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Good morning everybody. 
So my students and I just 

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finished a book called Buddhist 
Philosophy, David Kalukaha. 

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There's a lot of good stuff in 
it, but one set concept that 

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keeps sticking with me and 
honestly one I'm still 

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struggling with, is a concept 
called reification. 

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So I'm going to do what I 
normally do when I don't fully 

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understand something. 
I'm going to give a talk about 

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it like I do and hope that by 
the end I understand it a little

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bit better. 
So reification, I think it means

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something pretty simple and that
is when we turn a process into a

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thing. 
Helpful example is waves in the 

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ocean. 
So when does a wave become a 

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wave? 
If you're standing on the beach,

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you can point out and say, look,
that's a wave. 

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It's right there. 
It looks solid, it's distinct, 

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it's self-contained. 
It's a wave, right? 

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Well, as my son would say, 
actually, Dad, it's water moving

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in a pattern, right? 
It's wind across the surface of 

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the ocean, it's gravity pulling 
and pushing, it's depth, it's 

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temperature, it's current, then 
it's you observing it. 

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It's really a convergence of all
these different conditions. 

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There isn't really a wave hiding
inside all of that. 

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There's really just a process. 
But the mind does what the mind 

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does, and it names it. 
And once it named, once it's 

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named, it feels real. 
It feels like a thing that's a 

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wave. 
And we do this with everything. 

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We take fluid relational 
processes and turn them into 

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something solid, distinct, and 
independent. 

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That move, that very human move,
is reification. 

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And we don't just do it out 
there with waves. 

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We do it in here too, right? 
I, me, right. 

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But you know, a mood arises, 
whether it's anxiety, sadness, 

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or with me, irritation, complete
irritation. 

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And almost immediately that mood
becomes I am irritated or I am 

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depressed or I'm a very, very 
angry man. 

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What was a process? 
An amalgamation of events, 

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biology, history, relationships 
becomes an identity becomes a 

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thing. 
Something moving becomes 

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something solid, and it becomes 
me. 

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Now the Buddha saw that we do 
this and he said don't. 

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And this comes up when he talks 
about the five aggregates of 

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form, feeling, perception, 
formations of consciousness. 

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He's pointing at something 
that's really dynamic. 

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What we call self is really a 
coalescing of all of these 

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different processes. 
It's more of a dance, but we 

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take that dance and we freeze it
into a statue, into a me. 

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And once it feels solid, well, 
then the real work begins. 

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Because then we defend it, or we
despair over its, or we try to 

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perfect it. 
Whatever we end up doing with 

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it, we cling. 
And clinging requires that 

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something that we feel like is 
solid. 

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You can't cling to the concept 
of a wave if you understand it's

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just water moving around. 
You can't cling to a self if you

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see it as conditions that have 
changed or changing and will 

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change. 
But if you believe that the self

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is a thing, something solid, 
independent, you will cling to 

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it real hard. 
So why does this matter? 

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Well, because that me changes 
Moods change your body, ages, 

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the roles you play, shifts in 
the relationships you have 

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evolved. 
But if I've turned that me into 

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something fixed into an 
identity, like this is who I am,

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or this is how they are, or this
is how my life is, then when 

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these conditions changed, it 
feels like something is going 

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wrong. 
Like something is breaking. 

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And then as we cling to it, we 
suck. 

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And not just because things are 
changing, but because we believe

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that they were solid in the 
first place. 

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Reification is our very human 
attempt to freeze what is fluid.

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And as I'm sure you all were 
aware, life refuses to stay 

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frozen. 
And the good news is that even 

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if we are tempted over and over 
again into this process of 

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reification, of turning dynamic 
things into thing things, we do 

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have a medicine that we can 
apply while we're doing it. 

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This is my favorite rhetorical 
question. 

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Can anybody guess what that 
medicine is? 

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Anybody. 
The dermal graph. 

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Yes, and more specifically 
meditation, right? 

