A number of talk, the way Zen practice is sometimes presented with the sort of the standard presentation of the Bodhisattva path. Okay? Is that familiar? On Sunday, I talked about this term in Soto Zen called the iron person, which is a a dramatic kind of image for the bodhisattva. Kind of emphasizes, I guess, the strength of the bodhisattva's commitment to practice in the world and not be dissuaded from the from the path by the difficulties and anxieties that are presented by the world. And someone said to me that during the talk, it seemed that what I was talking about was real, and that the presentation, the standard presentation of the Bodhisattva Path seemed like a fairy tale.

[01:20]

So there's many possible reasons why the Chinese Buddhists came up with a presentation of the practice which didn't, in a systematic way, mention the systematic way of the bodhisattva. And as I've mentioned a number of times, the Zen school is considered sometimes called the scripturalist school. So they seem to sometimes avoid mentioning the scriptural presentation of the bodhisattva path. So I wouldn't even say that they're bodhisattvas. Sometimes not even mention that. With the hope, I think, my interpretation would be with the hope to help people with the actual bodhisattvas rather than just going around holding on to the word bodhisattva.

[02:35]

So maybe not even mentioning that at all is a good idea. At the same time, if someone comes here and mentions bodhisattva and mentions their practices and tells how wonderful they are, some of the students here maybe say, why don't we go to the practices? And that happened here one time, actually. A teacher visited and talked about various bodhisattva practices, and the students here said, well, why don't we do those practices? But most of the practices that they wondered why we weren't doing, we were doing. Like they said, why don't we do prostrations? And why don't we, uh, why don't we pray homage? Don't you know this thing on your chance? But we don't say, now we're going to do the bodhisattva practice of ten omnis, now we're going to do the bodhisattva practice of prostrations to purify us for the meditation.

[03:39]

We don't systematically lay it out. So people are doing this stuff, but they never notice, I should say never notice, they sometimes don't notice. Why don't we practice confession and repentance? Why don't we study precepts? Various things that we were doing, but we didn't mention that we were doing them. So when they heard about it, they wondered why we weren't doing it. So I guess I would like you to think about how this standard practice relates to Zen practice. And I've been talking to you about that, but I'd like you to continue to think about that, contemplate that. Now, the main elements of the standard model of the Bodhisattva path are compassion and the thought of enlightenment and, we said, realization.

[04:52]

But realization means not only to realize the Bodhisattva, not only to realize the Bodhi mind, the thought of enlightenment, the mind of enlightenment, but also realization means wisdom. So I've been talking about, actually warming up to talking about, again and again trying to warm up to talk about the third aspect of the path, or the practice, that of wisdom. But again, before I do that, I'd like to go and stop and look at the first element of compassion and just, again, a theory that we're not spending much time on it in this practice period, but we could easily spend a whole practice period on certain aspects of developing compassion. But we haven't been doing that because I've been trying to move you over to look at this

[05:56]

this traditional, this scriptural presentation of wisdom for the Bodhisattva. For me, one of the key elements in developing compassion is to check to see if everybody is as dear to you as the dearest person you know. If you're a parent or a grown parent, then you've got somebody dear in your life, sort of built in. You don't have to go looking around to see if you like somebody, if somebody's dear to you. So, for me, I keep looking to see, is every person as dear to me as my grandchildren? And, you know, it's... It's kind of a sobering meditation to sort of like come up, come up to that level of dearness for everybody you meet, that level of compassion, you know, that level of appreciation.

[07:10]

especially for a young grandchild who haven't learned much yet. So we don't expect them to be like wise and kind. So if they bite you or scratch you, you know, it doesn't like, we understand they have to learn that, but it doesn't like make you hold them less dear. So when adults bite you and scratch you, can you feel that they'll rub dear to you? when they're nasty to you? Sort of knowingly and in an educated way are trying to be mean to you. Can you be as dear to them as an uneducated little child? This is a real challenge. This is something we could really spend time working on, considering how we're going to have that kind of compassion. But we haven't been doing that in our meetings here. But I would like us to work on that. I'd like you to think about that. I'd like you to think Have you reached that level of us so that everybody in Green Gulch and everybody, you know, everybody that you meet, that you feel that dear about, and if you don't, would you like to learn how?

[08:20]

Wouldn't that be a great challenge and wouldn't that be something? And that is really part of the standard presentation of the bodhisattvas developing compassion as they work and they work and they meditate and they meditate and they meditate until finally they actually feel that way. about, you know, like a really sick dog on the street, like the story of Asanga, you know. He was, I think he had, yeah, I think he was like, yeah, he was like into Maitreya. He was doing Maitreya meditation. trying to relate to Maitreya, the Buddha thought it was going to be the next Buddha, and he was like really working hard on it, but finally he blew it up because he didn't do it anywhere. And so I said, well, maybe I could be like, you know, if I can't relate to Maitreya, I can't develop an intimate revelation of Maitreya.

[09:29]

If I can't get Maitreya to come and practice with me, If I can't become Maitreya, maybe I could at least take care of at least one being. And then I just ran into this dog who was very sick and had lots of open sores. And the sores were maggot-infested. Now, poor Maitreya. A sign we didn't know what we know today, and that is that actually maggots are keeping the wound clean. So he wanted to help the dog out by picking the maggots out. You know, they're so very slippery. So he tried to pick them out very carefully without hurting the maggots. He wanted to help the dog and not hurt the maggots. But he couldn't do it, so he got them out with his tongue. But then, finally, his meditation on Maitreya started to become successful. And Maitreya said, oh, okay.

