to again give kind of a fuller view, give kind of an overview. Does this work? Is it amplified? Sort of? Is it amplified? Oh, yeah. An overview of these dynamics here. Renunciation, compassion, right view. So, tonight I've got to say that renunciation is the way of entering into The way of entering into the one thing. And the one thing is compassion and wisdom. And another name for compassion and wisdom

[01:15]

is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist teaching. So again, renunciation is a way to enter ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching. And ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching is one thing. And that one thing is, you could say, that which has the essence of emptiness and compassion. Or you could say, it is the emptiness whose essence is compassion. So emptiness is right view. Right view is emptiness.

[02:17]

But it's not just emptiness which is right view, which is the way things are. It is the way things are whose essence is compassion. And so renunciation is a way to enter into this emptiness whose essence is compassion, enter into the ultimate goal of the teachings. Now, today I had this fun thing happen, studying, looking at Chinese. And that was, I mean, I actually didn't look at Chinese. I thought maybe I remembered the Chinese, and I checked, and it was what I thought. So I confirmed this neat thing for me, which was the following.

[03:30]

Many of you have heard me talk about this dialogue that the Zen master Yunlin had with himself. He had a lot of dialogue with himself. He'd stand up in front of his group and he'd say, like an example, he'd say, what was the one thing the Buddha was doing all the time? And he'd answer himself. An appropriate response. Isn't that one? What was the Buddha doing his whole life? An appropriate response. You heard that before? So, anyway, before I get distracted by the things that are coming into my mind right now, I just want you to stay on this track, which is that the Chinese expression, which can be translated as appropriate response, is this.

[04:33]

It's dui yi zhua. This dui means to face or meet. Yi means one. or each is what it means to teach this group. So meeting each thing, teach. It just so happens that this is kind of like this other expression over here of meeting the environment or meeting objects with no mind. the same characteristic as the way. And so the Zen expression for, in one case, renunciation, uses that same first character, which has to do with meeting things. And so the Buddha meets each thing and teaches.

[05:37]

But the way to meet each thing and teach is to meet each thing with no mind. So, meeting each thing with no mind, renunciation, which is also this kind of samadhi, then you enter into the samadhi of the one thing, or the samadhi of the way the Buddha functions, which is to meet things and teach. So, meeting things with no mind, or meeting things and teaching, from meeting each thing and saving. So, I hope I'm helping you see this character between of yours. This is like a gate to this. It's a meeting each thing of your own mind, and meeting each thing with a state, surrender and renunciation, then this teaching, this appropriate response comes forth.

[06:47]

There's some other things I want to talk about, but I want to be able to space the sink in, because I thought that was really neat. And there's a whole bunch of other neat things like this, which I'd like to relate this, I'd like to relate this, um, These two things, with meeting things with no mind and meeting each thing in teaching, I'd like to relate this later to the way that we practice the precepts in the state of renunciation. I also found today examples of how the Buddha taught precepts in this just meeting each thing in teaching rather than He has his teachings, which he's going to bring to people. But I just, maybe on the next class, I'll do the precepts. So I guess what I'd like to do is, I'm going to probably, I might not have time for people of such need, but to go through these perfections and see how they're practiced in relationship to how the renunciation, or how the renunciation guides

[08:11]

so another thing I brought up last time which I'd like to review that's it for review I brought up the thing about two kinds of two kinds of spirit of enlightenment or two kinds of thought of enlightenment remember that? two kinds of bodhicitta you don't Great. That's terrific. Because I repeat, but it's not exactly a repeat. So, the relative bodhicitta is like the compassion. It's not just compassion, but it is actually the aspiration to become a Buddha in order to benefit others. Okay?

[09:23]

It's that wish. It's, in terms of what Eleanor was bringing up the other day, about caring, remember? Remember Eleanor talking about caring? You don't? Maybe the reason why people don't remember everything is because they're not fully present at the moment during the class. Anyway, there was this interaction between Eleanor and me about caring. Do you remember Eleanor? Eleanor. Huh? What did you say? Did you say something when I said? You remember. You remember Eleanor, okay. Eleanor, do you remember? Okay. She was talking about caring, right? And what happens to caring in emptiness or something like that, right? Remember that? Yeah. So, yeah, Careberry, right. Yeah. So, anyway, this... Care a lot.

[10:25]

The caring, right? Okay? This is called the big caring. The big caring. Bodhicitta is the big caring. It isn't just that you care about somebody, you care about everybody, and you care that everybody has the very best. So, like, when I was a kid, I had to say, cared enough to give the very best to all my parents. So you care a lot. You have a big care. You have the best care. This is called bodhicitta. You want everybody to have the absolute best possible thing that they could ever get. Buddha. Buddha's Buddha. Okay? So she was worried about what's going to happen to caring, not to mention big care. And I'd like to say again that this carrying, this bodhicitta, this relative compassion, this relative spirit of enlightenment, it is protected by renunciation.

[11:39]

And it is particularly protected by emptiness. Emptiness is what protects the spirit the caring. The fact, and I think she also said, excuse me for saying this alone, but she also said, well, caring exists. And I said, no, it doesn't exist. What I mean by doesn't exist, I mean it only conventionally exists. That's why it's called relative or conventional bodhicitta, because caring, the conventional bodhicitta is like you care about beings and want to help them. It's the conventional bodhicitta. And that conventional bodhicitta doesn't really exist, just conventionally exists. However, that conventional bodhicitta is very important. And the way that that conventional bodhicitta is cared for is it's nourished in one way and protected in another. And the way it's protected is by right view.

