Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva asked the Buddha, Bhagavan, how do Bodhisattvas train in these six bases of training? Avalokiteshvara, Bodhisattvas train aspects. Initially, they have great conviction in the Bodhisattva teachings that teach the sacred doctrine, including the perfections. Through the ten doctrinal practices, they achieve the wisdom arisen from listening, reflecting, meditating. They safeguard the mind of enlightenment They rely on and they apply themselves ceaselessly to a virtuous course.

[01:06]

Do you remember those five? Well, first, they have confidence in bodhisattva teachings which include these six bases of training. There's other bodhisattva teachings, there's other teachings for bodhisattvas, but in training in these six, They have confidence in teachings about these six plus their bodhisattva instruction. What else do they do? They study the teachings. They have confidence in the teachings. They study the teachings. The teachings on the six perfections, they study them. and they study other Mahayana teachings. And they study them over and over so that they can remember them.

[02:37]

And then they do these teachings, they meditate on them and develop three kinds of wisdom. Wisdom from hearing and seeing the teaching. Wisdom from reflecting on the understanding that comes through hearing and seeing and then wisdom which arises from entering into concentration with the insights, the previous insights. And they rely on spiritual guides and they take the mind of enlightenment which they take care of the mind of enlightenment in practicing these six bases of training. And these six bases of training are the way to take care of the mind of enlightenment. So it's kind of the same thing. By practicing these six, you take care of the mind of enlightenment.

[03:46]

And these six practices are the way to take care of the mind of enlightenment. the wish to attain Buddhahood for the welfare of all. And they apply themselves ceaselessly to a virtuous course. Any questions? and doctrinal practices. I forgot. So what you're talking about is how bodhisattva's train is perfection. What is the middle way in ceaselessness?

[04:55]

What is the middle way in ceaselessness? To not exaggerate ceaselessness or underestimate it. Any further questions at this time about that? I'm just trying to embody it somehow. Turn to embodied ceaselessness or the middle way? The concept of ceaselessness and the middle way. Well, it didn't say the middle way, it said the virtuous course. A virtuous course. Now, it could be the middle way, but it's also saying to practice these virtues ceaselessly. But if you add in the middle way, then that would be applied to the way you'd be practicing these. But putting the middle aside and over into the wisdom area, how about being ceaseless about the virtues?

[06:09]

How about ceaseless giving? That's ceaseless giving. Not easy, but simple. Just be mindful to make all actions of body, speech, and mind just, what do you call it, specify them, dedicate them as gifts. like now I'm speaking to you, I would need to be mindful that my speech, my words, are offered as gifts. While I'm talking, I also practice giving. If I want to be ceaseless, I can't skip over any of my actions.

[07:15]

Clearing my throat. not killing flies as a gift. Not just restraining murderous impulses, that's a different story in the precept area. But letting them live as a gift, letting the flies be flies and letting me be me. Every moment, giving myself to myself. And be ceaseless about that. And then actions of body, speech, and mind arise from the practice of giving the next moment. An action will arise. And then be mindful of that as giving. and the more I'm mindful of my actions as giving, the more I start to notice that they are giving, they are the practice of giving, they are gifts, and also they're given to me.

[08:36]

I'm given my action. We say take action, but really it's receive action. We have this in Soto Zen, which is called self-receiving. It has a character for receiving, and then it has a character for employing. It's an interesting character. I mean, it's a compound, too. But anyway, the first character is after self. It's not take. It's receive. self-receiving, and then employing. When you put receiving and employing together, it's understood as... So it's the self-receiving and employing awareness or the self-enjoyment awareness.

[09:52]

And another translation of receiving and employing is fulfilling. And then you employ it that fulfills it. You receive yourself and employ yourself. You receive yourself and give yourself. That's the enjoyable way to have a self. To receive it and give it. To receive it and give it. That's the way to enjoy the self that's given to you now and now and now etc. Get the idea? No, no, no. And then there's also, this is the way that things are fulfilled when you receive them and use them. Somebody gives you a gift, you receive it, and then give it. Then the gift is fulfilled. It isn't receive and hold the self.

