I'd like to begin with a meditation on the title of this series of classes. There is a tradition, it's very strong in Chinese practice, practice of the Buddha way in China, and I think it also is part of the Indian tradition, and now tonight we'll make it part of the American tradition to study the title of a text. The text of this class was published as Zen Meditation, The Seeds and Fruit of True Awakening. I'd like to begin the comments by saying that the title could be, Zen Meditation Is the Seed and Fruit of True Awakening.

[01:26]

Zen meditation is the whole process, the whole awakening process. from primordial ignorance to the highest possible state of consciousness of life, which we call sometimes Buddhahood. So one way to understand Zen meditation is it's that whole process. I began this series by talking about The aspiration to realize this fruit, this fruit of being able to help beings in the optimal way. Aspiration.

[02:39]

Aspiration. So aspiration is the seed, the particular aspiration to realize enlightenment for the welfare of all beings, or to realize an enlightenment that is the welfare of all beings. That's the seed. And that's the seed of Buddhahood. And the beings who are on the path to Buddhahood, who are called sometimes bodhisattvas, and sometimes they're called Zen people, they progress in this process to realize Buddhahood by means of the aspiration to realize it for the welfare of others. They progress by means of this vow, this aspiration.

[03:46]

They progress by taking care of the aspiration. They progress by carrying out the aspiration. So they progress supported by the aspiration. So the aspiration upholds those on the path, and those on the path take care of what upholds them. They sometimes forget to take care of it, and that's called a setback, or that's called forgetting. And there's practices for when we're forgetful. And Zen meditation includes caring, includes this aspiration, is based on this aspiration. Zen meditation takes care of the aspiration, protects it, and is supported by it. And Zen meditation doesn't forget the aspiration, but in the process of Zen meditation, one does forget it.

[04:50]

The forgetting isn't the meditation. The meditation is the way you take care of forgetting. And the way you take care of forgetting is you remember and go back to take care of the aspiration again. So as I mentioned last time, one can use the image of, well, for example, the lotus plant. It's a particularly good plant to use to exemplify the process of Zen meditation. I don't know if all plants follow this pattern, but I don't even know if the lotus follows this pattern, but I have a story about the lotus, which I told you last time, which is that there's a seed, and in the seed, there is the fruit. The Buddhahood is actually in the aspiration to realize it.

[05:59]

And also, I guess this may be true of many fruits. You tell me, fruits contain seeds. And the seeds they contain are similar to, but not identical, with the seeds from which they arose. And I don't really want the seeds in the fruit to be identical with the seeds that gave rise to them, although maybe some of them could be identical. I would like some mutation, actually, because the mutation might make fruits which give rise to seeds, which could adapt to environments and situations which are unprecedented but need to be cared for. And in the process of the lotus, you have the seed, which contains the fruit. Then the seed is cared for. One way to care for the seed is to ensconce it, embed it in wet earth and have some warmth there.

[07:11]

And the seed germinates. And when it germinates, somehow it may go up out of the mud into the air and start to develop a relationship. Well, actually, seeds, I think, can already have a relationship with the sun under the ground. The ground does not obstruct the sun completely. The sun comes through the mud and touches the seed to some extent. The water and the sun bring the seed into sprouting. The sprout comes up out of the earth and continues its relationship with the sun and the mud, which the sun and the mud means it continues a relationship with earth, water, and light. Maybe we could say the sun, but maybe actually plants are getting light from other stars, but just farther away.

[08:13]

Maybe the plants are studying astronomy. Who knows? Anyway, the sprout's coming up. And at some point, the sprout flowers. In the flower, the seeds are there, too. The first seed's there, and the coming seeds are there. But the coming seeds don't look like they do when the flower becomes a fruit. And then in the lotus, this wonderful thing happens, which I don't think I told you, is that when the flower opens, there can be a flower that's closed, right? And that's a pretty good thing, too. A closed lotus flower. Blossom is a wonderful thing, but lotus blossoms sometimes open. And actually they open in the, they usually open in the daylight, and actually they close at night, I heard. And then they open again in the daylight and close again.

[09:16]

And they do that for a while. Did you know that? And when they close at night, sometimes insects go in and camp out. Because when the lotus closes it, it makes a warm little house for some insects. And they hang out there, and then it opens up again. But eventually, this opening and closing comes to a conclusion, and there is a last opening. And then it's not closing anymore. and the petals drop away. But when the lotus opens, it exposes the fruit. The fruit isn't fully developed, but the opening of the flower shows the fruit. Then the petals drop away and the fruit is completely exposed and is close to maturity. When it's really quite mature, the stem becomes, well, you could say stressed by the maturity of the fruit and can't hold it up anymore.

