So, let's see. Oh, so, yesterday, I was talking. The teaching we're planning to do during this three and a half weeks. And then he also started in outline his teaching that he plans to work on in terms of the six perfections, the six paramitas. And he spoke a little bit about what I would do. So one thing I want to caution, almost caution, and just something to keep in mind, That we're, all of us, Norman and I and all the rest of you, we're walking around, so to speak, or, you know, paying attention to, in a sense, one thing.

[01:11]

One jewel. Or you could say three jewels. But anyway, basically we're looking at the same thing, I think. Certainly Norman and I are looking at the same things. in terms of our teaching. You can call it bodhicitta, a Sanskrit word for it, which means the heart or the mind of awakening. And bodhicitta refers to the spirit of enlightenment, you know, wherever it is, however it is. It refers to the, you know, the feeling in your heart when you think of, you know, some positive, appreciative thought of another being and want to help them.

[02:21]

You know, just a little bit of a feeling like that gets to be called bodhicitta. Buddha is so kind as to sort of like confer the great name bodhicitta upon such a sincere thought of helping others before yourself. But the first thought is not the same as the thought that can be developed through practice. There's a range of development there, but they're identical too, in a sense. And bodhicitta is applied to that whole range of development. So when you first think of benefiting others and hoping for the highest welfare of others, the first clear thought like that can be called bodhicitta. But Zogin Zenji says, if you compare that thought, that the first time it happens to you or to somebody, with what can be developed through practice, like in a person like Shakyamuni or someone, it's like comparing the light of a firefly to a galactic firestorm.

[03:41]

They're incomparable. However, if you wish, he says, if you wish that others will attain the way of the Buddha before you, that wish is the same as the mind of a Buddha, fully attained Buddha. So this bodhicitta is what we're, you know, talking about. We're talking about the whole range of it too. And some days we may talk about the beginning of it. And some days we may talk about the middle of it. And some days we may talk about the end of it. So it'll sound different. So if one day Norman talks about the middle, and the next day I talk about the beginning, and the next day he talks about the end, and the next day I talk about the end, you may think, oh well, Norman said this, but then Reb said that. Now if I talk differently different days, you'd say, well, he's talking differently different days.

[04:45]

But it's really that probably both of us talk differently different days, So don't think that we're talking about a different thing. Please. Just that we're walking around this jewel, looking at it from different perspectives. Oh, it looks like Gloria's practice. It looks like Diana's practice. Or something like that. So the different perspectives that we present are just different perspectives as we walk around this inexhaustible jewel that has inexhaustible facets. And our words are just like songs of praise of this jewel. The song we sing today is not the jewel. It's our song about the jewel. Just like your songs are about the jewel, are not the jewel. Just our ways of praising this thing that we're... So yesterday, after Norman said something, and afterwards I said, you know, I have a little problem with the way you put that.

[05:56]

And when he said that, a quote of Dogen came to my mind, which was kind of a balance or another point of view on what he said. And when I commented that I had a little problem with the way he put it, he brought up that quote of Dogen. So, you know, everything I say is always off to one side. And I may or may not be aware of the other way to put it. Sometimes I am, sometimes not, but I, if I, the only thing I can do to express a balanced point of view is to shut up and not move. But it's hard for people to get the idea from that, you know, except that they should shut up and not move too, which is not bad. But once we start talking and moving our arms and legs, it usually is a little bit off to one side or the other. So we will be presenting different angles on the same fundamental concern, bodhisattva's heart.

[07:00]

Walking around, what is the bodhisattva's heart? And how does that heart animate a person? How does that heart express itself through body, speech, and thought? This is what we're going to be talking about and what we're going to be gesturing about. But we pretty much agree about what we're looking at and what we're seeing, just that different days we look at it from different angles. Both of us range over the material, okay? So be careful of that and try to think, in some ways, try to think of us, in a way, as one person who's talking differently on different days. Another thing is that we're trying this classroom format for a couple reasons. One is that the room's smaller. We're closer together.

[08:02]

And I think people feel a little bit easier to speak here than in the Zendo. And we both want participation. The other thing, and we may give some Dharma talks in the Zendo too, but this is a Oh, I'm starting out. Norman's going to start this way tomorrow too, right? You're going to talk in here tomorrow, right? Yeah. So we welcome, right? We welcome participation. We want your comments, questions, and contributions to this study. But usually I think we'll probably both start off by some presentation at the beginning just to focus the conversation for that day. Otherwise it tends to get a little bit too dispersed and some people can't follow just random comments that come up if you don't provide some focus.

[09:04]

So we'll probably talk for the first half or so of the meeting and then open up for questions and comments. Another thing which is kind of personal is that I was talking to my wife yesterday about a person that I used to be really close with and we used to study really closely with and had a good time studying together. He still is a very enthusiastic student of Buddhism. But at one point we were studying very closely together and at a certain point our relationship started to get rocky. And one of the reasons for that, I think, was, as he put it, he always picked up the I'm wrong ball faster than me. Now, there is, in many situations, like right now, somewhere in the room, there's probably an I'm wrong ball. I don't know where it is exactly.

[10:05]

Do you got it? Well, me just threw it up in the air. So there is this, anyway, he talked, he felt that there was an I'm wrong bottle, ball, and in some conversations he would be, he felt like he would always pick it up faster than me. And I tell you the truth, I agree, he did pick it up faster than me. He was quicker in a lot of ways than me. Besides, I didn't really want to pick up the I'm wrong ball. So, And not only that, but even when I pick up the I'm wrong ball, I don't pick it up with as much conviction as he did. Like when he picked it up, he'd pick it up and go, I just pick it up and say, I'm wrong. That's not what he wanted. Anyway, that was the kind of problem for us, that he kept picking up the I'm wrong ball. And he said, and that makes me mad that you don't pick it up as fast as me or that you don't pick it up ahead of me once in a while.

