Part of the motivation of having this class is that we're having ceremonies to receive the precepts. And there will be one on November 2nd. Okay. I also want to say that basically the Zen path is very, very intimate there.

[01:02]

in some way is very simple, but also kind of ineffable and subtle. So these precepts of a traditional Zen story, which shows something about this came to visit him, or one of the first visits, and he came to him and he said to the patriarch, how can I... Because again, it's a contradiction in the idea of getting into the steps and stages and becoming yourself.

[02:48]

Still, however, it's okay to have these ironic steps and stages and becoming yourself. The problem is, if you fall into the steps and stages, for example, let's say you attain a very high stage at becoming yourself. The problem would be is when you attached or got stuck in that high stage of becoming yourself and didn't move beyond becoming yourself and just be yourself without the stage. Does that make sense? It is possible to view what is... What [...] is... However, it's called Zen sickness, actually, if you get attached to one of those things.

[03:55]

So this is Zen itself. In other words, I'm... He started the first teaching, the first practice. He hadn't even started the first practice. He said, well, so what stage have you fallen into? And he said, well, by having the first practice, what stage did I drop into? The teacher was very happy to meet this young fellow. This is the kind of practice that we And here I present the precepts.

[05:11]

I told you before, 16 precepts, 3 treasures, 3 replicas, 3 character precepts, 10, literally heavy, or gray. 3, 6, 16, 16 Bodhisattva precepts. Tonight I'd like to talk about verse 3. Ready? Taking refuge in the Triple Truth.

[06:22]

And also, one more time, is that, of course, being yourself is just one thing, right? Buddha is just one thing. It's not three things or 16 things. But again, because being ourself is so subtle, The presentation of what we are is often explicated in terms of more than one. Sometimes it's presented as two, or three, or four, or five, or six. For example, two truths. Three jewels. Efforts. Or five, five cardinal virtues. Or six, six perfections. Or seven, seven wings of enlightenment. Or eight, eightfold noble path. Or nine, nine attainments. Or ten, ten powers of bodhisattva. Or ten attributes of a Buddha.

[07:24]

Or ten commitments or ten dedications. And on and on. Eleven I haven't heard of yet. Twelve, twelvefold chain of causation. Thirteen is uncommon too. I can probably think of one, but anyway. Fourteen. Sixteen. 16 phases of the moment of insight, and so on. All these different numbers up to large numbers. They're all explications of one thing, namely reality, your life. So these three things tonight at Three Refuges, sometimes Buddhism is described in terms of three learnings. The learning of ethical studies, concentration, wisdom. Sometimes that's the way Buddhism is presented. Ethics, concentration, and wisdom. And it is pointed out in Zen training that Zen, what we call Zazen or sitting Zen, is not...

[08:30]

the second of that three. It's not the concentration of that three. Zen is all three. Zazen is all three. Also the precepts, the Zen precepts, are not the first of those three. Zen precepts are the meaning of all three, or the meaning of the one reality that these three are trying to teach us about. So, there's a general thing about Zen is that a lot of the Zen teachings, they use words that are sometimes, words that are, you know, subdivisions of some presentation of teaching in terms of three or ten or whatever. But in Zen, usually whatever teaching it is, means the whole thing, even though it's using a word for part of it. So Zen precepts doesn't mean just the precepts which are part of the Buddhist path, which is precepts, concentration, and insight. Zen precepts are one reality. Still, we use precepts as ordinarily spoken of by people who use precepts as part of the whole teaching.

[09:36]

We use the same language, but our understanding is a total one. So the same with these three precepts, these three refuges. They're three refuges, but really they're one. And also, as I told you before, we're going to study three different ways of looking at these three, and also these three different ways are really just three different ways to look at one thing. So one thing is three, and three different ways to look at this one thing, which is presented as three. So now you can be confused. And that's a good place to start because taking refuge in the three jewels is fundamentally intended to awaken us from confusion. And if what I said confused you, then you're in the right state to receive, to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

[10:39]

Suzuki Roshi, the founder of Zen Center, said that the first refuge, you know, taking refuge in Buddha is to, in some sense, an act of adoration of awakening, an act of adoration of the teaching of awakening, an act of adoration of the community who practice the teaching of awakening. And I think Dogen Zenji says that this adoration of the Buddha is the basis for all ethical practices. And in fact, in 16 Bodhisattva precepts, the first one is to take refuge in Buddha. And taking refuge has an element of adoration, of love, of appreciation of awakening, And there is also a quality of alignment with awakening and associating our life with awakening.

[11:59]

Okay? But what I want to emphasize right off is that the way we align ourselves The way we adore awakening, the way we associate with awakening, if it's going to be effective, it has to be with, you could say, pure faith. One way to put it. Another way to put it would be, it just has to be total. Pure faith doesn't mean you think of Buddha and you say, I believe in Buddha. It isn't kind of like that. Oh, you could say that, I believe in Buddha. But what I believe in Buddha doesn't mean you're over here thinking about something, some dream over there called Buddha and you believe that such a dream exists. That's okay. But that's only a tiny little sliver of what it means to believe in Buddha or have pure faith.

[13:05]

Pure faith means that your body, your speech, and your mind is aligned with Buddha. That what you think, what you say, and your actual, every physical posture you take, is aligned with awakening. That's called pure faith, or total commitment to awakening. Can you imagine that? Now, as I'm talking, each syllable I say is aligned with Buddha. Every little pucker I make is in alignment, in association with awakening. Imagine that concentration. Imagine that commitment. Imagine that wisdom which would allow you to live that way. That's what it means to actually take refuge.

