I have up here Four Noble Truths is the topic of the few little classes that I have available to talk about it. Four Noble Truths is, I'll just tell you right now and get it over with. First Noble Truth is the truth of suffering. The second noble truth is the truth of the origination of suffering. The third noble truth is the truth of the cessation of suffering. And the fourth noble truth is the truth of the path which leads to the cessation of suffering. Those are the four noble truths. So very simple, right? Just four little sentences. But it's an ocean.

[01:07]

It's a simple ocean. And so in these few little classes, we just have a chance to just swim around a little bit in the ocean. And maybe you'll understand something. But I want to say something before we get into the Four Noble Truths. Actually, I already got into them and finished them, right? So now I just wanted to say a little bit about my observation that Four Noble Truths were almost never mentioned by my teacher, Suzuki Roshi. Maybe he did, but I don't remember. He did mention about suffering quite a bit.

[02:10]

But anyway, the Four Noble Truths per se, I can hardly remember never talking about them. And I asked someone who just finished reading Zen Mind Beginner's Mind last night if he noticed anything in there about Four Noble Truths, and he said he couldn't remember anything in there about it. So maybe there is something in the Mind-Beginner's Mind about Four Noble Truths. If anybody finds it, let me know. He also gave quite a few other lectures. I never read them, but I read quite a few and haven't seen much sight of it. Has anybody seen anything? In the process of studying the Four Noble Truths, I read the entire Shobo Genzo. I really read the index. I have an exhaustive index, which has all the words that appear in it.

[03:15]

And I did not find Four Noble Truths. Actually, I did find Four Noble Truths. He just mentioned Four Noble Truths. There's a chapter on the 37 limbs of enlightenment, and he mentioned Four Noble Truths, but he did not discuss the Four Noble Truths, except he did discuss the Eightfold Path. So he did do that, and that I studied. But in all of his works of the Shobha Gyanso, he did not really discuss the Four Noble Truths. Bodhidharma also did not discuss the Four Noble Truths, but his teaching could be seen as a reworking of it, and that may be the reason why there's not much discussion of the Four Noble Truths in the Zen school. that from the beginning there was a kind of different presentation of them, and maybe he set the example of not mentioning them per se.

[04:19]

They are mentioned a few times, and one of the important times that they're mentioned is that the ancestor Seigen Gyoshi Daisho, disciple of the great sixth ancestor of Zen, Hoi Nung. When he went to see Hoi Nung, he said to him right off, how can I avoid slipping into steps and stages? And Hoi Nung said, what have you been doing? And he said, I haven't even been practicing the Four Noble Truths. And the ancestor said, well, what stage or step have you fallen into? And he said, if I haven't even practiced the Four Noble Truths, how could I have fallen into any stage? And the ancestor was deeply impressed by this monk.

[05:34]

So in some sense, the Zen school, at least in terms of its most famous stories, is like this. So it's not that, it's not exactly that he disregarded the Four Noble Truths, but actually he consciously did not practice them, did not get involved in them, so they didn't slip into some kind of like attainment thing. One time a wonderful Tibet teacher was teaching us here, and I had a talk with him, and he said, in your meditation, what is the object of your meditation practice?

[06:49]

And I said, a little bit embarrassingly, I said, well, we don't have an object in our meditation practice. Our practice's object was meditation. And he said, oh, well, we did that too in Vajrayana, but that's very advanced. So in the Zen school there's some tradition to put the monks into an advanced practice right away. The advanced practice, objectless meditation and not getting into steps and stages. But is it too advanced? Strictly speaking, is it too advanced? Is it unrealistic due to the practice which doesn't, you know, try to get anything? Which doesn't, you know, climb the stepladder, which is sometimes called stepladder Zen.

[07:59]

So the guru, she did talk about that we don't have to step on the stepladder Zen. And when that Tibetan teacher was teaching, I really enjoyed listening to him because I studied the Abhidharma Kosha for a long time, and still study it, and have studied it quite a bit in my study of Four Noble Truths for the last while. It has a wonderful exposition on Four Noble Truths. So when this Tibetan teacher was teaching, I really enjoyed because I could hear, although he didn't quote, he didn't say Abhidharma Kosha, I could hear him talking Abhidharma Kosha, Abhidharma Kosha, I could hear it all the time. I could see how useful it was in presenting the teaching because Abhidharma Kosha is really a great system of presentation of the teaching. And Kadagiri Roshi was in that same teaching time. He was alternating with this other teacher. And on the way to the airport, I mentioned to him how much I enjoyed hearing the way the Tibetan teacher taught from the Abhidharma Kosha.

[09:04]

And he said, yeah, it's really, it is wonderful, but Dogen Senji all warns against a system. The Four Noble Truths and lots of other wonderful teachings that the Buddha put out and his disciples developed are wonderful systems, but the Zen school is very careful of systems because people like systems so much and adhere to systems, and then they use the systems to practice. And there's problems in these systems. Rather than tell you the problems at the end, I'll tell you the problems at the beginning, before we start studying the system of formal truths. One of the problems with the system of early Buddhism is that it worked really well.

[10:36]

The teaching of four noble truths, when practiced thoroughly, worked really well for the monks. They actually realized nirvana. They realized freedom that was proposed as a truth that can be realized. They realized it. What is the problem with that? The problem with it was that they started to really, although they started to really think that nirvana was good and The other alternative was not good. That was the problem. That was the problem. The Buddha grew up in a world where the world was conceived of as having two alternatives for living beings.

[11:52]

One alternative is the alternative of selfishness. The other alternative is selflessness. Those are the two options for sentient life, which I've been harping on for my last few Sunday talks. One, the realm of selfishness is called samsara, which means circle. Presentation time. The other side is called Nirvana. It's not a circle. It is simply unassailable peace, happiness, and freedom. Unassailable, non-degenerate, eternal, even though there's no future or past, eternal bliss. These are the two options for sentient existence, which the Buddha grew up in a world that had those two options proposed, and he wanted to realize nirvana, and he did.

