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Namaste and welcome.

I'd like to begin this talk with one of my favorite stories from the old days.

I heard it many years ago about a diamond thief who used to hang around the diamond district

to see if any big dealers were coming into by diamonds.

One well-known merchant came in and bought one of the biggest, most beautiful of the gems.

This thief decided to get it from him so he followed him on to a train.

There were three days, this merchant was traveling on a train, and he did every trick in the book to try to find the diamond

and steal it from the merchant.

This was a guy who was really clever at his craft and he was very frustrated because as accomplished as he was,

he could not find that diamond.

At the end, he actually confesses.

He confronts the merchant and says, I've been tracking you for three days and I just want to say I've just really baffled.

The merchant looked at him and said, well, I saw you and it was suspicious.

I put it in the one place you'd never find it in your own pocket.

What I love about this is, as the Tibetans put it, that the treasure you seek, the treasure you seek,

is closer than you can imagine.

It's really in the eyes that are looking, the ears that are listening, it's in the heart right now that's feeling.

It's within the core of your being.

So I was interested when one gentleman at a recent retreat came up to me and he said, you know,

and this is towards the end of the retreat, he said, you know, I really haven't learned anything new at all.

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