[12:40]

It's protected by emptiness. prevented from that? Well, it's a conventional phenomena. It's an impermanent thing. But Dogen says, when the bodhicitta arises, this rare and wonderful thing, when this big caring arises, he says, it's extremely wonderful and rarely reaches maturity. And he uses the example of, it's like fish eggs, or this special kind of fruit, this tree in India, which like, you know, almost never ripens. Bodhicitta is a fabulously wonderful, precious mind. Big, big, big, caring, wonderful mind. And when it, after it arises, it sometimes is lost. And one of the ways it's lost is by not getting nutrition. And the way it gets nutrition is by practicing the bodhisattva virtues of giving,

[13:48]

Precepts, patience, enthusiasm, and samadhis. All kinds of other wonderful practices that nourish the bodhicitta. But the protection of bodhicitta is emptiness. Otherwise, one might try to grasp bodhicitta and take it home with you. But emptiness makes it so that you stay close to bodhicitta with no mind. Yeah. The relative bodhicitta is protected and nurtured, nourished. It's protected by right view, emptiness. It's protected by the understanding that dharmas don't arrive. That's how it's protected. It is nourished by practicing virtues, the paramitas.

[14:52]

And the paramitas are done more and more properly, as they are also edified by right view. So, one way to say it, so the bodhisattva virtues, which nourish bodhicitta, help it grow up and become become ultimate bodhicitta, which is emptiness. So the ultimate bodhicitta protects the relative bodhicitta. And bring the ultimate bodhicitta, which is emptiness, protects the relative bodhicitta, which is great compassion. The ultimate bodhicitta protects the relative bodhicitta. The bodhisattva practices nourish the relative bodhicitta, so the relative bodhicitta grows up and realizes ultimate bodhicitta.

[15:57]

The ultimate bodhicitta of the time is protecting the relative bodhicitta. And the relative bodhicitta is also called upaya. In other words, skillful means. Giving, precepts, patience, enthusiasm, and concentration are skillful means to attract people to the practice. But the skillful means also are what brings about the perfect wisdom of emptiness. But the perfect wisdom of emptiness is what brings about the skill and needs. So the skill and means acquire the wisdom, and the wisdom acquires the skill and means. Through wisdom, it acquires the end means, and through skill and means, it acquires the end self, which is not very often said.

[16:59]

I haven't heard it very often. But I was happy to say this to myself, and now you can hear it. Compassion, or relative bodhicitta, the wish to benefit all beings before yourself, and do all those skillful means to help them, this relative bodhicitta acquires the ultimate bodhicitta, and the ultimate bodhicitta acquires the relative bodhicitta. The ultimate bodhicitta makes the relative bodhicitta come forth, and the relative bodhicitta acquires the ultimate bodhicitta. And there are various, you know, and one of the skill and means that you sometimes see in Buddhist teaching is the teaching that you can make bodhicitta happen.

[18:01]

You know me. In other words, that relative bodhicitta can make relative bodhicitta happen, which is also true. In other words, you can nourish bodhicitta by doing You can nourish the conventional bodhicitta by conventional bodhicitta practices. That's true. Okay, did I follow? Am I losing you? I don't know. Bodhicitta means bodhi is enlightenment, and citta is mind. So, it's the thought of enlightenment, the mind of enlightenment. And when it first arises in, you know, real form, it is the actual wish to become a Buddha. so that you can help others. That's when it first arises, it rises in that form. But that can be lost. Or it can either be squelched right away by grabbing it as an object, or it could die of starvation by having the practices of skill and means to develop it.

[19:11]

If you don't do the paramitas, the skillful activities, it won't grow. it'll languish, be lost. But also you can zap it out of the water just by grabbing it. You can roughly right away. So it is true, I think, that... Or anyway, it's true means. I think it's a skillful thing to say that you can use conventional bodhicitta to nourish conventional bodhicitta. In other words, you can use... the bodhisattva practices of virtue to nourish the wish to become a Buddha for others' welfare. You can nourish it that way. It's a relative thing, helping a relative thing grow up. But what I'm pointing out here, too, is that what's also shown is that ultimate bodhicitta is actually not only protecting but supporting

[20:17]

the relative, conventional, growing into the ultimate. And Dogen says also, he doesn't mention so much that there's all these relative or conventional practices you can do. In other words, in the realm of where you do things, you can do things which will nourish bodhicitta. And he can say you can do things to make bodhicitta happen. But Dogen says, you don't make bodhicitta happen. Buddha doesn't make bodhicitta happen. But in that communion between the Buddha and the sentient being, the bodhicitta arises. So actually, when the bodhicitta arises, it's because of right view. Right view is working to make this arise. And then, after it arises, right view takes care of it all along. So right view, or emptiness, ultimate bodhicitta, brings the relative bodhicitta to becoming ultimate bodhicitta. But also, You get the ultimate bodhicitta through the relative bodhicitta, like what I just said.

[21:23]

Ultimate brings the conventional to the ultimate. So also, you get the ultimate through the conventional. So they're one thing. Okay? Yeah. Is this dependent core rising? What I'm describing, is it dependent core rising? This whole thing is dependent core rising, and it's about dependent core rising, yeah? Yes? The way you're describing it, it happens a little bit. As you recall.

[22:27]

Well, in the example you just used about you need money to make money, I thought, well, what's different? It is partly that, that you need money to make money, but it's more like you need inexhaustible money to bring limited money to be inexhaustible. So it's more like that. It's more like indestructible, inexhaustible money is necessary to bring a little bit of money forward. A money which has the potential to grow into inexhaustible money. So that is kind of right. But what's the part that's bothering you? This is the entry. Renunciation is the entry. So, with renunciation, you don't just enter into compassion practices.