[10:23]

So the fruit tumbles over back into the mud and the fruit goes down in the mud now. And in the fruit, there's little pod pockets where the seed pockets are, the little round seed balls. Those aren't the seeds. Each one of those balls has quite a few seeds in it. And there's several pockets for the seeds. The whole fruit goes into the mud. which needs to be somewhat wet for this process to happen. And those seeds, those seed pods within the big pod start to swell within their containers. Can you picture it? So the lotus has all these little compartments for these seed balls. And then the seed balls go in the water and they swell up and they swell up and they swell up and they swell up. within this containment of the whole body of the fruit, the containing body of the fruit.

[11:27]

And a time comes when the pressure builds up so much that the seed pod explodes. The seed, the fruit explodes, flies out of the mud, into the air, and sends the seeds all over the place, sends the pods, the seed balls all over the place. The seed balls then go in the ground, they break open, and then many seeds come from them. This is the same way that enlightenment, the process of enlightenment works. So we have this aspiration and that's the beginning of Zen meditation is the aspiration. And this aspiration needs to be cared for for the whole process. Just like the seed of the lotus is cared for the whole process. And the way it's cared for is the development of the flower. And the way it cared for the seed of the aspiration is now by doing the Zen meditation in the form of these innumerable practices, but basically six types.

[12:35]

Six types of practice. Take care of the seed and develop it. Send it towards maturity. Meantime, these practices which are taking care of the aspiration are supported by the aspiration. Without the aspiration being renewed, the practices which mature the aspiration will lose energy. So part of this class is to find aspiration, hear practices for taking care of and developing the aspiration, but also learn how to take care of the aspiration so that the aspiration can support the practices which mature it. And the aspiration also matures the practices which care for it. But we have to keep remembering what the aspiration is.

[13:41]

We need to. Otherwise, the energy which is going into the practices which mature the aspiration, the energy will be used up. It gets used up. It gets used up. It gets used up over and over. It gets used up for this wonderful project of caring for this aspiration. It gets used up by practicing generosity. ethical discipline, patience, energy, concentration, and wisdom. It gets used up by those practices. It gets used up by listening to the teachings over and over and over. It gets used up by listening to the text, which is Zen meditation. It gets used up by contemplating Zen meditation. So we have to go back again and again and say, what is the point again? Oh yeah, right. That would be good. Let's do it.

[14:42]

What are we doing here again? Oh, we're in the process of realizing authentic awakening for the welfare of all beings. We're in the process of caring for aspirations so we can plunge into reality and from reality be able to really practice these practices even better and help beings grow. in the greatest possible way. That's right. That sounds good. I feel up for it. Let's do it. Let's practice all these practices in the proper way. And what is that way again? Well, let's check it out. Can we remember? Well, can't remember? Well, then just go back. Where's the text? Well, let's read it again. Let's read it again. And again.

[15:48]

I heard that those who enter reality are those who hear the text again and again. What text? The text of Zen meditation. The text, the teaching of the great vehicle. And part of the teaching of the great vehicle is, listen to the teaching of the great vehicle a lot. Every day? Mm-hmm. If possible, that would be good. How about more than once a day? Great. I want to say something about the word perfect or perfection. These practices which care for the aspiration and bring it to maturity as Buddhahood, these practices are sometimes called perfections.

[17:00]

the Sanskrit word for them is paramita, which more literally means gone beyond or transcendence. So perfection is related to that in the sense of you do a practice to completion, to perfection, The root of the word perfect, I believe, is complete. So you do these practices which care for the bodhi aspiration. You do the practices to completion, to perfection, and then just to make sure they're perfect, you go beyond them. So all these practices are to be done to completion and beyond. And there's an important element of the recovery, the 12-step recovery movement, where this term addiction to perfection is used.

[18:16]

In other words, part of addiction process is related to trying to be perfect. So when we use the word perfect in Zen practice or Zen meditation, we have to be careful of that word, just like we need to be careful of all words. And one of the ways to be careful of the word is to mention that the addiction to perfection, I would say, is a way that imperfect beings distract themselves from who they are. So I think addictions are basically ways we distract ourselves from our life. And one of the addictions would be to distract ourselves from our imperfection, because wouldn't that be nice to be someplace else from our imperfection?

[19:18]

But rather than be addicted to perfection and use the idea of perfection as a distraction, these perfections are specifically set up for imperfect beings to fully embrace their imperfection. And when you fully embrace your imperfection, you will become Buddha. And what does imperfection mean? Imperfection means incomplete. And in what sense are we incomplete? In what sense are we not whole? We are incomplete because we believe that we're separate. We believe the appearance, and there is the appearance that we're separate from each other. When we believe the appearance that we're separate, in that sense we're imperfect, we're incomplete. because we think the part of us which is other people is not us.

[20:24]

And most of what we are is everybody else. I mean, almost all of what we are is everybody else. Matter of fact, we are totally everybody else. everybody else completely accounts for us, or everything else completely accounts for us, we are not the slightest bit in addition to everything that's not us. And part of not us is our personal history, is our body, is our teeth, But there really isn't any me in addition to all those things which I don't think are me. Like I do think these are my teeth, but I don't think my teeth are me. I think this is my history or my driver's license, but I don't think my driver's license is me. But part of me is my driver's license, and I have some good stories to prove it, as you know.