[11:12]

He said, and there I am. Now I'm angry at you, so now again I'm wrong, see? And, you know, I just somehow couldn't jump in there and take it away from him. So in a way, it's one of my failings that I'm not good at picking up the I'm wrong ball. However, if I don't pick it up, somebody else might. And if you happen to be picking it up, then you might think, well, geez, I better shut up. So that's a problem that we have to deal with, is this I'm wrong ball. Now also, if I or Norman or anybody presents some kind of like startlingly different point of view on what's going on, that's a typical time to think, well, maybe I'm wrong because I don't know what he's talking about. So maybe the reason why I don't know what he's talking about is because I'm wrong. that, well, you just picked up the I'm wrong ball. It doesn't mean you're wrong. It just means that... I don't know what it means, actually. It might just mean that somebody just said something really... has a really different point of view from you.

[12:16]

But that does not mean you're wrong. So, that'll be something to work on, or to be aware of, is this feeling that oftentimes in... I don't know if this class is going to work that way, but certainly in koan classes... there's usually one or more people, usually more than one, who thinks they're the only one in the room who doesn't understand, because everybody else is kind of looking like, oh yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh. And one person says, God, I don't get this. Do they all get it? Am I the only one? That's why participation is helpful. And in, like, this is the Avatamsaka Sutra, and in the Avatamsaka Sutra there's lots of great bodhisattvas who understand completely what's going on when the Buddha's talking. But they ask questions of the Buddha anyway. And the Buddha says, that's very nice of you to ask that question. I know you understand completely, but on behalf of all sentient beings who may not understand, it's very nice of you to ask that question. It's a very good question and it's not that you don't know the answer, not that you don't have millions of answers for it, actually.

[13:23]

but that you're asking because you know, you read the minds of beings and you know that some beings do not understand what I just said because what I said is inconceivable. Therefore, the mind cannot grasp it. Therefore, questions naturally arise. Thank you for asking. So please, on behalf of the few people or whatever number of people who don't understand, ask questions for them. Thank you. Another thing is, a personal thing, is that when I speak with lots of enthusiasm and passion, people think I must be right. Or I must think I'm right anyway. One or the other. Or maybe both. So again, if I'm right, and you don't understand what I'm saying, or if you don't agree with me, then where does that put you? But, let me tell you,

[14:27]

right now. I'm not right. I'm not sure about that because how would I know? Who knows? Maybe today I am. Maybe I'm right when I say I'm not. But when someone speaks with enthusiasm, there is a tendency to think, if he's wrong, how would he dare say it so enthusiastically? Well, in fact, I'm of the school of if you're going to mispronounce something, mispronounce it loudly. Don't mumble mispronunciations. Put it out there. So I'm putting my thing out there, but it's not because I'm right. It's not based on rightness that I speak with some energy and enthusiasm. It's because of energy and enthusiasm that I'm speaking with energy and enthusiasm, not because of right. So don't confuse my energy with being right And please, you know, if you have to pick up the I'm wrong ball, fine.

[15:37]

But anyway, you don't have to pick it up. You just leave it bouncing around the room. Also, you don't have to pick up the I'm right ball either. You just leave those two balls bouncing around the room or just pass them to somebody else. Maybe we should have two balls and just pass them around the room. So these are things which I should say at the beginning of every class, but I don't usually. And it takes me several meetings to realize that somebody thinks that what I'm saying is the truth, rather than just my talk. That's all it is. It's just my talk. It's just a story I'm telling. So I blackboard and chalk. So I just always write, you know, Jewel.

[16:42]

I could write Da Jewel, but I wrote Jewel. Or I could write even TT, Triple Treasure, Three Jewels. Or Bodhicitta. or bodhisattva's heart. The P.S. with a circle around it is bodhisattva. Bodhisattva's heart or bodhisattva's mind. Now for me, there's lots of different ways to describe or talk about this mind.

[17:47]

This mind, in this bodhisattva's mind there is ultimately a perfect balance or union between great compassion and great wisdom. Also another way that this mind is talked about is in the Diamond Sutra, this mind, this mind of bodhisattva is a mind which has no abode. Triple treasure. The triple treasure is not limited to human minds. Triple treasure is the entire universe. But when we speak of triple treasure in terms of a person, bodhisattva, then the kind of mind, when we talk about the triple treasure intersecting with a mind, then the kind of mind that that triple treasure is is sometimes spoken of as a mind which doesn't have any abode.

[18:59]

It doesn't have any fixed dwelling place. It's a mind which is present and ready to adapt circumstances appropriately, because it has no fixed idea about what's appropriate. And another name for this is the mind of zazen, or zazen. Another name for this, another way to talk about this, this one jewel, or this triple jewel, is, um, a six parinita. Another way to talk about this, or the citta. Six parinitas are six transcendent practices.

[20:04]

That, this mind, He is the actual living practice of these six paramitas. Another way to talk about this jewel or this bodhicitta is the 16 bodhisattva precepts. So, zazen, six paramitas, sixteen bodhisattva precepts, same thing. Three different ways to talk about bodhicitta. Three different ways to unfold bodhicitta. Three different ways to unfold the bodhisattva spark. Six paramitas, sixteen bodhisattva precepts, zazen.

[21:06]

Also, the six paramitas are a way to unfold and unpack zazen. And the 16 Bodhisattva precepts are a way to unpack zazen, unfold zazen, articulate zazen. And zazen, our practice of just sitting, is a way to understand the six paramitas. And it's the way to understand the sixteen bodhisattva precepts. And it's the way to understand bodhisattva's heart. In other words, when you practice zazen, as you practice it, there's the possibility that that practice will, you know, eliminate, will show will reveal the great heart of the Bodhisattva.

[22:14]

Ultimately, what we mean by Zazen is this great, wise heart realized in body, speech, and mind. And to help us understand how that is, we have 16 of the 47 precepts. Zazen is... not killing. Zazen is not steaming. Zazen is refraining from all evil, practicing all good, benefiting all beings. That's what we mean by Zazen ultimately. Now, right now you may feel, I don't know if my Zazen practice, you know, is embracing all those 16 Bodhisattva precepts. Well, okay, I don't know if it is either. I don't know if mine is either. But anyway, that's what these precepts are trying to, are helping us with. Like, in what way does your Zazen that you practice today, in what way is it unfolding these 16 Bodhisattva precepts?