[13:05]

However, when he realized nirvana, the way he felt was, I have attained, he said, I have attained nirvana. I have attained, you know, I, I get to say I now, A nirvana has been attained. Peace has been attained. The heart is content and at peace. There is freedom. There is no more anxiety and fear. And in that state, he saw that all sentient beings were exactly like that. That all sentient beings fully possessed this Buddha nature, which he realized. He saw that. But he said... that they do not realize it because they have fixed ideas and attachments. So I think it's going to work better if I make a presentation and then you have a question and answer, okay?

[14:10]

Otherwise, everybody's going to really get confused if I start opening up right away. So, he saw that He didn't say, those lousy sentient beings, those creepos, they don't get it. He said, wonderful, wonderful, all living beings, without exception, without exception, fully possess the wisdom and virtue of all the Buddhas. That's what he saw, but they don't get it. Therefore, I want to teach them this. He didn't say, by the way, Therefore, I want to do a lobotomy on them. Therefore, I will go each person and extract their karma. Which is the reason why they don't get this. He was a... had a lot of power. He could have done amazing things to people if he wanted to, but he didn't do any of that stuff, except sometimes he did amazing things to get people's attention. Occasionally, he apparently did some kind of powerful things to get people's attention.

[15:18]

there were situations where he was giving a talk and people were making noise over on the side, you know, and saying, this guy's really a jerk, don't listen to him. And then he sort of like made ducks go in and out those people's eyes and things like that. So they'd calm down and listen. But then when he taught, he didn't do magic, he just taught Dharma, because it's his teaching. It was his teaching that liberated people. So he taught them the Dharma, and when they heard the Dharma, they became free. The problem was that when they became free, after he died, long time, gradually as they got farther and farther away from him, they became free and they started to think that nirvana was better than samsara. They started to think that the world of bliss and freedom and selflessness was better than the miserable, rotten world of selfish, petty, suffering creatures. That's the problem.

[16:21]

He didn't feel that way. He never said that. In fact, he said, I want to embrace all these suffering people and help them be free. He didn't say, I want to embrace these people who aren't as good as me or aren't as good as the Buddhas. I want to go into the samsara, which is a terrible place. No, there's nothing to Buddhas except coming into samsara. All they are is a response to samsara. That got lost. That spirit of love, which was in Buddha's early teaching, got lost by the very people who were successful at practicing his teaching of the Four Noble Truths. And also the people who were trying to practice it by copying the other successful people. They also started to hate the world and successfully, in a way, become free of the world of misery. So the Zen school comes with the Mahayana movement, which is a return to universal love.

[17:44]

Universal love doesn't mean just loving all people, it means universal love loving all situations too. But love doesn't mean you like suffering. Love means you face it and liberate beings who are in it. Someone came to see me and said that his deep intention is to open his heart and to love all beings. I said, well, your heart opened? He said, yeah. He said, the dosan situation is completely supportive of me doing that, but when I walk out the door, I don't feel it. He said, I want to feel love.

[18:45]

And I said, you mean that beings love you? He said, yeah. So I think many of us want that, but the thing is not so much to try to get everybody to love you, although that's a perfectly reasonable thing to want, and you will get it when you get to nirvana. It's more like, how can you see that the world is supporting you to love it? How can you love the world? How can you feel that the world is supporting you to love it? When people are, you know, talking to you and, you know, telling you all of these wrong with you and stuff like that, how can you see that they're actually supporting you to love? It's not so easy. But that's what Buddha saw.

[19:46]

Another person asked me, you know, well, how should I practice? I said, don't move. She said, well, what if I'm in a bad situation? Then I should move, shouldn't I? I said, no, don't move. Some of you say, well, of course you should move in your bad situation. Well, yeah, of course you should move if you're in a bad situation. That's samsara. That's animal selfishness. I'm in a bad situation, I should move. Buddhas don't move if they're in a bad situation. If they're in a bad situation, they sit still and generate compassion. They come into a bad situation because there's people in a bad situation and then they sit there and they do not move.

[20:51]

And when you sit in a bad situation and don't move, you're Buddha. But that's awfully simple and awfully difficult to have that much faith. and to trust that the world is actually supporting you to be that loving, to not mess with yourself, and to not run away from what's happening, but to be in the situation you're in and save the world. That's where the Buddha was at, that was his realization, and then he taught the Four Noble Truths. But as you learn the Four Noble Truths, There's a danger to slip into this kind of like, I hate the first truth. I hate the truth that this suffering is like non-stop as long as there's a slightest shred of selfishness. I hate that.

[21:54]

It's easy to slip into that. And then the second one, the second truth, that there's an origination of suffering, that there's a condition for it, the selfishness, well, I like the selfishness, because that's what I use to get better at the Four Noble Truths. It's tricky, so I have to be careful of this to remember that from the Buddha's point of view, we are Buddha's... Each of us is like Buddha's only child. Buddha does not expect us to improve even though we can improve, of course. So as you study these, try to be careful to not lose sight of the fact that you're already on the path. You're already Buddha's child. Buddha's enlightenment has already verified that we fully possess, as we really are, we fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the Buddha.

[23:01]

But because of our ideas and attachments, we don't get it. And in some ways the Buddha's first teaching was, you know, his first teaching was just he didn't move. That was his teaching. And then people said, well, tell us more. And he said, well, what more is there? Come on, tell us more. So they started talking. They didn't get it. So then he taught the Four Noble Truths and they got it. Zen school kind of like goes back to the Buddha's original enlightenment experience of just sitting still under the bow tree and says, be like Buddha. You are anyway. You say, no, come on, give me something. Okay, how about Four Noble Truths? That's good. So, you're going to get the Four Noble Truths. And here it is. This is the Buddha's first teaching.

[24:03]

His first teaching. This is like a scripture. Please take care of it. This is page one. I hope there's enough of it ready to have There's the second page Does everybody have one now?

[25:48]

Yes? So, no? So you can keep those. If you don't want to keep them, you can just leave them on the back. Would you like to read this aloud, this scripture? Okay, let's read it together aloud. This, as I said, this is like, we don't know, of course, it wasn't videotaped or whatever, so we don't know for sure that this was actually the first talk that Buddha gave. But everyone agrees to call this the first talk. This is the talk where he set the Dharma wheel in motion. This is number one. So here it is. the sutra on setting in motion the wheel of the Dharma.

