Did we schedule a bodhisattva full moon ceremony for tonight? Yes, we did. During that ceremony we will be reciting the sixteen bodhisattva precepts of the Soto Zen lineage as transmitted in the Soto Zen lineage that goes through Japan, through the ancestor Eihei Koso, Dogen Zenji. If you have time, you're invited to come to the ceremony.

[01:02]

I offered a kind of theme for this intensive, which was something like embracing the great vehicle and entering into it. The great vehicle actually is a verbal expression for reality. Reality is the great vehicle. The word great vehicle is a word to use for reality, and reality is a word you can use for the great vehicle. The great vehicle isn't just some path among various paths.

[02:44]

It is the path of reality. And it's nothing other than reality. When one has entered reality, one has entered the great vehicle. That's what we mean by the great vehicle. And of course there's nothing excluded from reality. I told a story yesterday about this ancient teacher from India named Asanga and talked about his relationship with a future Buddha. So in this tradition of Shakyamuni Buddha we have the, actually in a way it's like a claim made by Shakyamuni Buddha that there will be a future Buddha.

[04:02]

that there will be another Buddha coming into the world, and the Buddha's name will be Maitreya. And so we have the story that this person in India had an intimate relationship with Maitreya and through that relationship he received teachings and then these teachings he then wrote down and made available in India And then he also wrote a number of things, which he wasn't just taking as dictation, but which flowed forth from his early studies of Buddhism, his early studies of the Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching, together with the teachings he received from Maitreya that he produced. And one of the works he produced, one of the works he wrote, is called the Mahayana Samgraha,

[05:10]

which can be translated as Summary of Mahayana or Summary of the Great Vehicle. And he wrote down five texts that he received from Maitreya. So those five texts aiding his teacher, and then he wrote quite a few other ones flowing forth from the teachings he had received from Shakyamuni Buddha and the teachings he received from Maitreya Buddha. This is a story, an awesome story. And also, one of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, or one of the teachings of the Buddhist tradition that Asanga studied, aside from what he studied with Maitreya, he studied a sutra called the Samdhi Nirmacana Sutra, which I've been putting up in a number of past intensives.

[06:44]

which again could be translated as expounding or revealing the deep intention of the Buddhas, or revealing the deep intimacy of the Buddhas. And then this year, In February I started to write this text by Nsanga called Summary to Mahayana. I'll just be dealing with a couple of pages of it, maybe three, four, five pages of it, or six pages, or seven, you know, just a few pages of it during this intensive, but they're sufficient. So here's the book, and you don't need the book, I don't think. I think what you receive here will be sufficient. As a matter of fact, today, in this class, we'll pass out the sixth chapter to you, right?

[07:56]

We'll pass out chapter six, which is about learning of ethics. And you can have that. And I'll just bring up a few things here and there. And then there's people in this room who have the book and have been studying it for quite a while. And they may ask questions. And you can hear their questions. And then so you hear about other parts of the book. But you don't need the book. But if you like the book, we can order it. And it can arrive probably not too, it won't take too long. maybe just a few days, you could have a copy. So if you would like a book, how should we help people make themselves known in that regard? Want them to raise their hands? Raise your hands if you'd like to order a book. It could cost, by the way, only about $15.

[08:57]

A special rake because this is a Mahayana practice place, right? Raise your hands a little higher. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Okay? It might take a week. So if various causes and conditions have conspired to inspire me to look at chapter six of this text. The chapter on learning, it actually says learning discipline. I don't know what the Sanskrit word for discipline, the original origin of that word is, but anyway, it's bodhisattva ethics.

[10:02]

And in our school's version of the ethics, we have the first three are going for refuge in the triple jewel, which is almost all the Buddhist schools have those three precepts. And then the next three are the three, sometimes called the three pure precepts, They're the threefold precepts of the bodhisattvas. The bodhisattva precepts are threefold. There's three kinds or three aspects of bodhisattva precepts and these three aspects include all the bodhisattva precepts.

[11:12]

Or you can say also, these three precepts include all the bodhisattva practices, they include all the bodhisattva work, they include all the work of the great vehicle, they include all the work of realizing Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings. And the Sanskrit original of these three precepts are like this, samvara-shila.

[12:17]

Shila can be translated as ethics, discipline, moral discipline, ethical discipline. And sambhara can be translated as restraint or stopping or discipline. It can even be translated as vow or aspiration. And then, based on this concept, we have two other ones. One is called in Sanskrit, Kushala Samgraha Shila.

[13:24]

There's that Samgraha of the Mahayana Samgraha. And kushala means wholesome or beneficial or good. Samgraha means summary or collection or gathering or cultivating. And she led the precept. So it's the precept of gathering all that's wholesome and good. And this precept of doing all kinds of wholesome things, all kinds of actions that are wholesome, of body, speech, and mind that are wholesome,

[14:31]

It's based on the first one. It's intended that you first, you start with one and then move to number two. Number two is the basis for making a Buddha. All the Buddha qualities are based on practicing all wholesome activities. Activities of making a Buddha, of course, are the six perfections of a bodhisattva. So six perfections of a bodhisattva summarize all that's wholesome. Summarize all the bodhisattva practices. But this summarizes the six perfections. Okay? But first established in the precept of restraint, one then enters into precept practice.

[15:40]

Good. And the other bodhisattva, the other aspect of bodhisattva precepts is, what's it called? It's called, it's called sattva, Sattva means being, like bodhisattva, bodhi, enlightenment, sattva, being, enlightenment being. So it's sattva, sattva kriya. Kriya means, you've heard of kriya yoga? What does kriya mean in kriya yoga? Huh? Huh? I think it usually means like yoga that cleanses or purifies or develops. So it means to develop or mature or purify.