[14:07]

To say, I take refuge in Buddha, is a step in that direction. But what really to take refuge means, this kind of total... Adoration like, adoration like when you can only, I only have eyes for you. Total romance with Buddha. Which is not exactly the same as being totally adoring of yourself. It's more to be totally adoring of being yourself. See the difference? It isn't that you adore yourself. It isn't that you align yourself with yourself. You align yourself with yourself, but you align yourself with being yourself. Aligning yourself with yourself is a step in that direction now. But still, it's you aligning yourself with yourself. There's still no separation. So align yourself not with aligning yourself, but align yourself with simply, exactly being yourself.

[15:08]

That's to align yourself. So one of the awesome ramifications of this kind of taking refuge in Buddha, or actually literally going to Buddha for refuge, or going for refuge to Buddha, the implication of this is a surrender of all kinds of interesting little trips. Like, you name it. You can surrender being a jerk. You can surrender being a good mother. You can surrender being a good father. You can surrender being a Republican. You can surrender being a man. You can surrender being a woman. You can surrender being a good citizen. You can surrender being a hero of the universe. You surrender whatever. You surrender attachment to security.

[16:12]

You surrender everything. no alternative at all. You just are in to be awake. And there's only one thing to be awake about and that is where you are, when you are. Is there anything else to be awake about? You can dream of something else, but then to be awake to that dream. Dreams are localized. They happen to somebody who's in a certain place. So that's pure faith. That's pure commitment. As one Tibetan teacher said, it's to totally abandon and give up all shopping. Thank you. To abandon giving up shopping would mean that I would go shopping.

[17:15]

But I, you know, literally, I don't go shopping. So since I don't go shopping, for me to abandon shopping would be to go shopping. For my wife to abandon shopping would be more literal. Shopping is the basic problem of our life. We're trying to find something other than this. And we're motivated by interest in this person. Want to entertain this person, this person's a little irritated, let's go shopping. For some other state, for some other place, for some other physical position, for some other thought, for some other feeling, let's go, let's make some choices, let's get out of here. So here, to take, to go to Buddha, is a good place to do that. To surrender and observe.

[18:19]

Or observe and surrender and observe. And surrender and observe, and surrender and observe. I don't know which one comes first. Anyway, you give up everything, but just simply being there and being awake to what's happened. Which is the same as loving being awake. because this is the basis of being awake. And then ethical precepts, in the more usual sense of ethical precepts, are based on this kind of love. So that's why we take these first, because these are the basis of these precepts and these precepts. These are the basis of avoiding evil, doing good, and living for the benefit of others. Do you want to avoid people? Yes, where do you avoid people? Whatever you are, whatever you think, whatever you feel, that's the place you're for people.

[19:38]

That's your new basis for people. If you do good, you've got to do it from where you think and feel and sense you are. Work for the benefit of other people. Do it from where you are. That's where it starts. If you're not home and you try to help somebody, you're just going to start giving up. You're not going to have any traction if you reach out and help them. You're not there. You've got to act from where you actually are. You can't act completely from where you are. However, it does work. If you work on yourself, there's no sense of any side effects, any excess of yourself. That's where you do the work. That's why we start And also, Buddha is really just one thing, and also the three treasures are just one thing, but we can't understand what Buddha is, even until we break it up into three. So now, I'd like to... But before I do, does anybody want to die?

[20:58]

Go ahead. It's a good idea to do that before we get into this stuff. Then it'll be all fresh. Ready to take in some new... Exhale now before you take in this new junk. Okay, I told some people, but I didn't tell the new people that there's three kinds of three treasures, right? Three types. The first type is called, what's it called? Awakening. No, the first type, okay, so we have the three treasures, awakening, Buddha, the teaching or the law, Dharma, and the community, Sangha. Okay, those are the three treasures, all right? But there's three kinds of three treasures. Are we not ready to go into the three kinds? Maybe you have some questions about the first three. Just the three. Anyone want to stop there and offer a little rest?

[22:02]

Any problems with this awesome commitment? You don't have to do it. I just want you to understand that's what we're talking about. This is optional. That's what it means to take refuge. Otherwise you just dreaming about. Anything you'd like to add? Okay, well, so the first way of looking at these three is called what? Single body. One body. One body, three treasures. The next way of looking at them is called manifest. Manifest. Also you could say actual presence.

[23:09]

That's different. Let's see. This is the body. This is the body. This is the shape. And this is the function. Okay? Of the 16 precepts, the treasures are the body. The three pure precepts are the shape. And the ten great precepts are the function. So the body of the Bodhisattva's precepts are these Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. The shape of the body is don't do evil, do good, benefit all beings. That's the shape. The function is not killing, not stealing, not misusing sexuality, not lying, not intoxicating, not slandering, not praising self at the expense of others, not being possessive, not being angry, and not abusing the three treasures, not abusing the body.

[24:12]

So those are the body, shape, and function of the 63 steps, okay? So now, we're talking about the body now, right? The body which is the basis of the shape and the function. The body which is the basis of not killing. The basis of not stealing. Okay? Which is three treasures. Buddha is the body which not killing is based on. Without the Buddha body, push us the wrong way, we'll kill. Push us far enough, we'll kill. If we don't have the Buddha body, we're sitting ducks. Just dial in, conditions A, B, C, and we're killers. Only with Buddha body can we avoid killing. Well, I shouldn't say, only with the Buddha body can we avoid killing when circumstances are such. If things are really nice, a lot of people can avoid killing.

[25:15]

Like right now, none of you are killing. Right? Right? Matter of fact, none of you can do any killing right now because everything's so nice. Okay? Number three is called... Maintaining. Maintaining. Well, actually, it's literally called abiding and maintaining. Triple treasure. Okay? Okay. It's OK. Now, some of you have this. You can read, I guess. I think this is kind of hard to get, but I'm still going to try to bring it up with you and see what we can do with it. First is the one body, three treasures, okay?

