I am showing my palms out of respect for the awesome depth of practice that is precept with gesturing towards me. And I am showing my palms out of respect for the awesome depth of pain, of irritation, of suffering. It is precept. And now it is addressing me.

[01:01]

It releases me. It relieves. It is precept. Let's pause for a moment and listen to the suffering of the world. But listen to the pain of the world. It is clear. Let's think with it.

[02:07]

We are built to ache with it. We are built to feel the hurt. Our practice is to sit up low in the middle of all this suffering, of all this pain. Sit up right in the middle of all this pain.

[03:36]

Sit up right in the middle of the world of suffering, of all being. Sit up right in the middle of the world of suffering, of all being. Sit up right in the middle of the world of suffering, of all being. Take it with all being. At the center of this precept, all Buddhas sit. And all around them is pain. Pain is not at the center of this precept.

[04:42]

The center of this precept is release from pain. It's release from pain of all being. The center of this precept honors and acknowledges all being. You can hear it. The center can hear it. At the center, one is upright. One is not leaning towards certain groups of suffering.

[05:49]

Around the pain, in the middle of which all the Buddhas sit, around that is another ring of fire. A ring of anger. A ring of hate. A ring of rage. Disgust. Nausea. Rejection. Aversion. Ill will. Violence. At the center of this precept, we also honor the tremendous force of this reaction, pain. And honor it. This immortal force of nature.

[07:11]

At the center, we do not fight back against the anger. We do not fight against the pain. At the center of the precept, we realize liberation from pain and liberation from anger. Sitting at the center, all suffering beings, and looking out through the pain, seeing the anger.

[08:24]

Seeing the pain, seeing the anger, seeing the pain, seeing the ill will, we see it. And I'd really like you to wake up. Or stand up, or something. I can't wait for you to leave. Why don't you stand up? Hmm. Looking out at this anger. This precept does not mean that that anger is not there. This precept does not mean not to be angry when there's anger.

[09:35]

It does not mean not being angry when being angry. It means seeing the anger. Just like non-discrimination does not mean not to discriminate. It means to see the discrimination. This precept means to understand the dependent co-arising of anger. To understand the dependent co-arising of hate by facing it. And noticing that between you and the hate is pain. And separation. This precept means to see the dependent co-arising of anger, which is to see Dharma in and of the anger.

[10:51]

And be liberated from all harmful, destructive, inappropriate, horrible, violent anger, hate, and rage. Sitting in the middle of suffering, see the anger. Study the anger. Master the anger. Learn everything there is to know about anger. Which is to see its dependent co-arising and be liberated from all inappropriate anger, harmful anger.

[11:58]

This precept recognizes that there is such a thing as appropriate anger. There is such a thing as beneficial anger. It is the anger that comes from the center of the world of pain. It is the anger that comes from patience and compassion. It is the anger that comes from feeling all the pain and not withdrawing from it or putting it forth. Anger can come from that place, but that anger is beneficial and appropriate. This precept of not being angry means that you don't become angry when you should not be angry.

[13:08]

And you do become angry when you should be angry. You should be angry when it's appropriate, and you shouldn't be angry when it's not appropriate. When it's beneficial, this precept teaches how to be angry. When it's not beneficial, this precept teaches how to not be angry. How do you tell the difference? First of all, I want to mention a way that you can go by which you will never be able to tell the difference. And that is if you don't accept Buddhist teaching. If one has not accepted the teaching of all Buddhists, and again, please understand,

[14:14]

that when I say all Buddhists, that means the Buddhists of Buddhism, which is not one of the religions of the world, like Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. The teaching of all Buddhists means the teaching of the universe. It means the teaching of the entire universe. If you don't accept the teaching of all the universes, then you will not be able to understand this precept. What is the teaching of the universe? What is the teaching of all Buddhists? It is to refrain from all evil and to practice all good. If you don't accept that, then this precept will be very difficult to practice. Because if you do not accept, if you do not want, if you do not desire to refrain from all evil and practice all good,

[15:22]

then if someone suggests to you to practice good, you just might be bothered, troubled, irritated, and disturbed by the suggestion. And if they were suggesting that you practice something evil, you would not necessarily be bothered, disturbed, or irritated. You might feel quite comfortable to do so. Perhaps it would be pleasurable to practice some evil thing. It might feel good someplace in your body. Or your mind. Therefore, if you haven't accepted the teaching of all Buddhists, then you might get angry when suggested to practice good.

