So,
Are we still in the makeup?
There's nothing wrong with wearing makeup,
Having designer clothes,
But it's the degree of grasping.
It's absolutely,
And I gotta tell you,
I gotta tell you,
Because,
You know,
There's so much grasping in spirituality.
I've gotta look a certain way,
I've gotta do my hair in a way that maybe I'll do the dreadlocks or I'll shave my head,
And I'm not a nun,
And I've gotta look the part that I can't,
I've gotta look the part of spirituality.
And there is so much grasping in that,
I cannot tell you how much grasping there is in wanting to appear a particular way,
Right?
And so,
You know,
Even in spirituality,
It's a trap.
The conditions here are that this is,
You know,
This is how it comes out.
And if there's wanting to appear in a particular way,
To be seen in a particular way,
Like,
Oh,
I'm gonna change it now because now I think they'll see me as being more spiritual if I were to do this.
Maybe I should change my name,
You know,
Maybe I should give myself a Sanskrit name as well,
You know,
And that way now everyone here is gonna see me as more spiritual.
Well,
I'll tell you what,
I'm the furthest thing from reality in that moment,
It's just my ego dressing up as a spiritual teacher.
It's just my ego dressing up.
And I cannot tell you how much you have to catch that.
And as a spiritual person,
Right,
Catch yourself wanting to appear more spiritual because now I should look a certain way,
I shouldn't,
I shouldn't shower,
I shouldn't bathe,
I shouldn't wear makeup,
I shouldn't do these things,
Like,
Why,
Why?
You know,
That's just the ego.
I always found,
Like,
It's interesting that sometimes you'll find,
I think it was Nisargadatta who smokes and people will be like,
How could an enlightened person smoke?
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche smoked,
Drank,
Also did a lot of other things.
But,
You know,
It's because,
And in fact Trungpa Rinpoche used to say,
Like,
Yeah,
You guys think I should be this spiritual thing,
You know,
Get out of your head about what you think this should be.
That's one of the biggest problems in spirituality.
We think,
Again,
I just need to look the part,
You know,
I need to,
I need to really slow down the way I talk and I really need to be soft.
And if that's how you are,
If that's how you are,
Like,
No problem,
Right?
And sometimes it's coming out that way,
Sometimes it's not.
But then some,
But don't force yourself into being something,
Don't force yourself into being something thinking that you're filling some role.
You're not filling a role.
None of this about,
Is about filling a role.
No,
I mean,
Okay,
If,
If,
If there was grasping at it,
Yes,
That would be a problem.
Yeah.
If there was grasping at it,
That would be a problem.
There's no grasping at it.
There's no problem here.
There's no problem here about it,
Right?
But if you're having a challenge with it,
I would question you to look and say,
Why?
Why do you perceive that someone who's giving,
Who's giving a Dharma talk that should look a particular way?
What is,
What is the image that you have set in your mind about how someone is looking,
Right?
Whether they're looking in a particular,
Maybe more corporate way,
Maybe they're looking in a more,
Or they're looking,
You know,
In a more spiritual way,
Right?
Because,
And again,
Not to judge the person who's dressing up.
We can see when they're dressing up,
Oh,
Let me put everything on,
Right?
You know,
Not to judge because it's just their causes and conditions.
It's just their causes and conditions.
Don't,
Don't make,
You know,
We can miss learning something valuable from someone too because we think,
You don't meet my expectations of how you look.
A poor person on the street,
Someone who's homeless,
They can be a great teacher.
They can have a lot of wisdom.
They may not look the part,
Right?
I did not know that about some bodhisattvas,
Philippa,
But yeah,
I mean,
Don't,
Don't,
Don't get caught up in appearances.
Don't get caught up in your appearance.
But again,
It's,
It's,
If your conditioning is that you're doing something and it's kind of how you've done things and there's a kind of a,
The volition is still to do it,
But it's nothing trying to look a particular way.
There's no problem with it.
There's no problem here with it,
I will tell you that.
No problem at all.
Yeah,
No pressure.
But also just notice that again,
Like when you're,
Notice how we judge people.
Oh,
Well,
They should look a particular way.
They should be something.
Who's judging?
Right?
That's our impression that we're having in that moment.
And what are we missing in our judging?
Oh,
Cicada is your dharma name.
That's funny.
You were so disappointed.
I used to think of that too.
What would my dharma name be?
Because if I had my dharma name,
Oh my God,
I really thought about it.
I really thought,
When I,
When I was,
Had moved to the monastery and when,
Of course,
They don't tell you.
They won't,
You can't tell,
Ask what your,
Your,
Your ordained name or your dharma name is going to be.
So yeah,
I think that's also on purpose because you,
You think,
I'm going to get this name and I'm going to be so spiritual,
Right?
And then you're like,
Oh,
That's not the name I wanted.
