The texts which are sometimes called the earliest scriptures of the Mahayana are the Prajnaparamita Sutras, the sutras of the perfection of wisdom, and the perfection of wisdom is a consciousness which has as its object the ultimate truth of emptiness, perfection of wisdom. The Prajnaparamita knows emptiness. Setting forth into the perfection of wisdom is setting forth into the understanding of emptiness. And in those sutras, at one point, I think, Sabuti asked the Buddha, from where does the Bodhisattva set forth into the practice of the perfection of wisdom? And

[01:07]

the Buddha says, from the triple world. In other words, from the conventional world. It's from there that you set forth into the perfection of wisdom and the realization of emptiness. And in a way, these sutras are addressed to people who are well-grounded in the world, well-grounded in the conventional world. It's a teaching to help them step into transcendent wisdom based on having really firmly settled into the conventional world. But the sutras do not give lots of settling techniques. It's addressed to those who are

[02:12]

settled, which is part of the danger of the perfection of wisdom scriptures. The Heart Sutra doesn't talk about practicing generosity and patience and precepts. It's a teaching from the Bodhisattva to a wise monk named Shariputra. So, in the Eightfold Path too, the first truth, the first aspect of the Eightfold Path is right view, and right view is to me centrally the teaching that all your thinking has consequence for every moment of thinking, which means every action of thinking has consequence. Karma is basically thinking. It's not consciousness

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itself, it's thinking, which accompanies basic consciousness. For every thinking there is a consequence. So, if you're practicing meditation and you have thinking going on, the thinking that's going on while you're practicing meditation has consequence. And because it has consequence, it would seem to be a good practice to give it your wholehearted, gracious attention. If the thinking that's going on while you're meditating is given your gracious attention, really wholeheartedly gracious attention, from there you can set forth into the perfection

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of wisdom and realize the emptiness of your thinking, the emptiness of your karma, and the emptiness of the consequences of your thinking. So, there is a phenomena in the Zen world for people to teach that in meditation there is no thinking. It is possible that one who is meditating would have no thinking. That's possible. But the no thinking, if it ever occurs, is not the practice. The practice is the way of relating to the no thinking if there is no thinking. And the way of relating to no thinking is the same way as relating

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to thinking. Namely, give your wholehearted, gracious attention to no thinking, and this will open the door to realize the emptiness of no thinking. Similarly, with thinking. If the thinking is wholesome, clearly, graciously observe the unwholesome thinking, and that will open the door to realize the emptiness of unwholesome thinking. If it's wholesome thinking, graciously attend to the unwholesome thinking, and that will open the door to the emptiness of the wholesome thinking. If it's unwholesome, give it gracious, wholehearted

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attention and you'll realize the emptiness of the unwholesome. If it's the wholesome, give it gracious, wholehearted attention and you'll realize the emptiness of the wholesome. If it's no thought, if it's no thinking, treat it the same. But some people think that no thought is what we're trying to realize, so then they grasp no thought and then they don't realize the emptiness of no thought. Some people might also think that wholesome thinking is what we're trying to realize, but ultimately we want to realize the emptiness of wholesome thinking. Almost no one thinks that unwholesome thinking is what we're trying to realize, but even so, people tend to tense up around unwholesome thinking, just like they tense up around wholesome thinking. And if you tense up and are generous with your thinking, then you're closing the doors to realizing the true Dharma of your thinking,

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which is that it's empty. And also, once you realize the emptiness of your thinking and the emptiness of your not thinking, you realize that the whole world is manifested as your thinking or your not thinking. And all beings are working together with you, no matter what you're thinking. So it isn't just release, it's also entry into the magnificent cooperation among all beings. So if you're sitting in meditation and there's hate that thinking, do not like that thinking. Do not like or dislike your thinking. If you like or dislike your thinking, that's just more thinking. But you maybe shouldn't say

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do not like or dislike, it's just that like and dislike are just the same thing. So if there's like or dislike, just fold them in to the dough of the thinking, and then try to treat the whole thing with wholehearted, generous attention. And this thinking will turn into the light of Buddha's wisdom. And you will see that whatever kind of thinking comes, it's the Buddha Dharma, even unwholesome thinking. So, part of being generous with your thinking and gracious with your thinking, it also opens

