Class Notes 
July 18th

Looking at the chant; "All evil karma ever committed by me since of old, on account of my beginning less greed, anger, and ignorance, born of my body, mouth, and thought, I now atone for it all."  What does this mean for us today?

Greed: In old days there was so much death and petulance, it meant wanting objects and not caring about other people.  Now, our greed is not directed at the possession of objects.  Today it means never being satisfied; always wishing “it” was different.  We always think that we know the right way, and we want everyone else to believe it.  This deprives us of the appreciation of our life, because we are never here; “If only…” Greed is having an attention deficit disorder “You can’t ever be here, you’re always thinking of other things to do”.

Anger: Used to be looked at a s violence.  Today it’s more about placing blame on others – it’s always someone else’s fault. Blame doesn’t allow us to put the finger on where the problem really is.  Practice today is to look at the self and take responsibility.

Ignorance:  The old understanding meant not understanding our true nature, which is everything, the one thing.  Mind is the one thing.  Mind is Buddha.  If we try to grasp it, we push it away.  Each of us reflects the whole thing.  When we believe everything our mind tells us, that’s ignorance.
Our emotions are what stop us, not our mind.  We’re not going to work it out in our mind.  

Practice allows us to really look inside ourselves.  Daniel told us the Koen about the chicken pecking out the shell; finding the balance between the chicken/student pecking from the inside of the shell, and the teacher pecking from the outside.  It’s the balance – are we ready to see what’s really stopping us.  

Daniel encouraged us to look at our emotions, and then to tell Daniel about them.  We don’t need to figure it out, just see it.  We don’t need to get rid of it, just sit with it.

Fear and anxiety keep us from looking at what’s real, and/or wrong.
Daniel encouraged us to look at what’s stopping us and then turn around and say “I’m out of here”.  Daniel also encouraged us to enjoy the challenge of looking at these things, don’t make the challenges the monster.

Lost coin helps us to see who we really are.