[23:35]

You enter into compassion practices as they're working with Right View. So, because you're in a state of renunciation, you're willing to enter into compassion as it's being protected by Right View. And you're willing to enter into the practice of still means, the Six Perfections. You're willing to do these virtuous practices. But not just in your usual way, according to your usual perspective. Of course your usual perspective will be there. Like, I'm practicing giving. If you're, since you're entering it in the state of renunciation, you're already, before you enter in the practice, you already suspect that this practice is going to be like, it's going to be different from what you thought it was going to be. In other words, not just different from what you thought it was, not just grow and develop but like maybe be totally different from what you thought it was like like not be happy therefore it can happen so if you just if you just jump into 47 practices without renunciation you can still do some good but you may lose the whole point matter of fact worse than lose the whole point so I mean like

[24:56]

I haven't been telling you the horror stories, you know. But, like, some people, like, start practicing the Six Reflections or the Five Reflections. Particularly, they often start practicing Samadhi. But they don't... But either they forget their renunciate perspective, or didn't have in the first place, and get really good at some of these virtues, which are Bodhisattva virtues, when you're in a state of renunciation, but if you're not in a state of renunciation, they look like bodhisattva virtues, but since you're basically trying to gain something, they're not bodhisattva virtues. They're tickets to hell. And so the funny thing is that you can go to some, you can go to some really state of woe by doing these virtuous practices. It's a gaining idea. Of course, some other people go there, as I often mention, like these gangsters.

[26:01]

But gangsters know that they might go to hell, right? They kind of know that. And their mom tells them this story. If you keep this up, you're going to get in trouble, Johnny. You're going to go to prison, and they're going to be mean to you there. And I won't be able to visit you there. You know, you're terrible. But what people don't seem to know sometimes is that by being a big, famous Zen master, With a gaining idea, he could go to the same place that the gangster goes. As a murderer, as a thief, as a liar, as a drug dealer. He goes to the same place. Even though you went there by doing good things. Isn't that dangerous? An example? Well, like, for example, let's say you're a really good meditator. Let's say you like, let's say you like let's say like you you have renounced off nice robes and you've renounced good food so you don't live a toss of heart but actually some of you don't have very nice robes so you meditate if those of you that don't have nice robes just keep those robes and then go someplace where the food's not so good and just stay there and meditate okay and get good at meditation and get better at meditation and then get really good at meditation so that your cave

[27:26]

kind of like sends out rainbows rainbows out of your cave and people come to see you okay now this is okay so far you're just like you're not attached to the world you're not attached to food you're having a good time meditating but this thing arises in your mind that maybe these people are going to think you're a great meditator and that becomes the reason why you continue to be there so that Even though people may bring you, at any point, they may bring you great, beautiful robes, much more beautiful than you ever imagined, and tremendous amount of money and good food. Any minute, this stuff may start coming. Really, you don't even care. But what you do care about is that for eons, people will remember what a great meditator you were. Or even how generous you were. You didn't care about having nice robes and clothes, but people kept bringing you piles of beautiful silk, which you then gave away.

[28:27]

But while you're giving, you thought, who am I going to be famous for this? And made people get in big trouble, just like somebody who steals big piles of silk. Same result. That's why Zen, you know, in most of Zen texts, they don't, they just occasionally say, you know, don't be so greedy about taking extra food. Don't worry about your robes. Let's talk about that a little bit. But they really talk a lot about fame and profit. Because a lot of, most of the famous yogis have really gotten over wanting to get robes and food. But a lot of them are still into the things and worried about their reputation. And some of you, you know, may not be worried about your reputation. I don't know if there's anybody who isn't.

[29:30]

And if you aren't, great. But when you get a good reputation, sometimes it's very difficult to not worry about losing it. Some people have a lot of money and a bad reputation, so they got their money. But if you got a good reputation, you get money on the basis of it. So if you don't have any much possessions, and you have a reputation, a good reputation. My stipend now, my stipend check is $62. Used to be more, but now it's $62. So, you know, I don't get a lot of money from sentencing, but I have a reputation. So it's my reputation that I do this. And if I, it's possible that if I live long, then my reputation will grow. And if I care about that, I can give a truckload, according to certain people.

[30:35]

Is that enough? So I have to watch out, not for my reputation, but for caring about it, being concerned about it. I have to watch out for that. Because it's, you know, it's very tempting to care about it. And it's nice when people think it's kind of nice. It is. But it's, like, very dangerous. Very dangerous. It's not terrible that you can go to hell just by trying to promote your reputation. Doesn't seem that bad, does it? Does it? I'm trying to understand why there's such a fragile experience. If it has this inexhaustible support, do you think it's fragile?

[31:37]

What's the thing that makes it so precarious? Care to guess? I haven't thought that maybe it's a bit more practical. She has a feeling that because it wasn't practiced with renunciation in the first place. I think that's a good possibility. Or perhaps there was some renunciation at some point in the past. But as soon as renunciation stops, guess what might happen? Grasping. Turn off renunciation and the brain takes over. And what's his brain about? His brain is about gain. His brain is about gain. It's about competitive advantage. So the brain kicks right back in as soon as the renunciation practice isn't there to counterbalance it. I mean, it's operating all the time, but it can be balanced by this renunciation thing. So as soon as the renunciation gets weak, the protection of the bodhicitta stops. When the renunciation is strong, You can open the door to the bodhicitta.

