Yesterday we were discussing the scripture called the Discourse or the Exposition on the Elements. And this discourse is said to be taking place in a potter's workshop And as far as the discourse says, it looks like there are just two people in this room, like Doksan, the Buddha and the Buddha's disciple. in a simple room, big enough for two.

[01:04]

The Buddha says to the disciple of Buddha, who doesn't know that it's Buddha, spend the night with you, and the disciple says, that would not be inconvenient for me. There's room for two here. So the Buddha sits with the disciple through most of the night, and the Buddha appreciates the disciple and thinks, hmm, I suppose I were to teach this venerable person Dharma. So he says to the disciple, what did he say? He said, monk, I will teach you Dharma.

[02:20]

Listen and attend closely to what I say. And the monk said, yes friend, And then the Buddha started to teach Dharma at that time. Yes, yeah, it was common for monks to teach other monks. I don't know if Buddha was older than this monk or not. A lot of people, you know, would be walking around in India at that time and they would see some disciple of Buddha and they would be impressed. They would feel encouraged by the way the person stood on the earth.

[03:25]

one person was actually attained enlightenment just watching a disciple of the Buddha relieving himself. The way he did it was so dignified and so compassionate that the person woke up from the example. So Buddha had disciples around that were great teachers. So if you were like Pukasati who had gone to be a monk under the Buddha and met the Buddha, but saw the Buddha come into the room and I guess felt that this person could teach him something. Now, if you see somebody that can't teach you anything, you should stop them right away. Say, no, sir, or no, ma'am, I don't want you to teach me Dharma because you have nothing to teach me.

[04:29]

And I wouldn't want you to try to teach me when I'm not in the mood. So why don't you come back tomorrow and ask me again about this. I'm always half-serious. and half kidding. If someone offers you the gift of Dharma, you should consider carefully whether you're in the mood to receive it, because if that's what they're offering you, you should receive it respectfully. And if you're not ready to receive it respectfully, maybe you say, just a minute, let me get right here. let me clean my house, or let me sit up straight, or let me pay attention now, if you're going to do that. Maybe, you know, I'm on the telephone now, could you teach me Dharma in a minute? Or I'm changing diapers now, could you teach me in a little while? Because I want to concentrate.

[05:30]

I want to, you know, I want, if you're going to teach me Dharma and I'm going to listen to you, I want to, I want to listen. But right now, I'm sorry. I'm so concentrated on this other thing or so distracted by this other thing that I'm not ready. So could you wait? That might be appropriate. So the Buddha starts teaching Venerable Bukkhusati, the clansman, and he has not yet been ordained into the Sangha, but he's a home-leaver studying under the Buddha's Dharma.

[06:30]

So the Buddha teaches him about the elements, the six elements. the six bases, the six sense bases, and the eighteen kinds of mental exploration, and the four foundations of which this person consists. So the six elements of which this person consists are the earth element, water element, fire element, air element, space element, and consciousness element. Those are the six. And the six

[07:34]

sense bases of contact are, well, did they say that? Yeah, it's the eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, skin contact, and our body contact, and mind contact, mind-sense contact. Those are six. And then 18 are each of the same sense modalities times three. And to explore each of these sense modalities in terms of a color which is productive of joy, a color which is productive of grief, a color which is productive of equanimity, a sound which is productive of delight or joy, a sound which is productive of grief, a sound which is productive of equanimity.

[08:55]

then the four foundations are the foundation of wisdom, truth, renunciation, and peace. And the Buddha said that one who sits or stands and lives on the basis of these four foundations truth, wisdom, truth, renunciation and peace, will no longer be swept over by the tides, the floods, the floods and the ebbings of conceptions, of conceivings. What you think about what's going on in the world will no longer push and pull you when you are practicing with these four foundations. This is what the Buddha said to his roommate.

[10:12]

So he starts with the first foundation. namely wisdom. And he starts by saying, one should not neglect training in wisdom. And he begins the training in wisdom with saying, what is the earth element? When I read you that last night, it says, what is the earth element? Well, the earth element, there's an internal earth element and an external earth element. The internal earth element is all the things of myself, of oneself, that are solid, solidified, and clung to, belonging to oneself. Those are the internal earth element of which one consists. But there's an external earth element of which one consists too.

[11:24]

He didn't mention that. The external earth element is all that's solid externally. The planet, the mountains, the rocks, the solid things externally. These are the things externally. which are the earth element of which we consist. We consist of both internal and external earth element, and they're both simply part of the earth element. Okay? So that means skin, fingernails, hair if you have any, teeth, hair in your head, hair in your face, bones, marrow, the solid quality of your liver, lungs, heart, intestines, large and small intestines, spleen.

[12:36]

He didn't say pancreas. Anyway, and the contents, the solid contents of the intestines and the stomach. Okay? This is the earth element inwardly. Okay, that's what it is. Now, how do you train yourself in respect to this element? Train, we train by seeing as it actually is happening with proper wisdom each of these internal earth elements and external earth elements. Your fingernail, your skin on your arm, the skin on your face. The Buddha says like this, this is not mine, this I am not, this is not myself.

