Do you all have a copy of this? This printing on thick paper is for the purposes of chanting, but this was passed out a while ago on thinner paper. Did some of you get it at that time? No? Okay. Some of you did and some of you didn't, right? Okay, so do you have some more of these on thinner paper? Could you make some? So, how many people need one? Okay, well, so make several, would you? And you can get a copy from Pat. Maybe you could leave them in the office when you finish, and then you can just go pick them up in the office so you have your own copy. But we specially printed these for like, you know, when we chant together, and if you take

[01:05]

them home then we won't have anything for like, you know, for our group recitations. So, I'd like to continue to talk about these 16 great precepts of the Bodhisattva, of the Buddha, and I also would like to say that from my point of view I'm just sort of going over lightly these 16 precepts. You may feel like I'm going into quite a bit of detail, for example, on repentance, but from my point of view I'm just covering it and going on to the next thing so that you get some overview of the whole in a relatively short period of time of a few months. And then I'll just continue to go over it and over it and deeper and deeper as time

[02:06]

goes on. So, in that way I'm sort of apologizing that I'm already, after only giving a few lectures this spring and summer, I'm already talking to you about the three pure precepts. In other words, I kind of rushed through the three refuges. So, last week I started talking with you about the three pure precepts. Do you remember? Is that what you think I was talking about, sort of? I jumped around a little bit. So, the three pure precepts, they're called three pure cumulative precepts, or three collective pure precepts. The version here is the precept of fulfilling rules and laws, the precept of fulfilling wholesome dharmas, or wholesomeness, wholesome action, and the precept of fulfilling all beings.

[03:08]

Okay? Those three. Another version of this is don't do bad, do good, and clarify the mind. Another version of it is don't do bad, do good, and save all beings or benefit all beings. Okay? Or, as sometimes we chant in the Bodhisattva ceremony, I vow to embrace and sustain right conduct. That's the first one. I vow to embrace and sustain all good. I vow to embrace and sustain all beings. Okay? So, this is different renditions. In the early Buddhist teaching of these three precepts, the way they said it was avoid unwholesomeness

[04:12]

or avoid evil, do all wholesomeness, all good, and clarify or purify the mind. Yes? In the varying translations that you gave, are those just different translations of, in fact, the same words in Japanese or Chinese or Sanskrit? Or are there, in fact, that many different Sanskrit versions of this? The one we have on this sheet of paper here of the precept of fulfilling rules and laws is a different original from don't avoid all evil. It's a different original in Chinese. Okay? The original in Pali is avoid unwholesomeness, do wholesomeness, and purify the mind. That's original in Pali and Sanskrit in the early tradition.

[05:15]

Then, the Mahayana tradition is avoid evil, do good, and benefit beings. However, there is another slightly different version in Sanskrit, which is for these three. That's what I'd like to tell you tonight. In Sanskrit, the first one is Second one is I'll tell you, I'll go over this in English. Shila means, in each case, precepts. Samvara means restraint.

[06:17]

So, the first of the three in the Mahayana Sanskrit version that's most popular is precepts of restraint. Samvara Shila. Second one is the precept, the Shila of Kusala Dharma Samgraha. Samgraha means to gather, Kusala means wholesome, and Dharma means things. So, the gathering together of all good things is the second one, which corresponds quite closely to fulfilling wholesome dharmas or doing all good. The third one is called Sattva Kriya. Sattva is being, and Kriya means to clean, or develop, or mature. Now, to translate them into Chinese, they would usually translate them as literally would be restraint, but it's restraining evil.