[26:52]

Thus I heard, once the Blessed One was staying at Deer Park near Varanasi. There he asked me to look through the fire and dust. I've got someone who has gone for it. Devotion to pursuing sense pleasure, to a whole other world, they have no role in producing my useful result. And my devotion to self-denial, which Mr. Payne will make no role in producing my useful result. Blaming both these extremes, they use the middle way, and it's a very tempting thing to deposition in a silent knowledge. to God. And it was in a different way, but I was absolutely into his vision and his knowledge, and it leads to peace, profound understanding, full realization, and to go on.

[27:55]

It is the noble, faithful path that is to say, to help you, or any attention, or any speech, or any action, or any other people, or any other This is a middle-weight commitment to life that has to be considered. You see, because of this, there is this unknown truth without dissatisfaction. The verdict is problematic in using this argument to dominate the self-survival to bear. Sorrow, delimitation, pain, and grief and despair are all things. The association with what you dislike is unpleasant. Being a part of whom much you like is unpleasant. Not giving what you want is unpleasant. In grief, the thought grants to anybody a certain satisfaction. The danger of despair is the whole truth of the emotion of suffering. But it is a desire which gives life. running near and there, the light of the universe is now.

[29:01]

In other words, it's a desire, a desire for existence, a desire for expansion. It uses the level of truth of the sensation of suffering. It uses the level of faith, faith, and sensation of this desire. It was a time when we went to relinquish it, but we were given a crown, a discharging of it. It uses the level of truth of the a noble and full path that can make me right view, right attention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right correctness. There exists no truth of suffering. Such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowledge, and life that arose in me about things not heard before. This subtle truth must be penetrated to a fully understanding suffering. not heard before.

[30:07]

It is selfless truth that's been penetrated to rightfully understand suffering. It is selfless division in sight, wisdom, knowing, and light that reveals to me and God things not heard before. It is this level of truth that gave origin to suffering. Selfless division in sight, wisdom, knowing, and light that reveals to me and God things not heard before. This noble truth must be penetrated to provide an end to the origin of suffering. This noble truth must be penetrated to provide an end to the origin of suffering. Such was the vision inside of wisdom, now naked, black, and gross, and made of things not heard before. There is this noble truth of the cessation of suffering. Such was the vision inside of wisdom, now naked, about things not heard before. This noble truth must be garnered into by realizing the cessation of suffering.

[31:11]

This noble truth has been demonstrated to by realizing the cessation of suffering. Such was the vision, the sight, wisdom, knowing, and light that rules in me about things not heard before. It urges this noble truth without leading to the cessation of suffering. Such was the vision, the insight, wisdom, knowing, and light that arose in me about things not heard before. The discernible truth must be penetrated through black cultivating the path. The discernible truth that's been penetrated through black cultivating the path. Such was the vision, the insight, wisdom, knowing, and light that arose in me about things not heard before. As long as you accept these four noble truths, Yes, they are. I cannot get better to the world with the fascinatingness, smartness, and broadness. There's not so much medicine, broadness, and smartness in order to be able to cope.

[32:13]

And I have a good understanding of the area of exploration. And I just soon missed the exploring of old churches in their 12-ounce space, which seemed clear to me. realized the complete and perfect awakening. The knowledge of the issue arose in me, appreciating all his mind-deliverance. It is the last birth of the ever-subtle birth of becoming. Blessed both the blessed one, who through a quiet increase were glad that the day of birth takes place. we are inciting to God one more to listen to that one who will come among us, who then forgets the nature to arise as the nature to cease. With the fear of God one has been set rolling by the Blessed One, the day when the Savior raised the crown, and had brought him an ascension from the air to partake in his symphony.

[33:19]

And the natural severe of God one has been set rolling by the Blessed One, not to be swept by any someone that were common they always roared and groaned freely round the world when they heard what the earth did was such that the natives of the realm of the four great kings cried out with one voice At Baranasiut, when they heard the cry of the Amos in the realm of the four great kings, and the neighbors in the realm of the thirty-three crying out with one voice. When they heard the cry of the thirty-three Amos, the young Amos cried out with one voice. When they heard the cry of the young Amos, the two sheep of Asos cried out with one voice. When I heard the bride, which she prepared for us to begin on, she gave us right up with one voice. When I heard the bride, which we did not know, she did what was best of all, and she did what was best of all.

[34:20]

When I heard the bride, the bride and me, we were talking about something that gave us experience, and the greatest thing was the fact that she did what she did with her heart. And I thought, you know, see, the bigger your heart is, the bigger your heart is. and shook, and rocked, and plagued, and had a great measure of restoration, surpassing the rare nature of the endless display of the world. And the Blessed One, out of preparing explanation, purgated us, because it come down on us when it was understood. It is a very profound act when it is understood. Thus it was that the anger that ever would come down on me became one that would come down on me when I would understand it.

[35:24]

They just used to live in the city. That's why our son's standing in the middle of the street. May our intention equally penetrate every human place. With the true merit, we probably would have lived this way. All the truths are numberless. I'll dedicate my life to save them. Delicious are the things possible. I love doing them. The monkeys are boundless. But I know what I'm supposed to do to them. I wish I could tell you the story of your days are so possible. But I know what I want to do to you. This realization came to the Buddha while he was not moving.

[36:41]

So, Suzuki Roshi did teach over and over that our practice is just to be ourselves, to sit still without trying to gain anything for ourself. This is the path to realize this teaching which Buddha gave us. This teaching that you just read is a teaching of love. And if you're going to study anything, you could just study these three pages and memorize them. Memorize them. Learn them in your heart. It's okay to read the innumerable books on the reading list. It's all right. But it would be better to memorize this sutra than to read any of those other books, just reading them.

