Looking at these similes, these 22 similes, there's 22 aspects or 22 kinds of bodhicitta. And so for the earth simile, the gold simile, and the moon simile, we saw... In the text, there's some reason for calling them by these symbols. Excuse me, by the earth. So we said the earth, it's because you start somewhere, you take a stand. That's what the text talks about. And then the gold, She explains the way you take a stand.

[01:03]

And the way of taking a stand then is like gold because this way of taking a stand can never be destroyed. Taking a stand by way of not taking a stand is like gold. And then finally the new moon. The new moon is a black moon. Someone mentioned it's full of possibilities. It's the waxing moon. It's the moon that will now wax to fullness. And in the Mahayana Sutra Lankara, there's also these 22 varieties are also given there, and they're quite similar. The terms that, the things that, the words that are particularly relevant are the dashapunneka.

[02:22]

Mahayana. Sipsra. Alankar. Holy Stavka, Numi, and the Maha-gyu-tahri, and holy shahriya. So in the Mahayana Sutra Lanka, these 22 are also given, these 22 similes are also given. And these first three can be considered as, as you can see, one is taking a stand, the other is the way to take a stand, and finally another one is now growth, or total, the waxing, the beginning.

[03:33]

And in the sutra, you see the things listed under the waxing are all these various practices that are listed there. So these three are considered to be under the, in terms of five paths that are given in the commentary here. In terms of the five paths, this is the Sambhara Marga. Have I written anything on the board before? Sambhara Marga. The first three of them. And this is called the path of equipment, sometimes. or the preparatory practices, the path of preparation.

[04:40]

So if you look in the sutra under the Knowledge of All Modes in the, obviously, Mayalanka heading, you see number nine is the equipment. Number nine under this section we're talking about is called the equipment. That's Sambara Marga. And... So you have the equipment with... Under that heading you have, if you go to page 137, you see that there's the heading equipment. So under this heading, you will see various kinds of equipment practices in the context of the Buddha's insight.

[05:51]

So like on page 140, you see the equipment with quietude and the equipment with... Oh, you don't have it? You don't have it, but you do have it? It's available now? Oh, well, don't get it. It's okay. I'll just point it out, but it didn't necessarily look at it. I won't refer to it, but they can be available now because I finished them? Anyway, that section starting on page 137 is the equipment section. And in there, you have an elaborated version of what's in this short little section here. So the kind of practices you see under this heading are practices that are, strictly speaking, not strictly speaking, but from a certain point of view, they are preparatory practices.

[07:03]

Now, the practice A certain way, they aren't preparatory practices anymore, but they can be preparatory practices. Is that Sambara? Well, that's Sambara. Yeah, if you look at the headings under there, you'll see those are things that occur in this section here, a lot of them. various kinds of samadhis and trances and things. Okay, so this is the sambhaya magha. And the next one is what you talked about already also is the fire. And what's being discussed there is a... It says to tear out the defilements and all the residues related to them. So this section has to do with purification, like a fire.

[08:10]

And this could be said to be the prayoga marga. Prayoga means, it's also prior to entering into the path, but it's It's sometimes called the exertion stage or inserted effort stage. And this is the stage which directly leads up to the darsana mark. Yes.

[09:11]

See, that's because the person, prior to entering into the path, they think karma exists. They believe in karma. So, because they think that karma works, it works. So they're kind of like... Then the next one is, the heading commentary says it's like a great treasure. It's associated with the perfection of giving. And as you see what, you can see why that's associated with a treasure. Yes. Establishes the stingy beings in giving the series of surpassing the gifts which are given by all the disciples and pratyekha Buddhas by means of one single production of the thought associated with rejoicing.

[10:24]

So this is treasure. The next one is like a jewel. And the next one is like Great Ocean. So with so little text in there, maybe You don't see why they would map these characteristics onto this text this way. One reason is that what's in the text is associated with the particular paramita, which you can see there, the direct relationship.

[11:36]

Perfection and morality can be directly mapped onto of course, the talking here, discussing about establish the immoral and morality. And... This champion, during the liberation, In one sense, each has a way of elaborating the relationship between being a sibling that I represent. And this is from Maya Siddhartha Lankar, this commentary.

[12:40]

But still, actually, this is sort of interesting, because it shows. Well, let's read this look that here it says. When the formation of an enlightened attitude is accompanied by earnest application, it is like fire, consuming as fuel the veils which hide the three omniscience. When the formation of enlightened attitude is accompanied by the perfection of liberality, it is like great treasure, satisfying all sentient beings. When by the perfection of ethics and manners, it is like a jewel. forming a solid basis for the precious virtues.

[13:48]

When by the perfection of patience it is like a great ocean, not being disturbed by all the undesired things that sink to its bottom. When by the perfection of strenuousness it is like a diamond, too hard to be destroyed. When by the perfection of meditation, it is like a king of mountains, not shaken by the assault of the sense objects. When by the perfection of discriminating awareness born of wisdom, it is like medicine, appeasing the diseases due to the veils of conflicting emotions and primitive beliefs about reality. Now, notice how this is done. When by the perfection of the enlightened attitude, when the formation of enlightened attitude is accompanied by the perfection of liberality, when the bodhicitta is accompanied by the practice of paramita of liberality, it is like a great treasure, satisfying all sentient beings.

[15:04]

When by the perfection of ethics and manners he is like a great jewel forming a solid basis for precious virtues. When the perfection of patience is like a great ocean not being disturbed by the undesired things that sink to the bottom. So it's, what do you say? Where's the connective tissue? It's just by association. So these comments are just, they're drawn out of the air. I mean, it feels like they're just drowning out of the air.

[16:16]

Do you see what I mean? You just say, when accompanied by the perfection of patience, it's like an ocean. Why? Because you throw these obnoxious condiments into the ocean, and what happens is they don't make much of an affection. They sink to the bottom. So that's why it's just a description of the Paramita in this case. And then the same with the meditation Paramita. So the pivot is the Paramita. So the simile goes with the Paramita. And the Paramita goes with the Sutra. So this commentary is derived because in each one of these cases you can see a paramita being practiced.