[07:20]

Restraining on wholesomeness, but it just says restraint. And next one is to do all good. But this one changes slightly and says fulfilling laws and rules. Actually, in this Zen text. Slightly different. However, it's not... Basically, the reason why they say that is because the precepts of restraint are phrased sounding like rules, but also like laws. But not laws... Not so much like laws of what you're supposed to do, or not what you're supposed to do, but laws of the way things are. And rules of the way things are. But also rules to guide us in life. And I said this before, I'll say it again. The Buddhist precepts, particularly these ones on... these precepts of restraint, like

[08:23]

not killing, not stealing and so on, have nothing to do with doing or not doing something. They're not rules like doing and not doing rules. They're rules in the sense of something you can grow on. The etymology of the Latin word regula, which is sometimes translated as rule, and sometimes translated as rule, refers to a trellis. A trellis that a plant grows on. It's not that you're supposed to do the trellis or not do the trellis. A plant doesn't do the trellis or not do the trellis, but it kind of does the trellis because it touches the trellis, hooks onto the trellis, and then does something in mid-air, and then hooks onto the trellis, and does something in mid-air, and hooks onto the trellis. Mostly what the plant is, is itself.

[09:26]

But with the aid of the trellis, it can grow up into the air. These not killing, not stealing, are in order to promote the life of Buddha. They're not something you're supposed to do or not do. Just like a trellis for a plant, it's not something which it does or doesn't do. I was talking to a person who is thinking of becoming ordained as a priest. This is a senior person in Zen Center who's been practicing for, I think, more than 20 years, and was almost ordained, actually, quite a long time ago, like over 10 years ago this person almost became ordained as a priest,

[10:28]

and now is thinking about it again. And when I was talking to her about this, when I was listening to her talk about her considerations as to whether to get ordained or not, I was deeply touched, because there was something very, very quiet about the way she was talking. Her voice level wasn't so quiet, but there was something very, very quiet, and I was very touched. I feel that for some reason or other, receiving these precepts and making this commitment for her is pointing to something very deep and very quiet. That's what I feel for her, and I agree with her,

[11:28]

that these precepts are pointing to this very deep, quiet place. They're not talking about the level of our life where we do things and don't do things. They aren't talking about the level of our life where we try to stop that, get back there. There is that level of our life, though, where we're reaching out to do something, and where another hand comes up and stops us, either our own or someone else's, and struggles with us to get us to stop doing this terrible thing. That's part of our life. There's also part of our life where we say, Come on, get up, do it, come on, do it, [...] sign the paper. Or, go ahead, come on, do it, come on, do it, come on, do it. Or, I want to do it, you don't have to push me at all, I want to do it, leave me alone, I'll do it. Or, I'm not going to do it, I will not do it.

[12:31]

I won't do that evil, I won't do that good. This is part of our life. Have you noticed? These precepts are not about that at all. The repentance which you do before receiving these precepts is about that. The repentance is kind of noisy. And the repentance is you should admit how noisy you are. I should admit how noisy I am. Exactly how noisy I am. I shouldn't pretend to be noisier or less noisy than I am. I should admit, moment by moment, I'm a human being, I'm noisy. I'm busy, I'm hysterical. Or, I'm in denial about my hysteria, I'm obsessive to avoid it, etc.

[13:34]

Obsesses and compulsions and hysterias. This is the human situation. These precepts are not about that. These precepts are about this quiet place, this peaceful place, which is right there too, which we somehow are quite interested in, and yet we're not quite sure how to situate ourselves with it. This place, this quiet place or this quiet thing, is not only quiet, but it is, I was going to say blindingly bright. But maybe blindingly is too rough. Anyway, it's radiant, it's bright, and it's quiet, and it's still. So these precepts are pointing to this place, and some people, when they think about these precepts, think about them from the noisy place, which, again, I don't mean to, what do you say,

[14:39]

I don't want to give you the impression like I'm teasing the people who think about these precepts from the noisy place. I do not tease you about this. I understand that from the human point of view, when you think about these precepts, you get all kinds of, you get various noisy responses, like I can't practice those precepts, or yeah, I think I could do them, or well, sometimes I can do them, sometimes I can't. Well, maybe I shouldn't receive them because I'm not perfect at them, or I think I can receive them even though I'm not perfect at them because someone told me that's all right. This is various kinds of noise that we make when we think about receiving the precepts. I'm not criticizing that, but when I was talking to this woman, part of her was not talking like that. Part of her was just talking, kind of like leaning in the direction or reaching out to this place of these precepts. It's very touching. It's right under our nose. And this is called zazen, this quiet light.