[16:44]

Benefit. Benefit, purify, develop, mature beings. Precept of maturing beings. So the... Is there a V in here? Yeah. Satva. Yeah, there is. There's a V in there. It goes before the A. Satva. Thank you. Spelling corrections are welcome. Other kinds, too. Huh? This is my toolbar. So there it is, it's like there's the whole works right there.

[18:04]

What's the difference between how you're using Kriya here and then the Kriyas, which is the involuntary movement? I think when some people use involuntary movement, I think that they probably, again, mean like the way that the yogic body is like trying to cleanse itself. by releasing tensions and releasing toxins by, you know, like massage therapists, they work on people and they sort of shake their hands, kind of like to shake out the tension they pick up from people or whatever. Okay, so now starting with the, if you're ready, we can just deal with the first one, the ethics of restraint or the ethics of discipline.

[19:18]

I read a term in the early... teachings of the historical Buddha called restraint of the senses, speaking of meditators, practicing restraint of the senses. Some of you heard of that? And I thought, well, how can practice be restraint of the senses? didn't make sense, practicing by restraining your senses, like restraining your eyes, or like, or now if we have the, when I learned the Sanskrit, I found out that it was, the Sanskrit for that was, was, was,

[20:21]

Andhra, which means like roots. Actually the word Andhra comes from the word Indra. You know Indra? One of the sovereign gods of Indian mythology or Indian religion. Indra. So Andhra means sovereign. And what are the sovereigns? The sovereigns are the sense organs. They're very important in our life. We're sensate. We have sense organs. So the sense organs are called endria, not just in the Buddhadharma, but also in other yogic traditions. So when I saw samvara, and I knew the word samvara didn't exactly mean just restraint, it meant to discipline.

[21:30]

I thought, oh, disciplining the senses, that makes sense. But then now I think that restraining is also okay, or stopping the senses is okay. But it doesn't mean stopping the senses, it means stopping the outflows around the senses. For example, to look at something and want more than what you see. To look at a lovely light coming out, to look at the lovely light reflected off the redwood trees and wish it could be a little greener or a little brighter. That kind of attitude is kind of a some emotional defilement in relationship to what we see. So disciplining the senses or restraining the senses now I would understand to mean stop messing around with what you're seeing, stop slipping into an addictive relationship to what you're seeing.

[22:45]

In other words, when you see something, be present. Stop running away from what's being given and trying to get more. Restrain going someplace else. As I said yesterday, that's the basic meaning of this first precept, is presence, of being with what's coming up in such a way for addictions to arise. And again, in this text, in a lot of Mahayana teachings, there's an original Sanskrit word which is Is the dot below or above?

[23:52]

Below. So this is klesha. And klesha can be translated as defilement, affliction, but I like now these days to call it addiction. Yeah, addiction. The things we do, the way we are distracted from being present with our life, Yes. Oh, I see. That's right. When we practice presence moment by moment, these addictions, these kleshas, these defilements, they find no place to enter.

[25:13]

They are temporarily in that moment stopped. However, until we to the other practices of gathering all wholesomeness and serving and helping all beings, until we do those practices, if we were to not be present, these addictions would naturally arise based on for them to arise. And the tendency for them to arise, this Mahayana teaches, the tendency for these addictions to arise in our active consciousness is supported by our unconscious, which is the results of all of our past addictive behavior.

[26:24]

So every moment of conscious life, we have our conscious life, and our conscious life is supported by an unconscious which is our past karma, which is not our past karma, but an unconscious mind supported by an unconscious mind, and the unconscious mind is taught and called the container consciousness or the storehouse consciousness, the alaya vijnana. And that unconscious is the result of our past addictive behavior. So we're inclined to look for something better than what's going on. We're inclined to go someplace other than here. Even when things are pleasant, we wish them to be a little bit more pleasant or go someplace else again. And when they're unpleasant, we usually wish to get rid of them or go someplace else. Unconsciously we have that tendency all the time in us until we realize the true body of Buddha, which in the true body of Buddha is the complete transformation of all of our past karma.

[27:49]

It's the complete transformation of our unconscious tendency towards an addiction. But by practicing this first precept of presence, it helps us practice the other two precepts. which will lead to the complete transformation of the basis of all affliction. These three precepts sometimes are taught on two sides, the householder side and the monastic side.

[29:28]

So on both the householder side and the monastic side these precepts can be practiced. The first precept is also sometimes spoken of as the various kinds of what's called pratimoksha vow. Pratimoksha vow. Prati means, I think, conducive to, and moksha means liberation. Yeah. Is that word naturally hyphenated? Oh, it's not naturally hyphenated, no. Take that hyphen out of there.

[30:34]

So prati moksha. that which is conducive to liberation. And there's different pratyamokshas that go with different lifestyles. So there's pratyamokshas for householders and there's pratyamoksha disciplines for monastics. And there's one set of pratyamoksha ethics for full nuns or male and female monks. And then there's another set for novice male and female monastics. And then there's another category which I'm not sure exactly what it's about. I wish to research.

[31:39]

Another category of pratyamoksha vows for female monastics, but I'm not sure exactly what that is about. And then, so there's seven types of pratyamoksha. Four for, five for the monastics and two for the householders. And Suzuki Roshi used to say, you know, when we did our bodhisattva vows at Zen Center, the three refuges, the three bodhisattva precepts, these three bodhisattva precepts, and then we did the ten precepts following those six, he sometimes would say the ten prohibitory precepts. The Chinese character... can be translated as heavy, major, or possibly prohibitory.

[32:43]

And I think many of you are familiar with those 10. And those 10, one virtue of translating them as major is that they're the first 10 of 58. There's a Mahayana sutra called the Brahmajala Sutra, or Indra's Net Scripture. And in that sutra, it lists 58 bodhisattva precepts. And the first 10 are the major precepts, and the next 48 are the minor. And in the Soto Zen tradition of Dogen, he transmits the first 10 of those 48. But he came from a school in Japan, which was founded in China, and that school used all 58. But he transmitted just the major ones and set aside the minor ones.