[10:53]

Receive and grasp the self. It's receive and use the self. Receive and use whatever is happening. Receive the gift and give it. And receive it and give it. This is the samadhi of the Buddha way. Yes? Is that why you said this morning that the first step was joy? Is that why the first step is joy? Yep. Yes? I have a sense of really paying attention to what's in front of me. I have less of a sense of any self that I define.

[11:55]

When I'm really paying attention, I'm often surprised with communicating with it. And I enjoy that moment more than if I'd gone in with some preset idea. Can you say you're surprised by you being there with it? I'm surprised at my being there with it. Yeah. Communicate back to me something about it. I'm surprised by what it is like receiving the Self. Yeah. When I have an idea of myself in a function, then it's very different. And that's the definition of delusion, is to proceed with the self, to bring the self forward and do something. But when things happen and then you're there... that's receiving the Self, and that's awakening. It's like, all the people are going to come in the room, and I'm here. We all come in the room, and you're here.

[12:58]

And it kind of... Me too. I'm here when all of their stuff comes. It takes effort to be that present. It takes effort, yeah. And you're an effortful person. So get with the program. Be effortful because you are effortful. If you're not effortful, you're not authentic. You are effortful. Everybody in this room is cooking. You're cooking. You're warm. If the room cools off, you'll stay warm and cold, but you'll stay basically the same temperature. because you're, what do you call it, you're a metabolizing being, generating heat. And if you run out of food in your stomach, you start to make heat, because you've got to keep cooking, otherwise you die.

[14:08]

But we do keep cooking until we die. So we have a big effort here, a big effort. So let's join that effort. And let's remember to practice virtues. Number one, practice giving. Number two, precepts. Number three, patience. Number four, remember how good it is to practice virtues and be enthusiastic about it. And so on. So this is... And also remember, these virtues, not only are they wonderful, but they protect this mind of enlightenment. They protect it. If we don't practice these, we'll lose it. If we don't remember to do these practices, just remembering the mind of enlightenment is not enough to remember these virtues. Just saying, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, mind of enlightenment, mind of enlightenment, but I'm not going to give. I'm not going to be generous.

[15:11]

Well, then you lose the mind of enlightenment. I'm not going to be patient. I'm just going to have this mind to attain Buddha way for the welfare of all beings who are not as good as me. Well, then you're not practicing the precepts. So then you lose it. So we have to practice these virtues, otherwise we lose this mind. If we practice these virtues, it protects the mind of awakening. And we need and we need to keep studying the teachings, and we need to be familiar with them, and we need to practice wisdom with them, and we need to have confidence that these six perfections are great to practice. Yes? Why are precepts and virtue delineated as two of the six?

[16:12]

You said virtue and then precepts. No, precepts is one of the virtues. So the virtues are precepts, giving, patience, enthusiasm, and concentration. Those are the virtues. Those are compassion virtues. Okay? Then you have wisdom, which is strictly a virtue. Wisdom is just being in accord with the way things are. It's not really a virtue. However, that virtue, that thing called wisdom, you have to practice it together with, in order for it to function fully, it needs to be practiced together with concentration and enthusiasm at practicing concentration and wisdom. So, particularly those two have to go all the time with wisdom. The other three can be kind of collateral but not necessarily joined with wisdom.

[17:19]

So two of the virtues overlap between the virtues are compassion and wisdom. But precepts are virtue practice. But precepts are different from giving. You can give and not pay attention to the precepts. Someone said to me, you know, about giving this morning, somebody said, well, if you give people poison, it's not really generous. But you can be misinformed. Like some of our grandmothers used to feed us stuff with sugar in it, remember? Did your grandmother feed you stuff with sugar in it? Mine did. My grandmother was Danish, and she made Danish rolls for me. Danish sweet rolls, and she put sugar in them. She didn't know she was poisoning me. She was being generous, and I thought, she's generous.