[15:42]

These precepts are helping us to enter this practice of zazen. Precepts are the way helping us understand our zazen practice, which I said over and over. And I told this story before, too, but I'll say it again. A friend of mine was in San Francisco waiting for a bus in the Fillmore district, and an old black man was waiting there with her, and she said to him, somehow, how old are you? And he said, I'm 100. And she said, well, to what do you attribute your great old age? I attribute my great old age in good health. And he said, that the Lord said that nothing will be withheld

[16:45]

from one who stands upright before me. So, these precepts are about how to sit or stand upright in this world. And if we can realize this uprightness, nothing will be withheld from us, including nothing terrible will be withheld from us. You'll get the whole world in your hands. So, this first one, the precept of restraint, of fulfilling, fulfilling all rules and laws, it says that one is the abode of all the laws of the Buddhas,

[17:47]

and it is the source of all the laws of the Buddhas, the source of the laws of all Buddhas. So, this one, which is the precept, the first of the three pure precepts, which is about restraint, it's called restraint because it sounds like, you know, not killing, not stealing, not lying, and so on, not misusing sexuality, not intoxicating, not slandering, these ones, these are about the source. These precepts point to the source from which the laws come. These precepts point to the light. And they also point to the source, they also point to the place where the laws live. They sound like doing and not doing something,

[18:51]

but the meaning of them as Buddhist precepts is pointing to this light. I will come back to this. The next one, this one of doing all good, is the teaching of Anyuttara Samyak Sambodhi, it is the teaching of complete, perfect, unsurpassed enlightenment. That's what the second one is. It is the teaching of that. The first one is pointing to the source, the second one is the teaching of enlightenment. And it is the path of the practitioner, and it is what is practiced. And the last one, the fulfilling all beings, it is transcending the profane and holy, and it is taking self and others across. You get a feeling for the difference between these three?

[19:54]

One is like oriented towards the source, the other has to do with the teaching of enlightenment. It's about the path that the practitioner takes, and what is practiced. And the last one is about transcending duality of sacred and profane, and bringing self and others across. Three different dimensions of Buddha's mind as these three precepts. These can also be spoken of in terms of the three bodies of Buddha. The first one the one of restraint, the one of the abode and the source of the laws of Buddha is what we call the truth body of Buddha, the Dharmakaya Buddha. The source,

[20:57]

totally ungraspable radiance, quiet, still, light. This light, this is it, this is the light here, the universe in other words, as light and as source. So, not killing, not stealing, point to this light, they don't have to do with doing or not doing something, they are pointing to this light of the Dharmakaya Buddha. The second one, the one of doing all good, which is the teaching of enlightenment and it is the path of our practice and what we practice, that one is what's called the Sambhogakaya Buddha. The body, the bliss body, the organismic body of Buddha. The joy of practice,

[22:04]

doing all good, it is like the six perfections, practicing giving, ethics, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and insight. It's in all practices that Bodhisattvas do, all things to help people. That's the teaching of enlightenment, and the path of the practitioner and what is practiced. And the third one is, the benefiting all beings or developing beings, is what's called the Nirmanakaya Buddha, the body of transformation or the phantom body. The fact that Buddha body takes on phantom or it transforms itself into various forms. Like all these human beings, it takes on human form, limited, unique,

[23:07]

moment by moment, human form. It is in that form that sacred and holy are transcended. Practicing giving is wonderful, it is bliss itself. It is the practice of enlightenment. However, you got to have a human body in connection with the practice of giving in order to transcend sacred or holy and profane. It is the human form that proves the non-duality of the Buddha Dharma. We prove, we prove, whether or not it can be of any use to people. If it can work for us,

[24:13]

it can work for anybody. And vice versa, probably, if it doesn't work for us, it ain't going to work for anybody. I used to say, maybe not, maybe some people are better than us and it'll work for them. Okay, maybe so. But that doesn't transcend sacred and holy. That leaves sacred and holy separate. And the holy ones will be saved and the profane ones... I said sacred and holy, I didn't mean that. Secular and holy or profane and holy. They're transcended by this body of transformation. And each of you, and I'm not saying you are all Nirmanakaya Buddhas exactly, I'm just saying Nirmanakaya Buddha is the fact that it gets transformed into you. And if you can transcend sacred and holy,

