Do you know what the first line of Hamlet is? The first line of Hamlet is, who's there? Who's there? My topic today is about peace in this world. And in particular, I'd like to relate the issue of virtue or ethical conduct to the

[01:02]

to the goal of peace. And when I think about talking to that and I see all of you sitting here, I wonder, who's there? Because that's extremely important to consider who I'm talking to. And also in the work of peace, in peace work, It seems always important to wonder who's there, who is it that we're meeting, and to listen. We have our agenda of bringing peace and harmony, but then who are we meeting now to do this work with? And that question leads, in my mind, directly to the issue of virtue or ethical conduct.

[02:16]

Because ethics have to do with our relationship to each other, how we agree on what is helpful and beneficial. The person who is considered in history of Japan as the founder of Japanese Buddhism was the prince regent, Shotoku. He brought Buddhism to Japan, they say. He proposed as the basis for the Japanese society, the basis for a society of peace, the 16 great precepts of an enlightening being.

[03:29]

He proposed these as the foundation ground for a peaceful society. These 16 Bodhisattva precepts, if I may recite them to you, are in three groups. First group of three, which is called the Three Refuges. The Refuge of Awakening, Buddha. the refuge of the purity of awakening, the Dharma, and the refuge of the community of living beings who practice the purity of awakening, the Sangha.

[04:34]

These are the three refuges. And I always Repeat, for anyone who doesn't know, the etymology of the word refuge comes from refuge, refuge. Fuge means to fly away. Refuge means to fly back. So these are the three things we fly back to, we return to. They are our true home. We fly back to our awakened nature. to the purity of that awakened nature and to all beings who share this with us and with whom we share it. So the first precept is awakening. The first precept, and precept also means something written before. The thing that's written before everything is our awakened nature.

[05:42]

This is the foundation of all the ethical practices. And it is the foundation of peace. And separation from it, lack of awareness of it, when it reaches a strong level, is a source of war. So all of us become entangled in our thinking and feeling, emoting opinions and judgments, and drift away from this basic nature of pure awakened wisdom and compassion. And our first precept is go back to your little grass shack and sit in your true nature.

[06:45]

Go back again and again all day long. Return because all day long we drift away. We get caught by words and ideas and we drift away. So rather than try to pretend as though we never drift away, why don't we admit that we drift away and just keep going back home. Breath after breath. to our true nature. And at that place there is the source of peace. If we deny the fact of being distractible from that nature and then just simply are distracted from it, there is the source of war and conflict. And this true home has no fixed nature.

[07:49]

Buddha nature is not a fixed thing. And yet it's still, that's where we really live in peace. That's the first precept. Next is taking refuge in the teaching, the essence of this awakening. And next is returning to the community of other beings who are working to realize peace and compassion in this world. The next three precepts are to... First one is to avoid or stop all evil. The next is to do or practice all good. And the next is to work to benefit or mature all living beings.

[08:50]

These three. Stop or avoid all evil. And evil is a word which these days we rarely use. We feel queasy about it. We don't want to bring it up. It has so many associations that we are so confused about. We'd rather avoid the word. Krishnamurti said, the greatest evil of the present age is ignorance of evil. People these days are not up on evil. It's an old dirty word, let's forget it. Therefore, it haunts us. Evil is live backwards. To live is not to hold to anything and yet to be steadfast in good.

[10:02]

To be steadfast in the intention to benefit all beings without holding on to anything. That's what it means to live. Evil is to cling and hold on to what you think is good and bad. And then your life goes in the opposite direction. Do all good means do all things that benefit people. Be patient. Settle into the situation you live in. Give everything. Have no attachment to your possessions. Give everything. Practice ethics. Be enthusiastic about bringing benefit to this world. Be concentrated on your highest value always. And if you get distracted, always go back to it. And then just simply be aware of and be the same as what's really happening.

[11:10]

These are good things that we practice. And the third is to practice bringing benefit and maturing all beings. Dedicate yourself to doing what helps people. Not just people, all living beings. All living beings. All of them. And of course that dedication is another just saying the same thing as practice all good. The other day I was in the city and cleaning out my car And I'd set some things that were inside the car outside.