[17:21]

And the paramita then, by just association, just by imagination, you can create an image out of the paramita. And therefore the bodhicitta associated with the paramita is like this. It's like this particular simile. So to say it again, you're reading the sutra and the sutra is talking about some kind of practices. And since it's under this heading, in this section of the text, we understand that it's the perfection of the paramita of this particular practice. And then the paramita, you know a part of the paramita is working a certain way. And then by that, you can create an image. And that image then is associated with the bodhicitta by virtue of the paramita.

[18:21]

And the point of departure for the paramita is the text. So that's how the image is related to the text. Some steps removed. Okay? So the similes are ways for you to remember the qualities of these practices when they're taken to their perfections. Does that make sense? So then the treasure, jewel mine, ocean, diamond, mountain, medicine, beneficial friend, wish-fulfilling jewel, wish-fulfilling gem in the sun, they comprise, according to Mahayana Siddhartha Lankara, the Bhavana Marga and the Darshana Marga of the Bodhisattva. are the Darshana Marga and the Bhavani Marga. So the next 10 are the Darshana Marga and Bhavani Marga.

[19:29]

That's beginning with the practice of giving, I believe, isn't it? The practice of giving, the bodhisattva's practice of giving, starts in the darsana-marga. Or the darsana-marga for the bodhisattva will start with that practice, that paramita. So, in other words, you start practicing the paramitas when you enter the path. According to this, This says that you start practicing the paramitas, the bodhisattvas start practicing the paramitas when they become Buddhists. Fifty? How many pages do you have? Ninety? Okay. On page fifty, moreover, a bodhisattva, a great being who courses in perfect wisdom, should know that a gift thus given with skill and means fulfills the perfection of giving, and so is the other perfections.

[20:45]

And shall I put your ass? Could something read those next two paragraphs? A great being who gives a gift, I call the other by perfection. Perfection of giving is fulfilled when give, giver, and receive are not taken to the basis. Perfection of immorality, do not plan to express the individual thanks more than one of them. Perfection of patience, truth, and perseverance. Perfection of meditation, by the absence of distraction and representation. Perfection of listening, by wisely knowing all of those in this way, I see the perfections fulfilled by a great being with this gift. Now, this is supposedly the end of Darshani Maga.

[21:59]

It says, moreover, a bodhisattva should train perfect wisdom if he wants to transcend to the production of one single thought, countless world systems in each of the ten directions, to lift with a fine point of the tip of a hair split a hundredfold, all the watery elements in the great triteliocosm that are there, that there is in great potions, in rivers, grating small, in ponds, pools, without, however, wanting to hurt the beings inhabiting, to blow out in one mighty breath from his thorn. You can see why it's called the super-knowledges, okay? Okay, why the why this is associated with super-knowledges. And these super-knowledges includes the Riddhi, right? This stuff, these are magical powers that we're talking about here. So now, there's a break. You're not any longer talking about practices, or the paramitas, getting into some new kinds of material.

[23:06]

Then you read the next one, it says, it's like, it's especially with, the equipment with cognition and merit, and it's like a storehouse of jewelry. Moreover, a Bodhisattva, a great being, should train in perfect wisdom, if he wants, to present in one single alms bowl all the Buddhas and Lords, together with their congregations of disciples, as many as there are in the world systems, countless of the signs of the Ganges, in each single direction. Equally, So our bodhisattva good being who wants to honor, respect, revere, to worship those photographers with showers of flowers, incense, perfumes, garlands, hungans, or aromatic powders, strips, and to establish beings in countless world systems in each of the ten directions in the five portions, which is the skandhas of the Dharma. There's five Buddha, or Dharma skandhas, by the way.

[24:10]

that is, morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and vision and cognition of liberation, in the fruit of the stream winner, and so on, in the Pratyeka Buddha enlightenment, and so on, to the realm of nirvana, which leaves nothing behind. So, these two, actually, the next one's short, so the bodhisattva there, What he can do there is, moreover, a bodhisattva good being should train in perfect wisdom if he wants to gain Buddha qualities of past, future, and present. Buddha is enlarged to go beyond the condition of an unconditioned dharma, to look through the suchness of all dharma, past, future, and present, and to reach the non-production limit. So these next ones, the highway, the carriage, the storehouse, and the great king, the chariot, are beyond the path, the five-stage path, and there are special aspects of the Bodhisattva, the special Bodhisattva powers.

[25:19]

So the Bodhisattva goes through the Sambhara Maga, the Prayoga Maga, the Darsana Maga, the Bhavana Maga, and then they go into another realm, a realm of various kinds of powers. where they sort of, what, you know, they sort of exercise. They sort of exercise until the time comes when they're a Buddha. Does that make any sense, what I just said? It's not really a shakshamaga, no, because a shakshamaga really is which means when you're in our heart. So, according to this, they really don't do their shagshamaya, they kind of skip it. So, as we said before, in all these stages, the bodhisattvas really don't close in on the state.

[26:29]

They go through the stream winner state, but they don't really clamp hold of that attainment. They do all these practices. They do the Sambhara Maga. They do the Prayoda Maga. They do the Darsha Maga. They do the Bhavana Maga. But they really don't grasp those practices and fulfill them. All right? Now, here we're talking about them. Later, we've talked... I don't know if you remember reading it. I don't know how many pages you've got. But, for example, just let me... You can just listen to this, I think. There's a list here under this section called Equipment with Merit, which is the Thambara Marga with Merit. The Sutra says, Moreover Subuddhi, the great vehicle of the Bodhisattva, the great being, that is the concentration called heroic valor and so on to the concentration

[27:35]

called like space, unshakable, free and untainted. These are the names of samadhis. The question is, this is the equivalent of merit, description equivalent of merit. So they give now a list of 112 samadhis, a concentration called heroic valor. through that concentration, the range of all concentrations is experienced, okay? So you have 112 samadhis with exclamation. And at the end it says, this is the great vehicle of the Bodhisattva, the great being, courses in the perfection of wisdom, all these samadhis. So they go into the, that's an elaboration of what sections we just read, and they go into the Sambaramanga. But the sambara marga is practiced. You do these practices, but then you don't apprehend them, okay?