[25:14]

then that's the Nirmanakaya Buddha. And that's what saves people. In a sense, it's where the Dharma comes down to crunch. It's where the Dharma really engages and does its work, is in this final fact that it gets transformed into uniqueness, into limitation. The previous two precepts are associated with the bodies of Buddha which in some sense have no location. The bliss body of Buddha in a sense has no location. Bliss does not have an address. However, it's never separated

[26:18]

from a being who has an address. And also the body of reality has no address, has no location. It's just boundless light. It's the located, it's the transformed into limited form is where beings get saved. The boundless light body and the boundless bliss body hooked into a flesh body with all of its qualities. That's what makes beings be saved. But the limited body that does not realize its connection with the bliss body and the truth body somehow doesn't seem to save, doesn't transcend.

[27:19]

So I don't know, it doesn't seem like the right time but I'm just going to go ahead and give something interesting at the wrong time. And maybe it'll be implanted and you'll be able to use it later. I just feel like it's a good idea and it's the wrong time to say this but I'm going to say it. Sometimes I jump around because I talk about what seems to be apropos and then my lectures are kind of like jumping around from thing to thing and have no order. Tonight I'm going to do what doesn't seem appropriate but it's going to be in order. So I'm going to start again with the first of the three precepts which is about the source of Buddha's laws and the abode of Buddha's laws. I'm going to talk about light. Okay, so these precepts, not killing, not stealing and so on, okay. Nagarjuna said, Nowhere and at no time does anything ever exist which is caused by itself, by something else,

[28:51]

by both itself and something else or by nothing or by no cause. There's no such thing. This is called the middle way. Did you get a feeling for it? Want to know what the middle way is? This is the middle way. This is his first gesture indicating the middle way. What's the middle way? You know what the middle way is? What's the middle way? It's the way Buddha walks. When he walks, this is the way the Buddha walks. When she walks or when she walks, she walks the middle way. What's the middle way? The middle way is nothing like, for example, what's happening right here, okay, what's happening for each of you right now. It's not caused by itself, okay. What's happening now is not caused by what's happening now. It's not caused by what's happening now.

[29:55]

It ain't like that. That wouldn't be the middle way. Okay, got that? Let go of that one. Okay, how about caused by something else? No, not caused by something else. Let go of that. How you doing? Take a step backwards again, okay. Are you here? Okay, this is not caused by this. Nagarjuna says, this is not caused by this. Okay, do you believe that? Try it on. That's his instruction. Forget about that one. This is Nagarjuna telling you how to sit zazen. How do you sit zazen? You're sitting here right now in your chairs and cross-legged and on the couch and so on. You're all here, okay. This is not caused by this. That's how to sit zazen. But just in case you would flip over into something else,

[31:00]

it's also not caused by something else. There's nothing outside it which is causing it either. Also, I'll give you a chance to settle with that. How you doing? Are you there? I'll try it again myself. Not caused by this, okay. Not caused by something other. Not caused by both. Not caused by self and the other. Not that way either. Drop that off. And also, not without a cause. That's called uprightness. That's the source of Buddha's laws. That's the middle way. That's what it means not to kill. Like that. This is like, also, this is like

[32:03]

not before and not after. This is a land of not before and not after. The middle way is kind of between before and after. It's not the present either. Of course, there's nothing but the present but the middle way is not even the present. This is Nagarjuna's first verse in what he called his fundamental verses on the middle way. This is what it means to be concentrated on a path which has nothing to do with doing or not doing. With existence or non-existence. Now, I've also talked about, you know,

[33:09]

giving up shopping. So, if you're going to give up shopping but also you can also shop intensively. Okay, like shop for what's caused by this, shop for that, no. Shop for caused by another, no. Shop for both, no. Shop for no cause, no. So you can also shop off body and mind. This way. Shop for all the possibilities. Okay, now, I'd like to connect this to case 20 of the Book of Serenity. All right? Case 20 of the Book of Serenity. Ditsang says to Fa Yen, where are you going? Fa Yen says, I'm going on pilgrimage. Now, where do Buddhist monks go on pilgrimage? Where do they go when they go on pilgrimage? Huh? What? You don't know? Right, they go to I don't know. Or to the Zen Do, same thing. Same thing. Would you make a snooze sign?