[10:31]

And peered to him, finally. So he got happy. But anyway, that's an example of learning how to be dear to something. The first thing that showed up. He didn't pick that dog just because the dog was difficult. He picked the dog just because he was like, that was the first thing he ran into, I think. So that's the compassion part. That's why we bring Chitta. And again, um, So that, I guess, that's, again, I've gone over this, but I just want to say again, this is the, that you actually have the intention to become a Buddha. And then the next part is that you actually make vows, make these, the vows of a Bodhisattva, the vow of someone who wishes to realize the enlightenment of the Buddha for the welfare of the world. And again, some people, I think, are unfamiliar with this bodhicitta, this thought of enlightenment.

[11:33]

They're unfamiliar with it. But we do have, and we do these vows here. We do these bodhisattva vows on a regular basis, right? But a lot of people say, well, I'll do them because I'm not going to be a troublemaker. But they're really like, they don't really apply to me yet, which is fine. But this is part of our practice, is to contemplate these four vows. And I just wanted to mention these four vows are related to the wisdom practice, which is kind of intramural to us. So the first vow is, sentient beings are whatever member us, I vow to serve them. So in that first vow, wisdom is implicit. We vow to serve them. But it doesn't mean like just, of course it includes like pouring out of hot water, or, you know, protecting them from getting run over by a truck, or giving them food or medicine, or giving them kindness.

[12:35]

It cures all those things, but that doesn't really serve them. What serves them is wisdom. So if you're about to serve beings, you need to have wisdom to complete the job. So it's implied there. And the second one... The afflictions, you can cut through all the afflictions, and that also bears on, it's not just to become free of affliction, but to open up the samadhis, which will bring your wisdom to fulfillment. And the third one, was diamond doors, the Chinese is diamond doors, or diamond gates, are boundless. And we changed it to I vow to enter them, which is nice, but it literally says I vow to master them, or learn them, or awaken to them. And diamond doors or diamond gates, gates are actually, you can say gates or doors, that's fine, but it also means schools.

[13:41]

Or, you know, like schools, like schools of Buddhism. So it means all of those meanings, but the one that we usually don't, I think, emphasize at some point is that this Bible includes that you have learned all the schools of Buddhism, you know, that you've learned them all. You might not become a proponent of them all. You don't have to become a proponent, but you would study them all. That would be part of that vow. And then the last one is your vow to become, your vow to realize Buddha's way, Buddha's way, Buddha's enlightenment. So we say that, and so that's part of the culture of this place, but we don't tell you, we don't emphasize that this is part of bodhisattva vow work, this is part of bodhicitta work. We de-emphasize it, almost de-emphasize, not de-emphasize, we don't emphasize it. But tonight I'm emphasizing it a little bit.

[14:44]

And then we come to the last part about the wisdom. In a way, Zen Samurai didn't... The first few years I was at Zen Samurai, Suzuki Roshi, I think, set an example as a compassionate person. But to me, I don't remember Suzuki Roshi selling compassion very often. I just don't remember that word coming off his mouth very often. Do you see a little light in someone in the air's mind? It doesn't occur that much, but he was... He was about as compassionate as the next guy, as far as I could tell. And he did all kinds of, like, scurrying moves, I think, too, to attract people, attract a lot of people to practice. So I think he really was compassionate, but he didn't read the word much. And the people who were attracted more to Zen, the stories of the people who were attracted more to Zen, the word compassion didn't appear in those stories.

[15:52]

It was obviously now that I left that, it was compassion, but the word compassion wasn't there. Which, you know, again, some people think, well, that's the way Zen people do it. They don't mention the word, they just show it. And I like that better than using the word compassion up there. But anyway, it was part of my practice, but it's not so explicit, the compassion part. But somehow, not mentioning that ever, even though the teacher might be demonstrating it, because the teacher didn't mention it, and because I also said to her, I should use, and she, you know, sometimes that very seeking mind, I say that a few times, very seeking mind in Japanese is doshin, or, you know, and it's one of the words that they use to translate bodhicitta, way mind. But the character for way, like in the Tao, that character also means enlightenment. So it means way-mind or way-seeking mind, but it also means enlightenment mind, Tao-shin.

[16:56]

Sri Yukteswar said way-seeking mind a lot. Some people didn't know he was talking about bodhicitta. But he also talked about beginner's mind. And the work of beginner's mind is... which is not the word for body-mind. It's not the word. Rodaishin is what the Japanese would say, body-mind. But we said soshin. And that we talked about quite a bit. And Hotsu Rodaishin means that the body-mind has arisen. and the San Francisco Zen Center is called Hoshin-ji, which means the arousing of the mind temple, or arousing the body mind. But really, the spirit of San Francisco Zen Center from the founder is what should be called more like Soshin-ji, beginner's mind temple, and they do call it beginner's mind temple, don't they?

[18:03]

But they're, in some sense, technically not following the tradition by calling Ho Shinjin, translating it as beginner's mind. It should be translated as arousing the mind temple. And the mind that's being aroused is not the So Shin, but the Bo Bai Shin. The mind that's aroused is the mind which wishes to become a Buddha. But beginner's mind, as some of you know, is not the wish to become Buddha for the welfare of beings. It's maybe more like the wish to become a Buddha for yourself, for your own benefit, and actually only your own benefit. And maybe not even be a Buddha, but just be the smartest kid in the neighborhood. That's more like beginner's mind. Now, some people are making faces because they think, well, most of the literature says beginner's mind was really cool. I think I heard that he said that. Like, it's really good.

