Buddha Nature and Wisdom: BSV Melbourne Dhamma Talk

BSV Dhamma Talks

Oct 11, 2026

8 min read

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On a Sunday morning in East Malvern, the Buddhist Society of Victoria opened its session the way it always does: with the going for refuge, the five training rules, and the Buddha's words on loving-kindness, chanted by a room that followed the text on screen. Then a visiting lay teacher, Gilbert Gutierrez, took the microphone to make one argument with considerable patience. Awakening, he suggested, is less a thing you go out and acquire than a nature you are reminded of, and wisdom and compassion grow out of recognizing that nature in both formal sitting and ordinary days. The recording, a live session published on 11 October 2026, runs about an hour and forty-six minutes. What follows draws on its opening passages and the introduction that framed the teacher's remarks.

The first thing you notice in the recording is how ordinary the setting is. Partway through the introduction, someone calls out that the microphone has gone. There is a pause, a shuffle, and then the teacher says he can talk up. It is a small moment, and it says something about the room. This is a community gathering in a not-for-profit centre, not a stage show, and the talk that follows is pitched to people sitting in folding chairs and listening online.

The chanting is not decoration. The session moves through a sequence that a Theravada-leaning sangha would recognize: the homage to the Buddha, the three refuges repeated in threes, the five training rules, and the recollections of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. The Buddhist Society of Victoria describes itself as a registered Buddhist not-for-profit association that welcomes members of all backgrounds and religions. Its spiritual advisor is Ajahn Brahm, abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia. The centre's East Malvern programs cover meditation and practical teachings for children, teenagers and adults.

The chanting then turns to the Karaniya Metta Sutta, the Buddha's teaching on loving-kindness. Its lines are worth slowing down for, because the talk returns to them. "Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings," the room recites. The chant also asks that no one "deceive another or despise any being in any state," and that one sustain this recollection whether "standing or walking, seated or lying down." That last instruction is the bridge the teacher later builds between formal meditation and daily life.

Gutierrez comes from the Chinese Chan tradition. He received Dharma transmission in 2002 from Chan Master Shen Yen of Dharma Drum Mountain, and his public description puts him at more than fifty years of meditation practice, with retreats and lectures across America, Asia and Europe. He is based in southern California and maintains an online presence under the name Chan Mind Work. A room whose spiritual advisor is a Theravada abbot might be expected to treat a Chan visitor as a guest with a different map. Gutierrez instead opened by leaning on his own teacher's view of the matter.

He said his master emphasized that there is no real gulf between Theravada and Mahayana. The differences exist, he said, but they are doctrinal. The deeper point is different:

"From the heart it's the same heart and the very heart that you have and the very heart that I have is not different." (Gilbert Gutierrez, BSV Sunday Dhamma talk, 11 October 2026)

This is a stance worth noticing. It takes the two great branches of Buddhism and asks the audience to set aside the labels in favour of the thing the labels point toward. For a centre whose advisor belongs to one tradition and whose visitor belongs to another, the gesture is not a small one. It also sets up the talk's central claim, which is that the teaching is about something already present in each listener.

The phrase "Buddha nature" can sound like a slogan. Gutierrez gave it a more concrete shape. The historical Buddha, in his account, did not come into the world to hand down a remote prize. He came, in the teacher's words, "to remind us, awaken us of our own nature." The idea is that the awakened mind is not located in some other place that you must travel to reach. It is the mind that is listening right now.

"You each have a Buddha nature. If it wasn't this way, why would a Buddha come to this world to talk down to us?" (Gilbert Gutierrez, BSV Sunday Dhamma talk, 11 October 2026)

Taken seriously, this reframes the whole path. If awakening were a distant achievement, practice would be a long climb toward a summit that belongs to someone else. If it is a nature, then practice is closer to recognition: clearing the obstacles that hide what was never lost. The introducer, Lillian, who had heard the teacher the day before at a workshop, said the phrase had landed for her as a moment of "aha." The teacher, for his part, pressed the same point again and again, putting the listener in the centre of the scene: "this very one that's listening right now is the Buddha mind."

The argument also carries a practical risk, which a good teacher should name. If you already have Buddha nature, you might conclude there is nothing to do. The talk's structure suggests the answer is to do the practice precisely because recognition is available now, and because the mind that recognizes is the one that must be trained in its habits. That is the bridge into the second theme.

The introduction framed the subject as "cultivating wisdom and compassion" in formal meditation and in daily living. Gutierrez tied the two together quickly and with feeling. Speaking about the world's suffering, he said:

"It brings tears to my eyes when I think about all the cruelty, all the killing that happens..." (Gilbert Gutierrez, BSV Sunday Dhamma talk, 11 October 2026)

That line is the hinge. In his framing, compassion is not a sentimental add-on to wisdom. It is what happens when a clear mind looks at suffering without flinching and without turning away. Wisdom sees how things actually are; compassion is the warmth that arises when that seeing includes other beings. The Metta sutta chanted at the opening makes the same connection in its own idiom: the boundless heart is not a feeling you summon but a disposition you sustain through ordinary activity, "whether standing or walking, seated or lying down."

The introducer described the teacher's method as one of humor, stories and analogies, saying he tells audiences he has no magic wand. She said she thought he did, because he could make the profound suttas easier to hear. That matters for the reader too. Analogy is how a teacher turns a doctrine into something that can be carried into a Tuesday afternoon. The talk's opening passages show the method at work. A sutta about boundless love, a claim about shared nature, and a reminder about the rolling, ordinary suffering of the world are placed side by side, so that none of them can be treated as merely abstract.

The honest answer is that the recording does not hand the listener a checklist, and this article should not invent one. What the opening passages do offer is a sequence. First, recognize that the mind listening is the same mind the Buddha awakened to. Second, let that recognition meet the suffering of the world rather than retreat from it. Third, sustain the intention through every posture and every activity, as the chant instructs. The chant's injunction against deceiving or despising "any being in any state" is a concrete ethical test that needs no special setting, and the Sunday room seemed to understand that.

There is also a quieter lesson in the setting. A Theravada centre invited a Chan teacher, who began by saying the traditions share a heart. Whatever one makes of the doctrinal arguments, the gesture models the thing the talk describes: recognition across apparent difference, practised in a room with a broken microphone and a line of chairs.

If this talk has raised questions about your own practice, start with the texts the room chanted. Read the Karaniya Metta Sutta slowly, one stanza a day, and notice where it asks you to act and where it asks you to notice. Then return to the teacher's claim that the listener is the Buddha mind and test it in a single ordinary moment, such as a difficult phone call or a crowded train, without rushing to an answer.

For the full talk, the BSV Dhamma Talks channel hosts the recording, and the teacher's own online presence, Chan Mind Work, is listed in his public description. The BSV centre in East Malvern runs regular programs for meditators at every level, and Newbury Buddhist Monastery, about seventy minutes from the city, offers a more secluded setting for those drawn to longer practice. Read the recording as the teacher intended it: as an invitation to recognize something already here, not as a test of how much you have to achieve.

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Transcript

[9:24] Okay, good morning everyone. So, welcome

[9:27] to Sunday morning at the BSV. Uh,

[9:30] welcome to those who are online. Uh, so

[9:33] this morning we have uh a visiting lay

[9:35] teacher Gilbert Guteras. Uh we'll

[9:37] introduce Gilbert uh in a few moments.

[9:40] Uh but we'll just start uh the the

[9:43] morning with our normal um Sunday

[9:45] chanting. Uh so we'll be playing the

[9:47] tape of John Nisaro. Uh but I'll just

[9:50] pass across to Sabati uh who can

[9:53] formally request the precepts. The words

[9:55] are on the screen in front of us. So

[9:57] please feel free to join in as well.

[10:11] Venrable, we request three refugees and

[10:14] the five training rules for the second

[10:17] time. Venerable, we request three

[10:20] refugees and the five training rules.

[10:23] >> For the third time venerable, we request

[10:26] three refues and the five training

[10:29] rules.

[10:31] One homage to the blessed noble and

[10:35] perfectly enlightened one. Homage to the

[10:40] blessed noble and perfectly enlightened

[10:44] one.

[10:47] >> To the blessed noble and perfectly

[10:50] enlightened one. Homage to the blessed

[10:54] noble and perfectly.

[10:57] Homage to the blessed noble and perfect.

[11:03] >> And now for the refues. To the Buddha I

[11:07] go for refuge.

[11:09] >> To the Buddha I go for refuge. To the

[11:13] dhmer I go for refuge.

[11:17] >> To the dharma. I go for refuge.

[11:20] >> To the s. I go for refuge.

[11:23] >> To the s. I go for refuge. For the

[11:27] second time to the Buddha I go for

[11:30] refuge. For the second time to the

[11:33] Buddha I go for refuge.

[11:36] >> For the second time to the dhammer I go

[11:39] for refuge.

[11:41] >> For the second time to the dhmer I go

[11:44] for refuge

[11:45] >> for the second time. To the s I go for

[11:49] refuge for the second time. To the s I

[11:53] go for refuge

[11:55] >> for the third time. To the Buddha I go

[11:58] for refuge for the third time. To the

[12:02] Buddha I go for

[12:04] >> for the third time. To the dhamma I go

[12:07] for refuge for the third time. To the D.

[12:11] I go for refuge

[12:13] >> for the third time. To the S. I go for

[12:17] refuge. For the third time to the S. I

[12:21] go for refuge. This completes the going

[12:25] for refuge. Now the training rules or

[12:28] the precepts.

[12:30] I undertake the training rule to refrain

[12:33] from killing living beings.

[12:36] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain

[12:40] from killing living beings.

[12:42] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain

[12:45] from stealing.

[12:47] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain

[12:50] from stealing. I undertake the training

[12:53] rule to refrain from sexual misconduct.

[12:57] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain

[13:00] from sexual misconduct.

[13:03] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain

[13:06] from lying.

[13:08] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain

[13:11] from lying.

