 you. What you hear has meaning to you. So the 00:43:43.260 --> 00:43:46.300 world that is coming more and more and more will 00:43:46.300 --> 00:43:54.250 be trees and rocks and clouds and observer. Not 00:43:54.250 --> 00:44:01.130 necessarily me, just observer. And this is started 00:44:01.130 --> 00:44:05.789 only back about 20 years ago. And this man says, 00:44:06.150 --> 00:44:12.449 and already we sail the perilous seas where the 00:44:12.449 --> 00:44:18.210 universe in which we live is recognized as reconstructions 00:44:18.210 --> 00:44:28.570 of the mind -brain. And it was Eddington as another 00:44:28.570 --> 00:44:31.730 scientist who had a tendency toward being a philosopher 00:44:31.730 --> 00:44:34.829 and he wrote, and I think all of you are familiar 00:44:34.829 --> 00:44:38.130 with this, we have found, now speaking of scientists, 00:44:38.230 --> 00:44:42.210 we have found a strange footprint on the shores 00:44:42.210 --> 00:44:49.070 of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, 00:44:49.389 --> 00:44:53.610 one after another, to account for its origin. 00:44:54.909 --> 00:44:59.230 And at last we have succeeded in reconstructing 00:44:59.230 --> 00:45:02.929 the creature that made that footprint, and lo, 00:45:03.070 --> 00:45:18.239 it is our own. Our mind. It is so near and so 00:45:18.239 --> 00:45:23.139 dear and so full of all kinds of intellectual 00:45:23.139 --> 00:45:31.000 nonsense that we have from our masks. It's also 00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:36.659 full of passionate, rubbish sentiments. And I 00:45:36.659 --> 00:45:40.840 will say that some of it is very useful for our 00:45:40.840 --> 00:45:44.530 daily life. There's just no denying that. But 00:45:44.530 --> 00:45:49.210 because of these accumulations, we're miserable. 00:45:51.110 --> 00:45:56.070 It's like we're in a trap. And we feel like we're 00:45:56.070 --> 00:46:01.530 under some kind of bondage. And we want nothing 00:46:01.530 --> 00:46:05.789 more than just some freedom and some naturalness 00:46:05.789 --> 00:46:09.650 and some spontaneity. And we don't seem to get 00:46:09.650 --> 00:46:16.329 it. Now... Zen masters in Japan, they know this. 00:46:16.329 --> 00:46:20.510 They have gone through the same wearying experience. 00:46:22.849 --> 00:46:26.889 They know that we are so immersed in our own 00:46:26.889 --> 00:46:30.650 construction, reconstruction of the universe, 00:46:31.929 --> 00:46:36.150 that comprehension for the real does not come 00:46:36.150 --> 00:46:42.789 easily. The truth of Zen can never be attained 00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:46.780 unless one comes to it with one's whole effort. 00:46:49.519 --> 00:46:55.199 The climb up the mountain is very slippery. It 00:46:55.199 --> 00:47:00.280 is not a childish pastime. It is the most serious 00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:03.420 task that you can undertake in your life and 00:47:03.420 --> 00:47:12.110 it is lifelong. And in this search we find this 00:47:12.110 --> 00:47:15.269 climb up the mountain, that we all have our values. 00:47:16.769 --> 00:47:19.590 They're given us and some of them we picked up 00:47:19.590 --> 00:47:21.889 along the way because we liked them, we've acquired 00:47:21.889 --> 00:47:27.250 them. Some are buried very deeply, so deep we 00:47:27.250 --> 00:47:31.150 don't even know they're there. We need to sit 00:47:31.150 --> 00:47:36.789 and look just within, you know, so they will 00:47:36.789 --> 00:47:39.789 rise, you know, it's called digging them up. 00:47:41.389 --> 00:47:45.449 You just observe and they'll rise. And then we 00:47:45.449 --> 00:47:48.929 can re -evaluate some of these values in the 00:47:48.929 --> 00:47:52.150 light of day. We can say to ourselves, when a 00:47:52.150 --> 00:47:55.429 value comes to mind, why do I hold such and such 00:47:55.429 --> 00:48:01.769 a value? Why? And then trace it back. Why? And 00:48:01.769 --> 00:48:08.489 we find in so doing that the values