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In meditation, we can watch this
process unfold. 

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The sensation arises and very 
quickly becomes, ah, it's my 

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knee or my back, my pain, I 
can't sit like this. 

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But if we stay close to the 
experience before it hardens, we

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might notice different 
sensations, like shifting or 

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intensifying or fading, and we 
may realize that whatever it is 

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we were noticing was never a 
solid thing. 

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It was just the changing 
sensation. 

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And the same is true with 
thoughts. 

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A thought appears, pops up in 
our head, and then another 

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thought comments on that 
thought, and then a story forms.

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Well, then there's a me at the 
center of the story, and it 

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happens so fast we rarely even 
see that we've constructed a 

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story at all. 
Meditation and practice, It 

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slows down that process. 
It doesn't eliminate thoughts, 

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it doesn't stop us from naming 
things, but it puts a little bit

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of space between the naming and 
believing that name is reality. 

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It creates a space between 
seeing a process, calling it a 

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wave, and believing the wave is 
a thing. 

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So my practice this week has 
been pretty simple. 

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It's that when something feels 
solid, especially by myself, I 

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am for these kinds of things. 
I am trying to pause more 

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instead of thinking this is who 
I am or this is what that is or 

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what I'm irritated. 
This I insert. 

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That's no, no, this is what is 
happening right now. 

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And I'm not trying to deny it. 
I'm not trying to minimize it 

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and I'm not trying to 
spiritualize it. 

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I'm just trying to loosen the 
process of reification because 

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maybe awakening isn't just about
becoming a better or a more 

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perfect thing. 
It's about relaxing our habit of

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turning everything, including 
ourselves, into something solid 

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that we have to defend or we 
have to do. 

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Maybe it's about more about 
letting the wave just be water 

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again and letting the self be a 
dance and letting the moment 

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stay alive instead of freezing 
it into a conclusion. 

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And if we can do that even a 
little bit, then there's less 

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around us that we have to defend
and less to protect. 

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And most importantly, thanks, 
Buddha, for us to cling to maybe

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a little bit more freedom. 
It just to just be part of the 

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process of things unfolded. 
Thank you. 

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Thank you. 
What? 

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What an awesome topic. 
And I feel like I. 

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Scored a goal because as you 
were in the. 

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First couple minutes of. 
The talk. 

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Describing reification, what 
came up for? 

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Me with a self was, you know, 
this, this idea that I am 

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something solid rather than a 
set of processes playing out. 

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And then you mentioned it's, you
know, the self, and I said, 

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yeah, I got one in a row. 
One right one in a row, I'm in. 

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Alignment with Joe. 
But you know. 

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It's it's it's. 
Kind of a beautiful thing to 

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think of all things. 
As the processes that they are. 

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Even this? 
Chair that I'm sitting on is 

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whirring. 
Around at an incredible. 

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Speed and vibrating and. 
Though I can't feel it. 

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It's actually. 
Happening and there's just 

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something. 
Very beautiful about. 

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Seeing the. 
Processes play out everywhere 

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where it relates to this idea. 
Of me, I kind of lean into 

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something I I read. 
In a book about emptiness that 

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describes A conventional 
reality, this 3D5. 

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Sense. 
World that we're all kind of 

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trapped in and how that. 
Is different from the ultimate. 

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Reality where it doesn't matter 
what you name it, everything is 

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just a process in process and 
it's wonderful to see. 

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The beauty. 
In that, like I said, and to 

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just have that moment in 
meditation to separate and kind 

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of see the the self doing its 
thing, the mind relating to 

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every little experience through 
this idea of me is is just kind 

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of a trip. 
And it's beautiful. 

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And it does actually for a short
time for me, allow a little bit 

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of separation to where, you 
know, maybe my sense of self 

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isn't completely in charge for a
little while. 