[21:33]

We are simply the grand total of other. None of us is anything in addition to other. But we think so. None of us is any addition to the universe which we think is other. In the sense that we believe the illusion that the universe is other, we are incomplete. And these practices, these perfections, are to help us completely embrace our incompleteness. Somebody just said to me, And he said, he was looking inward and he said, and he said, I'm looking inward and I'm asking, who's talking? He was talking to me. And while he was talking to me, he was looking inward and he was saying, who is talking? And I thought maybe he wanted me to say something, so I did.

[22:42]

And I said, there's no who in addition to the talking. There's a talker, but the talker is not in addition to the talking. Or you could say they're just a talker. There's not a talking in addition to the talker. There's no self in addition to the activity of talking. But we think there is. We think there's somebody who's doing the talking here. If you do these practices with situations like that, and there's plenty of those situations, those imperfect, incomplete situations, if you do these practices, you'll enter the reality that that's just an illusion. So I'm not I'm actually okay with us being cautious about the word perfection and maybe not even using it anymore.

[23:50]

But if we do use it, it would be good to be careful. And if we are careful, maybe we can use it. Maybe it's somewhat useful. And again, these practices can be called the perfect practices, the perfected practices, or the perfecting practices, or the completing practices, the completed practices, the complete practices. I think I was about to say something like this last time, and I don't think I completed the thought. The thought was that this is not the thought. I'll get to it. Now I'm going to repeat something. This aspiration, this seed, needs to be cared for in order to be realized, in order to come to fruit, in order to mature.

[24:54]

Okay? And the way to care for it to maturity, this particular seed anyway, the seed of wishing to be most beneficial in this world, that seed is brought to fruition by practices. And without practices, without training, it doesn't come to fruition. And one of the ways to practice with it is called ethical discipline, which is the second of the six. But also, ethical discipline is actually all six. Because if one is committed to realize the supreme fruit of this aspiration,

[25:55]

then if that was your aspiration, then it would be your ethical duty to practice all six. And the second one is called ethical discipline. So I think I did mention this last time, that the second of the six, ethical discipline, actually includes all six for one who aspires to Buddhahood. And also, The ethical discipline of the bodhisattvas has three aspects. One is the ethical discipline of restraint. The other is ethical discipline of developing the qualities of an awakened one. And the third is the ethical discipline of serving or trying to help all beings be matured to Buddhahood. Did you follow that? What? The third one is helping others, but not just helping them, but helping them and maturing them.

[27:06]

So these three are interwoven. The first one is basically the ethics of restraint. Its essence is restraint. The second two, their essence or their quality is exertion. So the first one is about restraint. The second one is about exerting these six practices. So the second of the six includes three. The second of the three is the six. So the ethical discipline of one who's practicing the six is to practice the six, but also to practice ethics of restraint and ethics of benefiting and maturing beings. And again, another way that these are interwoven, I don't know if you're following this, but I'll just finish this thought.

[28:09]

Another way that these three aspects of bodhisattva ethics are interwoven is that the ethics, the ethical training of benefiting others and maturing others, you do that by means of these six practices. And the six practices, the first three are for benefiting beings and the last three are for maturing them or transforming them. Unenlightened beings can be benefited and they can be encouraged, they can be benefited by the first three practices, the first three practices which mature our aspiration, namely generosity, ethical discipline, and patience. That benefits beings. when we relate to beings, to ourself and others with these three practices, that benefits suffering beings. That benefits beings who are not enlightened.

[29:10]

If we're not enlightened, practicing those three will benefit us, plus practicing those three will protect our aspiration. The next three, if we practice them with ourself, transform us. into enlightened beings and also mature us. And the same when we practice and show others how to do these practices. After benefiting beings, then we mature them. We mature them with this heroic effort to practice meditation or concentration in wisdom. Okay. You may have been able to follow that, but I want to say one more thing before I open up for questions, and that is I'd like to focus on the ethical training which is called the precept of restraint. I also want to mention that these three bodhisattva ethical trainings are sometimes called the three pure precepts.

[30:17]

And I want to say at the beginning, and I'll say it again probably, These three pure precepts, usually we cannot start practicing them purely. We start practicing them in a kind of impure way, and by practicing them in a pure way, we will eventually be able to practice them a pure way. Because again, these three practices also care for the aspiration and take us into reality, and entering into reality, we are able to practice these three ethical disciplines in a pure sense. And then they really become pure practice. And the key factor in making these ethical practices and making all the practices pure is the first pure precept. The first pure precept is the precept of restraining impurity, in a sense. And again, impurity.

[31:27]

Impurity are difficult words, but anyway, there they are. Another way to do it, which maybe doesn't have the purity-impurity stigma, is that the first pure or aspiring to be pure ethical discipline of restraint is to restrain what we call outflows. And outflows, you know, again, are often... what do you call it, rephrased as impurity or delusions. But just using the word outflow maybe is more neutral for us. These outflows are the way we live when we're trying to get something out of living. So the ethics of restraint is to try to restrain, trying to get something out of, for example, the aspiration.