[12:12]

And a young man came by and picked up one of the things I had set outside, a cup, one of those cups that, as for the car, it doesn't tip over so easily. And I said, would you please give me my cup back? So right away, I missed a chance to just give it away. And he said, I ain't gonna give you your such and such cup back. You aren't gonna get such and such anything from me, you such and such. Yeah, I should have just let him have it.

[13:24]

But instead I said, come on, give me my cup back. And we went back and forth like that for a while. Finally, he took the cup and threw it against the car. And he hit the side of the car, which we had just gotten repaired. It had just been scratched severely right in this road up here by one of those big trucks, you know, that carries cars. And, of course, can't make the turns here, right? Goes over the yellow line, double yellow line. And so I got squished in one of those little corners, and it just went sort of peeled off the side of the car. We just got it fixed, and then this guy threw the cup in and dented the car.

[14:39]

And he threw it so that it made a perfect round dent. So that was that. But then inside me there was some other thoughts, like maybe I could call the police or maybe I could hassle this guy in some way. Such thoughts came up in me. Such thoughts came up in me. And I told someone about this, and this person said to me, gee, when something like that happens to me, I get really the most unwholesome thoughts. I think of like getting machine guns and shooting people like that. And I said, well, yeah, I can understand that. I didn't think of machine guns, but I got some kind of revengeful type of thoughts, some vengeful thoughts occurred in my mind.

[15:50]

to even the score a little. But then I carried that thinking a little bit further, and I thought, well, what happens, like, if I had killed him? And he was, like, lying there on the ground, you know, dead, this young man, you know? To some extent, I probably feel pretty good that he was dead and that he had learned, you know, not to do that with my cup. But then I thought, now what would it actually be like now that he was dead there? Let's say nobody else is around, you know, just me and him, just him dead and me looking at him. And I thought, well, actually, I think then in the end I'd feel like, gosh, here's this poor dead kid. Actually, I'd rather have him be alive, actually.

[16:57]

I didn't even know him, but I think after the anger's all gone, I come back to what was there before the anger, namely he's another human being, and actually I do want him to be alive. And I prefer that, actually, that he be healthy and happy. And I really feel bad at the thought of him now being dead, even not to mention that I would do it, but even more so that I would hurt him. It didn't accord with really where I want to live, although it would have been kind of fun. to give it to him. More deep than that was I wanted him to live, I wanted him not to be hurt. That was more where I'm at really. This anger is just a superficial thing and I'm not that happy when I'm there actually. So then when those vengeful thoughts came up, I just really dropped them because I didn't feel like they were ... I mean, in fact, if I was allowed to do it, I wouldn't do it.

[18:10]

So those are the three pure precepts. Next comes the three what we call heavy precepts, literally heavy or grave. And they are not killing. There's different renditions of this, but anyway, not killing, not stealing, not misusing sexuality, not lying, not intoxicating yourself or others. Not slandering, or in other words, not talking of the faults of others. Not praising yourself in isolation of others. And not being possessive of anything. All the things you have, not holding them in possession. Like a cup, for example.

[19:25]

not harboring anger, not being angry. And last is not abusing the three treasures of Buddha, awakening, Dharma, the purity of awakening, and the Sangha, the community. So the first and the last precepts are Buddha. First is to go home to Buddha, and last is don't abuse Buddha. Don't misuse a Buddha. Don't misuse your life. So these are the basis of a peaceful, harmonious life. And so actually, I broke that precept of being possessive. When he took it, I could have said, hey, man, please use that cup some good way, you know. And he throws it at my car.

[20:30]

Oh, that was a good way. I was very creative. You're my brother. And he may punch me in the face after that. But if he feels for me that I really feel that way, that's my true intention. I feel that war comes from inside my own heart. That's where wars come from, inside of our hearts. The wars and conflicts in here project out and create these horrendous ramifications. Right inside here where the conflicts are, there's also a peace. The peace and the war in our hearts are both right in there, very close to each other.

[21:37]

That peace is actually the true nature of the conflict. Conflict is not the true nature of peace. Peace is more fundamental. Non-attachment is more fundamental than attachment. It's more basic. So a hair's breadth deviation in our heart between peace and conflict, between compassion and aggression. That's why we need to develop virtue, which will help us carefully settle into our heart

[22:42]

into this awakening carefully to see it and to live it. At the same time, this awakening is no particular thing. So in one sense, in order to bring peace to this world, we must be very immovably committed to virtue and peace. We must be very firm on that. At the same time, we have to be very flexible. A kind of yin and yang. firm, steadfast commitment to a life of virtue for the benefit of all beings, and also in a very flexible, adaptive, open, listening approach to what is it?