[26:20]

Under the... looking at the three treasures, looking at the body of the precepts from the point of view of the one body, then the Buddha is the highest truth. then the Buddha is unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. Looking at the Dharma from the point of view of one body or one essence, then the purity or immaculacy or freedom from dust, the purity of this highest truth is the Dharma. And The Sangha, the community, is the harmony or peace. So Buddha is the highest truth.

[27:31]

The Buddha under this aspect is the highest truth. The Dharma is its purity. And the Sangha is peace and harmony. Suzuki Roshi says this is kind of like the philosophical way of looking at the three treasures. Now, from the look on your faces and what I would guess from my experience, I guess that That didn't do anything for you. So at least I know that. That's right? That just sort of went to Korea? Yes? So why isn't the Dharma the perfect teaching and Buddha the purity?

[28:35]

Usually we speak of the Dharma as being I was just kind of surprised that the Buddha didn't represent purity and Dharma, the perfect teaching. Yeah, I was surprised too. So you would have thought it would have been the Buddha was the purity and the Dharma was the what? It was, you said, the pure teaching and the perfect teaching. Not very deep, real deep. Well, the thing I handed out said that the Buddha under this heading was unsurpassed, anuttara samyak sambodhi, unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening.

[29:39]

That's Buddha. Okay? Buddha is complete, perfect, unsurpassed, being awake. And Dharma is the purity of that. Now what would that mean? What would the purity of unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment be? Maybe I should ask you, what are some impurities of that? Maybe that's easier. How could you make complete, perfect, unsurpassed, awakening, impure? What could you do to to defile it hang on to separation pardon me you could hang on to separation you mean that that this that this unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment would be separated from something is that what you mean Well, or that you yourself are separated. Oh, you'd be separated from it, yeah. Okay, that would be one thing. Or that's the same as it being separated from something. So one of the things, one of the ways you could defile this complete perfect enlightenment would be to separate yourself, or maybe not yourself, but maybe somebody you don't like, from it.

[30:41]

That would be one way to defile it, okay? Wouldn't it? Any other ways you could defile it? Attach to it. Hold to it. Sort of hold to it. That would be another way to defile it. Those are two main ways. Those are the big two, maybe, you might say. I think you can't defile it. What's up, Doug? We didn't ask you to say that, sir. We asked you how could you defile it. So, what is it? So, another way to say is, what is its purity? What is its purity? Its purity is that you can't defile it. Right? What's that? Hmm? That's oneness. That's the Dharma, isn't it? We just said, the Dharma is the purity of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. And I ask you, what... Would that be like the expression of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment is the Dharma?

[31:47]

No. In this particular case, it says that the Dharma under this heading, this way of looking at the Three Jewels, that what he means by Dharma is the purity of the Buddha. So even saying anything about it, separating yourself from it, or identifying yourself with it, those would be examples of impurity, right? Okay? In other words, Buddha is something you can't identify with or separate yourself from. But if you do do that, then you've got what you call not Dharma. Because Dharma is the purity of Buddha. Dharma is the fact that Buddha cannot be defiled. Buddha is something that you cannot attach to or identify with and also you can't separate yourself from. The perfect highest truth you cannot separate yourself from nor attach to.

[32:49]

What was the other possibility that somebody thought of? Those are the two main things you can't do with it. Cling is to attach to it or to identify with it. How about just doubt its existence? Doubt its existence? Doubting its existence would actually be pretty pure because you wouldn't be doing anything with it. So doubting its existence is... In some ways, doubting its existence is Dharma. Because in fact, Buddha doesn't exist, or not exist. Doubting that Buddha goes in the category of existence is actually accurate. That isn't where you put Buddha. You don't put Buddha in your category of existence. Saying that Buddha does not exist, however, saying that Buddha does not exist, being sure that it doesn't exist, is not Dharma. That's another kind of defilement. To categorize Buddha, to put Buddha in the category of not existing, that's incorrect. To put Buddha in the category of existence is incorrect.

[33:53]

Buddha is something that's completely free of any category that anybody can think of putting in it. Some people say Buddha is something that has no predicates. It's totally pregnant, but has no predicates. Okay? Okay? And the fact that Buddha has no predicates, the fact that Buddha has no marks, the fact that you can't put it in any category of existence, no matter how fancy you think of categories of existence, the fact that it's free of all that, that's called the Dharma under the category of the one body triple treasure. And the Sangha is the peace and harmony of You name it. You could say a Buddha, that's fine. But the Buddha that it's peace and harmony of is a Buddha that has no defilement. It's not a Buddha that you can identify with or separate from. And the Buddha that you can't identify with or separate from, the Buddha that has no predicates, the Buddha that you can't gain or lose, but the Buddha that you can realize...

[35:04]

the Buddha that you can live. As a matter of fact, your life really is Buddha, but you can't get a hold of your life and you can't get a hold of Buddha. That Buddha is peace and harmony. This is the one-body approach to the Three Jewels. So when you take refuge in the Buddha, one of the aspects you take refuge in is something that's so pure that it's completely beyond any human trips and also beyond any non-human trips. It's something that's completely, utterly open and free and can adapt to any circumstance and reaches everywhere. And taking refuge in Dharma is taking refuge in that purity. And taking refuge in Sangha is being totally committed with no side roads to peace and harmony. to give up shopping for anything but peace and harmony, which is a big temptation sometimes.