[32:31]

You got this aspiration, this wonderful aspiration to do something really wonderful in this world. You got the aspiration. Now, you want to practice. You want to take care of that aspiration so it can come to maturity. Then what you need to do is practice ethical restraint with it. Restraint, in other words, don't try to get anything from this wonderful thing. Don't try to get anything, don't try to gain anything from this aspiration to be beneficial. Restrain the natural desire familiar human imperfection of trying to get something out of the situation. Restrain it. And restrain it as an act of compassion, as an act of benefiting the mind where the gaining impulse is arising.

[33:38]

So practicing this training protects the aspiration, matures the aspiration, but also that ethical discipline will protect the other practices. It will protect the giving. Again, giving where you're trying to get something is a faulty giving. So you're trying to practice giving, then you move on to practice ethics and look back at the giving to see, was I trying to get anything from that giving? Was I trying to make myself, you know, trying to get more goodness for me and my friends? Was I trying to get something by the giving? Well, I was. Okay, well then, confess it and let go of that. In a way, this first of the three pure precepts which is trying to take care of this aspiration, this first one, in a way is the most, I don't know what it's like.

[34:51]

Of the three, it's the one that is, I think most of the Zen stories are about this one. What is it about? It's about the way students and teachers work together where the students and teachers help each other try to practice without trying to get something out of the practice. A lot of times in the Zen stories, they don't mention that these people are practicing generosity, patience, meditation, and studying teachings about wisdom. They don't mention that so much. They're mostly emphasizing how the Zen monks are often trying to get something from the teacher. They give up a lot of stuff. Some of them give up a lot and go way out of their way to study with the teacher. And they go to the teacher. They walk up to the teacher. And they try to get the teaching from the teacher, which doesn't seem reasonable.

[35:58]

Well, I went to the teacher to get the teaching. Yeah, right. And the teacher then oftentimes doesn't seem to give them what they came to get. And some people might even think, well, the teachers are really trying to be difficult. But it may be that it comes quite naturally to them that they somehow just sort of naturally don't give whatever anybody's trying to get from them, and that this is their generosity. Now, if somebody's not trying to get something, then they give it to them. Like the great Master Nga says, if you have a staff, I'll give it to you. If you don't have a staff, I'll take it away. This is the first of the three pure precepts is really a critical purifying exercise.

[37:04]

Another way to put it is that Zen meditation dash Zen practice dash the path to Buddhahood, bodhisattva practice, has to be enlightenment. Otherwise, it has outflows. What outflows would the practice have? It would have the practice of the outflow of, this is the practice we're doing. Here's another one. The aspiration to realize Buddhahood has to be Buddhahood. All the practices to realize Buddhahood have to be enlightenment. Otherwise, the practices have outflows. What outflows do they have? They have the outflows of this practice is separate from what it's working for.

[38:11]

And if it is, you've got problems. It's never going to get there if it's separate. It's defiled by the duality that's imagined between the practice and the enlightenment. So the practice must be enlightenment, otherwise the practice is defiled. Defiled by somebody thinking that it's separate from the enlightenment. Turn it around, the enlightenment must be practice. Got an enlightenment? Anybody have an enlightenment? Well, if you do, it's got to be a practice. It can't be just like, hey, enlightenment. It's got to be enlightenment practice. That's a practice. In other words, enlightenment in this precept, enlightenment must be daily life. This precept is the precept that unifies the monastic and the lay. It's a wonderful thing about the great vehicle is that this precept unifies the monastic and lay. Some people's karma is

[39:14]

monastic karma of some is lay. But this practice, if you do this practice, your daily life is enlightenment. If you don't do this practice, then your daily life is not enlightenment. Because you're not doing this practice. What's the practice? It's the practice of restraining the outflow that your daily life is one thing and enlightenment is another. That outflow is quite natural for it to arise. You don't have to kill it. Just say, hello, outflow. Hello, a thought that, well, enlightenment must be a little bit different than what I'm doing right now. Because what I'm doing right now, my daily life is, I'm really like thinking I'm better than some people. I'm thinking, well, actually, I don't admit that I think I'm better than other people.

[40:17]

But if I look carefully, I notice that something I just said sounded a little bit like I am better than other people. It kind of does imply that I thought I was better. Maybe I do think I'm better. And that's not good. Because one of the Bodhisattva precepts is don't go around thinking you're better than other people. Or if you do, restrain it. The best way to restrain it is not to try to crush it, but to understand that being an imperfect, self-righteous, arrogant living being has to be enlightenment. Otherwise, not only am I a judgmental blah blah, but I'm defiled too. Not only am I a judgmental blah blah, but I'm not

[41:22]

doing the practice now because I can't do the practice now because that wouldn't be sense to do the practice now because I don't want to reinforce my imperfection. But if I don't do the practice with my imperfection, then my practice has outflows because I only do it when I'm a good boy. No. Every situation of daily life has to be enlightenment. Otherwise, the enlightenment has outflows. Any enlightenment that can't be applied to the way you are now has outflows. And if it has outflows, it's not enlightenment. Any situation where you can't practice, you can't practice it because the situation isn't, this daily life couldn't be enlightenment.

