It’s very important to just observe. We never can look at what something actually is. We add on things; what that is and, and almost imperceptibly, the person who is looking at it. We create an individual over and over again. Not only is what it looking at is unreal but that which is being looked at or observed is unreal.

https://youtu.be/0OJvaOL0xxY

A subject that comes up with students that there is often misunderstanding about is therapy, and how it relates to meditation. There are many ways to get into the structure of the way in which you’re confusing yourself. A good therapist will meet you, “where you’re at.”

https://youtu.be/w1Ngynkd8VA

Observe the Confusion. If you try to fix it, change it or cover it up, you’ll miss what it actually is because you’re running away from what you think it is. It is not separate from you and also not the same as you. If you see confusion clearly, this is wisdom.

https://youtu.be/OwFGbmqFOtY

Concepts rule when you grasp onto your thoughts and ideas and the emotional dynamics that are reinforced by that structure. Just watch the movement that arises around any particular story.

https://youtu.be/DtlqaY-_wDI

I’m not trying to convert you to Buddhism. You can just meditate without doing that. If you don’t meditate, you are at the mercy of your passion, aggression, and ignorance, your self deception. If you know about it, it starts to come apart. If you don’t know about it, it will run your life.

https://youtu.be/Pi4856vHXDg

The vow to be with all things, or to save all beings, is the third of the three pure precepts. This means putting others before yourself and it is very hard to do. Don’t disrespect people’s confusion by correcting them. Anything that arises, give it the benefit of the doubt.

https://youtu.be/Wy6DsSHM2yQ

Just observe. Everything is fluctuating and changing so much that if you try to maintain a standard or a rule, everything crystallizes into something that has no oxygen and doesn’t breathe or move with everything else that is dependently arisen. Don’t maintain, just return.

https://youtu.be/N6lIJ78-7K0

This illusion is speaking to you. There’s no way I can lie to you and no way I can tell you the truth; YOU have to see it. The very nature of illusion is to grasp at relative truth, duality. There is no solid character that is substantial. Anytime you grasp at something you take all of its light away.

https://youtu.be/xXpRhl3mVyg

If you want to be an educator, practice meeting people ‘where they are at.’ Every single person is completely unique. Sokuzan talks about the teachers who responded to what was showing up in his mind stream rather than some authority about what was being taught. You don’t have to know, you don’t have to understand, you have to see what this is.

https://youtu.be/jopNBULBy_M

Sokuzan talks about his relationship to his teachers, and how the relationship to a teacher might show up for you. An insightful teacher will know who they are teaching. The student is one who understands what it means to be a student. It’s important to be genuine, honest and sincere with each other.

https://youtu.be/RBlUPlDhi7A