[13:12] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain

[13:15] from alcohol and drugs which lead to

[13:19] carelessness.

[13:21] I train.

[13:28] >> And now we can do the recollections of

[13:30] the Buddha Dham.

[13:32] The blessed one is the arant

[13:37] perfectly enlightened one. He is

[13:41] impeccable in conduct and understanding.

[13:45] the accomplished one, the knower of the

[13:49] worlds. He trains perfectly those who

[13:54] wish to be trained. He is teacher of das

[13:58] and humans.

[14:00] He is awake and holy.

[14:04] The d is well expounded by the blessed

[14:08] one, apparent here and now. harmless,

[14:14] encouraging investigation,

[14:18] leading inwards to be personally

[14:22] experience by the wise.

[14:25] They are the lesser ones disciples

[14:29] who are practicing well, who are

[14:33] practicing directly, who are practicing

[14:37] insightfully,

[14:39] [clears throat] who are practicing in

[14:42] integrity.

[14:44] This is the four pairs, the eight kinds

[14:48] of noble beings. These are

[14:53] disciples.

[14:55] Such ones are worthy of gifts, worthy of

[15:00] hospitality,

[15:02] worthy of

[15:04] worthy of respect. They are the

[15:08] unsurpassed field of merit for the

[15:11] world. And now the [clears throat]

[15:13] Buddha's words on loving kindness. This

[15:16] is what should be done by one who is

[15:21] guilt in goodness

[15:23] and who knows the path of peace.

[15:27] Let them be able and upright,

[15:31] straightforward and gentle in speech,

[15:35] humble and not conceited,

[15:39] contented and [singing] easily

[15:41] satisfied,

[15:43] not busy with duties and crual in their

[15:48] ways. peaceful and calm and wise and

[15:53] skillful,

[15:55] not proud or demanding in nature.

[15:59] Let them not do the slightest thing that

[16:04] the wise would later [singing] reprove,

[16:08] wishing in gladness and in safety.

[16:12] May all beings be happy.

[16:16] Whatever living [singing] beings there

[16:19] may be, whether they are weak or strong,

[16:24] omitting none, the great or the mighty,

[16:30] medium, short or small, the seen and the

[16:34] unseen,

[16:36] those living near and far away, those

[16:40] born and to be born. May all beings be

[16:46] happy.

[16:47] Let none deceive another

[16:51] or despise any being in any state. Let

[16:56] none through anger or ill will which

[17:00] harm upon another.

[17:03] Even as a mother protects with her life,

[17:08] her child her only child, so with a

[17:13] boundless heart should one cherish all

[17:17] living beings,

[17:19] radiating kindness over the entire

[17:24] world, spreading upwards to the skies

[17:29] and outwards to the depths, outwards and

[17:33] unbounded.

[17:34] Free from hatred and ill will. Whether

[17:39] standing or walking, seated or lying

[17:43] down, free from drowsiness,

[17:47] one should sustain this recollection.

[17:51] This is said to be the sublime abiding

[17:56] by not holding to wrong views. The

[18:00] purearted one having clarity of vision

[18:06] being free from all sense desires

[18:10] is not born again into this world.

[18:19] >> Okay, thanks everyone. It's always nice

[18:22] to start with a little bit of chanting.

[18:24] Uh now we'll formally introduce uh Gil.

[18:27] Oh,

[18:28] >> microphone has gone.

[18:31] >> I can talk up. Okay. Uh, so we'll

[18:35] formally uh introduce uh Gilbert. So um

[18:38] Lillian Core is going to do the

[18:40] introduction and we're back. Okay. So

[18:43] Lillian, please come and take the mic.

[18:47] >> Thank you.

[18:54] >> Okay. Thank you everyone. Good morning.

[18:57] I'm Lillian. Uh, [sighs] yep. All set.

[19:03] Yep. So, uh, thank you Michael and thank

[19:06] you BCSV for hosting this event. Uh, we

[19:10] very very happy and honored uh, to have

[19:13] invited Master Gilbert Gutieras from the

[19:15] US um, to give a talk today. And

[19:19] Gilbert, I'm not going to read about

[19:20] Gilbert. I think you can read about him.

[19:22] I just want to let you know about my

[19:24] impressions of Gilbert. Um so uh

[19:28] yesterday we had a workshop and then

[19:31] Gilbert actually pointed out to us that

[19:33] the power of mind and I was very

[19:35] impressed and inspired

[19:37] very impressed and inspired and about

[19:40] the power of mind awaken to your Buddha

[19:43] nature awaken to your nature is that

[19:47] Buddha nature is in every one of us and

[19:49] awaken to your Buddha nature and that's

[19:51] really like oh it's just like aha that

[19:55] kind of moment. for me and today I think

[19:58] Dharma uh Gibb is going to continue

[20:00] talking about

[20:03] cultivating wisdom and compassion in

[20:06] former meditation and daily living and

[20:09] about Gilbert I think he is a lawyer by

[20:12] professions but he's retired and he has

[20:14] practiced meditations for about 50 years

[20:17] in 20 uh 2002 he was um he received

[20:22] transmission from master Cha uh master

[20:26] Chan master Sunyen in Taiwan, founder of

[20:29] Drama Drama in Taiwan. And then from

[20:32] then onwards the uh Gilbert traveled

[20:34] around the world spreading dharma,

[20:37] teaching dharma and in Buddha Dharma in

[20:41] North America, Asia and also now in

[20:44] Australia. So uh Gilbert always say that

[20:47] he doesn't have a magic wand but I think

[20:49] he does. He can make very profound sutra

[20:54] easier for people to understand with his

[20:56] humor, with his interesting stories and

[20:59] also with a lot of analogies. So I think

[21:02] you can hear it directly from him today.

[21:05] So without further ado, I think I will

[21:07] pass the mic to Gilbert. Gilbert, over

[21:10] to you.

[21:12] >> We've got I'll take that one.

[21:14] >> Sorry. Yeah.

[21:14] >> Okay.

[21:17] >> Okay. Welcome everyone. Thank you for

[21:20] welcoming me here and inviting me to

[21:23] this wonderful audience.

[21:25] Uh I come from a Mahayana tradition

[21:30] Chinese chan

[21:32] but um as my master emphasized that

[21:37] there is not a difference between the

[21:43] and Mahayana. It is only sometimes we

[21:46] say doctrinal differences

[21:49] but from the heart it's the same heart

[21:53] the very heart that you have and the

[21:55] very heart that I have is not different

[21:59] and this heart is very special

[22:02] because within us

[22:06] what Shakauni Buddha did to coming into

[22:10] this world

[22:12] was to remind us

[22:16] that this very one that's listening

[22:20] right now

[22:24] is the Buddha mind.

[22:26] You each have a Buddha nature.

[22:31] If it wasn't this way,

[22:34] why would a Buddha come to this world

[22:38] to talk down to us?

[22:42] He came into this world to remind us,

[22:45] awaken us of our own nature.

[22:50] This is very important when we talk

[22:52] about cultivating wisdom and compassion.

[22:55] It brings tears to my eyes when I think

[22:58] about all the cruelty, all the killing

[23:03] that happens and sometimes in the name

[23:05] of of some supreme being.

[23:10] Then to others it appears a supreme

[23:12] being is made of green or gold

[23:18] of oil or whatever

[23:23] of

[23:26] you have what I want even if I have more

[23:29] than you.

[23:31] It is very sad when we see a world like

[23:34] this

[23:37] losing its compassion towards others.

[23:41] And if you feel this in your heart, then

[23:44] you and I, [clears throat]

[23:46] we're not different.

[23:51] I didn't intend to start this way

[23:54] but thinking about how to make a bridge

[23:58] between the and Mahayana.

[24:02] Aren't we all the same in this way with

[24:05] compassion?

[24:08] And we think about this world.

[24:12] Doesn't this world

[24:16] deserve Buddha Dharma?

[24:22] It is something that is based on wisdom

[24:25] and compassion.

[24:29] Something that

[24:31] reading the liturgy that was going by,

[24:35] wonderful liturgy by the way. I I

[24:37] absolutely love what was what you were

[24:39] chanting. So true.

[24:42] There was one part about a mother taking

[24:45] care of her children.

[24:50] And as I travel through the world, I

[24:53] feel like this mother

[24:56] that wherever I speak

[25:00] that there are my children. Even if

[25:03] you're older than me, it doesn't matter.

[25:07] To me, I'm as old as the Buddha.

[25:11] And the Buddha is oldest me.

[25:15] It is this that we see to take care of

[25:18] each other.

[25:20] If we treat everyone as our children,

[25:25] how can we harm each other? How can we

[25:28] favor one child over another?

[25:31] Or how can we take from our children?

[25:37] This is the loss of compassion.

[25:41] This is very sad.

[25:45] I have a dharma brother, another dharma

[25:47] era, master Shenyang, and he always goes

[25:50] around and he's a very wonderful dharma

[25:53] teacher. And he asks all of the people

[25:56] that he meets, "Who is your mother? Who

[25:59] is your mother?" And they go, "My

[26:01] mother. My mother is in in Taiwan or my

[26:05] mother is in Singapore or wherever." No.

[26:07] Who is your mother? You have to know who

[26:09] your mother is. I don't know who my

[26:11] mother is. You have to find out who your

[26:14] mother is.

[26:16] And he and I have engaged in quite a bit

[26:19] of of dialogues over over the years and

[26:24] conversations.