[37:48]

If you can memorize this, great. And you can study. But getting this into your heart would be an invaluable accomplishment in this lifetime. And it would be hard probably, too, especially for the older people whose brains are rapidly deteriorating from a certain perspective. But although our brains may be rotting, our hearts might be opening. So you smart young people, a thing or two to learn from us. But you can memorize this, too, and then recite it to us. Before we can't hear anymore. Tap it on us. So, again, the background of this system is, of this teaching is that the world holds up suffering

[38:53]

non-stop suffering for us as long as we have any attachment to self. And that if we can give up attachment to self, we will see the Four Noble Truths, and our hearts will be content, and we can say what Buddha said. We can memorize this, but then eventually we can say it, that we see the same thing that Buddha saw. very difficult for us to give up all self-attachment. That's why we have to really train ourselves and discipline ourselves to study the self and study self-attachment. We have to study self-attachment in order to become free of it. I could present more now, or we could open up to questions about what they wanted to do. Want to open up for more presentation?

[40:06]

More, more, more. Presentation, okay. So, let's see. There are First Noble Truths of Suffering. Before I say that, I want to say Four Noble Truths. Four Noble Truths. I'd like to just comment on the word noble here. It's, you know, it's a translation of Arya. And Arya can be translated as noble.

[41:08]

It can also be translated as you'll be happy here, superior. but also it could be translated as sacred or holy. So if you'd rather say four holy truths or four sacred truths, that would be a justifiable translation. But as you know, in the English translation world of Buddhist texts, noble has become the most common word. But it's Arya, so four noble truths. So, uh, so number one is suffering. In Pali, dukkha. It's Sanskrit. It's, uh... How do you spell it in Sanskrit? It's different.

[42:09]

It doesn't have as many Ks, but I forgot what the H is. Anyway, it's different in Sanskrit. And Buddha did not teach that life is suffering. I've mentioned this a number of times. He did not say life is suffering. Now, Scott Peck, who sold more copies of, what is it, The Road Less Traveled than almost all the other Buddhist scriptures together in West, he says the Buddha taught life is suffering. It's not correct. The Buddha did not teach life is suffering. suffering is one of the main possibilities for life. But there's another possibility for life called nirvana, called freedom, called peace, called happiness. It's sort of true that life is suffering, though. For most people, life is suffering almost all the time.

[43:12]

And from the point of view of Buddha, From Buddha's point of view, and from the point of view of Buddha's enlightened disciples, if they were looking at us, most of the time they would say, we're suffering. For some of us, they would say we've been suffering the whole time. Now, from our point of view, we can see that we feel like we sometimes suffer and sometimes don't. From their point of view, even when we think we don't, we still are. So when people start talking like that, when they say, well, you're saying then life is suffering. Well, in fact, for some people, life is always suffering. But that isn't life, that's just their life. But there's still the option for these people to become free of suffering. So, and then there is a condition for suffering called but it has an origin or an uprising.

[44:23]

Oh, spelled it wrong. There's an A in here. Sangudaya. Suffering has an origin. And so, according to Buddha's teaching, if something has an origin, it has an end. If it has an arising, it has a ceasing. So because suffering has origin, it has a ceasing. Its ceasing comes with the disappearance of the condition. When the condition for suffering ceases or vanishes, then suffering also ceases. So because of that, there can be nirvana, or nirodha. And with a circle is nirvana, in my writing. No presentation. I just wanted to repeat that lesson.

[45:44]

You said, because there is ceasing, there is... Because there's a condition that can be ceased. Because there's an arising or an origination, there can be a destruction or an end. Because suffering arises, because the second is that suffering arises. In other words, the Buddha did not teach that suffering is. He teaches that suffering arises. First, he said there's a truth of suffering, but he didn't say suffering is, he said suffering arises, therefore suffering ceases. Anything that arises ceases, anything that comes up goes down. So therefore there is cessation. And he realized it. He realized it before he figured out the logic of it. After he realized it, then in order to help people he taught them the actual thing. It follows according to normal natural processes, namely, take away the condition, for suffering, and suffering goes away too. You have the condition, the arising of the condition, you have the arising of the suffering.

[46:50]

Does samadaya mean arising? No, it means just arising. Just arising. And then last is the truth of the past, or marga. There is a path. There is a way you can live in, as a living being, as a way of living, which in fact is a path to the cessation. It's a path to the non-arising of the conditions for suffering. Now here's another thing to watch out for. Early Buddhists understood the Buddha as teaching. Early Buddhists taught that suffering and the condition for suffering are non-dual.

[47:50]

They have different names, but they're really inseparable. They're one thing. They're one thing viewed... From one side, there's samsara viewed from the point of view of effect, and samsara viewed from the point of view of cause. But they're basically just the cause and effect of samsara. They're the cause and effect of misery. They're really one thing. Every Buddhist taught that. And I think later Buddhists, my own Buddhists, would agree with that. But they made a distinction between the path and the fruit. The path as a condition and the liberation as the effect or the truth of the practice. They separate them. They differ in name and actually in fact. This, I think, that some of the Buddha's disciples, called the Mahayana Buddhists, the Bodhisattvas, they do not separate the path and the result.

[49:02]

They're not separate. They're non-dual. But the Buddha did say, you know, he was quoted as saying, the fourth truth is the path which leads to nirvana, rather than the path which is nirvana. So I have to be careful of that, that duality, that potential duality there. Because that thing you can slip into... Separating the world from nirvana. And separating yourself from beings. Now, the path that he taught, which you just read, is the eightfold path. But sometimes the path is taught not as eightfolds, but as onefold. The onefold path, he also taught. How did he teach it? He demonstrated it. On the night of his enlightenment, he demonstrated the one-fold path.

[50:08]

What'd he do? He just sat there and didn't move. That's the one-fold path. It's the path which says that when a living being does not move, that's precisely Buddha. Living beings are always moving because they're always trying to fix their situation. That's suffering. When living beings no longer are trying to improve or depreciate their situation, when they're not banging their head or promoting themselves, when they're just what they are, they are Buddha. When they are completely just what they are, they are Buddha. That is precisely what Buddha is. That's what he demonstrated and realized under the bow tree. Now, I either had a dream, or somebody actually heard somebody say this, that that Buddha actually sat under another tree prior to the bow tree and didn't get enlightened because he sat under the wrong tree. Who told me that? Did I hear that or was that a dream? So I guess it's not just that you sit, but you've got to sit under the right tree.