[36:14]

Have you ever noticed? Aren't you tempted to have something other than peace and harmony? When people act certain ways, don't you think that you should be the angel of vengeance? Well, any questions about this particular way of going at the three treasures? Yes. How do you take refuge in Buddha, and as you spoke about the adoration, and not be attached? It's such a commitment. On one hand, I kind of understand the non-attachment thing, but on the other hand, I feel like if you're taking refuge in something with such a total commitment, there's some attachment there. Right. I mean, a right that is hard to totally commit yourself to something without attaching to it, that is hard. It's easy to, not easy, but it's relatively easy when you don't feel any commitment to something to be kind of relaxed about it.

[37:21]

For example, if you have no commitment to ethics, then not being ethical is not that difficult. But if you're completely dedicated to being ethical, then it's pretty difficult not to be self-righteous, especially if you've been fairly successful at following up your commitment. If you're committed to doing good and avoiding evil, then because of that commitment, you're susceptible to think you know what good and evil are. Because it's much easier to commit yourself to something you know than to something you're trying to find out what it is. So I'm willing to commit myself to good if I can say that it's this. But to commit myself to good without me knowing what it is, and I have to check with other people to see what it is, well, forget that. I'll commit myself to good if I can decide what's good. But if you have a say in it, that's too complicated. I'll never be able to make any progress in that. It's too much trouble. Somebody said, when you travel alone, you can go right now. But when you travel with others, you've got to wait for them to pack.

[38:32]

Traffic's building up. And the thing about good and evil is that they have to do with other living beings. You can't decide by yourself what's good. I can't say, okay, this is good for you. You get to say, wait a minute, I don't think it's good for me. It doesn't mean you're right when you say that. It doesn't mean I'm right when I say it. It means we have to figure it out together. What is that expression in the marriage ceremony? I plight thee my troth. Troth means truth, right? plight be my truth. I put my truth in plight to you. In other words, my truth is here, but it's in danger to you. If you have a different truth, that's going to have an effect on this. I've got to adapt to that. I can't say, here's my truth, you live with it. I say, this is my truth of what is good. What do you think, dear? You don't think so. What do you think? Oh, no, not that. That's making things very... Well, how am I going to... What am I going to... How am I going to practice good if now I put my good out there and yours is different?

[39:44]

What's going to be good? We have to work it out. And then after you and I agree, then somebody else walks up and says, wait a minute, we're not making much progress here. So in practicing the moral way... As Wendy said the other night, there is no absolute precept aside from you and me. I cannot decide, and neither can you, what is good. It's something we have to figure out together. So, commitment to ethics means commitment to complex relationships, which can be quite frustrating because I've decided what's good and I want to do it, but you're not ready for me to do it. Wait a minute. Somebody wants to do something good, like somebody wants to... I often think of good things to do around a joint, let me tell you. But then I think, oh no, I have to talk to this committee and that group, have to clear a fundraising office, and oh no, and they'll say I'm, you know, there's competition with the... This is what time to bring in a little power.

[40:56]

LAUGHTER mow down low resistance this is my truth and i don't get those so far part of the way so my truth can my goodness can be good and get there okay it's so it is very difficult not to do but that's what you're committed to is commit to good and then be flexible about what that means if you're committed to good and you're too hard on that and it becomes aggressive, powerful, and leads to war. Now, if you don't have any commitment, then you're just wishy-washy and indulgent and lazy, and that's just going to lead to degeneracy too. It's hard to find that middle way to balance those two, but they must be balanced. Flexibility, openness to others, acceptance of the situation, and commitment to work it out. especially when other people get upset with you and stuff like that. Just put up your idea.

[41:58]

Some people get angry at you for just putting the idea out there. I mean, especially if you have some authority or something like that, you put it out there and people kind of feel pushed around by your suggestions. And then they get angry at you because they got pushed around. Very difficult. Meantime, the original idea is completely forgotten and all you care about is that you've been insulted and attacked and stuff. So then you have to bring in all these auxiliary practices like patience and stuff like that to protect you from blowing the whole thing. Anyway, it is difficult. Easy way is just die. And then start over. Okay, I'm alive. Okay, what do you want to do? I'll do anything. Fresh start. I forgot what it was that I wanted to do again. What is it now? Oh, yeah, I was going to practice good. Well, what is that anyway? I can't remember. Oh, you think so? I can't recall it. Yes? Next question? It died?

[43:01]

Does that mean you give up? Does what mean you give up? Do I give up right now? Yeah. I give up. Class is over. Is that to me? Definitely. And it'll probably pop up again in a minute. I've used this example before. It's one of my favorite examples. This is a little bit of bragging, you know, but anyway. Once I was down in Tassajara and they had this nice building that they built down there. A friend of mine built it. I actually helped him a little bit. Beautiful, new, Japanese-style founder's hall. And they put up on the walls around it this beautiful Tassajara mud, you know, made from local stuff. Anyway, put it on, beautiful color, beautiful technique, all organic and everything like that. And then it started to crack because it's hot there and everything. So it started to crack, so immediately the building looked like an ancient treasure, which was nice, but still, it started to crack and then it started to fall off.

[44:16]

So it even looked like it needed some repair work, even though it hadn't been finished yet. So somebody had an idea. This person was going to pull off that yucky old mud and put plywood up and spray it with this stuff, this stucco stuff. So somebody told me about that. And this person who told me was very upset about the idea. This kind of person who told me was, I'll just say he was upset. This wasn't the original builder. He didn't know about this. And I got kind of defensive of the situation myself. And this guy even told me that there was some kind of a chemical you could add to the mud so it wouldn't crack so much. He thought that would be much better than this plywood spray stucco. So I kind of got that idea that that would be a good idea. That was my truth. And I held to that truth. Nobody knew I was freaking out, but I knew I was freaking out. And also I knew that if I talked to anybody about this, like if I got on the telephone to talk to certain people, I knew that I would set Buddhism back many centuries.