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on to a way of being playful with your thinking. Not playful to get something from it, not playful to get rid of it or improve it, but just naturally receiving playfulness as part of your graciousness with your thinking. And again, if you're sitting and there was no thinking going on, the same. You can play with no thinking. Not grasp no thinking, but play with it. In both cases, by being playful with the thinking, the reasonableness of the situation will unfold, and the dynamics and reasoning of the emptiness of things will

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display itself to you. You'll see... Well for example, if you hear that, if somebody tells you that emptiness is the reason for the phenomena, then your mind could play with that and say, well, if it's a phenomena, that means it can be known. It can be an object of knowledge. But any kind of knowledge arises depending on its object. For there to be knowledge, there has to be knowing something. So the

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arising of knowledge comes with some object, for example, emptiness, together with some kind of organ, something that can sense the object. In this case, the mind organ. And then also there needs to be a previous cognition. So the knowing of emptiness depends on the ability to sense it. Either a sense organ also could sense emptiness, or a sense of emptiness. Like the emptiness of blue would depend on the sight organ, and the blue. And then also there needs to be a previous cognition for the awareness of the emptiness of blue to arise. So the object is necessary for the subject that knows it, but the subject in

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order to arise depends on the organ which senses the object. And the object also, for its function, needs to be something that can stimulate an organ and give rise to a consciousness. So this shows you that emptiness itself cannot be grasped other than the organ which is sensitive to it and the object which knows it and the previous cognitions. This is a way to play with emptiness and come to know it. Q. You just said the concept, but it's still just a concept. It's not emptiness itself. It's your concept of emptiness. Actually, when you first know emptiness through playing with it, you actually do know the

[14:27]

concept of emptiness. And then you can continue your play and play with it until you actually open not to the concept, but to the direct perception of emptiness, which doesn't come through the playing with it, in the same way that the concept of it came to you through playing. So it's possible to have direct perception of emptiness and indirect perception of emptiness, and the indirect usually comes first, and that's of a concept of emptiness. The indirect is of the concept of emptiness, but the direct is of the actual sensory direct perception of emptiness. So you have both. In that way, you can also then talk to other people about it. Once you have direct experience,

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you can talk to other people about it by using a concept of emptiness to communicate with them about how emptiness could be realized conceptually. And you can talk to them and speak language and introduce them into a conceptual entry into emptiness, and then a non-conceptual. So again, by being generous with your conceptual processes, you open to a non-conceptual process. By being generous with your discrimination process, you open to non-discriminating wisdom. And non-discriminating wisdom is necessary in order to not get caught by things like the discrimination between yourself and others, or between good and evil. It's not that we don't discriminate between good and evil, or self and other, it's just that we wish

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to become free of the discrimination, free of the trap of conceptual and discriminative thinking. Not to get rid of discriminative thinking, no. Be generous with it, welcome it generously, and in the process you will also welcome awakening. So we don't get into having this kind of discriminating thinking rather than that kind of discriminating thinking, we just have this kind of discrimination and that kind of discrimination. We have both kinds, all kinds, we treat them generously, and we enter into non-discriminating awareness. And the non-discriminating awareness might first be conceptual and second be direct. Yes, Alenya? You're scratching? Thanks for scratching. Yes, Lynn?

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I've heard you say before, what generosity means, allowing it to be as it is. Yes, start by letting your, for example, let your thinking be your thinking, give your thinking to your thinking. That's a gracious way to be with your thinking, is to give your thinking to your thinking. Again, that's similar to let your thinking be your thinking, or leave your thinking to your thinking, or bequeath your thinking to your thinking. All the different ways you can be generous and giving with your thinking, but it's a little bit warmer than just allowing. And if you do it wholeheartedly, it will be joyful. So, this word wholeheartedly, it's something in addition to, or standing beside concentration

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and awareness, it has something to do... You say wholeheartedly, it has something in addition to what? To awareness? When you're looking at your thinking in meditation, I have always felt that there's some concentration, non-involvement, awareness, these are all words, that didn't suggest to me my heart. Yes, so I'm talking about having some heart there, too. Also, I've told you this before, and I have this Raksu that has this written on it. So, in the Lotus Sutra, I told you this last time, I think here, in the Lotus Sutra, chapter 16, the Buddha says, it looks like I was born, you know, and grew up, left

