Enlightenment = Letting Go

Good morning, everyone. Good to see everyone here today. I've got messages from a few people that they're traveling and other things happening in their life. So I have at least heard from about three people [unclear] Work on letting go. We talk about letting go a lot, right?

That there's fear of becoming nothing. There's fear of losing everything. Or just sense of emptiness. And the whole point of the Buddhist practice is to become nothing. To actually realize the nothingness. It's when we it's when we realize the nothingness it's when you also realize

that you are everything. So, what I just said will probably trigger your ego. Okay? Because that's ego does not want to die. It's like if somebody tried to threaten you with a knife in your neck, you know, you get shocked and you don't want to die.

Right? That sense of survival is embedded in our DNA to survive. And that's the root of all egoness, for lack of a better term. And because of that instinctive survival mechanism that we have, we're always treating all stressful environment as a threat to our life almost.

Even though we don't think it that way, our brain reacts that way. That's why amygdala gets triggered and sends out all this, you know, adrenaline and cortisol and all that, physically speaking. But

we talk about enlightenment in Buddhism. Anybody heard of enlightenment? Right? What is that? There are a lot of different spiritual practices out there talking about awakening experiences, enlightenment, and I've studied all of them. Well, not all, I can't say, but the majority of them are talking about awakening.

And it's not, there's different levels. That's the reason why we call Buddhist enlightenment is the perfect, incomparable. Anuttara samyaksambodhi means nothing higher. And even, even in the context of Buddha Dharma, Buddhism, there are different levels of enlightenment, right? Buddha talked about four levels.

Sotapanna level, first level is when we realize the non-self. But there's still karmic energy. And then there's, you know, sakadagami, anagami, and arahant is the full, complete enlightenment. But even the fully enlightened arahants, they were different from the Buddha himself, right? So, what is enlightenment?

And I'm going to put in a very simplistic, I normally kind of reframe myself from talking about this,

because it's going to be conceptual, remember. Because as soon as we put the non-dual absolute into words, it becomes concept. And when you take that, and you interpret it in your mind, it's still going to be a concept. It's going to be more of your own concept.

So when we say nothingness, nothingness, everyone is striving to be something, right? Based on our identity.

We're always striving to be something. But when we realize the empty nature of all that is to include this, so-called, people call me, myself, and I, it's going to initially feel like nothingness. Because when I ask you, what is this that's aware? What do you find when you look?

What do you find? Huh? Nothing. Nothing? Yeah. That nothingness. But don't say nothing, because it's really not nothing. But it's not something either. It's non-dual. Non-dual. Yeah. So, when you think in linear terms, meaning relative or dualistic way of seeing things, it doesn't make any sense.

So, but when you recognize that, when you truly realize there's nothing to be claimed as me, then, you'll realize there's nothing you can't claim as me. Does that make sense? Kinda sorta. When you realize there's nothing you can claim as I, when you realize this, you can understand this conceptually. That's what I'm trying to do right now.

at least implant some seeds, even though there will be resistance, I'm kinda taking the risk right now. When you realize there's nothing I can claim as I, when you truly realize that, there's nothing that isn't an I. Makes no sense, right? So when you become, in a more simplistic way, I guess you can express this, when you realize I am nothing, then you realize you are everything.

Okay? Let them be. Let the sound be. Okay? That's why we're training our minds to be present, allow things to be. Because we're so distracted with everything.

Not only what's happening, but what's happening in our minds. The reason it's so hard to realize this, is that we've been living our life trying to become something. Right? Always striving to be something, or have something. Achieve something. There's nothing wrong with that.

We just have to realize that it's based on misperception of an identity. that we claim this body as me. But when you look close, when you look close, you know that this body is constantly changing through the law of impermanence. Your body is not in the same body you had 10 years ago.

Right? Down to the self-structural level. Your mind is ever flowing much faster than your body changing. Right? But we're still claiming this entity as me. But as soon as you claim it, it's no longer what you claimed it is. It's already changed. But we have the sense of "I" so strong, so rooted, so deeply that it's almost unfathomable to think that this is not me.

that claim has been around for eons, actually. More than lives you can count. That's why it's so difficult to realize the truth. The truth. So, Buddhism is really not even a religion. It's just realization of the truth. So we're devoted to the truth, to the absolute truth, not relative truth, that you can feel, sense, and know in your mind.