[42:28]

That's not to say that cruelty is enlightenment. It's not to say that selfishness is enlightenment. It's to say that enlightenment cannot be separate from selfishness. And also that enlightenment must be practicing with whatever's going on. And practicing with whatever's going on It must be enlightenment, otherwise the practice is defiled and the enlightenment is defiled. If the practice is defiled, the enlightenment is defiled and vice versa. And how are they defiled? They're defiled when they're separate. And when they're separate, then we try to gain something, trying to get a better practice or try to gain enlightenment with the practice. The practice must not be used to gain enlightenment. Even though Zen practice is the cause of entry into reality, and therefore it's the effect of entering into reality.

[43:35]

There's no gain there. It's both the cause, the effect, and the entry. There's no gain. But if we think there is and we believe it, then there's outflows. So this practice, this ethical practice of presence, of not being distracted from what you've got to work with now and using this, using this, this, and this, and this to use your daily life not in a general daily way, but in a very specific present daily way, to use it with no gaining idea and with the confidence, with the faith, that this must be enlightenment. Not so much is, but must be.

[44:40]

Don't say it is. Say it must be. In other words, don't say cruelty is enlightenment. Say it must be. In other words, I have to, now that I'm, at the moment I'm cruel, I have to find a way to practice with my cruelty. I must make this situation enlightenment. Otherwise, I'm in big trouble because I'm not practicing and there's no enlightenment. But it isn't just Again, it isn't that the cruelty is enlightenment. I must make the cruelty enlightenment. In other words, I have to practice compassion and wisdom with the cruelty. And one of the ways I practice wisdom, the way I practice wisdom with the cruelty, is to remember that enlightenment is not separate from the cruelty. Because if it's separate, then cruelty can never be liberated, can never be transformed. Enlightenment, Buddha must not be separate from deluded beings.

[45:49]

But deluded beings aren't Buddha. Buddha is the way of being, is the total perfected way to be a deluded being. So if you are a lay person or if you are a monastic, if you do this practice of restraining outflows, of restraining outflows, of restraining the sense that enlightenment is something other than your daily life, if you don't do that practice, well, that's too bad because then you're just wasting your time. What time are you wasting? You're wasting your daily life right now. What are you wasting? You're wasting the opportunity which has been given to you to realize the practice of enlightenment.

[46:54]

So this precept says, restrain distractions from using this moment as an opportunity to practice enlightenment. If you're a lay person, do that. Okay? All right? What about if you're a monastic? Well, it's actually quite similar. Matter of fact, it's exactly the same. If you're a monastic and you're in a so-called monastery and you're touching the wall of the monastery and you're thinking, well, this is a wall of a monastery, at that moment, that's your daily life. And you have to restrain, if you're a monk, you have to restrain the impulse to think touching the wall of the monastery is not supreme perfect enlightenment. Well, yeah, right. I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying enlightenment cannot be separate from the daily life which happens to be touching the wall right now. That's your life. And if you're looking at another monk and thinking that he's a lousy monk and will never be as good as you,

[47:59]

It may even be harder to think that that is the daily life which is a situation which is not separate from enlightenment. And then of course we can think of even worse things that monks could think. And monks do come to talk to me sometimes and they tell me things that they're thinking and they just cannot believe that that thought that they have is the place where they're going to practice enlightenment. How could they possibly practice enlightenment with this nasty thought? And I can see why one would think, well, this isn't a very good opportunity, such a nasty thought. But if I yield to that, then I'm getting distracted from the practice. So again, it's not that we say cruelty is Buddha or cruelty is enlightenment.

[49:01]

We're saying that if cruelty is your daily life right now and you're in a monastery, or cruelty is your daily life and you're not in a monastery, that's what you have to work with right now. And that's what you have to think about. Do I think enlightenment is separate from this? And if I do, then the enlightenment I'm thinking about is not Reb's enlightenment. It's not the one he's talking about. The one he's talking about doesn't have outflows. And if I say that there's an enlightenment that's other than my daily life, my sleazy daily life, then that enlightenment has outflows, and of course my practice does too. And again, it isn't they say, well, my practice has no outflows. You don't take that step either. You just restrain the outflow. And you don't then have to do another outflow called, well, my practice is without outflows.

[50:02]

My practice is separate from the practice that has outflows. Mine doesn't. My practice without outflows is separate from the practice without flows. Now we're back into another sleazy situation, which probably we can't practice here again. I don't know if you could follow all that, but I just had to say it. And you know, it's just words. And if you take care of these words, you'll realize that these words are really insubstantial. They're empty, ungraspable. But if you realize that they're empty, you'll be able to speak the truth for the welfare of beings. And be very careful of words after you realize they're empty.