[33:54]

So that... These... All these... Precepts, pretty much they all start with not. Not, not. They actually don't say don't. They say not. And a distinction which perhaps we'll talk about later, but it's not, not, not. And a lot of Westerners, when they run into that knot, they want to think of ethics as positive, so then they try to rephrase these ten positively. So, for example, not killing, someone might rephrase as cherishing all life and protecting all life.

[35:04]

The problem with that is that if you replace not killing with cherishing all life, in a sense what you've done is removed the first because the cherishing life and protecting life actually goes into the, is actually in the other two precepts. Over here, the sattva kriya is like you're serving and protecting all living beings. And over here, you're developing all the abilities within the bodhisattva to be of great service to beings. So all the positive developments are in the second and third precepts. But they're based on not. Not, not, not, not, not. Not what? Not self. Not make something out of what's going on.

[36:15]

Not trying to get something out of life, you know. That based on disciplining ourself and stopping, stopping something, stopping addiction, stopping distraction from being present. So it's easy to understand why people want to do that, but a number of Zen centers are kind of, in some sense, pushing away the foundation of bodhisattva ethics by too quickly bringing up the positive side before the negative side is accepted. The negative side is because human beings have a negative side. They reject... What's going on? They want to be someplace not here. And they want to be with not you. They're negative. Little kids learn no a lot earlier than they learn yes.

[37:21]

How old are they when they've learned to say yes? It's pretty old. But no comes real soon. No comes really early. And mine, when did they learn yours? When did they learn yours and hers and yours? No. Hardly ever hear them say it. They don't mention it until they're like in some time, you know, advanced Zen students. but I often tell the story of when I was learning Japanese around 1970 I started studying Japanese and and there's a Japanese construction where you you say something like you say your name and then you put the word no after your name and then you put the thing that you possess after that so like if I was talking about this cup I would say, reb no cup.

[38:27]

The word no means apostrophe S. So reb no cup is reb's cup. And that was a little bit different. Instead of saying reb's cup, you say reb no cup. And I had a little trouble learning that. And this little baby one time, a little Japanese baby was around Zen Center at that time. He barely walked, but he could say, Gen-chan no. His name was Gen-chan. He learned that possessive thing very early. It's quite a linguistic, it's quite an intellectual accomplishment, actually. But it was easy for him to learn. So possessiveness and no are pretty basic human abilities to imagine. So skipping over them is skipping over the foundation of our struggle with our delusion.

[39:28]

And at Zen Center even, when we say those first three precepts, now we say the first one we call right conduct. I vow to embrace and sustain right conduct. Well, The first bodhisattva precept, it is right conduct, but so are the other two. When you say right conduct, you overlook the emotionally difficult issue. What that's referring to is regulations and rules about not, not, not, not. It's those pradimoksha rules, and the pradimoksha rules are not killing, not stealing, not misusing sexuality. Those activities are ways of not being present. When you're present, you do not steal.

[40:32]

You do not kill. There is no killing in that. I watched a documentary a while ago, a new one called Prohibition. It's about this amazing thing that happened in America in the last century where people were prohibited from Drinking alcohol or buying alcohol. And one of the major Bodhisattva precepts is it actually is not selling alcohol. And then there's a minor Bodhisattva precept which is not drinking alcohol.

[41:37]

There's a precept which says not selling intoxicants and there's a precept which says not imbibing intoxicants. Are these prohibitory? If they're prohibitory, then you're going to have a little problem with people. One of the commentators in this documentary says, if you want to get some young dopes to do something, all you got to do is prohibit it. Prohibit tooth brushing. Prohibit washing. Prohibit It's natural that whatever is prohibited, we fight against it. He said, I think that's good. It's good that we're deluded.

[42:45]

It's good. It's good that we resist Anybody who's going to push us around, anybody who's going to dominate us is good. I think he was implying that. It's good that we stand up for ourselves. So how can we practice this precept, but not because somebody is prohibiting us from doing something, but because we actually are present. And when you're present, in some sense, you could say, well, that implies a prohibition. You're acting out a prohibition against not being present. But if somebody else tells you, you have to be present, maybe that's not so good for you. So some of you are not... born in America, but in America also in the last century, in the early part, there's these signs that used to have of this person called Uncle Sam, who represents the U.S.

[43:56]

government or something, and it has a big picture of Uncle Sam pointing, Uncle Sam wants you, which means the government wants you to join the army. Uncle Sam wants you. We don't have statues of Buddha saying, Buddha wants you, but Buddha does want you. Buddha does want you, but Buddha usually, instead of going like this, Buddha goes like this. This is Buddha, I want you. I want you to be Bodhisattvas. I want you to be bodhisattvas so you'll encourage other people to be bodhisattvas. And all the encouragements to be bodhisattvas are included in these precepts. And the first thing to encourage people to be bodhisattvas is the moment.

[45:03]

All the practice is based on this first precept. All the practices are based on the present. So how can I be present? You know, to tell you the truth, I do not feel like somebody's overbearing. Like Dogen or Shakyamuni Buddha or Sangha or Suzuki Russia pointing their finger at me and saying, Reb, you be present. I don't feel like that. I think they love it when I'm present. And I actually used to hang out with them. And he used to love it when I was present. He really seemed to like it when I was present. You know, like present. Like actually there in front of him. Day after day, right in front of him. He seemed to like it. And if I was actually really practicing presence right there, he seemed to appreciate it. But I didn't... Now, if I wasn't present, then maybe he would have been prohibitory towards me and beat me up and stuff.

[46:11]

I don't know. Maybe when he was young, when he was a young priest, if he had been with his cousin, maybe he would have beat him up. And you know, that way of being sometimes is part of what bodhisattvas do to help people be present. However, it is not the same as the precept of being present. It's other precepts. It belongs in these other categories. Pushing people in various ways, in whatever way would help them practice the other two precepts, or part of the other two precepts, but in that way of being effective in that regard is based on the first one. Suzuki Roshi was such that many of his presence, we actually had no problem practicing presence.