[13:41]

This skin which is gradually deteriorating on some of us Well, not exactly deteriorating in a certain way, but becoming a kind of a farm for new products. Moles, all kinds of strange little bumps and uneven surfaces and lack of pigmentation and liver spots and wrinkles. It's not exactly deteriorating, it's just not like smooth and simple anymore, like it once was. This is not me. This is not myself. This is not mine. This is how it actually is. How it actually is coming to be is not as mine. This is a way to train, the Buddha said. When you train like that with your skin, with your teeth, with your fingernails and your hair, you become disenchanted with the earth element.

[14:59]

And the mind becomes dispassionate towards the earth element. It's okay, I think. Sounds fine. Someone disagree? Could it? So what does disenchanted mean? I don't know. I think it means disenchanted. We enchant ourselves with our own, we're enchanted with our own body, right?

[16:05]

We're passionate about our own body. We don't notice it until certain things happen. Then we realize that we're passionate about this body. Some people, a little bit of weight gain or a little bit of weight loss, not a big deal. But for some people, it's a big deal. For some people, a few little marks on the face, a few little cracks in the fingernail, it's not a big deal. But for some people, it's a big deal. But for everybody, at a certain point, perhaps some enchantment starts to surface, some special concern for this body. In other words, some sentiment, some kind of established conceiving regarding this element, this earth element of which we consist. So the Buddha suggests this training in wisdom

[17:09]

to disenchant ourselves so we can have an unenchanted relationship with the earth element internally and externally. And many people contemplating this do not want to become disenchanted. They like being enchanted about themselves and about the earth. They like this kind of mediated relationship with the earth, mediated by these conceivings. They like to get, you know, upset about this stuff. They like it. They delight in it. So they don't want to give up this thing. They don't want to train in wisdom, so they don't. So they stay enchanted. with their own body, with the earth element of which they consist.

[18:11]

They stay passionate about the earth element of which they exist. And they stay passionate about the earth, the enchanted earth that they see. Enchanted by what? This is mine. This is me. I am this. This is what makes it enchanting. The Buddha is recommending that you don't just let the enchantment sit there. Give it an antidote. Give it this antidote. And he says that you will come to see as it is what is happening. This is his dharma to Pukasati at that time. Then he goes through the other elements.

[19:22]

Same thing. What is the... What's the next one? Next, probably water. What is the... Where are we? What is the... Yeah, what's the water element? What's the fire element? Goes through each one of them like that. Internally, what is the water element? Internally, whatever belongs to myself that's watery, that's water, and that's clung to, like bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil of the joints, urine, and so on. All these things, the same thing. This is not my... I am not this, this is not me. Now, people don't necessarily notice as they're, you know, blowing their nose or urinating, they don't necessarily notice that they've identified on some semi or unconsciously, you know, that this is, you think that this is your, whatever it is, that this is your phlegm.

[20:43]

You don't notice that you're actually thinking it's yours. But if somebody suddenly switched, you know, said, just a second, let me put my phlegm where your phlegm is. Let's trade phlegms. Suddenly you'd realize that you had been thinking all along, this was my phlegm, and I'm comfortable with my phlegm being in my nose, my phlegm being on my handkerchief. I'm comfortable with my saliva being in my mouth. unconsciously you think that it's your saliva in your mouth. It's your urine coming out of you and so on, your feces, your bile. And therefore we're enchanted by all this stuff. We're enchanted by the water element and we can't see as it really is what's happening in terms of the water element department. So again, the Buddha is recommending, as you encounter these fluids, these fluids, these liquidy, watery things, that you check out and antidote your ongoing assumption that this is yours, that this is you, that you are this.

[22:04]

Now, some people can get with it. I mean, some people, in other words, can admit, yeah, I actually do think this is me. This urine is me. This phlegm is me. This saliva is me. Some people can admit that. Other people say, no, I don't think that's me, which is fine. But do you, does anybody really think that the saliva is me? And That's part of the $35 reward is, does anybody really think that that saliva is your self? That that's an independent self there? That's the question. And in fact, some of us, a lot of us do go around actually thinking, that's me. We don't look at that carefully, that we actually think that's me. So you don't actually understand what saliva is and so on.

[23:09]

For all these elements, he brings up these things. The Buddha does, one by one, in detail. He says these words to his student. He goes down the list. He says each one. He makes the effort to speak these words and draw his student's attention to these qualities which compose the person. And then he says, look at each one. When they appear to you, look at each one and train yourself in wisdom. In other words, antidote your unconscious or semi-conscious ignorance about what these things are, that we think they're us. Individually, in total nonsense. Turning away from reality, we assume these are mine, me, I am this. Antidoting it with this practice of wisdom, we become disenchanted by our own body and mind. and we start to build the foundation of wisdom wherein these conceivings will no longer push and pull us.

[24:17]

After going through this course of training, if one practices this way, Buddha says that one becomes equanimous. as a result of going to the trouble of paying attention to what your experiences are which constitute your actual so-called personhood and training oneself, antidoting your ignorance with this wisdom practice, one becomes, by practicing wisdom in this way, one becomes, by training oneself in wisdom this way. This is wisdom training. And as a result of this wisdom training, one becomes equanimous. The result of this wisdom training is equanimity. Isn't that a little surprising? It was to me. This is a wisdom training that results in equanimity. The first phase of this wisdom training is disenchantment, is to take passion and set it aside when it comes to your fingernails, your urine, your saliva.

