I want to mention at the beginning that there was a meeting scheduled for this morning a long time ago. So one of them has occurred already? No, we canceled it. One was canceled, and the second one is not canceled. I feel like I really should go to the second one. It starts at 10.30, so from 10.30 to 12.30 I'll be having a meeting, so please excuse me from the schedule. Another thing I wanted to say at the beginning was that the inaugural ceremony that was a I think a Christian minister named Dr. Rick something or other from a saddlebag church. Saddleback.

[01:01]

Saddleback. And I understand he was invited, some people think, as a gesture of embracing the right the religious rite. And he started out pretty quickly by talking about, you know, God, my father, and the source of everything. And then he went on, and I thought, oh, that's the view that the Buddha was responding with his teaching on causation. the Buddha feels that that view that God is the source, you know, the actual self-existent source from which things come, that that view is actually a cause of suffering because it gets substantiated.

[02:04]

And in a sense, in a sense, the Buddhist teaching is that the source of everything is not a source. Everything arises in a certain way, but that way it arises is not a source. The way things arise is dependent core arising, but dependent core arising isn't a source. It's not something out there, in there. But the human mind, as it evolved, it developed this substantializing tendency, and it experienced suffering, and then it imagined that the substantial thing, which is out there, which is responsible, or in here, which is responsible for it,

[03:08]

And the Buddha is saying, yes, there is responsibility for suffering, but it's not a substantial thing. It's a... Particularly it's dependent core arising of karma, karmic dependent core arising. And understanding this teaching... dependent core arising, when there's a clear understanding of this teaching, there will be liberation from suffering. When you understand dependent core arising, you understand Dharma. And when you understand the Buddha Dharma, you understand Buddha. When you see dependent core arising, you see the Dharma.

[04:11]

When you see the Dharma, you see the Buddha. Many Buddhas stood before human beings, apparently in history, and they saw this person, but because some of them didn't understand dependent core arising, what they saw was a substantialized person. They saw a projection of substance onto the Buddha. So they didn't see the Buddha because they didn't see dependent core arising when they looked at the Buddha. So what we can do in this practice is, following the example of ancient students, is we can study and analyze causation. We can study and analyze teachings of causation, statements about causation, but we can remember while we're studying, we can remember while we're studying

[05:24]

not to attach to the linguistic expression of the statements. We can study linguistic expressions and remember the caveat to not attach to these things we're studying. We can imagine dependent co-arising with the warning not to make the image of dependent core rising something substantial. But it's difficult. It's difficult just to listen to and imagine these teachings. requires quite a bit of calm and devotion on a consistent basis. And then to also notice the linguistic form and the attachment to it is also difficult, but not impossible.

[06:37]

in this universe for us to do this study. And we need encouragement. So there's a slight difference in the Buddha Dharma, in the practice of the Buddha Dharma between wanting and asking Buddhas and bodhisattvas to help us, free us from the karmic effects of suffering. I mean the karmic effects which are suffering. To ask the Buddhas to help us is not to ask them who made the suffering to lighten up. The Buddha is not causing our suffering. The bodhisattvas are not punishing us for our karma or whatever. They are encouraging us to study. They're encouraging us to practice. cannot come in and take people's karmic obstructions away, take people's suffering away.

[07:46]

They can intervene with teachings. We may wish to invite them to help us. In fact, we do need help to consistently study causation. and there is help. And if we invite it, we'll feel it and use it and receive it. I have begun to bring up these teachings on causation and I mentioned before that the two main types that I've been talking about so far are basically the type which describe the process of bondage, entrapment and suffering and then describe the process of reversing that.

[08:53]

to liberation. That's one kind of teaching and that's particularly the type of teaching of the twelvefold links of causation taught by the Buddha. There's another kind of causation which is like the second part of the first type but doesn't necessarily use that type of description. which is the causation of practice and wholehearted practice as the path of liberation. Slightly different with not so much description of the psychological processes of entrapment. I also have been, just I wanted to, I was thinking about maybe talking about it last Sunday and this is the dichotomy or this dilemma which comes up for me and for others which is sometimes described as the wide way and the narrow way.