[47:24]

Did you follow that? But when he got 15 feet away from him, or maybe 50, then we had trouble being present. I think that, you know, his range was only about 50 feet. He only had a 49-foot mudra. And then as soon as you got outside that, you started saying, oh, no, I don't have to be president anymore. He's not around. As a matter of fact, he had trouble sometimes understanding people because he couldn't imagine some of the things they would do when they got beyond 49 feet. He suggested actually as director of Tassajara because when that person was around him, he was like this beautiful little boy.

[48:29]

He was actually a big, tall man, but when he was at Sukhoreshi, he was just totally devoted, totally alert, totally gentle and kind. But when he got to Sukhoreshi, It was amazing the way he acted. And Suzuki Roshi never saw that. And people didn't say anything to him about it either because somehow they didn't think he needed to know. But when Roshi suggested him as director, people said, so Roshi, I don't think he'd be a good director. And he said, no, why not? And they said, well, because he did blah, blah. And he said, he did? Oh, oh, oh, then he shouldn't be director. He just didn't know. So, yeah, but anyway, I think we have some difficult stories up ahead of us, which I'm not going to tell today, which will come up when we discuss the other two practices.

[49:35]

The other two aspects of precept practice were bodhisattvas, do some things which are a little bit difficult to understand as compassion. They do things to help people, well, they do things to help themselves and others either get back on the path or introduce them into the path. But now I Oh, I just want to say one. I just want to say 47,000 other things, okay? In the early teachings of the Buddha, in the Dharmapada, he said, the teaching of all... No, I don't do it. He said, avoid evil.

[50:39]

Practice all that is wholesome. Purify the mind. This is the teaching of all Buddhas. He didn't say, this is my teaching. He said, this is the teaching of all Buddhas. That's all the teaching of all the Buddhas. It includes all the fancy advanced practices. Even though he said that, still in the early teaching, Sometimes people thought, first is ethics, and then based on ethics, you practice concentration and wisdom. Well, it's true. It's true. Based on ethics, you practice concentration and wisdom. Okay? Ready? One, two, three, we're going to have a little test now. Ready? True or false? Concentration and wisdom are based on ethics. True or false? According to the Buddha, anyway. Yeah? Concentration and wisdom are based on ethics.

[51:44]

True or false? Ethics includes concentration and wisdom. Yes, it includes it. It's a requirement, or it's the foundation of lofty practices, but those lofty practices are included in ethics because part of ethics is those lofty practices. But sometimes people think ethics is lower and they're higher. That's not the bodhisattva understanding. They mutually include each other. You can't have wisdom without ethics. And the actual ethics includes wisdom. And then there was a story, a famous Zen story, about a wonderful... Zen master whose name was Bird's Nest, Bird's Nest teacher or Bird's Nest Roshi, he lived up in a tree.

[52:49]

And he had his reasons for living up there. But anyway, one of the great Tang Dynasty poets named Bojiri went to visit him and he called up to him and he said, teacher, isn't it dangerous up there? And the teacher says, yes, but it's also dangerous down where you are. What's dangerous is the undisciplined mind. Mind that doesn't practice presence. That's really dangerous. If you're practicing presence in the tree, It's a little bit dangerous. And if you practice presence down on the ground, it's a little bit dangerous. But if your mind is not present, this is what really hurts. This is what really terrible, painful things in the world. And so the great poet says, well, what's the teaching of the Buddhas?

[53:51]

And he said, don't do evil, do good. benefit all beings. And the poet says, even a child knows that. So the stuff I told you today, you all know this. And the teacher says, yes, even a child knows it, but it's rare that an 80-year-old can practice it. So in that rendition, the first one, avoid evil, corresponds to Stop. Restrain. But again, we need to find that place where we aspire to this, where this is our great desire, not that somebody else is telling us to do this. Somebody else is telling us that this is the basis, that this precept is the basis for

[54:59]

Buddha's activities and all the ways of helping people, but it's something for us to look to see if we aspire to do this practice as a basis for doing all the other wonderful practices. And so again, repeatedly, rhythmically, check to see if you want to practice this first one. And, you know, as an act of compassion in order for you to be able to serve the world. ...presence so that you can be a great servant to all beings. So you can joyfully serve all beings means serve all Buddhas and all living beings. Do you want to practice presence? It looks like you do. It looks like you're very happy. practicing presence.

[56:02]

So... Forty feet away, though. I guess I need some binoculars. One star. I'd like to deal with the second two later class. And stop now and ask if you have anything you'd like to bring up in regard to these bodhisattva precepts.

[57:11]

Please come up. Yes. I just have a question about practicing presence. Okay. Because in my experience, sometimes I try so hard to be present that I've caused myself all kinds of problems. So the practice of presence... It doesn't have to do with trying, does it? Trying to be present? Well, let's say this. I think it happily includes wishing to be present. But if you wish to be present, then you can't be present. Oh, so you have trouble being present while you're wishing? Only if it's an idea.

[58:27]

It's an idea of being present. So I guess as I heard you speak, I listened. And I got a sense that you were encouraging me to be other than I was. And so this was a strange kind of teaching to me. I wondered if you could the effort of being present so that it's not something that I'm trying to gain. Does that make sense? It does. So that's that's that's recall that is something I appreciate you telling me because that relates to this issue of somebody's telling you to do something.