[26:27] And uh I I always laugh at that he talks

[26:30] about who is your mother

[26:34] and it's something unto himself that he

[26:38] wants the people to look what is this

[26:40] mother

[26:41] there is a sutra

[26:44] the whole name is the astasa maha

[26:47] paramita sutra

[26:50] um and again it took me a long time to

[26:53] be able to say that um but it's [snorts]

[26:56] um

[26:58] short name is Asta Sutra and it's a

[27:02] wisdom sutra, one of the very first

[27:03] wisdom sutras back uh in around 2000 um

[27:10] um uh I think it's uh BC

[27:17] and uh not 200 I'm sorry and um it it

[27:24] talks about

[27:26] um who your mother is. And so when I was

[27:31] reading it, I'm going hm this is

[27:33] something now I now I can tell uh my

[27:37] dharma brother Goshin Pasha who the

[27:39] mother is. And it said that

[27:45] the mother

[27:47] of all Buddhas

[27:52] and since you have Buddha nature,

[27:56] [snorts] you're included.

[28:00] The mother of all Buddhas, we could say

[28:03] Buddhist or Buddhist to be, but you

[28:06] already have Buddha nature

[28:08] is wisdom.

[28:11] That's who your mother is.

[28:15] That's when you return home.

[28:19] It is wisdom.

[28:23] This wisdom

[28:26] is a special wisdom.

[28:31] We start with regular wisdom from

[28:34] samsara.

[28:36] Better to earn more than spend more.

[28:40] That's worldly wisdom, right? Unless you

[28:43] have a credit card.

[28:45] [snorts] That's some saric defilements.

[28:50] Um, but

[28:54] it is something

[28:57] transcendent

[28:59] beyond that.

[29:02] To theans

[29:05] you see it as nirvana.

[29:13] To Mahayana

[29:15] practitioners

[29:17] they see it as an enlightenment or a

[29:19] complete enlightenment.

[29:22] We are not talking about different

[29:25] things.

[29:30] This transcendent wisdom

[29:33] is the wisdom

[29:36] to know

[29:38] precisely

[29:42] who you are, your true identity,

[29:47] what

[29:49] the Chan practitioners say, your

[29:52] original face. to know your original

[29:55] face.

[29:58] It is what Shakamuni Buddha

[30:03] did for us

[30:06] to toiling under the bodhic tree to find

[30:09] this answer.

[30:11] When he practiced with the aesthetics,

[30:15] he could not find the answer.

[30:19] deprivation of of bodily needs

[30:25] could not bring him to the answer. Even

[30:27] though he thought if he

[30:31] uh avoided worldly comforts

[30:35] that he could bring himself to some

[30:37] realization.

[30:39] But in the end he only found that this

[30:42] was a self flagagillation, a

[30:44] self-punishment, a punishment of a body

[30:46] that deserved better.

[30:51] We say that the body is the temple of

[30:54] the soul.

[30:56] Not so much the soul but your nature.

[31:01] So there's no reason to harm the body to

[31:05] deprive it of what it needs.

[31:09] Wisdom

[31:13] is something that determines what we

[31:15] need.

[31:16] My master used to say, "Only take what

[31:20] you need."

[31:24] And it rang so true to me. But I'm so

[31:27] humbled

[31:29] by that because I'm not a very good

[31:32] representative of only taking what you

[31:34] need.

[31:37] Um,

[31:38] in my earlier days, I would take a

[31:41] little more donuts than I needed.

[31:46] And that's [snorts] to say it put it

[31:48] mildly in terms of my life.

[31:50] Now I try to take less and less and only

[31:53] what I need and eat only what I need.

[31:58] This is wisdom.

[32:00] But we take care of the body.

[32:04] We need this body.

[32:09] We need it to carry out the function in

[32:13] our life.

[32:16] We

[32:17] most of the time are not aware of our

[32:20] function in this world.

[32:23] In the United States, when I'm speaking

[32:25] to a United States uh group, I say,

[32:29] "What is the purpose of life?"

[32:32] Think about this for a moment. What do

[32:35] you think? How would you define the

[32:37] purpose of life?

[32:41] The American dream is that you

[32:47] um

[32:49] you

[32:51] go to school.

[32:54] Um you get a job,

[32:58] get married,

[33:01] live with your parents. Nobody can

[33:03] afford a house anymore in the US.

[33:06] eventually maybe buy a house,

[33:09] have 2.5 kids,

[33:14] vacation in the summer,

[33:18] retire,

[33:20] hold your grandchildren, and then die.

[33:23] [clears throat]

[33:25] Is that a plan?

[33:29] Financial planners will tell you, "Yeah,

[33:31] you you got to make sure that you have

[33:33] money to live when you're old." But is

[33:37] that what this world is about?

[33:41] Think about it.

[33:44] What is

[33:46] your mark here in this world?

[33:53] I have one

[33:56] monastic who decided to uh

[34:01] to follow me and asked me that if he

[34:03] could be my disciple and I said sure

[34:06] just follow me you're my disciple

[34:09] nothing magic about it

[34:12] and so I've been tending to him and his

[34:16] career

[34:17] and he came to me at a retreat

[34:22] I hadn't seen him for a while and gave

[34:24] me an update on where he was at.

[34:29] And he said, "I've been at this temple.

[34:33] I've lived there for 10 months now. I'm

[34:37] going to go to somewhere else to

[34:39] London."

[34:42] And

[34:44] I looked at him

[34:47] in not a necessarily a pleasing look

[34:53] and said, "At this temple that you were

[34:56] at

[34:59] when you were there,

[35:01] what did you leave?"

[35:05] And he said, "What?"

[35:08] Almost thinking that maybe he left the

[35:10] book there or something.

[35:13] I said, "What did you leave there?"

[35:18] And he said, "Nothing."

[35:22] I didn't say anything more to him. I

[35:25] didn't have to.

[35:29] A couple of months later,

[35:32] he writes me

[35:35] and says,

[35:37] "What you said to me that day later hit

[35:41] me like an explosion

[35:45] that it finally hit him that he left

[35:48] nothing

[35:51] nothing there. He was just occupying the

[35:55] space as a guest.

[36:02] He didn't build anything,

[36:05] didn't teach anything,

[36:09] write anything.

[36:13] What good is that?

[36:17] a poor use of a body, whether one

[36:24] has hair or doesn't have hair,

[36:29] a monastic or a lay person.

[36:34] What so far in this world have you left?

[36:41] I look at some of the people here, the

[36:43] leaders of this group.

[36:45] I can see what they've left and I can

[36:48] see what was left to them.

[36:52] They're making a mark.

[36:56] These words that were posted here on the

[36:59] wall that you were reading in this

[37:00] wonderful chant,

[37:05] they live by them every day.

[37:10] Maybe not all of them, but at least

[37:13] they're practitioners.

[37:17] My master used to say that a person with

[37:21] a vow to break

[37:24] is a bodhic saba and a person without a

[37:28] bow to break

[37:30] is a non-practitioner.

[37:34] So do we practice what you read on the

[37:37] screen?

[37:40] This is both for wisdom, both for

[37:43] compassion.

[37:46] So today I wanted to talk about the

[37:48] practical side of wisdom and con

[37:51] compassion and the contemplating of

[37:54] wisdom and compassion.

[38:00] So,

[38:02] I will see this monk soon again and

[38:04] we'll I'll take inventory again to see

[38:08] if he's begun to leave things places

[38:12] instead of just taking.

[38:15] But to all of you, especially those who

[38:19] are very young,

[38:22] make your mark here.

[38:25] Sometimes they refer to it as the

[38:29] footprints in the snow. This is a

[38:32] Chinese chan uh way of looking at things

[38:35] to say everything is impermanent. All

[38:37] phenomena is impermanent.

[38:42] But even if it's impermanent,

[38:45] it still matters.

[38:48] It still matters. Even if this world

[38:52] is a fleeting dream,

[38:56] those within the dream do not know that

[39:00] and they suffer.

[39:03] The four noble truths

[39:06] to know that there is suffering

[39:09] and know the cause of suffering,

[39:12] the sessation of suffering in the path.

[39:16] But our noble purpose here

[39:20] should go back to understanding why

[39:23] Shakamuni Buddha came into this world.

[39:28] Why didn't he just stay in Nirvana?

[39:32] He had made it graduated kumlady.

[39:39] He was at the top

[39:43] and yet he comes back into this world.

[39:48] Not just going to nirvana.

[39:54] Nirvana

[39:58] is right here right now.

[40:05] Suffering is right now.

[40:07] When we took look at the three marks of

[40:10] existence

[40:12] of impermanence and emptiness and then

[40:15] there's one that is says suffering

[40:19] but it also says nirvana.

[40:24] Why?

[40:27] Because

[40:28] nirvana

[40:31] is there because there's suffering.

[40:35] If there's no suffering,

[40:37] then there's no nirvana.

[40:42] When we awaken,

[40:44] we understand there was never any

[40:46] suffering to begin with.

[40:53] Once I went to my master,

[40:57] very interesting, my master only spoke

[40:59] Chinese,

[41:01] but I could speak to him. And for some

[41:04] reason we understood each other

[41:08] and I caught him um um we were going up

[41:13] and down the stairs and and I caught him

[41:15] at the top of the stairs. It was right

[41:17] before a retreat and I said, "Shifu, I

[41:21] understand this.

[41:23] It's like you have riding a bike,

[41:27] pedaling, and then you stick a spoke in

[41:30] in the wheel and the bike stops right

[41:34] away and falls over

[41:36] and he just cocked his head and looked

[41:38] at me and he said, "Yes."

[41:44] And I started walking away

[41:48] so happy and he went, "Gilbert."

[41:52] And I looked around

[41:55] and he pointed his finger at me. He had

[41:58] a very long finger. Sometimes I swear I

[42:01] could almost touch you so long. And he

[42:04] just pointed his finger and he said,

[42:07] "Remember,

[42:10] it only stops for you."

[42:16] And that hit me

[42:19] so hard.

[42:25] in a way in which

[42:33] it was as if I was awakening

[42:37] to my responsibility here

[42:42] and here. I thought I'm going to

[42:45] graduate Kumlad

[42:48] and get out.

[42:51] And he pulled me right back in.

[42:54] Right back into samsara.

[42:57] Sign me up there and then.

[43:06] It is in this way that we see this

[43:09] world.

[43:10] Indeed.

[43:12] What do we leave here?

