During sitting last night, did I? Someone didn't hear what I said and requested to say it again. I think I said, the Buddha Tathagatas do not go beyond clarifying cause and effect. I might have said, do not go beyond clarifying karmic cause and effect. In this lineage, enlightenment is what the Buddhas do. And what the Buddhas do, they are clarifying cause and effect.

[01:01]

Buddha's enlightenment is based on great loving-kindness and compassion for all beings. and is the supreme embodiment of loving kindness and compassion for all beings. And this enlightenment realizes the non-substantiality of all things and refutes any kind of substantialistic views. This enlightenment which refutes any substantiality, which manifests great loving-kindness and compassion is the clarification of cause and effect. Buddhas are always thinking

[02:22]

about cause and effect. They're always thinking about the way the world is evolving They're thinking about the way each being is evolving towards awakening or the way each being is slipping into ignorance. They're thinking about that. They're clarifying that. They're watching that. This is their enlightenment. And in looking at this, they don't see any substantial beings. However, they do see beings who think substantialistically and suffer. And they feel compassion for them. And they reflect on how to help them start meditating on cause and effect. So if I suggest to you that enlightenment is thinking about cause and effect, is reflecting on the clarifying of cause and effect, someone might say, well, are you suggesting that we think about dependent core arising when we're sitting in the zendo?

[04:00]

Well, I'm not exactly suggesting that you do it. But when you're ready to practice the enlightenment of the Buddhas, If you wish to do that, well then yes, that's what you would do. Because that's what the Buddhas do when they sit. They think about dependent core arising. They see dependent core arising. They discover dependent core arising. They think about dependent core arising. They teach dependent core arising. They live in dependent core arising. which means they think about the insubstantiality of all things and the interconnectedness of all things. They think about it. They look at it. They receive it. They give it. So if you wish to enter Buddha's enlightenment, it's right here in the Pentacle of Rising. And if you happen to be thinking, you could think about that. And that would be enlightenment.

[05:04]

If you're feeling really agitated and disturbed and distracted, I would suggest you be very, very kind to yourself and calm down and be gentle and upright and patient and give up trying to control and be honest If you feel upset and disturbed, be honest. I feel upset and disturbed. And be kind and calm down. And when you're really calm and relaxed and open and feel compassion coursing through your body and mind, then you're ready to enter enlightenment, which is to think about the pentacle arising. So yes, I am suggesting that we think when we're sitting in the Buddha Dharma tradition.

[06:11]

But we also encourage ourselves to be kind while we're thinking and calm while we're thinking and relaxed and soft and balanced and gentle and patient and gracious and not violent, not nasty, give up trying to control, and so on. I was talking to someone who wasn't sure that that her coming to sit here was helpful to other people or that they were helpful to her when she was sitting here.

[07:16]

In some arenas during the session she does feel like she's helping people and that they're helping her. In other words, she thinks that way sometimes. She thinks, oh, I'm helping them, they're helping me. I also say she imagines. She imagines that she's helping people, and she imagines they're helping her. Like when she's on a serving crew, she thinks, I'm helping everybody. I'm serving them. And they're helping me because I like to serve them. And my serving partners are helping me, and I'm helping them. In other words, she's thinking of Dependent Girl Rising, so she's happy. She's enlightened when she's on the serving crew, but when she's sitting, she doesn't think about the pinnacle arising. I say, well, why don't you imagine that you are helping everybody and they're all helping you? She said, can I do that? Am I allowed to imagine when I go into Zen Do?

[08:24]

You are allowed to imagine when you come into Zen Do. Matter of fact, whether you're allowed or not, you do. But now I want you to know you have my full support and my full welcoming you to come to imagine when you come in this room. But I would suggest you imagine that you're coming into this room to benefit all the people in this great Sangha. And you're coming into this room to graciously receive the support of all the people in this Sangha. I recommend you do that, and I also give you the little, what are called, seal of approval, but that's enlightenment. I recommend you come in here and imagine enlightenment. That you imagine the Dharma of the Buddhas. You imagine the pinnacle arising. If you don't imagine the pinnacle arising, you're going to imagine something else.