[32:38]

So when you said that there wasn't renunciation in the first place, really I think there was renunciation in the first place. I don't think bodhicitta can hit. We're here for a polling. I think when you let go and, for example, just open to Buddha, it hits you. It can happen. And if you continue to just open and let go and meet whatever happens, meet Mara, meet Buddha, meet sentient beings with no mind, if you keep that practice going, the brain, just trying to like capitalize on the bodhicitta, won't be able to destroy it. But as soon as the brain co-opts bodhicitta, basically, that's a normal, what we call sentient being. Sentient beings are... for human-centric beings are these living beings who have a brain which is co-opting bodhicitta all day long.

[33:40]

We have bodhicitta, it's flowing all over the place, but we blow it out of the water by trying to capitalize on it. So if we stop that, if we give it up, if we give up discursive thought by which we farm our bodhicitta, then we stop farming our bodhicitta. Right? then we nourish it and protect it rather than trying to gain something from it. So I think the reason why it's lost is because the renunciation breaks. So renunciation, when I was writing that book about precepts, the publisher, he wanted it to be clear that renunciation isn't just something you do when you put yourself at the precept ceremony. It doesn't happen once. You don't shave your head once. It's an ongoing process. So the ceremony is like a ceremony where you ritually enact renunciation, but it's supposed to keep going on and on.

[34:41]

So we say, in this drifting blah-blah world, only the mind of renunciation can cut through all this stuff. We have to keep cutting through with renunciation. Otherwise, we're going to sell out our bodhicitta once it arises. So when we practice renunciation, the ultimate bodhicitta comes to us. Wakes it up. Then if we continue to practice bodhicitta, it's protected, and we fuel it with these virtues, and we practice the virtues, which are fueling or nourishing the bodhicitta, we keep practicing them without trying to gain something from them. Try to develop bodhicitta without gaining anything for ourselves. But we do get a lot of good stuff, so it's hard not to keep shifting into, hey, I'm gaining, I'm getting better. You know, it's hard. It gives you more. It's hard. Okay? Yes. Um, I want to ask you again, who is Renata?

[35:44]

And I could ask you to plug in, but where is she? Um, is... Hey, hey! Hey, let's go up center. Yes, sir. Well, there's a couple, but we don't believe that it's possible for itself if we do so. Right. And so we, when, uh, turn to God, God, our higher power, if that is not possible, we don't know. In fact, we need to go further and say, Self-knowledge doesn't help at all. Oh, okay. I just want to put that out there and say, because I'm curious how you answer how does renunciation happen?

[36:50]

What enables it to happen? Okay, so the last part of your question is how does renunciation happen? And then step back from that, you said, how does this self... How does the self renounce itself? Okay, so the self does not do renunciation. The self doesn't do renunciation. So when you originally said, who renounces, did you say? When somebody says, who renounces, you know what I think of? world-honored one. Do you understand? Acronym. Do you understand? The world-honored one renounces or the renunciation is a dynamic part of the world-honored one. The self doesn't renounce.

[37:52]

The self is renounced. The self doesn't forget the self is forgotten. Forgetting the self is renunciation. Again, it's like Guruji says in that chapter where he says, you know, concentration is not trying hard to focus, to watch something. Again, toward the other part of this, it says that if you want to understand him, if you want to understand Buddha's teachings, you have to forget all about yourself. But you can't forget all about yourself. But the self can be forgotten. How does the self, how does the self forgotten, how does renunciation happen? Want to know how it happens? It happens like this. you know what it happens like you start at some point in history of the universe you say this happened and you start telling a story from there okay so I say I walk in this room I start talking to you about renunciation you listen to me or you don't if you do listen to me something starts happening to you you change if you listen to me talk about renunciation you start changing spending your time listening to that kind of talk

[38:57]

You start changing. Some of you start getting excited. Some of you start getting scared. Some of you start going to sleep. Some of you get inspired. Some of you say, thank you. Some of you say, enough. Anyway, you're letting it in. And when you let it in, I start talking more. I continue to talk. The more you let it in, the more I bring it up. If you lose interest in it, I'll probably talk a little bit more intentionally. If you like it, you know, so how does it happen? It happens by, you know, it's not that I'm Buddha, it's just that this, you know, this thing's happening such that Buddha's teachings are affecting me in such a way that I'm talking to you about renunciation and you're listening to me and you're asking me how renunciation happens and I'm talking to you about how it's happening. Right now it's happening of you and me talking and these people listening. Other times it's happening I'm talking to them and you're listening. Everybody's going through a lot of stuff while this conversation is going on but in fact in fact To some extent the people in this valley for the last couple of weeks have been in a samadhi about renunciation Because it's you know, it's what's on the show around here So part of the way renunciation happens is people get in a situation where they think about it all the time

[40:25]

And part of the way they think about it all the time is they read books about it all the time. Or they hear somebody talk about it all the time. And they willingly or voluntarily go in a room where somebody's going to talk about something, they find out about its renunciation, and they come back to hear more. And the more you listen to it, the more you're paying attention to it, the more you're into it. And maybe some freedom starts happening. And that's actually happening here, too. Some people are becoming a little bit free of this or that. They're actually like letting go of some stuff. When I say they are letting go, I mean there is some letting go. And there's also some fear of letting go. But when you contemplate renunciation, when you contemplate not grasping, it's quite common that you get frightened of it. So I talked to you before about people say, I'm afraid of falling. I'm afraid of losing control. So part of renunciation is to learn how to fall. So you're not afraid of falling, but you realize you can fall. So anyway... All these things are going on. And the story about renunciation and how it happens will never end until all beings have renounced their attachment and entered Buddha's wisdom.