[19:06]

But again, traditionally, beginner's mind means like beginner's mind. It means like, it has all that nice stuff about beginner's mind, like Siskirashi also said. The nice thing about Americans is they're kind of empty. They don't know anything about Buddhism, so it's easy to teach them. So our beginner's mind included, but we don't even know that we're supposed to be thinking about becoming Buddhists, some of us. So it was easy to teach us. But my thing about beginner's mind is that we were like, you know, not very compassionate and things like that. We were, you know, we were drug addicts. We were like, you know, a pretty rough crew at the beginning there. But we wanted to practice somehow. We had this, we wanted to practice. So the thing about so-shin as opposed to ho-tsu bodai-shin or bodai-shin or ho-shin, that's the man when you actually become a bodhisattva.

[20:11]

It's quite a feat, actually, when you do that. This other mind is like any way that you approach practice, no matter how undeveloped you are. So again, in the early days of Zen Center, and after Suzuki Roshi died too, there wasn't so much emphasis explicitly on compassion or on precepts. Suzuki Roshi emphasized precepts mostly during the last few months of his life. I don't know why, but he did. If you look at his lectures, try to find lectures on precepts, and you'll find that almost all of them start like in June and end in August of 1971. where it's actually like the lecture is about precepts, it's about taking refuge, and so on and so forth. I still haven't mentioned it much before. And when I got ordained, I heard somebody doing a tape of my ordination with Paul Bliscoe.

[21:16]

And on the tape, I heard Paul and me taking refuge. And I was really touched because those guys sounded like they were actually taking refuge. I mean, you sounded like really sincerely taking refuge. But I didn't think about taking refuge in that ceremony. That was not what I was doing. I mean, I wasn't thinking, well, I'm going to take refuge, and I'm going to take the priesthood. That was not an issue for me. But yet, I was there, and I was saying that stuff, and when I listened to it, I was deeply touched by what I heard this guy saying, this kid saying. Very, very, totally sincere, and with no intention of taking refuge. It wasn't his voice like, oh, I'm taking the refuge, listen to this, boy, this is great. There wasn't nothing like that. And I remembered that it was not an issue. I knew that these precepts were only given, but there was not an issue for me. All I cared about was becoming a priest, like my teacher. And the precepts had nothing to do with it, but me.

[22:17]

Now I don't think people receive the precepts, mostly. Much more educated with the situation here. People think very carefully. They say, I don't know if I can practice the blah blah, you know. They want to study, they want to learn about the precepts, which is great, but you know, I'm just saying. That's more like hotsubai, the daishin people have now. They're more like bodhisattvas. I was like a pre-bodhisattva. Not yet. Maybe in the beginner's mind it was there. I'm not saying it was, but maybe it was. So what I'm getting around to saying was that at the first power zone center, maybe the first, you know, ordinary situation where she lived, and then for several years after he died, very little emphasis on, she didn't say very little emphasis, very little explicit, ordinary emphasis on meditations, on compassion, and precepts, and body knowing, very little, compared to other things.

[23:23]

And in a way, what I'm showing is that beginner's mind emphasis is like an emphasis on wisdom. It's an emphasis on non-duality. It's an emphasis on emptiness. It's an emphasis on, these guys are great, that's wonderful, but this slob has begun to move. He doesn't know anything, and he has not the least bit obscuring any non-duality between herself and Buddha. So, in some ways, the beginning of Pārīzmī was more emphasis on wisdom, but again, the wisdom was not articulated in the traditional way. It was articulated more like Look at these slobs, you know. They're practicing anyway, aren't they? It's amazing. These people practice. It's just wonderful. And they raise their ears and wash their feet. It's just amazing. But that's about it that they can do, you know.

[24:26]

And someone, I've said this story before, someone said one time, I've lived around this place, they shake. You know, they're Kundalini, and they shake. You know what I mean? especially when he comes in the room everybody goes and then at the Rochester Zen Center we have Kensho at the San Francisco Zen Center we have babies in bad backs so in a sense that's emphasizing wisdom and I was there's not, isn't that, well, like, getting better and better and... But there is that side of practice. You know, there is that side of practice. And also, as you did talk a few times, this is not stepladder Zen. Okay? And I mentioned also earlier, from the early days of Zen, we're trying to not get into stuff, not get into them, not get stuck in them.

[25:38]

But still, they're there. And I think, again, still I'm saying that there is the vow, in conjunction not with Sotian, not with beginner's mind, but in conjunction with Bodhi mind, there is the vow to learn all these steps, all these stages, all these schools. There is that spirit too, which is also the spirit of, like, doing something impossible, doing something outrageously difficult, There's that spirit, too. And that's also part of Zen Center. But it's just that you don't have to be somebody special to do that. You just have to want to do it. And some people don't want to yet. And I'm not exactly trying to talk you into it, but I guess that I sort of am. OK, so the three kinds of wisdom. First kind of wisdom is the wisdom that comes arises in a situation like tonight, where someone's talking to you about Dharma, and you're listening, and you're studying, and you're studying texts, things you're referring to, and reading, and reciting, and memorizing.

[26:59]

And there's the transformation. So it's called, the first kind of wisdom is called śrutamaya prajna. Wisdom, usually we say wisdom that arises from listening. But we understand that it means listening arises from study. Study of the teachings about the truth. studied and learned with the tradition, with the teacher. And Charu typed up two versions of some of the sections in the Sambhogakaya Sutra about the three wisdoms. There's three sections here. and also a section from Rabindranath Kosha about the Three Wisdoms. And I'm bringing this up right now because in Rabindranath Kosha it says something sort of interesting about that.