[09:26]

And anything else will probably, except maybe if you imagine emptiness, that might be okay. But I recommend you imagine dependent co-arising first, and then you'll start slipping into imagining emptiness. And also I imagine that you, I suggest you imagine that you might be proud and conceited. Imagine, I recommend you imagine that. In other words, open to that possibility. There is a place for giving up thinking and calming down. I've spent quite a bit of time doing it myself, and I still do. Every now and then, every few milliseconds, I give up thinking and calm down. It's delicious to calm down, to give up all my thinking about dependent co-arising.

[10:29]

To give up thinking about benefiting all beings, I take a little break. I conk out. It's very refreshing. And then when I am refreshed, what am I doing here again? Oh yes, I'm here to help all beings. I start thinking about it again. Turn back on the compassion machine. Mum, mum, mum. And I get tired and say, okay, time to take a break. Break time. Give up thinking. Kaplunk. My wife once gave me a great compliment. She said, you're like this. And for the sake of the recording, she held her hand vertically. But you're always ready to go like this. She made her hand horizontal. Horizontal. She told me recently that she heard on the radio a program about sleep or rest.

[11:38]

And in the program they said, if you lie down in the middle of the day and within 20 minutes you fall asleep, you're sleep deprived. So, I am sleep deprived and I've been sleep deprived for about 42 years. Because if I lie down in the middle of the day, it doesn't take 20 minutes. Long before 20 minutes, I've finished my nap. Unless I'm really tired. But usually if I lie down in the middle of the day, in five seconds I'm asleep, and in five or ten minutes I'm awake and refreshed and ready to go start thinking again. What is it again? What am I doing? Oh yeah, right. loving kindness and compassion for all beings, and clarifying karmic cause and effect. Oh yeah, great. But there is a rumor in Zen that enlightenment, in Zen I mean, in people that say the word Zen, there's a rumor that enlightenment is the cessation of thought.

[12:55]

I beg to differ. The Lotus Sutra, as you now know, says, the Buddha says, I am always thinking. The Buddha says, I am always thinking more than once in the Sutra. I'm always thinking of how to cause all beings to enter the unsurpassed way and perfect the Buddha body. Buddha's always thinking, and what is the Buddha thinking about? The welfare of beings and cause and effect. How to cause them to be the effect of the Buddha body. Buddha's always thinking about that, according to Buddha. When Buddha comes in and sits here in Zazen with us, Buddha's sitting there thinking. Also Buddha is giving up her thinking every moment.

[14:05]

Buddha thinks, how can I benefit all beings? And then she gives it up and gets calm. Then the next moment she thinks, how can I benefit all beings? And she gives it up and she's calm. Buddha's calm. He's a calm thinker. A serene thinker. Contemplator of what? Of the interdependence of the universe and the causal evolution of all beings. The karmic cause and effect of all beings. The Buddhas do not go beyond that. That's their play field. Buddhists think about the pinnacle arising. Buddhists think about how to cause all beings to enter the unsurpassed way and perfect the Buddha body. In the Phukan Zazengi, as you read, it says, after Dogen tells you basically to calm down, it says, you know, sit down in a quiet room, not too dark, not too light, don't eat too much, don't eat too little, calm down.

[15:18]

Give up your thinking. And after you give up your thinking, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Non-thinking. That's what it says in the translation that we chant. Have you chanted that yet? Good. So now you know that. That refers to a story about a Chinese teacher in our lineage named Yao Shan. For this story I will nickname him Hermes Yao Shan. Yao Shan, the Zen teacher thief. A monk comes up to Yashan sitting, and a monk comes up to him while he's sitting and asks him, what are you thinking?

[16:21]

Or, what are you imagining? Yashan says, I'm thinking. He didn't say, I'm not thinking. How dare you accuse me of thinking. No, he didn't say, I'm not thinking. He said, I'm thinking of... that which does not think. Usually translated as I'm thinking of not thinking. I would suggest a more helpful translation is I'm thinking of what does not think. Then the monk says, how? How do you think of what does not think? How do you think? How can I think of what does not think?