[25:36]

and that also then, by the way, would apply to other people's urine, saliva, and so on. This is handy for bodhisattvas, by the way, not to be enchanted by other people's saliva, feces, sweat, vomit, and so on. Do you understand? Now enchantment, you know, there's positive and negative enchantment in case you didn't know. Some people are like negatively enchanted by other people's feces and other people's saliva, especially people that they, you know, that are strangers, which they consider ugly. They're enchanted by the people's saliva. You can take the saliva of one of these people and you can really scare people with it. Here's saliva. They'll go through all kinds of contortions when you hold the saliva up to them.

[26:44]

It's like it's a magic potion or something. Do you know what I'm talking about? This is powerful stuff to people who are enchanted by saliva. And animals, many animals are enchanted by the saliva of other animals and the urine of other animals. Males of many species, male primates, certain male primates, like male chimpanzees and so on, they'll do incredible things in relationship to the... They're enchanted by the fluids of certain females. I mean, they can be driven to, you know, amazing activity just by some fluid because they think, you know, in a way they think, that fluid is like my life. We also are like that too. We see certain fluids we are enchanted by positively and negatively and therefore we are swept over and pushed around by these fluids, by these solid things

[27:54]

These are powerful things in our life when we're enchanted by them, positively or negatively. But now, by this training, we're no longer enchanted or passionate. So if somebody needs us to change their diapers or somebody vomits on us, it's not a big problem anymore. We just, you know, when we have a chance, we clean up the vomit. We clean up the blood. We clean up the pus. We clean up the body. It's okay. It's not a big exciting thing. It's not a big obnoxious thing. It's just, you know, when it's time, clean up what needs to be cleaned up. Help this person, help this animal, help this whatever. But there's no delight or disgust with these fluids because we're not enchanted because we know they're not us. So we're calm.

[28:59]

Now, the Buddha says, now what do you do with that calm? Now this Pukasati, the person he's talking to, is quite good at... Buddha maybe knows that Pukasati has already achieved great concentration practice by following his breathing. But now by this training and disenchantment with the things of which you consist, the equanimity comes too. Equanimity is not just concentration. Equanimity is that you're not only concentrated, but you're not attached to your concentration. Some people are concentrated, but you try to get them unconcentrated and you're going to have some problems here. But equanimity, you're not protecting the bliss of your concentration because in the process of going through the element of consciousness, you also look at the positive experiences you're having from your concentration and you look at those and you say, these are not me.

[30:22]

These are not mine. I am not this." So you become disenchanted with the bliss of concentration. You're not afraid of being hysterical or hysterical people. You're not enchanted by your own hysteria or other people's hysteria. You don't go try to hang out with hysterical people or shun hysterical people. You're not afraid when your hysteria comes and you're not afraid when your hysteria goes. This is very handy for bodhisattvas. You lovingly welcome all beings to come when they want to come and go when they have to go because you're not enchanted by beings. Also calm beings, you're not enchanted by them either. When they come, you say, welcome, brother or sister.

[31:24]

And when they go, you say, see you later. So Pukasati is already calm, and Buddha now trains him in this wisdom practice so that he's not only calm and concentrated, but equanimous. Now the Buddha says, one could take this equanimity and apply it. Pukkastati had achieved what we call the fourth level, the fourth, I can't remember, the third or fourth of the fine material plane concentrations, the rupa jhanas. Now the Buddha said one could, he knew who he was talking to, one could then take this equanimity and apply it to achieving these higher, even higher states of concentration, the concentration on the infinity of space, the infinity of consciousness, the nothing whatsoever, and the neither perception nor non-perception spheres of concentration.

[32:32]

One could do that. The Buddha said to Phukasati. But, oh not but, and if one did that, one would be in a very nice state. One would be in a state of extremely high level of worldly experience. And one would be in that state for a long time. And part of what the Buddha meant when he said that was, if you enter into one of these trances, They last for a certain time. If you're like a regular human yogi and you're like, you know, things are going sort of along and you're alive, they last for like a week at max. And then you come out and go back in if you want. But if you should happen to die when you're in one of these states...

[33:35]

If you die when you're in the concentration on the infinity of space or the infinity of consciousness, you're actually in that concentration. If you die while you're in it, and you can die while you're in it, you get reborn into a heaven, heavenly abode. You become a celestial, you become a deva, a goddess or god. You enter a state where there's, you know, Well, it's heaven, you know. And in the first level you enter into, you live there for 20,000 eons. And the next level you live in 40,000 eons, and the next level 60,000 eons, and the next level 84,000 eons. Now, if you don't die, then you can come back and practice it again and just keep practicing that way as long as you're alive.

[34:40]

And then if you die in those states, this is where you go. Now, if you happen to die between them, you're actually in better shape, according to Buddhism. But the Buddha said that even if you die and are reborn in these heavens, you are still liable... to be reborn in a situation of woe. In other words, a situation where it would be hard for you to practice Dharma. So the Buddha didn't recommend, he didn't prohibit it, but he just wanted to point out that these states are dangerous because they're not really stable. They're not really a refuge. These states of current yogic trance and bliss, and also the fact that if you should get in trouble in those states, the trouble you get into is you're born in heaven for a long time. These are not stable refuges, though, he says.