[28:37]

But ashaikshya marga really speaks of the fact that you have apprehended the end of the bhavana marga. You have attained arhatship. So they don't really do that one. They skip it. And after they finish this path, then they go right into, well, let me say again, what they've done then is they've perfected their insight, but not really. And they removed They've gone through and they've done all the practices for removing all the afflictions, but not really. And after doing all this, plus the preparatory practices, they've gone through the Sambha-marga, Padyoga-marga, Darsana-marga, Bhavani-marga. They've gone through these paths, done all these practices, but not really done any of them. Not really being fooled by any that they've done any of them, and yet they've done them. And this is the Bodhisattva's Sambha-marga. this is the way they do it. They do the same practices the arhats do. At the arhats stage they don't do that thing.

[29:39]

That's just the name for attaining the arhatship and the life of the arhat. They don't really do that one. You could say, why don't they be arhats but not really? Well, that's what they are. After they've done all this work, they're arhats but not really. So then they get into power strips mostly. They get into using this material which they don't really have to do these feats which you see listed here you know they can take these little tiny hairs and pick up all the water and all the universes without hurting any beings inside but of course they don't really do that because they don't grasp that either but this is the way bodhisattvas then fulfill their career This is the way they spend the rest of their time in their career, is by exercising themselves in these kinds of fields.

[30:39]

Well, that's how they do it. That's how they save all beings. After they've purified themselves, but not really, then they have the ability to entertain these powers. But actually they have no powers and the Arhat can't do this kind of stuff. the bodhisattvas can, the reason why they can is because they didn't really become an arhat and also they don't really do this. But because they don't really grasp these feats, they can do them all very well. And these are the methods that they use to save all beings and also know all beings. This is the way they hang out with beings by these powers. This is another way to look at the immense scope of the bodhisattva practice. This section here. Is this making some sense now? No? Well, let me say it a little bit more then.

[31:46]

The next one is a fountain. A fountain or a reservoir. Fountain, delightful sound, like a river, cloud. So up to the sound is the Bodhisattva path. And the last three, the echo or the sound, the river and the cloud, these are in the Buddha level. So let's read these. Fountain? No, fountain is, yeah, fountain is the previous. Fountain is the last of the Bodhisattva, special Bodhisattva practices.

[32:49]

The King Treasury Highway carriage and reservoir fountain. King Treasury Highway chariot or fountain. Those are special bodhisattvic practices. So, you're reading the text, as you read the text, you're reading there about the way the bodhisattvas act after they've done the standard Buddhist paths that the arhats do, but they've done it in a particularly bodhisattvic way. And as a result of doing it in a particularly bodhisattvic way, now they enter into this huge scale of practice that's described under the headings of the king and the treasury the highway, the chariot, and the fountain. If you look up there, you see what the Bodhisattva's practice is like after they've done these more preliminary and standard Buddhist practices like you find in the Abhidharma Kosha. But each of them done in accordance with the perfection of wisdom. Then they come into this new dimension, new sphere, this boundless sphere of practice where they perform these inconceivable or

[34:01]

of inconceivable feats, which is basically to save all sentient beings. Then after that, you come into this new stage, which is the sound, the river, and the cloud. So now we describe the Buddha level. So could somebody read moreover the bodhisattva, moreover a bodhisattva, a great dean, should train, if he wants to illuminate, In each one of the ten directions in the world systems is countless, like the signs of the Ganges, all regions of darkness which the light of the sun and moon cannot reach. To proclaim in each of the ten directions in countless world systems the message of the Buddha, the Dharma and Sangha, to all the beings who are reborn in various Buddha fields and establish all those beings in right view. Why is that a Buddha? Moreover, the bodhisattva good being should train the perfection of wisdom if he wishes, that all beings who are blind in each one of the ten directions and countless world systems should, by his might, see with their eyes.

[35:12]

The deaf should hear sounds with their ears, the insane regard their mindfulness, the naked obtain clothes, the hungry be fed, that those beings who are reborn in states of woe should be freed from all states of woe and acquire human bodies, that he will help to establish the immoral and immorality, the unconcentrated in concentration, stupid in wisdom, those unliberated in liberation, those who have no vision, the cognition of liberation, in the vision and cognition of liberation, those who do not see the truth in the fruit of the stream winner and so on, to the enlightenment of the perfect Buddha, in the utmost right and perfect enlightenment. So why now are we talking about the Buddha level, not the Bodhisattva level? But don't the bodhisattvas do that?

[36:52]

You know what? That's the difference, that's the point of demarcation between bodhisattvas and Buddhas, but how does the text come forth with that? See, the headings in the text are associated with the bestial of Dharma, associated with the path of one vehicle, associated with the Dharma body. These headings, these are Buddha headings, right? The bodhisattvas are not, they haven't attained one vehicle yet, so they're doing all the vehicles. Buddha is the one who realizes the one vehicle. because the Buddha has now mastered all the vehicles. Bodhisattva is in the process. In a section between the end of the Darsana, Bhavana, Marga, and this section here, the Bodhisattva has been doing all these different paths, saving all these beings. Now we're at this stage of bestowing Dharma, that's the Buddha does that. The path of one vehicle, that's the Buddha's path, and the Dharma vehicle,

[37:57]

the Dharma body, that's the Buddha's body. But why does the text, what happens to the text? The text at the other section, I think you can see the text change. It changed from practices, you know, disciplinary practices to sort of like things done for other people, you know, feats, miraculous powers. Now what happened here? What can you see in the text that makes you feel like now that something's happened that you're talking about Buddhism? Okay, any other comments?

[39:00]

Uh, what's a proclamation? This section? Somebody else see that this is more of a proclamation than before? Seems like before he was gathering all these different practices. And now he's doing some, you can see it's a proclamation in the sense that he's doing something to find this kind of funny world. There's something to go on. Limitative, correctional. He's going about, correctly going about the business of sales. Text sounds like to you. Detective, you have a different text. Other people feel that? See that? Let's read this last one.

[40:46]

Associated with the Dharma body, like the great rain cloud. Could someone read that more over the Bodhisattva? It would be... He should be said that he should be prepared for him, so [...] that he should be prepared for him, sense of life.

[41:47]

That's why the feeling could be happening. So the feeling is not fully and very good. The feeling of various that we could turn into. So the feeling helps in his purifying, his passion, and his sleep. The feeling of being out for him, not for him, but for him, and for him. OK, excuse me. So is that becoming clearer now? How do you feel that to compare? So this section is quite... What? Yeah.