But the absolute truth, the absolute reality of what the true reality is, the nature of our own true essence, is what we're trying to rediscover, to remember, actually, or return to our true essence. And we call it the world nature,

some people call it God, because that is the source of all manifestation. Because that is the infinite potentiality, the field of infinite potentiality. Okay? Even if you get a glimpse into that through samadhi, through this practice, and some of you may have already gained certain glimpse into it, you just can't process it, because your linear thinking mind blocks it, you know? Your ego blocks it.

But when you see it, glimpse, even the glimpse, you notice that the silent stillness that is ever-present right here in the now. It's not elsewhere. It's right here, right now. The infinite here, the eternal now that is aware. So if you're looking for something, as you ask, what is this that is aware?

You can't find it. Because it's not a thing. It's no thing. Does that make sense? But we're always looking for something. Because that's how we live our life.

Always trying to achieve something, to become something. And the Buddha said, that's why we suffer. Our life is suffering. He said. And there's different translation of dukkha. Unbalanced. Imperfect. Unsatisfactory. It's probably... There's no way you can get satisfaction out of life. Because the more you have it, the more you want it, the more you have to protect.

That's the fact. That first noble truth. The Buddha taught. Out of four noble truths. Right? That life is suffering. Why? And he didn't just throw that out there as a pessimistic view of life is suffering.

Oh no, you know, what do we do now? But he provided diagnosis of it. Why? Okay? That's the second noble truth. Third is that you can end all suffering. So why? Because of our own desires, craving, right? Tanha is craving. It is the source of those suffering.

And why do we have those cravings? The wants and aversions. That's both. What we want and what we don't want. Likes and dislikes. We don't have that, right? Why do we have that? Because of our identity. Because of this me-ness. This I-ness. That's what we're trying to dissolve through the practice.

To be what you truly are. What am I? Truly. If it's not this ever-changing physical form, ever-formed mind, then what am I? Right? And describing with conceptual words like stillness, silence. For some ego, that's boring. It's like, what's the point of life when I'm just nothing?

Because when you realize you're nothing,

you will also realize that you are everything. You are the field of infinite potentiality. That's where everything comes out and goes away. Okay? That's the answer. So, I'm just sharing this to be a seed in your consciousness. If you ever get interested, to true liberation, we call it.

The reason we, as I talked about, the second noble truth, the cause of suffering, is because of that. Tanha. Craving. Attachments that we have. But he also provided third noble truth, which means nirvana, right? That we can end all suffering. All suffering. Cessation of suffering.

And he described nirvana as returning to your true essence. Unmanifested. Eternal bliss. Of returning to what I truly am. The silent, still, luminous mind. There is no boundary in that. That's why some people describe it as oneness, the wholeness. Because there's no individuality in there.

There's only one mind. And everybody has created their own individual consciousness through misperception of that identity. When the original essence is what we're returning to. That we call Buddha. That we call Buddha nature. Is nirvana. That everyone can reach that because you are already that.

We just don't remember it.

Because of all this eons of life and death. That we believed and believed and held on to this beingness of myself, me, myself, and I. And the Fourth Noble Truth is the path. The path to give to that nirvana. Okay? So he prescribed Eight Noble Paths.

Anybody heard of Eight Noble Paths? Right? Right? Right? Right understanding. And they're all dependent too. They're not step-by-step. Right? Right understanding. And then you've got to have right intention. Right direction where you're going. That's what we talk about. Setting the highest level of intention is to become completely awake like the Buddha. Return to the Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings, right?

If not, at least try to set your intention to make a positive impact on other people's lives. At least to make your life experience happier and more meaningful. Okay? That's the intention. And there's right speech, right action, right livelihood. Okay? And there's right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration or right samadhi.