[35:41]

What does the Buddha recommend? He recommends that you take this equanimity and just let it sit there in front of you. And then, rather than apply it to some amazing yogic attainment, well, yogic concentration which sends you to heaven or puts you in heaven right now, he says, in this equanimous state, one does not produce One does not generate, one does not construct any tendency towards being or not being, being or non-being. No tendency, no impulse, no intention towards prolongation and continuity of a state, nor annihilation of it. When one practices like this, then one

[36:52]

does not cling to whatever's happening. When one does not cling, one is not agitated or anxious, and one realizes nirvana. So that's where I went at the beginning of Sashin. Now I'm showing you the way he trained, he recommended for upasati to train up to that point, So you've been practicing this ultimate, this practice of wisdom somewhat from the beginning of Sashin, and now I'm telling you some of the practices which the Buddha recommended which will support them. ways that you can disenchant yourself. But I didn't offer you this at the beginning, but I'm telling you now about this. So you've been doing this practice to some extent already. Now these other practices can support that and can help you be calm enough and equanimous enough and balanced enough to make it more possible for you to practice this way of being attentive, of course,

[38:13]

to what you consist of, of what you are, with no manipulation, to be attentive and respectful of the earth element, the water element, to not project yourself upon the world. Or if you do project yourself, to practice the antidote of inviting the projections back, saying, no, no, no thank you. I'm sorry to put myself on your earth. I'm sorry to call you mine. I'm sorry to say that you're me. I give up the fun and the disaster that happens when I make you into me. I give it up. I now meet you with no projection. OR AT LEAST, ALTHOUGH I STILL MAY BE PROJECTING THIS ON YOU, I CONSCIOUSLY TRAIN MYSELF TO TAKE BACK THE PROJECTIONS WHICH MAKE ME ENCHANTED, BY WHICH I ENCHANT MYSELF ABOUT THE EARTH.

[39:26]

AND NOW I STAND AND SIT AND WALK ON THE EARTH AND ALSO RECLINE ON THE EARTH IN A MORE INTIMATE WAY WITH THE EARTH, WITHOUT PUTTING MY PROJECTIONS BETWEEN ME AND THE EARTH. I MEET THE EARTH IN LOVE RATHER THAN IN POWER. because it is a very powerful way to meet the earth, to interject projection between ourselves and it. Which means, again, a powerful way to relate to our own body and a powerful way of relating to the outside body. Inside body, outside body. inside earth, outside earth inside water, outside water to take away that power relationship which is the projection of possession and setting up the possibility of control and exploitation. Dropping all that and meeting the elements which our life consists of without calling it me or not me

[40:37]

with no identification or disidentification and then with the equanimity that comes from this kind of unenchanted dispassionate honest loving relationship with everything then we in addition over and above that then be careful not to even have an inclination towards existence or non-existence and then we settle into the truth we realize nirvana. The training in wisdom has now come to maturity. One is in arhat. Now If one were to do practice like this, if one were... And Upasati, by the way, is sitting here listening to this.

[41:41]

And guess what happened to him? Huh? He fell asleep? Huh? Not then. Anyway, he became what's called a once-returner while he was listening to this talk. which means he attained stream entry. He was already concentrated. And by listening to Buddha's teaching he became equanimous. And he attained stream entry. In other words, he entered the first level of the first fruit of the way. He became a once returner and he became a never returner. Never returner means he will not come back to be reborn again Well, he'll become an arhat after he dies. He'll die, and after his death, in the heaven he goes to, he will become an arhat.

[42:48]

He didn't become an arhat, but he got pretty close just by listening to this talk. This is kind of like the kind of guy Buddha was. So there's two points I want to make. Well, there's 16 points I'd like to make. But the first two are, I think the first one is that if one were to be in a position like that, where you had a nice teacher like that giving you instruction like this, like you happen to be cooped up with Shakyamuni Buddha for a night. sitting all night with Shakyamuni Buddha, and then in the morning he gives you a little Dharma talk like this, and then you become an arhat or nearly an arhat. So there you are, a bodhisattva, and suddenly, boom, I'm a bodhisattva, here I am with Buddha, and now he's giving me this arhat training, and I'm going to listen to it anyway.

[43:52]

And zoop, you're an arhat, or practically. Or like they say in the scriptures, you're an arhat or an arhatsprenest. You say, wait a minute, I'm a bodhisattva, I'm not supposed to be an arhat. But it's okay to be an arhat, even if you're really a bodhisattva. Now what's the thing that makes the arhat okay? What's the thing that makes the arhat a Buddha? Is that the arhat, who has this wonderful wisdom, who really is completely attuned with what's happening, who has given up messing at all with what's happening, has completely settled into reality, and has realized nirvana, and knows the end of suffering, this arhat practices together with all beings. And therefore this arhat is doing Buddha's practice.

[44:56]

And Buddha is practicing with this arhat. And the second point is, look at the way Buddha practiced. Buddha was an arhat. Look at what he did. Look at how he talked to this person. Look at the detail with which he spoke. Look at the effort he made to speak these words carefully, precisely. You know, the way he talked. Did you hear the way I read last night? He says... And monk, what is the earth element? The element earth may be either internal or external. What is the internal earth element? Whatever internally belonging to oneself is solid, solidified, clung to. That is the head hairs, the body hairs, the nails, the teeth, all this detail.