[41:44]

So, just watch and you will see how it happens. You know, in your life, you'll see how renunciation happens. But if you don't do it, the World Honored One does it. The rule of honor was not other than you. And when you forget all about yourself, renunciation has happened. You have relinquished this self-other thing. That's the great renunciation. But the other part of renunciation is, like we said before, you're doing the practice, and at first you think, you know, you have some gaining idea. You're on your way to hell. You're on a slow boat to hell, not a fast boat. This is a slow way to go, by the way. That's one of the differences. You get to the same place as a murderer, but you go there slowly. So you have a chance to recover beforehand. So drugs are actually slower than murder. In that way, they're better. But you're basically, in one of the drugs is gain.

[42:46]

It's a big one. Gain and profit. Gain and profit. Keeps you high. So those kinds of things We're heading for trouble. Yes? Actually, I think somebody else before you, though. Somebody over there? No, go ahead. Yeah. Renunciation is possible because of religion. In other words, there's something about us that wants to be free of the misery of being such a power monger We are extremely, we are built for power, and we've got very skillful tricks to be powerful. So I was thinking, I'm studying, I'm studying, you know, I'm trying to find, study about how the brain works and how it might be the case that the brain enables the birth of consciousness. And one of the main things that the brain does is it does very many, many, many, many tricks for adaptations by which

[43:52]

we have a competitive edge in making predictions. By being able to make predictions, we have an advantage over beings that can't make predictions. We can make predictions better than most of our other species. So that's why part of renunciation and making predictions is full of anxiety, full of fear, full of shame. It's a total mess. When people come to me and talk to me about making plans, predicting the future, making decisions that are most in anguish usually. To give up making predictions is our spirit to become free of our main addictions, of our main power habits. So we've got all this equipment which is causing us misery but making us powerful. And there's something about us that wants to be free of all this misery. And that's our Buddha nature. That's our liberation nature. That's our That's our love nature.

[44:55]

Love rather than power. Somehow we've got a love nature and a freedom nature that goes with our power nature. So you have these two things. One is... I was just about to say, I'd like to go to the precepts first. You know, what do you call it? The she and the paramita first. But actually I think I could do a little bit on adhanaparamita very quickly. And then maybe in our next class, we can go into the precepts practiced with renunciation. All the precepts are practiced with renunciation. And I also thought I might give you a short history about precepts as they bear on self-examination. So... So there's a short, short, I'll come back later, but there's a short thing I thought I could say about the practice of giving the relationship your emancipation. But before I do that, have you other questions which I should answer before that?

[45:59]

Not codependent. Yeah, I know you know. I mean, I didn't mean that person. You said yesterday. I was surprised. Well, good. I'm glad. Okay. Because I was understanding this. But, um, they didn't, they didn't work that way. Depending on where I was, it's like, I'm wrong. That's what I was, that's what I was. Uh-huh. Could you hear her? Really? You can hear her? Oh, good. I think she said something like she could see how relative things or conventional things would be dependent co-arising, but she didn't see how the ultimate would be dependent co-arising.

[47:15]

The ultimate is, the ultimate is dependent co-arising. The ultimate is dependent co-arising. All conventional things, all conventional things are dependent co-arising. And all conventional things dependently co-arise. They dependently co-arise, and they are dependent co-arising. The ultimate, like emptiness or right view, is dependent co-arising. The right view is emptiness. Emptiness is. And not only that, but emptiness is a dependent core rising. But it's still a bit different. Conventional things, you don't really say that conventional things are dependent core rising. We usually don't say that. That conventional phenomena are dependent core rising.

[48:19]

We say that they're dependent core rise, but they are dependent core rising. But the ultimate emptiness is dependently co-arising, a dependent co-arising, and it is dependent co-arising. It means dependent co-arising itself is the ultimate two, in a sense. OK? So this is like, you know, yeah, there you go. Like, really important point. So should I just talk a little bit? Yes? Yes. That's what that's what that's something about the bodhisattvas postpone their enlightenment until all beings are enlightened.

[49:26]

Something like that. Right? They postpone their own enlightenment until everybody else is enlightened. Because what makes a Buddha is the wish for everybody else to get enlightened. That's what makes a Buddha, is you want everybody else to get enlightened. Okay? Now, but you want to become a Buddha so that they can all become enlightened. It isn't that you want to become enlightened before them. You don't. You want them to become enlightened before you. This is neat. Do you see that? It's not that you want to become enlightened before them. It is that you want to become a Buddha before the other people are Buddhas. That isn't what you want. You just want to become a Buddha, period, in order to help them. And it might happen that you have to become a Buddha before somebody because the only way you can help them is by being a Buddha.

[50:26]

But you don't want to be Buddha before them, but you do it anyway. It is simultaneous, exactly. And when you help everybody, you are a Buddha. But you don't want to be a Buddha before other people, but you realize it may be necessary. and until it's necessary it isn't that difficult to postpone it actually don't worry but it isn't that you want to be a buddha before other people but you understand it may be necessary and you want to do whatever is necessary to help people so you've heard bodhisattvas are these fantastic beings who work for everybody and they want and they want to have everybody become a buddha before them and they will even become a Buddha before other people in order to help people be Buddhists and not be so cool. They'll give up this super cool thing of wanting everybody else before them.