[43:16] Do we leave a mess?

[43:22] Do we leave hope, faith,

[43:25] practice?

[43:28] Even a few breadcrumbs

[43:30] would help to show

[43:33] where the path is or these footprints in

[43:36] the snow.

[43:39] Even though this

[43:42] is a fleeting world,

[43:45] it nevertheless is a burning house.

[43:53] Last weekend, I asked a group,

[43:57] if all of a sudden the fire alarm went

[44:01] off and you could see flames and

[44:03] [snorts] smoke,

[44:05] what would you do?

[44:09] What would you do if you saw flames and

[44:11] smoke? What do you think? Anybody want

[44:13] to say

[44:18] >> escape?

[44:19] >> Help others get out.

[44:21] >> Help others get out.

[44:24] I knew you would say that. I could feel

[44:26] your heart.

[44:28] Help others get out. That's why I was

[44:30] looking at you.

[44:33] Help others get out. Other people will

[44:35] say, "Run." And I go, "You're going to

[44:37] run over the little old lady with the

[44:40] crutches

[44:43] because you want to get out?" No.

[44:48] You would help others get out and when

[44:51] they got out, you'd go back in again

[44:54] and again

[44:56] and again.

[44:59] There's a parable of the boat to go to

[45:03] the other shore.

[45:05] In the heart sutra

[45:08] they say gate parate

[45:12] bodhic

[45:13] go to the other shore bodhic sava.

[45:19] And in some versions is we leave the

[45:23] boat on the shore because it's not

[45:26] necessary.

[45:31] But to me, looking back to the shore

[45:33] that I was on and seeing how many need

[45:37] to cross,

[45:39] I say we need to build a bigger boat.

[45:48] To me,

[45:51] as Villa McCriti,

[45:55] I am ill.

[45:58] Every day I'm ill.

[46:02] I don't feel well.

[46:07] I'm sick

[46:10] from the ignorance,

[46:12] the suffering,

[46:17] lack of morality and defilements in this

[46:20] world.

[46:23] I cannot rest. I cannot get well.

[46:27] until the last of you crosses that to

[46:30] the other shore.

[46:32] Then I will be well.

[46:37] This is wisdom.

[46:40] This is compassion.

[46:43] This is how we see each other. If we see

[46:46] in each other Buddha nature, how can we

[46:49] harm people? How can we take for them?

[46:52] How can we bomb them? The horror.

[46:56] truly the horror of this world.

[47:05] I'm speaking slowly today and yesterday

[47:07] I spoke quite a much faster

[47:11] because today's lecture is different.

[47:15] It's one that

[47:17] is to to go to the heart

[47:21] to give you pause

[47:24] for

[47:26] self-reflection.

[47:31] The self is a very curious

[47:35] uh

[47:37] concept.

[47:42] The Buddha did not say no self.

[47:46] He said not self.

[47:50] It's not self in the way that we say

[47:55] that there is um [clears throat] a

[47:58] personality, ego, life or being. If you

[48:03] think any of those categories fits you,

[48:08] it's a dream.

[48:11] It's

[48:14] what the ancients said,

[48:16] the flickering

[48:19] uh light,

[48:21] or a spark from a campfire,

[48:27] a morning star,

[48:30] a bubble in a stream,

[48:33] an illusion,

[48:35] a fantasm,

[48:37] a dream.

[48:42] I tell almost every audience that I talk

[48:45] to, if you do not believe this,

[48:49] come back in a hundred years and prove

[48:51] me wrong.

[48:54] Show me your ID.

[48:57] Maybe you're 150 years old.

[49:02] You would be in the Guinness's Book of

[49:03] World Records or somebody would drive a

[49:06] steak in your heart because you're a

[49:08] vampire.

[49:14] We don't see that. We don't understand

[49:16] this is a burning building.

[49:20] Sometimes we wait till the very end

[49:24] to got to get religion.

[49:28] You may

[49:30] Google it. What is the best religion to

[49:33] learn very quickly

[49:35] when you're dying?

[49:41] But our Chan liturgy says that you

[49:45] should practice

[49:47] as if your head was a flame.

[49:53] If you if your head is on fire,

[49:56] whatever your um

[50:00] your uh type of uh practices, you

[50:05] certainly would be saying it as quickly

[50:08] and sincerely as you could, right?

[50:13] Why wait?

[50:15] My master, he said

[50:19] that we only have a finite amount of

[50:23] breaths to take.

[50:28] The problem is we don't know how many

[50:30] there is.

[50:35] I've had young

[50:38] students

[50:40] that have died.

[50:43] I had one that was so incredibly

[50:46] promising.

[50:50] Actually, two, I would say incredibly

[50:54] promising.

[50:55] I knew that I would guide them, but I

[50:58] also felt

[51:01] that there was something

[51:03] hovering over them.

[51:07] And they were taken early in their lives

[51:11] in their 20s,

[51:15] but yet they were still good

[51:18] practitioners. At least they practiced

[51:22] up until the last.

[51:26] We can't wait to get serious.

[51:30] We can't wait to

[51:33] practice or demonstrate the parameas

[51:36] until the very end

[51:39] to make amends

[51:41] in this world.

[51:46] It's better for us to start now. I

[51:50] rejoice when I see young people. I'm

[51:52] very happy with this group because I see

[51:54] a lot of young faces,

[51:57] even young families.

[52:00] This is as it should be that we teach

[52:05] the children

[52:08] because they will be the guardians in

[52:09] the future.

[52:12] And you as young people

[52:15] practice your best,

[52:17] practice your hardest

[52:22] because when this old bag of bones here

[52:27] is finished, somebody has to take over.

[52:32] Just as it was with my master.

[52:36] And sometimes it feels like

[52:40] he took this incredible weight off of

[52:43] him. Here, Gilbert.

[52:48] I was young then. I could carry the

[52:51] load. Now I'm looking at who I can put

[52:55] that load onto.

[52:59] I've been blessed with many

[53:03] students have become teachers in their

[53:05] own right and I'm very proud to say I

[53:09] even have grandchildren

[53:12] that are beginning to teach. I didn't

[53:15] think I would see that

[53:19] uh students of my students that are

[53:21] teaching the dharma.

[53:25] I finally this year actually became a

[53:27] real grandfather.

[53:30] I didn't think I'd see that either.

[53:33] Uh kids these days have kids a lot older

[53:37] or they in their years.

[53:41] But this is life.

[53:44] We understand it.

[53:48] The practice

[53:51] of Buddha Dharma,

[53:54] the sitting of meditation

[53:58] is not

[54:00] running away from life.

[54:05] You don't escape to the cushion.

[54:10] The practice

[54:12] of Chinese chan, as it should be in all

[54:16] practice, is running right back into

[54:19] that burning building

[54:22] to save as many

[54:25] as you can.

[54:30] And

[54:33] the parameita

[54:36] of patience is there to know that we

[54:41] have patience

[54:42] with everyone around us.

[54:45] Patience that even if I'm walking past

[54:49] somebody and I smile to them and they

[54:51] smile back, I will deliver that person.

[54:54] And if they growl at me, I will still

[54:56] deliver that one, too. It'll just take a

[54:59] little longer.

[55:03] I even told my master

[55:08] Shifu,

[55:10] if you don't deliver me, I will deliver

[55:13] you.

[55:15] And he smiled because he understood the

[55:17] sincerity of that. Not the

[55:20] ostentatiousness of saying that, but the

[55:23] sincerity that this is how we we are.

[55:28] how we practice,

[55:30] how we tend to this world and its

[55:34] occupants.

[55:37] And not just the occupants

[55:41] that are called humans.

[55:44] In fact, some of the occupants that are

[55:46] called human are pretty inhuman these

[55:48] days.

[55:54] Sorry to say that.

[55:57] And sorry to say that some of them

[56:00] lead countries.

[56:07] I'll try not to get political,

[56:11] but it hurts. It hurts to see that. It

[56:14] hurts to see what is being spread.

[56:18] It is as you are saving

[56:22] five crabs stranded on the beach.

[56:25] someone's in the water throwing three

[56:27] back.

[56:30] But such as the way it is, we still have

[56:33] patience. We still move on. We still

[56:37] practice.

[56:40] So today's

[56:41] presentation is not one so much of

[56:44] doctrinal again. It's from the heart to

[56:47] understand how we interact with each

[56:51] other.

[56:55] One of the principal instructions

[56:59] in Chinese chan

[57:01] is

[57:03] that we harmonize with the environment

[57:07] around us.

[57:11] In fact, it's a bit more than

[57:13] harmonizing

[57:15] with the environment around us.

[57:18] We're like this wonderful tuning fork.

[57:22] Boom.

[57:29] And we bring people to that resonance.

[57:34] So we hear it back.

[57:41] M

[57:46] my master

[57:48] he said

[57:52] we don't

[57:54] let the environment define us.

[58:01] We define the environment.

[58:06] Remember this.

[58:09] The ancients said that if you don't know

[58:12] what you're doing here and you're tossed

[58:15] and twirled

[58:17] by all of the uh um the events in this

[58:22] world and you're reaped in confusion,

[58:27] you may end up in the belly

[58:32] of a donkey or a cow.

[58:36] How many of you want to end up in the

[58:39] belly of a donkey or a cow

[58:42] or a horse? I always say nay.

[58:49] Maybe I was a horse before.

[58:52] But but in any case,

[58:56] I better not say that too much. I might

[58:58] come back as one. The talking horse.

[59:00] [laughter]

[59:02] But but in any case

[59:06] we

[59:08] have to understand

[59:12] our practice is one the wisdom

[59:15] is to understand

[59:17] what Shakamuni Buddha taught.

[59:23] You call it paticia samapada.

[59:27] How many of you have heard that word in

[59:29] my poor Sanskrit? Petisha sama or

[59:32] Pratika sama in Sanskrit. Nobody

[59:39] don't be ashamed that you know it. Raise

[59:41] your hand. [laughter]

[59:44] So causes and conditions never fail.