[46:01]

all this careful repetition of the meditation instruction over and over carefully. The six elements, the six sense bases of contact, the 18 kinds of mental exploration, the four foundations, He's willing to get involved in this messy situation of all these words and all the little dangers of these words and all the possible enchantments of these words and all the instructions. He's getting in there with this person, helping this person. And when he's done with this person, the next one, and the next one, and the next one. The arhat working in this way is then not just an arhat.

[47:06]

And the willingness to work with everybody in this way, and to work with everybody who's not ready to work in this way, and work with them in another way. Whatever way would work for the people at that time, this is the Buddha. willing to go into a potter's shop and sit and teach, willing to go into any place and sit and stand and teach the Dharma in minute detail, carefully, patiently, just so Upukasati can get it. six, six, eighteen, four. These unpoetic numbers. The, you know, the huge Dharmakaya, the vast Dharmakaya, the whole universe, the true body,

[48:27]

transforms itself into this Shakyamuni Buddha who then speaks certain words at a certain time to a certain person for that person's benefit, willing to be transformed into whatever works for the person at the time or the people at the time. So like that story I told you before, you know, where I'm flying to, I get on the airplane in San Francisco and start flying to Portland, Oregon with Suzuki Roshi. And after we take off, he says, I'm going to teach you to count people in Japanese. The Nirmanakaya Buddha, you know, takes the form of this kind of small Japanese man who can speak English pretty well, who says to this young man from America, I'm going to teach you to count people in Japanese.

[49:48]

He's going to make that effort and to explain how to count to this kid, to help this boy so he can count people in Japanese and go to Japan and be a good monk counting people in the appropriate language. And the young man sitting there next to his teacher thinking, what is this guy spending his time teaching me to count people in Japanese? Doesn't he have something better to teach me? like the six elements or something? And some people are hearing the Buddha teach the six elements. Doesn't the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, doesn't have something better to teach than six elements? I mean, everybody knows the six elements, right? Maybe not everybody knows, but still, you can read it in a book, right?

[50:53]

But what you can't read in a book is that that Buddha is willing to spend his time saying those words to you. That Buddha is willing to spend his life saying those words to you and then to train you and teach you how to relate to those words. That's what you can't get from a book. So then he says, so he says, okay, here's how you count them. You go start with one, right? Stori. That's one. Futari, that's two. San-nin, three. Yo-nin, four. Go-nin, five. Roku-nin, six. Shichi-nin, seven. Hachi-nin, eight. Ku-nin, nine. To-nin, ten.

[51:55]

He taught me that, okay? And by telling this story over and over for 25 years or so, I know him now, see? If he hadn't told me that story, you wouldn't be interested to hear, probably, about how to count people in Japanese. But since he told me, since Buddha told me, you want to hear that Buddha told me that, right? Some of you do, anyway. So I tell you, so now by telling you over and over, I can still count people in Japanese. So I can still go to Japan and be a good monk. See how it works? But even at that time anyway, after he taught me, then he says, now you say it. And I still had some brains in my head at that time, so I could say back to him. And he said, I don't know, maybe he said, good. Keep doing it. Then he went to sleep. And when he went to sleep, I stopped.

[53:11]

And when I stopped, he woke up. And he said, So I said, He went back to sleep. And I stopped. And he woke up and said, So, I said, 30, 30, san nin, yo nin. He fell asleep. This is a little lullaby, you know. Little Japanese Zen master, he wants to hear, it's all just a lullaby for him, right? He wants to hear people being counted in Japanese. And as soon as the lullaby stops, he wakes up. So I got the message that I wasn't supposed to stop when he went to sleep. So all the way to Portland I was saying out loud these numbers.

[54:19]

This is a story of Suzuki Roshi teaching a young monk. The other one's the story of Shakyamuni Buddha teaching another monk. Both cases they're teaching, they're teaching. Now, Pukasati, you know, When the Buddha taught Phukasati, he didn't say, now stay back to six. But maybe he did. Maybe he said, okay, now tell me those six back. And Phukasati said them back. And then he went on to the next six. He said, now tell me those six. And Phukasati said them back. He said, how do you practice with those? He said, well, you say, it's not mine. It's not me. You know, I'm not this. And they're right. Okay, now you do that. practice that. And maybe Buddha went back into his nice samadhi, and every time Pukasati stopped, he'd say, okay, this is not mine. We don't know. See, part of that story is, now, I'm here still. I'm alive, right? I'm telling you that happened.

[55:25]

So you're hearing directly from me. But how did they find out that this happened? There's just two of them in the room. Did Buddha tell people? Did Buddha say what he taught Pukasati? Did Pukasati tell people? Suzuki Roshi flying up to Portland, Oregon with his student, with his Jisha, giving this instruction, hearing this lullaby. When he landed in Portland, we did a sesshin, and he had a gallbladder attack at that time. This is a Zen master who has a malignant gallbladder flying. He's flying through the air with his student who has a malignant gallbladder. He's got cancer, and he's teaching his student to count Japanese, people in Japanese, with his cancer. Then he has his gallbladder attack in the middle of the sashin.