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Thanks again. 
Yeah, it's interesting that you 

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brought up emptiness and my 
original Tarpon I want to talk 

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was about twice as long because 
they had a sexual emptiness and 

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suchness and dependent 
origination and something else 

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that was like, this is just 
entirely too long. 

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But yeah, it's it does pair 
nicely with those things and I'm

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glad you brought it up because 
it was one of the ways that we 

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can understand emptiness is in 
that undercutting of 

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reification. 
That's all things are kind of 

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empty of that inherent thing 
that we want to give them that 

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thing this. 
And I do realize that my as I 

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was giving it, I used thing a 
lot in many different contexts. 

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But anyway, no, sorry. 
Thank you, Perry. 

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I'm sorry, wrestling. 
Thanks, Jared. 

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Really nice talk. 
I I was struck by how this 

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process of reification is set by
language, and I'm pretty sure 

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that in Japanese the phraseology
or understanding is very similar

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to English. 
Of I am angry simply because 

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some of the Zen stories, some of
the Coens are about someone will

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come to a master and say I am 
angry. 

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And he deconstructs that and 
then says, well, where is the 

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anger? 
Obviously you are not angry in 

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English. 
We also do that. 

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I am angry, but in the Nordic 
languages, and I believe, Beth, 

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you'll have to correct me. 
I believe Gaelic as well. 

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Yes, and. 
He's crazy. 

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I have anger or I have sadness, 
which really which removes it. 

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That one step is no longer 
something that I is, no longer 

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something that I am. 
It is simply something that I 

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have and if I have it, I should 
let know of. 

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It I think of all the how many 
things are just accidents of 

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language, right? 
Yeah. 

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In our western, sometimes 
western construction of how 

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things, senses are formed just 
causes this process to happen at

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an accelerated pace. 
So when you were talking about 

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meditation, which, you know, we 
always come back to, I was 

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thinking about a few years ago, 
I think Vincent was like 13. 

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And he said, you know, what do 
you do when you're really mad 

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about something? 
And I said, well, the best way 

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to kind of get through that is 
to instead of like telling 

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yourself the story of why you're
angry over and over again, 

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especially in the moment when 
you feel out of control, is, you

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know, just take a deep breath, 
blow it out, take a deep breath,

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blow it out. 
And just do that for like once 

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or twice or a minute or two 
until it dies down. 

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And you can think through it. 
And I can tell he was like, 

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super frustrated at the 
simplicity of that. 

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And I can relate to that so 
much. 

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Like, I am mad. 
I am angry. 

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You know, they did this and this
was, you know, hurtful and 

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whatever. 
And it's hard to get out of that

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moment. 
And just like you were saying, 

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Joe, it was a learning moment 
for me too, because it's always 

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easier to see a problem when 
it's not your problem. 

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But I realized, as realized as I
was telling him that, that that 

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was my problem is I was looking 
for some, I don't know, cosmic 

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type answer to getting out of 
certain feelings. 

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And then by telling him how 
simple it was, I also realized 

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how simple it was to go from I 
am this to this is a thing that 

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will pass. 
And not owning that feeling and 

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not having to stick to it was 
very freeing for me from the 

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very beginning of my study. 
But good talk. 

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Thank you. 
Language is an amazing thing. 

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It it it both. 
Helps us understand the world 

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and what's happening. 
But it also limits us. 

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I don't remember where I heard 
it, but it helped me a lot. 

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Rather than that I am angry or 
that I have anger, it's anger is

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arising and. 
When I notice the. 

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The impulse to say I am this or 
I have this. 

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It it it. 
Becomes really. 

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The process that I name self is 
arising or is reifying right 

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now. 
So, you know, we don't 

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necessarily have to be trapped 
by, you know, colloquial 

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language and the way we we refer
to everything interacting with 

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us as I this and I that. 
I I think that the, there is the

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ability, the our language does 
have an out for this and it, it 

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does help me to just, you know, 
from more of an equanimous place

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to say this is arising, that is 
arising etcetera. 