[51:15]

Did Norman say that last time? Anyway, he just sat and the Zen school picked up on that and said, okay, you just sit And that is you just sitting, being yourself, is the way that realizes nirvana. That's called the one-fold path. And there's a two-fold path, and a three-fold path, and a four-fold path, and a five-fold path, and a six-fold path, and a seven-fold path, and an eight-fold path, and he taught the eight-fold path starting off. And there's a nine-fold path, and a ten-fold path, and so on, up to, well, basically, what is it, six quadrillion path, fold path, Somebody said, no, there's more than that. But anyway, you can have as many folds as you want on the path. This is the eightfold path. Now the eightfold path, the first part of the eightfold path is, what is it? Right something, right? What is it? Right view.

[52:16]

Right view, or right understanding. And right understanding has a little, there's a little, what I call curriculum there under right understanding. It's the main topics to study under right understanding. which we're not going to have time to get into too much, but I'll just mention some of the main highlights. One of them is, right understanding is, there is rebirth. Number two, karma is effective, does function. Number three, in liberation and awakening, is attainable and has been attained, has been attained and is still attainable. And the topic is, of liberation, and the topic of peace is the Four Noble Truths. So the first, the first aspect of the Eightfold Path is to point you back to the Four Noble Truths. The Fourth Noble Truth, in its first aspect, is study the Four Noble Truths.

[53:18]

But again, studying the Four Noble Truths means, number one, first one, study suffering, which means study self-interest. Because selfishness is the origin of suffering. Okay, so you also could say the one-fold path is study selfishness, study self. That's another version of the one-fold path that they teach around Zen Center. To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To learn the Buddha way is to learn the self. And to learn the Buddha way is to forget the self or forget selfishness. So is that enough presentation? You want to have a discussion now? Is that enough presentation? Yes or no? Is that enough? Now question time, answer time, comment time. Please. I don't understand if those monks that follow this system, the Nirvana,

[54:25]

Yes. Some of them, not all of them, but some did it just for themselves, yes. Okay, they did it just for themselves, isn't that plainly for themselves, and doesn't that cause suffering? So how's that nirvana? Is that liberating or not liberating? Yeah, well, you can attain nirvana, but it's not Buddhahood. Okay? It's not the same as Buddhahood. It's not the same as Buddhist teaching. So how could they attain nirvana if they're trying to attain it for themselves? Their basic motivation might have been that they personally wanted to attain liberation. Okay? And then they studied their personal... concern for their own improvement, and they studied and studied until they actually saw that there was no person there to improve or to be improved upon.

[55:36]

So just like a bodhisattva already also starts... Someone who wants to individually be liberated can be someone who wants to liberate all beings, although the bodhisattva, you might say the aspirant bodhisattva, the one who wishes to be a bodhisattva, might actually have the feeling, I want to help all other beings attain the greatest happiness before myself. They might actually have that feeling. Some of you have had that feeling. And as soon as you have that feeling, you've aroused the Bodhi mind, where you actually want other beings to attain freedom before yourself. However, the next minute you could forget that and say, well, actually, I hope I get there too. Or, actually, I hope I get there first. Then you kind of, your motivation is slipped, not into a bad way though, it's still really, to want to, to personally want to obtain liberation is still pretty good.

[56:39]

It's a high, it's a high goal, I would say. But you slip from the highest goal, the goal which Buddhas have. So, it is possible in the hierarchy of spiritual attainment to have the goal of personal liberation and to attain personal liberation And it's an amazing feat. And it's called arhatship. And you actually... And some people can't even believe that there could be arhats. But anyway... But in the process of becoming arhat, you notice that you personally, selfishly, want you to feel better. And you study that and notice how that's causing pain. And you study that and study that until you find that you see there is no person there who wants to improve himself or herself. and you come free of that belief in that person through the painful process of studying that belief in the person. And you can attain freedom from that belief. And bodhisattvas also have to do that same dirty, painful work.

[57:41]

But it's possible to do that dirty work while simultaneously having this incredible vow mind, which at the same time that you're still somewhat concerned for yourself and still somewhat believe in yourself, you at the same time experience the joy of not caring about yourself at the same time. And wanting, having a vow which wants others to be free before yourself. So that when you do attain nirvana by the bodhisattva path, you do not stop there. So they have this picture of the bodhisattva path, which is like this. Like this. So, they write, you go up and attain, you come down and transform. Go up and attain nirvana, and you leave nirvana and come back to transform.

[58:45]

The bodhisattvas joyfully jump out of nirvana and dive into samsara. They come here to play with us. Some people in this room might even be bodhisattvas who have come here to play with us. They gave up nirvana. And some of us even have obtained a little bit of nirvana and have left nirvana to come back and play with us. Like Siddhikarasi said, sometimes I sit zazen and I don't care if the bell ever rings. But when it rings, I get up and eat. So, anyway, it's possible to start the path with a selfish motivation, in other words, you still believe in a self, but you can see that that belief in the self is the problem, and you want to become free of that belief, and you study that belief, and study the pain that comes from that belief, and the clinging that comes from that belief, and you study it, and study it, and study it, and you see how it arises, and you study the dependable arising of this miserable situation, until you understand, and when you understand,

[59:54]

You abandon the condition or the arising of the suffering. You relinquish, you let go of the belief, and you can personally verify that you let go of the self and self-concern. You are free. You realize nirvana. If you're a bodhisattva, then go further and let go of the nirvana. And the way you do that is then by studying that the nirvana itself also lacks self. And that is dealt with in chapter 24 of the Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way by Nagarjuna, which is now in the Sutra book. And which, if we chant it, there would be a cry of pain from this sangha, because it's such a terrible translation. But when you're ready, we can chant that during the service.

[60:55]

It's where Nagarjuna comes around and treats the Four Noble Truths in such a way as to set the Four Noble Truths free of making them into another self. Because that's what the monks did, is they used the Four Noble Truths, and although they lost, they became free of the pain of believing in their personal self. They became free of the belief in personal self. individual personality, and that's a big, big nirvana. They still believe that nirvana was something, that the Four Noble Truths or something, that the Four Noble Truths had inherent existence, and that blocked another enlightenment, which is not big, which is infinite, the Buddha's enlightenment. The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths are in themselves. Also, they don't have a self. There is no such thing as the Four Noble Truths. They are completely interdependent with everything in the universe.