[42:48]

So this section is pretty simple. This is talking about... This is not bodhisattvas we're describing here anymore. This is a bit of a speaking Buddha that's being described here. So it's a bodhicitta now that's definitely described by the Buddha. The other two are a little trickier. You might think about them. Okay. Okay. Okay, good.

[43:51]

So in this chapter then you can see how the they have a running chapter, you have a running commentary, the sutra's talking away, okay? But then you can step back and look at this little chapter, this little section of the sutra, and see that actually it's talking about, strangely enough, a progression of bodhicitta, from the beginning stages up through the later preparatory stages into the real practice, real Buddhist practices, and then into the special Bodhisattva practices and finally into the Buddha practices. Okay? And Bodhicitta is being talked about all the way through. Bodhicitta is being talked about all the way through.

[44:52]

That's initiated at the beginning. That's being talked about. And in each case you're hearing how the Bodhisattva does these practices and then finally how the Buddha does them. And the imagery comes from the associated Paramita or the associated practice of power or the associated actual saving manifestation. Okay? So you could then go back and read this chapter, just read straight through some time without the commentary. And then you can also just think of the commentary as a way to remember this chapter. And so what this chapter does is it tells you, it shows you the, the whole range of the development of bodhicitta from the very beginning bodhicitta to the Buddha's bodhicitta. In other words, bodhicitta is, we sometimes say bodhicitta is really the Buddha's mind.

[45:54]

But the Buddha loans the name of his mind to the beginner. So the beginner's mind is also called bodhicitta in this section here, and the Buddha's mind is called bodhicitta. But you see now a progression or development of bodhicitta over these 22 stages. But under not the heading, well I should say not the heading, but this is a case where since the bodhicitta is being developed really as bodhicitta, it's on the path to the Buddha. So this is true bodhicitta. This bodhicitta does not reverse itself. Okay? So that's kind of an overview of this chapter. Any other questions on this chapter? Yes.

[46:58]

I did, but then I didn't want to talk about how I did that. You know. I did, but I didn't want to talk about how it's done. That's the system. OK, now I gave you those reading assignments, various reading assignments on bodhicitta. And so now I'd like to discuss them a little bit with you. Does anyone have anything in that report that they thought was interesting that they've read, or... about bodhicitta? from the Bodhisattva doctor, the Bodhisattva Sanskrit, I'm sure it's the preparation that happened before that thought of what it actually proved.

[48:42]

And a greater development was the development of confession. Then I thought about the Bodhisattva serum and it being This confession that you're talking about is a new confession, a new type of confession. Because confession is like the first ceremony of Buddhists, and it was practiced by what we call the Theravada-yam, Shravaka-yam.

[49:45]

They also practiced confession, in a sense. They were supposed to confess any infractions that occurred. You know about that? It's an Upasattva ceremony where you recite the par... You cite the rules and then you're supposed to say any rules that you didn't follow. So confession is, in that situation, it was done long before. But this is a new kind of confession. What's the characteristic of a new kind of confession? Did you read that? What differentiates this kind of confession or this kind of sin from the previous kind? You're totally... Anything else? What's it doing in the scene here, in the scene of the kind of scene that's the scene of breaking rules?

[50:45]

Why don't you look at that and see if you can find something out. But as he pointed out, usually in the past when we've talked about, in this class, we've talked about bodhicitta. I've talked about bodhicitta in a sense of, kind of, that is a sudden bodhicitta. And in the sutra here, in here it looks, in some sense it looks like a sudden bodhicitta. And it seems to me that also if you read Dogen's energy, he talks about a sudden bodhicitta. Bodhicitta that you can, as soon as you think about enlightenment, bodhicitta. There's not, there's no way to find, there's no way really to figure out that that isn't the thought of enlightenment. But at the same time, that seems to be the earliest version, by the way. So, what I'm, did somebody read that Awakening the Thought of Enlightenment by Dogen's Angel?

[51:55]

Did you read that? Anybody? Did you read it? Anyway, Dogen Zanji's thought of enlightenment is not a gradual, a gradual thought of enlightenment, although he doesn't deny practices that are talked about here. As you might guess from other things he said, for him, thought of enlightenment is something you can do instantaneously. And Mary Katagiri Roshi one time talking about his little boy washing his face. if you wash your face, that can be thought of enlightenment. But also, if you want to, you can see that as a gradual development of thought of enlightenment, washing your face. But the early texts, the earliest one in this list is the Dasha Bhumika. In that text, they don't list any preparatory practices to giving rise to the bodhicitta.

[52:58]

But then in these later texts, the Mahayana Satralankara and the Bodhisattva Bhumi, there they introduce some kind of preparation for the giving rise to the thought of enlightenment. So you have the ordinary worldly person called the Pratajana. And as you may know from Abhidharma, in the Theravada system, they have a thing, a certain stage that happens between the, they don't call it pra-yoga-marga, but they have a certain kind of, it's very similar in the Theravada and the, I mean, in the Pali Abhidharma and the Sanskrit Abhidharma. In both cases, as you approach peace-like, you kind of get on this track and you zero in on a very narrow track. And your consciousness becomes, in a sense, in continuity with inside consciousness.

[54:05]

So one of the last stages before darshanamarya is what's called continuity knowledge, manaloma. And the next stage after that is what's called gotrabhu. Gotrabhu means cutting or extinguishing the lineage, the lineage being the protagina lineage, the lineage or the family of the common person, the uncommitted, the unconverted, the unenlightened, the non-Buddhist. That cuts. That cutting of the lineage is not the same as joining the new lineage. You cut off your past connections, but you haven't really got into the new club yet. So it's, I guess it's sometimes pictured as, it's like you, you're running over to a, over to a stream with a, you know, and you stuck the pearl into the ground, and you're popping the arrow over the stream, settling on the pearl.

[55:13]

But you still haven't landed on the other side yet. But you're also not going back, you've made the cut. Then you land. And then there you have entered the path. And that's called dukkha dharmat jnana kshanti. And then the next thing is you have dukkha dharmat jnana. In other words, you know that you've entered. So they make these discriminations of leaving the old world definitively, which is a ghatrabhu, breaking the family ties, landing in the new realm, and then realizing that you've landed. As soon as you land, you've become you've manifested darsana marga. But there's this intermediary state where you've made a cut. It's kind of like you've been accepted into the club, but you haven't, you know, ever really visited there yet. Or if no one recognizes you, you can't, there's no manifestation of it.