[45:29]

So I did not, I did not talk about this thing because I knew that I would, I'd be totally ineffective in defending the case, you know. I sort of, what do you call it, I, I disqualified myself from human interactions around that topic because I had attached to it. And I was, I was in this wild sea. It was amazing. Okay. And I went to sit in the zendo. Again, very embarrassed to hear I was sitting with the stuff going on. Okay. No, no, no, Stockholm, no! Ruin this treasure! And then while I was sitting, this little voice came up. It was a quiet voice. It came up. Clearly observed, the voice came up. And I let go of that thing. I just let go, and the ocean went cool and soft. That was the end of that.

[46:32]

And since then, I've never picked it up again. However, I still have that value. And guess what's on the walls now? Mud. Mud. Beautiful mud. Not cracking. They put that chemical in. It's gorgeous. A little too gorgeous, but... And why is it there? Partly because I didn't have anything more to say about it. I didn't even do anything, really. I guess some people said, what do you think? I said, I think maybe we could just do that way. Yeah. But I really was not holding to it anymore. I gave it up, but I still knew that's what I preferred. And so somebody asked me, I said, that's my input. It wasn't a bulldozer of input, it was just a comment. And other people made comments and they made their decision and that's the way it went. So I gave it up, but since that was my value, it didn't go away. Some of your values might actually go away, but a lot of them won't. For example, you still might Want to be a good parent. That might be your value.

[47:34]

But if you hold to being a good parent, God protect the kids. And you. Most of you. Kids can always escape somehow, probably. But you're done for. Wherever you go, you're in a poisonous seat of being attached to being a good parent, whatever you think that is. Which usually means your children behave in a certain way. Usually it means imposing on them what they're supposed to do and how they're supposed to be helped. Anyway, it isn't that you don't have the value of being a good parent. It isn't that you aren't committed to goodness. You're still committed to it, but you don't hold to it. Therefore, you can be effective in the practice of good because you're not attached to it, because you don't know what it is. Although you're pretty sure you are. You might be right. Who knows? But the most important thing is not to attach to it because the highest good, the highest truth is something that cannot be defiled.

[48:38]

And there's my daughter who has survived me Fortunately, she was a girl. And I have less ideas about how girls are supposed to be than boys. If she had turned to be a boy, I wouldn't have been able to restrain myself probably in certain dimensions. When she was born, I felt very relieved. Certain arguments about what was going to happen after she was born had already started before. And all those problems were over. We had no disagreements about how to raise a girl. So the next one is manifest treasure. Now that is you could say the person who has

[49:45]

verified or realized this truth. So the first meaning of Buddha is this perfect truth. The second meaning of Buddha, the manifest meaning of Buddha, is the person who verifies this. Not the person who gets it, or doesn't get it, not the person who is separated from it or identified with it, but the person who verifies it. That's the manifest, which literally means sort of manifesting in front. Then, that which is verified, the truth which is realized, is the Dharma. And that's sort of long line what you're saying, right? So the manifest, what you usually would expect the Buddha and Dharma to be, is what is the manifest Buddha and Dharma.

[50:49]

The person who realizes the truth and the truth that's realized. That's the manifest, or that's how it appears to us. The person who realizes it and that which they realize. And then the Sangha, the community, are those who study that which is realized by the Buddha. This is the manifest triple treasure. Any questions about that? Wouldn't the Sangha be everybody? Buddha... is everybody. But the Sangha is not everybody. Sangha are those persons at this manifest level, or this level of appearance of the Triple Treasure, the way the Triple Treasure appears usually.

[51:57]

The way we usually think about Triple Treasure is this way. As the Buddha, the person who realizes this perfect truth, and the Dharma is that which is realized, and the Sangha are those who are studying the Dharma, which is that which is realized. This is the way people usually think about the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. So again, the first level of commitment would be that you would commit yourself to this perfect truth, the purity of it, and the harmony. The next level you commit yourself to would be commit yourself to the person. And the person, by the way, could be called this body. This body is the person who's going to realize it. And That which is verified, you commit yourself to that, and then you commit yourself to those who are learning about the Dharma, about this truth, and about the Buddha.

[53:09]

You completely associate yourself, align yourself with these three treasures. Okay? And then the abiding and maintaining, and it's sort of interesting that the word abiding and maintaining is juji. Ju means to abide or reside, and ji means to maintain. Juji is the word that they use for abbot. So you could read it as abbot for treasures. This is a little bit harder to understand. So the Buddha, under this abiding and maintaining, is converting celestial and human beings, appearing in vast openness of being, or appearing in dust.

[54:16]

It's kind of difficult, right? This is the abiding and maintaining aspect of the Three Jewels. So the Buddha, under this aspect, is not the person, and is not the truth. I mean, it is the person, it is the truth, because the truth and the person, the person realizes the truth, but it's not emphasizing the... the converting of humans and celestial beings. It's the actual conversion of them. The way it abides and maintains itself is in beings being converted. So like if tonight one of us actually was converted, one of us actually completely took refuge or went for refuge in the truth, That conversion of our life, that is what this aspect of Buddha is. So one aspect of Buddha is this truth.

[55:23]

Another aspect is that a person realizes it. Another aspect is that beings get converted to this. That's another aspect of Buddha. That's the abiding and maintaining aspect of it. Does that make sense? Is that the... That's not quite the truth or quite the person. Is that the realization? Well, you know, one way to talk about it is it is the culture or the societal framework of this truth which a person realizes. In some sense, The truth is ungraspable. The person doesn't mean anything by itself, but the actual conversion is this aspect of Buddha. Buddha, in other words, I've drawn this picture before about what Buddha is.