[59:50] My

[59:52] master

[59:54] ingrained that in us. You have to know

[59:57] this. You have to know this. You have to

[59:59] know this. Causes and conditions never

[1:00:01] fail.

[1:00:04] Very simple. You plant a melon seed and

[1:00:08] you get a melon fruit.

[1:00:10] If you plant anger, you get anger back.

[1:00:14] It is in this way. If you plant the

[1:00:16] seeds of greed, hatred, and ignorance,

[1:00:20] lo and behold, that is what you get. You

[1:00:23] don't plant those and expect

[1:00:25] the the fruit of liberation.

[1:00:31] You have to plant

[1:00:34] the right fruit.

[1:00:37] This environment that we're in

[1:00:41] is our garden

[1:00:43] all around you here in this particular

[1:00:46] place. It's a flourishing garden. Can't

[1:00:49] you feel it? This garden is so

[1:00:50] incredible here. The first time I walked

[1:00:53] in here, I felt comfortable, felt at

[1:00:56] home. a wonderful place for gathering

[1:01:01] and you should nurture yourself here and

[1:01:04] take this take this home.

[1:01:07] Take this to your work,

[1:01:10] take this to your family

[1:01:13] and plant a garden there.

[1:01:17] Cultivate it.

[1:01:20] Cultivating wisdom and compassion.

[1:01:24] Provide it

[1:01:26] with a fertile ground to grow

[1:01:32] with the proper seeds.

[1:01:36] Give it light.

[1:01:38] Give it water.

[1:01:40] It will grow.

[1:01:44] And lo and behold, that fruit

[1:01:48] will go on to produce other gardens.

[1:01:52] This is how we do it.

[1:01:56] in my home. This year, I did something.

[1:02:01] I was renovating my home and I had this

[1:02:03] area on the side of my yard

[1:02:06] and I wanted to make a place simply to

[1:02:09] sit to meditate outside

[1:02:12] and I turned it into a chan garden.

[1:02:17] I called it pure spring chan garden. put

[1:02:21] a waterfall

[1:02:23] and a

[1:02:24] statue of Shakamuni Buddha.

[1:02:28] There's bamboo and bonsai plants.

[1:02:32] Um, chimes

[1:02:36] and lights and a lot of little bodhicava

[1:02:41] and Buddha uh figurines. I wanted people

[1:02:45] to feel comfortable to come into that

[1:02:47] garden and sit to to meditate and to be

[1:02:50] quiet. And by and large when I bring

[1:02:52] people in they can sit there

[1:02:56] and they are quiet.

[1:03:00] They no longer need to talk.

[1:03:03] Sometimes we can sit for a long time.

[1:03:06] Not be it because anybody instructs them

[1:03:08] because they don't need to say a thing.

[1:03:11] Just simply rest. rest the mind,

[1:03:16] rest their bones,

[1:03:18] refresh.

[1:03:21] This is the Buddha Dharma.

[1:03:24] This is my metaphor

[1:03:28] for wherever I've gone this year,

[1:03:31] creating this garden of practice

[1:03:35] wherever I go. Letting people know

[1:03:39] we're all in this together.

[1:03:43] But for the beautiful way

[1:03:46] that we all have Buddha nature. It is

[1:03:50] why Shakamuni Buddha crossed his legs

[1:03:54] and went through the crucible of that

[1:03:58] time sitting under the bodhic tree

[1:04:02] to be able to share this with us

[1:04:06] so that we understand

[1:04:15] he lovingly gave us the 12 nadas. us

[1:04:22] part of his first teachings.

[1:04:26] But when he taught the the 12 Nadonas,

[1:04:30] very few could understand it.

[1:04:34] He would teach it and then what we say

[1:04:38] in in the US crickets

[1:04:42] just

[1:04:43] you could hear crickets. It was so quiet

[1:04:45] because people didn't understand the 12

[1:04:48] nadanas. And then he went on to teach

[1:04:51] about the four noble truths.

[1:04:55] But the 12 nadas was the first road map,

[1:05:00] the first diagram

[1:05:04] of this samsaric world.

[1:05:10] How the samsaric world came into being.

[1:05:17] And it's interesting

[1:05:20] because

[1:05:21] your birth or so-called birth

[1:05:25] didn't happen until the 11th n um

[1:05:29] nadana.

[1:05:32] Everything else was a formulation

[1:05:36] of coming into being of becoming. But

[1:05:38] becoming didn't come until the 11th

[1:05:41] nadonna.

[1:05:42] Everything else was like the five scand

[1:05:45] form, sensation, perception, position,

[1:05:48] consciousness. All of those things were

[1:05:51] like these clouds that were forming and

[1:05:53] forming and forming until there's this

[1:05:56] form of becoming something.

[1:06:01] The first nadonna

[1:06:05] ignorance

[1:06:07] is not your ignorance.

[1:06:10] You are not ignorant.

[1:06:13] This body

[1:06:16] that you have

[1:06:18] that you love so well,

[1:06:22] put coloring on it, dress it up, comb

[1:06:26] the hair, brush the teeth,

[1:06:30] is a product

[1:06:33] of that ignorance.

[1:06:36] It's

[1:06:37] becoming

[1:06:39] it was the dependent origination. He was

[1:06:42] saying all of these things in these 12

[1:06:45] lines

[1:06:47] they're dependent on each other. They're

[1:06:50] impermanent.

[1:06:55] Impermanent.

[1:06:58] How many of you are part of those 12

[1:07:00] nadonas? Don't raise your hand. I would

[1:07:03] say don't raise your hand if you think

[1:07:04] you're not part of it.

[1:07:07] I'll answer it for you. You all are.

[1:07:11] You're all part of the 12 nadonas, but

[1:07:14] you don't show up until the 11th.

[1:07:19] So where did this ignorance come from?

[1:07:24] It's not your ignorance. It is why you

[1:07:28] became

[1:07:32] it was an ignorance

[1:07:36] of the mind.

[1:07:38] Some temporary

[1:07:41] glitch.

[1:07:42] Nobody can say how that ignorance came

[1:07:45] into being much less nobody could say

[1:07:47] how the Buddha mind comes into being.

[1:07:51] But it happened

[1:07:53] and because of it the entire samsaric

[1:07:57] world

[1:07:58] appears

[1:08:01] and because of all of the nadanas we

[1:08:04] cling to this world as being real.

[1:08:11] We suffer

[1:08:13] because we can't keep this world in a

[1:08:18] satisfactory way no matter what we do.

[1:08:23] It was the shock

[1:08:27] of Shakamuni Buddha when he went out

[1:08:31] into

[1:08:33] the um the country away from the palace

[1:08:37] gates

[1:08:39] to see old age sickness and death.

[1:08:47] He was shielded from this.

[1:08:50] How could this happen?

[1:08:53] How can people be sick?

[1:08:56] How can people get old?

[1:08:59] What is a dead body?

[1:09:02] How does this happen?

[1:09:04] How was this even allowed to happen?

[1:09:09] How can this happen?

[1:09:13] It was his heart that was crying out,

[1:09:16] but his mind could not comprehend the

[1:09:20] meaning of it. could not understand

[1:09:24] how this came to pass.

[1:09:30] So he took the vow of poverty wanting so

[1:09:33] sincerely to try to figure this out.

[1:09:41] It was only until

[1:09:45] he sat to meditate upon this, turn his

[1:09:49] mind's eye inward, [clears throat]

[1:09:55] reverse the 12 nadonna,

[1:10:00] reverse engineering

[1:10:03] the 12 nadonna going back through from

[1:10:07] death to birth to all the sensations,

[1:10:10] the grasping, the clinging, everything

[1:10:13] that came there.

[1:10:15] All the way till he ran into ignorance

[1:10:20] and all the way till you realize in fact

[1:10:24] there's not any ignorance.

[1:10:28] Everything comes from the pure mind. The

[1:10:32] true nature. The true nature that each

[1:10:35] and every one of you has

[1:10:39] this purity.

[1:10:45] But because of causes and conditions,

[1:10:47] the dependent origination, we cling to

[1:10:50] this world as real

[1:10:54] and we suffer.

[1:10:56] But worse yet,

[1:10:59] we make others suffer.

[1:11:05] This is

[1:11:09] something because

[1:11:11] we cannot see because we were born of

[1:11:17] ignorance. But that ignorance predated

[1:11:20] us.

[1:11:22] When we reverse engineer, when we

[1:11:24] meditate,

[1:11:28] quiet the mind,

[1:11:30] we rest the mind in the mind.

[1:11:34] Resting the mind in the mind, not

[1:11:36] resting your mind in mine.

[1:11:42] We are going back

[1:11:46] before ignorance came.

[1:11:50] If you sit in meditation

[1:11:53] and you think that you are sitting in

[1:11:56] meditation,

[1:11:58] you will bump against that barrier of

[1:12:01] ignorance.

[1:12:04] You cannot take your body through. You

[1:12:07] cannot take your identity as a sentient

[1:12:11] being through. It's not possible.

[1:12:19] You cannot show credentials.

[1:12:23] You are like a cloud.

[1:12:27] But you don't understand that.

[1:12:30] But when you sincerely want to practice

[1:12:32] in meditation,

[1:12:35] let the mind rest in the mind.

[1:12:39] Use your own Buddha nature

[1:12:43] to sit.

[1:12:47] Ignorance will disappear

[1:12:50] on its own naturally.

[1:12:53] It will disappear

[1:12:57] because it only applies to this world.

[1:13:04] But your true nature

[1:13:07] is not separate from the Buddha's true

[1:13:10] nature.

[1:13:13] If you understand this,

[1:13:18] then coming back into this world,

[1:13:21] you can be somebody of substance, of

[1:13:24] worth in this world.

[1:13:28] Not just a taker,

[1:13:30] not just a sufferer,

[1:13:33] but someone that can change the world.