[17:25]

Yashan said, it's not thinking. I like that way of translating it. It can also be translated as beyond thinking or non-thinking. How do you think of that which does not think? Non-thinking? Beyond thinking? I like, it is not thinking. It is not thinking. This is where the thief really comes into play. I would suggest that he's thinking of what does not think means he's thinking of dependent core arising. Dependent core arising does not think. Dependent core arising is not what he called intelligent design.

[18:30]

The creation of the universe is not what God's thinking. The creation of the universe itself is not thinking. It creates all thinking, but it is not thinking. There's no cause of dependent core arising. I would suggest that he's, the monk asks, he's sitting still. He's sitting still. The monk says, what are you thinking of? He says, I'm thinking of what doesn't think. I'm thinking of dependent core arising. How do you think of the pentacle arising? It's not thinking. The way to think about this is not according to your idea of the way to think about this. You do have some idea of how to think about this. Fine. That's not how. He's taking away his pride about how... The monk wants to know how to do this wonderful thing the teacher's doing.

[19:41]

The teacher says, I'm not going to tell you. You said you're thinking about what doesn't think. How can I do it? I'm not going to tell you. You don't need me to tell you. You can think of all kinds of ways to do it. By not telling you, I'm actually introducing you into it. I'm welcoming you into the meditation on the pinnacle of rising by not telling you how to get a hold of how to do it. This is the essential art of Zazen. You're welcome to come in this room, sit down and think about great loving kindness and great compassion for all beings. To sit here and think about great compassion for all beings. To think of it moment after moment. To think of sitting here for the welfare of all beings moment after moment.

[20:45]

It's fine. To imagine that. You're also allowed to come in here and think of no compassion for anybody. and that nobody is being compassionate to you. You're welcome to do that. We have some people doing that experiment occasionally. They can't stand it for too long but they try it out for a while. By the end of session most people have given it up and switched to the other kind of practice. I say to people, do you think that it's helpful that you come and sit here? If you ask people who are sitting here if they thought it was helpful, do you think they would say yes? Some people say, I don't know, I don't think so. I think so. Now some people are really, I don't know what the word is, wonderfully challenging.

[21:47]

So the people who are sitting near them may not say, well, it's really helpful that they're wiggling all the time and snorting and they smell really strongly and it's really helpful. The people nearby might say, but the people across the other side of the room say, yeah, they're really helpful. I hear all the time that people think it's helpful that so-and-so comes here. Do you think it's helpful that so-and-so comes here? And do you think it's helpful that you come here? Well, it's not so much that you're sure, but anyway, I think so. But the point is more that you come here because you want to help others and you also would like to let them help you. Every period you come to help the others in the room, and you come to help all beings. That's what you come here for in the Buddha way.

[22:50]

That's what Buddhas come into the room for. They come to help all beings and they come to receive the help of all beings. Buddhas feel helped by all beings. They're not proud. It's not like they're the bestowers of help and they don't receive any. And not only do they come to do that, but they also come to think about cause and effect. And I mentioned to you just in the earlier part of the session, so Subuddhi is talking to the Buddha and Buddha asks Subuddhi, how many people do you know who are not possessed by conceit? And how many do you know that are free of it? And Subuddhi says, well, I know lots that are possessed and few that aren't.