[51:12]

And be careful of words before you realize they're empty. And if you're careful with them, that will help you realize they're empty. And when you realize they're empty, once again, you will be able to speak in such a way to help others realize the emptiness of words. Another way to say it is, if you're careful and kind to your words, and you listen to the teaching about how to be careful and kind with your words, and you restrain the distraction from being careful with your words, because you think that there's some enlightenment other than your words and being careful of them, then you'll understand that your words, then you'll enter the reality of your words, which is the reality of everything. which is the emptiness of everything. And from that seat, you will start speaking again with that understanding. And your speaking will be the Buddha speaking.

[52:17]

So one more thing, which is really important, and I'm really glad I didn't skip over it, is I would suggest to you that you find something in your daily life, other than everything in your daily life, not other than. You take something, not other than your daily life, something in your daily life, pick something and use that to work on this precept. Focus on something in your daily life, in your lay daily life, in your monastic daily life. Pick something to work on, to focus on, to see if you can end the outflow to think that enlightenment is other than this thing. So I just saw Donald. Donald has a regular yoga practice that he does. He could use that, that daily life thing he does.

[53:24]

He could use his yoga practice, which he wants to do every day, probably. And then he could look at that and see if he thinks there's anything to get from that yoga practice, or if there's some enlightenment that's other than this yoga practice. And if he thinks that, then he can maybe remember, oh, yeah, well, the enlightenment I'm thinking about is an enlightenment without flows. Or if I have a yoga practice as something other than enlightenment, then that's a yoga practice that has outflows. So in both the lay and the monastic practices of restraining the outflow of duality, the outflow of gain, the outflow of enlightenment and daily life being separate, monastic life and daily life, monastic life and enlightenment being separate. That's one outflow. Lay daily life and enlightenment being separate, that's another outflow. The practice of restraining these outflows, usually some form is used, and the forms are called, they're called in Sanskrit, pratimoksha.

[54:31]

They're forms and ceremonies that are used so you can to use to catch the outflows. The outflow catching opportunity. I just thought of these little, kind of like they're little maybe bamboo circles with kind of like a webbing in them. Have you seen them? I think they're called spirit catchers. That's what they're called. dream catchers dream catchers, spiritual catchers so try to find some form to catch outflows actually it can be a circle with one line through it it could even be a circle all you need is one line that may not be good enough monastics have a dense web to catch it lay people can have just one monastics can have just one too

[55:35]

You need something to look at to see, is this thing other than enlightenment? And something that you, if it's one thing, you might be able to remember it like all day long. Some form in your daily life. It could also be, you know, if you have a teaching that you remember, If you're like a mother of a child and you hang out with your child and you have a teaching that you think of, well then your daily life is that you're a mother with a child and you have a teaching. Or you could be a mother with a child and not have any teachings. Then you're a mother and a child with a child without any teachings. How can you make that into a form that you focus on? and say, this is my daily life, my daily life which I'm going to use for enlightenment. Something, though, that you look at.

[56:37]

It's nice if it could be a water faucet, but then you sort of have to be near the water faucet. You could think of the water faucet, but something you're using in your daily life, something in your daily life that you use. But it could be a teaching. That's okay. Like somebody told me, when he heard me say this, he said, oh, what I'm going to work on is the phrase, Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them. This person said, I'm going to use that form. I'm going to try to remember that form all day. That's going to be my daily life form that I'm going to use to see if I can restrain outflows around that form. but you can use many forms. But it's nice, it can be any daily life form, but anything you use in your daily life becomes a daily life form. If you sit, like this is a day, right? This is Thursday, and you came here and sat.

[57:44]

So the yoga room is a daily life thing for you on Thursdays. But the yoga room isn't a daily life thing for you on Friday, but Even so, on Friday, the yoga room on Thursday is a daily life thing for you. So you can use the yoga room as a form that you use to see, is the yoga room class other than enlightenment? Is there some enlightenment in this universe other than the yoga room class? And again and once again, I say, if there's an enlightenment that's other than this class, that enlightenment is defiled. What is it defiled by? It's defiled by other than this class. Or if there's a class, like this one, that's other than enlightenment, then the class is defiled by that attitude. So I ask you to find a form that you're going to use to focus in your daily life, to remember

[58:51]

this teaching of, is this right now something that I think is other than enlightenment? And right now, is what I'm doing right now something where I can stop and check to see, do I think there's an enlightenment other than this? So sometimes a phrase helps you, and the phrase could be, is my daily life right now something other than enlightenment? Is there an enlightenment other than my daily life right now? That could be the form that you use. That could be the ceremony that you use to practice this precept. And I'm proposing that when we practice this precept, this is a very powerful and effective way to take care of the aspiration for entering reality and then expressing that reality through continual practice.