[61:59]

The Four Noble Truths are the entire universe. The Four Noble Truths aren't just this little thing that Buddhists teach. They are the way the cosmos works. There's no beginning and end to them. But the Buddha pumped them down to four and presented them to people, and people were probably relieved. They liked the four, rather than six quadrillion. So fine, you got four. But now that you got them down, don't then make them into something. That's what chapter 24 is about, is to show that the Four Noble Truths, suffering lacks inherent existence. The origination of suffering lacks inherent existence. Nirvana lacks inherent existence. The path lacks inherent existence. Because the path lacks inherent existence, you can practice it. If the path had inherent existence, we would not be able to practice it. It would be impossible to practice it. Because it wouldn't come up. We wouldn't know it. It would just be like ice nine. Remember that? It would just be like an unworkable reality that we have no access to.

[63:02]

We just have to accept, this is it. That's it. That's all I can do. And it's hard for people. So... Turns out the Four Mobile Truths aren't a something in themselves, therefore we can practice them. Okay, Lee? On the selfishness. I need that help. Thank you. It still seems like the need if you want to enter Nirvana, just, well, you know, live. Our hot ideal is go up to Nirvana and camp out. That's it. Pardon? It's not being Buddha. Well, the Buddha is the one exception to that. The Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, went into Nirvana and stayed, and then split. He's the one person in this eon that gets to do that. He gets to be Buddha, go into Nirvana, and check out. All of his disciples who want to become Buddhas have to keep cycling around until all beings are saved. That's the path to become a Buddha.

[64:03]

But you can't become an arhat and then go up to Nirvana, camp out, and check out. But you don't get to be a Buddha by that. But arhat's great. Maybe you want to try it. I mean, it's hard, though. Pasahara, they're bearing down heavy on me to show them an arhat. You know, I did consider... sacrificing my life for science, just trying to be an arhat, just so they would see. But in the Buddha, there are arhats, and they're fantastic creatures. And the Buddha was an arhat. But he was also a Buddha, and his disciples were not Buddhas. Now, some of them were just arhats. Some of them, however, were also Buddhas. We say that now. Can Lee ask one more question? Yes. OK, Lee. So when we say there is sight, beings, or numbers, sight, god, or the same?

[65:04]

Think for ourselves. Think for ourselves. We should add that, yes? That moment. Yes. At that moment, are we Buddha? Yes, definitely. I mean, if you're totally, unmovingly saying that, and there's no kind of like, I hope I get something out of this. I mean, you could forget the next second, right? That's Buddha. You're completely... But also, if you say, sentient beings are numberless, you know, I hope to feel better today. Anything wholesome that you say with complete, unmoving dedication means you drop yourself. You're Buddha. Buddhists don't go around saying, except in the rarest, most rare situations, Buddhists will never say, I hope people have a headache today. They almost never hope that people have a harder time or something. But if we're going to help people, then it might be that way. So sometimes there are stories of Zen teachers saying, I hope you have a really bad day. They sometimes say that.

[66:07]

But the guy wakes up then, right? You've got to get pretty good results on those things. Okay, I think next is Andy and Andrew and then Franklin and then Nick and then Griffin. You said a little earlier that not moving, not moving, just being yourself. Completely yourself. Completely yourself. That's Nirvana. That's Buddha. That's Buddha. And that the alternative is moving, is trying to kind of fix the situation with deception. And that's samsara. That's essentially being. That's what animals do all day long. That's karma. That's delusion and karma. Basically, there's a wonderful story. Somebody at Tassajara was...

[67:10]

Can I tell the story? Okay, in the middle of your question, Chip. Maybe you can finish your question, I'll tell the story afterwards. Well, where I was going with that is that I often feel that my most, that I'm particularly honest, particularly myself, when I acknowledge and even sometimes act on a desire to fix my situation. Yes. And so that... Superficially, that seems at odds with what you're saying. But when I'm really present with it, it feels consistent. The first part's really consistent, namely to be aware that you want to fix your situation. That's consistent with what I'm saying. But that's really close to who you are at that point. And if you could completely... Just be the person who wants to fix the situation. That completely being that person who wants to fix the situation, that being that person is not trying to fix the situation.

[68:14]

That's called unconstructedness and stillness. If you want to fix your situation and the person next to you does not want to fix your situation, and you're completely the person who wants to fix the situation, she's the person who's not thinking about that. You two are in that way identical. You're both Buddhas in that way, practicing the one-fold path. If your mind changes a moment later and you don't want a fixed situation to be completely that, that's honestly who you are and that is your liberation. But then to act on either one of those impulses, like the impulse to not fix or the impulse to fix, to act on them is karma. because you act on them when you haven't really settled on that delusion. Wait, haven't really settled on that delusion? Right, you haven't said, this is a delusion. I want to fix the situation. I want to fix the situation.

[69:17]

This isn't the way it should be. That is delusion. I say things shouldn't be this way. So this person, this is a story, this person said to me, She was talking to a friend whose son was having a real hard time, and the son happened to be her son too. She was the stepmother of her son, and her son was having a real hard time, and her stepmother was talking to the biological mother about the problem, and the biological mother was giving really good advice to the stepmother. Like, basically, there's nothing you can do. Just stay close to him and love him. this is his situation, this is the way he is, there's nothing he can do about this. And she said, I was completely calm, and everything seemed to be helpful. And as soon as she hung up, then she started thinking, the situation should not be this way, there's something wrong, and I can do something about it. And she broke into tremendous tears and misery for all of us.

[70:21]

This is not right, this is not the way things should be, and I can fix it. This is delusion and karma. This is what drives some sorrow. But if you do think, if the thought arises in you, this is not the way things should be, and you completely just be the person who thinks this is not the way things should be, that's a complete confession of your delusion. You are instantly free. And you don't act on that. But action comes up out of that, and the action that comes up out of that is called right action. It's not the action you do because you have just renounced yourself, the person who has calculated and figured out that this is wrong. That something is wrong is dukkha. Dukkha is basically something is wrong. That's what suffering is, something's wrong. This is not right. And believing that is believing is suffering. And then acting upon that is karma.