[28:07]

It's because when it etymologizes, it does etymology on shrutamaya prajna. When we etymologize, shrutamaya is hearing or learning, but naya usually is understood as caused by or arisen by. The prajna, the wisdom, is arisen from hearing or other sources. But one etymology is that it means transconversion or transformative. I thought that was another one I was talking about, because sometimes it feels like that. It's almost like the rapture hearing gets transformed into an understanding. So I thought that was interesting. Okay. So, um, so this is, we're working on the first kind of wisdom here, right?

[29:08]

Now, that's one thing we used to have in Zimzalem, and still do, is we have parks where people listen. We do that. We've been doing that all around. But we didn't say that this is training in Shruti Mahaprajna. We didn't mention it. but in fact it was. And people were like sitting in those lectures for like, how many years now? Almost 40 years. No, not even 40 years. Zen Center is like 43 years old now, isn't it? Not Zen Center, but yeah, Zen Center is like 41 years old, because it started in 61, I think. So for those last 40 years, people have been actually practicing this first kind of wisdom without anybody mentioning it to them or them knowing it themselves. They've been sitting and listening and having those types of understandings. They've been doing that kind of wisdom. People are going, what do you think of that? Does that make sense? But we didn't mention it.

[30:10]

The next level of wisdom we would mention within us And the next level of wisdom is the wisdom arising from reflection or thinking. Literally, wisdom arising or the wisdom which is a transformation through thinking. A transformation which arises through thinking and reflecting. But it means actually thinking, but it also means pondering, it means investigating, it means analyzing. It means being critical of what you learned. but you're just being critical of it and you just don't understand it. So as I mentioned last week, at the first level of wisdom training, you take the teachings literally. You depend on words and take them literally. At the second level, you're still depending on words, but you don't take them just literally. You can take them literally and not literally. But you mostly don't take them literally.

[31:18]

You're mostly being critical. and analyzing, and examining. Yes? So, listeners have been doing that for a long time, too, maybe since the very beginning, though, with classes. When did classes start being given? I mean, pretty early, right? Yeah, so that's been going on, too, to some extent, the critical side, yes. But when we mention it, people go, what? What analysis? Investigation? Let's go, you know. And part of the reason is that one of the main meditation instruction in the Zen is give up discursive thought. But you need more discursive thought in order to do investigation and analysis. But, to take the next step, after you do, use discursive thought and have successfully pondered, analyzed, investigated,

[32:21]

the teachings which you understood from learning, now you have this re-understanding, which incorporates the critical spirit of the mind, which I'll expand a little bit on, but then you take that understanding and you let yourself set it aside for the moment, and then you start practicing what we're more familiar with, namely Samadhi. Then you give up discursive thought. All around, you might have been practicing giving up discursive thought, and your life might have been broken into two parts. When you're using discursive thought to criticize and analyze the teaching, when you're using discursive thought to work in the kitchen or to argue with people or whatever, you're using discursive thought in the other part of your life when you're practicing training yourself By applying the teachings which you heard about how to practice Samadhi, and when you heard those teachings, you criticized them, you understood them deeply, and then you applied them.

[33:28]

You use your discursive thought to understand the teachings about how to give up discursive thought, and then you actually practice giving up discursive thought, and you were somehow successful, or you weren't. whatever level of success you have of giving up discursive thought and thereby climbing down and entering into the actual calm life space of Samadhi, whatever success you have, now, after learning about some teaching of the Buddhist tradition, you have to understand and just let go of that understanding and go back to training yourself at giving up discursive thought again, And then when your body and mind become at ease and brilliant and bright and clear and calm, stable, flexible, then you turn back and look at what you understood before.

[34:36]

And you drain your previous wisdom with the samadhi. And then you have a deeper understanding. And then you totally harmonize these two. And then you have realization of whatever that teaching was. There's a very wide variety of teachings. And the variety is so wide that, again, most people in Zen centers say, no, no. Again, like my grandson. No, no, no. They don't want to tell you all, all the dhamma gates, all the schools. The bodhisattvas vow is, I vow to master them all. But one at a time is fine. You can also do them all simultaneously if you want to. So then finally we have the direct. A direct understanding of what you understood before. So that's the three kinds of wisdom. And then I asked the line to refer to this diagram here that we passed out during the Las Pax period.

[35:46]

How many people would connect with this diagram? Well, you can have them. They're up here. You can come and get them after class. And I'll just, basically, I'll just draw the circles quickly. These are concentric circles. Concentric, they're on the same center. And it's the root of the word concentration. So these are three concentric circles about concentration. And John has requested that you understand that these circles, these lines, actually have lots of holes in the spaces. They appear to be solid lines, but actually they're not. We were sent in permanent on membranes. So these are the four kinds of samadhi. The first kind of samadhi is the samadhi which is the basic nature.

[36:47]

One of the basic qualities of all consciousness is samadhi. Rastas of mind are actually, actually, The mind and the mind are one point. They're not two separate things. And this is called samadhi, the one-pointedness of thought. Now, again, many people... This is an example of... You hear things literally, like I hear things literally. I read a lot of books about samadhi, and I hear people say, samadhi means one-pointedness of thought. Thought is that the mind is like one point. or the mind is one-pointedly focused on an object. Well, that sounds sort of okay, but it sounds like the mind and the object are two different things. That's not samadhi. This is where you criticize the words you hear. That's not what samadhi means. Samadhi doesn't mean it denotes I am a plant. It means that the mind and the plant are not true.