[23:22]

In what way is it taking refuge in Buddha? taking refuge in Dharma, taking refuge in Sangha. How is that happening? Or how isn't it happening? The way that it isn't happening, which you may feel it, the way you feel it's not happening, that's fine to notice. That's part of Bodhisattva's practice, is to notice, gee, my sasana today doesn't seem to be taking refuge in Buddha. Doesn't seem to be taking refuge in Dharma. Doesn't seem to be refraining from evil. I seem to be sitting on my cushion, wailing away in an evil way. Fine. Noticing that and confessing that is zazen. Part of the practice of the six paramitas, I mean the 50 bodhisattva precepts, is to confess that we don't understand or we feel maybe we're violating them. Confession is zazen too. Confession is the bodhisattva's heart. I don't know all bodhisattvas.

[24:25]

I can't say that I really know really intimately all bodhisattvas that have ever lived in the history of the universe. But some of the most outstanding ones that I've met talk like they're confessing a lot. I mean, they say, I have this problem, I have that problem, blah, blah, blah. I've met some other bodhisattvas who, you know, aren't into that. That's fine. But the ones who really encourage me are the ones who are able to confess that they're a little off. A little off in the middle way. I'm a little off. Like, you know, our founder, Suzukara, she said, you know, towards the later part of life, she says, well, I'm getting old now. It's hard for me to sit up straight. But I try. And when I was, you know, at the city center, one, you know, remember one night he was, I was coming out of my room, going to Zabzin, he was trotting by with a bunch of Zen comrades.

[25:36]

And he stopped and he said, oh, I'm sorry, I'm going to the movies now. Please excuse me. Yes. How is that different from the I'm wrong ball? How is it different? Well, maybe it's pretty much the same, but not quite so heavy, and I'm wrong is a little self-righteous. Maybe you could go not quite that far and just say, well, I feel like I'm little, you know, in terms of this precept, like maybe in terms of killing, maybe I feel like I killed that, I think I killed that ant, right? I'm somewhat responsible for those killings that are happening someplace. So, to recognize that you're leaning. Like someone said to me the other day that in the precept class we had last spring, he said what he came away from that precept class with was that the fundamental thing to confess is not being upright, not being balanced.

[26:41]

And the fundamental confession is, I'm not upright, I'm a little off, or I'm off. That's a little bit lighter maybe than grabbing an I'm wrong ball. You might confess that too, that I've got the I'm wrong ball now. That maybe is a little bit too grasping, a little bit too possessive, rather than just, I'm a little off. This same person said to me, he quoted, he actually, he said, some Zen master said, or some Zen teacher said, and then he quoted Rajneesh, Rajneesh said something which Ekin Roshi has been quoting quite a bit. So now you see how it becomes to wind up to be a Zen master. Rajneesh said, enlightenment is an accident. That's what he said. And he said, but you can become accident prone. And Ekin Roshi liked that, so he's quoted a few times.

[27:47]

So now people are saying, a Zen master says that. Now I'm not saying anything about Rajneesh, but anyway, that's the story. So I just bring this up because this guy said he brought that up too. And in a sense, when you're upright, you're accident-prone. When you're balanced, you're accident-prone. When you're balanced, you're accident-prone. In other words, you're prone to becoming unbalanced. You're very vulnerable when you're upright because you can fall in any direction, any direction. You can make infinite errors when you're balanced. However, when you're off, you're not accident-prone, you're an accident. And not only that, but you only can have that accident. So being upright is much better because you can have any accident, not just this one. However, when you do make an accident, it's Bodhisattva way is... I made it, I did it.

[28:47]

That's enough. It's enough. Then you're, as soon as you're saying that you made an error, without saying it's true, would I just, you know, now that I made this error, but that's true, that's too much. Just, I think I made a mistake here. That's enough. Then you're upright again. And then there's another one. So, Dogen says, the bodhisattva path is one continuous mistake. And also, he said, the more enlightened people confess more often. Enlightened people confess all the time because they're always noticing they're accident-prone, so they're always getting a little off, [...] and they're used to confessing that, that they're a little off, so they come back up. If you haven't made a mistake for a real long time, I mean, I should say, if you haven't noticed that you've made a mistake for a long time, then when you first notice it, it's a pretty big shock. It's been a week since you made a mistake.

[29:50]

Then when you notice it, it's going to be a pretty big shock. If it's been a year, it's going to be more of a shock. If it's been 10, it's going to be real hard to accept the first one you've made in 10 years. But if you make them every few seconds, it's not so difficult. So, this bodhisattva heart, the triple treasure is, you know, is being balanced. And we're constantly falling off this, and these six paramitas and 60 bodhisattva precepts are ways for us to check it out. Check out that heart. Am I being stingy? Practice of giving brings my attention to stinginess. Am I holding on to something? Be possessive of something? Even possessive of my understanding of Buddhism? Am I right?

[30:51]

Well, the first priest, the first parmita says, you know, give it away. Let it be. Don't own it. Hand it over. Drop it. Renounce everything. Renounce your thinking. And so on. That's tazen. And in the priest ordination, And actually, I'd like the lay ordination to be that way too. Before receiving the Bodhisattva precept, now you practice renunciation also. You renounce worldly affairs. You renounce worldly affairs. In other words, you renounce what you think. You don't stop thinking. You just say, I renounce my ancient habit of thinking that I'm right, which is called worldly thinking. I renounce it. I'll probably continue doing that, but... I renounce it. I renounce believing that my deluded way of thinking is reality. I renounce that. I give it up. And then you practice confession. Then you receive the principles. So renunciation... Renunciation, you could say, is the first paramita, giving.

[31:58]

Yeah. And confession is the second paramita. The śīla paramita, which is careful observation of your behavior, noticing how it is. Noticing, noticing, noticing, noticing all the time. What are you doing with your body? What are you doing with your speech? What are you doing with your thoughts? How are you acting in these three modalities? To constantly notice that carefully, to be vigilant and balanced in your observation of that. That's the second paramita. First two paramitas you could say are Confession and renunciation. In other words, first two parmitas prepare you to deeply enter the next four, plus also the bodhisattva precepts. Zazen is not one of these parmitas. Not two of these parmitas. Not three of these parmitas. It's all six. The bodhicitta is all six.