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home, practiced asceticism, gave it up, found the Middle Way, taught for 45 years, and entered Parinirvana. It looks like that, but actually, I don't really come and go, I'm always here. The Buddha, the real Buddha, the Dharmakaya Buddha, is always here. But sometimes Buddhas, it's skillful sometimes for Buddhas to appear and disappear. When they appear, some people get interested and practice, and some other people get interested and don't practice, and then when they leave, the ones who didn't practice start practicing. After the Buddha leaves, it stimulates them to practice. So, coming and going sometimes helps people, but actually, the Buddha is always with you. And so, those who practice all virtues, are upright, actually, first of all, who are flexible, relaxed, upright,

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honest, and harmonious, they will see the Buddha right now, teaching right now, if you're that way. So, this way of being means with your thinking, you're that way with your thinking. You're harmonious, upright, flexible, and honest. I'm honestly thinking this nasty thought. I'm honestly thinking a positive thought about you. I'm honestly appreciating you. I'm honestly not appreciating you. That's my thinking right now, and I'm upright with that. I'm not leaning into it, I'm not leaning away from it, I'm not trying to avoid it, to the right or to the left. I'm right here with my thinking about you. I'm right here with you and your thinking, and I'm relaxed about it, and I'm harmonizing with it. That's

[22:06]

the way I am with that. Plus, practicing all virtues means, I like Dogen's interpretation, it means entering the mud and water, getting wet and dirty in order to help beings, which means enter your own situation, your own grubby, difficult situation, and then practice that way, and there is warmth in that. But it's a balanced, upright warmth. It's a courageous, unbiased, non-partisan warmth. And in that way, whoever you're talking to, you'll see the Buddha teaching. Whatever you're looking at, you'll see the Buddha teaching. Shakyamuni Buddha, you will see teaching on every blade of grass, on the tip of every tongue, you'll see the Buddha teaching. A lot of times you don't really see the teaching, you just wonder why it is happening over and

[23:25]

over again. How do you figure, how do you understand what the Dharma is telling you, what's coming to you? How do you figure, how do you understand? So, if you see any figuring, or any attempt to understand, give that your gracious attention. And that figuring will reveal the Dharma. The figuring will not really reveal the Dharma. The figuring basically obscures the Dharma. The figuring is, I'm going to figure out the Dharma. I'm going to figure out a way to meet the Buddha, or to be a Buddha, or to not be a Buddha. Figuring is fine, it's just that figuring is the triple world. Figuring is where you step from into the Buddha. You don't actually use the figuring out to figure out,

[24:26]

or you use figuring out to figure out, but you just stay in the triple world through figuring. But if you start addressing your figuring, or anybody else's figuring, in this gracious way, the figuring will turn into the Buddha. If you want to figure, keep figuring. No problem. And while you're figuring, if you give that figuring your gracious attention, the figuring will say, Hi, I'm really Buddha. And you might say, well, when am I going to figure out how this all happened? Well, you can see the Buddha now, and now you can study with the Buddha, and after you become a Buddha, you will actually know how this all works. For now, anyway, you finally can see the Buddha and become enlightened. But if you're still interested in figuring, fine, practice with that. The figuring is not the practice, that's just karma. The practice is the way to take care of your karma, the

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way to take care of your figuring. And to say, Oh, now I'm slipping, I'm slipping, I'm losing my uprightness, I'm falling into the figuring, I think the figuring is going to actually do my thing. No, I'm lost. So now I confess that and come back. Okay, practice with the figuring. Don't trust the figuring, trust the practice, which studies the figuring, studies the figuring, whatever figuring. One more, yes? I mean, I want to walk and I'm going to walk with that. I totally see how it's important to endure a certain kind of nonsense. Think that it don't make sense and don't make any

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meaning by letting go of figuring. You think that it would be good to endure that? Yeah. Graciously endure that? But I do wonder, I heard also the Buddha's instruction of investigation. So how can one investigate into emptiness without figuring? What you're investigating is the figuring. You're looking at the figuring. The figuring isn't the investigation. But there may be figuring going on and you study the figuring. Analyzing the whole thing? Yeah, you will see all this working. But is logically reasoning, analyzing, that actually the material to study?