[51:28]

In other words, they'll do it before somebody in order to help that person. So it's a basic principle which they teach you on. There's two basic principles, Hallmark cards and the airline. Hallmark cards is you care enough to give the very best, the big care. And the other thing is, on the airplane, you put your own oxygen mask on before you try to help the person who needs you. You do not want to put yours on before them. That's why they tell you to do it that way. Because the mother first thinks of the baby. She doesn't think. She says, no air. Okay, see you later. She immediately thinks of the little baby. It's no big deal. She just does. You think of the baby first. And not only that, but you might not be in a state of renunciation. So you might be a little, like, totally freaked out about this baby. Your baby, my baby, my baby, my... You know, I'm just this crumply, crumply old thing, you know. But this gorgeous little... So then you're like, you know, you faint while you're trying to put the mask on the baby.

[52:36]

There's just no oxygen. You used up, you know, about two weeks of oxygen in five seconds. Because you weren't in a state of renunciation. In a state of renunciation, you love this baby and you're not attached to this baby. and when the thing goes up, you put the thing on your face and take care of it. But you don't want to put yours on first. That make sense? You want other people... Bodhicitta is you actually want the other people to be happy. I mean, like, really, you do. This is like being visited by Buddha. That's how Buddha is. Buddha actually wants the other people to be happy. But I see some people, and it says quite a few times in Bodhicitta, Those people are hard to teach. Therefore, I have to do all this stuff, you know. I have to, like, do all this skillful stuff to help them. That entails me becoming a Buddha so I can do these fabulous, skillful things, you know.

[53:39]

Like, manifest nirvana. Watch this. Boom! Nirvana. Yippee! not really nirvana but i'll do that if that'll get you interested i'll just we'll have your mind right now how about that does that get your interest so you have to be able to like do some amazing things in order to help some people and you're going to do those things as soon as possible okay that's not really what you don't want necessarily do those amazing things what you want is the people to be free, and food is not what you want, but you're willing to do all these amazing things if necessary. But not so that you'll be famous, and you might be famous. And then when you're famous, when you weren't famous, and you are famous, then you've got a whole new set of problems. Oh, forget it. And you can't even do that yourself. So that's why, you know, and the people who are calling you famous, when you say, oh, you're famous, you know, or, oh, you're famous,

[54:42]

They aren't telling you, do not attach to this thing that's happening to you. So that's why you certainly need to be practicing before you're famous. So when the famous hits the fan, you have a chance to remember. No, fame and profit, fame and profit, fame and profit, fame and profit. Okay, so giving, giving, basically giving goes so nicely with renunciation for starters because basically, I think Neil asked the other day, Well, there's two kinds of renunciation. One is give up everything, and the other one is give up a particular thing. So, one aspect of giving is take a particular thing, like, I don't know what. Like, think of something that you have and start meditating on giving it away. And if you make no headway on it, like, you know, so you just think of it and you say, no. And just put that aside for the moment and try something more likely that you'd be able to say yes to.

[55:43]

You could do all this in your mind. Yeah, I actually would be willing to give that away. And then maybe try to arrange to give it away. But first of all, think about it. And before you even have a chance to give it away, move on to something a little harder. And so these particular things that people are supposed to give up Look at all of those things. Am I willing to give up this kind of sex, and that [...] kind of sex? Am I willing to give up my car, my clothes, my books? Am I willing to give up my fame, my reputation? Look at these. And you try to work yourself into a position where you start to feel better and better about giving stuff up. And that's giving, the practice of giving. And it's working when you feel joyful about it. And if you hit something where you don't feel ready, I would say, just, again, relax. Relax and find some place else that you can relax. Go from one thing that you can let go to another. You know, relax, but don't, like, tense up and try to force yourself to give this stuff away, because there will be backlash.

[56:48]

So they say, you know, bodhisattvas should... You know, you work up to giving your body away. And like I was reading before, you need to be able to eventually be dismembered without getting angry. So the giving, you need to work on the giving and the patience together. Because sometimes even if you really would like to give your body, you need enough patience so that when they actually start taking it, you can tolerate the pain. So they say in various Bodhisattva manuals, you should give away your body, but you should not give it away until you're ready. And I would put in parentheses, you should not try to give your body away unless you check with your teacher first. And if your teacher says, okay, be sure to ask him if he was kidding. Like some people, can I give my body away? I say, sure. But I admit they don't think they're really going to. So I actually don't say yes. I say, what do you mean?

[57:51]

Because if you're giving your body away and while in the middle of the process you change your mind, It's really bad because then you're half this member plus then you get angry at them that, you know, give me my skin back, you know. It doesn't count to sort of enter the process halfway and then call it off. So, yeah, that's a very advanced practice of giving your body away. Another thing they say is if you give possessions away and you're in a family situation, what is supposed to be a family situation, you should check with the other people in your family. or a true community, and you want to make a donation to somebody, like somebody comes in on the road and says, Oh, God, I'm lost, can I have a thousand dollars? You should check with the treasurer or somebody before you go into the community office and take the money. So there are things like that. Another one is, you know, when Buddha first said, Come here, to those people who hadn't received the precepts,

[58:55]

and they just like dropped everything and went to practice with him. He was a new Buddha. He didn't understand the consequences of what he was doing. So he was able to see, he was able to... Somebody said, isn't it by Buddha nature? So Shakyamuni Buddha nature says, come here and you just go. Yeah, fine, you know. As long as your hair falls out, you know. So then some people came to the Buddha and, you know, people came, you know, terribly upset, you know, and said, you know, we really respect you, World Honored One, we really respect you, we really appreciate your teaching, you're a boon to the world and all that, but, you know, it really, it really, it's totally upsetting to us that our son or our daughter or a husband or a wife has, like, just joined you.