[16:25]

And you might not get angry when someone suggests that you do something really evil. Something that might really hurt somebody. You might not be bothered at all. Because maybe you'll go crazy afterwards. In order to tell when you should do anything and when you shouldn't, you have to practice all good and refrain from all evil. You have to accept that teaching. In other words, you have to turn away from worldly affairs. In other words, you have to turn away from life. Which means, turn away from when you get something out of it, from yourself. This is the person who is fish for, who is a hook.

[17:29]

This one who has accepted the teaching of all Buddhists. Zen teachers go shopping for you with a straight hook. Straight hook is straight talk. Simple, honest talk. You can catch a fish who's not trying to get anything out of life. Just like Jiriak caught an emperor fishing three feet from the water with a straight hook. Just like Gyalgo caught generations of Zen adepts by a simple teaching. But the only reason why the depression was because they had accepted all the teachings of the Buddhists.

[18:30]

These precepts are straight talk, a straight hook. Now, maybe now is the time for me to stop. Anger, horror, picture shot?

[19:47]

Yeah, anger, horror, picture shot? Is it Rocky Horror Picture Shot? Anger, horror, picture shot. Okay, anger. A little horror. A little bit more horror on anger. Just a little. But I want to say beforehand that the horrors depicted here do not reflect the opinions of this patient. The horrors depicted here are the horrors of inappropriate anger. These horrors come, this is the anger which is not appropriate. The things said about anger in the scriptures are for inappropriate anger. Maybe I should talk more about appropriate anger before I talk about inappropriate anger. Appropriate anger, it's appropriate to get angry at cruel people.

[20:53]

It's appropriate to get angry at violence. It's appropriate to get angry at what you have done to yourself that has hurt you. It is appropriate to get angry at how you have abandoned yourself and rejected yourself and sold yourself out for unwholesome deals. It's appropriate to get angry at, and you are angry about that. This rage you have at what you've done is appropriate. You should be angry. Not angry at yourself, angry at the abandonment, denial, rejection and abandonment of your life. To get something out of it. To get love, to get protection, to get survival. You thought. That is appropriate to get angry about, and you are.

[22:02]

Unconsciously, mostly, but you are. Projecting it out on other people, mostly, but it's really about something you should be angry about. What you shouldn't be doing is thinking that what you're projecting it on is what you should be angry at. That is inappropriate. Now, you do need to project it out on people and other surfaces in order to get to know it. It's unconscious. We understand that. But, if you then believe that the scream is the thing you're angry at, and act out that, this is inappropriate anger. This is extremely destructive anger. Particularly if you would project it out onto a Bodhisattva who is coming to help you.

[23:10]

And then the anger occurs. Such anger, when destroyed, can negate a mountain of merit accumulated by innumerable virtuous, compassionate beings. That's why I sometimes suggest that everything you do, immediately dedicate the merit of it to the welfare of others, so that in case you get angry later, you don't destroy it. Give away all your stuff soon, so you don't destroy it. All positive things, give away right away, so in case you get angry again, it's safe. Throw it away, and have it be. Inappropriate anger is really the worst.

[24:28]

It's the worst. Some ancients say it's also the most difficult to protect against. It is so fast. I agree it's fast, but it can be protected against. It can't be protected against so fast means it just happens like that. You can't protect against it, it's already happened. But it really doesn't give them that warning before it comes on, pretty strong, that's true. But it's already too late. It's touched up, and it's bad. Anger, anger, inappropriate, harmful anger, can be the source of violating all the other precepts.