[56:18]

The only manifestation of it is that you've left that status of not being in the club, but you're not in the club. So this intermediate state, And it looks like, according to Mr. Har Dayal, that the Mahayana, when they developed the Bodhisattva doctrine, took this intermediary state, the Gotrabhu, and then named their own intermediary state, which they just called Gotra, which is a kind of protective or takoon-like stage where the Bodhisattva goes. prior to being able to give rise to the real bodhicitta. Bodhisattva has left the world in a sense but can't quite do the bodhicitta yet. They sort of have to molt for a while. They have to exist in a protected environment for a while. Well, it means family, okay?

[57:26]

But let me speak, what it means here, actually, is not so much family as it means a kind of stage. And there's all those, there's a Buddha family, there's Buddha gochra, there's Bodhisattva gochra, there's Pardyaka Buddha gochra, there's Shravaka gochra, and there's Tajani gochra. So, all of it comes from those words. It looks like what they mean here is not a family so much, but rather a kind of transition space or a decompression chamber or something from the ordinary world. You're not quite ready to really be a bodhisattva yet. You have to live in sort of a, I'm just making up other words now, sort of a hot house environment for a while, a nurturing environment. Once again, going back to the path, this is the beginning of the path.

[58:52]

You still really can't make the vow according to this. You're still a little too chicken to really make these bodhisattva vows. And you still can't quite wholeheartedly give rise to this thought. You can't believe it yet. You can't believe that by giving rise to this thought, this really is the thought of enlightenment. And this gives a point of departure between, or a point to look at what's gradual and what's sudden. In fact, if you can believe this, if you can believe that you can give rise to the thought of enlightenment unequivocally, then the people who say that there's a gradual approach, they say that you've already done these preparatory practices somehow. You've already been in a nurturing process. queen-like existence for long enough, been protected from adversities long enough so that you can actually wholeheartedly say, this is the thought of enlightenment.

[60:03]

I now give rise to the thought of complete and perfect enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, unambivalently, without shaking at all, with total confidence. But the one school, these earliest texts here, the Mahayana Sutra Lankara and the Bodhisattva Bhumi say that you must go into the intermediary state, which are called Gotra. And the other state, which is called Adi Mukti. Gotra is G-R, G-O-T-R-A, Adi Mukti, A-D-H-I, M-U-K-T-I. Adi Mukti is, in one sense, just turning the face. Or sometimes it's translated also in Abhidharma as decision. But here again it refers to an intermediary state or a transition state where the bodhisattva, although they have, in a sense they've seen the need to save us ancient beings,

[61:17]

They've heard about that, and they think it's a great idea. And they can understand the philosophical necessity of it. And only saving yourself can't possibly work. Still, when it comes down to it, they either consciously or unconsciously can't stand it yet. They just can't stomach, first-heartedly stomach doing things that are painful to them for the sake of other people. In other words, they can't take on other people's pain. They don't see the point. They're still closed, in other words. Once again, existing in this state, in these two states, and protecting yourself against too much harmful stimulation, and continuing the practices we just talked about, you develop the strength, finally, to take on other people's suffering, and so on and so forth.

[62:23]

And when you can actually do that, then you can sincerely put forth the thought of enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. You can put forth the thought of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment, the object of which is the benefit and liberation of all beings. You can really do that because you really feel like you can take on other people's difficulties. But this is true. I think we all know people who are dedicated to enlightenment in a sense, but they do not feel, they say, I'm not interested in helping other people. I'm interested in practicing Zazen, but actually, when it comes down to it, I'm just not interested in helping other people. I don't see it. You can tell me about it, and I understand what you mean, but it just doesn't grab me yet. Or when it comes down to it, I actually chicken out every time. So when you think that you were chicken out, when you feel that you were chicken out, and then when you give rise to the thought of enlightenment for the sake of our beings, you say, if you think you were chicken out, if you think you can't do that, then when you say that, you sort of feel like, I don't really mean this.

[63:41]

Because when it comes down to it, I won't do that. Therefore, I'm not really giving rise to the thought of enlightenment. And in fact, if you say that, if you feel that way, that's not giving rise to the thought of enlightenment. You can't do it if you have any ambivalence. So, this talks about that very tangible state that I've seen many people talk about, and certainly I know it myself. Some people are very frank about it. I mean, they typify their whole practice as being in that stage. Because I've known it sort of more as something that comes and goes. And of course, you know, in one situation you're willing to do it, and in another situation you're not, right? So that's good. But then still you say, well, I'm willing for the benefit of some beings. I'll attain completely perfect enlightenment for the benefit, the real enlightenment of some beings. But if you have to say all, and you know there's some areas you can't stomach yet, then when you get to the all part, you go, and then you're not ready.

[64:42]

But if you can say all, and you're not in this Adi Mukti stage or Gorta stage anymore, You don't need to be protected from irritation anymore. You're ready to be a bodhisattva. So in one sense, you can do that instantly. Just say it wholeheartedly right now. And this is a teaching which is like, in a sense, like pure land Buddhism. If you can wholeheartedly right now say the name of Buddha, if you can wholeheartedly right now say, I've got to save all sentient beings, I've got to attain indefinitely. If you can really do it unambivalently, that's enough. But then again, as I say, some people say, some schools say, really there must be preliminary stages to that. Yes?

[65:46]

Like, I think it's so interesting that the people who stop involved with, Somebody else is doing something which makes that thing. If somebody else can throw a hand grenade and it blows up and it hits me in the face, therefore that person caused this to happen to me. So I'm the victim of somebody else's action. But Buddhism, we don't say that somebody else causes me that suffering of that abominable face. The experience I have of my face being damaged by an explosion is due to my karma only. Damaged, the effect it has upon my life system is due to my karma. Okay? Now, that aspect of that explosion

[66:49]

which has nothing to do with me in particular, but which we all share, that is due to not somebody else, but everybody else, including me. That's the area where other people share, okay? But when it affects me and does something to me that causes me suffering, that is due to only my action and nobody else's. Something neutral. like a blue disk or that table in front of me. We all make that table. And I make it too. But that table is not probably me any suffering right now. When they say table causes me suffering, it's not the table that causes suffering. It's that I suffer because of my action in the presence of that table which we all created. So Bodhisattvas don't go around then and take that table and make it go away. Or they don't go into me and do a surgery on my karma so that I have less suffering.