[59:27]

He said, I was telling you to be something other than you are. Right. So the person who's telling me that can all of a sudden appear other than myself. Right. Right. So now, can you be present with that sense that I'm something other than you? Can I be present with it? Yes. Yeah. It's not... I do. You're not taking anything, though. It's been given to you. I invited you, you came and gave me this, and I think you're articulating... part of the challenge of being present is that it's not other than the way you are it's the practice of being the way you are and then you're articulating that when you hear about

[60:39]

...you are, suddenly you think you're supposed to do something extra, which is actually not being recommended. But as soon as you hear it, the mind sort of says, oh, so... In the session, you know, the other side of the year, in December. That was many years ago. We brought up the story, the teaching, to say that it's like this, has a head on top of your head. Yeah. I don't need another head. Not this, is seeking life by cutting your head off. So how do you find the place between saying that this is it, saying that this is presence, and saying this is not presence? That place in between, in a sense, is what presence is. Before you add presence to presence, find somehow, settle into that place.

[61:50]

And it's kind of subtle. That's why I brought it up that if we talk about this and it's like somebody might be telling you to be present. Trying to be present to get something. So the addiction is to do things to get things. That's our normal thing. Like enlightenment. Yeah, like enlightenment. Or like to try to get presence. So how can we practice presence at the same time that we kind of like let go of stop the trying to get something out of being present. So you're articulating the subtlety of it. Thank you. So we have this, again, you've heard Siddharth Gurshe say to without any gaining idea. So again, we can say, okay, we're going to wholeheartedly sit. So then people say, I'm going to do wholeheartedly sitting. But then it's like there's a hint of trying to get something, trying to get the wholehearted sitting that you're going to get by doing wholehearted sitting.

[62:57]

So how can we wholeheartedly do something without adding anything to what we're doing? This is not so easy to understand. But that's the precept. That's the instruction, is to try to wholeheartedly be here and let go of any to get something out of being here, including to get being here out of it. And the ritual of sitting still is an enactment And even if you don't... The sitting still is actually not trying to get anything. You may be trying to get something out of sitting still, but your sitting still is not trying to get anything.

[63:58]

It's actually doing the job for you. When I was a kid, there was this one bread company that said, such and such cup of bread, baked while you sleep. So, you know, zazen is working for you even while you're sleeping, but also while you're trying to get something out of zazen, zazen is sitting there, you know, working for you. And this practice is so simple that it's you know, almost intolerable. Because it's so simple. The mind, how's the mind going to get a hold of it or how's the mind going to get anything out of it?

[65:03]

And when you sense that, that's a slight leaning away from it, which you can be kind to and let go of. Or you can wallow in it. And again, if you hear somebody say, you know, again, like Sri Guruji would say, our practice is just to be yourself, then I would say, well, when you say that, I feel like you're telling me to do something other than be myself. Or somebody might say, well, you don't have to make an effort to be yourself.

[66:08]

And in a sense that's true, but in our sense you do because you're an effortful being. You're always making an effort, so part of being yourself is effort. But in a way you don't have to make an effort to be yourself. But in a way, you do have to make an effort to be yourself because you are making an effort. So if you're not making an effort, you're not being yourself. You are making an effort all the time. And whether you accept that or not, you're still that way. But if you don't accept it, somehow, there's a little bit of resistance, which is another kind of effort. Please come. I think I heard that that's to do with container consciousness and is to do with the sense organs.

[67:49]

Is that right? Did I hear that? No, not quite. I said that there's a term in the early teachings I say in English as restrain the senses. Right. And the translation of that is sambhara indriya. Right. And I had trouble with that because I thought, well, how can you restrain your seeing? How can you restrain your eye? What it means is restrain addictive responses, addictive acting around your seeing. Right. But the container consciousness is the result of our past action, which is unconsciously supporting our present conversation here. And by practicing these precepts, this container consciousness can be totally transformed into Buddhahood.

[68:56]

Where does the appropriating consciousness come into that? Appropriating consciousness is another name for the container consciousness at the moment of birth. Why is there that duality there? Because the container consciousness is connected to the body, and when the body you know, disintegrates, the container consciousness also is no longer functioning. And so at the time of a new life, consciousness connects to the body. Appropriating consciousness. And at that moment it's called the appropriating consciousness, that the first moment of the consciousness which carries the results of karma, which is the results of karma, connecting to a body, is called the appropriating consciousness.

[70:05]

Why is there duality there? Between the body and the mind? Between the non-moment and the first moment of the body. Why is there duality? There's a difference between the non-moment and the first moment. There's a different name for it. There's a container consciousness, which is to do with the body, and there's an appropriating consciousness, which is to do with the birth of the body. No, they both have to do with the body, both of them. Why a different name? Well, it's partly because in the... Earlier teachings, there was a type of consciousness which was called birth consciousness, and it was said to be an active state of consciousness.

[71:07]

As opposed to? As opposed to an unconscious. Which is an active consciousness in terms of karma? No. The unconscious, the storehouse consciousness, is the support for the active consciousnesses. It doesn't have objects like colors and sounds and smells. The unconscious doesn't. But the unconscious is the actual one that carries the karma. The active consciousnesses. The active consciousnesses don't transmit the karma. They are the karma. So in earlier Buddhism it's said that the first moment of consciousness at the time of birth was an active consciousness. But this teaching is saying it's not an active consciousness. The first consciousness is an unconscious, is the storehouse consciousness. That's why they use a different word for the first one than the succeeding ones.

[72:11]

Because in early Buddhism they did that too. They said this first consciousness, which is called the birth consciousness, is the first consciousness. So the duality is in one's doing something and the other one isn't? The duality is between conscious and unconscious. That's the duality. Why is there a duality? Why is the mind constructed that way? I don't know actually why the mind has evolved that way. that there's a... I don't know why it is that there's an active consciousness which does karma and then... consciousness which carries the results of the karma. I don't know why that is. Something to study maybe. Yeah. I don't want to go back to telling that.

[73:16]

I hope so. Thank you. Can Shambhara be a synonym for presence? Yeah, that'd be fine. So those presets come down from presence as a first condition. Well, the second two precepts, which contain all the practices which support the bodhisattva's evolution and all the ways the bodhisattva serves beings, those practices are based on the precept of presence.