[59:58]

I'm sorry. I know they've joined you, and I know it's good for them and all that, but we are not doing well here. Would you please, in the future, ask the people to get permission from their family before they come to join you? And Buddha said, oh, fine. No problem. So then he told people, and they came. especially young people, said, did you check with your parents? If they said no, he said, go back and ask. But see, he just learned. He didn't know. He hadn't seen that before, how to do that. So the people told him, and he adjusted. So sometimes you may be ready, but it's not that simple. You should check with people, check with your family or someone. But then if that's all clear, everybody feels okay, then look inside and see if you really feel like totally joyful about it, and there's no thing. And then think about And if there isn't, then fine. Plus, you also think about whether if the gift goes in a way that you weren't expecting it, you'll feel fine about that.

[61:02]

So I told somebody the story of, in our lineage, Kanadayamadayosha. That means one-eyed god. He's Nagarjuna's disciple. Nagarjuna sent him on a mission to debate a very powerful magician who had taken over Nalanda University. And he told him how to beat the guy in the bait, which he did. But he said, on your way to no one that you will be asked to give something very valuable. If you give it, do not regret afterwards. You'll get it back. But if you regret, you will not get it back. Like I was saying, if you give your body away, you'll get it back. But if you regret it in the process, you won't get it back. So he gave it. He gave his eye. He saw a blind beggar, and the beggar said, I don't know, would you get me one of your eyes? So he gave him his eyes, and they didn't have those transplant procedures available.

[62:07]

This guy didn't have health care. And he tried to just put the eye in his face, and he couldn't do it. So then he got really angry and smashed it on his stomach. And his name was Aryadeva, the noble god. So Aryadeva looked back with his one eye and regretted having given it since the guy smashed it. He didn't get it back. And then he only had one eye from that time on. So, the renunciation is just look at what you're holding onto and start giving it away. Look at planning. Look at chucking. Look at discursive thought. Just look at these things and see if you can give them away, at least for a few minutes. In the Zendo, see if for a few minutes you can give away discursive thought. And if you get scared, that shows you're really considering giving it away. It's not exactly a good sign that you're scared, but it shows that you're not kidding around.

[63:08]

You're actually considering doing this. You're actually considering taking a break from wandering around your head. And actually, some people say to me, I take breaks from wandering around my head, and then I go to sleep. So they're afraid to continue this practice because they're not going to sleep. So it's kind of tough. Give up entertaining myself, running around in my head, it's kind of not that interesting up there. And that's, you know, and if it's not interesting up there, I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to look for something that is interesting. If I don't have my discursive thought to entertain me, I'll just go someplace else where there'll be discursive thought called dreamland. And there will be discursive thought, but there probably won't be this message about giving it up there. So I can just, like, enjoy it. Plus get some rest. So I'm afraid that if I do this practice, I'm going to just be like this... What do you call those things up in the Zen world that are asleep?

[64:12]

Bad student? Worthless disgrace to the Zen tradition? I'm afraid my reputation is going to be shot if I try this like giving up discursive thought. So that's one thing you might be afraid of. What would happen to your practice if you didn't entertain yourself on the Christian side? You might become tough. You might be seeing problems. Reputation might be lost. Wouldn't be as interesting. Might go to sleep. Etc. Many things might happen if you like give up. Or if you didn't plan you know, like, what, first period of the morning on 490 didn't plan, you might not have much fun during your day off, because you wouldn't have got organized before, you know, or when to do different stuff. So you spend the first half of the day kind of, like, just, like, wasting your time, because you didn't plan during Zazen what to do. So you think, like, last week I, like, had this lousy day off because I didn't plan, so now I better plan during this period this morning, because...

[65:15]

Now, think about giving that up. So what you could do is just for part of the period, think about not planning. This has gotten terrible for me to say, but I have this very close friend, who some of you understand who I'm talking about when I tell you, but he used to spend most of his Ausian period planning buildings, like this division of buildings, which he then built. And he could do it in his head. That's what he did. He didn't sleep during that time. It's very interesting to try buildings. You can actually see them, and you know you might be able to go out afterwards and see them. So for Ian to give up planning buildings would be quite a renunciation. So it's a gift. So think about giving this stuff away, and if you feel scared, it shows that you're being serious. And I would say to you personally, I'm available.

[66:18]

If you're thinking of giving something up and you think it really would be dangerous, you're not sure if you really should do it, I'd like to hear about it. I might agree. I don't do that. I might say, well, you must check with so-and-so and so-and-so before you do it. So like the director might say, if I don't think about what to do today or the work leader, if I don't think about what to do, you know, if I don't think about what to do, if I don't think about what to do before the ceremony, it won't work very well. So I have your permission to not think about it during Zazen. to like just sit there before this big ceremony and not even think about beforehand what's going to happen, do I have your permission? I might say, I might say, yeah. I might say, you could not think about it for 30 minutes and then for the last 10 minutes think about it. But I might say, no, take the whole time and get up and then we're going to have this big mess at the end of Zazen because you won't have thought about it. And like, you know, what will happen then? Because you didn't plan the ceremony. But I'm talking about, like, extending this gradually to, like, give up all planning, all checking.

[67:24]

And... Yeah, it looks like... The looks I see in some of the phases look like you're actually considering this, and you just don't quite see that it's possible. Just start in, like, making donations, giving things away. Start with things that you can relax with. Just thinking about it. And also giving up certain ways of thinking. Start with little pieces of it and try it. And it should be joyful when you try it. If it isn't joyful, try to find something that would be joyful to give up. Yes? The planning is an object. So you meet the object with no mind. In other words, you don't breath. The opportunity of planning will come up. Plan, plan, plan.