[67:54]

They also don't increase my suffering. Now the Bodhisattva may go like this, or may go like this, in a show, which you may say, well that makes my suffering increase when you do that. They may do something like that, but actually they don't really increase your suffering when they do such a thing. But maybe you and they find out the way you think. So the Bodhisattvas do not go around and reduce people's suffering. They save beings from suffering. It isn't that they take the suffering away, it's that in the midst of suffering they save beings. But how do they save beings? They save beings in such a way that they have no effect on those beings. Because they don't alter anything. Nothing's done. And there's really no beings there in the first place.

[68:56]

So how can a bodhisattva enter into practices like this? That's the point that we're talking about now. You see? You have to be able to accept this illusory pain of people. You have to let it happen to you without trying to, without getting involved in what you first brought up, namely, to reduce it. If you want to reduce it, then actually you can't get out of this adimukti stage because you're still actually not open to it. You have to be open to it, unadulterated, in its unadulterated, unapproved form, unimproved form, in order to start practicing bodhisattva way. You have to give up the idea of improving people. And the initial experience of that is you have to give up the idea that somebody who's got some problem, it'd be better if they didn't have that problem because it wouldn't hurt you so much. When you first break into it, you actually experience pain.

[69:59]

And the beginning bodhisattva experiences other people's pain. The beginning bodhisattva still experiences pain, which they then have to let go of personally and other people's pain because you can experience other people's pain What do you think in the context of that? What do you think? Yeah, that's pretty good. So seeing through it, you see, if you had to reduce it, then you wouldn't be seeing through it. We already know that trip. That doesn't see through it. That says it's real. Increasing is no better either.

[71:01]

Salvation would be when you have no desire for it to get more or less, but you just don't take it seriously. That's salvation for you and salvation for others. somehow you have to take on other people's suffering. And once again, this is not, watch again, it's not that I see the other person and the other person's cancer or something causes me to suffer. I choose to suffer because I know that the only way that I communicate to them that this suffering is not really substantial is if I actually now karmically, in a sense, in a sense, visualize or grok their suffering in some way. I take on their suffering. I open up to a type of experience which is like theirs. Actually, I can't have their suffering, but I'm willing to have whatever suffering they have without hoping that it's a little bit better for me than it is for them.

[72:05]

As best I can, I take on their suffering. And in fact, you don't have to work at it because people give out cues You know, they're giving off just like shotguns full of cues by which you can pick up what they're feeling. And it's just a question of whether you're open or not. You won't get exactly what they feel, but you'll get a good chunk of it. Enough so that they can see, anyway, that if it worked out that you got all that they have, that would be all right with you. Okay? You may get more than, you actually may get more than their suffering than they got because you may see them flinch, but they're under some kind of sedation or something. You may be able to see their open wound and they don't even feel it that moment. Sometimes you can feel it more strongly than they can. But it's not so much strongly or more weakly, but the point is a person can tell if you would be ready to experience whatever it was. And if they see that you feel that way, then you're out of this intermediate stage. And then if that's openness, in that situation, you say, I vow to attain perfect enlightenment for the salvation of this person and all people, then in that situation, there's liberation.

[73:14]

because you don't take this suffering seriously at that point. And the sign that you don't take it seriously is, first of all, that you really don't want it to get better and you're not afraid of it. And then second of all, what do you do when you're in a situation like that? You give rise with thought of enlightenment with no ambivalence for this person too. But why do that? It has no effect, why do it? There's no answer anyway. But if you do it, you'll see why. It's not an answer. So in a sense, you see, I'm both making a case for sudden and gradual at the same time, because obviously there must be some preparatory practices in order to pull this off, in order to be open like this.

[74:29]

So, as you progress on this list here, and you come to the Bodhisattva, you come to the Mahavipati, at this point now, here, as I said, and up there in the top one, they just talk about giving rise to the thought and enlightenment. There's no mention of this ghotra, this protective incubatory stage, or this stage at which you sort of want to be a Bodhisattva, but you can't quite open up to people's suffering stage. And then in this sutra, in this This is like an encyclopedia, actually. In this work, the Mahavipati, the Ghotra and Adimukti reached their fully developed form. I think it's in Tibetan Chinese. And then in the Bodhicaryavatara, now is in further sort of molting on situation is that the the gotra phase and the adimukti phase are they're still mentioned but what's really elaborated now is practices which actually help you transcend those stages and the kind of things that help you in those situations are devotional practices

[75:57]

because diversional practices are they're rather protective in a way like bowing and things like that they're rather protective easy to concentrate on and also they're opening they're surrender practices if you're willing to do something if you're willing to throw yourself in the ground ten thousand hundred thousand times it's not so hard to open up to people suffering so in the Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva, you can see now, in a sense, an articulation of the kind of practices that actually go on in these intermediate states and also before them. And one more state, the final development of this doctrine is this Dharma Sangraha. In this, it's not exactly a sutra, but in this commentary, this treatise, Now the gochabu and the arimukti stages are not mentioned anymore and now just a big pile of devotional and confessional and pietistic practices are what has to be done before you can really get it together to do this thing wholeheartedly to say, okay, I'm going to do it.

[77:18]

But earlier stage, these weren't mentioned. You'd say they were assumed So the question is, do you say, you've got this person who somehow has been doing these practices, and then finally they just do it in a moment? Or do you say, no, you should put the emphasis on the fact that they have to prepare, and then they do it in a moment? It doesn't make so much difference. This one? No, this one. This one's in French. This one's in English. This is part of the Agatam Sekha Sutra. I think it's terrible English, but it's trying to say it. This is hardly in English. First chapter is in English. This is not in English. This is in English. I don't think this is in English. I wonder if you could say something more about just how that connected us to devotional practices, connected us to that stage.