[33:01]

The six paramitas are the way you protect the bodhicitta and develop it. The bodhicitta can arise before you even start practicing it. But once it arises, these six paramitas of giving, ethical observation, patience, enthusiasm, and so on, they are the way to protect this great heart that is being born in you. to protect it and cultivate it and develop it to its full potential. The 16 body sample precepts are exactly the same. They are how to protect the heart of great compassion and develop it fully. Zazen is the same. Now, let's see.

[34:08]

We have been meeting for a while. It is now 9.30. And we go till... We've been meeting for 45 minutes. Do you want more input now, or do you want discussion? More input? Most people? Okay. Now, can I erase this? Very auspicious that the blackboard has come into its prime. It's actually working as a blackboard. Chalk sticks, and it looks like you can read it. Okay, now, I'd like to, in some sense, split Let's put things in two here. Yeah.

[35:11]

So this is kind of like now duality. This is not really duality, but I'm going to split the practice world in two parts. All right. Call this part the generic store. There's a merit hall. And this one, the wisdom store. So the Buddha way, or the Buddha, you know, awakening is realized through developing these two stores and accumulating merit, developing merit, cultivating merit, cultivating wisdom. You could also call this compassion.

[36:19]

You could also call this, over here, first five, parmitas, and sixth. You could also call this side practicing the Bodhisattva precepts dualistically. Or practicing them in terms of karma. If you sincerely, I mean sincerely, I mean... very few people insincerely practice them, actually. Like, I don't know, I guess if you actually tried to practice bodhisattva precepts backwards on purpose, that would be pretty sincere, probably. But basically, to actually apply your energy to practice the bodhisattva precepts accumulates merit, accumulates positive energy, visually.

[37:32]

And it accumulates compassion, it develops compassion. The practice of the precepts over here, not dualistically, not practicing the Bodhisattva precept like I'm practicing the Bodhisattva precept, I'm not killing, or I'm practicing not killing, I'm practicing not stealing, I'm taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, I'm not that way. In other words, practicing in a non-dualistic way. In other words, the practice of all beings, all beings taking refuge in Buddha, all beings taking refuge in Dharma, all beings refraining from evil. That's the other side of practicing the precepts. So actually, in one Mahayana scripture, Manjushri says to Buddha, World Iron One, all things, everything in the universe,

[38:39]

is the Bodhisattva precepts. Ultimately, isn't that so? Buddha said, yes. Manjushri said, the mountains are the Bodhisattva precepts. The rivers are the Bodhisattva precepts. All sentient beings are the Bodhisattva precepts. Frogs, cats, dogs, rivers, oceans, earth, sky, everything is the Bodhisattva precepts. How come you teach them like they're regulations? Like there are things that people can do. How can you teach them that way? Buddha says, if all beings understood that everything in the universe is the Bodhisattva precepts, I wouldn't teach them as regulations. But beings do not understand that. To that extent, I teach them as regulations. Understanding that everything in the universe is the sixteen Bodhisattva precepts is the wisdom side of the practice of the Bodhisattva Precepts.

[39:45]

If everyone understood that, if everyone understood, you know, went around like seeing every person all day long, seeing every person that you saw, every person you met, you would see that they are the realization of the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts. Every person you met was. If not, they are. Not like Melissa's taking refuge in Buddha, but Melissa is the taking refuge in Buddha. If you see that everywhere, you wouldn't need to practice the precepts as regulations. You wouldn't need to do anything karmically anymore. This is Buddha's vision, is to see everything, everybody has the sixteen bodhisattva precepts. And not just all people, but the roots. and the droppings of the trees, and the roads, and the cars, everything in the universe, the Bodhisattva precepts. This is a Buddha's wisdom. This is Manjushri's point of view. So he doesn't quite see why Buddha is teaching them as regulations. Well, the reason why he does is because people sometimes look at other people and sometimes do so, mostly other people, and see other people are not practicing Bodhisattva precepts.

[40:57]

This person is not the Buddha. This person is not the Dharma. This person is not practicing not killing, not scaling himself. This person is not... the realization of embracing and sustaining all beings. That's the way a lot of people see things. Therefore, they need to practice the precepts on this side to cultivate them in terms of, I'm going to do these practices. Same with the paramitas. The paramitas are really not on this side or that side. The paramitas are also, everything in the universe is the paramitas. The whole universe is the six paramitas. That's how it works from Buddha's wisdom. So why teach the paramitas like there's something you can do? Because people don't understand that the whole universe is demonstrating giving. The whole universe is demonstrating careful observation of conduct. The whole universe is completely realizing and revealing to us

[42:00]

patience and forbearance. The whole universe is showing us enthusiasm. The entire universe is enthusiastic. The entire universe is concentrated. The entire universe is totally wise. Since we don't see that, we need to practice the paramitas. To the extent that we don't see that, we need to practice the paramitas from this side. Now, what if we did see it from this point of view? If we saw that everything was the Bodhisattva precept, and we saw that everything was the six paramitas, although we wouldn't need to practice them from this side point of view, we'd be happy to, because practicing from this point of view is also them. So advanced practitioners are happy to practice on this side, too, and accumulate merit, accumulate blessing. Another way to talk about this is this side is listen and this side is see.

[43:07]

Now, of course, you can listen with your eyes too. So it's still tricky here to make this distinction. But what I mean by listen is that you listen with your ears, you listen with your eyes. And what I mean by see is that you see through to the truth. This side, you could say, is to listen and see things. And here's another, if I could use another, what do you call it, acronym. And this side is to see things, to see independently existing things. You could say even self. This is the side of self. This is the side of not self or no self. Existing things like chairs, tables, people, me, me, me.