Okay? Those are the eight paths that is required. And also, it's really, we'll call it right, but it's almost like perfection of those. And then you return to right view, which is the right understanding, but it becomes the right view, meaning right perception, right seeing of the reality, the nature of the reality.

And the answer is already there, right? The three dharma seals, the law of impermanence, law of non-self, and law of suffering, right? And we talked about this. Law of impermanence. What does that mean?

What does that mean? Everything changes. Everything changes. What else? Everything stays the same? I don't know. There's nothing that stays, remains the same. Everything changes. But also, when you look at deeper, everything is transitory. So transitory that it almost, you can't even validate its existence.

If you look closely enough. Because right now, when I say now, it's gone already. Right? And I've said this before. It's gone. So it's gone, meaning it doesn't exist. The future doesn't exist. So what are you saying exists? As soon as it exists, it's no longer existence.

That's what you have to be able to see through. That's why it's empty. Because it's so impermanent. And transitory. Our mind, our ego mind, likes to create this, project this everlasting world of our own world that we can hold on to. Even though, as soon as I hold on to this, it's no longer the same thing that I held on to.

It's already changed. But it doesn't look like it changed. But if you look at it now, luckily we have science to back that up now. People couldn't believe that, right? What do you mean it changes? At the quantum level, you know? Atoms continuously moving, you know?

And they say even that we're not even really touching anything. You can't touch anything. Right? Anybody know the quantum physics? I'll tell you that nothing really touches anything. So, we have to look close. That's what meditation really is about.

To train our mind first to be present, to be awake. But later on, to gain that self-awareness, self-knowledge, insight into the truth. Instead of just believing whatever my brain is creating for me. Whatever the filtering system is creating, the perception. See it for what it is.

The law of impermanence, the law of non-self, meaning there's nothing that's independently of self. You know? Anything that exists by itself, without depending on anything else. Is there anything that you know of? Everything is manifested, everything exists, depending on something else. At least two or more supporting conditions.

Call it causal conditions. Right? Everything is supported by that. And now causal conditions are supported by its causal conditions. You know? Until you recognize that everything is interdependent. Everything is connected somehow because of those dependencies, interdependencies. Does that make sense? But we don't normally see the world that way, do we?

Yeah. We don't see it as is. We see it for what we want to see it as. We project what we need to produce. And we're chasing after that all the time.

That's why there's suffering in life. Because there's never satisfaction. You know, everybody has their favorite dish. Right? It's like, think about that. Think about something you really want to eat right now. If you were offered, whatever you want. If there's something, you know, I really feel like pizza today, or, you know, really fine dining, or whatever it is.

Once you have that, what happens? It's no longer. But it's not satisfied enough where you no longer have to think about that anymore. All pleasures that we seek, never ultimately satisfying, because you want more of it, and more, and more. Yeah. That's why when we chase after pleasure, it's never truly satisfying.

Except for that flash of moment, maybe. And then you think about it again, you're longing it.

That's agitation in our mind. That's the desire that continues to make us feel like I'm missing something. So this whole identity that we have is what's really creating our insecurity. Fear. Anxiety. Stress. All of that comes from that. From our own way of perception, actually.

We want to blame everybody else. The situation. That is coming from outside. But it's how we perceive it. It's our choice to feel, to be what I choose to be. So it's always a choice. But we're always giving up that choice to circumstances, to the people, to make us angry, to be frustrated.

Triggering my emotions. Because we allow them to. Right? Yeah. That's why we have to retrain the mind. Rediscipline the mind to be present. So we can choose our own beingness. To be free. From all these karmic conditions. That make me feel stressed. Anxious.

Fearful. When everything is impermanent. There's nothing you can truly have because of that. Yeah. So when you recognize, when you truly see, get that insight into law of impermanence, law of non-self, what you recognize is that everything just comes and goes. And how special it is, is your own projection of your own novelty in it.

Right?

Everything comes and goes. It's like this nice, cool breeze we're getting from this air conditioning. It feels good, but you can't hold on to it, right? If I ask you to hold on to it, you'll think I'm crazy. But we're trying to hold on to everything else, as if we can have something.