[25:30]

For example, when you're angry, don't you think, hey, no problem, no problem, squish. When you're angry, is he feeling okay, stealing from her, no problem, the jerk. She deserves, I mean, I didn't even want her. I didn't even want her, but what can I steal from her now, you know? I don't need anything, but I want to steal something from her. What can I steal? Maybe something she really likes. Maybe something I like a little bit too, but that's not the point. Get something from her, hurt her by stealing from her. How about lying to her, or lying about it? I'll tell her some lies, I'll make her really upset. How about telling other people lies about me? Like 30,000 words. How about disgracing me with anger? How about sexually abusing me? That would be good too.

[26:34]

How can I do that? How about intoxicating me? Or intoxicating me, for I'll do something really cruel, I'll be easier. What is it, Stan Quentin? I used to meet the nicest people ever. Almost all of them committed to being intoxicated. It's so easy, it's so easy. So, I think I'll intoxicate you. First of all, I'll poison myself, and then I'll give you some tips. How about being possessive? I've got some stuff you want, forget it. How about abusing the triple treasure? How about smashing a few Buddhas and a few Dharmas? How about getting a few Sangha members? Good. Anger, easily, easily leads to violating all the others. It is bad, this kind of anger.

[27:36]

This anger coming from not sitting at the center of the community. So much pain, so much irritation. So many beings not behaving in such a way as to cause me no pain. So many beings acting in such a way that they cause me pain. Is it their fault? No. It's their fault for being alive is all. It's my responsibility for making them separate. That causes me pain. So easy. Buddha's disciple, Pali, asked the Buddha, World Honored One, suppose a Bodhisattva breaks a precept out of lust,

[28:41]

another out of hatred, still another out of ignorance. World Honored One, which one of the three offenses is most serious? Buddha, World Honored One, answered Pali, If, while practicing the Mahayana, a Bodhisattva continues to break precepts out of lust, or cultivates, as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges, her offense is still minor. If a Bodhisattva breaks precepts out of hatred, even just once, her offense is very serious. How come? Because a Bodhisattva who breaks precepts out of lust still holds sentient beings in her embrace.

[29:46]

Whereas a Bodhisattva who breaks precepts out of hatred forsakes sentient beings altogether. But this is a very serious crime for a Bodhisattva who vows to embrace and nourish all living beings. It's the worst. Pali, a Bodhisattva should not be afraid of passions which can help him hold sentient beings in his embrace. But he should fear passions which can cause him to forsake sentient beings. In Pali, the Buddha has said,

[30:59]

lust, desire, is hard to give up. But, a subtle fact closely related to compassion. I would add, a fault. I'm not saying it's not a fault. But it's subtle. It's subtle leaning away from something very important and that is embracing beings. Getting close to beings. Getting into the mud with them. Getting dirty with them. Feeling pain with them. It's going a little too far. Maybe I can give a little something extra on the side here. Hatred, on the other hand, is easy to give up.

[32:04]

Hatred, the Buddha said, is easy to give up. But, a serious fault. Ignorance is very difficult to give up. And, a very serious fault. In Pali, when involved in the violence, Bodhisattvas should tolerate the small transgressions which are hard to avoid. Like lust. But, should not tolerate the grave transgressions which are easy to avoid. Not even in a dream. Notice, ladies and gentlemen, the Buddha said, lust is hard to give up.

[33:15]

And, not to let. Hate is easy to get rid of and very bad. Ignorance is very difficult to get rid of. And, very bad. Do you notice the pattern? Ignorance, in other words, is not so bad. Because it's so hard to get rid of. You should tolerate it. It's going to take some time. It's bad, really bad, but it's going to take time. This is a very subtle matter. Hate is not so subtle. You can actually, quite soon, drop it. For this reason, a follower of the Mahayana breaks precepts out of desire. If they do, I say, she is not a transgressor. But, if she breaks precepts out of hatred, it is a grave offense. A gross fault. A serious, degenerate act, which causes tremendous indolence to the Buddha Dharma.

[34:19]

Because, if a bodhisattva is not thoroughly and versatile with the precepts, he will be afraid when he transgresses out of desire. But not be afraid when he transgresses out of hatred. If a bodhisattva is thoroughly conversant with the precepts, he will be afraid. He will not be afraid of when he transgresses out of desire. But he will be afraid when he transgresses out of hatred. I would like to not so parenthetically remark that in the Zen centers of certain areas, I have noticed for a few decades this situation of people not being afraid of being angry. Going around being angry quite a bit.