[27:33]

That's actually the material to study. That's actually the material to be upright with and not get involved with. Including, don't try to get rid of the analysis that's going on. Don't try to get rid of the analysis, but also don't go looking for it. But if it shows up, be upright with it. For a person who's involved in analysis, that's all the virtues at that moment for that person. The analyzer has the virtue of being an analyzer. That's the mud and water of the analyzer. Be upright with that and honest about that. Oh, this analysis is going on. And harmonious with that.

[28:37]

Would you please stop your analysis now and come over here? Okay. I'm flexible and I want to harmonize, so I won't lean into this analysis. I won't cling to this analysis, but I'm not afraid of analysis either, if that's what's going on. Someday some of you may become great analysts of all kinds of Buddhist logic. That may be what you get into someday. That may be your mud and water. So how do you be upright with that, and harmonious, and honest, and flexible? Yes? Doesn't the analysis untie some knots that are necessary to be untied, to not revert?

[29:42]

So belief in certain substantialities, investigated to the bottom, reveal themselves to be insubstantial. So you can't grasp that anymore, and then there's another aspect that you still are grasping, and you analyze that. Maybe. But maybe what the analysis does is it unties you from one jail and puts you into another one. Maybe a worse one, because it's more sophisticated. But still, observing how the analysis unties one kind of a knot and puts you into another one, that's a nice thing to see. But basically analysis doesn't release. Analysis doesn't really release. What releases is everything that's supporting the analysis, and the way the analysis supports everything.

[30:52]

That's what releases. That's the source of the release, is the way the analysis is put together, and the way the analysis does not make itself, and does not produce itself, and is empty of anybody's idea of the analysis. That's what releases. It's our actual Buddha nature, which is actual enlightenment, is what releases. So we need to open somehow to the enlightenment, and if we're analytic people, then if we're close to being analytic people, that closeness will keep us locked into our closeness, in the form of analytic person. Or if we're not analytic and we hate analytic people, that will also keep us trapped. The enlightenment is already available, we just need to open to it.

[31:59]

Through being open to our current experience. And everything has tremendous potential. Yes? So when we're meditating, we can just allow the thinking, and don't try to censor it, don't try to stop it, just observe it? Yeah. And don't try to make anything out of it? Yeah, don't make anything out of it, just observe it, clearly observe it. The thinking you're doing could be that you're worrying about concentrating on your breath. So then that would be what you would observe. You would say, oh, here I am, here I am, worrying about concentrating on my breath. So then you practice with that. Or you're having a hard time breathing, and you think you're having a hard time breathing, and then be generous towards that.

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Or you could be following your breathing, or concentrating on your breathing, and be just totally happy about that. This is great, I'm following my breath, I'm concentrated, this is like I'm comfortable, happy, hey, this is great. So no judgments? Well, first of all, there is a judgment. At this point there is a judgment. Things are going really well. This is swell. I wanted to follow my breathing, and that's what's happening. I wish that I would be able to, and it came true that I'm now following my breathing, and it feels great. And I'm relaxed, and all kinds of good things are happening, this is judgment city. That's fine. It's also fine to be, not exactly fine, but sort of fine, from my perspective, if you want to follow your breathing, and you can't, and you're miserable about it, and hate yourself for not being able to follow your breathing. That's also fine with me. In other words, that's the way I would practice with myself, if I was in that kind of thinking.

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So there is judgment, but the practice is to be generous towards things, which isn't really judgment. It's like giving to the judgmental one. Let the judgmental one be the judgmental one. If he's judging positively, let him be that way. If he's worrying, let him be that way. Whatever he is, be generous towards him. But don't fall into him? Yeah, don't fall into him. That's not really generous. Let him have his own space. Don't try to crowd in there and be him. And also, don't try to get away from him. He's your close friend. Matter of fact, he might even be called you, by you. Be generous. That's the first practice. With whatever. It's the first practice. And that first practice goes right into concentration practice. You don't stop practicing generosity when you start practicing concentration.

