The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

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Great.

Okay, well, hello everyone.

Hello and welcome again to Happy hours, lovely to be with you.

So, yeah, maybe a couple of themes I want to bring in today. What is, one is the theme that, it's the theme about spiritual friends,

spiritual friendships and about good friends actually about good friends and this

passage in the suta was shared with me earlier today by my good friend,

Diana Clark. You know Diana,

and Diana and I used to hold happy hour together for a long time.

So this is the, which she shared with me and we're both

delighting and in this teaching from the sutas that neither of us knew in its significant.

So, and you'll see why in a moment it can, it's relevant and significant so so this is from on Guter and

nikaya 1113 and and as you might have noticed if you have been practicing meditation and the darma for a while

often the teachings, you know,

taking refuge, for example, taking trust.

It's in the triple gem.

It's the Buddha, Darma, and Sanga.

So Buddha, both Buddha and also the external Buddha, internal Buddha, which is our own ability,

having trust in our own ability to wake up so thinking of that as the internal Buddha

and the darma is as the teachings the both the the the the darma with capital d the teachings of the Buddha and the

d which is the unfolding the lawful way things unfold.

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