[71:24]

but to accept that you think something's wrong, and that you're suffering, and be that person that is not karma, that is liberation, that is renouncing yourself, and from there, action does come. That person who no longer thinks he can do things to fix the situation, that person is a place where it actually comes forth. These people act. Arhats can act, bodhisattvas can act from enlightenment, but they're not acting in relationship to their views or their opinions about the way things should be. They're acting from liberation from their own ideas. They're acting from liberation from our world. And in one situation, she was calm, happy. In a popular situation, she was a wreck. Just like that. We all can make that switch. Back and forth, back and forth. So I think the next was... Hamilton, any other name? I was getting back to the point that Bea was asking about, but I was kind of asking a somewhat different question.

[72:30]

And I was wondering how you could, how would it be possible to, you know, as you said, camp out in Nirvana? Because what I've always thought of liberation is not being attached to the different states. So how could these, you know, I mean, and... You're right, you're right. That's what really liberation is. It's not being attached. Real liberation is Nirvana, samsara, no preference. That's real liberation. Okay? Right? People do get it, but people do get liberation. And then they look back at samsara and say, you know, thanks. That does happen. It's called Zen sickness in our school. People do get liberation. People do become free. People do have insights which set them free big time. And even sometimes in those states say, I don't care whether it's samsara or nirvana. And they camp up there. Taste 11, is about these different kinds of Zen sickness. The end of the Surya Gama Sutra has 50 different kinds of Zen sickness, 50 different ways that you can get attainment and camp out.

[73:38]

The highest attainment There's really no camping out at all. But going up there, you can get a little bit liberated and camp out. And you can be liberated from that liberation and camp out on that one. And the higher you go, the more likely it is that you'll camp out because the better it is and the less there are people who can call you on it. and you get really high, most people think, oh, wow, that's, jeez, wow. You look so free and unattached, you know, so relaxed and at ease and willing to dive into the sewers for the benefit of all beings. You know, you're like, wow. So there is this phenomenon of being able to can't utter, getting stuck in liberation. It's called, you know, in that case, light doesn't circulate completely. The light circulates a lot, which is great, but you gotta keep circulating. So Dogen's always emphasizing, Buddha is Buddha going beyond, always going beyond Buddha, going beyond Buddha, going beyond Buddha.

[74:42]

You have to keep going beyond, because people do have a tendency to camp out in awakening, because it's so great. It's the best campground of all. But Bodhisattva's way is no camping. Just keep diving back into nirvana. Yes, I'm sorry. Give up your attainments. Let go of our attainments. Let go of our attainments and join hands with beings. That's our way. Actually, Cristina. Yeah, I think I just want to make sure I pour it out truly fine in different ways. You know, translate, whatever. but I wanted to make sure that I understood what you, how you defined it. Okay. First one, I believe you said, there is, no, suffering arises. Is that right? Suffering arises. That's the second one.

[75:43]

First truth is the truth of suffering. Again, people sometimes say, the first truth is the truth that there is suffering. You read that thing, I think it's a good translation. The Buddha said, The first truth is there is suffering. So the first truth is the truth of suffering. The Buddha is not big on taking things and putting them into categories. He doesn't say things existed or did not exist. In this sutra, he said, there are two extreme lungs which you should avoid. sensory indulgence, and self-mortification. But what that is, ladies and gentlemen, is a kind of like gutsy version of existence and non-existence. In another sutra, which I talked about last spring, Buddha taught there are two extremes, the extreme of saying that things exist and that they don't exist. So the Buddha did not... The Buddha would say it's an extreme view to say suffering exists, And suffering or suffering does not exist.

[76:47]

That's an extreme view. If you're going to make the mistake of one over the other, it's probably better to say that suffering does exist. That's probably a healthier extreme. But he didn't say that suffering exists. He said it's the truth of suffering. The truth of suffering is that suffering arises. Suffering appears and disappears. If suffering exists, that's it. But it doesn't have self-existence. It just comes up to you. and that what goes away. So the first truth is the truth of suffering, not the suffering, that there is suffering, that suffering exists. And the second truth is suffering arises? Correct. That suffering has an origin. And in your translation, does it talk about the origin? In other words, often... Yes, the origin is... The early way to put it, the origin is craving. That's the origin. And threefold craving. created for existence, created for non-existence, and created for sensual pleasure, which are basically read-head delusions.

[77:56]

The confusion types, they create for existence. The greed type craves for sensual pleasure, and the hate type craves for extinction, or annihilation, non-existence. But non-existence means, because some of you may have trouble identifying with this, non-existence means they want the suffering to go away. They crave for the endless suffering. They crave for the pain to go away. Some people, hate types, actually are people who really have a hard time with pain. They just really, really hate pain. Greek types have a hard time with pain too, but their solution is chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, endorphins, endorphins, endorphins. And Confucian types say, not so sure, but they just want heat existing. So those three kinds of craving are his early, his early, uh, his early representation of the origin or the condition presenting. Tana is Pali.

[78:57]

Tana for craving or thirst. Bhavatana, Vibhavatana, and Raghatana. Raghatana, thirst for sensual pleasure. Bhavatana, existence. And Vibhavatana, existence. Existence not of life, but existence of pain. These are the three kinds of craving. Those are the conditions for... the arising of suffering. If you, if you or I have that kind of craving, we will suffer. There's other versions of the conditions which I think are also helpful. I'll get into probably Anasarapas with the outflows, which in other scriptures, he talks about how he identified the outflows, and when he ended the outflows, when the outflows waned, then the formidable truths come forth. So in terms of bringing the formidable truths into view, if we can see these outflows, and identify them, and if you study the outflows and get more and more clear in the outflows, they start to get more and more transparent, and then this formal truth comes forward.

[80:00]

We can talk about that later. Any more questions? Yes, so I... However, I didn't hear you talking about that today, right? I heard you talking about what's maybe something like attachment to self. Yeah. Is that like a synonym? That's the root. That's the root of all this, is the belief that there is a self. Without the belief in the Self, there's no craving. Maybe that's the most fundamental cause arising. That's the most fundamental. But he said in the early scriptures, people weren't ready for him to bring up that, so he said craving. That the fundamental cause is belief in the Self. You take away the belief in the Self, the craving has no foothold. So that's why Dali says, to study the Buddha way is to study the Self. to study the Buddha's ways to study selfishness. That's the root of all the crazy things, of all the obstacles. It's that separation in the universe between this and the rest of the universe.