[35:14]

Hopefully. Otherwise, your concentration will be undermined by a lack of generosity. When you said go into concentration, do you mean go back to the breath? Pardon? You probably didn't mean, it goes into concentration, meaning it would go back to the breath at that moment? No, what I meant by go into is that you continue to practice giving, whether you're practicing concentration, or patience, or precepts, or diligence, or wisdom. No matter what your practice is, you're always practicing giving. That's a basic practice that goes on all the time. That's what I mean by goes into. It goes through all the Paramitas? Yeah. And the other ones go through the giving. But we start with giving, and as you practice giving more and more, you start to realize that there's ethics in it. But usually you have to look at the ethics to find the ethics in the giving.

[36:17]

If you don't look at the ethics, then you may not understand that the ethics are in the giving. In other words, if you don't look at ethics, there actually may be some lack of realization of ethics, because of lack of practice of ethics, even while you're giving. So that's why we go from giving to ethics, to discover that actually there's some realms of working ethics that we haven't been practicing. You are ethical, too. You're not only generous, you're ethical. But if you don't practice ethics, you don't understand how you're ethical. You're actually patient, too. You're actually patient, even when you're freaked out angrily, you're actually patient. But if you don't practice patience, you'll just think you're angry, and feel very unhappy with the results of your anger. That's why you have to practice patience, in order to realize that you're patient, and so on. In order to practice concentration, in order to realize you're concentrated, you have to practice concentration. And in order to realize wisdom,

[37:19]

you have to practice wisdom. But you're already perfectly empty, and perfectly gracious. So we have to practice these practices, in order to realize our nature. Fortunately, they're available, and begging you to pick them up, and take care of them. So please, as many of the practices as you can take care of, please accept them, and take care of them, until we meet again. And also, I wanted to now do a ceremony, for those of you who can stay, a ceremony, and this is a ceremony for someone who is a very sincere Zen student, who also used to like to ride bicycles, very fast, and do fancy things on them, and now she has broken her neck, up in Montana, and she said,

[38:23]

I didn't want this to happen, but now that it's happened, I can see how all beings are supporting me, and I couldn't see it before. It's too bad to break your neck, in order to see this, of course, but sometimes we have to really be smashed hard, to the ground, to realize, to open up. So now that she's in that way, right now, she's opening up to a great realization, at an extremely high price, but still we hope that she will be able to carry on now, what she's realized, so I'd like to do a little ceremony for her. Okay? Ready? This is a chant to bring her the great compassion and healing.

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Okay? Okay? Okay.

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Okay. OM NAMO BUTSU YOD BUTSU ENG YOD BUTSU ENG BU PO SO ENG YO RAKU GA GYO GYO NENG KAN ZE YONGO NENG KAN ZE YONG NENG NENG GYUR SHIN GYI NENG NENG GYUR GYUR Having dedicated the Enmei Jukku Kanon Gyo, having chanted the Enmei Jukku Kanon Gyo, the merit of this we dedicate to

[42:50]

the complete recovery and well-being of our dear friend Jenny McCune. May she find her true place in the Buddha way and share her realization with all beings. OM NAMO BUTSU ENG GYUR SHIN GYI NENG OM NAMO BUTSU YOD BUTSU ENG BU PO SO ENG YOD BUTSU ENG BU PO SO ENG YOD BUTSU ENG MAHA VAJRAKARANIYATHA OM NAMO BUTSU YOD BUTSU ENG

[43:53]

OM NAMO BUTSU YOD BUTSU ENG OM NAMO BUTSU YOD BUTSU ENG Thank you for organizing this day. Aileen, thank you very much. And for the peanut butter cookies and everything. And thank you all for taking care of this little temple and practicing here. And I also want to say that there's a one-day sitting here scheduled for August 11th. And keep in touch please with Aileen before you come, because it might get moved due to celebrating my wife's 60th birthday. So it might get moved. So check with Aileen before you come on that day,

[44:55]

or with Catherine. So it might get moved earlier or canceled. Or possibly some other thing, like it might be a half-day or something. Or other possibilities like, you know, we'll have the sitting but it'll be led by Razi. Razi is the dog that's here somewhere. Where is she? She's resting. She's resting up to accept her great... Thank you.

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