[1:13:38] We change it and we use the parameita of

[1:13:42] generosity.

[1:13:45] We demonstrate it.

[1:13:48] We don't try to adhere to it

[1:13:54] but

[1:13:55] allow it to govern our behavior, our

[1:13:59] thinking, our acts. We say through body,

[1:14:03] speech and mind we demonstrate the

[1:14:06] parameas.

[1:14:07] These are perfected practices.

[1:14:13] The generosity of time

[1:14:16] of helping others. It could be somebody

[1:14:20] needs to move,

[1:14:23] you help them, you give them the time.

[1:14:25] Somebody needs to study something, you

[1:14:27] help them. Maybe they need some money

[1:14:30] because of something had happened in

[1:14:32] their life, you give them some money.

[1:14:36] I remember one of my my um uh employees

[1:14:42] got into a terrible auto accident

[1:14:46] and when I went to see her in the

[1:14:49] hospital,

[1:14:52] I gave her an envelope of money

[1:14:56] simply because I know that she was going

[1:14:59] to be out for a while and she had bills.

[1:15:04] There was no giver to that envelope nor

[1:15:08] receiver in my heart. It was just

[1:15:12] something that needed to be done.

[1:15:15] Nothing that had to be returned to me or

[1:15:19] thanked to me. Just things that need to

[1:15:23] be done.

[1:15:26] When we give, Nagarjuna says there

[1:15:28] should be no giver, no receiver. is in

[1:15:33] this way that helping you helps mine.

[1:15:38] Not bad. It doesn't matter if it's

[1:15:41] something mundane to help people in what

[1:15:45] might be considered a materialistic way

[1:15:47] or phenomenal way

[1:15:50] or that we spend the time

[1:15:54] presenting the dharma to to each and

[1:15:56] every one of you.

[1:15:59] It's the same.

[1:16:01] We use this generosity,

[1:16:04] we use this body, we make it of some

[1:16:08] worth.

[1:16:12] The uh there is a Buddhist

[1:16:16] uh monk, his name is Red Pine, and he

[1:16:19] was uh giving a commentary on the heart

[1:16:22] sutra.

[1:16:24] And he said something that that was very

[1:16:27] profound.

[1:16:29] And he said

[1:16:32] it's not so much

[1:16:35] that there is a distance between us

[1:16:40] but it is the lack of distance that

[1:16:44] matters.

[1:16:47] The lack of distance.

[1:16:51] The Buddha mind

[1:16:55] is known intimately

[1:16:59] intrinsically meaning within

[1:17:02] it's intimate with all other Buddha

[1:17:06] nature it's not separate

[1:17:10] but because of causes and conditions in

[1:17:13] the samsaric world there is appearances

[1:17:16] of differences

[1:17:18] of confusion

[1:17:21] and imaginings. And in fact, this entire

[1:17:24] world that we're in

[1:17:27] is a dream.

[1:17:29] It's imagined.

[1:17:33] It is dependent on the 12 nadanas.

[1:17:38] But as we practice, as Shakamuni Buddha

[1:17:41] discovered

[1:17:43] under the bodhic tree,

[1:17:48] the liberation is returning home,

[1:17:52] returning to mind.

[1:17:56] Returning to mind

[1:17:58] does not mean that one presents

[1:18:02] the dharma to have everyone just go out.

[1:18:08] If I can

[1:18:10] grab a couple of you and say, "Let's

[1:18:13] help the old people get out. Let's help

[1:18:15] the young ones find the exit."

[1:18:18] They will go, "That makes sense. Let's

[1:18:21] do that."

[1:18:25] Then this is how we we practice.

[1:18:32] I fully envision

[1:18:35] that when the last person to

[1:18:40] to uh exit

[1:18:44] somesara is there because of the vow

[1:18:46] that they vow to deliver everyone before

[1:18:49] themselves. There's a whole host of

[1:18:52] bodhicabas waiting for the last one to

[1:18:54] go.

[1:18:56] They're going to go, "How long is that

[1:18:58] one going to take?" Well, you you I

[1:19:00] won't say any names.

[1:19:03] [laughter]

[1:19:05] It could it could take quite a long

[1:19:07] time. But we're patient. That's the part

[1:19:09] of me. Patience. We understand. We're

[1:19:13] patient with everyone.

[1:19:16] It is in this way that we practice.

[1:19:20] So when we understand how we practice,

[1:19:25] we understand why we practice, it's

[1:19:28] important we practice in a way in which

[1:19:32] we are um uh practicing for others.

[1:19:38] Once uh I was at a retreat and my master

[1:19:42] had asked um everyone at the retreat,

[1:19:47] they went, "What did I teach yesterday?"

[1:19:51] And the people go, "Huh?

[1:19:53] What did I teach?" "Oh, you taught about

[1:19:56] emptiness or you taught about

[1:19:58] impermanence.

[1:20:00] You taught." And then he went to me and

[1:20:02] says, "Gilbert, what did I teach?" And I

[1:20:04] said, "In the morning, you taught about

[1:20:06] this." and then went and enumerated what

[1:20:08] he taught in the afternoon you taught

[1:20:11] this in the evening you taught about

[1:20:12] this and he says

[1:20:15] how do you remember all of this I said I

[1:20:18] don't remember it for myself but I

[1:20:21] remember it for all the people that I'm

[1:20:23] going to share this with your wisdom

[1:20:26] I have to remember it I have to stay

[1:20:29] awake

[1:20:31] that's why I have so many of what I call

[1:20:33] shifu stories of my master because all

[1:20:36] All those stories, I preserve them

[1:20:40] to teach others,

[1:20:42] to show others the way.

[1:20:45] And they're valuable.

[1:20:48] They're incredible

[1:20:50] jewels.

[1:20:55] And I'm fortunate enough

[1:20:58] to be able to have an array of jewels to

[1:21:02] share with you. And each of you come

[1:21:05] pick them up. Pick as many as you want.

[1:21:07] Fill your pockets with these jewels. And

[1:21:11] if you share them with others,

[1:21:14] more will fill your pocket.

[1:21:17] It is just this way.

[1:21:20] This is what we do here.

[1:21:25] I had given a lecture a couple of months

[1:21:28] ago

[1:21:30] and it was entitled, "What are you good

[1:21:33] for?"

[1:21:35] What are you good for

[1:21:39] in this world?

[1:21:44] What are you good for?

[1:21:46] You're good for a lot, but you have to

[1:21:49] do it.

[1:21:52] You have to

[1:21:54] to take the time.

[1:21:58] You have to practice sincerely. Not for

[1:22:01] yourself

[1:22:04] but for other. You see the monastics

[1:22:07] they don't practice for themselves. They

[1:22:10] practice for you.

[1:22:13] They practice to show you to spread the

[1:22:17] dharma to show the the nikayas, the

[1:22:21] sutras,

[1:22:23] all of the writings of the Buddhas and

[1:22:24] the commentaries on the Buddhas to share

[1:22:27] that with you all of those precious

[1:22:29] jewels.

[1:22:31] But you too can do that

[1:22:38] one

[1:22:40] footprint in the snow at a time.

[1:22:43] You do that

[1:22:47] you understand

[1:22:50] everything

[1:22:52] in this way to know all the Buddhas

[1:22:58] of the past,

[1:23:00] the present

[1:23:02] and the future

[1:23:05] perceive that all dharma dadu nature all

[1:23:08] phenomena

[1:23:11] is created by the mind.

[1:23:14] There is nothing in this room, nothing

[1:23:18] in your consciousness

[1:23:22] that has not been created by the mind.

[1:23:27] That's the laws of the uh dependent

[1:23:29] origination, the 12 nadanas.

[1:23:33] Everything is created by the mind.

[1:23:37] What that tells us this incredible

[1:23:39] wisdom

[1:23:43] is that

[1:23:47] because we have Buddha nature

[1:23:53] we can direct this Buddha nature

[1:23:56] to create a better place here.

[1:24:01] It is the mind that created here through

[1:24:04] ignorance

[1:24:06] and then the 12 nadanas the other 11

[1:24:08] follow.

[1:24:12] But the mind

[1:24:14] can clean it up as evidenced by

[1:24:18] Shakamuni Buddha appearing in this

[1:24:20] world.

[1:24:23] The emissary

[1:24:26] of the Buddha mind

[1:24:28] appearing here in human form.

[1:24:35] Nur manakaya an appearance body

[1:24:40] to be able to

[1:24:43] change the world.

[1:24:49] We can do it.

[1:24:52] And I'm not even talking

[1:24:55] to any of you here.

[1:24:58] I'm talking to the ones that you're

[1:25:00] going to tell others about this.

[1:25:05] It works in this way. I have patience,

[1:25:09] but not that much. So, get to it. Start

[1:25:13] teaching others. Start bringing others

[1:25:16] here.

[1:25:19] We don't knock on the people's door.

[1:25:24] Buddha loves you.

[1:25:28] We leave that for other religions.

[1:25:32] But

[1:25:33] we demonstrate

[1:25:36] moment to moment with the parameas.

[1:25:39] We demonstrate the Buddha mind, the

[1:25:42] Buddha heart

[1:25:44] in whatever we do. we demonstrate in

[1:25:47] this way.

[1:25:50] I remember a a kind of a very funny

[1:25:53] story that I had gone to a retreat and I

[1:25:56] was an attorney by trade and um believe

[1:26:00] it or not a litigation attorney. So, I

[1:26:03] was always in court. And when I went to

[1:26:06] the to the to the uh to the court, um

[1:26:12] there was this attorney, very high-rung

[1:26:14] attorney from out of town. And um and I

[1:26:19] knew the judge and the judge knew me who

[1:26:21] was a very old judge, what you'd picture

[1:26:24] a judge with flowing white hair and

[1:26:27] spectacles and and uh the other attorney

[1:26:31] was was upset because um I had um uh

[1:26:38] hadn't given some papers in time, but I

[1:26:41] had been at the retreat. So I apologized

[1:26:44] and said if he needs more time I'll be

[1:26:46] glad to give him more time. And and I

[1:26:48] said I was at um um conducting a

[1:26:52] meditation retreat. And he says

[1:26:54] mediation

[1:26:56] and and I said no meditation retreat.