[23:55]

Who's there in this particular case? What is this guy right here who's taking my cup? What would be beneficial in this case, I wonder? No fixed idea of virtue. So it's hard to balance a firm, steadfast commitment to virtue with not holding to any inherent purity of virtue. If you have a fixed idea of what virtue is, your virtue is not complete. And yet, there must be with... If you do not have, if you do not cling to a fixed idea, a limited idea of what virtue is, that's good, but still that must be accompanied by an unshakable commitment to virtue, to studying what it is and to living it.

[25:00]

I... For me, growing up in this culture, the word virtue wasn't, I didn't hear too much, but morality. The word morality, for me, was related to morbid or puritanism. And for me, those words, morality... and morbidity and darkness. The ethics for me had a dark quality. It reminded me of witch hunts and a dark time in American history when people knew what was right and everybody else that didn't agree with that was in big trouble. At the level of our mind where we know what's right, this is a superficial level of our mind.

[26:13]

Deep down, we do not need to cling to what we think is right. We do think things are right or wrong. That's true. All the time we think that. But it's a superficial mind that needs to hold to these views and hold to these opinions. Still, the people who hold that this is right have done the most heinous things in history. Can you believe that at a certain level of their minds the Nazis thought they were right? They thought they were right. They thought they were doing something good. They thought they were eliminating evil from this world. And they had specified where the evil was. And they did what they did. Of course, at a deeper level of their minds, they don't know what's right and they weren't clinging.

[27:14]

But still, that level was obscured by the level that knew what was right and knew what was wrong and acted from there. To know what is right and to know what is wrong and to hold to that is called bigotry. You know what's right. You know what's wrong. You know who is right. You know who is wrong. You know who is at blame and who is not at blame. And then you do something about it. This is bigotry. This causes war and worse than war. This is not proper ethics. This is a clean, this is confusing dedication to virtue with fixed idea of virtue. So Suzuki Roshi said, the cause of conflict is a fixed idea or a one-sided view. That's the cause of conflict.

[28:15]

If we understand this cause of conflict, then we can do various practices, various ethical practices, and not be caught by them. then we can dedicate ourselves to virtue without being caught by our idea of virtue. If we don't realize this point, then we will be very easily caught by these fixed ideas of ethics. And we will say, this way is the perfect way and the other ways are wrong. And this is a big mistake. There is no fixed, particular character of true practice.

[29:23]

And yet, knowing that, an enlightening being says, I completely, completely to the bottom of my heart, I dedicate myself to true practice, knowing beforehand that there is no fixed nature to true practice. That's what I commit myself to. an unshakable commitment to something which is infinitely flexible. This is the harmonious path. Committing myself to bring benefit and good and not knowing anything about what it is, and yet all the time thinking that it's this or that. Therefore, I have to look to others Who is it? Who is there? What is good for you? What do you think? Listening all the time with everyone to find the way. In the fifth case of the Book of Serenity, the poem appears, accomplishing...

[30:46]

The work of great peace has no particular signs. The family style of peasants is most pristine, only concerned with village songs and festal drinking. What do they need to know of the virtues of Shun or the benevolence of Yao Which applies to you. You don't even need to know about the benevolence of Yao or the virtues of Shun. Don't worry. I could explain to you about them, but you don't need to know. All you need to be concerned with is village songs and festal drinking. What are your village songs? What is your festal drinking? What are your neighborhood dances? What are your home practices?

[31:51]

This is all you need to be concerned with. And remember that these songs and dances that you do, that accomplishing the great work of peace through them has no particular sign. You don't know moment by moment what will bring peace. And I don't know either. Nobody knows. Buddha doesn't know. Buddha is the commitment to bring peace and happiness to all beings without being insecure and thinking that you have to hold on to some limited idea of what it is in order to realize it. Because you're Buddha, you know what to do. You will do the right thing if you return to your home Moment after moment after moment.