that have 00:48:08.489 --> 00:48:13.280 an egotistic source We find them ugly. These 00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:17.340 are ugly values. And we find also that they usually 00:48:17.340 --> 00:48:22.719 go against the welfare of humanity. Let's not 00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:27.280 forget that this little ego, or big ego, or medium 00:48:27.280 --> 00:48:41.820 -sized ego, is a mischief maker. A value. has 00:48:41.820 --> 00:48:49.440 no value when it is not subjectively free from 00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:56.019 egotistical impulses. When a value is free from 00:48:56.019 --> 00:49:03.500 the ego, it is just so. Just so. You know what 00:49:03.500 --> 00:49:13.010 just so? It has no value. It is just so. Lao 00:49:13.010 --> 00:49:16.030 Tzu says it very well, anything that can be named, 00:49:16.710 --> 00:49:20.289 anything that can be designated as this or that 00:49:20.289 --> 00:49:26.110 is not down. The very moment that you say it 00:49:26.110 --> 00:49:33.190 is good, the good loses its goodness. The really 00:49:33.190 --> 00:49:39.250 good is just so, just so. It's no more and it's 00:49:39.250 --> 00:49:50.730 no less. It's just So, for instance, when God 00:49:50.730 --> 00:49:57.070 saw the world that was created in response to 00:49:57.070 --> 00:50:03.030 his fiat, when he said, let there be light, and 00:50:03.030 --> 00:50:05.710 he saw this light, and he nodded and he said, 00:50:05.829 --> 00:50:16.309 yes, that's good. This good has nothing whatsoever 00:50:16.309 --> 00:50:21.210 to do with our human way of evaluating. This 00:50:21.210 --> 00:50:25.289 good, the term that he uses, is the is -ness 00:50:25.289 --> 00:50:30.570 of things, the essence of things. It is not something 00:50:30.570 --> 00:50:35.789 added. If you add something, it becomes a value 00:50:35.789 --> 00:50:42.699 less, but this good is just so, just so. The 00:50:42.699 --> 00:50:50.480 value of something is something inherent. What 00:50:50.480 --> 00:50:56.619 is beautiful does not come, you know, claim for 00:50:56.619 --> 00:51:01.840 itself that it is beautiful. If it is beautiful 00:51:01.840 --> 00:51:03.860 and it stands before, you don't hear that rose 00:51:03.860 --> 00:51:07.659 shrieking, look at me, I'm beautiful. It just 00:51:07.659 --> 00:51:11.159 stands before us and we all know it's beautiful. 00:51:12.909 --> 00:51:18.269 The moment anything says, any of us say, I am 00:51:18.269 --> 00:51:22.289 beautiful, all of a sudden, right up nose against 00:51:22.289 --> 00:51:25.610 it, there's the ego. And everybody drops their 00:51:25.610 --> 00:51:30.829 head in shame. And you know that. Now, Sue said, 00:51:30.869 --> 00:51:34.789 when a beauty makes display of beauty, it becomes 00:51:34.789 --> 00:51:43.000 sheer ugliness. So beauty is just so. A human 00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:48.019 value is just so. Just so. Don't make anything 00:51:48.019 --> 00:51:51.460 more out of it. It's a lot easier to live with 00:51:51.460 --> 00:51:56.960 just so. It is good. It is just so. It is just 00:51:56.960 --> 00:52:04.179 good. It is just so. Now when you, in your practicing, 00:52:04.860 --> 00:52:08.099 you know, whatever you're doing outside in the 00:52:08.099 --> 00:52:11.250 world, You stand aside of that doing for a moment. 00:52:11.329 --> 00:52:14.130 You know, you can do and stand there and watch. 00:52:14.510 --> 00:52:17.829 And you look and you observe. You watch what 00:52:17.829 --> 00:52:21.630 you're doing. You know, if you really watch, 00:52:21.789 --> 00:52:24.429 it won't be long before you can see the source 00:52:24.429 --> 00:52:30.909 of your misery, of your anguish. No. And if you 00:52:30.909 --> 00:52:33.030 don't, why, you come to me and I'll help you. 00:52:39.179 --> 00:52:43.760 But if you're going to observe, then observe. 