[34:12]

No, or I don't know over the door. The Zen Do, the Buddhist monks go on I don't know. Or they go on the Middle Way, that's where they go, right? They always walk the Middle Way. Right? Isn't that where they go? Middle Way. And then Fa Yen says, well, what is the purpose of this walking this Middle Way or this pilgrimage? And he says, I don't know. That's the purpose of it. This is also, I don't know is not caused by itself, not caused by another, not caused by both, with no cause. I don't know is uprightness. Is uprightness. Is goose bumps. I asked somebody the other day, you know, what's his main deal?

[35:23]

What's his main interest? And he said Buddha. What are Bodhisattvas thinking about all the time? They're always thinking about Buddha. Or the Middle Way. Or always thinking about saving sentient beings. Same thing. When you think about saving sentient beings you're thinking about Buddha. But the way you think about saving sentient beings is this Middle Way way of thinking. So, I asked this person how he practices this Buddha way and he says, I repent and then I forgot what he said after that. But I think he said something like, I repent and then I said, then what do you do? And finally I forced him to say Buddha.

[36:25]

In other words, realistically speaking we don't usually allow ourselves to return to Buddha, to take refuge in Buddha, to walk the Middle Way until we admit our human nature. So you have to admit, I'm a human being, I don't believe in any of this stuff, I want to get something out of it, I don't want to go the Middle Way. That's useless for me. I want to go the Up Way or the Down Way. I want to go the Improvement Way or the Depreciation Way. Right? I admit that. I acknowledge that. And then I walk the Middle Way. And I have two hearts, in a way. I have one heart that likes and dislikes things, that likes some people better than other people, that hates some people. That's one of my hearts. I have another heart which is very pure

[37:32]

and is always concerned with one thing. As a matter of fact, that's what a pure heart is. It's the heart that's concerned with one thing, that wants one thing. It's the heart of all three of these precepts, but for starters, it's the heart that wants that quiet place that's free from caused by this, caused by another, caused by both, and free of also no cause, free of being without cause. In other words, it can have cause, but you can't limit the cause. What is the one thing that your heart wills? Or where is the heart? Where is your heart? Where is your heart? Where is my heart?

[38:34]

Where is the heart that wills one thing? Where is the heart? That's the pure heart. There's one heart that wills one thing. Can you find that heart? And I again remind, I say again, first admit there's a heart that's interested in a lot of stuff. There's a heart that wants many things. But there's a heart in the middle of that heart, or a pure heart that wants only one thing. What is that heart? Where is that heart? And that heart is, I don't know, too. I don't know that heart. And for some people, again, when they approach the Buddhist ordination, they approach it from the level of,

[39:36]

you know, thinking about it, and saying they can do it or not do it, and making deals with themselves. That's part of it. But there's another way to look at it, that there's something very deep, and I think... Anyway... Probably... Again, I think my feeling is that we understand this material, and we don't understand this material. To a great extent, this kind of material has something to do with... It's an exercise program. It's something you go over and over. It's a drill. And the Bodhisattva's mind is, again,

[40:41]

a mind that's concerned for this one thing, but also keeps thinking about this one thing. It puts the mind on this middle path over and over and over. It goes back to this light again and again. And... So, what do you think? What do you feel? Wow. What? Wow. Wow. Wow. That's what Buddha said. That's what Buddha said when he saw that light of the precepts. When he saw the middle way, he said, Wow. And he saw... And everybody's on this middle way. It made him very happy to see all beings walking this middle way. Okay. Anything else?

[41:52]

Does anybody want to go to the toilet? Nyoi. [...] Yeah. He noticed. Or is it this way? Nyoi means... Nyoi means as or like, and yi means will or intention. As you will. As you will. How do you will? What do you will? Do you will many things? What are they? Yes, I will many things.