Right? That's what we have to recognize. That I can have something. That I can hold on to something. You know? But everything is temporary. Everything is transitory. So if you can look at it that way, it doesn't mean you have to become a monk.

You know? It means, live your life a little bit more free, open-hearted. You know? Allow things to happen, even though it's not the way you wanted it to be. Even though, you know, there are people that could be annoying or triggering you. You let them be.

As soon as you allow them to be who they are, at least I'm free from that relationship of being triggered. You know? When they pressure you to do a certain amount of work, I mean, everybody faces micromanagement and all that in their work environments.

But it's how we perceive it. When we start to resist what is, is when that stress starts to come up. So how do we train our mind to be peaceful?

How do we gain that peace of mind? By letting go of that resistance. Allowing things to be. It doesn't mean you become submissive or passive, okay? It means your mind is balanced. Seeing things for what it is and doing something about it if you can.

If you can't do something about it, then accept it. Why be upset? Why feel frustration, anger, when all that does is damages my health, damages my mental

status? Right? It's a choice. So, you know, if you look at the website, the path, tier one, two, three. First one is what? Anybody even read that? Healing and transformation. At least for our relative life, livelihood. We can live more happily with peace of mind and joyful heart.

with the intention to make a positive impact on other people's lives. That's where you start to grow the boundary of just me, me, me, me, me, to bigger me, bigger me, bigger me, until you reach the infinite, infinite height. When I say infinite, you know, you're imagining something.

But that's not what true infinite is. So that's really just the gist of what Buddhism is.

Paying attention, closely enough to see and learn, to know what truly is. It's like if we're studying, like, you know, kids sit by the, you know, yard out there, maybe looking at a worm, squirming by and trying to understand what it is, you know, looking at it, looking at it, yeah. Or any scientists that are trying to learn, you know, let's say a new virus, you know, you got to look and observe, right? You know, see all the qualities and characteristics of it. We're studying that, right?

So we're studying and learning everything that's outside, but we're not paying attention to what I am. But you can know and see if you pay attention enough. The power of observation has to be strengthened through our practice of meditation, where we stay calm enough, where our thoughts are reduced enough to be able to see through our thoughts. Our obstacles are our thoughts. And what are our thoughts? It's our ego's activity. It's our ego. Yeah. That's why enlightenment, simply put, is letting go. Letting go. Letting go, trying to be something, trying to achieve, do, gain, all of that. Because those are all activities of the ego.

to survive, to achieve. And we're not judging that as good or bad. We're just sharing the

source of suffering. The source of suffering is this misidentification, misidentification, misperception of the reality, misunderstanding of what I am truly. It's because of our belief and attachment to this me, thinking this body and the mind is me, is the cause or condition for everything.

Does that make sense? Yeah. So I know it's hard, difficult, especially when you have a job and other responsibility. So in the Buddha's time, to be his disciple, what do they have to do? They have to leave home. They have to become homeless. You know, they have to join the Sangha. You know, you have to leave the household of life to become a monk because you have to let go in order to really train your mind. You can't really train your mind

holding on to everything or else it becomes another desire that I want to become enlightened and have all the pleasures of life. You know, when it's still the way around. It's letting go of all those pleasures, recognition, validation, you know, that we are seeking. It has to be let go first. That's why in his time, you know, princes, all these people with everything in their life, let everything go for the truth. You know, if I asked you right now, would you let everything go right here and right now? It's tough, right? All your relationships, family, life, your achievements, it's not possible, right? So that's why it's a choice. It's a choice that we've made and that's what karma is. All the choices from the past that manifest who we are right now and the choices we're making right now is creating the karma for our future experiences. So it's just a formation of energy. It's all it is, karma. Formation of energies that we have generated based on our choices that we made. Whether we made those choices consciously or subconsciously or unconsciously, it's choice. We're always making a choice. That's why we have to be mindful. That's why we have to be awake, conscious, so we can make conscious choices. Otherwise, you're living based on your karmic destiny.

Call it karmic destiny. Everybody's born, you know, with a certain DNA. That's your karmic destiny. But moment to moment, you're learning something different. You're making your own choices, you know, disagreeing with your parents. Whatever it is, you are making your choices. That adds up. Those energies add up to make you what you are right now. So the Buddha said if you want to know what you were in the past, look at yourself now. If you want to know what your future experience is going to be now, look at now.