[18:23]

So you can be generous and not wise, it's possible. However, if you keep practicing generosity, you will become wise. So there's more where this came from. Shall I read or do you want to ask more questions now? Yes? I'm confused. Is this the six parameters? Yes. Six parameters. Six paramitas, six transcendent practice, six bases of training. So the three, again, the three that go together, the two that go together with wisdom are generosity and... No, concentration and enthusiasm.

[19:37]

...with all of them. And it goes with wisdom. So you have to have enthusiasm to be willing to throw yourself into reality, to give yourself to what's happening. And you need to be calm to be able to be steady and balanced with it, calm and concentrated. So those two go with it, but they're not the same as wisdom. But wisdom depends on them. And you can practice giving in an unconcentrated way. You can practice precepts in an unconcentrated way. It's still precepts. You can even practice precepts and slip up on the giving. It's not very good precepts, but you can just practice precepts and be not generous. It's better to practice precepts and be generous.

[20:43]

works better. And you can practice patience without the previous two, but it doesn't work so well to practice patience if you don't practice giving and precepts. And you can practice giving without practicing patience. Some people are very generous, but if you irritate them, they'll swat you down. Some people are very generous and they just kill a fly without thinking. So those three are actually in order. The first one's first, and you really kind of have to get good at the first one to really get good at the second one, and so on. Each one is a little harder than the previous one, and to be fulfilled kind of depends on the previous one. So in a sense, it doesn't make sense because the fourth one is the energy and enthusiasm to practice all of them.

[21:46]

So how could you practice the first three without the fourth one where you can't? However, the fourth one as a transcendent practice is not practiced until you practice the first three. Then you're ready to practice the fourth. And then you can apply it to the previous three and to the following two. It's a transcendent practice. or is it transcendent? What do you think? I can't imagine how the effort can be separated from the other. The first three do need the effort, right. So if we say, if this sutra is one of those where it says you can't really do the fourth one until you do the previous three. The fourth one is more than the previous three. So what could be lacking in the fourth one that would allow you to practice to apply yourself to the previous three?

[22:48]

And what would happen when the fourth one is practiced as the fourth one, what would the transcendent effort be? What would the perfection be? Effort of enthusiastically practicing enthusiasm. Enthusiastically practicing enthusiasm. Effortlessness. Hmm? Effortlessness. Wholeheartedness. Heartedness. And how does that perfect it? What is that? What imperfections are dropped away then? They're reaching for an outcome. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. An object, anyway. Of it, I'm doing it. Hmm? It could be purifying of that, of those things, yeah. Yes? The first is giving, and the second is And the third again?

[23:51]

Patience. The third is patience, the second is? Precepts, ethical precepts. So by the time you get to in a transcendent way, some of the sense of self that we tend to have is dissolved a bit. We've seen that maybe that would be getting towards perfection. So it seems like the first three entail intention ahead of an object. I tend to this thing here. Enthusiasm effort is intention without an object. It's just being fully presently to the general good. That's what's important. Well, that would certainly. But it may be more than is necessary at this point. But that would certainly make it transcendent. So the previous ones, even when they're not transcendents, they still can be practiced and they still can be virtues.

[24:59]

Transcendent, really in a sense, they all depend on the sixth one. The sixth one is what makes the previous five transcendents. Yes? Patience can also be perseverance, right? No, it's more like endurance or tolerance. Perseverance is more like the fourth one. But perseverance is a little like endurance, isn't it? In a race, if you're persevering and enduring, or you're Now, it's an endurance test. It's between the endurance and the energy. But I thought that Shanti is written like the Japanese character, Chinese character is the character for Nying, which is perseverance.

[26:04]

I somehow thought this was the third Paramita. So I read it as perseverance. It's a character that's used for patience. But I think perseverance is a little bit closer to the fourth one, to persevere in your effort. But patience is more like enduring or tolerating difficulty and pain and being in patience. Patience isn't so much like pushing forward or making an effort. It's more like being present with difficulty, without moving. It's not so much doing anything. Like it's being present with pain, it's not trying to get... And it's not even really, when it's practiced properly, it's not even trying to, you know, stand one more moment of this pain.