[1:27:00] And he said oh that's where you sit and

[1:27:02] calm. And he said I go yeah. And he

[1:27:05] pointed at the other attorney and says

[1:27:08] Mr. Albert, you need to take his class.

[1:27:13] You can imagine the look on the other

[1:27:14] attorney's face. He he looked like the

[1:27:18] Red Lobster. [laughter]

[1:27:22] But it is in this way even in the court

[1:27:27] sometimes

[1:27:29] you leave your mark.

[1:27:31] One of the other things that happened in

[1:27:34] in as I was an attorney, I was taking my

[1:27:37] my young kids to court to show them the

[1:27:39] courtroom. It was a very famous old

[1:27:43] court uh over a hundred years old,

[1:27:45] beautiful marble place. And the

[1:27:49] presiding judge of the court was walking

[1:27:52] in the hallway and he ran into me and he

[1:27:55] said, "Oh, these are your kids." And I

[1:27:57] said, "Yes." And then he looked at them

[1:28:00] very interesting and he pointed his

[1:28:02] finger at them and bent down and said I

[1:28:06] want to tell you something very

[1:28:07] important and he said

[1:28:11] in these corridors in these hall

[1:28:14] your father's word is his bond.

[1:28:19] It meant I don't lie

[1:28:23] and and that it whatever I said in the

[1:28:27] court was the truth. And that was

[1:28:30] probably the greatest compliment I ever

[1:28:33] got in the legal field because that's

[1:28:36] exactly what I wanted to accomplish.

[1:28:40] Um that uh I cannot tell a lie. [snorts]

[1:28:45] I would never tell a lie or mis uh

[1:28:49] deceive anyone for the sake of my

[1:28:51] client.

[1:28:53] And that's important for us whatever we

[1:28:56] do that we

[1:29:00] stay to our truths and and our five

[1:29:04] precepts. Don't lie, we don't kill.

[1:29:10] No uh intoxication or sexual misconduct.

[1:29:15] All of the the five we follow them

[1:29:18] carefully.

[1:29:21] We we we do that because it controls the

[1:29:25] ego.

[1:29:27] Not because simply it's a moral thing,

[1:29:32] but it subdues the ego.

[1:29:36] The more that we feed the ego, the more

[1:29:39] the ego wants.

[1:29:42] When we understand don't feed the ego.

[1:29:45] We can still live here.

[1:29:48] We eat what we need, take what we need,

[1:29:52] but never take more.

[1:29:55] Never ask for more.

[1:29:58] My master used to say, live by these uh

[1:30:03] rules.

[1:30:05] I'm little,

[1:30:08] you're big.

[1:30:11] You're right.

[1:30:14] I am wrong.

[1:30:16] You have everything.

[1:30:19] I have nothing.

[1:30:21] And then the people they cannot take

[1:30:23] anything from you.

[1:30:26] It's sometimes it's not so easy to do

[1:30:29] that.

[1:30:30] I remember looking at a picture of um uh

[1:30:34] from the United Nations and my master

[1:30:36] was invited at that time. He was

[1:30:39] recognized as ninth uh ranked ninth in

[1:30:43] the world religious leaders.

[1:30:47] And in the UN picture of all the clergy

[1:30:49] that are there,

[1:30:53] there were people sitting in the front

[1:30:54] with big hats and staffs and all sorts

[1:30:57] of garments. And you see this little

[1:31:01] monk over to the side, you know, dressed

[1:31:04] very humbly. And that was him with the

[1:31:06] smile. Everybody else look regal, stoic,

[1:31:13] expecting a lightning bolt. And he's

[1:31:16] just so simple,

[1:31:19] so mundane.

[1:31:22] And that's the life he lived like that.

[1:31:27] A very, very simple life.

[1:31:29] We don't need to live a complicated

[1:31:31] life.

[1:31:33] If you practice in this way,

[1:31:36] you're not far from wisdom

[1:31:39] and you're certainly not far from

[1:31:41] compassion.

[1:31:46] There are two types of compassion.

[1:31:49] [snorts]

[1:31:50] One of them I call it the little baby

[1:31:53] dead raccoon compassion.

[1:31:56] And the little baby dead raccoon

[1:31:58] compassion is when you see a little baby

[1:32:01] dead raccoon.

[1:32:02] Little tiny little one with a little

[1:32:04] mask and the little tail and and and

[1:32:08] you go, "Oh, it's dead." So then you go

[1:32:11] to your garden and you you take a shovel

[1:32:15] and and put the little baby dead raccoon

[1:32:18] there and pat pat it down. Put a flower

[1:32:21] there. Maybe a little rock there to mark

[1:32:26] it.

[1:32:29] But if you see a dead rat in your

[1:32:33] driveway, you go, "Ooh." You get the

[1:32:36] shovel and throw it in the trash can.

[1:32:42] This is called conditional compassion.

[1:32:48] I actually had a student that said that

[1:32:50] to me. I like My stories imitate life.

[1:32:54] And the and and she said, "Oh,

[1:32:57] I ran over a little baby squirrel." And

[1:33:00] I felt so bad and it even had a nut in

[1:33:04] its mouth. And I'm going like, "This

[1:33:07] [laughter] is baby dead raccoon

[1:33:09] compassion." So I of course I said, "Oh,

[1:33:11] that's very bad. That's sad. Whatever.

[1:33:14] Dig a hole. Put put it in. Put a flower

[1:33:16] on it." But

[1:33:20] it is our compassion. When I see

[1:33:22] roadkill,

[1:33:25] I I um I say prayers for them. Any

[1:33:30] roadkill I see on the road.

[1:33:34] Whoever I see, if I pass merit, I pass

[1:33:40] merit to everyone. It's

[1:33:43] and the hardest thing I was saying

[1:33:46] yesterday was I even forgive my enemies.

[1:33:50] It's hard

[1:33:52] but I have no further enemies in my

[1:33:56] heart. They may feel that I am their

[1:33:59] enemy

[1:34:00] but I cannot have an enemy. I would be

[1:34:04] not true

[1:34:06] to the Buddha Dharma I present.

[1:34:09] And that took me a long time to be able

[1:34:12] to do that, to put aside the feeling

[1:34:16] that there of hatred or anger or wanting

[1:34:20] to get revenge.

[1:34:23] But my heart tempered.

[1:34:27] I can feel for

[1:34:30] the baby rat or the mature rat.

[1:34:35] I feel for for all sentient beings.

[1:34:41] for ghost, hell dwellers,

[1:34:44] asher,

[1:34:47] even heaven dwellers where they think

[1:34:49] it's they're all high and mighty and

[1:34:52] they're that joy will not last for them.

[1:34:55] They don't understand that

[1:35:00] all of it is a whole

[1:35:06] realm of suffering.

[1:35:09] But the joy is

[1:35:12] that there is a solution and we can we

[1:35:14] can be part of that solution

[1:35:19] because of our Buddha nature. If you

[1:35:21] practice in this way you the compassion

[1:35:24] that you have will shine so brightly.

[1:35:28] You will have compassion for everyone.

[1:35:33] Just practice compassion. Don't

[1:35:35] discriminate when you see people. If

[1:35:38] they're a different color, a different

[1:35:39] religion, if they wear a funny hat,

[1:35:42] funny clothes,

[1:35:45] whatever it is,

[1:35:48] you um you extend meta.

[1:35:55] And in the Abidharma,

[1:35:58] the word after meta is karuna.

[1:36:07] And karuna

[1:36:09] means

[1:36:11] the one who is interested in the

[1:36:13] suffering of the world.

[1:36:15] That is you.

[1:36:17] That is you. That is your compassion.

[1:36:21] All you have to do is is uh awaken to

[1:36:27] your true nature. So uh I'm getting the

[1:36:32] from the producers the wind up, but I

[1:36:35] but I I'm aware of it. Um, and so I

[1:36:39] wanted to leave you with with that. So,

[1:36:41] please uh take to heart what I say and

[1:36:46] um and it will do you well. There's no

[1:36:50] difference between us at all.

[1:36:54] Take care. I mean,

[1:36:58] now you have to fill three minutes. and

[1:37:01] well actually

[1:37:02] >> yeah it's going to work isn't it

[1:37:04] >> okay

[1:37:05] >> Gilbert thanks very much so look we

[1:37:07] won't have time for questions from the

[1:37:09] floor today but um no it's

[1:37:14] >> but uh Gilbert will be so we we will

[1:37:18] take our our normal lunch break now and

[1:37:20] then uh Gilbert is around for questions

[1:37:23] and answers after that so we'll have a

[1:37:25] informal session I need to run through

[1:37:28] some formal announcements though So,

[1:37:30] I'll just go through uh our our regular

[1:37:32] announcements. Um okay. So, uh but

[1:37:38] before I do that, thank you very much.

[1:37:41] [laughter]

[1:37:41] >> Oh, okay.

[1:37:43] Okay.

[1:37:45] >> Yeah. Just

[1:37:46] >> No, I do need to do this. We're late.