[23:53]

And then Subuddhi tells a story about watching, being with lots of actually monks and lots of adept meditators and hearing them expound their understanding based on various things that they're observing. like observing the body-mind, observing dependent core rising, observing the sense fields, observing the Four Noble Truths, observing the Eightfold Path, contemplating all these things, and they express their understanding. And then at the end he says, and after they had all spoken, I thought to myself, Subuddhi thought to himself, he was thinking, and he thought, these people are really conceited. And Buddha said, That's right, that's right, so it is the buddhi." He wasn't putting him down, just that's what he thought. And the Buddha agreed. So the Buddha and the Buddhist disciple do think, they do discriminate, and they study the cause and effect of their discrimination, and they see the insubstantiality of their discrimination,

[25:10]

and they realize great wisdom and compassion. Someone said to me, I want to be helpful. I think that's what he said. I want to be helpful. He might have said, I want to be good. I think he said, I want to be helpful, but I need some form or forms. and I didn't say it to him, but I'll say it to him now. What I heard him say was, I want to practice the Bodhisattva precepts. I want to practice the second and third Bodhisattva precepts. The second and third pure Bodhisattva precepts. The second pure Bodhisattva precept in our lineage is to embrace and sustain all kinds of helpfulness, all kinds of wholesome dharmas. And the third one is to embrace and sustain all beings.

[26:17]

So I heard him say, I want to practice those precepts, but I need some form. And I heard him say, but I need the first precept, the first pure precept. The first pure precept is forms and ceremonies. In order to help beings, I'm contemplating karmic cause and effect now. He says this, I hear he wants to practice the precepts, and I notice that he needs to practice the first precept of forms and ceremonies in order to do good and help beings. The forms. The forms are the places where we get to discover our greed, our hatred, and our delusions. and to practice them until we're free of greed, hate, and delusion. And then after we practice the forms free of greed, hate, and delusion, which is quite a feat, some of us are not yet free of hatred towards the forms.

[27:28]

Or hatred towards the other people who aren't practicing the forms properly. Or greed at getting the forms done a certain way. People come and graciously confess how painful it is for them to go to service because the chanting is so bad, so dead, etc. Or some people are doing it in such an irritating way. So anyway, after you get past all the greed, hate, and delusion around the forms, then you've got pride. Pride. So you have pride in the form, pride in your posture, pride in your breathing, pride in your thinking, pride in your walking, pride in your bowing, pride in your chanting, pride in the Zen center, pride in the students, my students, my good students, my good teacher, my excellent teacher, my wonderful tradition.

[28:34]

I used to hate the tradition, but now I got over that. Now I'm proud of it. So then you get the chance to get over the pride. Then you're ready to help people. But you need a form to exercise, to get in touch with all this stuff that happens around these forms. Oh, boy, I can go sit zazen now. I'm nice. Oh, I have to go sit zazen. How yucky. Oh, my posture's so beautiful. Oh, my posture's so ugly. Oh, their posture's so beautiful. Oh, their posture's so not beautiful. All this stuff happens around the forms, greed, hate, delusion, faith, doubt, violence, non-violence. But finally when you're at the end, pride, conceit. Finally I got the perfect posture, perfect meditation.

[29:40]

And not only that, but everybody else has also attained that. It's great. And so then you get over that and you have accomplished the first pure precept. So now you can really practice the second and third. I was very happy to hear on the radio that one of the mottoes Buddhism has the motto of dependent core rising, contemplate dependent core rising. I was happy to hear that Google's motto is do no evil. In other words, embrace and sustain the forms and ceremonies of Google. With no pride, I think that's great that they're practicing that way.

[30:51]

Now I'm 66 years old, we say, and by Chinese counting I'm 67. So I've reached an age like 12, 17 years more than Dogen or 16 years more than Dogen did. No, no, 14. And now towards the later part of my life, causes and conditions have come together to turn me towards consideration of karmic cause and effect. When I first came to Zen Center I really didn't have the concept that I was contemplating and clarifying karmic cause and effect. That just wasn't the way of talking in practice in those days, for me anyway. I thought about practice differently.

[32:11]

And as I... I just want to briefly mention that someone might ask me, well, how do you meditate on dependent core rising? And I thought just yesterday, I thought, well, the way I did it was by participating in the creation of a book about karmic cause and effect called Being Upright. So you could read that book, and that book would be a way you could contemplate the karmic cause and effect, just by reading the book. As you read it, you will be considering karmic cause and effect. You will be, in other words, when you read the book, you will be enlightened. Reading that book is enlightenment. I didn't realize that until yesterday. And working on it, you know, I didn't write it, but working on it with people is enlightenment.