[10:12]

The wide... Former Zen Center abbot Richard Baker used to speak of mercy Buddhism and transmission Buddhism. So in Mercy Buddhism, you're concerned about helping as many people as fully as possible, which sounds perfectly fine. In Transmission Buddhism, I'd say you're also concerned with helping as many people as fully as possible. What's the difference? The difference looks a little bit like what sometimes is called the granting way and the grasping way.

[11:28]

The granting way, I think, may be associated with the wide way of practicing, the seemingly wide way, and the other way, the narrow way. And reading Middlemarch recently, around the time when I told you that her baby as the Buddha in Western form, she also said something about, or somebody also said, you know, surely it's better to pardon too much than to condemn to... Surely it's better to err on the side of pardoning than to err on the side of condemnation, to err too much condemnation.

[12:35]

He didn't say exactly it's better to... He didn't go so far as to say it's better to pardon than to condemn. Sometimes pardoning is right, sometimes condemning is right. But in a way, pardoning is more where it's at. So it's okay to overdo pardoning. Condemning, no, that's really terrible. But in a way, you know, if you look at the stories of the people who supposedly are the exemplars of the transmission of Dharma, in their stories, there are sometimes stories which look like real strong condemnation for these very advanced practitioners and occasionally overdoing it.

[13:39]

So in being upright, I mentioned the story of the great and powerful Zen teacher, Hakuin. And he actually retired, I heard. The rumor is he retired when he was 58 because he couldn't say no anymore. He couldn't condemn the student to, no, that's not it, or whatever, you know. So he retired to let his disciples, who could still say no, train the other disciples. And I remember I was talking to Suzuki Rishi's son one time. He was talking about this wide way and narrow way. And he said something which, you know, really it hurt to hear him say it. He said, you can't do both.

[14:46]

I'd like to do both. And one time a senior student at Zen Center said to me, she said, I'm doing the wide way, you're doing the narrow way. I kind of want to do the wide way, but I also want to do the narrow way. under the way which really looks carefully about whether we understand each other. And by the way, whether we understand at hand here. To look carefully at whether we're really being thorough. And even discussing this on Sunday, I thought, well, if I... The people on Sunday will think that they're excluded from the narrow way. And they'll feel like Zen Center's got this narrow way and we do wide way on Sunday or something.

[15:51]

So it's part of the difficulty. tradition about this apparently different, this apparent difference between wide and narrow. And this study of causation is kind of in the discussion of causation is part of being thorough about the teaching. A lot of people study Buddhism and hear the word causation, the teaching of cause and effect. The minute analysis of moral action, which is part of monastic practice. I don't live in a monastery. I don't live with people who are paying attention to where I put my shoes. They pay attention to, you know, how many clients I have or that kind of thing, but they don't pay attention to

[16:56]

all aspects of my life. So I'm excluded from that kind of attention to detail. So it's painful to feel like you're, by being concentrated on something, you're excluding anybody. The thing is that the, I don't know if it's got to be funny, but And I also heard somebody say to me one time about a Zen Center. He said, that Zen Center is like, I don't know how I put it, but that Zen Center is not into outreach at all. They're just into enlightenment. But enlightenment is nothing but outreach. That's what enlightenment is. Totally, it's nothing but outreach. Outreach towards others and others outreach to you.

[18:05]

That's what it is. In the morning we put on this robe and not everybody here has a robe to put on. You have to go through initiation to have a robe. So having a robe is even kind of a little bit of a narrowing. But anyway, there it is. We put it on and what do we say? We wrap ourselves in the Tathagata's teaching and save all beings. We wear the robe and wearing the robe is putting on the Buddha's teaching and saving all beings. And often at shiso ceremonies, especially at Tassajara, people ask the shiso, what is this ceremony and this practice here in this valley got to do with helping all beings? It's like, how does us sitting here in this quiet valley in this fresh air, in this clean water, with nice people, how does this save all beings?

[19:11]

And what we're doing at Toph's Hour is saving all beings. That's the proposal. This is saving all beings. This is what we're doing to save all beings. But how? By doing it is how. If you leave Tassajara and go to Salinas, into Deniz, and sit down, somebody could come up to you and say, how is you being in Deniz saving all beings? The way you are in Deniz actually is how is saving all beings. So in both situations, in the monastery and in Denny's, in both situations, how is this saved in all beings? But I don't think there's much, well, within Mahayana, for Bodhisattvas, there's not really debate about what is the name of the game, wherever you are.