[74:31]

Please come. Did you say that the thing that takes us away from presence is always addiction? Did I say it's always addiction? I don't think, I don't know if I said always. I just say that, put it the other way, The things we do, yeah, to veer away from the presence, I would call those addictions. Or behavior that goes, that sort of isn't mindful of what's happening right here and is sort of going someplace else, I would say that's an addiction. So what is the addiction to? What is the addiction to? Is it like addiction to having a self?

[75:52]

She said, what is the addiction to? How the addiction is from. Yeah, so, you could say, you could say that the addiction is to a self because it's a running away from reality. And maybe it's running towards that there would be some... Maybe in the present, we sense when we're present, there's nothing to get out of life. And then we think, well, wait a minute, that's not going to work. I've got to go someplace where I can get something. And I know some things I can get. We sometimes say those things are the addiction. things we go get, like drugs, alcohol, power, sex, work, fame, those things, but basically it's just, they're all sort of going away from the same place, namely here and now.

[77:06]

Because in here and now we have trouble getting a hold of anything. And then we think, that's not going to work. We can't live without getting a hold of something, can we? Addictions always seem to be about filling. Yeah, filling. Something seems to be missing, so we've got to go get something to fill it. Or at least get a major distraction from the discomfort that there's something missing and something's empty. And there's nothing wrong with that, that there's something threatening about that there's nothing to get a hold of, rather than that that's a liberating reality. Can one be addicted to helping others?

[78:16]

Definitely. That would be that you would be trying to help others, which is good, but not doing that based on this first precept. What does it look like when you're doing it based on the first precept? Well, you're not trying to get anything. And you're not going any place to do anything. You're actually not doing anything. Like Gringolch? Like Gringolch, yeah. Like wherever you are. And then there's trainings about how does the Bodhisattva help people? By not grasping that they're helping people. And that way of helping people is comfortable for somebody who's practicing the ethics of restraint. So you can help people, but you don't get to... Like somebody said to me, do Zen people practice?

[79:19]

Somebody said, they do, but they don't get to have it. So we can help people, but we don't get to have the people we help, or we don't get to have the helping we're doing. With the ethics of a strength, we can work hard for people without getting anything out of it. And of course, also without not getting anything out of it. So it's possible to help people, actually help them and encourage them with a bodhisattvic way. namely in a gaining way. You can still help people. But to help them the way bodhisattva wants to help them is to help them in such a way that while you're helping them, you're also transmitting the bodhisattva practice to them. So you're not just benefiting them, you're also giving them seeds of dharma at the same time.

[80:24]

Namely, like I said, your service is your presence and your presence is your service. But you can be of service, that's bodhisattvas, but you can be of service to people and not give them. You're leaning into the service before you've actually found your feet on the ground. Like that story of the apprentices. You know that story of the apprentices? You don't know? Maybe I do. Excuse me. The story of the acrobats. Remember that story? Yes. I say the apprentices because it's a story about an acrobat and an acrobat's apprenticed. Do you know that story? You don't? Want to hear it? Once there was two acrobats. Laughter And one of the acrobats was an apprenticed acrobat.

[81:39]

And apparently one was also the father and one was the daughter. And the daughter's name was Frying Pan. and they're called bamboo. So the teacher says to the apprentice, now, you take care of me. You serve me, and I'll serve you. And the apprentice says, excuse me, venerable teacher, but you have it backwards. You take care of yourself, and I'll take care of myself, and this way we can help each other. And the Buddha said, the Buddha told the story, and then the Buddha comments on the story and is saying, the apprentice is right. First take care of yourself so that you can take care of yourself. So first you practice the precept of restraint. Then you can help others.

[82:49]

Now you can try to help others before you practice taking care of yourself, but you'll be less effective. So if you're a Father, first of all, you put your feet on the ground, Father, so that I can stand on your shoulders. Don't be concentrating on me. Concentrate on your feet. I need you to be there taking care of yourself so that you can help me. So Buddha says, so how do you take care of yourself? Well, you take care of yourself by practicing mindfulness of your situation and not being distracted from where you are. And then how do you take care of others? By being non-violent. and non-greedy, no ill will, patient. That's the way to help others. But if you try to practice that way with yourself and notice what's going on with you, it won't be so effective. So you can try to help others and you can be somewhat successful. But first of all, restrain yourself from leaning into the help.

[83:56]

address where you are, be yourself, and then from there do these practices. And these practices of helping others, the Buddha also said, so you take care of yourself so you can take care of others, and you take care of others to take care of yourself. When you're patient and kind to others, so it's a circle. But it starts with, number one is the precept of restraint, of discipline. of taking care of the things which nobody else can take care of for you, like your posture. Take care of your posture, not taking care of other people's posture. Again, put your oxygen mask on first before you try to put somebody else's on. Now when you put somebody else's oxygen mask on, that really makes you very happy to put it on them. But you should have yours on first so that if you have any trouble, you can hang in there.

[85:05]

Because you've got your air in your lungs and so on. Okay? Now you know the story. Did you know that before? But you didn't. Thank you, Charlie, for listening. Please come, Skyler. When does the idea of nothing to get a hold of switch from being threatening to being liberating? When does it switch? I think usually it switches after being present with the feeling of threat and, you know, at the moment of being present and then feeling the threat come and being present with the threat, you're actually practicing the instruction of being present and then when the threat comes you receive it and practice it again.

[86:47]

And every time you do that you're kind of like receiving that teaching again and practicing it with your active consciousness and you're simultaneously changing your past which is going to support now more and more practicing your presence is evolving and evolving and at a certain point you become completely present. And which is similar to you become very familiar with the threat. because you've been spending so much presence with it, with presence over and over. So now it actually is like really you're kind of your best friend. It kind of sounds like getting a hold of the threat. Getting a hold of it? Yeah. in the process of being present and having this visitor come, this threat. So actually two things are coming.