[33:28]

Pride alert. So maybe I said in the introduction or something, when it was, it must have been in the 80s, 1980s, because Kadagiri Roshi died in 1990. So probably about 1984, 83, 82, 81, or 79, or something like that. But probably not 88. Around the 80s and late 70s, Kadagiri Roshi just mentioned to me one time, I'm really impressed by how important repentance was for Dogen Zenji. He seemed like a little bit surprised by this. He was impressed and seemed surprised how important it was. He hadn't really noticed it or hadn't felt it so deeply before that.

[34:33]

And I kind of thought, well, what is repentance anyway? I never heard about that before. I mean, I've heard the word, but never in Zen center. It wasn't a big part of the practice. And then not too long after that, I don't know what led to it, but I said to him, are there any Zen books about the Bodhisattva precepts? And I asked that because I didn't know any, really, any books about the Bodhisattva precepts. Zen books. And he said, yeah, there is one. It's called Zen Kaisho, The Essence of Zen Precepts. He said it's about the Bodhisattva precepts, but it's kind of unusual because when you read it, you almost can't tell it's talking about the precepts. So I endeavored to get a copy of it. It's written like the 18th century or 17th century in Japan and written in Japanese.

[35:42]

So I got a copy and then I got Tanahashi Sensei to help me and we worked on it and translated it. And then I worked with people here and worked on the translation more and more and more. It never got very good but Finally, it was kind of made some little bit of sense. And I don't know, but I was led to give talks, give some talks based on this text, which is commenting on the Bodhisattva precepts of this lineage. Gave those talks at Tosar. I think they were given like 92 or 94 precepts. And so those were done and I guess they got recorded and maybe they got transcribed. It was enlightenment. The event, it was enlightenment and people were enjoying being enlightened at Tassajara.

[36:49]

I remember one of them came up to me and said, I'm really enjoying these talks. He didn't know at the time when he said that. He said, I'm really enjoying being enlightened. Thinking about, not so much your talks are good, but just your talks are leading me to think about the causal process of the precepts. So anyway, then somebody said, I'd like you to publish a book with me, some publisher said. I said, hmm. So what could it be about? Well, there's this and there's that. He said, oh, that sounds good. So then they received these transcripts and made this book. So I have gone through this process of a heightened and deepened awareness of the karmic cause and effect during these now almost last 20 years.

[38:06]

A heightened and deepened awareness and faith in cause and effect. And I'm now feeling like I'm paralleling the evolution of Dogen and also Suzuki Roshi. The last year-and-a-half of Sikoreshi's life, he started talking about the precepts and confession and repentance more than I had heard him talk about it before. Before he was talking about, you know, like Zen, you know, the koans. But towards the end he started talking about the Bodhisattva precepts more than I had heard before. But as it turned out, he didn't live very long after that, so I don't know where he would have gone. So that's where I'm at now, and you are the partners in that during this session and during this year.

[39:08]

Someone said, well, you said you were concentrating on this for this year, but it seems like you've been doing this for 25 years. that I've known you. And that's right, but I just sort of announced it as a topic this year, and I'm just reminding people of that as the year proceeds. And this fall, we'll have a class here about looking at the precepts at the pinnacle arising as koan and koans as precepts. And once again, I just wanted to point out that I called Yahshon Hermes because I thought he was kind of playfully teaching this monk dependent core rising. And as the monk started to get the instruction on how to meditate on dependent core rising when sitting,

[40:15]

He took away the monk's foothold on his pride so he could enter the teaching. So there is a place for giving up thinking and calming down. It's a good thing to do. Always give up your thinking and calm down. Give up your thinking and calm down. Give up your views and calm down. Give up your discourse and calm down. I say calm down. You don't have to try to calm down. When you give up your thinking, you do calm down. And then think about the dharma of the pinnacle rising. Is that enough Miriam?

[41:40]

Pardon? You do? Does anyone have questions? Guess not. May our intention

[42:05]

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