[56:25]

Buddha is going up and attaining and coming down and converting. Buddha is not just attaining enlightenment. Buddha is also the coming down into the world and converting beings. But it's not like Buddha comes down and stands someplace and converts somebody over there. It's that when the person is converted, that's Buddha. And when a person is... when this truth is realized, that's Buddha. But the second one is... but the fact is that we... We need to, and it actually happens sometimes, that you can see somebody who realizes it. It actually appears that somebody realizes it sometimes. This is an important part of the story. Otherwise, people have no way to get a foothold. So not only is there going up and attaining this truth, but there is an appearance of a person doing that. However, when they come down...

[57:28]

from that attainment into the world again, or interact with other beings, it's not just that they come down and hang out with people, that's Buddha. It's not just that a person who has attained it comes down and spends time with other people. The Buddha that's emphasized in this aspect is that the Buddha abides in the world and maintains the teaching, and the beings are converted. If it's Buddha, beings are converted. They actually get changed. And when they are changed, that change is Buddha. and it says, converting celestials and humans, and then it says, appearing in vast openness of being or appearing in the dust. This appearance and this conversion can happen in vast openness of being or can appear in the dust. In other words, in the dust means Adust means objective phenomenon. In other words, you can actually see it. You can see the conversion, and you can see the Buddha power or the Buddha function as beings being converted.

[58:35]

But sometimes the way Buddha works, you can't see. It's operating in great openness. Still, however, beings are being converted in a way that we can't see. The conversion... is abiding and maintaining but it's too open. But sometimes you can see it objectively and know it. The Dharma under this heading is being transformed into the ocean storehouse or being transformed into scriptures and again converting animate and inanimate beings. So the Dharma is, the Buddha is the converting of these beings from vast openness of being or in the dust, but the Dharma or the teaching is the transformation into an ocean storehouse or scriptures and converting beings.

[59:43]

Or it could also be said to be teaching according to people's mentalities so that those who hear it are full of joy. And the Sangha, the community under this heading, is the relieving of all suffering and being free from the house of the three worlds, or the living in the community so that no conduct violates proper expedient means and beings harmonize. Or another way to say it is the ones who are released from suffering and beyond the world are the Sangha. So, to take refuge, in a sense, not only means this total... commitment and alignment with the triple treasure, but to be fully informed would be to commit yourself to this full three leveled understanding of the three.

[60:55]

Commit yourself to all that. without any side roads. Is this Dogen's own scenario, or does this come from some other place? It's Dogen's scenario, but it's prior to Dogen. It's found in earlier Zen texts in China. I think it's basically based on the theory of the Bodhisattva path from Indy Mahayana. Could you explain for just a moment the difference between realization and conversion? Well, in one sense, realization means that you... stop moving, that you completely just put all your eggs in the basket of the highest truth, of the triple treasure, that you take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, Sandra, completely.

[62:16]

That all your truths that appear to you, all your values that appear to you, you give them all up. that you don't fall into any steps and stages. Although you may be going along steps and stages, you don't fall into any of them. All the truth you realize, you don't attach to them, you just let them be as they are. In other words, you completely just be yourself, that you have no shopping anymore. In other words, you surrender everything entirely. You just be yourself as you naturally appear without any fooling around, without any shopping, without any side roads, just align yourself with reality. And when you do that completely, this is called going up in a painting. At that point, you're completely free of all suffering, you're totally in the present, you have complete energy, complete patience, nothing can harm you, and you're ready to go to work. Go to work means come down and embrace all beings,

[63:23]

practice good, avoid evil. And when you have sufficient skillful means to implement this realization, beings are converted, and then Buddha completes the cycle. Then your life goes on, so again you have to completely abandon everything, surrender yourself to what's happening, and again go up and attain, and then come back down, So the vow of Buddha is to save all beings. In order to save all beings, you have to strip yourself of all attachments, of all side roads, of any ambivalence about the commitment to save all beings. You have to drop all that stuff. You have to even drop your attachment to the project of saving beings, and then you attain. So you're completely compassionate, completely detached, and then you come back and interact with beings. And you find the skillful devices to convert them.

[64:25]

And when you've done that in a moment, a new moment comes. Again, you have to adapt to your circumstances, forget about everything, and your vow again sends you up to attainment and sends you back down to conversion. So it goes round and round and round like that. It's a feeling of clarifying the nature of realization, but I don't understand yet what's meant by conversion apart from realization. Conversion in this scenario means conversion of others before yourself. That's why the mind that you've attained when you've abandoned everything, the irony of this situation is the mind you attain when you abandon everything but what's happening. In other words, when you give up all side roads and all attachments, the mind you attain, ironically, is the mind of all beings. Your mind left alone is totally unseparated because you also abandon your separation from all beings.

[65:31]

So when you abandon your separation of all beings, you realize your interconnectedness with all beings, the mind that is realized is the mind of all beings. Is that conversion? No, conversion is when you appear to other beings and they experience face-to-face meeting with one who has realized interconnectedness and they are motivated then to give rise to the vow to abandon all their attachments and then they will realize interconnectedness. But as soon... they don't have to go up to attain before the conversion happens. The conversion happens when they meet someone who has partial or full realization of interconnectedness, and they say, I want to practice Buddha. I want to take refuge in Buddha. As soon as they want to do that, they're starting to be converted. When they're completely converted, in other words, when they completely abandon everything to what they've converted themselves to, then they have attained, and then they're ready to go to work.