[37:51]

The one-pointedness of the mind is the one playing as a mind and object. Not that the mind, which is separate from the object, is now onto the object. Well, slightly different, but that's an example of criticism. So that's the first kind of samadhi. Samadhi number one, our minds have it. Samadhi number two is to become absorbed in that quality of mind. So that man or woman in a different part of the state of mind have this quality of samadhi, but you feel like it, you've realized it. Many people, everybody's got samadhi at every moment, but most people do not realize it. In other words, they don't feel calm. In other words, they do not feel that the awareness, the awareness that they sense of the objects that they know, they don't just feel like they're separate, they don't feel like they're one. By practicing the second kind of samadhi, we realize this and we experience calm that way.

[38:59]

So this is the samadhi which is also jnana. So jnana also means trance or concentration or absorptions. You're absorbed in the samadhi issue. The third kind of samadhi is samadhi which has been conjoined with wisdom. And as you look in the Abhidhamma-kosha reference, you'll see that in the Abhidhamma-kosha, an Abhidhamma-kosha is representing two of these squirrels of early Buddhism. Two squirrels are represented in the Abhidhamma-kosha, the squirrel of the Vibhashikas and the squirrel of the Satrantikas. They're both in that text. So in that text, It describes the three wisdoms. So the three wisdoms are part of the level of Buddhism, while the insight that's connected with this third type of samadhi is the insight, or the wisdom, which understands the selflessness of persons, or it understands the way people or persons are.

[40:11]

And these two schools are slightly different versions of what that selflessness of persons is, and that's why there's two schools. But they're both in one book. I think I will. If all goes well... I mean, I shouldn't say if all goes well. If all goes a certain way, then the timing is right. It will happen. The fifth kind of samadhi is a samadhi which is drowned with the wisdom which understands the emptiness of athana, not just persons. And this is the samadhi of the Buddha and some bodhisattvas. And the second level of understanding selflessness of all things, not just of persons, refers to the omniscience, which the Buddha needs in order to have those fully.

[41:17]

So we're presenting this to you. You're learning this. This is Shruti Mahaprajan, if you got it. If you don't know it, you're still working on it. You're still studying to get it. Now, I'd like to say a few more words about the second level, the second kind of wisdom training. Even in the early Buddhist presentation of the second level of training in wisdom, the training which is to ponder the teachings which you've understood, to examine the teachings which you've understood, to analyze the teachings which you've understood. Even in the earlier previous presentation, even there, the meditators, the reverends were encouraged to learn all the different disciplines.

[42:22]

They hadn't yet seen the Mahayana in the early times, so they weren't being encouraged to learn the Mahayana also. but they're encouraged to learn a lot of the scores that occurred up to the time that these books were written. And a lot of the scores, actually, the individual vehicle scores and the universal vehicle scores, they're all basically concluded pretty much in a basic form, a basic four-score form. They're all basically completed by the end of the 5th century. And IFB schools seem to have continued to exist for the next 700 years in India until the Muslim invasion. And then things got dispersed. But IFB schools did not get clearly transmitted all over the rest of the world. But in Tibet, you still can find, until recently, you still could find

[43:30]

people who were actually representatives of these four schools. In these four schools, you might find people who are of the same order of Tibetan Buddhism, who are teachers of these different schools. In China, you could find some, but not recently. In Japan, I haven't heard of it very much. I've heard there was an Abhidharma-kosha school in Japan, And actually, Eijo, Dogi's main successor, was supposedly a proponent or a teacher of the Satoru Ntaka school. So there was something like that in Japan. And there's a school called, I think it's called Rakushiji, is that what it's called, in Mori? Anyway, I forgot the name of the temple, but it's a temple which is its main... Anyway, it's a temple.

[44:45]

It's not one of the main famous temples, but it's a temple that represents the Hoso school, which is one of the Mahayana schools that existed in India. But I haven't heard of a temple in Japan that was like a Madhyamaka school, the other Indian Buddhist school. I haven't heard of it. So what happened, because of Zen, Zen basically absorbed all these schools and mixed them up and kind of made them disappear. And so in some sense, I'm doing archaeology here for you. The ideology in terms of Indian Buddhism, but also the ideology of how this stuff is in Zen, that's even more complicated. So part of this study of the wisdom which contemplates the teaching

[45:48]

Well, excuse me, I skipped something. The matter is that also in Vinaya, it suggests that you learn all the schools, and not just learn all the Buddhist schools, but also learn the non-Buddhist schools. So in the early Pārīcana, And Sanskrit canon, in the Vinaya, there's instructions for the yogis to learn all the Buddhist stuff and all the non-Buddhist stuff that's relevant to the Bible disciplines in the pre-Mahayana phase. And in the Mahayana phase, the Buddhists are encouraged even more so to learn all the disciplines, all the non-Buddhist, all the non-Buddhist sciences and all the Buddhist sciences. start with the Buddhist, but then eventually go and, you know, that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to remember the schools too. I haven't gotten very far, but that's my spirit, is I want to learn all of them. And not just because I heard I'm supposed to, the distance is reasonable.