[87:53]

One is you're present and what comes is not getting a hold of anything. Insubstantiality comes. I forgot to mention that. So you're present and this insubstantiality comes. Ungraspability of things starts to manifest itself to you. The threat then comes along with that. The threat's kind of like a demon. The threat says, you can get a hold of me. You can't get a hold of that, but you can get a hold of me. But you don't, maybe. You just stay there and say, okay, I know I can get a hold of you. I know I can't get a hold of that, but I'm not going to get a hold of either one of you. And you just keep passing on the opportunity to getting a hold of the threat over and over. And then it'd be just you and un-gospability, which you know you can't grasp. And now you're really convinced because the demon of threat's not there anymore, you know, making a lot of noise. So it's just you and un-gospability in silence and stillness.

[88:56]

And like totally a thing, other than be totally free. And I can't even get a hold of that. And no demons are even coming to scare me anymore. I kind of miss them, but anyway, they're not coming. I gave them attention, but they felt like their function here was useless, which it was. That's the story. Come back again, I'll tell a different one. Yesterday, at the beginning of the maintenance meeting, I was asked to read something.

[89:59]

And it turned out to be... The Cat, The Killing of the Cat. I've forgotten the man's name. Non-Swan's Killing of the Cat. So we read that and it generated a discussion about killing. And one, what is killing? My sense was it's ending something's life. So we had a variety of different views on it, and there was a Native American view of you took life in order to continue your own. You had to eat, and if you didn't eat, you would die, and so forth. But I left that conversation feeling inflexible because I found that my view was there's actually no accepted reason for killing. that the rule is no killing. So, sitting in here today listening to this, I thought, oh, that's sort of like... I've sort of grabbed hold of this no killing, and now I'm not going to let go of it, no matter what.

[91:05]

And yet, it's very clear, Buddha was very clear there's no killing. And he didn't say accept, or when, or under what circumstances. It's no killing. So... Well, I think it's great that you notice some, did you say rigidity in yourself? Yeah. Some kind of tenseness? Yeah. Yeah. So I think that that's wonderful that you notice that into that rigidity around this. So how can you have this precept which is no killing or, you know, life is not killed. Right. Life is not killed. That's the teaching of the Buddha. Life is not killed. So how can you hear that teaching and be relaxed with it?

[92:07]

Relaxed but not distracted. Be present with that teaching and take care of that teaching and be relaxed with it. By spending some time with it yesterday, you spend enough time with it so that you notice there's some rigidity. And then again, how can you be present with that rigidity and relax with that rigidity, even if it lasts? And then if you can relax with that, then maybe you can relax with this precept. Relaxed, open presence with this precept, you will realize what not killing means. Yeah, it would be good. It is good. Thank you. You're welcome. How long did this discussion go on? I think there was 10 or 15 minutes left at the end of the... Recently, in Zazen, I was kind of assaulted by a lot of afflictive states.

[93:49]

It's been going on for a while, more than just like a period or something. Probably a long period of time. Seems like quite a long period of time. I was noticing about these afflictive states that they require an object, that that's a constant thing, that it's impossible to have an afflictive state without. So I was wondering about addiction and objects and the relationship between addiction and objects. and whether or not addiction and objects might be synonyms. Well, do you mean objects that are external to the subject? To say internal to the subject isn't meaningful in a sense, because they would have to be the same thing.

[94:55]

To say internal is subject wouldn't be meaningful, but there could be an object without the objects understood as external. In other words, there could be a mind which has objects, but the objects are mental constructions. So the objects are the consciousness, but the consciousness is such that consciousness is generated with objects. But the objects are not outside the consciousness, but the consciousness construes its own self in the objective realm of itself as external, which is an affliction. Right. However, when the object is not seen as external, then there's no affliction. An object is not seen as an external. How is it seen? Is it seen as an object?

[95:59]

Again, that koan we did before. What's before your mind? There's no things before the mind. Isn't that objectifying the mind? If you do, then that's affliction. Did you do it? You know what I said? I just said it. So the teaching is anyway, when objects are understood as mind, really, deeply understood as thought constructions, when you actually... When you said you didn't do it, what did you mean by that? I just said those words, and you said, isn't that objectifying? And I said, no, I didn't objectify, I just said those words. But I wasn't saying... I was asking about... I was asking about perceiving an object.

[97:11]

Yes, and I'm saying that objects can be perceived with the understanding... that the objects are mental constructions, they're not external to the mind, but they appear to be. And the appearance, if believed, is affliction. That's the definition of affliction. Because once they appear to be external, then they're attached to it, and it causes suffering. It's contradictory to me that you could see an object as not being external. It's contradictory that you could see an object as not external. Well, I guess that... So what is to see... to see something without either... I mean, if you see an object, how could you see an object without having a subject? It's not... You do have a subject.

[98:15]

What's the subject? Subject is consciousness. Consciousness It has a subjective part and an objective part. Right. But the way the objective part appears to the subjective part is that it appears to be external to the mind, but it's not. It is the mind. The mind appears to itself. The mind can appear to itself. The mind is aware of itself, but in a deceptive way. It's aware of itself and it thinks itself is something external to itself. That's the basis of affliction. And it thinks that separation is actually a substantial thing. That's the base. And then therefore it can grasp, it can grasp the object and attach to it. Suffering. And then earlier you asked me something about, you said, did I, what did you say, did I, you said, did I do something? I don't know what you mean.

[99:16]

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. There's a microphone for some speakers. So everything is mind created. so see that object as a mind construction. You live life like that. Your wife, Lusa, you see her as your mind creation.