[56:30]

I finish the sashin for him, and we fly back to San Francisco. But now he's in so much pain that he can't, you know, talk too easily. So we drive back quietly. But this is the Buddha, you know, even when sick, still teaching the students. This guy can learn to count people in Japanese. This guy can learn the six elements. This guy can learn the four foundations. This woman can learn this. This man can learn this. I'll teach them. I'll teach them. I'll teach them. This is my joy. I'm dying, but this is my joy. And I'll keep at it as long as I can until they're Buddha.

[57:32]

I'll teach them Buddha's wisdom. So Pugsati received this wonderful teaching from the Buddha. And finally he said, you know, he finally understood who was there. And in this text, it didn't say, you know, the Buddha never said, guess who's talking to you? There's more things in here. Maybe I can get into this tomorrow, but I just want to tell you the end of the story, sort of the end of the story, you know? Actually, I can't even tell the end of it. I'll just tell you a short version of the end of it. So, after all this, the Buddha says, monk, bear in mind this brief exposition of the six elements. After all that, this is a brief exposition of the six elements.

[58:48]

In other words, if we have time enough, we can go over it in more detail for many years, go over this, get more and more skillful at this meditation, because I'm willing to go over this with you until you completely understand it. Thereupon, the Venerable Pukkosati thought, indeed, the teacher has come to me. Exclamation mark. The sublime one has come to me. The fully enlightened one has come to me. Then he rose from his seat, arranged his robes over one shoulder, and prostrated himself with his head to the Blessed One's feet and said, Venerable Sir, a transgression overcame me in that, like a fool, confused and blundering,

[60:18]

I presume to address the Blessed One as friend. Venerable Sir, may the Blessed One forgive my transgressions seen as such for the sake of restraint in the future. May the Blessed One forgive my transgressions seen as such." He's so happy and yet he also feels sorry that he misunderstood who was teaching him. Now he's very happy but he's also apologizing that he didn't understand. And he asked the Buddha to forgive him for his transgressions, which he understands are his transgressions as such.

[61:25]

Surely, monk, says the Buddha, transgression overcame you in that, like a fool, confused and blundering, you presumed to address me as a you-pal. But since you see your transgression as such and make amends in accordance with the Dharma, we forgive you. For it is gross in the noble one's discipline when one sees one's transgressions as such and makes amends in accordance with Dharma. and understand, undertakes restraint in the future. So, I don't know, I don't have time today, but this is a very important teaching right here, this thing about seeing a transgression as such.

[62:36]

That's the way to see them. Not seeing them as such and then slugging yourself seeing them as such, and making amends in accordance with Dharma. This is a very important part of practice, which maybe I can discuss some other time. But the Buddha points to it right here. This is what is in a Zen mind beginner's mind as sho shaku ju shaku, sometimes called one continuous mistake. But I really think a better translation, excuse me, Suzuki Roshi, is seeing the mistake as such. Now literally, it means adding mistake to a mistake. but it means that you, kind of like what is called remorse, you see the mistake and you say, that mistake is a mistake. So you put a mistake on the mistake in the sense that you recognize the mistake as a mistake. And when a monk recognizes, makes a mistake, that doesn't necessarily help Buddhism.

[63:40]

But when a monk makes a mistake and sees the mistake as a mistake, the discipline grows. our practice grows on practitioners seeing a mistake as a mistake. So, Phukasati received the wonderful teaching. He was a great monk, but he was a little bit foolish. He sees his foolishness as it was, and the Dharma grows in him seeing what happened, and the Buddha forgives him. And now, maybe, Not just won't he make a mistake in the future, perhaps, but the Dharma grows just by him seeing a mistake as a mistake. Then Phukasati says to the Buddha, Venerable Sir, I would receive full ordination under the Blessed One.

[64:43]

I would receive the Buddha's precepts. And the Buddha says, but are your bowls and robes complete, monk? He had some robes on, but the Buddha could see he didn't have the regular outfit. The Buddha was asked by certain Indian dignitaries to you know, outfit his group in a uniform way so that people could recognize them and thereby be able to pay their respects to the Buddhist students by all wearing the same outfit, this, you know, patch-robed monk, patch-robed kind of outfit. So Pukshati had left home, but he didn't have the regular outfit on so the Buddha could see that. And also he didn't have the bowl, the regular, you know, official... Official, what do you call it?

[65:49]

the NBL, National Buddha League, you know, begging bowl. So he could see that. So he said, he said to Pukasati, but are your robes and bowl complete? And Pukasati said, Venerable sir, my bowl and robes are not complete. And... Then the venerable Pugsati, having delighted and rejoiced in the blessed one's words, rose from his seat. Oh, excuse me. Then he said, no, they're not complete. Then the Buddha said, monk, the Tathagatas do not give foreordination to anyone whose bowl and robes are not complete. So here at Zen Center, you know, we're going to have three ordinations this spring. One, Belinda's going to do one in about a couple weeks.