[66:33]

So we can be converted and we can say, I take refuge in awakening. I commit myself to awakening. I commit myself to give up everything but being awake. I commit myself to everything besides being compassionate. When we say that and we really mean that, then that's conversion. But still, we may, in fact, when things come up, get distracted from that. We haven't yet gone up and attained ourselves. even that we're trying to go up and even that we're trying to abandon everything but this basic commitment to awakening, even that commitment prior to completely fulfilling it still encourages others. Others are encouraged to see us sort of climbing up there and slipping back down and climbing up. This is kind of inspirational to people because they say, Well, he's trying to practice good, he's trying to avoid evil, he's trying to save all beings, he's trying to just be himself, he's trying to just be committed to Buddha, but he doesn't do it. If I tried it, I probably wouldn't either, so maybe it isn't so bad, I won't be the only one who's doing that.

[67:35]

So maybe I'll join after all, if I'm not the only one who can't do it perfectly. Part of the problem actually is that if you have just people around who already can do it, the people who can't completely do it want a little company of somebody sort of at their stage. So that's why it's nice to have some who look sort of like they've done it, and then a bunch of others who have various stages to keep us company. Now, the ones who look like it do it actually don't. They just pretend like they look like that so that you think it's possible. Thank you. You're welcome. So those are the three treasures. And as I said, those are the basis of these. Adoring these three treasures, devoting our lives to these three treasures is the basis for what we ordinarily consider to be ethics, doing good, avoiding evil, and maturing beings.

[68:36]

You have, some people say, in order to be a disciple, in order to enter into the discipline of awakening, you have to receive these, you have to take refuge in these, in all three of these treasures, and you have to do it with this pure faith. In other words, not holding back at all. But in the meantime, it's possible to do ceremonies like we do on Sunday, and we say to people, do you want to receive these precepts? And they say, yes. And you give them to them and you say, even after you become Buddha, will you continue to practice these? And they say, yes. It's just, you know, pretty good. Because although the person there may be sitting in their head saying, God, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this. Somebody says, yes. Who said yes? Some fool said yes. And that fool is the one who we hold accountable. That fool is the one who you can say, come on, keep trying. You said yes, come on. Everybody was there. They were all rooting for you.

[69:41]

Come on, keep going. Until you attain Buddhahood. And even after that, keep doing. Don't give up now. Everyone will get discouraged if you quit now. They'll think that you, come on, keep going. Huh. And part of total commitment to awakening is to encourage others to do the same. Because sometimes when people slip, sometimes we feel like, oh, I slipped, I will forget then. Yeah, we get disappointed. Sometimes, especially when somebody gets up really kind of close to the top and they slip, we kind of feel like, oh, you wrecked. I thought you were going to make it, and I really thought you had it, and now you slip, well, get rid of this one. But the reason why we're so upset with them is because we put them in the category of existing Buddha. He coughed, you didn't hear him. We put them in the category of existing Buddha. We said, they're getting so close, I think Buddha's there.

[70:43]

That's Buddha. And then when they slip, we say, oh, God, I lost it. We almost had a Buddha there, and we lost it. Actually, I thought we had a Buddha, and we lost it. In other words, I thought Buddha existed there. Therefore, I get very angry when I think that way, and somebody doesn't agree with that, then I get really upset. And then I say, okay, now since you were almost Buddha, I thought you were Buddha, but now you're not Buddha. So you put them in the other category, they're not Buddha. Ordinary people are kind of in the middle, right? Now the person who was so high was totally excommunicated. This is a natural thing that happens to people. Give it a couple of minutes if you have something to discuss. Yes?

[71:54]

In that windmill article, it was mentioned that... Which windmill article? By Suzuki Roshi? Yeah. It was mentioned that women are more complicated spiritually, physically than men, and therefore they have to follow more precepts. Indeed. If for the female priests in Buddhism, they give them more precepts than for the male priests. and i think secure issue is saying uh... he's dead now so we can say that he said that uh... that it makes sense when we would have more precepts because there's certain things that the women have with their body and then don't have equipment that these are women don't you think basically women have more complicated spiritually and psychically uh... than men therefore the need Mark Prusak is sort of saying that, I guess. I don't know what he'd say these days. Everything's evolving, right?

[72:54]

Back in the 70s, and I guess maybe, yeah, around 1970, I said something that I thought worked pretty well then. I said, women's small minds are bigger than men's small minds. Women's big minds are the same size as men's big minds. I don't know if that works these days. Anyway, there does, I guess, maybe you can say, maybe you still can say there is a difference between men and women, whether they should have more rules or not. I guess that's something which we have to talk to the Bhikshunis and Bhikshus about. Bhikshunis are the female priests, female monks. I do think, though, that the female monks of Buddhism, aside... I don't hear them complaining about the rules. What I hear them complaining about is that when they go begging and the men go begging, the men get more donations than they do, just like in the regular business thing, but it's worse in Buddhism. Like, what is it? Women make 57, 60 cents? 63 cents on the dollar to the men in America.

[74:00]

Well, in the Buddhist countries, the Buddhist nuns don't make $0.63, I don't think, on the dollar to the Buddhist monks. I think they make much less. Because basically, people give the money to the priests, the men, first. And if there's any left, they give it to the women. So there's real discrimination in the Asian countries against the female monks. I don't hear any complaining about the rulers. They seem to, I guess they feel, after examination, I guess they agree with the rules that they accept. I don't know, you'd have to talk to them. There are some around that you could discuss it with. But that hasn't been their complaint. They're more complaining about unequal opportunities for support. Therefore, a lot of female nuns, female monks in Buddhism have to go out and get outside work to support themselves because they don't get enough support. So they don't have as much time to devote to study as the men do. Those are their complaints more than the rules. Yeah.

