I've heard that the path of the bodhisattva consists of three things. Compassion. That's one. Number two is the selfless intention to realize Complete enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. That's two. And three is the realization of that intention. Compassion is the basis of it all. It all starts from love.

[01:03]

The path to Buddhahood starts with compassion. Bodhisattvas must meditate on this compassion. and consider the universality of sorrow to which all sentient beings are inescapably subject to. Whatever destiny, even God's, cannot escape it. this perception that sorrow is implicit in what ever exists, produce in ourself an affect, a feeling, an emotion of compassion for our fellow beings, our friends, our lovers, and even our enemies.

[02:28]

as well as the desire to help them become free of this sorrow. By this feeling of compassion towards all sorts of living beings and by the determination to help them, bodhisattvas consider all beings as equal to themselves. bodhisattvas meditate on and consider, moment by moment, how all beings are equal to themselves. This one, this one, even this one is equal to myself.

[03:33]

When compassion is like this, it is called great compassion. And this great compassion, compassion which has all beings included and equal to us, is condition, sometimes called the cause, for the first of the intention to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings. And this will reach perfect enlightenment This aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings is already in itself very beneficial.

[05:06]

I've heard that even if this aspiration is not accompanied by it's still very beneficial. The examples are like a diamond, a diamond in the rough, a diamond that has not been cut or polished. It's still worth much more than gold. Even a rough, unpolished diamond can free people from poverty. This aspiration to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings, even unaccompanied by practice in its rough form, can still be a great benefit in the world.

[06:33]

Another example is like a king. Some sage says to the king, you're busy. You're busy, your majesty. You do have this aspiration to realize enlightenment for the welfare of all beings. Problem is you're so busy you don't have time to practice. and in every way. But what you can do is, even though you don't have time to do the practices, all the practices, like conscientiousness, patience, enthusiasm, meditation and wisdom,

[07:50]

What you can do is you can think about and remember this aspiration that you have. While you're eating, while you're walking, while you're doing all your important work, always remember this bodhicitta. In that way, you can continue to do your job well, and at the same time bring immeasurable benefit to the entire land and all the people. Compassion and this aspiration to attain awakening, even without practice, are really great. But if this thought, if this compassion, this great compassion, and this aspiration to attain realization for the welfare of all beings, to attain, attain means to touch, not to possess, to touch realization for the welfare of all beings, based on compassion, if it's accompanied by practice, then it's like a diamond

[09:18]

that has been brought to its full potential. This satsang is a seed of all the properties of the Buddha, of all the Buddhadharma. It has two aspects, almost like two moments. One is the determination itself, pranidhi or pranidhana, the actual self. May I become a Buddha? May I become a Buddha?

[10:25]

May I become a Buddha for the welfare of all beings. This initial yearning to do this for all beings. The second part is setting in motion this thought, this aspiration, this desire. by actually taking vows with a teacher who has taken these vows, with a beneficial friend, a kalyana mitra, or, if that's not possible, by invoking or visualizing the presence of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, actually making the vows that you will practice all the bodhisattva practices in order to realize Buddhahood.

[11:38]

Even though the bodhicitta, the aspiration of enlightenment, is very helpful even without practice, with practice, enlightenment can be realized. Put it the other way, enlightenment cannot be realized without practice. Practice is not the cause of enlightenment, but enlightenment is the cause of practice. And enlightenment depends on compassion, and enlightenment depends on the arising of this wish to benefit all beings. Okay, got your bodhicitta, and you got the practice.

[12:59]

What's the practice? Practice has two parts. One part is called means. Skillful means. Upaya. The other part is wisdom. Prajna. Wisdom And means together is the practice that goes with the bodhicitta. Means is all those practices, giving, careful observation of everything you do to make sure there's no killing, no stealing, no lying. ...observation of conduct, compassionate consideration of all activity, patience, enthusiasm, concentration, these kinds of practices, all other kinds of bodhisattva arts and crafts, all other ways

[14:27]

to convert and attract beings to practice, even all kinds of charm and glamour, like good carpentry, good gardening, good cooking, to attract the people to Tassajara in the summer. As you know, many people became converted to Buddhism through the dining room. Thousands of people became by eating guest meals here. So good, and yet no meat. That's very nice. Little by little, more and more people are attracted by the food that's served here. By the paths, by the baths, by the swimming pools. all these things that we take care of, these are part of the charm, part of the glamour that helps people move towards the Dharma.