[59:55]

It's a way to purify all your practices so you can enter the reality of those practices and then from the reality of those practices continue those practices. This is a purifying element. We need this. Without this we cannot enter reality. cannot enter reality if we think reality is other than this. And also if you think this is reality, that's also not it. This is reality is very similar to this is not reality or there's some other reality. This must be reality is different than this is reality. This must be where I practice is different than this is practice. By the way, this precept is also called Grandmother Mind in Soto Zen. The first pure precept is also called Grandmother Mind.

[61:00]

In other words, no matter what you're doing, do not forget to practice Buddha. Do not think that this is not an opportunity to practice Buddha. Just like, you know, a grandmother doesn't think, when they see the grandchild, they don't think, well, this is not an opportunity to be a grandmother. They never think that, right? Well, it's a grandchild. I'm a grandmother. I'm not going to, there's no way out of this. How can you have no way out of practicing enlightenment? Got to figure that out. I told you how. The way you do it is just restrain the idea that this is other than enlightenment. And restrain the idea that enlightenment is other than this. Without slipping into, I am a grandmother. Restrain the thing of, this is not a good time for enlightenment.

[62:04]

Later. Better situation, please. Okay, I'll now stop. I stopped. You stopped me. Thanks for stopping me. I started it. Yes. Restraining without controlling. Restraining without controlling. Right. Restrain trying to control. Right. Thank you.

[63:05]

Is it restraining a kind of controlling? I have noticed that it is. I don't see it's controlling. Like, for example, I think right now, okay, that there's some enlightenment other than this, and I restrain it, but I didn't control anything there. I just restrained it. I just said, oh, well, that would mean that my enlightenment is a defiled enlightenment. But I don't mean defiled enlightenment when I say enlightenment. When I say enlightenment, I mean like ready for whatever, completely, no hindrance to compassion. That's my enlightenment that I like. I didn't restrain anything in a controlling way. I just, yeah, check it out. Yeah, check it out. I checked it out. I checked it out and I said, defiled. But I didn't control it. It just kept going. Check, check, check. I didn't try to limit its life because that wouldn't make sense either to limit the life of defilement, to limit the life of outflows.

[64:11]

I don't want to do that because there's another opportunity. It isn't control. It is like it's very intimate with giving up trying to control. It's not like not controlling. It's giving up trying to and it's giving up trying not to. It's like giving up. Giving up seeing your life as separate from Other beings, seeing your life as separate from Buddha's, seeing Buddhahood as separate from your life. Buddha never said that her Buddhahood was separate from beings. Buddha did say, however, beings think they're separate from Buddhahood. Buddha did say that. And I'm here to try to help them get over that outflow. But Buddha in no way thinks that she can control beings.

[65:13]

She knows she can't. She understands that. Long time ago she stopped giving, trying to get people under control. We're just sending the message all the time. Listen to this message, the message, what is the message? Listen to this message, what is the message? I'm just saying this and yet I'm not telling you what it is. And if you can listen to this without grasping it, you'll understand what I'm saying. And if you understand what I'm saying, you'll realize that what I'm saying is empty. And then you'll understand the relationship of all things. And that will be good if you want to benefit beings. That give up trying to control is very much similar to restrain thinking that there's something other than taking care of this. Something's coming. This looks like a good opportunity for something to control.

[66:14]

This is like a bad thing I'd like to control over to a good thing. Restraining this duality means you welcome everything. It means that there's nobody and nothing that you don't welcome. Okay? Anything else? Yes. Yes. That's what attracted me to Zen. It's a story of somebody who could welcome a good thing the same way that he welcomed a bad thing. But the good thing, my understanding of the story was the good thing didn't feel like the bad thing. But he welcomed the bad thing. First the bad thing came, the painful thing came. And also the false thing came, the lie, the false, the untrue came.

[67:22]

And he welcomed it. Then something which actually wasn't necessarily true, but was false in a pleasant way, that came. And he welcomed it the same way. Yeah. I really like that he welcomed the two things in the same way. Yes, ma'am. Same. Matter of fact, yeah, a lot of people maybe have to go, especially if they're in a situation where people are being quiet, they have to go for hours before somebody insults them. But inside, a lot of people often, there's quite a bit of insulting going on. You know, not necessarily an hour without insults, either towards myself or towards others.

[68:30]

And the insults can be rather subtle, like, that was almost as good as you know who. Yeah, what if they're not subtle? Then welcome those. So if I have the thought, some thought of spontaneously rights of generosity, of that ease and feeling, feel like you offer something naturally, and that happens, and then on another occasion I do something, It doesn't feel so good, but it feels bad. Yeah. Yes. Yes, uh-huh. I would say, welcome both.

[69:39]

Yes, that's the practice of generosity. And then go to the, then check out this, this gets the more subtle part, then check out this pure precept. And, or same time, and look to see if you think, even in the case where something was, where you did something you thought, now I actually, that's actually the way I want to be with people. I mean, I totally want to be that way with people. I love being with that way with people. I want to do that again and again. You welcome that. Welcome it means you say welcome, and also you don't hold on to it when you're welcoming it. It isn't welcome and grasp. It's welcome and let go. It isn't welcome and try to control yourself and to do it again. It's welcome, and by welcoming it, you're more likely to do it again. And then this other thing, which I don't want to be that way. As a matter of fact, it's okay with me if I never do that again. Okay? I don't want to be that way. And you welcome it. Okay?