[75:14]

When you say surrender and be yourself, could you say be yourself? Could you say be yourself? It's pretty close. Repent in the sense of admitting completely who you are. And also admitting that you, what, admitting that all these side roads that you have a tendency to go on. The usual scenario, however, is in a Buddhist, as you see if you go to ceremony, in receiving the precept, usually what you do is you repent or make confession of your ancient twisted karma. In other words, you confess that the actions that you've done with your body and speech and mind from beginningless time, you have a tremendously powerful habit of these side roads, of identifying or separating from Buddha. You admit that you have a tremendous habit like that.

[76:17]

You confess this before you receive these, which is a good thing to do because I just talked about doing this completely, surrendering completely to these to completely give yourself, to completely commit yourself with no reservation to awaken it. Okay? But it's good before you do that to admit that you usually don't do that. As a matter of fact, innumerable times you haven't done that. So admit that you've done that before, which is a good thing to admit before you try to do something, that you have had a hard time doing in the past. So it kind of clears away your past, but also prepares you maybe in the future that you might... Do it again. So repent and take refuge. Confess and take refuge. Repent, confess, take refuge, and then practice good, avoid evil, and help beings. And so on. And this will help you understand what it means to just be yourself. I'll maybe close with a quote from...

[77:22]

Dogen Zenji, the author of the instructions on receiving and teaching the precepts, one of his disciples said that our former master, the great abbot, said, in only the present life, there are ten billion things, excuse me, ten million things, sorry, ten million things that I do not know concerning the Buddhadharma of the Tathagata. However, concerning the Buddhadharma, concerning the Buddha's teaching, I have the joy of not giving rise to evil views. Depending on the correct teaching, I certainly have correct faith. This is only this, no, excuse me, it is only this fundamental intention that I have taught, nothing else.

[78:30]

You should know the meaning of this. This is the great master just before he died. There's a great deal about Buddha Dharma he didn't know. But he did have a joy that in regard to the Buddha Dharma he didn't give rise to evil thoughts. And all he really taught was this fundamental intention of studying the Buddha Dharma without having any evil thoughts. What are evil thoughts regarding the Buddha Dharma? What are the evil thoughts? What? Inherent existence. Inherent existence. What else? They exist. They exist. They don't exist. Don't exist. They both exist and don't exist. They both exist and don't exist. They neither exist. I'm it or I'm not it. These are the evil views.

[79:32]

He didn't have those. What he taught was the fundamental pure faith. of total commitment to Dharma, not that you know it all, but that you have pure faith, uncluttered by any acquisitory or self-deprecating attitudes. You're completely committed to the way of awakening, even though you do not have it and you're not separated from it. You leave it alone and just totally dedicate yourself to it. This is what he taught. This is all he taught. Meantime, we do study the Dharma and we learn a little bit. In this process, we do learn a little bit. Like you learn how to do kinhin, you learn how to sit, how to follow schedule, you learn what three treasures are. You learn various things. You can learn millions and millions and millions of things. Still, even a great Zen master like this didn't get very far. But one thing he did have was the fundamental pure faith, the basic attitude of purity

[80:34]

about what this was, he didn't mess with it. He just surrendered everything and just settled with this. At least that's what they said he said, maybe he didn't really say that. So he shouldn't attach to this. So next week we'll study these next three precepts. Oh yeah, then after next week, then I personally am going to, I have to go, I said I would go, so I have to go over to England. So I'm sorry. When I come back, I will continue to offer classes in the precepts in November and December. And we'll just keep studying the precepts until everybody gets enlightened. Okay? Right.

[81:36]

Yes? Did you know that Norman has changed his class? It's not happening on the 24th. Did I know that? How did you know that? Pardon me? How do you know that? He told me today. It won't be then? No, he's beginning two weeks from now. Okay, your class will be on Tuesday night then. All right. What? Next week. Next week will be same as like tonight. We'll just do one more like this one, except we'll talk about something different. And during the day, earlier in the day, I will be translating more of this text and becoming extremely inspired by our ancestors about how wonderful these precepts are. When I study this stuff, I keep forgetting to tell you this. Every time before when I come to this class, before I come to this class, I always forget to tell you, when I think about these precepts and when I think about the teaching about these precepts, the thing I think about when I want to tell you is, I don't feel up to teaching a class on this stuff.

[82:44]

It is so incredibly wonderful. so awesome, so difficult to stand and try to express anything about something so pure, you know. The slightest, it's hard to be there. And I just feel, not so much that I feel, I don't feel ashamed of myself or something like that exactly, but just, I do feel ashamed of myself in a sense that I can't be right there. But I also feel there's such a wonderful feeling in these teachings. And like today, I was on the way, I went over to Berkeley to work with this person, Tanahashi Sensei, who helped me translate this text. And on the way over and the way back, I listened to these testimonies about proving this Judge Thomas... And I listened to some of the people give their testimony. And I particularly heard these black women, these black law professors giving their testimony. And I was moved to tears by their stories of how they came up out of, they weren't in slavery, but how they had relatives who were in slavery, and how they grew up with the support of their mothers and their sisters and their aunts to become black women who are now leaders

[83:58]

of our country. And just to hear the integrity of this woman's voice and the impassionedness of her dedication to clear thinking and self-respect and helping her people of her, particularly the women of the black race, is just totally moving to hear this ethical integrity. And that ethical integrity is what we must have in order to practice Buddhism. And yet she wasn't self-righteous. She was just clear and committed. And it was just incredible. And I just thought, well, that's what this study is about, to help people develop that kind of integrity. And she did it. She said over and over again, this was possible because of all this love and support she got from her family.

[84:59]

and her teachers from high school on that taught her that it's possible to do this, taught her self-respect. So this is what we need to do for ourselves and we need to help others to do.

[85:16]

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