[44:20]

You're you and me. And to listen. To listen to yourself, thinking about what? To listen to yourself. Yeah, I, [...] you, you, you, you. I, I, I, I. Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain. My pain, your pain, my pain, your pain. Listen to that. That's it. Listen. The first six paramitas, the first five paramitas are particularly concerned with how to listen. to the self and the other. Primarily how to listen to the other. And primarily how to listen to the pain of the other. The sixth parmita is how to see the dependent co-arising, the DCA. The dependent co-arising of self and other. So that you gradually, you can see that when you look at the other, you're seeing yourself You look at yourself, you see the other.

[45:22]

You start to see that your life comes through the support of all beings. In all beings, life comes through the support of all other beings. Now, again, another caution here, in terms of study of dependent core arising, is that dependent core arising in the sixth paramita, prajna paramita, This kind of material is very, is, is exciting. So we have to be careful to talk about, you know, it's exciting to talk about that everything in the universe is the bodhisattva precepts. It can be kind of exciting, exhilarating. And when I think about this stuff I have to be careful because I get excited and when I get excited that, it turns into a pitfall. So we have to cautiously approach this level of practice. This is also, this side is also called the conventional.

[46:25]

Conventional level, and this is the ultimate level. But we're cautioned by the Buddha and by Nagarjuna particularly, to not teach this side of the practice, until we have pretty well grounded ourself in this side. Only by relying and being well-versed with the conventional understanding of the Buddha's teaching and the world in general, should we teach this next level. That's why this is sixth. After considerable study of the first five, we offer the sixth. I'm giving you an overview now. I will try to restrain myself from getting into this side too soon. And Norman's presentation, he'll probably start with one and work up to sixth.

[47:36]

So maybe about the time he gets to number six, I'll start shifting over here. to the pinnacle horizon. Now, in terms of bodhisattva images, it's helpful, I think, to notice that we have different names for the bodhisattva of infinite compassion. One name we have is Kanaan. Kanon. Or sometimes Kanzeon. [...] Kanon. Kanon. Kan means well, kan means literally the character kan means can mean basically just to observe. It's the word that they use to translate

[48:37]

But the words the Chinese Buddhists use most often to translate vipassana. Vipassana. They use that character kan. It's the character in the name kanan. So it means to observe with the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, and mind. It means to observe with all your observing capacities. But... The next word is on, which means sound or cries. So there's a focus on observing sounds. And observing sounds is often called listening. So there's a focus on listening. Because you can watch somebody, you know, look at them and say, well, they look like they're, you know, they look like they're suffering or they look like they're happy and they look like they're angry. And you might be right, but there's also the thing of listening to them. Because sometimes you find out when they look angry, when you listen, you say, oh, they're actually in pain, aren't they?

[49:44]

Or, oh, they think that's going on. So there's an emphasis on listening here. So this bodhisattva, kanan, is emphasizing listening to the sound. Now what sound? Kanji zai is another name. Ji means world. No, excuse me. Kanze on. kanzeyan. Ze means world. So the bodhisattva of infinite compassion is listening to the cries of the world. And it isn't just that you only listen to the cries, that you only listen to people's sufferings. You have your ears open. But particularly, we want to make sure that you listen to the suffering. If you listen to the suffering, you might also listen to the joy. But if we close our ears to the suffering, then we close our ears to other things too. So the idea is anyway to open the ears, listen to the cries of the world, whether they're joyful cries or agonizing cries, listen to the cries of the world.

[50:52]

zazen, is to sit and listen to the cries of the world. Hey, clear your arms. When we said nusendo, in some ways, a lot of people find it easier to hear their own cries than the cries of others because other people are quiet at that time. You could hear the birds crying, maybe, or the frogs, or the motorcycles, but you could hear your own. Starting to listen to your own is, in some sense, what happens. We listen to our own. Sitting quietly, following and breathing. quite naturally, we start to open to and listen to our suffering, our own cries. So kanan and kanzean, listening to the suffering of the world, listening to the cries of the world, that's, you know,

[52:09]

In terms of the paramesis, you could say that's five-sixths of zazen. But I wouldn't exactly put it that way. But anyway, it's a big part of zazen is just to listen to the cries of the world. And to try to develop a way of standing and a way of sitting and a way of walking and a way of reclining in the world to work with your body and breath and mind so that you're able to listen to this sound. And another part of it which I think many of you know is that if you're able to listen to this much suffering, your reward will be that you can then get to listen to this much. And then if you can listen to that much, your reward will be which you can listen to more. So giving and so on are ways to help us listen.

[53:21]

And also these 16 parameet, these 16 voice-type of precepts are ways for us to listen. Embracing and sustaining all beings, refraining from harmful actions, practicing good, these are ways to listen to beings. But there's another name for the bodhisattva of infinite compassion which appears in the Heart Sutra. It's not such a common name for the bodhisattva of infinite compassion. It's the bodhisattva of infinite compassion in the realm of prajna, in the realm of the Heart Sutra. And that name is khan, the same khan which means to listen or to observe, but now is to listen and observe jizai, and jizai means self-existence. So, over here you listen to the self, which means you listen to self and other.

[54:30]

Over here you listen to the existence of the self, Over here you contemplate the self and other. Here you contemplate, you know, actually how does it exist? And what you find out is that ultimately it's beyond any category of existence. And that is the Bodhisattva. That is the way the Chinese translate it, Avalokiteshvara. Yes? Kanji, zai, I missed that. Kan means to listen or to observe, you know, vipassana means, and ji is self, and zai is existence. So you're contemplating self-existence, rather than just listening to the cries and settling with the cries. Hopefully you have listened not hopefully, we must, only by relying, only by completely settling with the ordinary dualistic cries of the world, are we ready to enter the realm of kanji zaigo satsu.