It's all in the now. It's all in the now. That's what we have to pay attention to now. That's why we have to train ourselves to be present, so we can become conscious, making conscious choices, not what our karma is making me choose. Karma is full of desires, full of wants, you know, full of all this, you know, pleasure-seeking, you know, accomplishments, achievements, recognition. You know, we talk about five desires, right? Fame and fortune. Fame is not just about being out there. It's about getting acknowledged and recognized and validated, you know. It's that little me. It's like, "Please, give me something I want to hear." Fortune. It's all materialistic desires that we have. Okay. And sense-based desires, you know, like sense pleasures, sensual pleasures. And then, last two is essential, but it becomes a desire. Food and rest. Okay. It becomes a desire when you go beyond the necessity and rest becomes beyond necessary when you become lazy, right? So all of those have to be tamed and let go in the future in order to gain that realization, to become truly free, liberated. Okay? So you have to really want that. So we want it so much of that liberation

that you're willing to let go. And if you don't want it enough, then it's not going to happen because you want something else. So it's almost like two different paths. You know? And um, as I was traveling across the country for a year trying to figure out what the spirituality was in America when I came back from Korea, I visited a lot of Zen centers. There was one of the Roshi, Japanese Zen. He was, he was American. So, white American. Um, we're talking and I was talking about how this authentic dharma of enlightenment. I don't see anybody pursuing that. They say, yeah, in America, you know, good luck. Because everybody wants everything. They want enlightenment and the big house and the big cars.

So, good luck with what you're trying to do. Am I hearing this right from Roshi? You've been doing this for how many years? 30 years? So, that's where it's to come. It's about relaxation. It's about, you know, another thing to do. Sit and meditate.

So I can find this calmness. You know, it's like taking a vacation from your, from your, you know, work. That's not what I'm trying to accomplish. Hoping that at least few of you be willing to go all the way. If not this lifetime, at least try so that you're set up for next lifetime, because that's the karmic direction that we take. Okay? And Buddha said, "It is extremely rare

extremely rare to become, to be born as a human being." And only when you're human, only when you're born as a human, is when you can reach enlightenment. Okay? Not even this celestial heavenly world. You can't. Yeah. And even when you're human, it's so rare to find the true dharma.

Yeah. So you have a very rare opportunity. That's why the sangha here is extremely special. That we actually came together and we're talking about this. Yeah. And if you look at other Buddhist practices, it's about pure land. It's about praying. It's about chanting to get to pure land. You know? And it was created because the people were not intending. Their intention was about enlightenment because they gave up. And also people can't. So they created a way to at least link them with Buddha Dharma. With bodhisattvas and pure land, praying to the

medicine Buddha. All of that. Because that's what people wanted. But we got to go beyond that. For our own discipline and taming of the mind, so that we can become free from the suffering that we are creating for our own self. Okay? It's already twelve. Any questions? Do you think we're addicted to suffering? Oh, yeah.

I mean, even though you don't want it, inside the ego, that's how you justify existence, right? And you know, some people will say, yeah, what's life without it, you know? What's the fun, you know, when we don't have that? But everybody also says, I'm barely keeping my head above the water, you know, but not willing to come out of the water, right? Everybody's struggling to keep their head above the water so they can breathe and survive, but trying to show you the way out of the water, but everybody feels alive by being in the water, struggling, because there's pleasure aspect of it.

Pleasure and pain going back and forth. So when you're in pain, you're seeking pleasure to alleviate that. Yes?

Isn't there a little bit of a paradox with letting go of everything, but humans depend on people to have families to create humans? Yes. So, if we all were to let go, then how? Yeah. So you don't have to worry about that. Because, you know, they say about 80% don't even care about the truth anyways. Yeah, so it doesn't matter. Yeah. They'll always be... So it's always about me. You know, like, what am I going to choose? Think of it that way. Instead of looking at this whole world as, what if everybody becomes enlightened? Wow, that would be pure land. Everybody becomes enlightened. But the reason is, you're not going to see it in your lifetime, is the majority of the people don't care about that.