[32:52]

Who's there? This is called just to be yourself. When the virtue or morality is practiced in this way, it's not dark. It doesn't get dark and heavy. It's light and joyful. It's fun. If it gets to be this big burden you're carrying on your back, drop that burden. Don't bring any idea of what morality and virtue is with you. Come to the present naked without carrying with you what is good and what is bad. Arrive not knowing anything, and you won't be a bigot.

[33:55]

But if you carry with you one shred of certainty about what is good, you're a little bit of a bigot. And after a while, that weight will build up, and morality will become too heavy, and it will squash you. And you won't want to practice it anymore. At the dinner table here the other day, I was sitting with some of the teenage boys, and one of them said, he was talking about some movie he saw. I said, it was a depressing movie, but good depressing. And somebody said, what do you mean good depressive? He said, well, at the end, all these people got totally, just killed and it was just terrible. He said, but then all this wisdom started coming out of everybody. It was real, the whole room was full of wisdom. Real thick wisdom. No fixed idea of what is good.

[35:07]

You can't say what is going to be good, what is going to produce wisdom and compassion. But you can say where it's going to be realized. It's always going to be realized in this moment, with this mud. And if I ask you and I ask myself, are you ready?

[36:11]

At the end of Hamlet, that's what he was realized. In the beginning, he said, who's there? And in the end, he said, the point is to be ready. Are you ready? Are you ready to be Buddha? To be something which is not you and is exactly what you are, to be something that is not anything and yet is who you really are. Are you ready to be Buddha? Are you ready to practice virtue, which has no fixed core? Are you ready? And if you ask deeply into yourself, you might say, gee, I don't know if I'm ready. I'm not sure. Let me check again here. Check. Check. Are you ready? Am I ready to completely dedicate myself to virtue for the sake of bringing peace and harmony to all beings? Am I ready? And maybe there's some resistance in my heart to make that commitment.

[37:18]

But that's why we say, don't make it a fixed thing. If you remember, it's not a fixed thing. It's not a set thing. It's more just settling with your deepest, happiest, kindest, truest intention. Can you commit yourself to that? If you can not make it a fixed thing, it may help you be able to make that commitment. where is the place in your heart that you're most relaxed you're most at peace which is most true to your life can you commit yourself to that that's what's called taking refuge in buddha the first precept and the last precept

[38:24]

And also, please, anyway, listen, when I tell you that receiving such precepts, receiving the precept of the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, is something you receive, and then after you receive them, you vow to not lose them. It doesn't mean that when you receive them, then from then on, you don't make mistakes. It doesn't mean you don't forget. It doesn't mean you don't slip off. It doesn't mean you don't fall on your face. It doesn't mean that. It means you receive them and you say, I'm not going to lose them. Even though I fall on my face, eventually I'm going to get up and start walking again down the same path of virtue that I started on.

[39:48]

Even though now I got angry and held on to my cup, actually... It's broken anyway now, so let's get up again and practice compassion. It's not whether you get tackled, it's how you recover. It's the direction. Are you clear about your direction? And I was surprised to hear from certain Buddhist teachers that enlightened people are always confessing their non-virtue. They're always confessing that they're slipping. I thought enlightened people were those who never slipped. Enlightened people are those who make this commitment

[40:52]

follow this path and are always falling off of it and saying, I fell off of it and then I'm going to get back on again. First step anyway is, moment by moment, make the commitment. Second step is, screw up. Third step is, be aware that you screwed up. Second step, next step is, go back again. Return to Buddha. Otherwise, again, it's too heavy. Too heavy. So please balance these two sides.

[42:05]

Steadfast commitment, unshakable direction towards saving all sentient beings and bringing peace to this world. Other side is be flexible, be loose, be ready for whatever. No fixed idea. Let's learn from each other. And when we screw up, let's say, hey, I screwed up and let's go. Come on. So I have a song in mind, which is about this. And I'm sorry I hadn't thought of a new one, but anyway, this is one which more and more of you are learning the words to. Anyway, it's about what I'm talking about. I think you'll recognize it. Ready?

[43:06]

When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along, along, there'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing his old sweet song. Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead, get up. Get up, get out of bed, cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red. Live, love, laugh and be happy. Though I've been blue now, I'm walking through fields of flowers. Rain may glisten, but still I listen for hours. And hours I'm just a kid again Doing what I did again Singing a song When the red, red robin comes Bob, bob, bobbing along Bob, bob, bob, bobbing along They are intentions

[44:27]

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