00:52:44.480 --> 00:52:47.480 I mean really observe. Just don't say, I'm observing, 00:52:47.699 --> 00:52:49.920 I'm watching. And as long as you say the words, 00:52:49.940 --> 00:52:52.920 you think you're doing it. Rather not say the 00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:56.800 words and do it. Just saying it doesn't amount 00:52:56.800 --> 00:53:00.500 to anything. Because I mean observe. Observe 00:53:00.500 --> 00:53:05.820 yourself. And when we question ourselves, which 00:53:05.820 --> 00:53:09.219 we should do, You know, we had a whole boom boom 00:53:09.219 --> 00:53:13.300 of that last week. We don't ask ourselves a lot 00:53:13.300 --> 00:53:18.400 of philosophical questions. No. We need a very 00:53:18.400 --> 00:53:23.300 direct approach to ourselves. And that's what 00:53:23.300 --> 00:53:26.519 happened now with this Zen master and his prime 00:53:26.519 --> 00:53:30.360 minister. He wanted to make a direct impression. 00:53:32.079 --> 00:53:35.340 And so he made his face turn blue. That's a good 00:53:35.340 --> 00:53:40.150 art. Make your face turn blue. Red, yeah, but 00:53:40.150 --> 00:53:45.010 not blue. And then in this very haughty and contemptuous 00:53:45.010 --> 00:53:48.429 manner, he says, what are you doing, you numbskull? 00:53:50.889 --> 00:53:54.590 And everything has changed. Immediately, everything 00:53:54.590 --> 00:53:57.510 has changed. This minister is being brought down 00:53:57.510 --> 00:53:59.989 to earth with a thud. You know, there's his feet 00:53:59.989 --> 00:54:04.530 now. And now he knows he has to look at himself. 00:54:05.170 --> 00:54:09.690 He knows that. He has to look at this ego, which 00:54:09.690 --> 00:54:12.909 prior to this moment he may have only speculated 00:54:12.909 --> 00:54:18.750 about, as we all do. Speculation is not direct 00:54:18.750 --> 00:54:24.130 looking. Now, see, he's been given this gift. 00:54:24.570 --> 00:54:30.590 It is his to deal with. And you know, there are 00:54:30.590 --> 00:54:33.429 a lot of people that are fearful of dealing with 00:54:33.429 --> 00:54:37.309 themselves. of dealing with their values, of 00:54:37.309 --> 00:54:44.170 dealing with their ego. But there was this very 00:54:44.170 --> 00:54:48.230 great Zen master in China. And again, he lived 00:54:48.230 --> 00:54:50.710 in the Tang dynasty. It was a terrific dynasty 00:54:50.710 --> 00:54:54.989 for the growth of religion. And it is said that 00:54:54.989 --> 00:54:58.570 he lived to be about 120 years of age. He didn't 00:54:58.570 --> 00:55:02.090 start looking for his religion until he was 60. 00:55:03.280 --> 00:55:07.360 And he was enlightened when he was 80. And he 00:55:07.360 --> 00:55:13.619 lived to be 120. And his name was Joshua. Yeah. 00:55:14.579 --> 00:55:17.119 And in the monastery, the Joshua that's famous 00:55:17.119 --> 00:55:20.519 for the moo. In the monastery where he lived, 00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:25.739 there was a stone bridge that was known all over 00:55:25.739 --> 00:55:31.179 the empire. And at one day, a visiting monk came 00:55:31.179 --> 00:55:39.480 and asked Joshua, We hear so much of your stone 00:55:39.480 --> 00:55:45.019 bridge. I look at it and I see it to be no more 00:55:45.019 --> 00:55:49.199 than a rickety old log bridge falling apart, 00:55:49.920 --> 00:55:55.000 rickety. And Joshua answered, you just see the 00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:57.320 log bridge and you do not see the stone one? 00:55:59.880 --> 00:56:02.610 And the monk says, Well, what then is a stone 00:56:02.610 --> 00:56:06.849 bridge? And Joshua says, horses pass over it 00:56:06.849 --> 00:56:22.230 and asses pass over it. Yeah. There is a stone 00:56:22.230 --> 00:56:40.360 bridge. We all stand on it. And now, may the 00:56:40.360 --> 00:56:45.480 peace and the power that passeth all understanding 00:56:45.480 --> 00:56:50.400 hold us and keep us in the Christed consciousness 00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:54.539 while we are seemingly separate one from another. 00:56:55.039 --> 00:56:56.860 And I thank you very much.