[46:56]

Like for years and years and years, I've been through the Bible, I don't know much about the Middle East. Haven't you felt bad about that? Isn't there something a little off there? Haven't we been sort of like, you know, doing homework? For years and years, I felt like I wanted to learn more about Islam. Haven't been able to get there much. But there's the Vinaya and the Abhidharma. The suttas are for samadhi. The Vinaya is for discipline or precepts. And the Abhidharma is for wisdom. So in Pali, they have this three, the Tripilika. In Sanskrit, they have the Agamas of the same categories. Sutras, Vinaya, and Abhidharma. In other words, Abhidharma. Excuse me. In both traditions, the modern and southern Abhidhamma traditions, the Sanskrit and the Pali had these three baskets.

[48:00]

In both cases, it's the Abhidhamma that emphasizes the wisdom. Of course, there's wisdom teachings in the sutras, but the Abhidhamma pulls out the wisdom teachings particularly and pulls out the samadhi teachings that you want to practice the wisdom teachings. But the sutras are really for Samadhi. I've heard. So in the earliest school, I think, the earliest Abhidharma school in America, which is the school that had the biggest influence on Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, and so on. The Abhidhamma tradition was a tradition of Bhagavad-gita practice. And the earliest one was called the Savastavada. The Savastavada are a subset of the general category called the Vibhashas, the Vibhashikas.

[49:04]

That's one school. Is what? Actually, it says, according to the Vibhashikas, there it is right there. But the systematic presentation is not on that paper. But the word Vibhashikas is there. With Abhidhamma Kosha, as I mentioned before, you actually find two of the early schools. You find the two individual vehicle schools, the two vehicles of the Arhat, the two vehicles of individual liberation by understanding the selflessness of the person. Those two schools are the Vaisakha and the Satrantika, and they're both in Abhidhamma Kosha. One is the front line, and the other is the critic line. But they both represent these three kinds of wisdom.

[50:06]

I also thought I might mention tonight something that I think is good to know. It's a teaching that I think would be good to listen to and memorize. and at the right time, recite for others, and then eventually understand. And that is the basic characteristics. Sometimes I say three basic characteristics, and sometimes I say a fair of a Buddhist teaching, and the teaching of the Buddha. So the first point was that all products I am permanent. It's the first characteristic of products. Products of the future? Well, like, you go to the grocery store, all the products are permanent.

[51:15]

They are perishable. People are products. Chairs are products. Houses are products. Horses are products. Hmm? Things that are composed. Things that arise cease. Okay? That's the first. The teaching has that quality. It has one of the Buddhist seals on it. If it doesn't have that, it doesn't seem to be Buddhism. The next one is that our... are things with outflows. As phenomena with outflows, sometimes it's a, you can say, impure, sometimes they'll just make a symbol for you and say, all impure phenomena are miserable. But the word impure, or contaminated, or defiled, the actual word that's used there is sastrava,

[52:25]

Sāśrava means silence with, and srava means outflows or floods. Just all things that outflow? All phenomena that outflows are miserable or suffering. Keep miserable. That's another basic. If it has that, it's the same as the Buddhist. If it doesn't have it, something's missing. If you'd like me to say more about hot flares, I will. I'm going to finish the list. The third point is that all phenomena are selfless. And the fourth, sometimes there's three, but then sometimes there's four.

[53:32]

The fourth is Nirvana is peace. Nirvana is peace. So those are the characteristics of the various Buddhist teachings. And one of the key points is that the different schools These four different schools have different versions of what selflessness is. It's one of the most important differences. There are other differences, too. There are differences in terms of their teaching about the psychology of the mind. There are different teachings about the arising of mind, the ceasing of mind, the transmission of karma, and so on and so forth. But they also have, most importantly, different teachings about what selflessness is, what emptiness is. Outflows are in Rabindranath Kosha, the text that's one of the references here, and in the text which presents the Vibhashika position, and then criticizes it from the Satrantika position, that text

[54:51]

I think pretty early on in the text, they say, I think it says, how many phenomena, how many dhammas, dhamma means teaching, but also means phenomena, how many kinds of phenomena are defiled or have outflows? And in that system, the Vaisakha system, they have a system of 75 dharmas, 75 types of phenomena. And 72 are phenomena that are made. So 72 that are made and therefore impermanent. And we have three which are not made. according to that school. The three where they're not made are two types of nirvana in space. only the school. Those two types, those three diamonds are not made, and the 72 are made.

[56:00]

And 72 are like all the different kinds of phenomena of your experience, basically. They feel could be accounted by those 72 types of phenomena. And you say the 72 have outflows. In other words, all your experience has outflows. And those three do not. two types of nirvana and space. But then they say there's one more thing that doesn't allow flows. And some of you know that, right? What's the one other thing that doesn't allow flows? No? Close the path. The path, and the path, of course, the practice, the Buddhist practice, of course, it involves the... the 72 diamonds that have outflows, but they're put together in such a way that there's no outflows.

[57:02]

An outflow is basically Like I said, I say outflows, but the first of outflows is flood. It means that things are coming into you, but also there's things going on out of you. So it's like the psychophysical effect of dualistic thinking, of self and other, of gaming loss, of existence and non-existence. If you think in terms of existence and non-existence, if you think in terms of this and that, that sets up a flow. So that we're moving faith, which is one of the diamonds in the system states of memory, moving faith, if it's faith in something, there's a kind of circuit there, and there's an outflow. Moving in samadhi, it has outflow. All those diamonds have outflow, unless they're gathered together into the path, and they don't.

[58:09]

So all those things that have outblow are suffering. That's the basic Buddhist teaching. Now, people sometimes say that the Buddha taught that life is suffering. It's not right. The Buddha taught that life with outflows is suffering. And outflows are created. And also in the Abhidharma Kosha, it points out in chapter 6, where this quote comes from, Before the quote starts, they tell the four-level truths. And they also tell about the two truths. The four-level truths, I guess you know about, the two truths are the truth of conventional truth and ultimate truth. So they tell that just before the section you have here, they tell these two basic sets of truths, the four and the two. In this so-called individual vehicle school, they tell them, All the squirrels have these four local truths and two full truths.