[66:53]

And then, I know Norman's going to do one in a week. And Belinda's going to do one in a couple weeks. And I'm going to do one later. And people have their, they bring their completed robe to the ceremony. So this is an ancient tradition to bring the robe And the Tathagatas do not give full ordination to anyone who does not have their robe and bowl. So to get full ordination, you've got to have a bowl, too. But this is not full ordination, I guess, in a way. So then, after that, Pukasati was delighted and rejoiced in the Blessed One's words, rose from his seat, and after paying homage to the Blessed One, keeping him on his right, he departed in order to search out a bowl and robes. Then while the Venerable Pukasati was searching for a bowl and robes, a stray cow killed him. A number of the bhikkhus, a number of the monks, went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, they sat down to one side and told him, Venerable Sir, the Klansman Pukasati

[68:11]

who was given brief instruction on the six elements, by the Blessed One, has died. What is his destiny? What is his future course? Monks? The clansman, Pukkisati, was wise. He practiced in accordance with the Dharma. and did not trouble me in the interpretation of Dharma." Some people do. The Buddha had a few troublesome disciples, but he hung in there with them. Or he gave them to Shariputra. But this was an easy case, as you can see. Now, with the destruction of the five lower fetters, the clansman Pugasati has reappeared spontaneously in the pure abode.

[69:23]

He was a never-returner and will attain final nirvana there without returning to that world. In other words, his destiny would be that he would attain nirvana in the abode to which he has just gone, the Buddha. You can see that. And also I'll talk to you in more detail sometime about how the Buddha can see where we're going. Briefly, I don't think anybody can predict the future. but people can see our tendencies. A wise person can see the structure of our karma. It's not predicting the future, it's just seeing the construction of our karmic patterns so you can tell this person's going to be this kind of thing. But that's not the same as predicting the future. It's more like seeing where they're going, where their mind tendencies are. This is what the Blessed One said. The monks were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One's words.

[70:26]

So I guess that the Buddha told people later what he taught Pukasati. Or maybe Pukasati, as he was leaving the Buddha, going to look for his bowls, told people what he had taught him. Somehow, anyway, word got out about the teaching that was given. So now we know how the Buddha taught this fine person. And we know that this person was wanting to join the Sangha, but his life came to an end before that. And our life may come to an end soon, too. Our name may be on the altar quite soon up there. But if we're headed in the right direction now, that's what counts. If we're headed in the right direction, we will eventually, you know, as Sensei Kiroshi said, we will attain the marrow of Buddhism. And I think you people are really headed in the right direction. So I praise your direction and I hope you enjoy walking forward on the path, this wonderful path that the Buddha shows so nicely here and Suzuki Roshi shows so nicely, the path of settling into reality as it is and helping others settle into it.

[71:57]

the way of the arhat, the way of the Buddha. So there's so many more things to discuss, but, you know, it's already way late. Whoo! Now if we have questions and answers for an hour or two, this will be a record lecture. So anyway, there's so much here, you know, in this little scripture. The middle-length sayings, medium-length, short one, five or six pages, just five or six pages, you know, years of work right there for you to work on. Scripture number 140.

[73:02]

You can read it at your leisure after Sashin. You can even memorize it if you want to. What? It's the exposition on elements. Then the scriptures... Oh, the name of the book? The Middle Link Sayings. It's a Majjhima Nikaya. Majjhima means middle-length, middle-length basket. And the sutra is the Datuvibhanga Sutta, one of the jewels in our tradition. So, anyway, there's lots of hands already, you know, I'm just going to... So, this is, you know, there's not much time left in Sashin, so I kind of feel like we should call these people, so the people who are uncomfortable, maybe, you know, lie down or something.

[74:14]

You know, uncross your legs if you're getting too much pain. You know, one time, you've maybe heard this story, Satyagraha says, in that same section where he's talking about this, you know, teaching of mistake after mistake or a mistake seen as a mistake, he says, if you find it impossible to sit in pain, in physical difficulty, then you should sit. He said that in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. In that same section, he was really a gentle person. Really, really sweet, kind guy. One time I went to him and I told him, you know, that if I sat in half lotus, I could, you know, I could kind of pay attention to my breathing and so on. But if I sat in full lotus, it's just like I was just screaming inside and I couldn't concentrate on my breathing at all. And he said, oh, well, why don't you sit in full lotus?

[75:17]

Now, that doesn't necessarily apply to you. So you can uncross your legs if you want to. So I'd like to call on some of these people. Is that okay? Because they're not going to get another chance for, you know, several minutes. So let's see if there was... Was it Kevin? No? Oh, Kevin. So there's Mimi and Dory and Jonathan and David and Greg and Susan and Miriam and Berendt. Any? Huh? Your ears went away? Okay. So that's it. All right. So maybe Mimi could begin. Pardon? Could I? Sure.

[76:23]

Yeah. So how many people want a copy of it? Looks like about 40. So, yeah, we'll make copies. Maybe by the end of the session we'll have the copies made for you. I have a real question. Is this... Yes? What you described with the training on... Well, actually, that's a nice question. So this is kind of an interesting sutra because you see the way it goes is like this guy's already concentrated and the Buddha gives him this wisdom training which makes him even more equanimous and balanced. And then as a result of that, instead of applying that equanimity

[77:28]

to even deeper trances, the Buddha speaks of one who, instead of applying the equanimity to deeper trances, one applies that equanimity to deeper wisdom and settles into reality and realizes wisdom, supreme wisdom, and the truth, the supreme truth, which is understanding, knowing the end of suffering. Now then after that comes this cultivation of renunciation or relinquishment. And after that, training in peace. So there's a kind of renunciation leading to the realization of wisdom, and then after the realization of wisdom, then there's a renunciation following that, too. So there's a kind of renunciation which helps you settle into the way things are and realize wisdom, And then, after realizing wisdom, one renounces attachments.

