Closing talk transcribed

[Andrea Russell]

hello everyone

great thanks to each of you for taking the time out of your busy lives to attend the precepts course.

these real time practices are not for the faint of heart, and it was so inspiring to hear, again and again, how you have taken up these practices and made them part of your seeing, breathing, interacting, signing up to do a course like this, doing the partner work, sitting in stillness - all these are signs of fearlessness, of generosity.

a couple of words about the vows.  some of us have been raised in judeo-christian traditions, and so these vows can feel like a heavy number, as one more thing, or five more things, that we can reliably fail at. it's important to remember that the vows are not the end of something, but the beginning (just as awakening, as the buddha described in the four noble truths, is not the goal of the path, but its beginning). along the way we will fail many times. this is a crucial point that the vows make clear - they are impossible to uphold. we will fail. so another way of looking at the vows might be: how can we hold our failures lightly? how can we hold the difficult places in ourselves with grace, with generosity? how can we extend to ourselves the kindness that we might so easily extend to others? this meansbringing the practice of ahimsa, of non-harming, deep into our relationship with ourselves. it's such an important practice, the first practice, the first lens. if we can be kind to ourselves then the rest can follow - being satisfied with what we have, being honest and clear about situations, etc. the revolution of the state, the revolution of the self - it all begins with non-violence.

the closing video had a glitch, attached is a transcribed version.

thank you for taking the course and for bringing the dharma into your life and the lives of those around you.

love,
michael, nicole + andrea