[35:26]

Just left and right. Angry, angry, angry. No problem. And angry at poor little bodhisattvas, too. But terribly afraid of lust. And having big rules against rough lust. But no big heavy rules against anger. People go around shouting at each other, violently. But if they touch each other, affectionately, big problem. Not at this Zen center, of course. Some other one. Touching each other kindly and affectionately can be just fine. And it can be too much. When it's too much, it's fine. But being angry at each other is not just fine. At least that's what the Buddha said.

[36:35]

And I'm just quoting him. But you know, I get this feeling deep inside me that I like the Buddha's teaching. Of course, this is the teaching, you know, kind of like a there's only a certain part of Buddhism called the Mahayana. Some Buddhists might think that actually they might disagree. They might say, no, no, no. It's okay to be angry at people. What's bad is the touching, a little bit too affectionately. That's a little bit bad. But okay. Is that enough of the horror show? Or more? Huh? What did you say? Please do. But one more thing I want to say about this,

[37:36]

about this, this anger. Anger is a manifestation of life. Life can manifest as appropriate and inappropriate anger. It can manifest as anger which is beneficial. I've heard these ideas from Shakyamuni Buddha. He got a little terse with somebody one time. He was really swell. He was really cute the way he kind of, didn't exactly, he didn't lose his patience, but he was blessed. And it's quite helpful. He also, one time, he roared like a lion, so powerfully that beings in ten directions couldn't hear him. There is such a thing as heat. There is an immortal force of aggressive energy in this world that goes out

[38:38]

and moves, and it can be beneficial if it comes from patience and compassion. And of course, he just talks, he gets kind of the horror show of what happens when it's used against a being to reject and abandon and forsake them. What are we going to do with this energy, you know? We've got to go niners. What are we going to do? Raiders. Go Raiders. Go Athletics. Go Giants. What about that energy? How can it be used so it's not cruel? It can be,

[39:39]

but you've got to be in the middle of your pain. You've got to be settled and alert and relaxed in the middle of the pain. Towards the later phases of the Battle of Waterloo, as the French were in retreat, a French officer, as he was riding away, stopped, endangering himself to help a fallen who missed a view. An English rifleman aimed at the officer. His officer said, Do not shoot that man. He is a noble person.

[40:40]

He is endangering his life to help another who's out of action anyway. Don't shoot him. You've already won anyway. It is possible to be kind in the middle of the hill, but not if you're checked out and I want to kill everything in sight. Even noble creatures, even Bodhisattvas manifest pain in the battlefield to show compassion. One time a person got angry at me.

[41:58]

It seemed like a person, it was a person's body that was there, but it wasn't a person. Not here. It was a small person, it was ordinarily not too tall, but this person grew very tall and turned red and spit fire at me and I missed him. And this person loved me and still does. It was appropriate anger. It was anger. It was anger that I should have been killing myself

[43:03]

for my own lack of integrity. But without combating anger, rage, and the beneficial. When? I already told you. How do we use, how do we work with, how do we dance with, how do we talk with, how do we live with the energy of the world? The energy which, when put in combination with impatience, causes destructive anger. The same energy, when combined with patience, can be very beneficial.

[44:06]

Rage, can even dance with unbeneficial anger and convert it and guide the being back to physical pain. Well, we have to practice patience. Which means, again, we have to go to the center of the pain, of our own pain and any other pain we can listen to. Or go up, go to the center of other pain we can listen to and gradually listen to our own. Anyway, we have to gradually, courageously, carefully, walk to the center of the pain and sit there. We have to compassionately listen to it, look at it,

[45:07]

feel it and walk to its center and sit there. And once there, continue to practice patience, continue to just sit in the middle of it, stand in the middle of it, walk in the middle of it and sit there. Patience is the primary condition for enlightenment. Giving is enlightenment itself. But patience is the first condition. You can't practice giving without patience. Patience is the primary cause