[42:59]

I will dinner. I will lunch. I will sleep. I will brush my teeth. But there's also some place where I will the same thing over and over, and it is as I will. Even Manjushri sometimes wills different things. As it says in the first case of the Book of Serenity, even Manjushri sometimes leaks, gets into... But also some... Manjushri's heart is also there willing one thing, that big, quiet, cool, bright, wow. So this is a symbol of that thing we all will all the time. Yes.

[44:03]

I may leak a little. You may leak a little? If I may leak a little. Oh, please. All over the place. I'm not real... I'm not real clear. It's only bothered by the difference in the Tsamukaya and the Manakaya. They seem very similar. Well, they're... I mean, they are similar. I mean, they're really one thing. So... But there are different aspects. One is like... The way... It's like... The Tsamukaya is like the bridge between... between the truth body and this limited body, or that limited body, or whatever limited body. It's kind of the bridge. And guess what kind of a bridge there is between light, ungraspable, inconceivable radiance. Guess what connects that to this mortal coil. Guess what connects them. Orgasm.

[45:04]

Huh? It's... But orgasm. Organ... Bliss connects them. And that's what connects them. In other words, just walking around here with this crunched up little mortal coil, all coiled up and junked up, that doesn't connect with this body of light. This has to be full of bliss for the connection to be complete. It's sometimes spoken of as the social club of the bodhisattvas who are taking skin-bag form. Okay? If you're connected to the body of light, you're connected to this body of bliss. And then you're connected... You can manifest it in a manakaya way? You can show it out from there? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right. The bliss body has no form either, really. But it... So it needs this transformation body,

[46:06]

which it has, actually. But our transformation body that's not full of bliss can't believe it's connected to this light. As a matter of fact, believing... Believing that this body is connected to that light. If you just go around and believe that all the time, always believe. In other words, will. In other words, want. In other words, practice as though this is the body of light. This... This person is the light of Buddha. Believe that, and you get this reward. Also the bliss body is called the reward body. It is the reward of those who believe that this is it. And this is it means it's the body of light. In other words, this is the body which is not caused by itself. Not caused by another. Not caused by both, and not without a cause. That's this one. This one.

[47:08]

My God. It's this one. It's this one. It's all these are what... It gets transformed into. This is the middle way. And if you believe that and believe that and believe that, you get a reward. It's called the bliss body. And then when you get the bliss body, you feel the connection. You get affirmed in your faith. And that's why Soto Zen emphasizes particular little details. That's why we keep saying bring the Marley Mugs back to the kitchen. Because it's in those details. And also when you find them around Green Gulch, it's in finding them. Not before you even touch them. Before you even think of returning them. Just seeing them there. That's the transformation body of Buddha. Not that over there, but this. And this is not caused by itself,

[48:09]

by another, and so on. The middle way is manifesting through the glue lands being set in place today. And Ken Sawyer liking my hat and me giving it away. And now I need another one. That's the transformation body. And if I believe that's the transformation body, completely, I get a reward body. And the reward body connects this transformation body with the light body, the truth body. And then this proves that this transcends this being separate from some holiness. And then this is the place where beings are saved. Where you're saved because I'm saved and I'm saved because you're saved. So, do you believe

[49:12]

that this is the path? And if you do, then check it out. Is the path that you think this is one that you think is caused by this? Well, you believe but your understanding is not too good. In other words, you have to believe without knowing that it's like this or like that. You have to find this middle way, this mysterious, subtle, radiant path. These are these three precepts. This is also giving, ethics, patience, and so on. All these practices are right like that. Those are what is meant by bliss. Giving is what bliss is. Ethics are bliss. Patience is bliss. Enthusiasm is bliss. Concentration is bliss. Insight is bliss. These are the bliss. This is what bliss is. Well, it's 8.30, so if I stop now, it won't be too long. Thank you for leaking. It helped, right?

[50:15]

Wasn't that nice that you leaked? And Lloyd, it's okay that you didn't. May our intentions equally penetrate the air. May our intentions equally penetrate the air.

[50:40]

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