[1:37:49] Okay. Um so uh special uh general

[1:37:52] meeting got a special general meeting

[1:37:54] here on Sunday the 25th of October from

[1:37:57] 12:15 to 1:30. Um and um so we're

[1:38:02] canceling the Kelly unmitted day that

[1:38:04] day. Um and then the doors for members

[1:38:07] for to register for the meeting will be

[1:38:09] from 12 to 1. And that's for people not

[1:38:12] aware that's a sort of a series of um uh

[1:38:16] resolutions which have been circulated

[1:38:18] in regard to the retreat center um and

[1:38:22] some um approval for funding that we're

[1:38:25] seeking. Our formal robe offering

[1:38:28] ceremony will happen on Sunday the 15th

[1:38:31] of November from um 9:30 to 3. That will

[1:38:34] be up at the Newbury Buddhistry

[1:38:36] Monastery. Um

[1:38:39] couple of other things. Our online suda

[1:38:41] discussions uh the next session will be

[1:38:43] Saturday the 17th of October. They're

[1:38:46] facilitated by Bante Saga and Aya Santa

[1:38:50] on the discord channel. Um they're

[1:38:55] just about the end but you can still

[1:38:57] able to do a self retreat at SOS during

[1:38:59] the Vasa. Uh and then we have upcoming

[1:39:01] retreats. Uh so Bonte Joe retreat from

[1:39:04] the 30th of October to the 4th of

[1:39:06] November is full but there is a wait

[1:39:09] list open if you're interested to put

[1:39:11] your name down for that and then from

[1:39:13] the 27th of November to the 2nd of

[1:39:16] December we have registrations for the

[1:39:19] Bante Kunda and Bodhi Daja retreat. Um

[1:39:24] this week the Monday night meditation

[1:39:26] will be ajan sod Tuesday night

[1:39:28] meditation uh as always by uh a lay

[1:39:32] person and then next week the Sunday

[1:39:35] dharma teaching and the Monday night

[1:39:37] meditation

[1:39:38] um uh both by Arjan Nisaro Adrien T are

[1:39:43] you here?

[1:39:44] >> Yes.

[1:39:44] >> Uh so we Adrian's got an announcement in

[1:39:46] regard to UNO visc I think. Yeah.

[1:39:51] Please.

[1:39:55] >> Thank you, Michael.

[1:39:57] My respect to master um Yubert. Thank

[1:40:01] you for your coming to to be as to give

[1:40:02] a talk. Just a quick announcement in

[1:40:04] regards to the UN VESAT team. I just got

[1:40:07] a call from the US Vat team. They have a

[1:40:10] very special occasions to celebrate the

[1:40:12] UN Vat to hold to to conduct UN Vat

[1:40:15] celebration next year in May 2027. It's

[1:40:18] going to be a very big auspicious

[1:40:20] occasions because the Thai Sanga Raja

[1:40:22] from Thailand has agreed to offer a

[1:40:25] Buddha relics to Australia and that

[1:40:27] Buddha relics will be offered to

[1:40:29] Australia at this special UN Versa event

[1:40:34] which will be held in Melbourne next

[1:40:35] year as it will be a very big and

[1:40:38] special we want to make it a very

[1:40:39] special uh event and going to be a very

[1:40:42] auspicious one. So UN Va team has

[1:40:44] requested if there are volunteers who

[1:40:47] would like to be involved in the

[1:40:48] organization as well as the promotion or

[1:40:51] marketing whatever it is of this very

[1:40:54] special occasions.

[1:40:56] There will be introductory sessions to

[1:40:58] be held on the 24th of October which I

[1:41:02] believe is a Saturday. At this stage the

[1:41:06] announcement was only known to the

[1:41:08] organizing team only a few days ago. So

[1:41:11] there are no further information but I

[1:41:13] hope there will be further information

[1:41:14] will be available on that 24th of

[1:41:18] October which is a Saturday to

[1:41:20] volunteers who are volunteering the time

[1:41:24] to be part of this special team for this

[1:41:26] very special auspicious occasions. So if

[1:41:30] you're interested to volunteer in this

[1:41:32] or be part of this UN vessa organizing

[1:41:35] team, please contact

[1:41:38] BSV president or the secretary to let

[1:41:40] you know to let them know that you would

[1:41:41] like to do so uh coming from our BSU

[1:41:44] community and uh there will be also a

[1:41:47] lot of volunteers from the other

[1:41:48] Buddhist organization in Victoria. So

[1:41:51] this is going to be a very special one

[1:41:53] and I'm sure you'll get a lot of merits

[1:41:56] from helping these special occasions to

[1:42:00] receive the Buddha relics from Thailand.

[1:42:03] Thank you. Thank you master. Thank you

[1:42:05] Michael.

[1:42:07] >> I'll just pass across to Lillian in a

[1:42:09] minute but just for people who aren't

[1:42:10] familiar. So, UNDA Visac is uh probably

[1:42:14] the only event where all of the

[1:42:16] different Buddhist traditions uh in in

[1:42:19] um Melbourne and Victoria really uh come

[1:42:22] together and um meet uh to celebrate the

[1:42:25] birth of the Buddha. So, it's always a a

[1:42:28] big event um it's it's worth going to.

[1:42:30] Okay, Lillian.

[1:42:31] >> Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Uh sorry,

[1:42:33] just letting everyone know that I have

[1:42:35] taken some photo from the back but it's

[1:42:37] only your the back of your head is

[1:42:39] shown. So yeah, so if you are um not

[1:42:42] comfortable with that, it's just for

[1:42:43] archival purposes. So if you're not

[1:42:45] happy with it, just let me know. I'll

[1:42:46] just AI it. So yeah, uh just and one

[1:42:49] more thing is like uh yeah, please stay

[1:42:52] back for Q&A. I mean, I think give it

[1:42:54] you can ask any questions whatever. And

[1:42:56] then we also have uh a retreat coming up

[1:42:58] that's next Tuesday, Wednesday, and

[1:43:01] Friday. H sorry, Tuesday. My mind just

[1:43:03] doesn't work today. So Tuesday,

[1:43:04] Wednesday, and Thursday. And we still

[1:43:05] have a few sports. And if you're

[1:43:07] interested, please let me know or please

[1:43:09] let uh lady uh seam in the back. No, I

[1:43:12] mean it's like we have a three-day

[1:43:13] retreat. So, yep. Thank you everyone.

[1:43:15] Thank you Michael. Thank you BSV. And

[1:43:17] thank you master uh give it. Thank you

[1:43:20] everyone.

[1:43:21] >> Okay. And then last thing for me just as

[1:43:23] always uh please come and join us uh for

[1:43:26] lunch if you able to stay. Uh, and look,

[1:43:29] yes, there is a um meant to hold this up

[1:43:32] before. There's a couple of these um out

[1:43:34] in the front so you can have a look if

[1:43:35] you're interested. Um, Gilbert, would

[1:43:38] you like to formally close the session?

[1:43:40] We usually share merits at the end of

[1:43:42] >> some closing remarks.

[1:43:43] >> Yes. Or just sharing merits, however you

[1:43:46] choose.

[1:43:48] I know we're um kind of over time now,

[1:43:52] but I I really sincerely want to thank

[1:43:57] uh Michael and this organization to

[1:43:59] invite me here. Um I I always welcome a

[1:44:06] let's say a cross-pollination between

[1:44:08] Theraodan and and Mahayana. Um because

[1:44:12] there it helps me uh frame the the unity

[1:44:18] of uh of what we are all follow um from

[1:44:24] the the three gems uh to the four noble

[1:44:28] truths, the eight-fold path, the

[1:44:30] parameas, all of that are universal to

[1:44:34] all Buddhist studies. And when we and

[1:44:36] practices and when we join together like

[1:44:39] this, we only make Buddha Dharma

[1:44:41] stronger and uh we uh break down the

[1:44:46] so-called fences and and in this way. So

[1:44:50] I'm very happy. I'm very appreciative of

[1:44:53] the wonderful art um uh audience that I

[1:44:56] had here and um I will answer questions

[1:44:59] uh um afterward. you may have some

[1:45:02] questions and um I'm certainly uh uh

[1:45:06] willing to do that. There's a uh one um

[1:45:10] young monk that that asked a Chan

[1:45:12] master, you know, um that uh uh what is

[1:45:18] chon and the master said, "Ask me a

[1:45:21] question." And it's this way that Chan

[1:45:25] comes from the heart. So if you ask me a

[1:45:28] question, I will tell you about Chan.

[1:45:31] Thank you. Blessings to you all. May you

[1:45:35] all flourish in the dharma.

Artist

BSV Dhamma Talks

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Got Questions?

What is Buddha nature according to Gilbert Gutierrez's Dhamma talk?

In the 11 October 2026 BSV talk, Gutierrez said that each person has a Buddha nature and that the Buddha came into the world to remind people of their own nature. He framed awakening as recognition of something already present, with the listener's own mind being the Buddha mind.

Is there a difference between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism?

Gutierrez said his Chan master emphasized that there is no real difference between Theravada and Mahayana at the level of the heart. He acknowledged that doctrinal differences exist but argued that the heart underneath them is the same.

What is the Karaniya Metta Sutta and why is it chanted at the start of a Dhamma session?

The Karaniya Metta Sutta is the Buddha's teaching on loving-kindness, and at BSV it was chanted after the refuges and precepts. Its image of a mother protecting her only child, and its instruction to sustain loving-kindness in every posture, set the theme for the talk that followed.

How can I cultivate wisdom and compassion in daily life, according to this talk?

The talk framed wisdom and compassion as things cultivated in both formal meditation and daily living. Gutierrez presented compassion as what arises when a clear mind looks at suffering without turning away, and the chanted sutta asks practitioners to sustain loving-kindness through ordinary activity.

Who is Gilbert Gutierrez?

Gilbert Gutierrez is a Chan Buddhist teacher based in southern California who has more than fifty years of meditation experience. He received Dharma transmission in 2002 from Chan Master Shen Yen of Dharma Drum Mountain and leads retreats and lectures across America, Asia and Europe. The introducer at BSV also described him as a retired lawyer.

What is the Buddhist Society of Victoria?

The Buddhist Society of Victoria is a registered Buddhist not-for-profit association based at an East Malvern centre in Melbourne. It welcomes members of all backgrounds and religions, and its spiritual advisor is Ajahn Brahm, abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia.

Where can I watch Gilbert Gutierrez Dhamma talks online?

The full 11 October 2026 session is published on the BSV Dhamma Talks YouTube channel. Gutierrez also maintains an online presence under the name Chan Mind Work, as listed in his public biography.