[81:03]

That's the basic problem. And that's why the Mahayana rose to make an antidote to what the Buddhists slipped into making a self-separating liberation from the rest of the world, separating the Buddhists and the practitioners from the people who weren't practicing. creating the same thing all over again. So I don't know what's next. Huh? Christina didn't want any more, right? Well, I have to ask my question, but there is a follow-up. It can hang out. There must be still a belief in self. There must be some self that's hanging out. Well, there's two kinds of belief in self. The first kind of belief we solve is the belief in the self of the person. Like, you know, Rev or Alan. Okay? That's the first level. And our hearts get free of that one. And that's a big, big relief if you're not worrying about Rev anymore.

[82:07]

But there's another level of belief, and that's the belief in, for example, existence, phenomena. Like you believe that... that pain is different than pleasure, that anger is different than lust, that Jordan is different than Christina. You're not attached to Jordan and Christina, but you do believe that they're different, probably, and that there's an inherent quality to their difference. That's the next level of selflessness, which you can still have. So you can get a big, [...] wonderful liberation from stopping worrying about yourself as a person. total liberation from stopping to believe in the existence of things. But even then, you can still camp out, and now, you don't no longer believe in the existence of things, but you still have some subtle attachment to your liberation from suffering. You don't even have to go beyond that. So even Buddhists who don't believe in either level of suffering, they still have to keep going beyond

[83:12]

Because they can camp out in this total openness. Horrible challenge in spiritual life. I don't know who, I think maybe Farnsworth's next... I've struggled with this before. In the First Noble Truth, it seems like there are different kinds of sufferings in there. Some of them are very physical suffering, not having a body. I'll go into the different kinds of suffering later tomorrow. I'll detail the different kinds of suffering. There's three types. I think Martin and then maybe Nancy. I'm not sure. This notion of self... I was just wondering, how did Buddha get from that one tree over to the boat tree? I don't know.

[84:14]

We'll have to figure out where that story came from. Maybe it was a dream or a joke. It's on the TV or what. I don't know if that's really a true story. But that may be your story. That's why I was wondering about, you know, don't move. I know, you know, you don't change, try to change the situation. Change your state of mind. You know, you realize why one is, why one suffers. It's the wrong view. So to try to change your view, Yes. That's what I was talking about with the gas in that movie. Good. And that you shouldn't do. Don't change your view. Don't try to change your view. What you see is a wrong view. Study your wrong view. Now you can see, oh, this view is causing me suffering. This is great if you can see that.

[85:16]

Don't try to change it. Keep studying. But then it will change. It will change. And in the right way to make it a drop away if you keep studying. So if you try to fix it, you switch from studying to your manipulative tendency, which is wrong view again. Wrong view is, I don't believe in karma. That's wrong view. So since I don't believe in karma, I'll just do a little karma in my wrong view. Make it a right view. That's antithetical to right view. It's wrong view to try to make your wrong view right view. Wrong view says you can karma-ize yourself into enlightenment. But karma does not, karma can never pull karma out of karma. Because karma is based on something's wrong, and I can fix it. You can't karma your way out of karma. But you can study your way out of karma. So when you study, you say, oh, God, me, poor me, listen, I'm a karma person. Here I am, karma, doing this karma, doing that karma, and this is causing all kinds of trouble.

[86:18]

Oh, look at all that. Oh, gee. Calm down now and study this. You got it in sight. Now let's really go deeply and see the karma. You see the karma. He can stand and watch how it works. He will become free. Buddha studied karma. He was a karma person too. He did karma. He was a mess too. But somehow he stopped running away and just saw, oh my God, this is like this, this is like this. And until he studied it, he said, and Mews read it, until he studied this all the way, he could not say he understood. When he did study it all the way, he said, now I did study it all the way. Now I can say it. I understand it's true. Don't do that karma thing. You don't At the beginning you do karma on your practice, chasing karma. That's good. But eventually you have to give up karma and just study karma. Studying karma is not karma. And now, Martin. A belief in self, the problem is the belief in a self separate from other selves.

[87:22]

If I believe in myself as entirely dependent on all other beings, that's not a problem? If you believe in yourself as entirely dependent on other beings, that's not a self. You forget a self, you forget that self. Because that's not... What we mean by self is a self that is independent. So the definition of self, in a way, precludes dependence on others, right now. So if I was to try and define self with a more inclusive, and Ogi says, when you carry the self and go and meet situations, you carry yourself and you practice Zen. You carry yourself and you perform and practice all things. That's delusion, of course. When all things come forward, and then there's a self, and then the self is realized. That's enlightenment. So again, I hope you do the same. Our usual way is there's a universe and one more thing.

[88:24]

You notice that? Then you're enlightened. Most people know what I'm talking about. There's everything in the universe plus something. That one additional thing is self. And the enlightenment is there's a universe and there's something missing, I can't remember what it is, and then you remember. It's the self. It's the self that arises in the coming forth of all things. That's enlightenment. But to realize enlightenment isn't to hold on to that view and trash the other one. It's the perfect harmony between those two. There's something a little extra and something a little bit less, missing. Those two come together to make a bodhisattva. Any other questions that want to be asked? Yes? Rev, could you comment on Suzuki Roshi's statement, don't move because you're already dead? Because you're already dead? Can I comment on it?

[89:37]

I'll try to practice it. Yeah, but I have to do it. I don't understand. Well, just do the don't move part. And forget about the details. Well, I have some sort of understanding about the don't move part. But I really don't understand what you could think of that. You know, they might have wrote it down wrong. They might have said don't move because you're already on it. One of his talks, you know, he said, he said, blah, blah, blah, you know, talking about just sitting, he said, you just sit, you know, but what we always want to do is we always want to arrive, you know. But he really means to say, you know, we want to arrive. Yeah. Anyway, I like that statement, but let's meditate on that, shall we?

[90:44]

Can we stop now? Did you have a question? Don't move because there's nothing to fix. Yeah, when you're dead, there's nothing to fix.

[90:54]

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