[78:24]

At what stage? At those... protective stages, the ,, devotional practices, and during this rather protective situation with bodhicitta happening a little bit. And how does the devotional practice arise out of that? Or how does the devotional practice arise out of what? at this transitional stage. No, it's rather that the devotional practices are the preparatory transitional stage. I'm saying that you have ordinary people who just can't believe that they're Buddhists. And you have these Bodhisattvas who are definitely committed to the idea of becoming Buddha. They've really given rise to the thought of enlightenment.

[79:27]

And people are saying that there's the intermediary stage or that there's preparatory practices to being able to really do that. That you can't have an unconverted, non-believing person and then suddenly tell them to give bodhicitta and they do it. This person has to kind of get warmed up to it a little bit. And I'm saying that historically speaking, the Gotrabhu and the Adimukti were the first description of sort of this intermediary protective or preparatory state. Then later, there was a further articulation in texts of what kind of practices it would actually be in that state, how you would protect yourself from various dangers and distractions while you're getting ready, warmed up to, creating your strength so you could make this commitment. All right? And can you see how devotional practices are protective and open?

[80:31]

Yeah, I can understand that. They're very protective. They're much more protective in some ways than Zazen. Offering incenses, physical things like that, putting offerings on the altar and offering incense and lighting candles, it's very supportive and protective. You've got a lot of sense support and throwing a body on the floor. It's a very protective thing to do and you can't miss. Almost nobody can miss. The only people that can miss are people that have already hit the spot. If you've already, if you're already ready to give rise to the Bodhichitta, then if you throw your body in the floor, it doesn't have any effect. It's just pretty much the same stuff, you know. When you walk around erect, you actually feel like you're tossing yourself in the ground. But if you walk around erect and you're very arrogant and you toss yourself in the ground a few thousand times, you get pretty upset. But that willingness to be upset and keep throwing yourself down there, that's what makes it very easy for you after a while to open up to people suffering and say, okay,

[81:34]

This is where I want to be. I want to be right here in the middle of this field of suffering and I want to save all these beings. So that's why I say it's protective because it's got a lot of sense support and it's opening because they're humiliating these practices. Making off from incense and light. That's what I mean by sense support, is that you can sort of tune into something very simply. It's easy to concentrate on offering incense or lighting candles and stuff like that. It's much harder just to sort of sit with, you know, not even a meditation technique. It's pretty hard. But if you can do that, that is bodhicitta too. That's why I thought, you know, maybe if... but I wanted to say a couple other things and then we can read a little bit of that awakening the thought of enlightenment the transition from the ordinary person to the bodhisattva is the first step the first thing is bodhicitta and in the second the second stage is called so bodhicitta is the first one oh actually bodhicitta utta

[83:01]

That's the first stage. Second stage is . And the third stage is . So the first stage is beginning to rise to the thought of enlightenment. The next stage is the thought, the vow. And the next stage is the prediction. So these are three stages by which three elements, three factors,

[84:06]

that a person goes through in order to flip over into being a bodhisattva. So first you can, so to do, you know, if you can give rise to the thought of enlightenment unambivalently, the next thing, there's various places you can go to see Bodhisattva's great vows, like one of the most beautiful renditions of the Bodhisattva's great vows is I think chapter 39 of the Avatamsaka Sutra, which is translated in a book called The Buddhist Teaching of Totality. And it's also translated in Studies of Lankavatara Sutra by D.T. Suzuki. And there's also another little book which we have, which is just chapter 39. But those two are the best translations, I think. Ten Great Vows of Samantabhadra. So then after giving rise to the thought of enlightenment, then you make those great vows.

[85:17]

And the next thing is to do those great vows in somebody's presence, in the presence of a living Buddha. And this could be Bodhisattva initiation or priest-bodhisattva initiation. In a sense, when you receive your name, when you give rise to the thought of enlightenment and you make the vows and you receive Buddha's name, in a sense you can call that prediction. is that my name is Tenshin Zenki. So Tenshin means I'm me. When I'm really me, then that will be Zenki. That will be total dynamic working. That's my prediction. When I attain a state where I'm just me, unambivalently, completely, but not hoping for one more thing, that will be Zenki. Zenki Buddha. That's my prediction, which goes with giving rise to the thought of enlightenment. Instantaneously, taking the great vows and prediction.

[86:18]

So Bodhisattva's initiation works that way. So, in general, the Tibetan Buddhists lean towards these later texts. And in Tibetan Buddhism, there's a big weight laid on preparatory practices. You know, you've heard about the four foundations that they do, 100,000 vows, 100,000 mantrings and so on, 100,000 visualizations. These are preparatory practices. Whereas in Zen, we sort of are more encoded with early sutras, speaking more of an instantaneous enlightenment, or also instantaneous bodhicitta.

[87:31]

And as you may know, there was a debate in debate. There was a Tibetan debate between Chan monks and Indian monks. Indian monks were causing gradual enlightenment, and Chan monks, sudden enlightenment. And because... happened to be in a row with China at the time, the Indians won. Primarily a political decision. But not to say that the Indians weren't great monks, they were. But from that time on, the Tibetans have been more of a, at least politically speaking, they've been more gradual enlightenment, gradual preparations, and so on. So Bekhorchi talked about how Tibetans are more training-oriented, and Chan Zen is more practice-oriented. But actually, in the end, it's not true because Vajrayana, adamantine vehicle of Tibetan Buddhism, is very close to sudden practice.

[88:34]

But usually they say that most people have to practice preparatory practice before they can do the Vajrayana, but actually, there's no preparation for Vajrayana. So, In the end, they're very similar, but politically speaking, out front, they look different. Because actually, out front, even Zen monks, although they say that they're practicing sudden impractice and sudden enlightenment, still, in fact, most of them don't do it, as you may have heard. So, we talk big, but, you know, it's pretty hard to do this practice perfectly. Whereas Tibetan Buddhism, in some ways, is quite simple to do it. because they start you out with something that everybody can do. Anybody can bow. You can do it or not, right? You know if you're not doing it. If you're not doing it, you're just not doing it. If you are doing it, you're flopping on the ground. It's pretty clear. But are you really giving rise to the bodhicitta or not? Are you really ready or not for sudden enlightenment? Sudden enlightenment, sudden practice.