[59:18]

Okay? And when they're talking about the four local truths, they'll say, we already told you them earlier. And then they'll tell you where and where they told you. In the case they told you first, the truth of suffering, or the teaching of true suffering, they told you when they told you that the things, the aggregates that help clean are suffering. In other words, thalamine, like the scandalous, which includes those seven two-dermas, with clean, that means what clean involved with the scandalous creates the outflows. So we say, clearing to the five scandalous, the five scandalous of clean is the definition of suffering.

[60:22]

But that's the same as saying that our skandhas with outflows are suffering. The outflows are created by grasping, by grasping and grasping. That sets up the circuit that creates the disturbance in the system. When there's a practice, when there's practice, which includes when there's wisdom, then we see the skandhas with no grasping. When the skandhas have no outflows, And then the scoundrels end up suffering because they've been purified by wisdom. Which is, you know, the next thing brought up after they introduced the... Oh, they also say that when I told you that the grasping of five scoundrels is suffering, I also told you the second truth. because the origins of the first truth is the second truth, which is the cluing to this canvas, the grasping this canvas.

[61:29]

And they also told you about the path, and they told you about what Abhidharma is, which is wisdom. And they also told you about the third truth, and they told you about the two kinds of nirvana, So that's the style of this book, is that they sometimes don't... They say, we already told you. And they make up for that, we already told you, with telling you some stuff that you don't need to know. Anyway, so those are the four seals of our Buddhist teachings. And the different schools of Buddhism... all have these four zeros. I really had trouble for a long time, because how could they have these different views and still be Buddhist? I mean, they really have different views about what selflessness is.

[62:32]

It's amazing how different they are. But they do share these four. They all say that phenomena, all phenomena, are selfless. But some of them don't require the realization that all phenomena are selfless. They're not into that, even though they agree with self. So even in the early schools of Buddhism, the first schools, they were a little bit ahead of them Even there, we do admit that there are bodhisattvas. There was a bodhisattva that became a Buddha, or became a Buddha, and that there are possibly a few people who are bodhisattvas, in other words, people who are going to understand not just the selflessness of a person, but the selflessness of everything. But their path is not actually set up to realize the selflessness of persons, I mean of phenomena, which go with this samadhi.

[63:38]

They're actually stopping here. They do admit that there is this. So they all agree, actually. But not just people, but all things are selfless. But this samadhi has not yet realized that, what this samadhi has realized. But anyway, I'm just saying that as I studied these schools, I could highly believe that they were both schools of Buddhists. Just like sometimes if you hear about some arguments that occurred between certain Zen masters, and if you hear about some arguments that occurred within the same line of stories in Tibet and China, the way they argue over certain points, you feel like they're almost like they must be two different religions. They're so different. But, you know, That's the way it is sometimes, right? You kill off what's nearest to you, what's most like you. But I really like... I'm really challenged to understand how these people are really on the same religious camp with different Buddhist schools.

[64:52]

They're so different. But they are satisfied with these requirements I just mentioned. Yes? I do take it on faith. I guess, in a sense, I take it on faith, but another way to put it is that they accept They accept the teaching, even though they haven't yet realized it. What were the other pieces? They accept the teaching that our dhammas, our phenomena are selfless, even though they do not have a direct realization of that. What would be the pinnacle? Pardon?

[65:53]

I don't have to say . The lesser vehicle is a vehicle that has the goal of being . This is a person who has attained liberation from psychological existence. They're actually liberated from some sorrow. And they've learned all that they need to know to that liberation, and that's their goal. But even with people that propose that path, they still, in some cases, will admit that there are people following another path called Dada Sattvas and are on the path to becoming Buddhas because they're going to realize what the Buddha realized. They accept that teaching, but they aren't teaching it and aren't practicing it. Yes? Well, what I'd like to say is that these different scrolls, I mean, in India,

[66:57]

in the 6th century, 7th century, 8th century, 9th century, 10th century, 11th century, and 12th century. In those centuries, all those years, in some sense, it was the golden age of Buddhism. In a lot of ways, it was much more developed than during Shakyamuni's time, even though they had the Buddha around. These four squirrels, each one of them are super amazing. They're different, but they're all really wonderful, and they all offer something special and unique for certain people at certain times. So that we, if you and I were living in India at that time, we would have a hard time if we were actually to see representative of these four schools. We might choose different schools, you and I, and both were very grateful that we got the school we chose. And the Buddha would say, that's great that Joe picked that school. It's a great school for Joe, and it's a great school for Red.

[68:18]

The first school, you know, the Vibhashika school and the so-called Sarvastivadana, they had the most detailed and beautifully worked out system of philosophy of all Buddhism. But, they can be refuted by the Sotrantikas. And Sotrantikas also, like Vassilibandhu was, actually Vassilibandhu was a visionary of Vibhashika and Vassilibandhu, then he became a Sotrantika and criticized his old school, and he was like a Jew at his old school, and he surpassed his old school, and, you know. So if you study Robert Downey Kershian, you'll see actually two phases of one person doing those two schools, but they're both wonderful schools. And then you have the next level of the novichara, the minor school, and the middle school, the majoramika school. Each one of those schools is often a great opportunity, so I think the Buddha would be very happy that this... And even the schools have sub-schools.