They don't want to come out of the water. Yeah. They don't want to let go. So it's not about whether people will let go or not. It's about whether people, it's not about that everyone's going to let go. The majority of people won't. About 99%.

Yeah. So how do you, like, adjust for the future with climate change and, like, the fact that, like, there's already a depletion of, like, 90% of the ocean is empty. Yeah. And there's probably going to be no food for the majority, right? There's all these devastations that's probably going to happen in the future. But even if we work towards enlightenment now, how can we, and our suffering, if there's no food, and there's no food, and there's no food, and I don't know.

So everything we're experiencing is a consequence of our own karma, collective karma, individual karma. So you have to ask yourself, what can I do about it? What can I do? What can you do to change the world? If you can't, change it. But what you can't change is really your own self.

So we focus on that, to be able to become as much beneficial to others as possible, is first find that peace of mind first, and joyful hearts through altruistic compassion, yeah. So even the Buddha said there are three things I can't do, and one of them is I can't awaken everybody at the same time. I can't awaken people that are not willing to listen, you know. So you can't really change the world. It's our ego that thinks it should be this way, that way. That's our judgment about the world. So, let that be. Let it be. Any one last question? Yeah, sure. So, I do agree, like, and I practice in that manner, but what if you are proactively living consciously to prepare for, like, you're growing all of your food, and preparing

for your own sustainability, and then when time comes, the obvious people that are hungry, they all come to you, and they're like, they know that you're the only one that has food. So, you have to ask yourself, what is that based on? Is that based on the truth, or is it based on your fear of what might happen? Or do you know for sure that's gonna happen? Okay, so, this actually happened during COVID, where I told everybody, 'cause I work in the background with emergency response, and I told everybody in January, you guys should start buying PPE and this mask, 'cause there's gonna be something that happens in this country. I already see it going abroad. And all my friends were saying, you're paranoid, you're being too crazy. So I just started going ahead and just buying, and I already saw it was signed out.

But when the lockdown happened, all those people that told me that I was paranoid started calling me asking me for PPE, and I had to drive around the city giving out PPE that I didn't even know I could afford to give away. But so if that happens again, I always wonder, do I keep, 'cause I have to protect my own resources too, but how do you maintain that altruistic way of being? Mm-hmm. While also taking care of your own family? Right. You do what you can. There's only, you're limited to what you can do, right? So do what you can to be altruistic and compassionate. And make sure that what you're doing is based on that, not based on fear. It could be same act.

We could do it out of love, or we could do it out of fear. Same act. Same purchase you could be making to be helpful, to be helpful, or out of fear, for myself, and myself only. And when you do it out of fear, it's negative energy-based. Yeah, it's negative energy-based. And it always has, it propagates negative energy. But if you do it out of love, compassion, there may be, you may be limited to what you can do, but at least your intention, your energy, you're vibrating, you're radiating out. It's different, different level. That's all we can do, is raise our consciousness level, so that we can help. The reason all this chaos is happening is because of the low consciousness level. That's why I returned to the U.S., because I wanted to raise the consciousness level.

And there's a method that I saw as a solution, is to create a community of practitioners,

that practice together. Because this is all nice and good. You can agree with me 100%, but as soon as you walk out that door, you're living completely hijacked by the worldly aspect of life. That doesn't keep you on practice. But when we live as a community, practice together, raise kids together as a village, I see that as a solution for the future. There are already a few communities like that, but this is going to be based on the Buddhist teaching of awakening, you know, where we're trying to awaken the kids also, at the same time, while we remain, you know, awakened, meaning wisdom and compassion, to raise our level of consciousness, which is going to make impact. That's what we become, is what is going to change.

It's not all the actions and desires. That's why we have to work on our own consciousness level. Raise it first, to make that true impact. Otherwise, we're going to be focused on, we've got to do this, we've got to do that. That's endless. There's so many different things. But if we just focus on our own consciousness, our own way of being, not the worldly way of being, but more awakened being, then we can make that. But not by myself. It has to be multiple people working together. It doesn't mean you have to live in the same house, you know, but in a community, that we are together, working towards the same intention. Does that make sense? Yeah. So, that's, that's what I visualize. A solution, part of the solution that we can bring in, to label, to raise the level of consciousness.