[55:36]

If we just, if before settling with the cries of the world, you leap into the realm of observing self-existence, you'll be ungrounded and you'll get too excited. Once you see the possibilities of self-existence and the impossibilities of self-existence and how they dance together, you can get excited. But if you're grounded in the suffering of the world, that grounding, that ballast, can keep you from flipping out in the realm of selflessness. So real selflessness is bound up, not bound, yeah, bound up, grounded in the pain of self-attachment. And actually the Sanskrit word abhilokiteshvara means more like kanji zaibosatsu. So the less common translation of abhilokiteshvara is actually semantically and etymologically more correct because abhilokiteshvara means to contemplate from not exactly above but from a good vantage point where you can see over the whole ocean of bees to contemplate from there

[56:47]

esvara. Esvara means self-existence. So one way to understand that is it's the self-existence, you know, the autonomous bodhisattva who contemplates the whole world. The self-existence autonomous being who contemplates the whole world. But another way to understand it is contemplation of autonomy. Contemplation of self-existence. No self is an autonomous self, but the autonomous self is an interdependent self. The self that's not interdependent, the self that doesn't dependently co-arise with all beings, the independent being is not autonomous. The independent being is in bondage. The autonomous being is dependently co-arisen being. So, the dependently co-arisen being contemplating the world, that's bodhisattva of infinite compassion.

[57:54]

But, approaching that, it can be just you and I contemplating others and contemplating self. So, at the beginning of our practice period now, I want to emphasize, in a sense, that first, Norman is going to start with that. But I also want to emphasize, in the way I'm talking, the grounding in your pain, the listening to the cries of the world, and make sure we're in the mud, that we don't have lotuses floating in mid-air. This Buddhism is not all about being in, just about being in the mud. It's also about the fact that if you can be completely in the mud and be completely... settled with the cries of the world. There is a great blossoming, a great fluorescence possible. But if it doesn't happen with that grounding, it's just cuckoo. It's just a dream of liberation. And if you're going to dream, it's probably better to dream of suffering than to dream of freedom.

[59:02]

Because you can wake up more easily from the dream of suffering. Who wants to wake up from freedom? Who wants to wake up from liberation and complete bliss? I don't know who does, maybe Buddha. So, also, the precepts also, as I say, can be practiced on this side and on the other side. And so I will again try to flag which side of this spectrum I'm talking about the precepts. Whether it's on the compassion side or it's on the wisdom side. Whether it's on the conventional side or the ultimate side. So that's kind of an overview. And one more thing I would say Two more things. Two more quotes from the Lotus Sutra, which I'll say over and over again.

[60:07]

One quote is from chapter 25, at the end of chapter 25, the Buddha speaking about Avalokiteshvara, speaking about Khandzean, says, you know, what is it? Endowed with all virtues, observing all sentient beings, endowed with all virtues, eyes of compassion, observing all sentient beings, accumulates an ocean of merit beyond measure." So, eyes of compassion, on this side, kanan, kanjizai, kanzean, eyes of compassion, observing all beings, accumulates great merit, a merit store beyond measure. So much merit, such a great ocean of merit that Buddha's wisdom dawns over the ocean.

[61:16]

And the other quote, which is quite similar, is from chapter 16, where Buddha's talking about how, you know, it looks like Shakyamuni Buddha was born, you know, a long time ago, in India, and grew up and left home and practiced and realized the way and taught and died. So the Buddha said, it looks like that, but that's actually just a story. We need stories, there's a story. A good one. However, it's just a story. Actually, the Buddha's always here, always teaching. The Tathagata has an infinite... all-pervasive life. So the Buddha said, those who practice all virtues, are gentle, upright and harmonious, will see me teaching the Dharma right now. So, again, on this side, practicing all virtues means

[62:26]

particularly at this point, Dogen says, practicing virtues means that you're willing to get dirty in order to be with beings who are in the mud. And you're willing to get wet to be with beings who are in the water, who are drowning. And in that situation, you go into that situation gently. You don't like Roughly throw yourself into this mud. Well, sometimes you do. Maybe just for fun. But anyways, that was a little rough. Then you splash mud in people if you do that. But gently enter the mud. And in the mud, be upright and harmonious. Listen to the mud. Feel the mud. Harmonize with the mud. Gently enter the mud and be upright there. And if you can be there in that way, you will see the Buddha. In other words, you will see.

[63:32]

You will see through the world which looks like just sentient beings who are selfish and so on, and you will see the Buddha everywhere. You will see dependent co-arising. But to see dependent co-arising without grinding ourselves in the conventional world, without entering the mud, gently and carefully, without entering the mud and pain of our own body and our own emotions, then to see Buddha is really misleading, it's really funny, it's really strange, just agitating and arrogant. Okay, so that's... Oh, and one other thing, and that is, there's anxiety over on this side, And part of settling in the mud is to settle with your anxiety. That's the most difficult thing. Pain is... There's various kinds of pain, but anxiety is really... That anxiety of self-love is really tough.

[64:40]

Settling with our pain and anxiety over here is necessary because over here, the anxiety that you experience when you run into this side of things is much, much greater. So... That's why if you jump over here, some people, if we jump over here too quickly, some people get very anxious. Even though this is liberating to see this, have this vision, before, if you're not ready, it can be very, very upsetting, very agitating, very upsetting, very misleading. It's taking on too much anxiety. But if we work with our anxiety, it just comes up naturally here. Let's settle with that. And that's the basis upon which we face the dependently co-arisen world, the dependently co-arisen paramitas, the dependently co-arisen phenomena where the Dharma clearly manifests. But we're grounded.

[65:42]

We have our completely accepting all of our anxiety so we can face this other side of the story where everything is the precepts and everything is the Paramitas and everything is Zazen. And you see Buddha everywhere and you see Dharma everywhere. So now, that's it. Is the anxiety greater on this side because the view is wider? Is the anxiety greater on this side? Yeah, you said it was greater. Because the view is wider? Yeah. I don't know exactly why the anxiety is greater. I just know that I've heard that it's greater. And, I mean, I've heard from the books and also from people that have gone to visit that area that it's really, it's much more intense. It's, it's, it's, they, some people say you can, some people say you can only stand it for a flash of a second.