[27:10]

When you get good at it, you realize that the best way to practice it is not to deal with the next moment. Don't think about the next moment of pain. Just end this one. End this one. So there is, in a sense, you could say, a perseverance there. But you're not thinking about it that way. You're just trying to be with what's happening. When it's difficult, it doesn't usually apply to being present with pleasure. Irritating pleasure. Being present with the irritation of pleasure would be more likely. In the moment. Not thinking about how long this pleasure has been going on or how long it will be going on. Just now. Just now. Tolerate it. And the word kshanti also, I think, is nice. It has a root, which means capacity. So you're trying to make yourself have the capacity for your experience.

[28:14]

So you don't have to run away from it. So this is not very much a notion of waiting for. Try to give? Waiting for. Yeah, try to give up waiting for something, give up waiting for the pain to go away. Just face the music now, and then you're ready to dance, right? Does that remind you of the word constancy that is used sometimes instead of patience? Constancy? Yeah, well, that's a little unusual. Sounds good, though, constancy. Yeah?

[29:15]

I always think of patience as the tolerance is a... It is an activity. Yeah, so it's kind of like it's sort of like directly pointing at my activity. Yeah, it's the activity of pointing to your activity. Yeah. Yeah. Marveling again, are you? Marveling right now. I was marveling at something you said about the sequence of all this. It reminded me of a play, which I think a movie called The Trail. And the movie starts with the end, and then it goes in reverse sequence to the beginning. And when you get to the beginning, you suddenly understand the movie.

[30:16]

Yeah, I'm just curious. I thought I heard you say that by practicing first by perfection and then attaining wisdom at the end. I guess I'm confused. That's the practice at the beginning to listening is simply kind of or lighting, fouling, and whatnot. You're understanding, but when you in the sense that he would burst back out? That's a clear question. They're called the six perfections, the six transcendence. But in a sense, again, the last one is what makes them into transcendence. When those virtue practices become aligned with reality, then they transcend themselves too. They're not even abiding in their own.

[31:19]

So in one sense, they become transcendentists when they're united with or enlightened by wisdom. In another sense, they're necessary for wisdom. But in this presentation, they get the name of what they're like from the beginning. They're called perfections from the beginning. Even though at the beginning, They somehow haven't been united fully with the wisdom. But they still get called transcendent practices. Because in fact all along they are aligned with reality. We don't realize that they're aligned. When we realize they're aligned, we realize that they were transcendent all along. So it's kind of... That's part of doing these practices too. Another one of the questions I think is I think it's how are these practices pure? How are they pure? And they're pure by... Whenever you're doing one, you do it together with the other five.

[32:29]

That's how each one is pure. So when you practice giving, remember the other five. When you practice precepts, remember the other five. That will empty your practice and purify it too. So first of all, try to remember that all your actions are gifts, giving. And also remember to practice your, when you can remember that, then gradually remember all your practices are, all your practices of giving are precepts. And all your practices of giving are patience. and all your practices of giving are effort and concentration and wisdom. But first of all, you have to remember to pay attention to what you're doing and apply one of these practices to it.

[33:38]

Of course, again, it's pretty easy. If I apply myself to one of these practices while I'm doing things, obviously, unless the practice I'm applying myself to is effort, effort is involved. So if I'm practicing patience with my action, I'm practicing as patience. There must be some effort there to do that. Yes? So if I'm reading the Heart Supersight, something about perfection of wisdom, I'm hearing no eyes, no ears, no tongue, no mind. So the perfection of wisdom is unmediated presence. The other perfections are ways of lessening the mediation of presence. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So ultimately, if you do the other five, you'll stumble. Yep.

[34:42]

And you might break the rule and stumble into it accidentally before you start the other five. Thank you all for practicing here today. I love practicing here with you. And now I'm going to record this and it's going to be

[35:23]

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