[78:32]

So kind of spontaneously one renounces attachments, and then one renounces holding to and acting out greed, hate, and delusion, which trains one in peace. So the other two kind of spontaneously follow post-wisdom training in renunciation and peace. But usually we speak of renunciation prior to attaining wisdom. So there's actually renunciation before attaining wisdom here. as part of settling into truth, you renounce. And after realizing truth, you renounce even more. So it's interesting that renunciation before and after realizing nirvana, in this case. And the training in peace is the final stage where there's no, you know, no being swept over anymore by greed, hate, and delusion. Okay? Okay? Similar question?

[79:40]

Yeah. Well, no, yeah, they kind of do. The wisdom training you settle into when you realize the wisdom, the truth is realized right then at the same time because the wisdom is seeing the truth. So the truth and the wisdom are simultaneous. And then the renunciation... and the training in peace, they follow naturally from the wisdom and the truth. So there's just a couple paragraphs on those next two phases. Yes? Yes. Yeah, I mean, one could do that all the time, internally and externally.

[80:52]

Internally with the earth element, water element, fire element, air element, space element, and consciousness element. externally also with the earth element, water element. Because in fact we do project possession or dispossession on everything all the time, it's just ongoing. And the Buddha is recommending this thing which will surface the other probably. It'll probably bring your attention to the fact that you don't want to do such a practice because you actually like possessing certain things and not possessing other things. So there might be a little bit of difficulty there. That's why it's nice to have a teacher there who keeps saying, dirty. Because you might sort of say, well, that's enough of that.

[81:52]

This isn't, you know, I got other things to do here. Where's that magazine? Where's that TV? Where's that mindless chatter? I've got better things to say than, this is not mine. This is not my friend. This is not me. I am not this. This is not my body. I have better things to do than that, right? Or at least some loftier practice than that, or loftier practice than counting. people in Japanese. Why doesn't it give me a more advanced practice? Don't give me this stinky old Arhat practice. I want a Bodhisattva practice. I want to study koans instead of this stuff. Great. When the Buddha goes and says each of these things, like the spleen and the heart of the body, it'd be kind of like giving, it almost turns into a workshop for like, he says spleen, you think, oh yeah, oh my spleen and all that stuff kind of comes up for him in presence of Buddha, kind of, and then, oh, my lip, or the, you know, like each time he says a word, it makes me think they're spinning around, and I'd be like,

[83:22]

Yes. But it might also be that you just hear about this and you understand this is where you would apply your awareness for whenever those things come up and then you check out to see Is there this kind of identification? And if so, antidote it with the words of the Buddha. Yes? Yes? Yes, memories? Yes? Do I have any idea how he might have, if you were there asking that question? He might have recommended, you know, perhaps if you were in the movie, he might have said to apply the same language to the memories.

[84:47]

these are not me, I am not this, these are not mine. That would seem to apply, because we do think, I guess, these are me, these are mine, I am this, about our memories. I mean, we might. Well, there's a hot area of work, huh? Yeah. Yeah, so there. That's a great one for you. Not just you, but in particular you. Check it out in Barrett.

[85:50]

Susan? I heard you say this now when you were talking about the realization that it was neither me nor not me. Yeah. That's an additional instruction? Well, you know, I'm just turning the leaf the other way here in the later part of the 20th century, right? I think the Buddha, maybe, you know, in those days maybe he didn't just say, well, it's not the other way either. Maybe those people weren't... needed to make that other point. But I think you neither identify nor disidentify. There's a lot of negatively phrased things in his teaching, but sometimes when he said, don't do this, he didn't necessarily say, and don't do the other one either.

[87:03]

But I think it's there. But in fact, he did not say it. I'm saying that. Pardon? Uh-huh, yeah. Right. So, my comment is just that you don't flip over from me to not me. Just a warning so you don't flip to the other side. Like, you know, flip from being to non-being. Okay? Usually we're into like, this is me, this is my life, this is my saliva. Well, don't switch over to this isn't my saliva because that's not really quite right either. And the same would apply to other people. Their saliva, you don't say their saliva isn't your saliva or their saliva is your saliva. Okay.

[88:06]

Miriam, did you have something, Miriam? Okay, all right. Someone hand over there? David? Yeah, I'm trying to go quick. When I try and think about the different elements, like break down the self into the different elements, that's not being of need. But one thing that keeps coming up is, it seems like in life, like you look at the German ivy, just that need to grow and dominate. And you look out at nature, and there's that need, any species, unless it's kept in check, needs to grow and dominate. I'm saying that in being. There's something there that, I don't know what it is, that need to grow and dominate. When I chop it all apart, that's the one thing that still remains, the seed being a thread of self or something running all throughout nature.

[89:08]

Yeah, right. The life is something... Yeah, Nietzsche says life is really like this will to power, right? Just, you know, consume and grow and consume and grow. Very much part of life itself. Okay? But there's another thing about life. The knowledge just doesn't want to perpetuate itself and grow and consume and grow and consume, but also suffers from that mode. And it wants to, like, transcend this miserable mode, this miserable consequences, the pain of having that built-in selfishness. So we're driving to realize that at the same time.

[89:54]

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