[69:27]

that this wide variety of schools administering to all different types of philosophical opportunities and psychological needs were there, so nicely worked out. But still, the bodhisattva would like to understand the relationship between and which school first, in some sense, most basic, addressing the grossest level of ignorance, and which is addressing the highest level of ignorance, or grossest level of enlightenment and highest level of enlightenment. And, in fact, there is some agreement about how to order these schools and the reasons for the order. But the lower school is very whispered because For example, the higher school, as some people have viewed, the majority of the schools, the founder of that school, Murugaji, has said that before you deal with the ultimate, you have to be a master of the conventional.

[70:37]

So he also said before we do the higher schools, some people need to learn the lower schools. And we wouldn't be able to get to the higher school without the lower schools. The lower school is very useful. Some people don't need the lower schools. But they're all useful. And we shouldn't throw them out, just like we shouldn't throw out non-Buddhist schools. We should learn about all kinds of disciplines. We should use music and music. And that's one of my things about Zen, I think, is that Zen people have learned cooking, gardening, architecture, world-making. Doing rituals is another skill. So all of these different things are actually part of the Bodhisattva path, is to learn all these skills. For some years I was a little worried about Zen Center because we had carpenters and cooks, but almost no mechanics.

[71:40]

Yeah, it's kind of a problem. Well, you know, we've got branch, we've got, we've got, we've got, you know, but, you know, relatively speaking, none of them are mechanics. And I was hit, you know, but then when the computer age came, I was very happy because Zen students are doing pretty well at the computers. In other words, I felt bad because it seemed like Zen students were kind of like, I don't want to get dirty, I don't want to, I don't know what I wrote, but I was like, I was shied away from it. How can you be a woman of Jesus and all that? There are certain areas that Zen students say, but I really feel good that they've come down to Earth and worked on the computers. It's nice. But in some ways, we have other skills to learn as part of our Bodhisattva work. And one of them is to learn all the doctrines

[72:42]

both religious, scientific, psychological, and philosophical, of the Buddhist and non-Buddhist world. Do this collectively, Chad. Anyway, it's fine with me. Yes? Could... important at a time for all kind of things? I did. The goal was to, the goal, the goal of the Buddha Sattva was to be able to simultaneously study all these systems at the same time as you study the emptiness of all of them. That's what the Buddha can do. Because the Buddha embraces completely and understands all minds.

[73:48]

But most of us would have to study them one at a time. And we'll have to pick one at a time. And after we come later with them, then we kind of need to pick one. And then work at realizing that one. In other words, not just studying it, but actually realize the selflessness of that school that you chose. And then go on. If in fact, Well, I'm not sure about this, but if, in fact, you realize the selflessness of the wisdom of a higher school, then you probably wouldn't have much trouble understanding the selflessness of a lesser school, if you happen to skip that lesser school, in fact.

[74:51]

But most people have to, like, realize this one, and then realize the next one, The last thing I would like to say before I stop, and that is that most Buddhists do not do what I'm talking about here. Most Buddhists have not yet taken on this implication of the Bodhisattva work. Even very, very true Buddhists, they have not yet started this wisdom work. You don't have to take this on to be a Buddhist. All you have to do to be a Buddhist is truly, deeply, wholeheartedly take refuge in the Triple Treasure and accept some of the teachings of the second treasure, Dharma. Accept these teachings. And most Buddhists do take refuge, and most Buddhists do want to practice the precepts, and most Buddhists do want to be generous, and most Buddhists do want to help people, whether it's Theravada or Mahayana, most do.

[76:04]

But most do not take on the study of wisdom at the level of the second and third level. But still, bodhisattvas are saying they don't just want to be a Buddhist. They want to be a teacher. They want to teach people and save people. They don't want to just get a little bit better at Buddhism for themselves. They actually want to learn the whole thing, because that's what the Buddha knows. So that's why I'm bringing this up. to give you a feeling for this, and then if you can encourage an eye to get a feeling for this and open to this and know what we're talking about, then we know what we're talking about, okay? Then you know what we're talking about, and then you can kind of spend the rest of your life getting used to it, relaxing with it. You may not learn anything, but at least you can get relaxed with the project. Say, okay, I know that.

[77:06]

And again, I've told you this before. The great Dogen Zenji said, towards the end of his life, he said, there are ten million things about Buddha Dharma that I have not well understood, but I have the extreme joy of having realized right faith, of right confidence. So, when we learn about the to realize all those arts and all those sciences and all those disciplines that are available for the bodhisattva study, that we might have a very subtle and deep confidence that it would be a good idea if we learned everything for the welfare of the world. And kind of just get used to that. And also get used to feeling like you haven't gotten very far. And kind of like... Well, how much have you understood? Not much. But I'm really glad to even have the opportunity to say that to you.

[78:09]

So let's see if there is a shoe, let's see if it works out to go deeper into these different understandings of selflessness. I said I'm going to invite Philip on his place. I mean, it looks like you could take a couple hours of it, but... But sometimes you look like... I don't talk about that anymore. I'm getting the scourge. Uh... And then I start talking louder. Then people wake up and go... Okay, so here's some basic quotes.

[79:22]

It's a rule, a basic step on the true level of wisdom. Anybody who needs the... is chatted in four times of samadhi, four meanings of samadhi, you can have that too. And thank you for rocking this path into the Three Wisdoms with the tradition. Appreciate your patience with it. I know it's a little difficult and new, but I appreciate your openness to it.

[79:53]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_76.65