[66:44]

But it turns out that's all the longer you have to stand. Yes, that's, that's long enough. So, and there's another one. Yes? Yes? I have a question I sent to you. We were talking about it a little bit before. Yes. Okay. We were talking about your Annunciation. Yes. And you said that you would like to see me, whatever, you said this before, you know, recruited in the Laodicean Nation. Yes. Okay. Now, I want to make a little statement. Okay. When I say it's what it means, it confuses me. Yes. Okay. You're going to be... To me it always has this, that particular word, always has this strong connotation of actually giving up things. And it seems like that's reinforced by that perception of love, by actually what certain women look out for. quite a number of Buddhists do, it seems like anyway to me, and much of the world, and I think it's further reinforced to me by Christian practices, you know.

[67:57]

Yes. Is there, I understand, I think, you know, what is confession, which is not in the following sense, but is there a particular reason why that particular word is chosen? Rather than something else? Well, you could also say abandon, or let go of, or give up. Physically though? I mean, I see this is the part that confuses me. It seems like much of the world that they actually look on this as regulations. You know, that you give up eating meat or you give up drinking alcohol or whatever. And it doesn't seem like we do that so much here. Okay. Well, this is a real important question. I'm not going to be able to exhaustively answer it, and this would be something to talk about in small groups, but I would say that to... What do you call it?

[69:06]

Let's just take celibacy, shall we? to not have genital sex with anybody, male, female, or any kind of other species. Cut out all kinds of genital sex, plus also maybe add a few things to the list if you want to, like no touching, perhaps. Like don't even touch physically. No kissing either. Make some rule like that. Let's just say genital sex, shall we? To actually not do that. Or to commit yourself to not do that. Because right now, I mean, in some sense, we're all not doing that, right? But we may not have the power to do that any longer than to the end of the class. So, let's just take that one more, okay? But if you are totally, if you're always obsessing about genital sex, and you're always, like, pushed around by it and afraid of it or lusting for it, okay, then you haven't realized your enunciation, even though

[70:07]

it's now manifesting in some gross physical way. All right? The point of renunciation is that you actually, in reality, which in some sense only you and Buddha know, you really have given it up. And the Buddha, you know, talking kind of, you know, this is just a quote, you know, who knows if he really said this, but he said, He said, these rules, you know, that I'm recommending for you guys to follow, and it was guys at first, and now you gals too, that these rules apply to you, not to me. These rules, these regulations apply to you, not to me, the Buddha said, according to certain scriptures. And these rules for these monks was literally, not figuratively, for these monks it was literally no genital sex. And also no actually not even touching a member of the opposite sex.

[71:12]

In those days, I guess, homosexuality was not even talked about. But male monks could be close to each other, physically stay in the same housing, but they couldn't stay in the same house as a female monk or non-monk. couldn't you stay in the same floor of the house, I think, as a female? He met the males. And the females even had stricter rules about staying away from the males. Literally, that was a literal rule for them that he recommended. But he said, but that doesn't apply to me. He said it would be like, excuse the expression, a king who has a hunting preserve. And nobody else can go hunt on the hunting preserve. But the king can. It's like that. The Buddha... The Buddha did not say that he was necessarily celibate. He might have been celibate. But he didn't say it applied to him in a literal way. We don't know. Buddha, at night, according to certain people's rendition of Buddha's practice schedule, in the late part of the night, he entertained non-human practitioners.

[72:18]

He taught gods and goddesses. What he did with them and where he went in these yogic, you know, heavens that he visited, because he was a yogi, you know, what he did there and how he interacted with them, we did not know. He did not have genital sex, because they don't have genitals. But he may have interacted with them sexually. The Buddha, however... We trust that he actually had no interest at all in having sex for his own welfare. If he ever would, it was never like that. He would only have sex if it would be beneficial to all beings. Renunciation of sex means renunciation of greedy sex, means renunciation of sex for yourself, for your own welfare. That's what it means. And if you don't have sex for one day, for two weeks, or for ten years, but actually you're always concerned about, you know, what are you going to get out of not having sex, that's not renunciation.

[73:20]

Renunciation is you are not trying to get anything out of life anymore, in any modality. Now, that's very high renunciation. So, the renunciation that we express is our vow of renunciation, is our interest in renunciation. So you may actually give up something, like you may actually give up meat. Just because you want to. It has nothing to do with renunciation. It just makes sense to you. Renunciation is more profound than they're not going to eat meat for the next 10 or 30 years. Because you can not eat meat but still basically be trying to get something out of that for yourself by not eating the meat. Any kind of self-improvement thing is not renunciation. Renunciation means to give up self-improvement. It means to give up gaining idea. It means not to use practice to help yourself get better. It means to only be concerned for others' welfare.

[74:25]

It means give up all self-concern. It doesn't mean you don't have self-concern. Doesn't mean that. It just means that when self-concern comes up, you go, well, if it's fully realized, the self-concern just washes off you like duck off, like duck off water. That's what it means. That's when you realize renunciation. In the meantime, you say, I would like to give up this self-concern. It really is, it bugs me. It's a pain in the butt. It's a pain in the body. It's a pain in the mind. It's a pain in the speech. I'd like to give it up, and I'm working towards that. I haven't yet done it yet. I still notice there's another self-concept now, and actually there's some kind of acting in line with that. But I'd like to draw it. That's what I mean by renunciation. And sometimes you actually do stop doing things. But the question is, when you stop, is that just another non-renunciating act? Some sort of selfish trip you're on? If so, I would say, don't... I wouldn't say, you know, if you've given up meat in order to, what, in order to, you know, improve yourself and be better than other people, I wouldn't say, well, necessarily go eat meat.

[75:33]

I would just say, stop practicing that way. Stop practicing to make yourself better. Now, if you give up meat really, primarily, and almost exclusively to benefit others, and you're not thinking about how it's going to make you better, and how other people are going to think you're greater, and how they'll make more donations to you, and how you'll get promoted and famous for being such a great, pure, blah, blah. If that's got nothing to do with it, good. But if that's got something to do with it, well, drop that part. The renunciation is to drop practicing to make you look good. To make you this great, we're not saying you're not that's the basis of the whole thing you don't have to make yourself good that's already established but you have to give up just making yourself good and rely on the goodness that you already have that's part of renunciation that's where it comes from it comes from your basic goodness anything else?