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No, I fully agree that what was 
it that Changersencia used to 

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say? 
Something, something get a 

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different result, think 
differently, get a different 

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result, something that there are
our language sometimes collapses

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into these dichotomies, right? 
Because if I am angry, then by 

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necessity, I am not all of these
other things that I am also 

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clearly at the same time. 
And by introducing these, I 

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don't want to say tricks of 
language, but by rephrasing it 

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in such a way that you can be 
more than one thing at once, or 

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you can allow for process as 
opposed to identity, then you 

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can get to a much different 
place in a much healthier place 

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than if you were to almost 
pigeonhole yourself into this 

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one model of language, which I 
think is, you know, I think 

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sometimes I think of term in 
terms of, you know, poison in 

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there though, right? 
Well, if if the one thing is the

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poison, then the other thing is 
the antidote. 

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And I know that's also a 
dichotomy and you know, here we 

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are. 
But but these things also exist 

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in kind of a circular 
relationship, right? 

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You can't avoid all of the 
poisons of life and all of the 

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things that lead you down 
certain paths, but you can turn 

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those very easily into antidotes
if you have those, If you've 

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practiced those anecdotes and 
you can see what is arising as 

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it is arising. 
And then it's not like an either

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or thing. 
It's just the circular thing 

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that you keep doing and doing 
and doing until you don't need 

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either one, right? 
You exist in this place where 

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neither the poison nor the 
antidote need to arise because 

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they're just not part of the way
that you've processed anymore. 

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Which is I guess a an allusion 
to my but or one way of looking 

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at it. 
I really wish Curtis was here 

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because this whole talk evolved 
out of a 45 minutes conversation

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that left both of us really 
irritating. 

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When he was asking, you know, I 
don't understand, in this book, 

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there's a discussion about karma
and he's like, is it? 

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Is it turning karma into a 
thing? 

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And I was like, I don't know 
what you're talking about. 

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What do you mean by thing? 
And he's like, you know, like a 

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thing. 
And I was like, no, I don't. 

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And this went circularly for far
longer than it should have, but 

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it led me to this term 
ratification, where we take 

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different things and processes 
like karma and we say, no, it's 

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this thing that exists outside 
of us. 

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If it has this outside of us, 
then we can react to it, these 

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kinds of things and do all this 
other stuff that the mind does 

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as opposed to just letting it 
exist as a process of a bunch of

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different things. 
And so that's kind of where this

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came out of. 
So I'm sure Curtis right now is 

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somewhere chuckling like you 
still don't get it, but yeah, I 

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try. 
We'll finish with the 

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Bodhisattva bow, followed by the
four measurables. 

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Creations are numberless. 
I will strive to free them. 

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Delusions are inexhaustible, I 
will strive to transform them. 

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Reality is boundless, I will 
strive to perceive it. 

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The awakening area is 
unsurpassable. 

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I will strive to embody. 
May your thoughts, words, and 

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actions be corrective and 
encompassing of the pragmatic 

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Buddhist path. 
May you approach this week with 

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deference and dignity, and may 
you spread your personal peace 

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00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,480
to all those you encounter in 
every place and through all 

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00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,160
time. 
May all beings enjoy happiness 

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and its causes. 
May all beings enjoy fear from 

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suffering and its clauses. 
May all beings find joy in the 

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joy of others. 
May all beings divide and 

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00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,680
equanimity, never overpowered by
attachment or aversion. 

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Swaha of cupped hands filled 
with our limited understanding, 

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00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,000
we offer our world of great 
mountains and subtle valleys, 

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00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,320
it's ever moving clouds and 
overarching sky. 

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The universe we see, we offer to
the universe we barely 

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00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,160
comprehend, and remembering the 
assembly of enlightened ones 

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who, having been, are with us 
still. 

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We wish all merits deriving now 
or in the future from these are 

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00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,080
practices to be distributed 
everywhere for the good of all.