[20:23]

And yet, there are certain situations where people are asking you, what has this got to do with saving all beings? and not very many people can be in the room when that question is being asked. How is being in the room when this question is being asked helping those who are not in the room when the question is not being asked? This is a painful dilemma I want to share with you. I soothe myself when I repeat myself with the thought that religion is about repetition.

[21:50]

In a way, I apologize to you for saying the same thing over and over, but I feel a need to do so. So again, I say that this deep faith in cause and effect for me is being mindful that every action has consequence. If you hear about the teaching of the Buddha that every action, every karma has consequence, If you hear that teaching and you think, cool, at that moment there's a little bit of faith. But if you just forget about it the rest of the day, your faith is not very deep, I would say. If you hear that teaching and you remember it moment after moment, that's deep faith in cause and effect.

[22:58]

When I speak or when you speak and you know that this speech has a consequence, that's deep faith in cause and effect. And that's essential. Essential in the Buddha way. That kind of faith causes a positive evolution of these actions all at once. and again I've said this before, is that when our action is not wholehearted, then our action does not realize enlightenment.

[24:31]

When our practice of the Buddha way is not wholehearted, our practice does not realize the Buddha way. When our practice is wholehearted, then our practice does realize the Buddha way. And there's no other way to realize the Buddha way besides practice. But the practice Which is the same as to say when we practice selflessly, that practice realizes the Buddha way. And there's no other way to realize the Buddha way than selfless practice. The Buddha way is selfless. The Buddha way is selfless action. The Buddha way is action. Selfless action. And selfless action is not my action. but my action must be selfless action for it to be the Buddha way.

[25:39]

For my action to be selfless action is for my action not to be my action, but our action. And when we act wholeheartedly, we are not sunk into an individual action separate from others' action. That's part of wholeheartedness. That's why we have Sangha. This kind of wholehearted practice can only be done together with other wholehearted practitioners. In other words, the Buddhist practice ...with Buddha's practice. Sentient beings' practice is not wholehearted. Buddha's practice with sentient beings who are not wholehearted. Wholehearted beings practice with beings who are not wholehearted, who do not realize wholeheartedness. They really are wholehearted but they don't realize it because they don't think.

[26:44]

that every action has consequence enough, often enough. Wholehearted beings practice with beings who are not wholehearted but they also have to find beings who are wholehearted. The fullness of the practice is not realized until the wholehearted practice together with wholehearted. They need this and they need everybody to join that process. And the word of the Lotus Sutra is everybody will join this wholeheartedness. And this is a causal situation. And the focus of the cause is this deep faith in action. How this works, how the action has consequence, according to the Buddha, is orderly and effective because causes are not causes unless they have effect.

[28:05]

And intention is a big deal. Now you may think, well, there's a lot of intentions in this world right now. Yes. But still, each one is a big deal. is an amazing thing. Each of our moments, the intentions each of us have right now are miracles. They have power. They make, they have effects for ourselves and the world. Each of us is thinking now and this thinking will affect the next moment and affects the production of the world together with everybody else. The way this works is orderly and effective. And there was, I think, other schools which said causation, other schools around Buddha's time which said causation was orderly and effective.

[29:10]

But they said there was a fundamental to rely on. Buddha said we have a an impermanent, pulsating, constantly changing process that is orderly, effective. It wouldn't exist if it wasn't effective. Its existence is its cause and effect and it's orderly and there's no mental that it's based on. Sentient beings are connected to this and so are Buddhas. or sentient beings who have karmic consciousness, who have thinking consciousness. It's boundless, unclear, and there's no fundamental to rely on. And to some extent, they think there is a fundamental to rely on, but there isn't.

[30:13]

The consciousness which gives rise to the idea that there's a fundamental to rely on is karmic consciousness. Those who study karmic consciousness by listening to the teaching and applying it to their action become Buddhas. They don't just have karmic consciousness. They have no fundamental to rely on. They have enlightened consciousness, which is not theirs. which is boundless and clear and has no fundamental to rely on. So Buddhas and sentient beings have consciousnesses which have no fundamental to rely on. One is clear, the other is unclear. They're both connected to an orderly process of change which has no fundamental.