[89:40]

Can you really cross your legs and immediately jump into the precincts of all the Buddhism patriarchs? Can you do that? Every time you cross your legs, you jump. Total, perfect enlightenment every time. Well, that's our practice. Do you do it or not? So in one sense, Zen practice is pretty difficult to actually do it. But at the same time, it is sudden. That's why I thought it might be nice to read a little bit of this awakening thought of enlightenment because you can see now, Dorgan Zenji, so the Tibetan, they like to tap through. These are very popular to This is a Tibetan video, Tibetan encyclopedia of Mahavipati. And Bodhichari Avatari, by Indian monk, that's very popular in Tibet. And this is also very popular in Tibet. All these are. These are more popular than those. Dasha Bhumika is in the Avatamsaka Sitra. Avatamsaka Sitra is more aligned with Zen Buddhism. So our understanding of Bodhi Chitra is more on the study side.

[90:43]

And Tibetans... who wrote, who didn't wrote, but they also liked the Abhisamaya Lankara. They're more in the preparatory, a gradual giving rise to the thought of enlightenment. So maybe could someone read a little bit of this? I don't know, maybe you don't have time to read the whole thing, but could you read a little bit of the awakening, the thought of enlightenment? Generally speaking, there are three questions in the morning. Discriminating them. Without the discriminating, we cannot wait to believe this does not mean to

[91:44]

that the discriminating is seen. Rather, it is by using the discriminating of what we make to the building. To break into the building, we have constantly to be closer to each other, before doing so ourselves. So I'm not a person who has agreed to this moment. He's not ready to teach you what you need. Excuse me, but see the sort of sudden pubicis there. Okay? In other words, you don't have... What's it saying here, the gradual approach, is you quite develop before you give rise to it. This is saying that, in a sense, as soon as you can do it, you can do it. And you're suddenly... You are in the Bodhisattva Gosra. You're in the Buddha Gosra when you do that. This humble person can do it. if you're a teacher right away. Let's continue.

[92:48]

Avoiding mind is something that neither existed from the beginning, nor rose recently. It is neither one moving, neither freeing with. It neither exists within us, nor extends to God's movement. It is far from such differences as we fold back, clean, and onward. It is the essence neither one's self nor others. It does not write in simultaneously, but occurs with various spiritual feelings. We need to receive it from the bruiser, for example. We will produce it through our own children, for it has the world has to be seen. And right is only a big spiritual feeling. The opportunity to awaken to the voting line is limited to human beings. There are a few in the eight different inhabitants.

[93:50]

There are those who, having written to the voting line, practice the way that you will help them to come. Some of them eventually decide to become voters, while others choose first to help authentic people to pass over to their children. thereby sacrificing their own goodness. Those who have awakened to the bullying mind, constantly in favor of the body moving from God, to arise as not of all sentient beings, simply fulfilling what really desired the human being of, is not what is meant by thinking. Awakening to the bullying mind and the practices he might are superior to many beings. But these things are beyond the vision of the dream of the achievement of Shabbatis, in particular. Where is that the Shabbat creates the Buddha that Shabbat is upon the first.

[94:55]

Awakening to avoid the link in the height of the two, that there is no difference between the former is more difficult to achieve than the other. We respect the significance. for it means to help falsity please realize the mind and forgive us of ourselves. Those who have awakened to this mind are already the masters of the celestial and human beings, the superiors to each of our minds are taken away. Awakening to the void in mind is beyond anything to the world. I am spirit. Awakening to the void in mind means to how to help Boston should be to realize why they were doing so much. Thereafter, we should be very different to listening to their teaching, just as Boston's dream was. To realize them lately is to attain the good result, the supreme voting wisdom.

[96:02]

We're comparing the supreme voting wisdom to the ultimate love. We could break them into the body. The former seems like a gigantic fire, and the raging could retire you, the latter, apart. The difference between these two disappears when you're allowed to come up is realizing of you before it moves to ourselves. The Buddha Shakyamuni said, I have always given thought to how I could cause all creatures to enter the highest freedom and quickly become These words are eternal life of the doctor. The birth of waking to the boy in the night practices the way of realizing the life in the city. To benefit others' needs, to help them realize life, as has been previously before doing so. After having aroused this night through the day, we should not think of becoming a woman.

[97:05]

Even though we have acquired sufficient method to realize the root, we should place it at the disposal of all things, the others that believe in order to take the gift of God. This line comes needed from the new song, even from other people. After waiting to this line, everything we touched was changed. Earth became bold and fortunate. When this happens, even soil is sinking. manifest the body as the ocean's dirty, bubbles, and thorns. Therefore, to offer it by the means of our chastom, family, seven treasures, servants, heaven, baby, flesh, and limbs, with a living manifestation of the body. Even the discriminating, which is needed far away, needed in some, becomes the equivalent of awakening to the Lord in the consecrated mind of knowledge that others realize before doing so ourselves.

[98:14]

Hence, offering everything to which we are attached, be it grass, trees, olive, pebbles, gold, silver, and rare treasure, for the sake of the Lord, is also equivalent to awakening to the Lord. Both the Lord in mind, our feelings existed in a horrible relationship. Therefore, for me, it roused the spirit of even the moment. All of it, in the spirit. Awakening to the body, realizing that we were subject to voluntary birth. This would not be either voluntary path. We disappear. Voluntary present birth. Fear. Only the photographer could clarify the name of the moon, whereas he no longer could be able to produce the sleep entirely within a short time of sight.

[99:19]

It is that the 65 of Kishan, the consumer of Kishan. Kishan. It is that the 65 of Kishan had us to face a ton of things. A young, finally, is now the same. It's too long. OK, well, maybe that's enough for you to get a feeling for the Dogin Zanji's idea for Bodhicitta. Although, if you look carefully at his rules for Zen monks, we do all kinds of devotional practices and mindfulness practices. In fact, Bodhicitta isn't something that has a beginning or an end or what didn't exist before and now is coming from new.

[100:26]

It's not that kind of idea for him. So it's more of this The idea is sudden, or if not even sudden, but always existing voting line. So next time is on Tuesday night. I'll be back, I guess, and so next time we'll start reading the instructions. The next section is called instructions. I think it'll start Wednesday night.

[101:02]

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