So he pointed to what was this is just the way it is, you know.

This is with a kind of humor and a lot of compassion. This

is just the way circumstances are. The things that you're not supposed to say. He'd say, oh, that's interesting, isn't it? How is that? How is it to be whatever your particular condition is? And he was like a watchmaker who kind of looked at people and peered you and say, hmm, very interesting. Yeah. How do you like being in whatever circumstance you're in? And in doing it, what he was pointing to was that we can see with great honesty our circumstance with great compassion. And in the middle of it, laugh. In the middle of it, say yes, this too is a part of our humanity. It's not that we have to change or fix or be someone else, but that there is a wisdom that's so much greater than the things that we get caught up

in, you know.

He said, if you really want

to practice watching other

people, maybe 5%, watching yourself, being aware of yourself, 95%.

I went and complained to him actually. I said at

one point, early on, you know, when you're with a teacher or a master, you can try and figure out, well, okay, is this person really enlightened? What does enlightenment mean? And then I'd see him scratching himself on its air. Is he being mindful when he scratches himself? Or is he doing that unconsciously? Is he mindful all the time? I mean, I had all these weird, we get so idealistic about what it means to be awake. And then he did some things that he was very flexible and fluid. Sometimes he'd treat people very graciously. Other times he'd be very difficult with him. And quite inconsistent, he'd say inconsistent things. And I was having a really hard time. And I said, you know, I'm not sure about this. I think maybe I should just go and meditate in a quiet place and not with all this community and things like that. And even you, I said sometimes, I can't tell it's not clear to me, you know, I was really getting annoyed whether you're so enlightened or not. And only a Westerner

would say this. Nobody else would dare say it.