[31:24]

And in this process, the Buddha is saying there is a possibility of freedom if you understand causation. Bondage is a causal process. It's not random. It's not completely random. Another difficult point to clarify in the transmission of the Dharma, and some people might feel that this is not the wide way to mention this, but I appreciate the perspective of the Lotus Sutra that nirvana is a great skill and means I feel uncomfortable that a lot of students of the Buddha think and or believe that the point of Buddhism or that the final point of Buddhism is liberation.

[32:45]

Skill and means is part of the point of Buddhism and Nirvana is one of the kinds of skill and means. Freedom means of Buddhism. It's not the final point. The final point is being devoted to freeing others. And being free of and being free of the processes of bondage and suffering. allows the work, the play, the way of liberating others so that they can liberate others. I'm feeling that for the Bodhisattva, the goal is not personal liberation.

[33:47]

It's liberating others. The goal is Buddhahood. Buddhahood is not liberating myself, Buddhahood is liberating others. And liberating myself is a skill and means to liberating others. And I think that's kind of a difficult point. And like I say, a lot of people that I respect greatly would say that the goal of Buddhism is, don't say a goal of Buddhism, but the goal of Buddhism is nirvana. Or nirvana in the form of freedom. I don't quite understand when you're saying that about the Buddha.

[35:05]

Could you come up here? We'll bring you up here. Thank you. That you're saying that about the goals of the Buddha or for liberating others, I thought that was the bodhisattva. The Buddha was about the enlightenment. I thought those were two different distinct levels. The Buddha and the Bodhisattva are both concerned about liberating others. Yes. The Buddha and the Bodhisattva are both concerned about enlightenment and both concerned about realizing Buddhahood. However, if you look at history, the Buddha did spend time practicing with and supporting people to become arhats. So some people describe the historical Buddha as a person whose job description was making arhats.

[36:09]

So again, the first scripture, at the end of the first scripture, listening attains stream entry. entered the Noble Path, had an enlightenment experience. His name was Kundinya. According to some accounts, within a few weeks, all the people in that suboriginal group of five and had stream entry, and within about a month or so, all of them had attained arhatship. So the Buddha worked to have these people become free. So there is this skillful means. And some people thought that the point, the point of the Buddha is to make these people who are free. So it looks like that. But another view is the point of the Buddha is to make Buddhas.

[37:19]

That's the Mahayana point of view. Bodhisattvas want to make Buddhas. So, what question do you have now? Many more. Any more? Okay. Want to ask one more? No. How about here? I have two questions for you that will help you, that will help me. Translate your stories into stories that I can better understand. Okay. The first is about causation. For a long time, we don't talk about cause and effect anymore. We talk about necessary and sufficient conditions. So if you can help me translate what you've said about causation into that language, perhaps. So if an action... has consequence. It means that this action might be a necessary part of a sufficient condition that will produce certain effect.

[38:31]

Is that so? To talk about, to talk in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions is fine. Okay. And about necessary and sufficient conditions, for example, intention. which is the definition of karma. And what kind of, what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for the effect of suffering? Yes. And what are the necessary sufficient conditions for the effect of awakening and liberation? So then my question is, does a certain intention together with all the other conditions that need to be in place for a certain effect, does all that together necessitate the effect? Is this a determinist doctrine, as it were? It's not determinist. Buddhism is not determinist.

[39:34]

It's conditional. It's a teaching of determinism. Okay, so the causes or the conditions, they're more like tendencies, not necessitating the effect? Well, necessary means that this effect requires this? No, that's sufficient. Yeah. And does necessary mean that this must happen? Yeah, if this happened, that must happen. And for this to happen, this must happen? No, that would be . Okay. Sufficient would be that. So you want to know, is there something necessary for the cause of suffering? Yeah, if what we think of as suffering, which would be, for example, an intention plus some other conditions, if that necessitates the effect, if the effect is unavoidable given those conditions.

[40:52]

If it is unavoidable given that condition, that necessary condition, is that the definition of determinism? Yeah. Whatever happens happens by necessity. And I would say, no. Thank you. Then my second translation. When you say that wholehearted practice requires that we practice together with other beings that also practice whole. Is this restricted to sentient beings or human beings only? Or do you include in beings here artifacts and trees and stones? I do, but I think that it is necessary to have, for a human being, to have another human being, at least one.