Yes? What I'm hearing you say is, not just intention or action, right intention, right action.

Mm-hmm. So, we're setting that intention. Yes. Right intention. Yeah. And what this lady just described, right action. Mm-hmm. So, you're stripping fear, and it's an action toward being beneficial. Yeah. Um, focused on that. Yeah. That's right action. Right. Is that, am I hearing? Yeah. So, yeah, looking at it from the Eightfold Path, we have to set the right intention. That's why I'm trying to encourage everyone to be intention-based practitioners. Intention-based. Intention to make positive impact in other people's lives, to mean society. In order to do that, we have to be powerful enough. And our consciousness level has to be higher. A new way of being that's based on wisdom to see, you know, not just my way of thinking, my way of seeing, but to be able to see 360 degrees, you know, holographic, you know,

wisdom. Okay? And compassion. Yeah. So that's why I've been researching and I've seen what works and what doesn't. And it's just people have to come together to raise the level of consciousness together. And we'll get there. Yes? So just in the context of your talk, and thank you, so Dr. David Hawkins, when he became realized, he said that he felt the need to come back into the world. Yeah. And so am I incorrect when he was able to do that and his desire to do that is because he became a Buddha and he had the ability to do that? Mm-hmm. Well, it's based on the intention. Yeah. He had said there are people that become enlightened, and according to his, you know, calibration and measurement, about 60 percent of people who reach enlightenment would just go phew.

Even the Buddha almost went before the god of the gods came down, you know, Sahampati came down and pleaded with him to teach. You know, because once you reach the level, there's nothing else to do, but out of compassion. You know, and he saw there are people, it was in his own words, fewer dust in their eyes. And he said there are so many people so, so deeply rooted into this identity and the worldly way of being that, you know, you know, initially he said, "Wow, is this even visible?" Okay, and then he looked again and he found a few people. And he was able to bring about about 1,250 arahants, right? And other levels of different enlightenment as well. That's why we have what we have right now.

So it's based on the intention. That's why it's intention, intention, intention. Okay?

Alright. So we are way past 12. Only announcement is next week at the Yoga Fest. We're going to meet on Saturday, but in the afternoon we're going to meet again, if you can't be there, at Yoga Fest for the Meditation for World Peace. We did this at Angel Nyack a couple months ago. We're going to do it again based on the invitation from the Yoga Fest. We'll be there at 2:30. So if you're going to be there, be there around 2:00. And then we'll do this together. Okay. Will there be any shade, tent, or will it be just out in the open? I have no idea. For an umbrella? Huh? For an umbrella. Yeah, umbrella or hat, you know, I would suggest. Because it's the Memorial Park, Nyack Memorial Park.

It's going to be an open space, so. But we will still meet. And then that's it. So we're going to meet downstairs. We're going to meet downstairs for tea time. And on your way out, if you want to pick up this invitation, this Zen Center is having a 30th, 30th what, what is it called? Yeah. 30th anniversary on October 4th. And the actual ceremony is in the afternoon, okay? If you want to attend Zen Master Subur is coming from Korea, they're going to have translation of his dharma talk as well at 2 o'clock. So that's the main event. And they'll have concert at 1:00, meal, the lunch at noon. So if you want to come to that, you can start coming at noon. Okay? Can we also just recognize Jake and thank him again for all his work?

Oh, okay. The website, yeah. So thank you, Jake. So the dharma talk, he's uploading the dharma talks on the website and also on YouTube. So you can re-listen to that of the past dharma talks, okay? Yes.

Okay. Thank you so much. Let's end with our loving-kindness prayer. Please bring your hands together and think about all sentient beings and repeat after me. May all beings be safe. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be joyful. May all beings awaken to their true nature. May all beings awaken to their true nature. May all beings be free. May all beings be free.

Have a great evening. Have a great weekend.