[70:41]

But in both those cases, in both those cases, you could think, even in the case where I want to be that way, like some people, this is great, I want to be this way. But they still think that enlightenment is something other than this wonderful way. Like, I want to be this way, I really do, but Buddhas even do it better than me. And that may be true, but they're not separate from you. So even when you're doing something really good and you're welcoming it and you're not attached to it, actually, if you're not attached to it, you think you're not attached to it, but then you find out you are a little bit attached to it in the sense that you're attached to it being not Buddhahood. Well, that too, but you could even like, you could even not be attached. You could, no, you could even be attached to it that way, but you could also be attached to it when you let it go. But you're still holding on to that it's actually not, it's separate from Buddhahood.

[71:44]

That's the more subtle kind of like you're attached to some separation between the good things you do and what Buddha's doing. Many people do good things and they still have a dualistic attitude towards the good things they're doing. They are doing good things, but they think that Buddhahood is something a little bit better. You know, like one of our great ancestors, Tetsugikai, he was really a good tenzo and a good director of eheiji. And he knew he was good and he loved doing his job and Dogen thought he was fabulous. And he was. He was fabulous. But he thought that the Buddha way, the way of the Buddha, was something other than him doing his job. And so Dogen said to him, you don't have grandmother mind. And I told this other story of this wonderful Tibetan monk.

[72:48]

And his teacher said to him, you know, when I watch you walking around the monastery performing these pujas, I'm just so moved. You're so skillful and you're so devoted. And it's so beautiful the way you do the ceremonies. It'd be nice if you did something spiritual someday. And then another occasion he said to him, you are so good. You're wonderful. The way you take care of the young monks is so compassionate, so skillful, and deeply moving. I'm just so grateful to you. It'd be nice if you did something spiritual someday. So after, I don't know how many examples, but finally the guy says, what do you mean something spiritual? You say I'm doing all this good stuff, and the guy says, stop trying to get something out of life. So this pure precept is even when you're doing a good thing, check it out and see if you think there's something, if there's something, well, see if you think that not being good is separate from it.

[73:53]

Maybe you don't. See if you think Buddhahood is separate from it. Yeah, you do. So then you got it. So let go of that. Let go of that one. So you let go of that one. You say, no, it's even better. Now I'm doing good that's not separate from evil. This is even a better good. Wow. But still I think maybe something separate from it, some great state. I don't think any of the sleazy states are separate, but I think maybe Buddhahood's, maybe I don't think this is actually the performance of Buddhahood. So that's just a one-time thing. You catch yourself at that. It's like, bye-bye, let go of that one. I know that one. I'm sorry, Buddha, that I defiled Buddhahood by saying that you were different from my kind of good state. Not to mention, sorry, Buddha, sorry, Buddha, sorry, Buddha, that I thought when I was really being cruel that I was separate from you. Sorry, Buddha says.

[74:56]

I hear you. Nice confession. That's true. I'm not separate from you. I'm listening to you tell me that you're sorry that you think you're separate from me. Does that make like perfect sense? Is that like difficult to practice? It's hard. But anyway, that's my proposal is that you got to do it, otherwise you're going to defile the practice. by thinking that it's separate from something, and especially something good. The something good which says, do not separate yourself from me, from this. And also, don't say what you're doing is me. If you're being mean to people, don't say that I'm that. What I am is what's not separate from you when you're doing something unskillful. And also what I am is what's not separate from you when you're doing something good. In other words, what Buddha is is what's not separate from your daily life.

[75:58]

So you have to look at your daily life, find some way to focus on your daily life, and then just some way to remember to check out, do you think that this daily life right now is other than Buddhahood? And if you do, let go of that. Check it out. Caught again. There I did it again. Subtle but sweet. sweet to catch it, and say, there I did it again, there I did it again. That's the training to purify the practice from any duality with low or high states. The low state, in fact, you're demonstrating the low state. The high state, you're not demonstrating. But you have to realize you're not separate from what you're not demonstrating. And when you realize that, you're demonstrating. And you got the hiccups? Wonderful. Yeah, it's a great... Yeah, like who ever thought, who would have thought that hiccups were not separate from supreme awakening?

[77:06]

I never thought that before. And tonight I dedicate the merit of our class to the sublime... 17-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, who passed away this morning. So she was deeply appreciated by innumerable humans. I don't know if dogs liked her, but adult humans really appreciate her. She had a great life, so much love and appreciation towards her. And the last couple nights, she was yelping in pain on most of the night. And her mother, her human mother, just thought that another night like that would just be intolerable.

[78:09]

So she's passed away. Please give her your love. Thank you very much.

[78:22]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_91.37