[42:35]

Is there other place to say that? non-sentient beings are can be wholehearted is that as far as i know non-sentient beings do not know how to be half-hearted to be hmm-hearted, where hmm is neither half nor whole. Or hearted might not be applicable to them if they don't have a heart. Yeah, it's hard to apply heart or mind to them if we don't understand that they have heart or mind. Therefore, in that sense, they do not suffer the way beings who can imagine half-heartedness can suffer. And in that sense, they're not afraid if they don't have heart or mind. In that sense, they won't be violent. Anyway, not violent in the way that living beings can be.

[43:41]

You could say volcanoes are violent, you could say. Or sunspots are violent. That's our attributions. Yeah. Projections. that we would experience as violence to us if we were in the neighborhood. But I don't know that the volcano suffers in its tremendous explosion. But I think that being in their violent explosion, it's coming from violence, coming from fear. And they suffer. Now, if you say, what about somebody who just wants to run really hard? Could that... out of something other than fear?

[44:43]

I think that could. even though it has this tremendous explosion of energy, I think it could come from wholeheartedness. And I think when I see that kind of thing, I'm deeply encouraged. And I can see a tremendous expression of energy that I don't feel is coming from fear. So it's kind, actually. It's encouraging. to show the example that it's possible to live that fully in that way. And also not thinking that the person, they don't even think they're doing it by themselves, with the fullness of it. They feel how everything's supporting them for this performance. So it's both wholehearted and selfless. It's both wholehearted and selfless. And it's kind of like something to be careful of because so much energy is being expressed.

[45:45]

But the person who's expressing it, their wholeheartedness includes that they're careful. They're mindful of the form that they're performing. so that they can perform it. And if they aren't, you know, they pull tendons and rip muscles and things like that. So they have to really be attentive in order to express themselves this fully. And in the descriptions I've heard of people doing these performances, they were doing at that time, and they're usually just concentrating on the form. of the running or whatever. They're just keeping their feet balanced, not pronating or supinating and that kind of thing. They're actually just concentrating on the form completely. There's no form. And then they don't get hurt and they don't hurt anybody and they do this amazing thing.

[46:47]

And they're very calm and relaxed. A ceremony? It's a ceremony. And in that ceremony they realize selflessness. So it's It's a great moment for them. And I think in that space, there's nothing about winning for them or beating anybody in that place. It's just that they're fully expressing themselves, perhaps. And there could be somebody else fully expressing themselves next to them who beats them. Or there could be someone next to them who fully expresses themselves who doesn't beat them. But both of them in full expression are not thinking about beating anybody. They're working together with everybody. In that, in that, that is that. So a runner practicing by him or herself.

[47:49]

Hmm? A runner practicing, practicing running? Yes. By him or herself? couldn't really do it wholeheartedly. Anybody who thinks they're running by themselves, who has that view, and who doesn't, anybody who has that view and holds it, isn't running selflessly. I think what you just said answers my questions already. Could you hear her? What Rev just said in answer to Bengt, I think may be my answer too, but I want to say it anyway.

[48:54]

I feel when I'm saying that I'm helping others, I'm making a distinction between myself and others. And also, especially selflessly, if I'm selflessly helping others, I should not put the self on the others. I think that if I'm using those words, other, automatically I'm, you know, talking about other selves. Yeah, well you can talk about other selves, and if you do it wholeheartedly, you don't think the other selves are separate from you. like I can say Re-rin without, if I do it wholeheartedly, I do not comprehend a Re-rin separate from my, from that verbal expression, hello, Re-rin. There's just Re-rin and the expression, they're all part of the event.

[49:56]

Now I can also say hello, Re-rin when you're not in the room, but that can also happen. But now with you in the room, I can say, hello, Rei Ren, wholeheartedly, without believing that there's a separation between us. So the helping would be an event that's happening with both of us, of the others and... It happens together, and it also happens, it's fully realized when there's an understanding that the other is yourself. That's what's helping. Just like putting on the robe is saving all beings. Is that it? Yes. In the matter of freeing beings and intentionally wanting to free beings, you want to free animals.

[51:17]

If people want to free animals, is that the same as wanting to free sentient beings? Yeah. I mean, yes. Animals are sentient beings. We can see that they're half-hearted sometimes. We can see that they're afraid. And we can... when they're afraid. And Razi's, for example, a very frightened young...

[51:46]

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