[46:10]

for seeing the pinnacle arising. It is the primary cause for seeing the dependent co-arising of pain and therefore the dependent co-arising of anger. Pain is not to grit your teeth. In therapy, pain is to make yourself have the capacity for the pain to open up and be big enough to have this big and you don't need to withdraw from it or go forth from it. With patience all around, we block the road to anger,

[47:11]

to harmful anger. With patience, we face the pain and we can start to relax and breathe. It's still all around us, we still feel it, but we can start to breathe. If we can breathe gradually, breathe more freely, inhale and exhale, we can open up and we can talk. We can talk to the pain. We can breathe into the pain. The pain can talk to us. If we can talk to the pain, we can walk with the pain, we can dance with the pain. When we start walking and talking

[48:13]

and dancing with the pain, we understand how this dance, this walk, this talk co-dependently arises. Just like stopping our breath in the face of the pain also co-dependently arises. Stopping our breath, holding our breath, tightening up in the face of the pain, then, of course, it's just a matter of time until we crack into rage, into anger. So we see the dependent co-arising. Of both pain and anger. Realizing the dependent co-arising of anger is the precept of NBA. Seeing the dependent co-arising of anger

[49:27]

is seeing Dharma. Is seeing Buddha. Seeing Dharma is seeing the dependent co-arising of anger. Seeing Buddha is seeing the dependent co-arising of anger. Seeing Dharma Again, all we have to do is sit upright in the face of the pain, which is extremely difficult, but there's no greater practice. That is the primary condition. Then after that, we start talking. If we don't sit upright and freeze and hold on to ourselves tightly, we start a dialogue. There's some interaction going on. Like George Washington Carver, when he was a little boy, he could cure all the plants.

[50:46]

People said, how do you do it? He said, I go out among the plants and I love everything, and I talk to the plants and they tell me their secret. We have to take a walk in the forest of pain and walk upright and lovingly interact with the pain and talk to the pain and it will tell you its secret, it will tell you how it was born, it will tell you what it comes from, that it comes from self-concern, self-cleaning, belief in inherent existence. It comes from not seeing the pinnacle arising of ordinary experience. And then there is pain.

[51:52]

And this is not the pain of being cold or hot or hungry, this is the eternal pain of the illusion of ignorance, which a good meal or a warm bath does not end. Only one thing ends it, only one thing, seeing dharma. Until we see dharma, we are, what do you call it, disasters waiting to happen. Once we see dharma, we see dharma when we are in pain, there is no harmful anger any

[52:52]

more from that place. Before seeing the pinnacle arising of pain and anger, it's just a matter of when the conditions are right and we will hurt someone, we will be angry at someone who we should not be angry at, we will be angry at someone who we love the most, who we do not want to be angry at, who we do not want to hurt, we will hurt them, starting with ourself. So, again, on one side we have tremendous potential for harm if we do not see dharma

[54:05]

of pain. We have tremendous harm we can do if we don't face our pain and understand it. That lack of understanding can draw tremendous energy from all over the universe to fuel deluded activity. On the other hand, if we can understand how pain happens, what are its causes, where anger comes from, if we can patiently observe all this, then those same energies will come to and facilitate that compassionate, patient, wise person. This is a poem from my son Peter, who I have hurt a thousand times, whose large and vulnerable

[55:48]

eyes have stared in pain at my rages, thin fingers and wrists hung in boneless despair, tail freckled back, bent in defeat, pillows soaked by my lack of understanding. Through weakness and impatience, with my own pain, I have scarred your frail confidence

[56:48]

forever, because when I needed to be stripped, you were there to be hurt, and because I thought you knew you were beautiful and fair, your bright eyes and hair, but now I see that no one knows that about himself, but must be told and retold until it takes hold, because anything can be killed after a while, especially beauty. So I write this poem, I sing this song for life, for love. From my oldest son, Peter, age 10, going on 11.

[58:01]

Thank you for your patience with what it's like to listen to me. You don't have to do it anymore. You don't have to do it anymore. You are attention.

[59:00]

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