[100:25]

You mean do I aspire to see her as my mind creation? Well, if you wonder, what should we do about that? You are not answering my question. I'm not answering your question, but I'm responding to you. Are you trying to get an answer? I was. So I heard you say you're wondering how I interact with her. So how are you going to find out? If you watch, will you be able to see? If you ask her, will she be able to tell you? Yeah, and if I tell you, so you want to hear my story and her story?

[101:36]

My story is that I try to practice what I'm teaching with her. And I also try to practice what I'm teaching with you. That's my story. I don't understand your story. And when you tell me you don't understand my story, I try to practice what I'm teaching with you, telling me you don't understand my story. Like a more... Can I get a little bit more personal? Yes. Can I ask? Like you don't need to answer, but I'm curious. Like a... Like a... Probably... Still you are in love with Lucia, right? In love? Mm-hmm. What do you mean by in love? Like a... You are... Yeah, it's kind of difficult. Yeah. Hmm. I wonder, like a... How you... How you love a person, but what is love is the first question, without having an object and a subject, you know?

[102:49]

Like, maybe it's the purpose of love, but could you give me a little something? Yeah, help me. How do you want me to help you? So, how, like, without subject and object? Like, how... It's not without subject and object. This teaching is not saying that there's no subject and object. As a matter of fact, when you understand this teaching, there's still subject and object. So, when you understand this teaching, there's subject and object. The structure of subject and object is maintained. But there's also non-separation. So first of all, there's just mere concept. In other words, you understand that the person you're talking to has no idea of them. And also you see subject and object. That doesn't go away.

[103:51]

So it's not that there's no subject and object, you just understand that object is not separate from subject. Separate means it's just your conscious construction. Yes, right. That's right. But it still looks like subject and object. There still seems to be duality. So that's why I'm asking how you can somebody is your merely conscious construction. How can you do it? At the time of marriage? Yes. In the ceremony, you mean? Could it be that way too? How could you do it? If you understood? Well, you'd be doing it as part of this and part of this. You'd be doing it as an act of generosity. You'd be doing it as an act of being careful in your relationships with all beings. You'd be doing it as an act of patience.

[104:53]

You'd be doing it as part of the Buddha way. And you'd be doing it with presence. That's how you would get married. But you chose one person. You didn't choose... But now I'm choosing to talk to you. And not talking to anybody else right now. Did I choose this? You were given to me. You came up here and now I'm talking to you. So there is an active... There's something, even though this is, our interaction could be just merely the conscious construction, but something is, there is something to be happening that way. And that part, I don't understand.

[105:55]

there is no you involved when you chose Luther as a wife it's just a mere mother of good again when you say there's no you involved now you're going back to there's no you and no her it's not that there's no you and not it's not that there's no me and no you it's just that in this situation you're here, I'm talking to you. And someone may say, oh, the way they're talking seems good. Or someone might say, the way they're talking doesn't seem so good. Or we may have some problem here. But anyway, we are dealing with each other and there seems to be me and you right now. When you get married to somebody, it isn't just you by yourself choosing that person. It isn't just them choosing you. It isn't just your parents choosing each other.

[107:01]

It isn't just your community. Many things contribute to that. It seems like this would be a reasonable thing to do, to marry, for these two people to get married. I did have this vision. And I hope nobody gets mad at me for saying this. I was looking at her one time. I was over in Berkeley at the University of California in Berkeley and I was looking at her and behind her I saw these two huge wheels like, you know, gears. How they go like this. I saw these two big wheels coming together and going like this. Just an image in my mind, I just felt like this is happening. That's how I think about it. I think I chose her.

[108:02]

or she chose me. I feel like something much bigger comes to make people get married or to have someone be your teacher or someone be your student. Many things come together. And this thing of I choose my wife, I never saw it that way. If somebody else sees it that way, I fell in love with somebody and I chose her to be my wife, okay. But I think behind that person are some big wheels making them think that way. That big wheel is not conscious construction also? It's not bigger than that? And that big wheel is conscious construction. Yes. But do you believe that? I believe what? The big wheel. I believe the big wheel is conscious construction? Yeah. Definitely. You do believe that... I believe the teaching of conscious construction, yes. I don't think there really were wheels out there.

[109:05]

But I saw them, you know, they're just images sort of telling me that, you know, cause and effect were coming together in a certain way. I just felt that. I thought our teaching is not believing in our conscious construction. It's merely the story. You don't believe in the conscious construction. That's right. That helps you deal with conscious constructions. Like, for example, the conscious construction of these wheels. I don't really think these wheels are whole. It tells me that I'm not in control of the universe. Now that sense of I'm not in control of the universe is another conscious construction. And if I understand that, then I don't grasp I'm not in control of the universe. I just gently listen. I listen to the gentle teaching of the Buddhas. You're not in control of the universe. Young fella.

[110:11]

Okay, I hear you. So I didn't grasp that. I don't feel I grasped that. I was guided by that. I was guided to be married, and I continue to be guided to be married. I'm guided in my relationships with all beings. I'm guided by the Buddha's teachings. But how am I guided by the Buddha's teachings? How? Tell me. How am I guided by the Buddha's teachings? by my conscious construction of the Buddha's teaching. The Buddhas are teaching me all day long and they're teaching you all day long. And they're giving you guidance. But how do you deal with that guidance? The guidance is not conscious construction. The guidance is not an object or a subject.

[111:12]

It's wisdom. But when it touches a living being, it gets converted into word images. And then by receiving these word images and relating to them according to other word images, like how to relate to word images with compassion, we receive the teaching. We know it's a conscious construction. But we also have ways... that the message is coming from a place which has realized freedom from conscious construction by understanding it. By understanding conscious construction, then the next step is you let go of the idea of conscious construction. And then, when you let go of it, you understand it, and then you bring the understanding back to conscious construction so that you can do these practices and transform your being completely. And this is a conscious construction. You're welcome.

[112:16]

Thank you very much for your questions. May our intention extend to every place

[112:43]

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