[15:38]

And together with generosity, patience and so on, all these practices help bring beings to ripeness. This is the means. Now, you've probably heard, and I'll say again, that for the bodhisattvas, in general, these two must be practiced and realized together. Means. However, I've also heard that if a bodhisattva is abiding in transcendent wisdom, she need not resort to to skillful means. So it is possible that a bodhisattva could kind of like go on vacation and enter into meditation on ultimate reality and be abiding temporarily in a state of meditation of transcendent wisdom.

[17:02]

In that case, She may, for the moment, not need means. But at that moment also, there's no progress in helping others. In order to help others, you need to be joined with means. However, means always needs to be joined to wisdom. Otherwise, it will have outflows. No progress is possible if one only insists on one of these. Means are all the ways we help beings mature, all the ways we help beings develop in their practice.

[18:09]

And wisdom is the way we keep our eye on what is actually real. So, for example, as we work to benefit all beings by doing various services for them in order to help them move towards their own realization, we keep in mind The truth, namely, there aren't any beings there to save, and there's no practices, and nothing's actually happening. Anyway, we don't lose sight of that this is all a dream. These beings who we are wholeheartedly serving are not actually happening. This protects the means from being dominated by, you name it, gain and loss, all kinds of subject-object impurities, all kinds of gaining ideas, all kinds of expectations and disappointments into the work, unless the work is accompanied by wisdom.

[19:45]

On the other hand, to accept wisdom alone would contradict the teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha's nirvana is sometimes called a nirvana which has no remains, or another It's called apratisthita nirvana. Nirvana which has no abode, nirvana which has no remainder, nirvana... It's not definitely fixed. Buddhas are not in nirvana.

[21:02]

They realize nirvana, but they don't live there. The life of Buddha is samsara. Because the nirvana of the Buddha, the Buddha attains a nirvana which is not fixed. Because the Buddha's nirvana is not fixed, the Buddha is always in the world of suffering beings, practicing together with each of us, whether we accept their presence or not. Buddhas are not in nirvana, and also Buddhas do not stay in samsara. Because of means, Buddhas are not stuck in nirvana, and because of wisdom, Buddhas are not stuck in samsara.

[22:16]

Wisdom protects us, helps us avoid the extreme of saying things exist or affirming things. And means help us avoid the extreme of or negation. The two together are the middle way of the Buddha. Wisdom that sees that nothing happens, avoid thinking that things exist. Means protect us from thinking that the non-occurrence of things means that they don't exist. So this truth of nirvana, which is taught by the Buddhas who are in nirvana, this truth is the subject of the wisdom.

[23:49]

Wisdom is realized in three ways, three levels of depth. First of all is by listening and studying. Listen to the teaching that everything is actually not happening. Listening to the teaching that everything is empty. Listening to the teaching that experience is a dream. Study those teachings. Talk about those teachings until you get them straight. This is called wisdom which arises from hearing. Shrutamaya prajna. The next level of wisdom is wisdom which comes from reflection or investigation.

[25:19]

When you look at the teachings now and see if they accord with the authority of the scriptures of the tradition, and also do they accord with reason or logic? Chintamaya prajna. And the last level is the meditative level. The first two levels are to understand what the teaching is, what the medicine is. The next level is you take it into your body. So this week, you have a chance to meditate on the teaching and bring it into your body.

[26:27]

Let it be manifested in your body. So now we go to the Meditation. Texts on bodhisattva meditation present the practice as having two aspects. which can be practiced sequentially or in union. One aspect is called samatha, the other is called vipassana.