[76:37]

yes you mentioned the word arrogant jumped out at me so in context with the wisdom store or going into the Buddha realm too quickly, too early I guess before being fully grounded the Buddha realm is not over there by the way that's just the realm of emptiness more the realm of dependently co-arisen being If you enter that realm too early, it means you enter that realm as a dream. This realm spontaneously emerges from being grounded on this side, but I'm just giving you an overview. If you walk over to that realm, you're still in this realm. That realm's not a realm you can walk to. It's this realm revealed. But I'm still telling you about it beforehand to give you some overview of of the whole process. So again, you know, the word, the word Pratimoksha, you know that word Pratimoksha, it's the, it's the name, Pratimoksha Sambharam.

[77:48]

Sambharam means discipline. Pratimoksha means, refers to the regulations of Buddhist monks. But Pratimoksha means things that are conducive to enlightenment, things that are conducive, literally, to release. These regulations are conducive to release. The point of Buddhism is not that we would follow all these rules. The point of Buddhism is to release beings from suffering. And sometimes using these rules is helpful. Even doing them dualistically can develop merits. So the six paramitas are pratimoksha-samvara. The sixteen bodhisattva precepts are pratimoksha-samvara. You can use them as a discipline which is conducive to release. But once released, that type of practice is not relevant anymore. However, you still might recommend it to others because you can see they might be happy to. So the Buddha did.

[78:48]

He highly recommended it to his students. And apparently it was quite helpful. But also, there is, there was, there has been, ever since the Buddha, a strong tendency for the disciples to grasp these regulations too tightly, and then that backfired on them, because then they become arrogant. We're practicing the Pratimoksha Sambhara, and you're not. The Buddhist disciples sometimes got into that, among themselves and towards non-Buddhists. Buddhism wasn't, you know, recommending that, but that's what happens sometimes. And so it has to be confessed and balanced. Anything else? Yes? You say bodhisattvas. Are you speaking only of people that consciously have taken bodhisattva vow or all human beings? Well, let's see. What am I speaking of? Bodhisattvas can mean people who, you know, just even like would like to help other people a little bit.

[79:51]

Okay, that could be a bodhisattva. Or it could be a bodhisattva as somebody who knew what she was talking about when she said that, which would be very few people. So, we can have a wide or narrow definition of bodhisattva, but that doesn't have necessarily anything to do with Buddhists, though. Like, some people who have never heard of Buddhism or never, you know, in their lifetime, see the pentacle rising. You know, I hope to share with you many examples of non-card-carrying Buddhists who have clearly seen dependent co-arising, and therefore they see Dharma. Dharma is not the possession in the Buddhist sangha, the people who have the Buddhist ID cards. Dharma is everywhere and is revealed as soon as, whenever you see things dependent co-arising, you see Dharma. And anybody can see that. When you see dependent core rising, you are definitely a bodhisattva at that time, I would say.

[80:52]

But actually, I'm not sure. It might be possible to see dependent core rising and still not have the bodhisattva vow. That may be possible. I take that back. It would be someone who actually wanted to help all other beings, all other beings, before herself. If you don't want to help all other beings before yourself, you're not really a bodhisattva. But you don't have to call yourself a bodhisattva in order to want that. Right? But some people who might want to be bodhisattvas do not yet want to help all beings. Well, fine. Then we have a practice called, why don't you try to learn how to want to help all beings? Yes, Paul. Paul, would you? Yeah, it just sounds kind of martyrish to me.

[81:56]

Martyrish? It doesn't make any sense. Yeah, but the whole thing about how can you, you know, love other people if you don't love yourself? Why shouldn't you love yourself? You can't love other people if you don't love yourself. It's impossible. I agree. And I didn't say do not love yourself. I didn't say that. I don't mean to say that. In fact, you learn how to love other people by loving yourself. Then why shouldn't you want to help yourself then? It's not that you don't want to help yourself, it's that you want to help others before yourself. Then why should you want to help others before yourself? Because if you do that, you will be helping yourself. To want to help yourself first causes you suffering. It's the primary cause of suffering is to want to help myself first. That's the main cause of suffering. It's wrong to help yourself first. When I want to help you before me, Not just you, because I could be, well, Paul is my friend, so I'm going to help my friend Paul. But when I want to help you and everybody else before me, I am like what you call free. And I'm in good shape.

[82:58]

But that is not something, that is loving me too. For me to dedicate my life to you is the best thing I can do for me. It's not martyrdom. It's a ball. It's totally boiling myself up out of suffering to be dedicated to you and everybody else. It is the best thing I can do for myself. But if I don't love myself, if we don't love ourselves, that's the problem, not loving ourselves. This is the other side of the coin. If you don't love yourself, it's going to be a big problem because I propose to you. This is kind of a radical thing to say, but I propose to you that you won't give anybody else something you won't give yourself. It may look like it. I don't think you really will. If you're holding back from yourself, you'll hold back from others. So I would say be very, give yourself the very best so that you'll be able to give others first.

[84:00]

Be very kind to yourself. But kind to yourself is not that you go around all day long worrying about how to take care of yourself. That would be very unkind to yourself. Kindness to yourself is, I don't know, let's figure it out. Let's find a way for you to give yourself the very best, the most wonderful things so that you feel like... When you've had all the treasures in the world to your fill, then you're ready to give them to others. So definitely be kind to yourself. Love yourself so that you can love others. Otherwise, that grudging with yourself will spread to your grudging toward others. That stinginess just beats back on itself. You just get more stingy with yourself. So miserly actually means miserable. First of all, if you look up the word miser, it applies to being miserly with yourself. It means giving yourself very little. And the word miser is the same etymology as miserable. You're miserable. So give yourself a lot. Give yourself the best of it.

[85:03]

And then you can give others the best. It doesn't mean that right immediately after you give yourself the best, you'll give others the best, but at least you would be able to then. I'm not kidding. But there's hands raised, but some people are leaving and stuff like that, so let's stop, okay? Because we have other meetings possible later. Thank you very much.

[85:36]

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