[68:27]

Each time you just relax. Relax. [...] Then you do that for a while, and you say, hey, this isn't bad at all. And then suddenly, wait a minute. I can't relax with this. I've got to do something about this. Yeah, right. That's what happens, usually, with those things. They don't just come up. They get dealt with in some kind of controlled way. So you don't stop them from even occurring. The opportunities keep being offered to you. These objects here, these objects, Keep coming. Objects, objects. The environment keeps impacting on you internally and externally. But the point is to meet it with this relaxation. And then sometimes you don't. That's quite familiar. Quite interesting. You don't go to sleep. You let go. You let go and kind of like, oh, like, wait. You're sitting in a comfortable posture and his end is not that cold.

[69:30]

open to all the winters, some mornings, then that would be the thing that would come and grab, right? Couldn't resist. It is cold in here. It's not just cold. It's cold. I'm not going to relax. I can't relax with this cold. So we make the zendo warm, okay? So now you can relax with the temperature of the zendo. So then the planning comes in. If you grab the planning like grabbing the cold, that'll keep you awake. But if you're comfortable... And then some people during sashimi, legs, legs come and you don't grab them. So that keeps you awake. How can you stay awake without grasping? It's not easy. Because we keep, you know, grasping jacks us up. Slaps us down and jacks us up. Slaps us down and jacks us up. Those are the outflows, right? So if you're not doing that, the fear actually of what will happen That also keeps you kind of awake.

[70:32]

So when you're not even afraid and you're letting go and actually feeling pretty good and not being afraid, there's something to keep you awake. The joy and the good feeling of the release, that keeps you awake. So the joy starts coming up, but you have to give it a chance before the joy comes. And then again, if the joy comes and you start grasping the joy, then you start seeing it. So it's complicated. There's an art to it. This is the essential art of sadhana. To think, not thinking. In other words, to renounce thinking. Thinking, not thinking is to let go of your thinking. It's an art. It's an art. And now he's an art. But this huge, powerful, anti-art is like just sitting there, you know, all the time, available to take over Positioned in art, and facing this big, I don't know, what do you call non-art?

[71:36]

Dharma. Yes. . Oh, yeah, people... Buddhas are totally benefited by you giving away your discursive thought. They're like... What does it say? What is it? We do what with their adornments? We renew their magnificence in the awakening of the way? Another way to translate it, we renew their adornments in the magnificence of the way. The Buddhas are totally turned on and helped by you practicing renunciation of your habitual thoughts. And everybody else is too, because then when you meet people, you know, you don't have this charge, this self-righteous charge on the meeting. You're not superior to them.

[72:40]

So everybody does benefit, but if you want to figure out who is benefiting, that should be renounced too. Because again, to give and to know how it's going to go how it's going to be used, and approve the way it's going to be used. If not, when you're giving these, you actually don't, you give up control, too. So isn't that you give it, like people donate to Zen Center, what do they call it, earmark it? It's earmarked for, is Zen Center allowed to repeat it? Of course, Buddhist institutions could be stricter and say, you know, if you want to get merit from this, you shouldn't earmark it. You should give it to us and let us use it to raise your disciple. I've heard a lot. You've heard about what? Are we letting go?

[73:58]

Is this complete? Yeah, it's a letting go of something that's not clear. But it's also possible to be kind of spaced out and think you're letting go, but actually not be letting go. But if you actually didn't let go of this sort of unclear thing, that would be a fine unclear thing to let go of. To be calculating how you're doing in this practice is also an old thing to relax with. So you're going along practicing renunciation, and then there's Your brain's trying to figure out, well, how you're doing and, you know, and try to predict how it's going to go and how much longer it's going to take for it to be perfected. And there's even some texts where they actually sort of invite you into trying to figure out when it's over. Anyway, this calculating, measuring mind, you know, when it says, you know, it says, think not thinking, the character is shirio,

[75:03]

Shiryu is the character for thinking. And shiryu means thinking and measuring, engaging. It's that kind of thinking. But it says to use that kind of thinking on renunciation. And what is it to do that? It's non-thinking. In other words, there's no way to do it. But it is getting very close to nine. Anyway, maybe that's enough I'm giving for now. So next time I'd like to talk, bring this. I think look at compassion as precept practice. See how we practice compassion with renunciation in the form of compassion. I mean, a precept practice with renunciation. Love it? So we just talked about the first .

[76:19]

And now we're going to do the next one, precepts. And I thought a little bit of history of precepts, too, would be interesting for you. I think we have a very interesting history. Our particular precept practice has a very interesting history. Very, what do you call it? Provocative. Very provocative situation with these precepts. So I thought we could look at our history as part of our study of the precepts. Because our precept practice, the meaning of our precept practice has something to do with history. And just like I was saying before, the meaning of the bodhisattva path has something to do with the history of early Buddhism. And actually, that can be brought in, too, in relationship to renunciation. So I try to remind major that to talk about early view of the precepts versus the later view of the precepts is similar to early view of renunciation, later view of renunciation, in relationship to the precepts.

[77:34]

We give our attention to the way that trade has been in that place. It is difficult to get rid of the trouble that we're never trading. To keep the world safe beyond the world. For all the world to know, safe beyond the world. Oh, oh, [...] oh. Excuse me for doing this again, because class is over. I just want to briefly mention that I said, what is anti-art?

[78:44]

And Jamie said, Dharma. Did you hear that? That's right. Auntie, what do you think is not art? It's Dharma. What I think is not art.

[79:25]

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