[27:36]

Samatha and vipassana. The ancestor Daidoshin Daisho said something like, the ways to calm the mind, the ways to pacify the mind, the ways to realize body and mind are inexhaustible. But they all come from the heart. I think a lot of them students would do well to remember that, that these practices of tranquility are not

[28:54]

What do you call it? The Buddhist practices of tranquility, of shamatha, they're a heart thing. They're coming from compassion. They're not something we should beat ourselves against. they're coming from compassion. Outside, you can see it outside as compassion. When you see compassion, it's teaching you shamatha. When you feel compassion inside, that's the source of your shamatha. And there's many, many, many, many ways you can develop serenity. And if I bring up many, many, many, many ways, this is not something that you should use to make yourself feel bad.

[30:14]

These are just suggestions for you to consider whether they harmonize with your heart. But you also can think of ways to realize stability. Modes of, or I should say modes of realizing stability. This is a free Buddha land. Samatha can be translated as tranquility, serenity, stabilization, calm, pacification, or stopping. Stopping. The Chinese character for shamatha means stop or rest.

[31:30]

And all over Japan, they have these hexagonal red signs, corners of intersections that say, stop. Driving around Japan, it says, shamata, shamata. Driving along, rest, tranquilize. Be serene. It's interesting, you know, when cars come to the, when Japanese people are driving the car, and sometimes they're Japanese cars, too, that they're driving, when they come to these signs, they stop and they turn their lights off. There are various theories about

[32:35]

How are these lights being turned off? Some people think it's because they're trying to save electricity. Other people think they're trying to be kind to the person in front of them by not having a light shine on them, or the person across the other side of the intersection. Other people think that they're entering into samadhi. The samadhis at each corner. I guess, from what I've heard, if we keep living for the rest of the week, something's going to happen. We're going to feel like something's happening. We're going to have a dream, or many dreams, that something's happening. We will dream that things are arising and lasting for a little while. Various bubbles will foam up and seem like something's happening.

[33:48]

Actually, nothing will happen all week, but we may think something's happening. We may think something painful is happening, something pleasurable is happening. We may think something stupid is happening. We may think something brilliant is happening. Maybe. I've heard that people do sometimes dream. Sometimes people believe their dreams are reality. Sometimes people understand that their dreams are dreams. But probably some of us will dream this week. But bodhisattvas do not reject or disown their dreams. They pay attention to their dreams.

[34:52]

Although they understand that their feelings and perceptions and motivations and consciousness and the forms Colors, the sounds, the smells, the touches and tastes are all dreams, bubbles, illusions and so on, empty houses, magical creations. Although they understand that they don't disown these things, they pay close attention, loving attention, devoted attention, and they serve these dreams. They are devoted to these dreams. They practice meditative stabilization in the face of these dreams. And also, sometimes they have dreams of someone telling them about ways to stabilization.

[36:01]

They have a dream that someone is giving them some idea from the heart about how to have a calm mind. So you might be having dreams like that this week. I have dreams like that. You might even have dreams that I'm the one who's talking about all these things. But don't Grasp these dreams as real, otherwise you may get quite upset because there's going to be a lot of dreams. Dreams of somebody talking about meditative stabilization. I'm going to talk about meditation. I don't think that one of them is going to work for everybody.

[37:08]

But if one works for you, then please practice it. And then if you hear of other ones being discussed, just listen while you do the practice that you think is appropriate for yourself. I'd like to start with a Zen teacher, Bodhidharma, an Indian who we say was a Zen teacher. Maybe there never was a Bodhidharma, maybe there never was, and really there never was, and never will be, and also there never was you either, until there was you. Bodhidharma suggested that you stabilize our minds, realize the pacified, peaceful mind with no contrivance, with no plan and no device, realize the peaceful mind.

[38:41]

That was his suggestion. be calm without using something to calm yourself. When he gets weary young men do get weary wearing that same tattered robe gets weary, try a little tenderness. He may be waiting, just anticipating things he will never, never. So while he's stressed out, try a little tenderness.

[39:49]

Can you tenderize into complete rest, but not sleep, without using anything, just love become under the circumstances of this dream of pain and stress and complexity and contradiction and sorrow. That's one opportunity here. Then Bodhidharma went a little further. Try a little tenderness.

[41:08]

Just be tender for starters. Oh, hi outside. Hi, what they call outside. OK. Just stop for a second. Turn your lights off. Don't get excited. Hey, external object. Don't bring in your belief equipment and say, OK. That's external. You're an external object, aren't you? Yeah, okay. Well, you're just going to be that. No, be a little more tender than that. Around the stuff that's called external, be quiet.

[42:16]

Cease all the activity. Don't get active around what they call external, they. or I in a dream. This practice is practice because if you don't make these phenomena external, the mind is automatically pacified. By that to this thing which is often called external. So the ancestors said, pacify the mind with no contrivance, no divine.

[43:23]

And then when objects happen, when things happen out there, Be quiet. Don't stir yourself up about it. Don't grasp it as external. So there it is. That's one shamatha practice, but it also is vipassana. It is also insight at the same time. because you are teaching yourself, you're training yourself, you're bringing the teaching into yourself. There are no external objects, and that teaching sets up the understanding that nothing happens

[44:30]

This is an open-hearted way to meet the dreams, the phenomena of the moment, tenderly, respectfully, so respectfully that you don't even grasp the phenomena as external. This way of meditation brings the teaching into your body and mind. This suffering being you see is not external and not internal. If I understand that, when I understand that, the mind is calm, and when the mind is calm from understanding that, that teaching comes into my body.

[45:58]

The teaching that self and other are not two. Understanding that self and other are not two, the body becomes softer and more open and lets the teaching in more deeply. You can see here the connection to compassion which sees all beings as the same as oneself. And then taking that vision calms us, and that calm lets that teaching in more. So first it's a feeling, and then it's a teaching of truth coming in. So the truth and compassion resonating, wisdom and compassion resonating back and forth, deepening each other.

[47:13]

So here again, wisdom is looking at no external objects, having no objects of thought, but means are making us able to accept that teaching, means of giving ourselves to that practice, the means of being careful of what we're doing, and particularly the means of being patient with the pain still feeling, still feeling that it's external. In compassion, we can feel that all beings are the same as us, and yet still perhaps our compassion is not fully developed, so we still feel they're a little separate at the same time. We feel they're the same, and we dream that they're different. In dream, we feel upset. In dreaming that they're external, we feel anxious.

[48:27]

So part of us sees the same and is calm. Part of us dreams separate and is upset. Part of us sees the same and is calm and relaxed. part of us sees different external and is agitated and anxious. For the dream of externality, we need patience to stand the pain, to sit the pain. Mind like a wall. No objects of thought. Love with no expectation.

[49:34]

Looking at this face, feeling this pain without activating the mind around the object of the face or the object of the pain, but also trying to get something from that practice. To look at the face without thinking what it looks like or who it is, or whether it's yourself or others, without trying to get something from that loving respect. Being patient with your own pain with no expectation that it's going to help. Being enthusiastic about being patient with your pain.

[50:48]

Being patient with your pain and therefore being enthusiastic about being patient with your pain. Without expectation. This is mind like a wall. And it's a practice. Bodhidharma style. Can you practice this stabilization without making it into a device, a strategy, a plan, a contrivance? Give it a try.

[52:03]

Be Bodhidharma for a day. Matter of fact, let's call this Bodhidharma Day. Let's just all be little Bodhidharmas for one day. See how it goes. And tomorrow we can be... Okay? Just one day, Bodhidharma day. So I'll just give it a try. Mine like a wall. Love without expectation. I'll try it. Please join me. If you try it, I'll join you. If you don't want to try it, it's okay. Do some other kind of Samatha practice. who are homeless Samatha practitioners and want one, some of us are going to do that today.

[53:07]

Others who practice some other way, it's really okay. This is not a forced Samatha camp.

[53:16]

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